I feel bad for not posting yesterday, but life got in the way!  Each year the real estate company where I work hosts an "Annual Celebration" in which the owner gives a state-of-the company address and hands out awards.  There are the typical awards given to people who’ve been with the company for 10-20-25 years and those who have had top sales .  These range from $2 million in sales to $30 million (awards are handed out only for sales over $10 million).  There are also two other awards given:  Rookie of the Year and Whale Done.

The top "rookie" can not have been with the company for more than three years and is first selected by the broker of the individual offices.  Those agents are then chosen by Mr. Bob Parks (owner) and the general manager.  My friend Gene Williams was recognized in my office, but didn’t win the company award (although he was very deserving).  Instead, fellow real estate blogger Justin Holder was recognized.

The Whale Done Award started about five or six years ago. I prefer to call it the "People’s Choice Award" because agents in our offices vote for the person who they think is helpful and has a positive attitude.  My office elected me in 2005 and surprised me last week by voting me for the Award again in 2007.  The "Whale Done" award is named after the book by Ken Blanchard called Whale Done: The Power of Positive Relationships. 

At our Celebration luncheon, Mr. Parks called office winners one by one and asked them to stand.  As we remained standing, he described the accomplishments of the person who was selected as the company-wide winner.  Hmmmm… this sounds like me I thought.  Then he called my name and the room was undescribable!  I got a standing ovation with hoots etc.!!!  Boy talk about floating on air!  I thankfully didn’t burst into tears (whew!) but my emotions sure wanted to!  You can read about it more on my real estate blog unless you’ve had enough of the shameless self-promotion here. ::BLUSHING::