*Edit on 10/27/13, shown in red below*
Hello InstaSistas!
**ok first things first....It sorta bugs me that I didn't use the spelling of Sistahs instead of sistas but since either isn't a real word its not too bad.....right?! LOL**
OK, now that I got that off my chest, ha! Let's talk ornament exchange for our November 2nd meet up for the Houston Girls.
Requirements:
The one and only requirement is that you bring a Christmas ornament if you want to go home with one from one of your InstaSistas. We will make the exchange super fun and easy and no stealing will be going on for the exchange. You can make an ornament or buy one it is totally up to you but just take into consideration that you want to gift something that you would be proud to take home too. **Please bring your ornament wrapped or in a small gift bag. **
OK, that is it! I'm going to check out a location for us and will report back if it is a go for our meet up. Have a great day!
It's looking like there will be 14 of us but I will have a better count as the date grows near as some may drop out or asked to be added in as time goes by.
***Note***
I know at the first meetup we had fun swag bags and some of the girls brought gifts for the others. That is not a requirement and so please don't feel obligated to bring anything other than an ornament unless you want to this time around. This is just meant to get friends together who share some common interests. However, if you have a business to promote and want to get the word out via some literature or a little something from your shop you are never discouraged.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Getting Serious about our meet ups
Hello InstaSistas!
OK, So in order to make these events happen we have to plan ahead and find a restaurant/venue that can accommodate us. In order to do this I have to have a head count so I know what I am working with and chances are I am going to be asked to put down a deposit to hold the space.
At our very first meet up we lucked out that I was able to find a place where we could each walk up to order/pay for our meals. As well as I showed up early to save all our tables but this won't always be the case and is actually harder to do. I want to keep these meet ups going but I will need y'all to help in responding as early as possible as to whether you are in or you are out. I know we all have busy lives and so we all won't be able to attend every meet up. But, I'm hoping if we give you at the very least a month's notice you can book the day with us or let us know you are out.
The other option is to possibly limit the gatherings to a set number of attendees according to our venue so it would be first come first signed up type of deal. As you all probably know getting a restaurant to accommodate a big group takes work and I'm happy to do the work if we are all serious about these meet ups. But, I can't wait till the last minute to book a place and won't and if it gets too stressful and turns out to be more work then fun then the meet ups could dissolve.
So, with that said I need RSVP's for the Saturday Nov 2nd Lunch and Ornament Exchange Meet up due to me by Monday Oct 14th. At that time I will close the sign ups and focus our efforts on finding a location for our lunch/ornament exchange meet up. I hope you understand, I would love for as many to come as possible but putting a set date will help in the planning. Thanks!!
***At this time we will be looking for venues located on the North side of Houston. I don't want to disappoint those in other parts of Houston but since the organizers are all located on the North side it is easier for us to make all the arrangements and visit restaurants to book etc. We will have some special out of town meet ups between Houston and Austin since that is where some of the interested group are also located.***
You can always email me at nct621 at hotmail dot com if you do not want to leave a comment here.
OK, So in order to make these events happen we have to plan ahead and find a restaurant/venue that can accommodate us. In order to do this I have to have a head count so I know what I am working with and chances are I am going to be asked to put down a deposit to hold the space.
At our very first meet up we lucked out that I was able to find a place where we could each walk up to order/pay for our meals. As well as I showed up early to save all our tables but this won't always be the case and is actually harder to do. I want to keep these meet ups going but I will need y'all to help in responding as early as possible as to whether you are in or you are out. I know we all have busy lives and so we all won't be able to attend every meet up. But, I'm hoping if we give you at the very least a month's notice you can book the day with us or let us know you are out.
The other option is to possibly limit the gatherings to a set number of attendees according to our venue so it would be first come first signed up type of deal. As you all probably know getting a restaurant to accommodate a big group takes work and I'm happy to do the work if we are all serious about these meet ups. But, I can't wait till the last minute to book a place and won't and if it gets too stressful and turns out to be more work then fun then the meet ups could dissolve.
So, with that said I need RSVP's for the Saturday Nov 2nd Lunch and Ornament Exchange Meet up due to me by Monday Oct 14th. At that time I will close the sign ups and focus our efforts on finding a location for our lunch/ornament exchange meet up. I hope you understand, I would love for as many to come as possible but putting a set date will help in the planning. Thanks!!
***At this time we will be looking for venues located on the North side of Houston. I don't want to disappoint those in other parts of Houston but since the organizers are all located on the North side it is easier for us to make all the arrangements and visit restaurants to book etc. We will have some special out of town meet ups between Houston and Austin since that is where some of the interested group are also located.***
You can always email me at nct621 at hotmail dot com if you do not want to leave a comment here.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Ornament Exchange
Hello Sistas!!
I made the blog public for now, if we get too much spam or choose to share info we would prefer private I can change it back.
So, for our next meet up we thought it would be fun to do an ornament exchange or swap if you will. You will only need to bring one ornament in a gift bag please. If you like to craft and want to make an ornament that is great too!!
I will be back with more details and will add them to this blog post with a edit date listed. Please let me know if you can make it. If you aren't sure then hold off till later so that we can get a good head count.
***Edited 10-8-13***
I was trying to reserve The Bake Shoppe and Cafe for our event but they are booked for 11/2. So, going back to the drawing board. It would be helpful if I could start getting a head count of who is in so I know how big a space we need. Thanks!
I made the blog public for now, if we get too much spam or choose to share info we would prefer private I can change it back.
So, for our next meet up we thought it would be fun to do an ornament exchange or swap if you will. You will only need to bring one ornament in a gift bag please. If you like to craft and want to make an ornament that is great too!!
I will be back with more details and will add them to this blog post with a edit date listed. Please let me know if you can make it. If you aren't sure then hold off till later so that we can get a good head count.
***Edited 10-8-13***
I was trying to reserve The Bake Shoppe and Cafe for our event but they are booked for 11/2. So, going back to the drawing board. It would be helpful if I could start getting a head count of who is in so I know how big a space we need. Thanks!
Friday, October 4, 2013
#4 Dates?! How Often Do We Meet in 2014?
OK, the next subject to take into consideration is how often to meet. I am going to list my suggestions and you girls can leave comments and suggestions. Thanks!!
The following are for 2014
Option A
January
March
September
Option B
January
March
May
July
Sept
Nov
The more gatherings we have the more chances you have to join if another date didn't work for you so that is something to keep in mind. We are still trying to work things out and don't forget that you will be building new friendships and so you can always choose to see some of your new #txinstasistas when you choose to make your own plans.
Please leave your comments or choices in the comment's section below. Thanks!
#3 Location Suggestions
This post is so that you can leave comments with suggestions on places you would like to recommend we hold a meet up. Please keep in mind that we could be anywhere from 15 up to 30 women at one time and yes, there could be less too but just keep the higher #'s in mind. Also, there is traffic to consider as well.
When we schedule a day trip I would suggest you keep it within a 3hr drive as most everyone has family and staying overnight may not be an option. I think that meeting in Round Top is a great place to meet up with our Austin friends. We could meet at Royer's Cafe for a meal and visit and there are a few small shops if we wanted to browse them too.
Keep in mind that folks will need to arrange for either sitters or their spouse to help out with kiddos and so driving too far from home could cause some conflicts. So, if you are one that finds it easier to get away from the house then I would suggest you take into consideration meeting where the area where majority lives. At this time most of those that came to our first meet up where in the NW side of town and so coming to The Woodlands worked out just fine.
With that go ahead and call out some of your suggestions in the comments section. Thanks!!
#2 Planning well In Advance....
...is the name of the game this time around! Since we have the holiday's starting up we haven't been able to come up with a free Saturday or Thursday night that could work. There are a few things we have to take into consideration when planning a meet up.
There is the When, Where and What time and I can tell you that I would bet lots of money on the fact that it will be totally impossible to make everyone happy with those three things. So, we can only do what we can do, right?!
As much as I would love to accommodate everyone it just won't be possible and so just know that we plan to have meet ups through out the coming year. Also, something that plays into the meet ups is the location and that in itself is tricky. The reason is that most places want a deposit to hold their larger private seating areas and well......I'm not sure about dropping down my credit card to hold spots that may end up being cancelled due to conflicts that could arise. Life happens right :) And I'm sure you understand.
So, there could be times that we will require you to hold your spot with your credit card and we can do that via paypal or we can check with the restaurant to see if they will allow us to each use our own cards to hold our spot. We will figure it out before hand as we pick dates and places.
So, with that said we are thinking of holding some of our meet ups on a Thursday night for dinner and some of them on a Saturday for lunch. At our first meet up I chose a place that allowed us to each walk up and pay for our own meals then we simply hung out together and mingled. I got there early enough to wrangle a bunch of tables by putting down some swag bags. It worked out just fine but I know we won't always be that lucky and so reserving our own private dining area might be best at times.
Then there will be times that we might want to do day trips so that we can meet up with our Austin friends and other surrounding areas. That will involve car pooling at times if it makes the most sense and again we will do our best to pre plan all that as we did our recent day at Round Top.
We will also do our best to give you all a chance to put in a vote for dates and locations but there will be times that the organizers will simply set a time/place/date and if it works for you great if not then hopefully next time.
Remember we want this to be fun and stress free. So, think about all that and I will be back with some dates. I'm not sure we can fit one in before the end of year, if we do it may end up being a small gathering due to so many having plans around the upcoming holidays. For me it seems lots of my friends are getting married, I have an anniversary, a vacation and the holidays to prepare for so I'm sure you all do too.
Just know we are going to make this happen!!
I am going to open up a blog post titled "Location Suggestions" as well as one for "How often do we meet" and you can leave a comments there. Again, we will do our best to take them into consideration but can't make any promises.
Thanks in advance for understanding.
#1 Hello My InstaSistas!
Hi there fellow #txinstasistas
So glad you dropped by! This is where we will post info on our meet ups so check back often.
Why #txinstasistas ? Well, as a daily Instagram user I thought it would be fun to arrange meet ups for some of my local Instagram friends! At first it started out as #houinstasistas and then expanded to #txinstasistas when some of our out of town friends shared interest in joining in on the fun. We have had two meet ups to date and we are excited to hold more in the near future!
Please note that although we are happy to take suggestions of places to meet we will often times choose a location where the majority rules. As everyone knows schedules can be hard to make work for everyone. So, no worries if you can't make one of the meetups there is always another later on down the line. Bottom line is we want to have fun and so the less stress the better. I drive to and work every day an hour there and an hour back so I totally get those that don't want to drive across town. Again, we will do our best to move around our meet up spots but the majority will rule on this one.
If you want to venture out and host your own InstaMeetups then please do and keep us in the loop. We love meeting new people.
I'm in the process of setting up our blog. But, be sure to leave a comment to let us know you stopped by. Hope to see y'all soon!
So glad you dropped by! This is where we will post info on our meet ups so check back often.
Why #txinstasistas ? Well, as a daily Instagram user I thought it would be fun to arrange meet ups for some of my local Instagram friends! At first it started out as #houinstasistas and then expanded to #txinstasistas when some of our out of town friends shared interest in joining in on the fun. We have had two meet ups to date and we are excited to hold more in the near future!
Please note that although we are happy to take suggestions of places to meet we will often times choose a location where the majority rules. As everyone knows schedules can be hard to make work for everyone. So, no worries if you can't make one of the meetups there is always another later on down the line. Bottom line is we want to have fun and so the less stress the better. I drive to and work every day an hour there and an hour back so I totally get those that don't want to drive across town. Again, we will do our best to move around our meet up spots but the majority will rule on this one.
If you want to venture out and host your own InstaMeetups then please do and keep us in the loop. We love meeting new people.
I'm in the process of setting up our blog. But, be sure to leave a comment to let us know you stopped by. Hope to see y'all soon!
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