inspirational

Toasting to a New Chapter and a Huge Accomplishment!

Barb & Paula celebrationMy sister Paula and I toasting to the success of special edition copies of my book signed, wrapped, sealed and (mostly) shipped

I’m happy to be back to my blog again! I’m happy for everyone who supported the launch of the special edition of my new book, Through Frankie’s EyesI’m happy (and very grateful!) for the help of my sister in helping me put all these orders together! I’m happy to say as of today at almost 2:00pm CST that 330 special edition copies of my book sold!

While the majority of orders have made it out to those who ordered, there is a batch awaiting shipment of more pens that go with the special edition. The response was amazing and I ran out of pens!  While the remainder of books could have been shipped today, the new order of pens arrived yesterday– but were for the wrong company.  I think you will laugh when I tell you that these pens said, “DJ’s Dump Truck Hauling.” Quite the opposite of what I am all about, wouldn’t you say?  And I wonder if DJ got my order of pens wondering what the heck Joyful Paws is?  Though I wish the order would have been correct so I could have gotten the rest of the books shipped, I couldn’t help but laugh.  And in all reality I was ahead of schedule shipping, promising all orders to be shipped on or around Feb. 22.

So the pens are promised to be on my door step no later than 10:00am tomorrow and I’ll finish that up and get the rest of the books in the mail to the rest of you.

I have a few special editions available if you are interested. But hurry as this offer ends at midnight tonight. You can also order my book now available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.   You can also request your favorite bookstore to order for you. Ebook version and Kindle version coming soon too!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my Thank You video!  Now onward and forward to the final touches and plans for my book launch on Feb. 28th!

My Book Cover Revealed: “Through Frankie’s Eyes”–Let’s Celebrate with a Giveaway!

I’m so excited to share this with all of you! After months of giving thought to the best and right decision, I finally chose this cover for my book, Through Frankie’s Eyes: One Woman’s Journey to Her Authentic Self, and the Dog on Wheels Who Led the Way coming February 2013.  Thank you to Derek Murphy of Creative Indie for working with me and answering my oodles of questions until I felt comfortable with this final choice.  In tomorrow’s post I’ll share my reasons for choosing this as my cover and how “analysis paralysis” almost stopped me from picking one at all!

But now it is time to celebrate!!

I’ve got a wonderful giveaway to celebrate the release of my book cover. I hope you will take part, as well as share with your family and friends to not only help me spread the good news about my soon to be book, but also so they have a chance to take part in this awesome giveaway.

To enter the giveaway all you need to do is take part in answering the question below. You can answer in the comment section below, or head on over to my Facebook page and leave a comment on the post about my book cover giveaway.  On November 21st I will pick a winner at random with Random.org.  So here is the question:

What is the biggest lesson your pet has taught you and how has that helped you to grow or evolve in your life? (if you don’t have a pet, perhaps a previous pet you had or another pet that may not personally be yours is one that has helped you).

I’m really excited about hearing what all of you have to say about this question, so please do participate!

Now For the Exiting Giveaway Details:

~A signed copy of Through Frankie’s Eyes: One Woman’s Journey to Her Authentic Self, and the Dog on Wheels Who Led the Way plus one signed copy for ten friends.  The winner and their ten friends will also receive a one hour book discussion with me via phone or Skype (or in person if you would happen to be in my neck of the woods).  This will take place once my book is released and you and your friends have had enough time to read the book.

~An animal communication reading for the pet of your choice from animal communicator, Dawn Baumann Brunke.

Signed copies of the following books:

A Dog Named Leaf: The Hero from Heave Who Saved My Life by Allen Anderson with Linda Anderson

A Dog Named Boo: How One Dog and One Woman Rescued Each Other– and the Lives They Saved Along the Way by Lisa J. Edwards

 Heart to Heart Hand in Paw: How One Woman Finds Faith and Hope through the Healing Love of Animals by Peggy Frezon

Purrs of Wisdom: Conscious Living, Feline Style by Ingrid King (this is an ebook)

 Dancing Dogs Stories by Jon Katz

 The Animal Anthology Project: True Tails by Christine Catlin

All copies of the books with the exception of Dancing Dogs will be mailed to winner by respective author (Dancing Dogs will be mailed by me to winner).  Purrs of Wisdom is an ebook and winner’s name will be given to author, Ingrid King to get that to winner. A huge thank you to each and every author for their participation in my special giveaway! Also a special thank you to Dawn Baumann Brunke for the animal communication donation.

This giveaway is open to US residents only. When you leave a comment below in the post please be sure I have a way in which I can get a hold of you by email if you are the winner.  If I don’t have that information, I will need to pick another winner. If you answer the question on Facebook I will message you through Facebook if you are the winner.

The winner will have seven days to notify me they received the email stating they are the winner. If I don’t hear from winner in seven days, another name will be drawn and declared winner.

If you wish to be notified when my book is launched and available for purchase please consider signing up for my newsletter (left hand upper corner of this page) or following me on Twitter, Facebook or my blog (you can sign up for post updates on left hand side.  Scroll down until you see sign up box).

Being Willing to Give What We Most Hope to Get

I was really touched by this story from life coach Cheryl Richardson’s newsletter today. I just had to share.

Website banner with Coach on Call

“I lost both my beloved kitties a year ago to renal failure.  From following your weekly stories, I know you love your little one as much as I loved mine.

This week I decided I would start slowly picking up cat supplies for my new kitties “to be”.  You see, although I absolutely adore the companionship of cats, I had been stalling, as the pain of losing “my boys” was still very much with me.

I just happened to be coming from a medical appointment in a part of town I’m rarely in and saw a small pet shop.  As I walked in, I noticed a cage with a couple cats in it but I went to the back of the store looking for litter pans.  When I came back to the front, one of the sales people was struggling – she was trying to clean the cage while holding a kitty.  I quickly offered to hold the kitty for her.  Well, this little tabby melted into my arms…. he purred right away, he nuzzled, he just seemed to “fit.” I held him for about 10 minutes and when I put him back in his cage, he actually leapt from his cage onto my shoulder.  Yes, this was a sign!  And he had a brother…. and I wanted two boys.

But, there is a bit more to this story.  I was still hesitant as these boys were 6 month-old rescue kitties and I wanted babies.

The next morning I met with my financial advisor who I hadn’t seen for a while.  I was telling her that I wanted to get a full-time or “real” job, as I was tired of the ups and downs of working as an independent.  But, I was encountering “ageism.”  Despite my exceptional qualifications, employers seemed to want someone younger.  As I was driving away from the meeting, I suddenly realized what just happened.  I connected the dots.

I drove straight to the pet store to pick up my 6 month-old little boys.  They are here now – safe, secure, loved, and (unfortunately), climbing my curtains.”

And Cheryl commented:  Mary’s story is a beautiful lesson in being willing to give what we most hope to get.