And The Winner Is:

Last night I attended our Chamber of Commerce award dinner.  I hadn't planned on going but at the last minute I changed my mind and I'm really glad I did.  Jack's on the board of directors for the Chamber and has served in different capacities.  He chaired the small business awards for years and in the last few years the format has changed.  There were many categories that competed for awards besides small businesses.  Agricultural, recreation, education, health and medical services, social services, small and large businesses, retail and professional awards were handed out last night.  The meeting was very well attended...about 400 people. The venue was lovely and the dinner was excellent.

Sorry about the blurry pic here! The entry was so pretty!

There were lovely flower arrangements on all the tables and every table was different.

Displays of all the nominees were all around the convocation center. Like this one of our downtown Ashland main street organization.  Ashland is trying very hard to bring our downtown area back to life.  Strip malls, Wal-marts, and big box stores have done a lot to kill small town main streets. We have many new shops and eateries opening up and making downtown a fun place to visit.

Factories used to be big business here. We had many manufacturing plants that made Ashland a wealthy community years ago. Hedstrom, they make sport equipment and other fun things, has made a come back here and employs many in our town.

This display was for our hospital that was nominated in two different categories. Samaritan Hospital has won a few prestigious awards in the last few years. We've been rated on of the top 100 hopsitals and 100 best hospitals for total joint replacement. Last night we won the large business award.  It was great to cheer for our small town hospital. We do great things here and I've been working there for 35yrs and feel proud to be a part of the team. (Even when it gets crazy and stressful).

I'm putting a plug in for Brethern Care Village. Donna was on the board of directors and brought me on board a few years ago.  I only served for 3yrs but learned a ton about nursing homes and care for the elderly. I think we have many good facilities here.  Kinston of Ashland, another fabulous nursing home, won for health and medical services.  Last night also had a keynote speaker. The Dean of Religious Life, Dr. Dan Lawson spoke about "Sowing the seeds of success"....a very positive message delivered by a wonderful speaker.  He talked about fear of failure, having gratitude and the role of positive thinking. I'm thinking he was the reason I needed to be there last night. I'm going to take some of his suggestions to work and into my own life and hopefully some of these seeds will sprout into positive actions.  Hey, Spring will be here in 2 weeks and I want to be ready to go forward with a smile! It's sunny out today and the temps are suppose to rise into the 50's...I'm off work for the weekend and that is the best winning combination. I guess that means the winner is...drum roll here.......ME!