Susan Hamilton

2011 Wildflower Festival is Right Around The Corner!

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Make sure you get your tickets to the Wildflower Festival in Richardson this year. Once again it’s slated to entertain you with arts and music galore. We love to get out there and hear the bands play. Music and art is riddled throughout our family company. May 20-22 are the dates to NOT LEAVE TOWN.

Go to WildflowerFestival.com to learn about the lineup and get your tickets. Between the food and the kids entertainment, the jewelry, and the art guitar auction benefiting the Network of Community Ministries, you’ll be celebrating the onset of summer while supporting a worthy cause.

Don’t forget, all you physical people, the 8th Annual Wild Ride and the Wild Run will also be a media sponsored event with the proceeds going to the new Methodist Richardson Cancer Center.

Need more? How about a Bee-Gees Tribute Band?? Personally, I’m diggin’ the Little River Band and Joe Ely, and I’m sure there’s more I’ll love! (Cuz I won’t be missing it!)

Don’t miss it either, go to WildFlowerFestival.com.

Local Plumber by Day – Weekend Musician

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Spotlight on Danny Skinner

Danny Skinner, of Gary’s Quality Plumbing, will bring his musical talents to the Prophet Bar this November 14th. Doors open at 6:30, and this all-ages show debuts his latest stylings with Berkner High School’s Gregg Clayton, a promising and talented musician from Richardson.

An unusual name and an unusual pairing of an uncle and his nephew who have played music together for years. Now they bring their musical journey to the public sector for the first time ever. Danny and Gregg have developed a symbiotic musical arrangement, with entirely new tunes and original lyrics that soothe the soul and punctuate the atmosphere. Positive and insightful, their talent is evident in the songwriting, musical arrangements, vocals and guitar that both bring to the stage.

You don’t want to miss this show – clearly the beginning of a brilliant career in entertainment! Get your tickets online today at http://aftonshows.com/detailfordetail.

Local Restaurants and Plumbing Maintenance

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As a local copywriter in the Richardson area, I have the opportunity to do some blogging for local businesses. Every once and a while, you’ll see me author some posts for my dad’s blog, Ask the Plumber. Today, I have a couple of questions I’d like to ask both restaurant patrons and area restaurant management.

For the Restaurant Patrons:
Do you ever get concerned when you take your family or friends out to eat, and a slight putrid odor wafts through from the kitchen or bathroom? Does it make you wonder if you’ll be ill later? Do you find a clogged toilet or a leaky, puddled sink to be a nuisance that’s hard to keep your young children from when you take them to the bathrooms? Does poor plumbing maintenance make you wonder if the restaurant respects your patronage?

I can’t be alone when I share my concerns with management. I leave my dad’s business cards with them frequently. I love to dine out, and many will notice the reviews I post on Yelp.com about the places I enjoy. I tend not to post about the places I won’t return. I know that not returning is a far better way to get the point across, and I’m just not cranky. I hear so many of the waitstaff talk about the slow down in business these days, and wonder if they understand that something so small can make a huge impact on repeat business. If you agree, I encourage you to respond to this post. Maybe we can make a difference.

For Restaurant Management:
Do you frequent the bathrooms to see if they are in need of repair? Do you believe that no one notices poorly maintained plumbing? Do you realize that the bathroom is typically the  last place your patrons visit before they leave your restaurant, and that visit may change the way they felt about everything you tried so hard to do for them?

Seriously.

If you are managing a local restaurant and pride yourself on clean practices and good plumbing maintenance, leave a response to this post with your strategy and a link back to your website for our readers. If you have never thought about this before, it may be time to give Gary’s Quality Plumbing a call and see what a difference decent bathroom and kitchen plumbing protocol can make for your patrons  – and the way they speak about their experience after they’ve left your restaurant.  Please leave your comments below, including any questions, links, and success stories.

Father’s Day Prayer

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Lord thank you for my Dad
so dear,
and bless him for I need him near.
I’ve learned that strength
You’ve given him
can only be found
from within.
No cancer gets to claim
his life,
nor wish for death
in chemo strife.
To choose the shots, the pain,
the pills –
my soul amazed, quickened …
stilled.
There’s something to
Your steadfast love
as he heals
through Grace
from high above.
Lord Keep him safe
and hold him strong,
knowing that his days are long.
Thank you for his smile,
his face …
for in his love
I see Your Grace.

Don’t Miss the Wildflower Festival

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Don’t miss Richardson’s Wildflower Festival! Every year the entertainment gets a little better, and the vendor booths are loaded with things you can’t find anywhere else. May 14-16 is jam packed with things to do, just off Campbell and Galatyn areas east of Central.

Friday night you’ve got Candlebox, B-52’s, and Toad the Wet Sprocket. Also, Richardson native and Berkner High School’s own Steven LaMonica performs with the Navy Band from the Great Lakes area on the Viewpoint Bank Stage. He graduated with my daughter, 2007 Berkner  Idol winner, Shaina Hamilton. I watched him perform all through high school, he’s really a treat – you don’t want to miss that show. Both these talented kids grew up to enter our Armed Services and give back before furthering their careers; very inspired that kind of patriotism is alive and well today.  They go on early at 6:15, so get your tickets now.

Saturday .38 Special will be my personal highlight, and Sunday Los Lonely Boys and Delbert McClinton will be there. There’s so much more. Between the food, entertainment, and vendors, I can’t think of a better way to spend the weekend! Follow the link below for additional information about volunteering, food donations, art guitar exhibits and more. Tickets are less expensive if you purchase for the weekend in advance.  You can purchase and print out tickets online here.

Wildflower Festival 2010

Have a Happy Mother’s Day

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Gary’s Quality Plumbing wishes all the mothers a very happy Mother’s Day. Know that you are valued and irreplaceable. Your investment into the lives of your children goes beyond the simple, expected maternal duties – like feeding … and band-aiding.

Yes, the nurturing, guidance and protection you provide teaches them the higher things, the things that tend to be unappreciated until much later in life. Things related to how to live, how to love, and how to laugh.

For all you do, mothers of the world, we salute you this Mother’s Day and every day because we know what you are worth to your families – and to all of us.

Thanks Mom.