Saturday, November 26, 2011






















Yesterday, was so beautiful on our way back from CT, we took a different route and came about the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA..


We had such fun, it was so pretty...








Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Well it is snowing!! Shocker! So, we are leaving NH around 4pm to head south the CT to spend Thanksgiving with my family... Once we reach MA it will most likely be rain, but how long to the MA border? When on a good day should take about 90 minutes, on the most traveled day of the year, how long will it actually take us?

I have had people say, leave at 4am and go down tomorrow, yes that will make a relaxing Thanksgiving... We have both been at the Inn the last 3 years, so this should be alot of fun!! Glad do not have to work on Friday...

Work is so stressful right now, I feel as if I am going to be let go.. due to being part of the "old" team... due to only (2) of us are still here from the old management team.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011









Well, it is (2) Days until Thanksgiving, and today was frost and over the lake was this beautiful fog. I of course, had to have the hair colored and cut before I see the family, so it is my new look, since I took my own picture I can barely see, and I am walking to work. That is the Inn behind me..


I just saw that Gone with the Wind will be playing tomorrow all day! I love this book and tolerate the movie but most likely will catch pieces of it...






Friday, November 18, 2011

Well, Thanksgiving is next week, how the year begins off slow then it speeds up! I finally went to a professional for my hair, especially since will be seeing my sister's and mom next week, and I do not want to hear what is wrong with my hair, eyes, and of course weight. I actually look forward to spending time with my family, but I stress out sooo much in the weeks leading up to it.

I always stress, work, home life, money! That seems to be my life right now.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

So, I made an avatar of myself, it is horrible, my hair looks better on the avatar and I dont' have glasses, but it looked better this way. How do you make a better likeness I ask of you?

Anyone a new Hotel and Restaurant has opened up the street last night, and I went for a cocktail, pretty, new modern, and packed! Definately, huge competetion for our restaurant and for me personally, a big barn for weddings and I have already lost a wedding to them for next year. I am so upset!!

The person up there is from this town and has had her own wedding business, I feel this is going to be even harder closing. The husband is telling me to just do my job and stop worrying about them but for me its personal.. I do not mind competetion, I just get scared..

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

I saw this Article in Hospitality news Written by Jay Schultz, Sr. VP, Hospitality Group. Due to the fact this is my business, I thought he was so correct and thought I would share it.

Sallie Krawcheck’s departure earlier this month from Bank of America Corporation is just one more example of the ongoing difficulty women executives have had securing, as well as maintaining, C-level jobs in the hospitality, finance and real estate fields. Krawcheck—whose job was eliminated after running the wealth management division of the nation’s largest bank for the past two years—leaves a noticeable void of women holding senior-level positions in the aforementioned industries. One could definitely say that Krawcheck’s untimely departure is a classic example of “taking one step forward and two steps back.”

I was curious to know more about where women executives from hospitality, finance and real estate ranked in comparison to their counterparts from other industries. As a result, I turned to FORTUNE magazine’s current “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” rankings and what I learned surprised me. Aside from a few non-commercial banking and asset management executives being ranked (including Krawcheck at number 26) no other women from the hospitality, finance and real estate industries cracked the Top 50. According to the FORTUNE data, women realizing the most success worked in the technology and branded company industries.

Coincidentally, the same day I learned of Krawcheck’s ouster from Bank Of America, the September 7th issue of HOTEL BUSINESS® was being put to bed and page layouts were beginning for the edition you’re reading right now. Both issues include coverage from the Hotel Business Executive Roundtable Series. The theme of September 7th event was “Redefining Luxury: New Tactics for a New Decade” and on page 2 of this issue, you’ll find coverage beginning of the “Unconventional Wisdom: Identifying Brand Opportunities” Roundtable. Despite my involvement in the events, I was a bit surprised when I came to the realization that of the 22 executives featured in the Roundtable coverage there were only two women.
My initial reaction was to figure out what we were doing wrong. I wondered aloud, “could these lopsided figures be accurate and reflective of what’s really going on the marketplace?” Then I took into account the male versus female ratio at any of the hotel industry investment conferences: Enough said. Anyone who has attended ALIS, NYU, or the Lodging Conference can testify that these events are overwhelmingly dominated by men. Right or wrong, it made sense our events would skew similarly.

It seems that as an industry we could do a better job of recruiting, promoting—from both a career progression and public relations standpoint—and most importantly, retaining, the best and brightest female executives. There’s little question that our industry has a tremendous amount of female talent within its ranks, nevertheless many don’t seem to be staying for their entire careers or advancing at a reasonable pace.

Are women perhaps forced to deal with situations that men do not? Do they face some sort of ceiling as a result of an “Old Boys Club”? Are top graduate schools advising their best female students to go explore industries other than hospitality, finance and real estate? I don’t proclaim to have the answers but as an industry we owe it to ourselves to at least ask these difficult questions.

Saturday, November 05, 2011

A few weeks back, my husband started stressing about Europe and our money in a national bank, he wanted to look into a credit union or local mutual savings bank, and we would move everything. Then life took over and until today, we finally made a plan an apppointment and moved our money. We still have to keep a checking at the Big Bank until Dec. 1 when my direct deposit will change over.

I was mentioning this at work and no one seemed to know what I was talking about, so I found articles about "Transfer Bank Day", and found one I liked, so here it is below...


Article on www.broowaha.com; Tony Berkman
Facebook Page makes it clear that while they appreciate what OWS protestors have done Bank Transfer Day movement was neither inspired by, derived from nor organized by the OWS movement.
While enrollment in Credit Unions has skyrocketed, according to the Chris Bowers a reporter for the Daily Koss, it would be invalid to conclude that this was the result of the Occupy Wall Street Movement.
The Facebook Page of "Bank Protest Day" which is to be held tomorrow November 5th specifically reads:
"While the Bank Transfer Day movement acknowledges the enthusiasm from Occupy Wall Street, the Bank Transfer Day movement was neither inspired by, derived from nor organized by the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the Bank Transfer Day movement does not endorse any activities conducted by Occupy Wall Street."
While the organizer, Kristen Christian, credits Edddie Cola for Use of the "Guy Fawkes" image ( http://www.facebook.com/eddie.colla ) it is interesting to note that Guy Fawkes has become the "offical logo" of the hackster group, Anonymous.
Kristen is clear that, however, that she has no association to Anonymour and neither to Occupy Wall Street. According to her Facebook "Kristen Christian, a private citizen and small business owner with no affiliations to Anonymous or Occupy Wall Street. While she's now a proud member of Coast Hills Credit Union... and Los Angeles Federal Credit Union, she's not a credit union employee. She's received no public or private donations for her efforts or costs associated with this movement. Every bit of work on BTD is a testament to her love for her community & neighbors. She genuinely believes we can pull ourselves out of this economic mess the big banks caused by investing in local not-for-profit credit unions."
According to Kristen anyone can join. To join visit her page on Facebook and she has a list of instructions about what to do including:
Research your local credit union options
Open an account with the one that best suits your needs
Cancel all automatic withdrawals & deposits
Transfer your funds to the new account
Follow your bank's procedures to close your account before 11/05
More people joined Credit Unions since the Bank of America Fee debacle, according to the Huffington Post, than in the entire year of 2010:
"At least 650,000 customers opened new accounts at credit unions since September 29, the day Bank of America announced it would charge customers a $5 per month fee to use their debit card for purchases starting in 2012, the Credit Union National Association estimates. If that number holds true, it would be more than the 600,000 consumers that joined credit unions in all of 2010."
Credit Unions around the country clearly are major beneficiaries of this move and are enticing customers to make the switch. While many in the Occupy Wall Street movement will claim that they are the cause of this move, it seems apparent that the connection between Bank Transfer Day 2011 and OWS and Anonymous are tenuous at best.

Friday, November 04, 2011

I saw this first on CNN and then Huffington Post ( article from Huffington Post):

Is this man insane? Being in the wedding business for over 20 years, I have seen brides and grooms get insane over some pretty petty things but this is definitely the most ridiculous you are not even married to this woman anymore so why should you care? 2nd are you trying to get a "Free" Wedding Photographer? You signed a contract, get over it!! I believe he is a scam artist, where is your ex-wife? Does she care is she willing to come back and do a "mock" for your pictures?

Its founders, Curt Fried and Harold Gillet, just back from serving in World War II, decided to open a photography studio in the Bronx, right as the marriage rate skyrocketed. Business boomed, and after decades of celebrated work, they handed the business down to their sons, Dan Fried and Larry Gillet.
Meanwhile, equity research analyst Todd J. Remis had his own taste of the fairytale life during his wedding to Milena Grzibovska on Dec. 28, 2003, at Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown, N.Y.
But when Remis and H & H Photographers hooked up, the result was an entrepreneur's nightmare.
Unhappy that the company had not taken photos of the last dance and bouquet toss which took place in the last 15 minutes of the wedding, Remis has filed a lawsuit against H&H Photographers as well as its original founders, who are now both in their 80s. He is suing for $4,100 for the cost of photography and $48,000 to bring back the principal attendees and recreate the wedding so new photos can be taken. What Remis failed to disclose in his legal papers is that he got divorced in 2008 -- and he doesn't know the address of his ex-wife, who returned to her native Latvia. "Honestly, I think the whole thing is an abusive lawsuit," Dan Fried told The Huffington Post. "Having to go through this along with my dad and partner and partner's dad is a real shame. We have a lot of pride in our work, a love of photography and thousands of happy clients over 65 years. The whole thing is a shame."
According to Fried, Remis came to the office in January 2004 to pick up his wedding proofs (though in legal papers, Remis denies getting any pictures). "He complained to us right away," says Fried. "And the company made an effort to try to find a common ground with him. We said if we missed something, we would be happy to offer another type of shoot or do touchup on some images and make some changes for the prints for the wedding album. But that was not enough for him."
Remis continued to file complaints but never picked up his wedding album or paid his final balance. After years, H&H sent Remis a bill for the outstanding amount due. "He responded with a threatening letter and then shortly thereafter, he sued," says Fried. That was in 2009, six years after the wedding, a year after the couple separated and a few weeks before the statute of limitations would have expired.

So far, the Frieds and Gillets have spent about $50,000 in legal fees. And it's not over yet. Justice Doris Ling-Cohan of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan dismissed most of Remis' claims, including his claim for infliction of emotional distress, but has allowed the case to continue. At a hearing on Thursday, a court date was set to meet with the judge in December to discuss a settlement. "A settlement is not something that sits well with us, but we have to obey the judge's orders," says Fried.

Though the judge's original opinion contained references to lyrics from "The Way We Were," and Remis' lawsuit is being likewise mocked in blogs and social media, this is no joke. Another recent lawsuit that raised just as much widespread ire ended up practically putting a small business out of business. Roy Pearson's $54 million lawsuit against a Washington, DC, dry cleaner for losing his pair of pants ended up lasting two years before getting thrown out in 2007. A few months later, Jin and Soon Chung, the financially strained owners of Custom Cleaners, were forced to closed two of their three locations.

"That's the reality of being an entrepreneur today in a society that has so much litigation -- you never know what might be around the corner that could make you a defendant," says Fried. "And it can eat your time and energy and money. You can have all the pride in your work and passion and good intentions and happy clients like we do, but you can run into one rotten egg that gives you a nasty education about our legal system."