WAT Marketing / Community Team Christmas Outing

Last night the DFW WeAreTeachers Marketing & Community team went out to dinner to celebrate the season and enjoy good friends, food, and of course...desserts.  Video is compliments of John Costilla.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our WAT Team to you!

Home Study / FBI Clearance - PAPERWORK ROUND #3

Hello to blog world... I've been MIA this week because I've been down at our WeAreTeachers board meetings in Austin.  What a great week!  It's always refreshing to meet with the entire team...so many new ideas are always generated, and we all just have a blast hanging out.  Now, I'm back home and just trying to catch up from being gone for a week.

Baby P Update: We are ALMOST done with our enormous stack of Paperwork Round #3...YEA!!!  We each have to complete our autobiographies (which we are doing this weekend), we have our physical exams scheduled for Monday evening, our FBI Fingerprinting appointments scheduled for Tuesday morning, our references are all almost in...and then we FINALLY get to ship everything...PAR-TAY TIME!

Once all of the paperwork is in, our home visit and interviews will be scheduled within a week or two - then WE ARE DONE!  Oh!  And did I mention that potential birth mothers start viewing our profile/info in about a week???  So exciting!!!  We will be officially "waiting"...

This weekend we are headed to the Tapestry Adoption Conference at Irving Bible Church.  It should be interesting and we're looking forward to learning a lot more and meeting some other adoptive families.  We'll fill you in on all of that very soon!

And, finally...here are a few pics from our WeAreTeachers dinner that Sandy Fivecoat (our CEO and fearless leader) hosted at her house in Austin on Wednesday evening...(pictures courtesy of John Costilla).

William Goodwin (our tech genius), myself, and Sandy (our CEO)...  Drinking some homemade wine that William made...so good!

Sandy is a singer/musician...so we definitely had the "Fivecoat Piano Bar Sing-A-Long" for a little bit of evening entertainment =)  

John always thinks it's funny to take pictures of me eating (which is quite often).  This one he posted to my Fb page with the caption "She don't shy away from the buffet!"...  all in good fun, all in good fun =)

Update For The Week

I just realized a few minutes ago that I haven't written a single blog this week...time for an update!

Work has been incredibly busy, but so much fun - www.WeAreTeachers.com.  Our Facebook application, "I Am Teacher," is in full swing (over 200 teachers per day are joining...YAY!!); our business partnerships are really starting to take off (thanks to Jim Clor - our great new Director of Business Partnerships!); and our development team has completed several website updates that have generated a lot of new activity...  Busy, busy, busy - but I'm so thankful to have a job that I truly love and an incredible team of people to work with every day. 

To fill you in on last weekend...  Ben and I had an incredibly relaxing weekend away.  We did nothing...literally.  It was pure heaven to us!  Ben watched a lot of football and I think I read over 600 pages of books that have been stacking up in my "Need To Read" pile.  Loved it!   And by the way...those of you considering adoption...you have to read 'The Complete Adoption Book: Everything You Need To Know To Adopt A Child (Third Edition)."  It's by Laura and Raymond Godwin and is an incredible source of information.

This upcoming weekend is sure to be lots of fun as well...  Keystone Church is celebrating our 4 year anniversary - so hard to believe four years have gone by since we started the church in an intermediate school cafeteria!  It's been amazing to be a part of this journey and to witness so many lives changed as a result of God's love and faithfulness.

Also on the itinerary for the weekend... Our great friends from BU, Billy & Angie McMahan, are coming in on Friday to spend the night.  We never see them as often as we would like, and we're looking so forward to hanging out and catching up!

And, finally, you know I had to add a few pictures...  We had a very impromptu dinner tonight at Brio in Southlake with some great friends.  It's rare that a night comes around where all six of us are in town, so we jumped at the chance to get together.  Fun times are always had with this crew!

Our dinner at Brio... Me, Ben, Grant, Jayme, Jill, & Shaun.

Shaun sportin' the Shoe Gypsy hat... (VERY cool store, by the way... An old friend of mine owns it, and you should definitely go spend some money in there!)

Myself sitting with Ben and Grant (of course they HAD to sit by each other...haha)

QUICK UPDATE ON 'BABY P':  We're still in the midst of Paperwork Round #1...taking a little longer to get everything together than I thought, but we're making good progress.  And (this may be jumping the gun a little, but I'm just too excited)...  I completely cleared out the room that will be Baby P's nursery this week.  The furniture, bookshelves, stuff piled in the closet...everything is gone and reorganized into a new room.  (And, yes, I had way too much fun reorganizing.)  Now it's just waiting for all of Baby P's stuff...can't wait to get everything set up!!!

Take It!

I had to share this post from my friend and coworker, John...this is in response to me giving him a hard time in my "Week-O'-Fun" post...too funny...thanks, John!  Just click on the copied post to be redirected to his blog and read it for yourself...

Week-O'-Fun

Hello to all three (maybe four) of my faithful blog readers...  Yes, that means YOU...in case you're still wondering, that's my mom, my sis, my friend Kym who reminded me that I haven't posted all week, and my boss, John, who would win a blogging emmy (if there was such a thing) for  "the most blogs any one person could possibly post in a single week."   Seriously, he's kicking my butt.  And, yes, we've turned this into a competition.  Anyway, love you guys and so sorry I've been M.I.A. in blogworld...but it has been a very busy (and very eventful) week.  

By now you've surely caught on to my fondness for lists, so here is a highlight from each day this past week that I missed blogging:

Friday, August 29th - If you've known Ben and I for long (or even if you've known us only a short time), you've come to realize that a weekend isn't truly a weekend for us until we make it to Coal Vines (our fav!).  Is it a sign that you go somewhere too much when the waiters/waitresses/managers are on a first name basis with you and all of your friends?  We didn't think so, either.  When it comes to Coal Vines there's no such thing as too much.  And Friday evening we were joined by two of our great friends, Michael & Tiffany McDaniel...we always have so much fun with you two (and can't wait until you two become three)!

Saturday, August 30th - My Father-in-Law's Birthday (we're celebrating this coming Friday)...and Candace's Birthday Celebration!!!  And, boy, did we celebrate...well, as much as her preggo self could, anyway!  Jill, Shaun, Grant, Jayme, and I all took her out to a great dinner at Mi Concina...then we headed out to Club Dada to hear her husband, Josiah, play with Tim Miller.  Wow...they're great...check them out if you ever get the chance!  Fun night filled with great memories... (And by the way, Candace and I have YET to take a decent picture together...our faces really aren't that wide...)

Sunday, August 31st - Keystone Church (always)...a great cheeseburger with our Sunday lunch crew...and hanging with my Mom.  My parents truly are two of my best friends and I love spending time and talking with them.

Monday, September 1st - LABOR DAY!!!  Isn't the day off a highlight for everyone???  ...and, Ben finally came home after a weekend at the lake with the boys.  I missed him =)

Tuesday, September 2nd (A) - We had the great pleasure of spending the evening with our dear friends Steve & Tracy Preskenis.  As Ben describes them..."they're just good people."  We love you guys and always treasure our fun times together (especially now that we're neighbors)!

Tuesday, September 2nd (B) - Ahem...wait for it...  It was the night I have been unashamedly looking forward to for, I don't know...maybe the last 15 years or so...  That's right...90210 is back, baby!  And I felt like I was 13 years old again throughout the entire 2-hour season premier.  Not that it was outstanding television by any stretch of the imagination...but it was more of a flashback to those junior high slumber party nights when you and all of your friends wanted to date Dylan McKay.  It was greatness.  I was thoroughly entertained although a bit disturbed that Nat was STILL working at the Peach Pitt.  Hmmm...

Wednesday, September 3rd - Ben and I had the honor of hosting our Keystone worship team for dinner and vision casting at our house.  What an incredibly refreshing time filled with fellowship and worship!  I so admire Brian (our worship leader) and the rest of the Keystone staff who remind us about our purpose, that we're singing and playing for an audience of only One, and to "hold loosely"...  It was a great night and we were privileged to have you all in our home.

Thursday, September 4th - (Pictured: Karel, Donnine, Malcolm, and the side of my head as I'm texting on my iphone.) Last, but definitely not least... Today our WeAreTeachers team had the opportunity to FINALLY meet face-to-face with Karel Baloun.  For the past several months, our team has been working with Karel via video chat, skype, you name it...on a new Facebook application called "I Am Teacher."  It's VERY exciting for us and we had a great day that generated some even greater ideas...I can't wait!  If you have a Facebook account, definitely check it out and send us your feedback...

Well...that's it for my week-o'-highlights...  This weekend is sure to bring more fun as we're celebrating a birthday with Ben's dad tomorrow night...I'm sure I'll take plenty of pictures and fill in my faithful blogworld readers soon...goodnight!

Top 100 Undiscovered Websites

I came across this article today and loved it - Top 100 Undiscovered Websites.  Some of my favorites so far are listed below...check it out...hopefully it will help you find some new sites to browse...

A post for my fellow tech nerds...

Had a couple of cool sites/web tools I wanted to share to help you waste a little bit of time today...

1.) I know that I've mentioned my favorite music site, Pandora, several times already on this blog...  But there is another music site I'm starting to like as well... Musicovery.  Basically, it's an interactive web radio site where you choose your mood and the genre of music you want to hear, and then it streams the music that fits those criteria...pretty cool!  

2. ) For all you online shopping enthusiasts...check out Commuto.  

It's a new social swapping site...similar to a Craigslist.  Find goods you want at Commuto and set up in-person sales (should money be requested) or face-to-face swaps with the member who's offering what you want. Commuto offers a large database of items to choose from, and it will match up the UPC symbol or ISBN with the title of the product if it can locate it. You can also create a wishlist for prospective swappers. Like Craigslist, Commuto takes no commissions. Currently, Commuto is in beta with small but growing communities, and it looks promising, especially if the sheer size of Craigslist is overwhelming.

3.) And finally...did you know that there is now a TiVo for Internet Video???  It's called Miro and is perfect for summer when there's absolutely nothing new on television (except the Olympics, of course).  Miro is a free internet video player that will automatically download online videos via RSS feed or BitTorrent...it will play almost any format you can think of...and it keeps track of what you've watched, what's new, and what's queued up for you.  

AtomKeep Synchs Your Social Network Profiles

Thought this was pretty interesting...

Seems like every other week you're signing up for another social networking site and filling out another user profile with the same old information; webapp AtomKeep is out to save you the the time and hassle. AtomKeep manages and syncs your user information across 23 social media applications (including Facebook, Digg, Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger, YouTube, Yelp, and Ning, just to name a few). AtomKeep sets your user profile information to default settings you specify. This means you you don't have to navigate to your old Digg profile to see what to put in your Twitter biography. AtomKeep doesn't store your password on-site—they say they only use it to synchronize your data. If you want to keep your social networking profiles consistent across sites, AtomKeep makes that process simple.

Press Release

I know I mentioned this in my last post, but here is the official press release going out on Monday...wanted to let you preview it early!

WeAreTeachers Launches Facebook Application

WeAreTeachers Launches Facebook Application Allowing Teachers to Share and Sell Teaching Materials and Services inside their own Knowledge Marketplace.

Austin, TX — WeAreTeachers, the “Knowledge Marketplace” community for teachers to share and sell their instructional materials and services or earn when they recommend commercial products, today revealed a new application that offers teachers access to this knowledge marketplace inside their Facebook profile. The I Am Teacher Facebook application brings teacher-generated content and services and commercial products to teachers and learners inside the Facebook community.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/6gqgsx to download the I Am Teacher application now.

For teachers who have Facebook profiles and wish to find other teachers in the network, the I Am Teacher application fosters connection and collaboration inside this large community. “While many teachers have joined the WeAreTeachers community (WeAreTeachers.com), we also want to offer teachers of all types, wherever they gather, an aggregated knowledge marketplace within the Facebook I Am Teacher application,” says Sandy Fivecoat, CEO and Founder of WeAreTeachers.

Teachers who have content to share or sell or instructional services that they provide will be able to add and price their products into the Knowledge Marketplace on I AmTeacher in Facebook. The Knowledge Marketplace will give teachers a way to reach teachers and learners on Facebook worldwide. Additionally, companies that wish to partner with WeAreTeachers can add their product catalogs into the WeAreTeachers Knowledge Marketplace and have teachers review, recommend or buy their products. This gives business affiliates an immediate online distribution channel to the growing 40,000 current WeAreTeachers members and also gives them a viral strategy to the more than 50 million Facebook community members.

“Businesses are looking for ways to reach the growing number of members inside of Facebook and other social networks,” says Sandy Fivecoat. “Our business model is designed to help them do that. Through the I Am Teacher Facebook application, our business partners have a low-risk, low development entry into the social network community and the ability to reach a target audience specific to their consumer types.” WeAreTeachers has over eighty current business partners and that list is growing rapidly. WeAreTeachers has created a way for businesses, learners and teachers to connect in a way that leverages and supports how online communities interact.

WeAreTeachers realizes that banner advertisement and search engine optimization strategies are common tactics of many businesses trying to reach teachers. The philosophy of WeAreTeachers is to create real monetary value for its members and partners by using an interception strategy that places contextual content where teachers are gathering online. WeAreTeachers plans to distribute its Knowledge Marketplace to more existing social networks to reach teachers where they are connecting, collaborating and can now--buy, sell, and recommend instructional resources online.

About WeAreTeachers
WeAreTeachers is the first ‘Knowledge Marketplace’ designed to empower teachers of all types by enabling tangible rewards to all who deliver skill and knowledge to others. The WeAreTeachers community will help teachers gain financial benefit through the publishing and selling of their own content, by promoting and delivering their time or tutoring services, and through recommending commercially available products to others. For more information, visit www.WeAreTeachers.com.

Randomness

Several random things from today...completely unrelated, but most of them excited me nonetheless:

1. WeAreTeachers launched our marketplace in Facebook!!!  You can check it out here: I Am Teacher Marketplace.  This is HUGE...many, many hours of work (still many more to come), but a very important milestone for our little company.  It's so exciting to watch it take off and grow! (If you have a Fb account, search for 'I Am Teacher' in the applications and add it to your profile...pretty cool.)

2. On a more personal note...our family received some VERY EXCITING news today as well...  My brother-in-law, Joe, found out this morning that he has been accepted to Columbia for their MBA program.  We are so proud of you, Joe! (And very excited to come visit New York City...)  He and his wife, Candice, will be moving to NY in January...in the mean time we love that they are here in the metroplex after four long years in the San Diego area.  We all went out for a celebratory dinner tonight and had a wonderful time... here they are...

3. Have I mentioned that I freakin' love our church (Keystone Church)???  After dinner with the fam, I headed over to Simply You (owned by our good friend, Melody) to meet up with some of the women for a ministry event.  What an incredibly refreshing night to catch up with old friends and meet new ones as well.  I've been so busy with every day life that I really haven't taken time out to just stop, breathe, and take it all in.  Thank you all for giving me the opportunity to do that - you ladies minister to me every day and I am so thankful you are in my life.  And a HUGE shout out to Tracy for all of her hard work and organization...thank you!  (A side plug... if you live in the area and haven't been by Simply You... ya need to try it... yummm!)

4. This next item does not excite me due to obvious reasons...  I was saddened today to see that the little town Ben and I lived in outside of Minneapolis made the news because of a plane crash.  My heart goes out to that community...we miss our friends from Owatonna every day!

5.  And finally... My sister got she and I tickets to the John Mayer/ Colbie Caillat concert tomorrow night.  I know, I know...I said I was a music snob...go ahead and throw stones at me for going to this concert.  But, I am excited...very excited!  Not so much because of the music, but because it will be a fun night with my little sister (and one of our "surrogate" sisters, Blaire Bender).  And, because I am secretly hoping to see/meet Jennifer Aniston.  This may sound weird, but I know that she and I would be BFFs if we ever had the chance to meet...

So that's all for tonight...heading to bed to catch up on sleep.  But before I do, I just have to point out the obvious...I'm a list maker.  My apologies go out to all those that are annoyed by this, but it will continue.  

Here we go...

Hello to both readers that might actually see this post...it is my first, so please hang in there with me.  I am starting this because I was challenged to blog at least three times per week by a friend and co-worker of mine, John Costilla.  Clearly, he under-estimated the depth of my competitive nature... I told him not to worry...that I would not disappoint... I'm up for the challenge, right? ...  So, here we go...

Since this is my first post, I thought I would start out by telling you a couple of random things about myself.  Some are serious, some are not...just want to give you a better idea about who I am and what I do.  In no particular order...here they are:

1. I have been married to my wonderful husband, Ben, for almost 7 years.  He truly amazes me every day.  We consider ourselves very lucky to have found each other because there's no one else in the world who could put up with either one of us... On more than one occasion we have definitely been described as an "overwhelming two-man show"... don't know if that's a good thing...but in any case, he is my best friend and I treasure our time together.  Here he is...actually smiling for the camera...

2. My faith is the most important thing to me - it is what keeps me going on the worst of days.  Even on my good days I know that my life looks nothing like the life of Jesus.  Thankfully, I have a wonderful church family who lift each other up and support each other - Keystone Church.  If you live in the area, you should check it out.  I am blessed every day by these friends.

3. I am an organizational / clean freak.  (I'm taking a moment right here for those friends and family that know me to gasp in utter disbelief.)  I hang all of the clothes in my closet according to color and sleeve length.  It drives me to mop every time I see little animal footprints all over our wood floors.  I can walk into almost any room and immediately know if something has been moved...even if it's just the slightest turn of a picture frame.  A little OCD?  Maybe...  But I'm not weird about it, if that's possible.  I don't impose this OCD-ness on others (I don't think)... I'm working on it. 

4. I love my job (and I really mean that...I'm not just saying it).  I'm the Marketing Coordinator for WeAreTeachers where I have the opportunity to work with an amazing team of people who are paving a new road in the educational technology world.  (I'm also paid to play on social networks like facebook, myspace, ning, twitter, and so forth - all from the comfort of my own home... Does it get any better than that???)

5. I would argue that McDonalds has better coffee than Starbucks.  We've all just been suckered in by the marketing geniuses that Starbucks hired. Props.

6. I am "one of those" animal people.  I have two boys...Johnny and Fat Jack (aka "The Boys").  Fat Jack is a 4 year old cat who already weighs 23 pounds...and growing.  He's well on his way to full-blown diabetes.  We've tried every animal diet the vet has to offer...even did the "South Beach Kitty Diet"...whatever that is.  Sadly, nothing has worked..but Fat Jack is happy and doesn't seem to mind.  (Side note here... Ben is NOT an animal person and definitely put a price tag on Fat Jack's life...we had to agree on a dollar amount that we would not go over for emergency vet visits after one of his diabetic attacks.)  Fat Jack showin' off that belly...

7. My friend, Trey, once said that he judges people by their favorite movies... After hearing that, I realized that I also judge people on a criteria almost as ridiculous...I judge people based on what music they listen to.  I am a self-confessed music snob.  Music is one of my passions and it will take a whole other post (or two or three) to talk about that...  BTW, if you're a music snob like me and you haven't been totally hooked on Pandora...you are missing out!

8. And, finally, my last random fact for today... I hold the record for the highest number of parking tickets ever issued to a single student at Baylor University.  (Again, for those that know me...SHOCKER!!!) This is a true fact and, last time I heard, still mentioned in the freshman orientations.  Not necessarily proud of that, but it is what it is... Do you think my car would still get the boot if I were to drive it on to campus today???

A big THANK YOU if you actually read all the way through this post to here...just realized it got pretty long.  Sorry about that, friends...I'll work on keeping it shorter.  In the mean time, let me know what some of your quirky/funny habits are...I like knowing that I'm not alone!