Tim designed me a website for Every Mutt Matters! Check it out!

http://www.everymuttmatters.org/

Last week I had a girl's night with Ripple and Lindsey - two of my favorite girls! Even though I talk with them all day and night, every day via text, email, chat, or phone calls, I love getting together with them! We went to Hog's Wallow for food and drinks and had a great time! Love these ladies!

I've been steadily looking for a job, and hoping that soon one will pan out for me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my job at the Ortho Center working in radiology/MRI, but I'm ready to move on and find a job that makes me feel like the past four years in college and my two Bachelor's degrees weren't a complete waste of time. I did have an interview last week, that I'm waiting to hear back on -- fingers crossed!

In the mean time, I've still been teaching myself HTML and it's been really fun. I love learning the new code and tags and then watching the code transform into a design and changes! I'm getting into some advanced HTML, and I definitely will be going to Tim for some private lessons ;).

Also, I'm sure most of you can't fail to notice, but I've been getting really involved in getting Every Mutt Matters off to a great start! I've had great success so far with the blanket drive, thanks to the help of family and friends - especially my cousin Janessa and her work for all their support, and Tim for all his help with the logo and helping with the flyer. I am in the process of getting Every Mutt Matters to a 501(c)3 NPO status, but that requires a mission statement (check), bylaws (I need to get started on these), filling out lots of forms with the state and IRS, paying some fees, and then waiting months to get reviewed, and then finally - NPO status! I am really excited to be working on starting a really great organization, and I can't wait to see what Every Mutt Matters turns into. Thanks for all your support, and always...pass along the word!

Lastly, but not least...CHRISTMAS! Tim and I finished all our Christmas shopping this past weekend - such a good feeling to be done! On Sunday, I went bird watching with Tim, not something I recommend on a cold, smoggy day in SLC. I am not a bird watcher, but I go to support Tim. In the summer I have a great time going and hiking and its lots of fun, but in the winter its cold, sitting in the car, getting out in the snow, and frankly, just not my cup of tea. But I was a fantastic girlfriend and went with him, especially since he was on my good graces for bringing me flowers after work on Friday.

After bird watching we went and saw Avatar. I am not into Sci-Fi movies, but its James Cameron, the Titanic man, I had to see this movie. It was good. Not my favorite, I definitely won't go see it again, but I'm glad I saw it. Tim enjoyed it, minus the use of Papyrus font for the script, he he he - such a designer.

I am all ready for Christmas. Only two more days of work to get through. Two more slow-patient days, which will give me plenty of time to keep going with Every Mutt Matters and to try to get into my new book Water For Elephants. Our plan for Christmas this year is to try to spend as much time with each family as we can. I'm learning as I get older, that it's definitely hard to coordinate holidays with two families, but we make it work.

Happy Holidays!

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
--Thomas Edison

Having great success so far with Every Mutt Matters! Tim designed this logo for me last night and I love it! I also created a "fan page" on Facebook, so log in and search for "Every Mutt Matters" and become a fan!

Tim designed the snowman and snow scene on the header of Overstock.com's homepage. There was a contest with 18 designers and he won! Overstock.com is famous for using white space, and never has any type of design in its header, apart from its traditional look, so this was quite the honor to design, and WIN, the first design on the header. Let me take a few minutes to brag...

Tim is the team lead and Front End Web Developer for Overstock.com. He has worked VERY hard for the last year and a half and has had a lot of success at the company. He first started with the email team and designed the highest grossing email in Overstock.com's history (2008 Black Friday). Shortly after, there was a contest on a new design for the company's homepage. All designers had to participate and come up with an idea, and Tim won! He was moved over to the website team as Senior Front End Web Developer and spent the next few weeks designing and coding Overstock.com's new homepage. Tim's success with the new homepage led him to the promotion of Team Lead over the entire website team. Tim has been changing old styles and designs and putting Overstock.com's on the map with modern and up-to-date design. Overstock.com's sent him to the Web 2.0 conference in New York City, just before the holidays, and they put him in the nicest hotel in NYC, and he had a great time. With 2009 Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Tim was insanely busy but had plenty of success with his designs for the website, and Cyber Monday grossed a lot of revenue. Currently Tim is working on designing new templates to make the website more uniform in design. He continues to design and develop new ideas for Overstock.com, and one of his designs was even used on Overstock.com's iPhone application. Tim has added a lot to his resume, and I am proud of all the hard work he does.

This weekend was very low-key. I am not proud to say it, but I didn't work out once all weekend - shame on me. Saturday I ran errands, got my last free oil change from Larry Miller, and put together an 8 page portfolio for a job with the City of South Salt Lake (fingers crossed). Later that night Tim and I went to Red Rock for dinner to celebrate my good friend, Josh's birthday and after we went right next door to Poplar. Sunday was my SUPER lazy day. I woke up, showered, and got right back into my pajamas! The last two weeks have worn me out! I finished my book, "Holidays on Ice" by David Sedaris -highly recommend it. Tim was able to finish his last bird presentation for his classes. Good news---my Christmas shopping is mostly done!!! I have 2 things left I need to pick up, but they are easy and my shopping is finished!

I bought a plane ticket to go to Florida in January for a week to go see Brittany. I'm excited! I haven't seen her since the end of May, plus I get to go to warmer weather!! The weather right now is FREEZING! On my way to work this morning it was 14 degrees!! I was able to listen to an entire album on my drive this morning, and this never happens! It usually takes me about 25 minutes in the mornings to get to work---and today it took me 50 minutes! No accidents, no snow, no construction, just overly cautious drivers I suppose exercising caution for extreme cold.

Right now I am in the works of getting all the legal work taken care of for starting a charity, Every Mutt Matters, for animal shelters, and more specifically "No Kill" animal shelters. Like I've mentioned in my previous posts, I am collecting blankets, sheets, towels, and needed supplies to donate to various animal shelters throughout Salt Lake. I've already received a few donations, and I'd like to collect as many as possible so please spread the word. I will gladly come and pick up any donations, just email me, everymuttmatters@gmail.com.

In my spare time, I've decided to also start volunteering for the Salt Lake Community Writing Center as a youth writing coach. I love writing, so I am excited to get started with a great program. I'm also teaching myself HTML and coding - why not add some more to my resume? Ever since graduation, I have been looking for new job. One where I can begin and train and move into the direction from just a job to a career. Right now my main interests are something in government relations, public relations or marketing, any type of work within a nonprofit, those are my main areas of interest, but I am open to any opportunities. If you know of anywhere or anyone you can put me in connection with, I'd love to hear. For now I am just happy to have my job at the Ortho Center, working with good people, awesome benefits, and a nice shift.