I just got off the phone with a friend who needs your help. Like right now. Karyn Ford is in her early twenties here in Austin and she and her friend Bridget Novak are single moms. Recently, they have taken voluntary placement from Child Protective Services and because it’s voluntary, they do not receive any financial assistance. Between them, their families have grown to include one handicapped 14 year old, a 5 year old, 8 year old and an infant. Their needs are great, ranging from gas, food, clothes, entertainment to school supplies. Bridget’s car overheats on the way to the store up the street and isn’t big enough to fit the children!

Their focus is to provide a safe and healthy environment for the kiddos but they are humbly asking for help.

Ways we ask you to help:
(1) HEB Gift Cards for gas and groceries
(2) Target Gift Cards for clothes
(3) Simon Gift Cards for everything
(don’t get discouraged if any of these make you log in… remember, you’re helping a friend)

If you’d like to ship these or simply mail a check, please please do so:
Karyn Ford
417 Fantail Loop Unit A
Lakeway, TX 78734

We all read about “help” needed every day, but today’s hits much closer to home- my friend Karyn needs your help now! Karyn was one of the first to message me when my brother (who she was friends with) died last fall and the most vivid thing I remember about her is her smile and her selflessness which clearly have not changed over time. If you have $0 to share, please pause to pray for the well being of everyone involved.

We sincerely thank you!

One of the most amazing parts of blogging is the connections that we make with other people be they clients or fellow bloggers. Benn & I have had a friendship with Jeff Turner (President of Real Estate Shows, a product we do actually use) and Rocky Turner (Founder of Mothers Fighting for Others) and got a phone call the other day from Jeff that lasted about 30 seconds. Benn: “Hello?” Jeff: “Hey, we’re passing through Austin in a few hours, want to do dinner?” Benn: “It’s on!”

We arrived at Green Mesquite BBQ in Oak Hill (south of Austin) because it was on their way and there wouldn’t be a wait. Oh, and when I asked Jeff about dietary needs or if they were like vegan or something, he’s a self-proclaimed “opposite of a vegetarian” and would love to eat a slab of cow. So slab of cow we all had!

When Jeff & Rocky arrived, Benn met them at the car where each kiddo hopped out and impressed Benn by introducing themselves. I waited inside with Little B (because we still don’t have outdoor air conditioning installed yet). When the fam came inside, I got up to hug Jeff then Rocky (uh, we don’t do handshakes here in the South) and was met with the warmest, biggest, most sincere hugs I’ve had in ages- it was like family came to visit that we hadn’t seen in a long time! Their 4 boys and 2 girls who have been cooped up in the mega-truck for 12 hours all got settled and the boys commenced to very seriously studying the kiddo menu then creating art while the little girls impressed us with how sweet they were (”I’m hungry” one said with a cocked head very matter-of-factly to Benn as she sat next to him).

We all ordered various meats and talked about everything from real estate, blogging, the upcoming Inman Conference, meat, where each of us lives and I’m pretty sure the word “gas” was used at least twice (maybe by me, maybe by others, I’ll never tell!). When the time came to part ways (they still had quite a drive left for the night), we were sad. Like really sad. The whole fam functioned so well (we talked in awe about it all night!) and the Turners are ridiculously easy to get along with.

We hope they’ll come back soon (maybe on their way BACK through Texas next weekish?)! It was a rockin’ good time and we look forward to next time!

This week’s “Austin in 10 Pics or Less” pertains to our Monday night out for the SXSW Interactive mixer. We sure had a lot of fun, check it out:

[PIC ONE]

We arrived at Mohawk on 9th and Red River at about 7:30 and parking sucked because the Frank Erwin Stadium is up the street and the Kansas Jayhawks had come to visit Austin with sad hopes of winning (which they did not):

[PIC TWO]

I’m on the left with devil eyes- we were hanging out with Grant and met tons of other peeps like Ryan, Alex (aka Bald Man), Omar, and Thom- most of whom we’d talked to on Twitter prior to the mixer (thank God I look the same in my pics so people recognized me)!

[PIC THREE]

Benn found the fountain of youth via a couple of cadillac margaritas (margaritas w/ Patron).

[PIC FOUR]

I’m more of a beer girl myself. I was thirsty.

[PIC FIVE]

We shut this place DOWN! At 10:30 there were 5 of us left and the free drinks ended. The staff was staring at us, having swept the bar and started kindly tapping toes for us to leave.

[PIC SIX]

Hipster bar, Club Deville is next door to Mohawk so three of us headed over to close THAT bar down. (they were watching the original King Kong or Godzilla on a bigscreen inside, so we sat on the outside patio- it was gorgeous outside)

[PIC SEVEN]

Scott Belmonte, local tech genius was part of our three-person-party at Deville. He had a trendy shirt underneath the Abercrombie jacket, we swear!

[PIC EIGHT]

As did many people, Scott had his laptop and whipped out his Chris Walken SNL collection and proved how ridiculously good his Walken impression was. I think it would have been funny, even without beer!

[PIC NINE]

We then took the beautiful but looong drive home from downtown Austin to Leander. Maybe that’s why we don’t go out all the time…

So, we did it in under 10 pics- sweet! We look forward to seeing all of our new friends from the mixer at “SouthBy” (I learned the trendy shorthand for South By Southwest this week) in March!