A New Beginning

I am starting a new career, have a new website, all the appropriate pages on Facebook, and now I'm told that I also need a Blog. All of this for marketing! I thought, "I'm not a blogger." But that's not entirely true. I've been blogging, in a sense, about my son and his battle with cancer for the past two years. More about that later. Writing about Justin and our family has actually been therapeutic, so I guess this won't be so bad either.

My husband, Ed, and I have a beautiful log home model here in Ellijay. As so many are doing these days, we've decided to "reinvent" ourselves. The model home is now called The Heritage House, an events facility. We will be able to host up to 100 guests for parties, weddings, meetings and many other types of gatherings. My passion is entertaining. I love to cook and do all those things that go into preparation for a party or dinner. It will be fun to have a job that's right up my alley. We've had two events so far, both of which were learning experiences, but they were so much fun!

I am going to use this blog to not only write about entertaining, but to share ideas for all that goes along with it. If I weren't working I would be home cooking, gardening, painting, crafting, knitting, sewing and anything else creative. On the blog I may post a recipe or a craft idea. If I find something on another site that I like, I'll share the post. Hopefully, you will want to share ideas too. I have a lot of very talented friends! Now I promise you, I am not a Martha Stewart, although I do get great ideas from her magazines and website. I'm more down to earth, laid back, and of course I can't even fathom the money she has! My ideas are inexpensive. Goodwill, and Faith, Hope & Charity in Ellijay, are my friends.

I would suspect that my first posts will mainly be read by friends and I hope you will share with your friends. Again, this is marketing, the more followers I have, the better for the website and hopefully for business! So, those of you who know me can skip this part, but I've got to tell about who I am:

I'm 51, grew up in the south, Atlanta as an adult and have been in Ellijay for almost 13 years. I moved here when I married my wonderful husband, Ed. Ellijay is a special place and I wouldn't live anywhere else. We have a very good life, even with the ups and downs of owning our own businesses and what has happened to them because of the economy. I am especially blessed to have a 20 year old son, Justin Elliott. He is currently a student at the University of Georgia where he is majoring in marketing. Justin was diagnosed two years ago with brain cancer. The diagnosis was very grim, but not so for Justin. He just keeps on going and is not going to let some stupid disease like brain cancer rule his life! Thanks to the unbelievable support from family, friends, community and church, along with millions of prayers and Justin's attitude, he is doing great! He is a hero to me and many. If you want to know more about Justin his caring bridge site is listed below. So life goes on for all of us. Struggles, ups and downs, miracles, you name it and no matter what, we'll all be just fine.

Enough of that. This will be a positive site and I look forward to sharing ideas. So here's my first and it's not even about entertaining:

Take a cardboard egg crate, not the foam ones, and use it to start seeds. Fill it with potting soil and put the seeds in. When the plants have grown big enough to plant, cut each of the 12 sections out, poke a hole in the bottom of each one and plant. The crates are biodegradable and will compost. Recycling at it's best!

So there you go, my first blog. I'm not sure yet how often I will post, but look forward to the next already. I would love to hear from you.