Okra What?

I planned on writing about this earlier this week but I was in a car accident and fairly banged up....

I remember when I first moved to Irmo almost 7 years ago, I was intrigued about the "Okra Strut." Having lived in Tulsa for a little while, I knew what okra was, lol, ....but dedicating a festival to it was a little comical to me. It prompted me to do some research. This is what I found: several women in a women's club wanted to raise funds for a new Irmo library.  A local radio host had jokingly mentioned that ancient Irmo locals probably ate a lot of okra...and this gave the women a title for their first arts and crafts venue to help pay for the library...which they named "Okra Strut." Among other tasty items, they served fried okra at this festival and in just 7 years, they had enough money to fund Irmo's very first library. Talk about entrepreneurs! So, since 1973, this cute festival has been delighting young and old. Tens of thousands of visitors partake of this light-hearted event annually. There is plenty to eat, plenty to do and see. I try to participate every year and will be there tonight.  Support your local community by attending the Okra Strut! The venue does change sometimes, but admission is free!

September 29th-30th

7505 Eastview Drive, Irmo 29063

Friday - 6pm-11pm

Saturday - 9 am parade, 10am-10pm

Stop The Insanity!

Hello and thank you for continuing to read my blog. I hope you are finding my ideas and thoughts informative.

I have decided to make a change in the way I conduct my business as long as I own Sweetgrass Home Staging. Because we are CONSTANTLY bombarded w/ texts, emails, updates, and so on, I will have my phone turned OFF during webinars, seminars, meetings, etc. Not silenced......OFF. This will allow me to be completely and 100% focused on the task at hand. Do you know that if you stop what you're doing to check your phone, it takes your brain 23 MINUTES to re-focus on what you were doing?? Not only that - and this point is mind-blowing - each time you let yourself be distracted by something such as social media, your IQ drops 10 points!! It only drops 5 points if you smoke pot!!! Do you understand what this means? This means there are a lot of us walking around w/ very little brain capacity!! I don't think anyone WANTS to be stupid!!

So please know - if you call me and it goes straight to voicemail (as annoying as that is), it is because I am giving the task at hand and my clients my #1 priority.

A Helping Hand

It seems like everywhere you look there are tragedies....sometimes you don't need to look any further than your family to experience heartache. It goes w/o saying that the families who worked for VC Summer have definitely been financially impacted.

This got me thinking....how can I help?

I have decided to offer a 40% discount on all of my staging services for those who worked for VC Summer. You'll save 40% on my fees to stage as well as 40% on furniture and accessories that Sweetgrass Home Staging provides until December 31, 2017. With the number of houses on the market increasing exponentially, this means competition for sellers will be fierce. If your house is vacant, it will look like every other vacant house. I have a saying, "don't sell a naked house!" - because vacant houses show flaws and actually look smaller than a house w/ furniture. Plus, MOST buyers have no idea where to put their furniture. Staging gives them a visual for what their home could like like. And if you have mismatched pieces or run-down furniture, this can misguide the buyer into thinking that your house is older than it really is or in need of repairs.

And remember, when you do business w/ Sweetgrass, you get discounts from certain retailers and contractors, so every little bit helps. We will all get through this together and be South Carolina strong!