You've got a little something there

 

We went to supper with our lovely friends Lauren and Marc and tried out a new restaurant. The review? The wait was long (above) but the food was tasty (below). Um, Mia: you've got a little something right over, uh, there.

Dinner for Nick

We were so sad earlier this year when our friends Michael and Susanne moved to Houston. Thankfully, Susanne is telecommuting so she comes up to the main office every now and then for work. We had the chance to have supper with her the other night, and it also happened to be our friend Nicholas's birthday! Because he lives even further way - South Africa - we had to just make him a sign and eat a delicious dessert in his honor.

Our new Vilakazi video

These are all our incredible board members. We love them!

Just ducky

Leigh and Mia got to go to an awesome event this morning that I wish I could have tagged along for. (I had Newsroom 101, so I had to pass.) Our good friend Lauren works for a charity called Oklahoma City Beautiful, and their teen board came up with a really cool fundraiser: a rubber duck race. For $5 you got a rubber duck that was dumped into a canal, and the fastest three ducks won prizes. There were a billion ducks, and three of them were ours. You could decorate your duck for an extra dollar, and as you can see, Mia was very diligent in doing so. We didn't win. Maybe next time, duck racers.

Words of wisdom

Today was a really fun day at work because I had the chance to speak to the New PR Pros group of the Oklahoma City chapter of PRSA. It was great. They cracked me up. I kept my advice brief (I think). It all boils down to two things:

1. Don't be a jerkface.
2. Don't send email attachments the size of China.

If you avoid those things, we can all get along.

Wine for Wickets!

We hosted our second big wine tasting and it was a HUGE success! We are so excited! Vilakazi raised more than $2,000, which is $800 more than last time. We are so, so humbled by our friends and their generosity. It was really special. We have the best board in the world, and they work so hard for our mission. The wine pull, the auction, the tasting - it was all great. And, not to mention, it was a super fun party. To so many people, things like this aren't that big of a deal. But to the children we'll help this summer, it's a really big deal. And just for a reminder, this is what donations did for children in 2010:

A big day for Vilakazi

Today was a big day for Vilakazi. As some of you may or may not know, the foundation Leigh and I started earned its official 501(c)3 status a few weeks ago. It was an exciting day after nearly two years of hard work by our amazing board, volunteers and supporters! After that, we felt a little adrift. We'd been shooting for our 501(c)3 goal for so long, it was strange actually achieving it.

So we took time Saturday to have our first ever board retreat. We didn't really retreat anywhere. We actually just went to my office. Our fantastic friend, Kelli Dupuy, was our facilitator and we accomplished so much! We talked about board development, goal setting and fundraising for the next year. We've set a lofty goal for ourselves, but it's going to be so exciting when we reach it! We're going to help hundreds - hundreds! - of South African children next summer. (I hope you will all be a part of it!)


After spending all day together, we decided it would be great to spend even MORE time together. Some of our board members joined up with a few friends to play in this annual trivia night fundraiser that benefits an Oklahoma nonprofit that works to prevent teen pregnancy. (Boy, do we need this group in Oklahoma!) Our team finished FOURTH out of 48 teams! It was incredible, if not overly competitive. We also finished fourth last year. Next year we're totally winning medals. Or stealing medals. Whatever.

It might sound cliche, but Leigh and I count our blessings every day. We have the most amazing friends!

Rock-paper-scissors-fundraise!

Our first Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament was amazing! We had 35 competitors and raised $1,100 for Vilakazi! Last night was so, so, so much fun.

Leigh and I pose with the trophy, which I made. If I do say so myself, it's pretty awesome.


Kelli and Andrew go for it all in the final round.


Leigh hands Kelli the trophy after she won it all!

Our board is so, so, so amazing. I can't believe how lucky we are.

Vilakazi in the news

Our big event - a rock-paper-scissors tournament - is coming up, and we've had some wonderful stories done about us. It's been so interesting for me to be on this side of the media. Sometimes it's easy to forget how exciting it is to get your name in print. :) Here are links to two stories and a video:

• A wonderful, wonderful, wonderful story ran in The Oklahoman Gazette.
• The University of Central Oklahoma student newspaper also wrote about us.
• One of our board members, Lauren Dennison, appeared on the KAUT-43 morning show with Lance West. She did great!

Lauren also went on the News 9 morning show this weekend, but I don't have a link for that. Either way, she did great both times!