Goodbye Volusion

After four and a half years at Volusion I am saying goodbye. It's an amazing, fast-growing company and I wish the best for them. My time there has taught me more than I could have ever imagined about software (more specifically SaaS), ecommerce, sales, how to build an SMB, entrepreneurship, tech public relations, marketing (in all forms from SEO to print advertising and PPC to social media marketing), how to be a better writer, customer relations and much, much more.

BUT, having said all that, it's time for our family to find a little more balance. Having a dual income is great, but it's not worth the craziness that our life has become. Two parents working full-time, commuting and trying to still make family a priority is hard. Really hard. Can I get an amen from any of you working moms out there?! So, I've decided to start working part-time from home so I can spend more time with Quinn and give more to my family.

Originally, I was hoping to stay with Volusion, but they aren't in a place to have a part time PR person. So, I found another exciting opportunity where I can work part-time from home and have a super flexible schedule. I'll also still be in the tech industry so I can keep my feet wet and feel like I'm accomplishing something other than being a mama every day (not that being a mama isn't a huge task...I just know I'll want more).

This is such an exciting time for our family and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us. It's a bit of a leap of faith, but one that we have been preparing for knowing it's best for our family. The day I put in my two-weeks notice a cool thing happened. I walked out of the meeting (feeling a little sad) and I pulled open my email to see this quote:

"There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind." - C.S. Lewis

So, I'm moving ahead!

Before I said goodbye to Volusion, I had to document some of the fun times I've had there.

*I have to give credit to my good friend David House for his encouragement to apply here. He was my manager for a while, trained me, listened to me vent and saw me grow there. I love that guy and I'm blessed to call the Houses some of our closest friends.

2009 - came on board as an Ecommerce Sales Consultant. I had no clue what ecommerce was much less how to sell it. I had amazing coaches and colleagues who taught me the ropes and guided me to be hugely successful at sales (who knew?!).

2010 -  I was encouraged to apply for a new position that Volusion had created to start selling marketing and design services. This was something they'd never done before, but they wanted to expand services and needed someone specifically to sell that and not the ecommerce stores. I was honored to be chosen from a group of amazing sales folks and I made the most of the opportunity by selling the crap out of marketing and design services. I love to think back to that time because now that team of services sales has eight people and it continues to grow.

2011 - After a couple of years in sales I was ready to move on. I lobbied a position for myself outside of sales and into marketing where I've been the last two years. I was a Marketing Associate at first helping out w/ all sorts of projects and then Volusion decided to bring its PR in-house so I took over that program with the help of my manager.

2013 - It's time for a new chapter.

Here are some fun pics from my time at Volusion.

Impossible to get a group shot w/out laughing.

Back to school day where I sported by volleyball captain outfit.

2009 Christmas Party

At the MAGIC trade show w/ some awesome (and by awesome, I mean hot) customers

Kentucky Derby day w/ mint juleps

Christmas Party 2010

I won my first Core Values Award for Rocking the Golden Rule. (I got the same award in 2011 when I was on maternity leave)

More trade show fun.

Just a typical beer Friday.

Halloween 2011 when I was about to pop.

My Volusion baby shower.

Baby Quinn visiting me at the Bikes for Kids golf tourney that we sponsored. 

My visit to the UK office.

My MarCom team today that I'll miss dearly!

Mother's/Father's Day 2013

I couldn't get my act together to blog about Mother's day back in May so I decided to combine the two parental holidays into one post.

Mother's Day
We had a great weekend! Uncle J and Aunt Abby came into town and while the guys played golf on Saturday, the girls hung out on the patio while Q played and got really dirty. Then we went to my mom's to eat lunch and play while we waited for the guys to go eat dinner.

My dad came in town too so we all went to Z Tejas for dinner. We love having a Z Tejas in Cedar Park now! Quinn was being such a ham and it was such a beautiful evening that we sat on the patio so she could run around.

Sunday, I woke up at around 7a.m. which was amazing. That's sleeping late for me. Q and Jeremy had gone to get some doughnuts and they came to greet me in bed with sweet kisses, a flower and sweet card. She also picked out a gift from the Target $1 bin...a big pink floppy hat! I told Jeremy not to get me anything since I wanted to buy something for the house as my gift. I guess that's what you do when you are grownups...buy necessities as gifts to yourselves. "Babe, I want a new water heater for Christmas."

We got dressed and met up with the family at church. After that we headed over to mom's for a yummy lunch and plenty of quality time to play more with Uncle J and Aunt Abby before they left.

It was a great 2nd Mother's Day and I loved having my Mom in town this year. I've always felt guilty when I couldn't be with her for Mother's Day and now that she's here, it'll be a lot easier!

Father's Day
Jeremy started the weekend Friday evening with a dude's movie night to see the new Superman. Quinn and I ate dinner with Mom and Dennis and Pawpaw and Sherrie came in town too! The whole way over to the house, Quinn was saying "PawpawSherrie" and then when we got there, she would hardly look at them. She's been taking a while to warm up to people lately.

Saturday, we went to get breakfast at Kerbey Lane and then headed to Home Depot to get some flowers for me to plant in the front yard. Jeremy had Quinn duty (i.e. he literally just chased her all over the store) while I looked around.

We hung out at home that afternoon and then went over to Mom's to drop off Quinn so Jeremy and I could have a date night to celebrate Jordan's 30th b-day. It was fun being out with our couple friends like our days pre-Quinn...we miss our couple friends! I guess that's another part of becoming a grown-up...less time with friends, more time with family. Luckily, we like most of our family. wink, wink ;)

Sunday, we got up and Quinn gave Jeremy his gift. Well, sort of. Earlier that week we bought him a burr coffee grinder since that's what he wanted. (Another grown-up gift.) We are kind of obsessed with it now since we are sort of coffee snobs and LOVE our coffee. The burr grinder doesn't spin to break up the beans, which burns them, but it crushes them. It may be in our heads, but our coffee is so much smoother and just amazing!

Anyway, Sunday morning Quinn gave her Daddy the other gift I got which was a book about a kid and her daddy. That's a new tradition I started last year and I hope to continue forever...especially since Q loves books so much.

We went to church and then met up with my Dad, Mom, Dennis, Pawpaw, Sherrie and Emily to have brunch at Maudie's. Then, Jeremy and Dad went to play golf while Q and I had some quality time at home.

We all met up again at Mom's house where we got to see the end of the U.S. Open and have burgers and hot dogs for dinner. Quinn warmed up to Pawpaw and Sherrie a little more and since last weekend she hasn't stopped talking about them. I kept telling her she needed to be nice to them and give them hugs and kisses so now she says "PawpawSherrie, nice. Hug." Sweet girl...in theory she wants to be nice. It just doesn't work out that way in person.

Oh, on a side note, poor Jeremy got stung by a wasp playing golf. I think he probably would have been happier on the couch napping to golf, so maybe next year, we'll plan on that.

19-Month Toddler Q

Dear Sweet Quinn,

You are so much fun right now!! You are talking so much and you are like a little mocking bird. You will try to repeat anything we say it cracks us up. You also have a sweet little independent personality. Here are some fun things about you this month:

Chatty Mockingbird

You are starting to use possessive nouns a lot (Mama's shoes, Daddy's pillow). You also want to make sentences so badly (shoes on/off, it's hot, Mama help, etc.). I've been so proud of you lately because you have been trying to use words instead of whining. We don't have to remind you quite as often and you're catching on that if you ask and use words, we figure it out much faster. You will repeat anything we say (ah oh...time to turn on the filter). The cutest things you repeat that I say a lot w/out thinking about it are: "okay", "let's see" and when you whine and then say please, I say "please, what?" and you always repeat me and say "please, what?". Cutie!

Rewards

I decided to try a sticker chart for when you brush your teeth. You hate it so much, but if we remind you about the sticker chart you (reluctantly) let us brush. The way you say "sticker chart" is so cute!! You are also very particular about putting the stickers at the top of the page...it's pretty funny.

Potty

You have been telling us when you poop and one of your favorite books is what you call the "tee-tee book" (it's a Precious Moments book about a little girl potty training). We decided that you were showing some interest so we went to get your very own potty. Shockingly (yeah right) you chose the Elmo potty. You haven't used it yet, but you sit on it and we talk about it a lot. Who knows? Maybe in the next 6 months you'll figure out the whole potty thing.

Elmo Obsessed

My goodness, we are about to go nuts w/ the Elmo voice. You are seriously obsessed. Any time you see our phone or we reach to turn the radio up or down you say Elmo over and over and over and over and over and over again. Elmo is such a blessing and a curse because we can bribe you to do things with him (yes, I'm sorry, we have to do that sometimes...at least we admit it) but you also throw little fits if you can't watch a quick Elmo video. Geeze. I guess it could be worse...at least it's not something weird like Teletubbies. We've tried watching a few Barney videos, but you don't seem to like those as much. You just say Elmo when it's over. I can't wait for you to have the attention span for Disney movies. I think you'll love the princess ones!



Spiritual Leader
You have become the spiritual leader in our house. Every time we sit down to eat, you fold your hands together and stare at us until we say our prayers. It's really funny! Also, at the end of every prayer, you always makes sure to pray for Nannie Mae and milk. You love going to church and we figured out why the other day. I asked if you wanted to go to Sunday School and learn about Jesus and you immediately said "crackers." Oh dear. Well, whatever keeps you at church for now! :)

Here are a few love/hates from this month:

You love when we read to you.
You love reading by yourself.
You hate when we pick the wrong book.
You love cooking in your pretend kitchen and letting us taste.
You hate when you can't get your baby to sing her song.
You hate brushing your teeth.
You love getting a sticker for your sticker chart.
You love rolling around in your bed before you go to sleep (sometimes for an hour).
You hate being in your bed by yourself in the mornings. You wake up and you want out. I'm just waiting to see you climb out.
You love when we sing Happy Birthday.
You hate when we pick the wrong song to sing.
You love repeating things over, and over, and over, and over, and over until we acknowledge you.
You hate being on the floor in the kitchen when we are cooking/doing dishes. (Thank goodness for the learning tower.)
You love feeding yourself.
You hate being in a public place too long (like a restaurant).
You love soup.
You love dogs...all of them big and small.
You hate when Ella barks. It's been scaring you lately and you cry.
You love telling Ella "No, No!"
You love praying.
You love seeing Nannie Mae...you always squeal.
You love the water.
You love saying "No".
You hate riding in the car.
You hate when Elmo goes off the screen.
You hate loud noises.
You love play dough.
You love pushing your babies in their stroller.
You hate when the stroller gets stuck.
You hate when we wipe your nose.
You love your Keens. (On a side note, these are the best summer shoes for kids!)

I think that's it for this month (that I can think of at least). You are so much fun right now. It's amazing to have a sweet little sponge to interact with every day. We love you baby girl!

Love,
Mama

You wanted to read to Dot.

You love Ella...poor Ella just wants to be left alone.

Fun at the Austin Children's Museum

You insisted on putting your socks and shoes on. Somehow, you were fine w/ your sock being halfway on and folded over.