#laudit

Un audit physique des travaux d’entretien et d’extension de la voirie non classée de la Ville de Dakar, portant sur deux lots d’un montant cumulé de 4,995 milliards de FCFA, a mis en lumière d’importants dysfonctionnements dans l’exécution du marché. Le rapport, établi par l’Autorité de Régulation de la Commande Publique (ARCOP) et relayé par le quotidien Libération, pointe des manquements…

Here at Laud-It Central, we got the windows cleaned a few days ago.  I’m not sure why it took so long to get around to doing it. It’s funny how some projects seem much more daunting than they really are.

A few days before:

A few days after:

Now, every time I look out the windows I get happy. All it took was an hour or so and $107 paid to two very nice windowashers, and my nine windows are beautiful.

May you find a small thing to celebrate today!

love n laudits,

Getting a handwritten note is the best. Cultpapershop.com has some really, really great ones:

I can’t even with them right now.

It’s Throwback Thursday (but posted on a Friday; forgive me!).

I used to love to read old etiquette books. I have fallen out of the habit, but thought I might want to revisit a few for some old school toasting advice. This is from Emily Post’s Etiquette “The Blue Book of Social Usage” (1945 edition):

Toasts:  It is impossible to suggest definite toasts because they ought to be personal and spontaneous. Usually they are scarcely longer than the toast at the bridegroom’s dinner: “To the bride!” “To the Professor! may he live to be a hundred and his teaching endure a thousand years.” “To the team! whether it win or lose, may it always be glorious.”

At a dinner given by a group of young women in honor of their mothers, the chairman might give this toast: “To those to whom we owe all that we are, and for whom we would like to be all that they believe we are – Our Mothers!” Or, on the other hand, a group of mothers at a dinner given for their daughters might say: “To those of the newer generation who, in blazing new trails, carry our faith, our hopes and our hearts’ encouragement – a toast to our daughters!”

But as noted above, each toast ought to express the sentiment of the person proposing it. And on general principles, the shorter it is, the better.  

pp. 360-61

Okay, I like the idea of “the shorter it is, the better.” I think that tidbit of advice stands the test of time. But a dinner given by daughters for their mothers? At which there is a chairman/toastmaster? Who says a nearly impenetrable thing about mothers being completely responsible for who their daughters are and that their beliefs about who their daughters are make the daughters wish they could be that way? Whaaaa? This is extremely odd on a lot of levels.

So, Lauditors, take your WWII Emily Post with a little giggle and a lot of skepticism. Other than “the shorter it is, the better,” that is.

Yours in Laudit,

Allison

allison at laud-it dot com

(links: etsy.com, pinterest, pinterest, aprettycoollife.com )

We’re taking a break from the Tips for Successful Lauditing which have been the focus around here for a bit.

And we’re celebrating with piñatas! For grownups!

Instead of handing out favors for your party, fill a piñata with prizes that adults can appreciate. You can spend a little more per prize but fill it with fewer items... Here are a few filler ideas for adults:

Plastic mini-bar bottles

Bottle openers

Personalized key chains

Gift cards

Thumb drives

Cologne & Perfume samples

(Note: be careful with the bat if you fill your Jack-Daniel’s-bottle piñata with actual minibottles of Jack Daniel’s. Maybe you should also use the pull-string piñata-busting method if you’re going with an alcohol theme.)

Thanks to birthdayinabox.com for the images and links!

With love and Laud,

Allison

My dear LauditFolk – 

Here’s an outline about timing your Laudit (for more detailed/longwinded info, go here:

choose the Big Day (that’s the day your Honoree will see the Laudit)

4 weeks before the Big Day: start collecting email addresses and photos

3 weeks before the Big Day: get several friends to agree to post on your Laudit right away

2 weeks before the Big Day: make your design choice, write your initial post and upload your photos

10-14 days before the Big Day: copy the link and send Invitations to your guests from your own email

7-9 days before the Big Day: send your first reminder

2-3 days before the Big Day: send a second reminder

(this is a maybe) the day before the Big Day: send one last reminder

(another maybe) right before you send the link to your Honoree: rewrite/edit your first post if you think it needs to be written specifically to the Honoree

week after Big Day: give the Honoree a chance to write something, if he/she wants to

(this is another maybe) 7 days after the Big Day: send a message to everyone to thank them and give them a chance to read what the Honoree wrote.

7-10 days after the Big Day: decide if you want to buy the Laudit as a book or a pdf, or to keep it online, and if you want to allow your Guests to buy it, too.

2-4 weeks after book purchase: enjoy the book of your beautiful Laudit with your beautiful Honoree (if you buy the pdf, you will get this within a day)

xoxo

Allison

O lovely Lauditors,

Read this with a calendar at your side, and mark upon said calendar what actions you need to take on which dates to ensure that your Honoree is well and properly Laudited. Also check out the advice given here, if you want the short n sweet version.

Step 1: determine your Big Day (the Honoree’s birthday, the Honorees’ anniversary, etc.)

Step 2: collect your Guests’ email addresses. This might take some time, especially if you need to sneak into a loved one’s address book. Start reaching out to friends and family for their input and ideas a few weeks early, if you can.

Step 3: reach out to five or six key people a week before you want to send the Laudit Invitations out to everyone. Ask the key people to prepare what they will write and to be willing to post their stories and photos right away. That way, when other Guests visit the Laudit, (1) they will feel the experience more fully, (2) they won’t be intimidated about being the first to post, (3) they will have a better idea of what is expected of them, and (4) those key people’s messages will be the first that the Honoree reads on the Big Day.

Step 4: write a draft of the post you want to have as the first message, and find the photos you want to use.  

Step 5: choose your design scheme and upload (or write) your message and photos (when you upload the photos, use the best one first, as that will be the one on the cover of the book). Note: all of these can easily be changed at any time.

Step 6: plan to send the link to your Guests 10-14 days before the Big Day. You need to ponder the nature of your Guests, the time of year and other, similar, factors when choosing the exact date (sending an invite on December 23rd expecting full participation by January 2nd, for example, might not work so well).

Step 7:  send your first reminder 7-9 days before the Big Day, a second reminder (if you feel it’s necessary) 2-3 days before the Big Day, and the last reminder the day before the Big Day. In your reminders, you should point out, again, to your Guests what their deadline is, and thank people who have contributed already. Don’t send more than four reminders, unless you have very tolerant Guests, or you are building a Laudit very slowly, and you need to remind people over a long period of time. Getting an invitation and then six reminders over the course of a week might drive your Guests a bit batty. And don’t fret if your Guests don’t post immediately. It takes people a while, and usually a few reminders, to get it together.

Step 8: the night before the Big Day you may want to edit/rewrite your initial post on the Laudit. If the first post was written with an eye to explaining to your Guests what you were asking them to do, you may want to change it to be a loving/celebratory/congratulatory message to your Honoree instead.

Step 9: once your Honoree has read the Laudit and wiped the tears from his or her eyes, see if he or she wants to write a post on the Laudit. Sometimes Honorees want to respond to what their loved ones wrote, and sometimes they do not. Respect their choice!

Step 10: if you would like everyone to read the Laudit after the Honoree has seen it (and possibly written something), email to everyone one more time. Note: Guests will be able to post still, so keep that in mind.

Step 11: buy the book or pdf or additional online time, if you would like. And, if you want, you can let your Guests purchase it, too, by giving permission on Laud-It.

Step 12: relax with a cup of tea or glass of wine, your Honoree, and your printed Laudit when it arrives in your inbox in one day, or your mailbox in 2-4 weeks.

yours with Lauditude,

Allison

bwahahahaha! watch this before a high school reunion and feel better about going.