Julie

I can not even begin to tell you what a wonderful thing you did last night for my son.  It just made his night, at the end he was out of his seat and right up front.  Got to shake Keith Urban’s hand and that just made his day, one of the band member gave him a their guitar picks and that was very special of him. 

The night was just fantastic two women that were in the row in front of us ended standing up on the their seat (Keith let people fill the pit in front) and they invited Cory to stand between them so he had a perfect view.  You would never know that he was legally blind, so for them to do that was just great, just as what you did will always be special to me.  As we were walking to the bus to get our car he just hugged me and said “buddy, (he has never called me dad) all I can say is thank you I had a great time and wasn’t it nice of that lady to give us those seats.”  

Julie, you “paid it forward” and now it is our turn to do the same and that is what will save this world.  Not a stimulus package or fighting wars but for each of us to just reach out and love one another. 

Would you be so kind to send me your mailing address so that Cory can send you a thank you note and I would like to send you a little book I wrote last year.  Again thank you so much!!

My God Bless you always 

Meet the coolest family ever at  www.RamonaMae.com   You will fall in love, just like we did!  The Pink Hippo came across Ramona’s story a couple years back.  They live in Chicago, and visited our new Glen Ellyn store on opening day!

So here we go!  Off on a road trip to Omaha to see Matt and Jack’s Mannequin the evening before Easter.  In normal concert fashion, we arrived several hours early.  We parked by both bands’ tour busses and sat outside and took it all in.  It was a great show…..but tough driving home that night!  Had to get home for the Easter bunny!

Seriously though……as a fan, it simply can’t get any better than this!  You can checkout all the pictures on my Facebook .

 J

J

Gretch and I decide at the last minute to buy some front row tickets to the Counting Crows, Maroon 5, Augustana concert in KC back in September.  We also scored some sound check passes, which allowed us access to the Maroon 5 sound check prior to the show.  We drive to KC, grab a hotel, and cab it to the venue.  We do the sound check with about 20 other people….it was pretty cool.  That’s over, and the show doesn’t start for another 3 or 4 hours and we aren’t too interested in cabbing it back and forth, so we decide to just hang out.  The staff is busy getting ready for the show, not paying too much attention to us.  We kick off our shoes and sit back, content on watching all of the goings on to get this thing started.  We meet this guy…..a radio promoter, who is meeting some contest winners to take them for a meet and greet with Maroon 5.  He invites us along.  Which is where the picture is taken.  Back to hanging out….couple hours until the venue opens the gates. 

By this time, everyone is so used to our faces, they start to think we belong there.  We managed to get VIP wristbands which gave us access to the VIP lounge, buffet and VIP bathrooms.  The seats were outstanding!  Not in the bathroom, but the at the show.  The show was amazing!  After the concert we made it backstage for the after party.  I stole Maroon 5’s bottle opener.  I know, very mature.  We drank some Corona’s with Maroon 5……How many good things can happen in one day, really? 

So the moral of the story is…..you’ll get the farthest by acting like you belong right where you are.  

J

Here is a shot of Holly, me and Gretch at the Matt Nathanson concert for my Birthday!

Holly Cottrell is the new Franchise Owner of the Urbandale Pink Hippo.  Gretchen and I and the production girls are getting ready to move into our new facility.  We should be there by December 15th.  More details coming soon.   We still take custom orders!  Holly has been working for us for quite sometime and is very helpful in matching custom pieces.  So keep those Holiday outfits coming! 

I would like to say,  we have built quite a personal relationship with many many of our loyal customers, and it is difficult to think about not seeing those familiar faces on a regular basis.  Which is why we might give you the address of our new production studio when we get the papers finalized!  Thanks for all of the great friendships this past year!  You are an amazing group of women and your support means so much to us!

Much Love,  Julie

Counting Crows

Holy cow, are we in our busy season!  We are smokin’ busy with the holidays around the corner!  Our attorneys have finalized our franchising docs and we have presented them to our buyer for the IA store.  We are planning on closing on the sale of Urbandale Nov. 17th.  What this means is….Gretchen and I are relocating the The Pink Hippo production and distribution studio to another facility locally.  You will still be shopping at the same awesome retail location in Urbandale, but it will be owned and operated by our new franchisees.  We will still be roaming the halls for a few weeks as we finalize our new location.  We are getting our Holiday line out a little late this year, but have been swamped with special orders.  The stores are currently receiving the holiday products and we are updating the web site as well.  Please visit us at Gift Mart in Des Moines November 20-22. 

Our energy will be going to developing the new production studio as well as marketing our franchising opportunities.  Please check back as we will be adding information to franchising link on our web site.

Here is a shot of Counting Crows at the KC concert.

Love, Julie

Thank you to all of our great Hippo customers, friends and family for all of your well wishes and support for us.  We really appreciate all of your kindness.

Gotta head to Bunco.  So check back often for more updates and tidbits about us!  We promise it won’t be 6 months before you have another posting!!

Oh, and hopefully soon we will be able to add some pictures for you all to see.  Just trying to get it to work!

Gretchen

Hope everyone is on dry, safe land tonight. It is so hard to see the destruction the flooding has caused all around us.

Julie