Here we go...and I did something I never thought I would do...

posted by Patty James @ 11:02am, Monday 12 April 2010.

So...here is what I have been doing and what I have learned the past day...

I am getting pretty darn good at asking for help. I can't do this project by myself-it's too big. I also realize how many friends and colleagues I have all over the country- and many on the east coast-lots in New York City. I am feeling really good about this. I have old friends and new friends all over the country who are stepping in to help me! How lucky am I? I am feeling lots of love and lots of support. It's so wonderful. I am also feeling better about myself. The past couple weeks, I have not been feeling good about myself, but that has shifted, thankfully. I didn't like feeling that way and through a series of conversations with old and new friends and a lot of conversations with myself-I feel good about myself, as well I should, dang it! This is important for all of us. We need to feel confident and good in our own skins before we can truly put that out there in the world. Some of you may not have any idea what I mean, but many of you will. Women, I fear, are particularly bad at this. Let's tell ourselves-I'm incredible-because we are!

So this is what I have been doing the past 24 hours....

I drove back south here to Richmond, Virginia for a TV and 2 newspaper interviews, but unless I had kid's interviews within the city limits, they wouldn't interview me. I tried hard to get some interviews set up, but it was too last minute. Granted I was in a neighboring town who watches the channel and reads the newspaper, but that didn't count, so the media spots here didn't work out. Erin from Smith Publicity told me to not worry about it at all and that the bigger markets want to hear about the project on a national scale and don't necessarily care if the interviews are in their city. That being said, I have an interview in an ABC affiliate in Washington DC on Friday-a top 10 market. I have interviews set up in two small towns in Maryland-within a 40 minute drive to Washington DC.

Next is Dover, Delaware and I am still waiting to hear about interviews there. I have a good possibility in Pennsylvania, but would love a Philadelphia connection if anyone has one. I have several possibilities in new Jersey and my oh my, New York City is a very full week of kid's interviews, meeting with old and new friends, a party (or two!) and helping promote friends good work there. It is a very intense week, so I am going to board Patch and Wilma across the river at a Camp Bow Wow in New Jersey. I think it will be best for them. I will be non-stop that whole week. Another fun thing is that I have a friend who offered a vacation home to me in Nova Scotia for after the east coast when I need to rest for a bit. It's on the Bay of Fundy-how cool is that? I'm jazzed and hope it works out.

I am working on many more states, but for now I need to get those all cemented first.

Patch and Wilma and I went into Richmond a bit ago and walked along the James River and saw the church where Patrick Henry gave his, "Give me Liberty, or give me Death" speech.  It's very historic and really interesting. It was a beautiful 3 1/2 mile walk. They are both sleeping now, so I can get a lot of work done. It's a dogs life...I forgot my camera, but will stop tomorrow on the way north to take some photos.

Again, here is the itinerary..Can you help with any of these locales?

Itinerary for April 12 to June 11th  

April 11 – 13 Richmond, Virginia
 
April 15- 19 Washington, D.C.
 
April 20-23 Baltimore, Maryland
 
April  25-28 Dover, Delaware
 
May 1-4 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 
May 5-7 Cherry Hill, New Jersey
 
May 9-14 New York City
 
May 17-20 Waterbury, Connecticut
 
May 23-25 Providence, Rhode Island
 
May 26-29 Boston, and Acton Boxborough, Massachusetts
 
May 30-31 East Barre, Vermont
 
June 1- 6 Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine
 
June 11th: Chicago and Naperville, Illinois
 
June 15 Atlanta, Georgia (on the way back to Florida to drop off the rental car)
 
June 20-July 5: Resting and rejuvenating somewhere ….maybe Nova Scotia!



O.K., what did I do that I said I would never do??? I used a GPS navigational system...I know, disappointing...I have always had great fun while getting lost, but...I don't want to get lost en route to a TV interview in Washington D.C., so I figured out how to use it and tried it out yesterday. 'Be prepared to merge right in 2 miles...' Proceed to the right hand lane...and so on. There you have it....