Our Destin Vacation

We made the trip to Destin, Florida last week for Kevin and Traci's wedding. This little peace of paradise is freaking incredible!! If you have never been I would definately recommend going. We played on the beach all four days. The Gulf water was cold, tolerable for about 15 minutes at a time, but that doesn't stop an anxious 4 year old!! We (actually Ava) built fun sand castles while I easdropped on conversations about the presidental campaign, the bail out, the oil crisis, some "stupid" conferance this man was attending at the resort(stupid was his word), and I had quite a time sitting back and people watching--which happens to be my FAVORITE hobby. The BEST place to people watch is on the beach!!! The hotel resort we stayed in had nice heated pools. Ava learned to swim in this nice heated pool. I would have more pics to publish but most of my family chose to stay in the room and watch the TX/OU madness and various other sports programs. SOOOO...Ava and I enjoyed the beach by ourselves minus the camara.




Site of the wedding






Perfect sunset



Ava loves that Katie



Happy cousins



Katie to Ava: Your daddy is watching us with a camara.

People have asked

Many people have asked why I don't blog on here more. Actually I blog quite a bit, just not here. I blog ALOT on myspace. I post ALOT more pics of Ava and our family on myspace. The reason is this: I can control who sees my myspace page. This little google analysis thing I have on my blogger page reveals some crazy stuff... so I don't know who all is looking on here. If you want to keep up more with the kid..and me and John, get a myspace. You can set your profile to private so only your friends see your page. You can even set certain blogs to private so only the friends you want reading specific blogs can read it.

I like myspace much better than facebook also. I rarely even get on facebook.

See ya at myspace if you want. You might be suprised at everyone you find on this crazy site!!

http://www.myspace.com/berende

You wonder what I have been up to?

Well, I'm officially on the job hunt. I found out on October 7th, 4:59pm, that I would be losing my job. Corporate blames poor sales and the economy. The 20,000 employees (who survived the first 120+ store closings) that will be losing their jobs blame Mr. Leon Black and Mr. Bob DiNicola for mismanagement of corporate funds, lack of skill and know-how on running a multi billion dollar company and maintain its profit margins...

I would say more but, frankly, I am tired.

BUT, do me a favor. If you plan to shop a LNT in the next 11 weeks left of their existance, have a little compassion for the employees who are losing their jobs during such a poor economy, not to mention right before the holiday season. The liquidation sale that starts on Saturday is only starting at 10% off the entire store. Most of the inventory will be sold before it hits even 40% off.

I will have little tolerance for guests that come into my building looking to haggle over prices or try to return items bought ALL SALES FINAL. My team and I have worked way to hard, missed way to many family funtions preparing/executing the daily taskloads, preparing for corporate visits...to deal with such behavior. I have had to deal with miscommunications from corporate about this situation for the past year... I am now going to protect the employees who have been so extremely loyal to me. It's unfortunate I have to protect my associates from my guests.

I am lucky. I have a husband that can support our family on his salary. I have many, many friends in this company who will no doubt be hurting over this tragic state of affairs.

I will say this: I have never in my life had the priviledge to work for and with such great people. From the VP's, Regional Staff, DM's, my own peers, and then my own personal staff... I can't say enough great things about my staff. Eden, Jennifer, Melody: you ladies are part of the best team I have ever had the priveledge to manage. I will do everything I can to make sure you find great jobs. I have already started reaching out to my connections to get you placed.



Linens 'N Things to begin liquidation this week

By MAE ANDERSON
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Specialty retailer Linens 'n Things, which filed for bankruptcy protection in May, plans to begin liquidation sales at its stores as early as Thursday after failing to find a buyer that wanted to operate the company.

"It's a straight going-out-of business liquidation sale," said James Schaye, president and chief executive of Hudson Capital Partners, one of the members of the investment group buying the company's assets. He expects the process for the company's approximately 371 remaining store locations will take about 11 weeks.

Last week, the Linens Holding Co., the parent of Clifton, N.J.-based Linens 'N Things, said it would put itself up for a sale in an auction on Tuesday.

The company agreed to a preliminary "stalking horse" bid from a joint venture between Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC, Great American Group LLC, Hilco Merchant Resources LLC, Hudson Capital Partners LLC, SB Capital Group LLC and Tiger Capital Group LLC for about $475 million for its assets.

A stalking-horse bid is an initial offer on a bankrupt company's assets from an interested buyer chosen by the company. Linens 'N Things planned an auction including the initial bid along with others for its assets on Tuesday, but since it received no other qualified bids, it canceled the auction, according to documents filed late Monday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

After facing weak sales and a slumping home furnishings market, Linens 'N Things, based in Clifton, N.J., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May. In August, the company said it reached a plan of reorganization with the bankruptcy court. However, it later decided to auction its assets as conditions in the financial markets worsened.