By Special Request - A Birthday.

Since this particular honoree never got a birthday post last year, by special request I am bringing them out of retirement just for her (and then they are going back to days of no schedule, McDonald's coffee and naps on the couch).



Monica has been an absolute force in my life from the moment I met her. As the story goes (and I assure you it is entirely accurate) Monica emailed me in September of 2007, back when she was the owner of J. Cricket Events and asked to meet with me, well to basically evaluate me for use with her clients. I took that meeting, thrilled to make a connection with a planner and figured I would get a few weddings from it hopefully. I had no idea how much that simple act of saying yes to a meeting would impact my business and my life. A week later I walked into a Starbucks, sat down after a friendly handshake and neither one of us stopped talking for the next three hours. We quickly discovered that our meeting was more than serendipitous. The pictures of her wedding at the Lake Park Grand Staircase had inspired and solidified the ideas for my own, our husbands are eerily similar and our tastes are too. Sometimes you meet people who you just instantly click with. By the time I left that Starbucks I knew that this girl was my friend.

I have no brief meetings, no short conversations with Monica. You will often find us sitting in a car, chatting away for hours, having gotten there in the first place with intentions of one of us dropping the other off for the end of the day. We have leaned on each other over the past year plus as both of our businesses have taken off. We have pushed each other, held up the mirror of hard reality and been the ear to listen. I know I wouldn't be where I'm at without the support and incredible un-ending flow of encouragement she has given me with my business. Monica is always the first person to remind you how fabulous you are, how amazing you are and give you a hug. I am so very grateful for this wonderful woman who I call my friend. I am someone who has been blessed with an amazing set of friends, and Monica is definitely one of them.

So... Happy Birthday Monica!
Head on over to her blog and drop some birthday love on the girl!