Happy Holidays-Ringing in the New Year

We’re right in the middle of the end of many holidays and New Year’s Eve. With the New Year coming up it’s a great time to reflect on the past year and to make plans for the year ahead. I know the older I get the more quickly every year seems to pass. I always find myself saying, “I can’t believe another year has gone by.” Some years nothing seems to change and some years everything seems to change. This year has been a year full of changes for me. It has definitely been eventful. Many things that I thought would remain constant in my life have vanished. Some new, great things have also unexpectedly come into my life. If there’s one thing I’ve seen over the last (just about 23) years, it’s the ebbs and flows of life. When things are going terrible, just wait a little while and they’re bound to turn around. When things are going great, just wait awhile and they’re bound to get worse. ;) To me it seems life is always in constant flux. I kind of like that about it, it keeps things interesting.
Well the New Year is a great time to reflect on the past it is also an important time to decide what goals you have for the year ahead and how you plan to achieve them. Over the last few weeks at Topaz we have been discussing our sales and marketing plans for 2011 and company goals. It has been helpful to put together a list of action items for 2011 and to have something to strive for. 2011 is going to be another interesting year in the travel industry, an industry that is changing constantly. Personally, I am excited to work with our clients this upcoming year to help them evaluate their travel agencies performance in an ever changing environment. I am also excited to help them reevaluate their travel programs to help them save on their travel spend. Recently, many new technologies are being used by the travel industry. Social media has taken off, like it has in almost all industries. I think this year the use of mobile devices will follow the trend of social media and become used more and more frequently for the searching and booking of corporate travel. I'm interested to see where this trend leads.
This past August at NBTA we gave out corkscrews with our logo to some of our clients. We gave them a card letting them know we appreciate their loyalty and that we wanted to toast to our relationship and to their success. I hope anyone who has a Topaz corkscrew takes a minute to use it this holiday season to toast to something special in their lives. Personal or business related, we wish you the very best.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful, healthy and happy holiday season. If you haven’t had a chance please check out our Topaz holiday greeting by visiting the link below.
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/nCQOuG6lpkvd9Xoop2aT

Fitness For A Cure

Fitness For A Cure 2010

Photos by Emilie Inc
St. Jude Performance Team




Fitness For A Cure Gala


Sherri Sarrouf



During the holiday season I tend to think more about giving back to others than any other part of the year. I also tend to have those less fortunate on my mind. I want to take a minute to let you know about one of the best events for giving back; Fitness For A Cure.

Fitness For A Cure is an event started by the owner of SLS Fitness, Sherri Sarrouf. Sherri hosts this event to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. For those of you who are not familiar with St. Jude’s it is a hospital known all over the world for finding cures and helping to save children with cancer and other horrible illnesses. If a child gets sick the child’s family can bring them to St. Jude’s where all costs not covered by insurance will be taken care of. As you will read about on the Fitness For A Cure website, “In 2010, St. Jude was ranked the most trusted charity in the nation in a public survey conducted by Harris Interactive, a highly respected international polling and research firm. St. Jude was also named the nation's top children's cancer hospital in the 2010-11, "Best Children's Hospitals", rankings published by U.S. News & World.”
The Fitness For a Cure gala raises money for St. Jude’s, but most importantly will change you as an individual. I attended the event for the first time last year. I had heard numerous great things about it, but wasn’t sure what to expect. Needless to say, I walked out of the event a changed person. My perspective about how lucky I am to be healthy, the stunningly sad realization of what it must be like to have a sick child, the inspirational attitude of the children who are extremely ill at St. Jude’s, How much of an influence people can have on a great organization if they all work together. So many things were brought to my attention I had never thought about before. The event included performances by the St. Jude performance team, a family who had lost a child to cancer, BC football player and cancer survivor Mark Herzlich, and a special performance at the end by the lead singer of the once popular band, Lonestar.

Bring your tissues! This year's event is on March 26th, 2011 at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, MA. I urge you to check out the website and learn what Fitness For A Cure and St. Jude’s are all about!