Update for RFL

With only a few weeks to go, the store has been doing pretty well for fundraising events. We've been holding Bake Sales, Donations to see which manager will take a pie in the face, Jeans Day Weekends, BBQs, and selling rubber bracelets in Best Buy colors. The pie in the face event raised well over $100 on its own!

Our General Manager, Chris

My supervisor, John

Emperor Lango, one of the favorite managers

Becca, our Best Buy team captain for Relay

Zach and Weston

Casey getting ready to film the action, MJ, and Brahim

Matt, before pie...

Matt during pie...

 I couldn't get all 3 videos to upload...this was the second pie, Weston from mobile (one of Matt's associates) applied it to his face. Right before he did, Matt stated "Come on Wes, your hours depend on this..."

The third pie was thrown by Jeffy, who made sure to annihilate Matt's hair, and the fourth by Zach who got almost as much on himself as he did his target.

Final results

And clean up afterwards lol

Avoiding the camera

Becca, Casey, Megan

Casey: Did you get that look??

Agent Barry

Art

Phil, and Becca munching...

Avoiding the camera, and watching something..

Baby Mama Kristin, due in June

Drew, closed his eyes on purpose

Jeffy!!

Brittany, loved her top!

Drew's dad Dennis. He BBQ-d for us all day

At the next employee BBQ we will be doing a similar fundraiser where whichever department in the store has the most money in their jar will get water balloons thrown at them by the rest of the store...muah ha ha ha...I will be putting in a lot of money for this one...there will be pictures of this as well.

Other than Relay all that is new with me is that I'm currently house sitting for a friend while she is in Hawaii...long drawn out sigh...on the high note, she has two super cute dogs that are very playful, an in ground pool (freezing right now, of course), a hot tub, a large TV with every gaming console ever made, high speed internet, and an actual kitchen...I'm in heaven :) I can't wait to get a place of my own and be able to live again!!

Relay For Life.2

Four days have passed and our team has made a lot of progress! We took a store vote and chose the theme 'Wall-E' as our Disney based theme for the event. Since I will be posting pictures of the fundraisers and the actual event, I want to wait to give any decorating details...

So far, we have started a bake sale at Best Buy where employees can buy goodies and all of the proceeds go to our team goal. We also recently ordered some of those rubber-Livestrong type bracelets to sell within the store. Initially we were only going to sell them to employees, but one manager suggested letting customers buy them as well, so we're branching out. Some car washes are in order, and it was a bummer that we hadn't been a few more days ahead of this weekend or we could have had one in this 85 degree sunshine weather! (I went to the beach, pictures in the next blog...)

We filled our team of 15 pretty quick too, so many thanks go out to those dedicated few that were quick enough to sign up. Because we had many more people interested, we have started a second team which has boosted our goal to $3,000. This amount is very possible if each person reaches their own personal goal. Thank you to my Grammy and Papa, and Curt Allen who have already helped me to achieve my first goal, which has caused me to set my own new goal of $500 :)

More details when more things have happened, and feel free to spread the word about our Best Buy team. You can check out our site at:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12GW?team_id=1178723&pg=team&fr_id=38623

and team #2 at:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12GW?team_id=1182027&pg=team&fr_id=38623

Relay For Life

Anybody who knows me, or at least knows me on a somewhat deeper level, know that I am extremely efficient at planning events and/or organizing my team for those events. Two days ago I was informed that our store, Medford Best Buy, will be participating in the Relay For Life event at Spiegelberg Stadium in Medford on June 2nd and 3rd. This post and the next couple will be directly related to the event, listing some fundraising events and ideas, how to donate online, how to dedicate luminarias online, and any other information that I might come across.

First, I would like to say that the reason I participate in these events is because I have had family members and friends who have had, or do have, cancer. But the most tolling on me was my grandparents' neighbor and my childhood school Principal, Sammie Allen. Sammie was an amazing woman, someone who hardly ever lost her temper, who is a big reason for me being the bookworm that I am. She taught me how to play Pinochle, and I have numerous memories of her leaving small hidden gifts for us kids to find.

Our store is working on voting for a Disney theme that we will use to decorate our booth and our RFL webpage. So far, the top 3 picks are: Lilo & Stitch, Robin Hood, and Wall-E. By the end of tomorrow the decision will be made and we can start to plan for fundraising events.

Some of those events are going to be the basics like car washes, bake sales, maybe some yard sales if we can get enough stuff together, asking large organizations for donations, and we will be asking friends and family for donations as well. (We have a few specialized fundraising events depending on which theme is chosen.)

 For those who are interested in donating but can't make it to any of the events, I am going to list the steps to donate online through our Best Buy team, or through a specific individual. Since this is through my blog, I'll use my information, but when we make the team website we will recommend any associate/participant that you choose.

To donate online through an individual:
1) Go to www.relayforlife.org
2) Along the top bar, hover over "Get Involved" and click on 'donate'
3) When the page loads, hover over "Donate to a Participant" and type in that participants first and last name (first: Heather, last: Holgate), click 'search'
4) Scroll down and click on the participants name, and then click 'donate on my behalf' in the purple bar in the middle of the screen
5) Select how much you would like to donate and then fill out your remaining information

Your donation through an individual will not only credit that person with the donation amount, but also the team that they are associated with. Each participant has a goal of $100 and teams have a $1,500 goal. The more we can raise the better! Since this is Medford Best Buy's first Relay For Life event, we want to come out with a bang :)

The more people who can donate the better, so please tell friends and family about our involvement. They can either read this blog, follow the above instructions, or look for our team on the Relay For Life website. Our team name is "Medford Heat", and consists of 6 or 7 members so far!

Easter '12

 This year, Best Buy held an Easter Egg Hunt in the store the morning before Easter for any kids and family members who showed up. We had a turnout of around 50 kids total and their family members, which was pretty good considering it was a first time deal. One of our gaming boys (Zach Pfrimmer) dressed up as the Easter Bunny and played Just Dance 3 with some of the kids on the Wii, holding competitions and giving away prizes. He was tired, and hot, and super sweaty by the end of the event.

A hidden egg

Zach dancing away...he wouldn't let the kids win

Our fearless event leader

Ulrika, taking pictures and keeping the crowd happy

Once again, I wasn't able to go home for the Holidays. This year I attended church solo. Applegate was amazing as usual, and I felt honored to know all three of the people who sang worship. Mitch used to work at Best Buy, which is how I know his wife Jess and her sister Amy. They are a very friendly group of people who truly love God.

After church I went to a small get together that consisted of a handful of the boys who I know through Drew and Casey's slowpitch softball team who were going to play football. Thankfully, Zach's girlfriend Minetta showed up too so I wasn't alone on the sidelines with my camera.

And some of my random pictures...I got bored and noticed a water fountain that was running by itself, so I took that time to wander and explore the playground a little bit while the boys played basketball.

Possessed??

Dunking

I really was there, I swear!

Portland Trip: Part 2

Waking up on a cold, hardwood floor isn't my idea of a good time. Especially when I'm still in yesterdays clothes and don't get to brush my teeth. The 6 of us practically made Dutch Bros' quota that day as we walked less than a block to get coffee.

Casey, Candace, Taylor, and Shawn

Few blocks from Downtown

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We left downtown and headed to Drew's sisters house. Now, under normal circumstances this would be a regular affair. Until I realized that this woman was Miss Oregon 2010. She's kinda like a celebrity. Stephenie Steers. She's gorgeous!! And one of the nicest people I've ever met. Definitely deserved the win.

We ran around a bit that day. Taco Bell, the mall, waiting for dinner which resulted in a very interesting game, Sushi! and then Frozen Yogurt. Rented a couple movies, back to Steph and Chris', fell asleep in a chair, woke up, came home. All in all, it was an entertaining weekend filled with a lot of firsts and a lot of smiles.

Unintentional

Cold Beer Drive Through??

Dragon Roll

He ate a lot of plates...

Steph was never surprised by the camera...

The most amazing creation ever!! It was so pretty...

Portland Trip: Part 1

When you have two friends' birthdays in one week, one of those turning 21, and they have friends from Eugene and Portland with birthdays as well, a road trip is in order. Casey, Candace, Drew, and I left Medford Friday afternoon with Eugene in sight. We got a motel room near downtown so that us girls could just walk back from the bars that we ran into while the boys were at some friends. 2 am rolled around and we all decided on sleep...we got little, but we tried.

Candace and I

Leaving Eugene, we headed for Beaverton to stay with another friend. Naturally we had to stop at Woodburn. Us girls were itching for some city shopping, and we put small dents into our bank accounts at our first location. Oh joy. But as tempting as it was, I DID resist the urge to buy something from Coach...but a few things were pretty.

Dropping off our bags, we then turned ourselves loose to look for dinner. Chevy's it was, with some Mexi food, a couple starter drinks, and some silly pictures indeed.

Chevy's

Casey, Drew, Candace

Me, Casey, Drew

He stole the camera...

After dinner we dropped Candace off with some of her friends, agreeing to meet up again later to go out. To entertain ourselves, the boys and myself drove around towards downtown to attempt to get pictures for me. Stopping in at the Rose Garden to use the restrooms led to a fun little discovery: a hockey game between the Portland Winterhawks and the Kelowna Rockets. Naturally, the three of us find a hockey game on accident. Of course, we went. It was much bigger than we were used to, and we felt proud to know a lot of the rules and things that took place.

After the game we met back up with the other group at a place called Holocene. From here, the bar hopping and running around downtown began. I had 0 drinks. Zero. None. I played Mommy like nobody's business. I carried shoes, held cards, checked phones, and monitored the walking capabilities of other folks that were unable to do so themselves. Best part of the night: seeing the boys' faces when the only place left with no cover charge was a gay bar. Talk about shock and terror. We left and headed back to Candace's friends house to play card games and try again to catch some well deserved zzzzzzs.

From here, I fell asleep out of exhaustion and the other kept playing for another half hour or so until sprawling out on the bed and floor.