I'm going to be very brief since this is a really busy time.

I hope that you are all planning to attend our December holiday meeting. It will be a fun evening with Mary Hirsch. Bring your spouses and member prospects. And, be sure to let Lois and Connie know if your guest is a prospective member.

We will conduct just a little bit of business next week. I'm sure Carole and Pat will give us an update on poinsettia sales. And, don't forget to bring your fruit to be included in our gift for the Women and Children's Recovery Community.

It was really wonderful hearing from PaDur Vang about the Hmong Women's Action Team last month. I think we're really going to enjoy our relationship with that organization.

Hope you're all getting your shopping done. I've only just begun. See you all next week.

Our holiday dinner on December 18th will include comedian, Mary Hirsch. Mary has taught humor writing and newsletter writing The Loft Literary Center for seven years. She has spoken to various groups about humor and how to use it in their personal life, professional life, and writing. She is a stand-up comedian who has performed in public and private venues for over three years.

She has written for Garrison Keillor's nationally syndicated show A Prairie Home Companion, is a columnist with the Minnesota Womens Press, and in 1998 won the Vivian Castleberry Award from the Association of Women Journalists for her writing. She was a humor columnist for the Southwest Journal from 1989 to 1999 and in 1995 won first place from the Neighborhood and Community Press Awards for best on-going column. She has written two books A Treasury of Office Humor published in 1995 by Lincoln Herndon Press and I Wake-Up Beautiful And Other Fantasies published in 2000 by Swell Gal. She has been published in Minnesota Parent, Career Woman, Law and Politics, Twin Cities Business, Minnesota Monthly, Minneapolis Star and Tribune, Critters, Entrepreneurial Woman, and Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.

I think we will have great fun, so plan bring your spouses and prospective members to our December party.

Calendar:
Saturday, January 5, 9:00 AM Board Meeting,
Location to be determined
Tuesday, January 22, 2002 Our January Meeting Remember, our joint meeting with Minneapolis will be in February this year, not January. So, we'll have a business meeting in January.