Monday 24 October 2011

Family, Friends & Fundraising = Happiness

Wow!  I can not even tell you what an AMAZING weekend I had... actually I can tell you, and I will tell you, but first a little bit of background.

Ever since Arbonne found me almost a year ago, I have done a lot of soul searching and thankfully a lot of growing.  With much thanks to Arbonne and their love of "bettering yourself to be a better leader", I've read some wonderful books, taken part in many inspiring workshops and even attended my first Canadian National Training Conference in Calgary this past September with Keynote Speaker John Maxwell. 

Now, I have always known (and fully admitted) that I am spoiled rotten.  I am the youngest in my family (by 9 years... can you say "oops!") and therefore, I was pretty much handed anything I've ever wanted. I get spoiled in so many ways, that most of the time I don't even recognize it. 

So, when I was finally able to quit my full-time sales job in the travel industry this past summer, I knew that I wanted to devote more time to thinking less about me and more about giving.  Please understand that this is not an easy task when you've been spoiled.  My former sales job took me out of town, out of province and out of the country often and I LOVED IT...when I was single.  But having a husband and a toddler changes one's perspective.  I really want to be home... and I want to stay home.  Don't get me wrong, I still want to travel, but I want to do so with my family, not for my job.

Back to giving... I truly want to be a better person and this is one of the things I love about Arbonne.  They also want you to be the best person you can be.  Now, I'm not a bad person by any means.  I believe it would be difficult to find someone who thinks I am a truly horrible person, but we spoiled folk tend to be naive when it comes to giving and being sincere.  And we desperately want to be liked... by everyone.  I will be 40 soon and I still have a desire to be liked... but most importanly I wanted to be respected AND liked.  I want words like "fun, giving, engaging, funny, smart, caring & sincere" to be attached to my name.  "Yes, I know Michelle, she's a truly wonderful person".  Hmmm, maybe people don't really speak like that, but wouldn't it be nice for people to at least think it when they hear my name?  I would really like that... but more importantly I would like it to be true.  I certainly have many moments of "sincerity", but a lot of the time the selfish part of me asks: What's in it for me?  Will being sincere and doing things to make other people happy push aside my own selfishness?  Will it still help me achieve my goals for me and family?  How will it benefit ME??

The answer is simple:  Happiness.  I have found that when I do something for other people it makes me happy... truly, sincerely, crazy happy.

This weekend was the perfect example and the bonus is it was so much fun!  On Friday night my son stayed at my parents and my husband and I went out for dinner with his sister and brother-in-law (date night!).  Then I got to spend some quality time with my man, talking, laughing, catching up together on our recorded tv shows from the week.  We both did work around the house on Saturday, and then on Saturday night I left my husband and son to do some manly bonding and I went out.  I went out for a cause... a great cause!

My BFF Pat and I, along with two other amazing Arbonne sisters, Evona & Diane, attended Dressfest. Dressfest is a new charity fundraiser in London that supports the London Regional Cancer Centre Patient Assistance Program.  We, as Arbonne Consultants, sponsored this event and offered to do makeup and touchups for donations.  Why would we do makeup for a charity fundraiser you ask?  Well, the catch to this fundraiser is you have to come in your wedding dress.  Well yours, or borrowed, rented, or bought, etc. So, armed with wedding dressess and makeup cases in hand, we were able to showcase our product to approximately 100 ladies and we helped a charity that is very near and dear to my heart.

Dressfest is only in it's second year and it is growing by leaps and bounds.  The host this year was Q97.5 and they had a silent auction room with so many goodies I'm surprised I didn't go home completely broke, a free wine bar sponsored by Harrison Pensa, fun raffle prizes & draws, a delicious appetizer bar, and music and dancing.  It was so much fun to meet all these amazing women and see a room full of beautiful wedding dresses.  Some dresses brought back fun memories from weddings in the 80's & 90's with the huge puffed sleeves and hats with veils.  They even had prizes for the oldest dress, etc.  I believe one winner had on her dress from her marriage back in 1971.  Let me tell you, after 5 hours of non-stop talking, socializing, applying makeup and chit chat, I was exhausted.  But I felt elated on my drive home because we did something good for people in need.  I forgot my camera (duh) so I apologize for the grainy pictures taken from my cellphone.  I will be better prepared next year!!  www.dressfest.ca





My fantastic mood carried over into Sunday where my mom and I hosted an Arbonne Holiday party/fundraiser at my mom's house for the same charity.  I had cash and carry Arbonne items available plus I am raffling off the Arbonne Vanilla Amber Holiday gift set and all proceeds will be going to the Patient Assistance Program charity.  We didn't have a huge turnout, but I still made $50 for the charity and my good mood has continued to last me into a gloomy, rainy Monday morning. 

I am proud to say that this past weekend was my third charity fundraiser this year.  The first was the Yard Sale for the Cure back in May in which we raised over $800 for Breast Cancer Research.  I had the help of family and friends and raffle baskets donated.



The second was the CIBC Run for the Cure in September.  My husband, son and I raised almost $400 and walked together as a family.  We met lots of family & friends who were also walking for this cause.  My husband and I decided that next year we are going to put in our own team and my husband really wants me to Run, not walk.  My new goal for the spring is to start training so I can run the 5k with my hubby.


The best part is I spent the entire weekend with people I love the most.  My family and good friends.  I did some fundraising for charity and I feel truly great about myself.  I feel... happy.  Maybe there is hope for the spoiled me after all.  :)

2 comments:

  1. Hey Arbonne Sister, I can concur that Arbonne is life changing, but I haven't put that change into words like you have here. Good for you! You are Proof Positive that we can still grow and improve no matter how old we are. How fortunate are we to have found Arbonne to help us realize our potential? I really enjoy reading about how happy you are, and I can say that from the first time I met you, I thought, " hmmm, she's pretty wonderful" (I didn't know what your name was at the time, I think we met in the bathroom at the Holiday Inn! LOL). Keep smilin' Michelle! Have a great day!!! xo

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  2. AWWWWW Thank you Barb! I really am happy and I love that I have met so many wonderful ladies through Arbonne. I hope we can continue to get to know each other better. See you soon!

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