Words to Live By

When you are looking at the characteristics on how to build your personal life, , first comes integrity; 2nd motivation, 3rd capacity;4th understanding; 5th knowledge and last and least experience.

Without integrity, motivation is dangerous; without motivation, capacity is impotent; without capacity, understanding is limited; without understanding, knowledge is meaningless; without knowledge, experience is blind. Experience is easy to provide and quickly put to good use by people with all other qualities.

Make absolute integrity the compass that guides you in everything you do. And surround yourself only with people of flawless integrity.

Karl Eller
April 1999
Eller college of Management
University of Arizona

Thank you to all my neighbors in Tanglewood

Having the pleasure of keeping our neighborhood, Tanglewood in Stonebridge, updated on all the happenings we also try and come up with ideas that will benefit those around us. At various times in everyone’s life a little or a lot of help can go a very long way. Fortunately our neighborhood stepped up again by providing numerous school supplies which were delivered to Collin County Advocacy Center.

As one of our neighbors said, “We do live in the best neighborhood".Thanks for making a difference Tanglewood in the lives of Collin County Children.

Polished

We are all about serving our clients by selling their houses as well as finding them new ones, but occasionally we do get out of the office. That happened to me Tuesday when I attended an event to benefit the Collin County Advocacy Center. Polished, located minutes from the Willow Bend Mall on Park and Tollway exchange, sponsored an event for the Center. Since I am serving on the Gala Committee this year I made arrangements to attend. What an incredible experience. Greeted at the front door by a gracious and hospitable group of employees I was asked to pick out a polish, which by the way are blended just for Polish and once polished you are given a small bottle of the color to take home for those inevitable chips and dents. Seated in soft leather chairs the professionals began to work their magic using intoxicating scrubs and lotions for the hands and feet, as well as a hot stone massage. Feeling surely, I slipped from a usual workday into a mini-vacation as I indulged in the relaxation being offered. Just when you thought your indulgences had been met, we were offered cookies from a wonderful bakery, Tart Pastry Boutique and Studio, along with the latest fashions do's and don'ts. The day was topped off with good conversation and the knowledge of knowing our participation helped out an extremely worthwhile organization. Remember to visit their web-site, www.polished or call them at 972-378-9149.
Definitely worth returning to again and again

Home sells for 750 Million

A mysterious Russian billionaire has trumped his big-spending rivals and broken a world record by splashing out $750 million on one of the most sumptuous villas on the French Riviera.

Although not nearly as extravagant, we have had our share of multi million dollar listings right here in North Texas. Considering that the average price for a family home in the DFW area is $238,000 it is amazing the number of 1+ million dollar homes that have sold throughout Dallas and its suburbs. There are several subdivisions where the million dollar home is the norm, not the exception. In the past few years Dallas has had several sales in the 12+ million dollar range and and both McKinney and Plano have had homes that have sold for 5+ million.

Currently the most expensive home listed for sale in the Metroplex is in Dallas and is offered at 17,500,000.

If you would like more information please feel free to email donna@donnabthomas.com for a full report of sales and active listings in the DFW area.

It's time to give back...

Recently I have been amused by the discussions of going green and saving. I came from older parents who had lived through WWII and they were raised by parents that had survived the Great Depression. My mother was an incredible seamstress and I remember her talking about the shortage of fabrics and how they would take flour sacks to make dresses out of or cut down dresses to make new ones. As a teenager I thought it ridiculous when my dad sent me back to my room to turn off the light to conserve electricity. I was embarrassed by his desire to put metal containers out when it rained to collect the water for the yard and plants and his habit of saving foil and wrapping paper for later use.

Another great lesson came to me from this though, we all helped each other. If there were someone in the neighborhood, school, town that was having a hard time making ends meet everyone chipped in. Guess it was the advantage of living in small town East Texas.

Today, we are faced with some of the same issues and families are learning to save all over again. They are challenged with sending children back to school and along with everything else - supplies are rising in cost dramatically. To help this, we are sponsoring a School Supply Drive with drop off points at t two properties addresses. We will be distributing to the various organizations throughout Collin County that are in need of supplies.

School Supply Wish List
• Accordion Files • Baby wipes
• Backpacks (for under 7) Binders (2” and 3”)
• Binders with Zippers Book Covers
• Calculators • Colored Pencils
• Manila Construction Paper • English Dictionary
• Spanish/English Dictionary • French/English Dictionary
• Dividers • Dry Erase Markers
• Erasable Pens • Erasers
• Plain Folders with Brads • Glue/Glue Sticks
• Graph Paper • Highlighters
• Kleenex • Lunch Bags
• Black and white Composition Books • Markers
• Handwriting Tablets • Non-spiral Notebooks
• 3 & 5 Subject Spirals • Note Cards
• Paper Plates/Towels • Pencils
• Red Pencils • Pens (Black/Blue/Red)
• Sharpies (Black) • Large Scissors (7”+)
• Watercolors • White Out

Two days, two locations:
Saturday, August 9th, 2:00 – 4:00 Sunday, August 10th, 2:00 – 4:00
6404 Oak Hollow Lane, McKinney, TX 5000 Castle Creek, Plano, TX