Charlotte Smarty Pants Features "The Purple Martin & Co."

Charlotte Smarty Pants: 27 hours, 45 minutes and 27 seconds, but who's counting?
By Jen P:

Tomorrow is the day I get to start my mommy detox and get my game on for summer. Thanks to my incredibly supportive hubby, I'm getting 7 days off in a row. I know, it's crazy insane, but it's true! In just 27 short hours, I will be a free woman!

I have been a busy bee trying to get everything just right for when I’m gone. Key to my organization is my brand spankin’ new Purple Martin Handbook by Lori Martin (see photos). You may remember her from our Mother’s Day giveaway. This handbook couldn’t have entered my life at a better time. Lori has this thing for details and data entry and developed this fabulous family handbook system that is perfect for when you go out of town. Or if you have a nanny, or a mother-in-law, or even hubby in my case – basically for anyone who will step in your shoes at a moment’s notice. This customized family handbook, or actually group of handbooks, includes all of your contacts, emergency contacts, your activity calendar with directions from your house to each activity, your carpool schedule (trust me, this is the most impressive part of my book since I’m always juggling at least 3 different carpools on any given day – see for yourself in photo above!), take-out options, shopping recommendations, preferred service providers – you name it, Lori has thought of it and wrapped it all up in a cute monogram and bow! I tested it out last week for a trial run when my sister-in-law was in town and needed ideas for activities with the kids. She just whipped out my family activity section, pulled out the plastic sleeve with directions from my house to the Nature Museum and off she went. It was such a delight not to have to write out directions to that place for the zillionth time! I’m pretty sure Randy will find this handy while I’m away.

To be honest, I think Randy will do great next week. He may even have an unfair advantage so to speak because he’s such a hands-on dad. As soon as he walks in the door every evening, he puts down his briefcase, rolls up his sleeves and digs in with whatever needs to be done. So I apologize in advance to any other dude out there secretly hoping he’ll mess up! Randy will probably do this better than I do! Although, I interviewed my girls in the video below to see what they are expecting – it’s very cute! They think daddy is going to be a mess. I think not.

Stay tuned next Monday, Memorial Day, and I ask you please, please support Randy via the comments section. I can remember my first few blogs where I really put myself out there and I was just waiting for someone to write something! I truly believe he will find blogging a very special form of therapy like I do. It’s the best thing ever, thanks to all of you☺

P.S. I want to give a shout out to American Idol Kris Allen - proud to say I picked him in the early rounds just like David Cook, whew-hoo!!!

8 Year Old's Hat Sales Yield Philanthropic Results!

I am thrilled to report that Emma (my 8 year old) has sold 17 Purple Martin & Co. hats to benefit The Relatives! Thanks to the philanthropic pricing from our vendor, The Queensboro Shirt Company (see http://www.queensboro.com/) of Wilmington, NC, $8.00 of every hat sale (100% of the profit!) goes directly to help homeless, runaway & other youth in crisis.

In total, Emma's first hat sale has yielded more than $130 for The Relatives!

Way to Go Emma!

If you would like to order additional hats from Emma, send us an email at www.thepurplemartin@bellsouth.net.

Cost $15.00
Value: Priceless Donation to Help Youth in Crisis!

Launch Event Introduces Family Handbooks and Raises Awareness for The Relatives

On Wednesday, May 6th, The Purple Martin & Co. officially opened for business with a wonderful launch event hosted at the home of PerMar Olin. Approximately 50 Charlotte area mom's attended the event which showcased the family handbook concept designed by Lori Martin.

In addition to providing hands on samples of different family handbooks currently in use by local moms, Lori introduced her "Families Helping Families" initiative which raises awareness and funding for The Relatives, a local shelter for youth ages 7 to 17 in Mecklenburg County.

Lori's daughter, Emma, sold hats with the Purple Martin & Co. logo (see image for detail) with 100% of the profit going to The Relatives. Within minutes, Emma sold all of the hats available at the party and took orders for additional hats. More than $120 was raised in hat sales alone for The Relatives that evening.

The Relatives and The Purple Martin & Co. would like to recognize The Queensboro Shirt Company (http://www.queensboro.com/) for their support of our local youth shelter with their special pricing on our hats. As a result, $8 per hat sold will go directly to The Relatives (http://www.therelatives.org/).

A special thank you to all of the wonderful women who helped with the launch event.
Hostess: PerMar Olin

Founding Idea Muses: Claire Bowles, Esther Farnham, Cassell FitzHugh, Paige McCloskey, PerMar Olin

Food & Beverages: PerMar Olin, Paige McCloskey, Erin Walker

Logo Design: Helen Butler

The Relatives Development Team: Ann Church, Sharon Bremer, Cassell FitzHugh (& board member)

My Story

For the Love of Family, Paper & All Things Organization!

The photo above is one I treasure. A priceless moment of my family walking together following Easter service this past April. Nobody is looking at the camera and I capture the moment exactly as it happened. No silly grins, no posing, no whining .... just a peaceful walk to the car. I just love moments such as this!

I came to treasure these moments even more (and I promised myself never to take them for granted) after I experienced a medical trauma in 2004. Five days following the birth of my son (now 5), I was sent back to the hospital for nearly a week. I had unknowingly torn a major artery and was in serious condition. Following surgery and a significant transfusion, I was strong enough to return home but still too weak to care for my family.

My well intended care givers (mother, mother in law, husband, babysitters, neighbors) all desperately wanted to help me. I had a 2 year old and she needed constant supervision, a newborn son, and I was silently grieving the traumatic experience I had been through.

I had thought of it all. Emergency numbers were taped to the inside of my pantry, the extra insurance card was tucked away on my memo board, the daycare phone number was taped to the fridge! Wasn't this all someone would need to understand how to help in an emergency? The short answer was, no.

I found out the hard way that this was not a good way to communicate my daily "mom life" to others. I could understand someone needing to ask me about the details, but the big picture of my daily routine was not mapped out anywhere. My husband even had to ask me which day to put the trash out. Not his fault - I just always took care of it.

After recovery, I decided to never put myself in that position again. I started working on my first "Martin Family Handbook." My husband jokingly called it my "dork book," and yes, I had to agree. I became passionate about chronicling my children's schedules, doctors, medical chart numbers, the foods they liked & didn't like, the babysitter contacts, the air conditioner repair man etc.! Every piece of information I used to run my daily "mommy job" was documented. It was essentially a living & breathing document for our family and served as "command central."

Fast forward to today ... I definitely don't live my life anticipating another emergency, but what I have discovered is that having all of this critical information in a single place has been a wonderful blessing to my family. I literally use my handbook every day and I take a smaller version (the "on the go" book) with me everywhere.

Last year, we were on vacation and my 7 year old cut her leg on a sharp shell at the beach. I had packed my handbook in my suitcase. When we went to urgent care, the doctors had ALL of the information they needed (shot records, pediatricians address & phone, insurance information, claims address, even the dentist address). I happened to be traveling with a physician (a dear friend of mine) and she said, "I can not believe you travel with your kids shot records!" The truth of the matter was that I didn't even have to think about it. They were just with me in my "handbook."

I founded The Purple Martin & Co. on the single principle that an organized, regularly updated, family handbook should be a staple in each household. Paper is truly the only shareable resource around. My mother could not reference a blackberry or my computer, she could not interpret which babysitter to call from my address book and she definitely would not know the chart number and my daughters favorite "back-up" pediatrician!

If you have a love of decorative paper, a need for organizing "command central" and a desire to put your family's critical information in a user friendly format (not just for the "one off emergency" but for peace of mind in running your daily routine) please give me a call.

I would love to help!

The Purple Martin Caters to Charlotte, NC Moms

The Purple Martin & Co. is a new "bird" in town catering to the busy information needs of Charlotte, NC moms.

Based on the known fact that mom's keep too much information in their heads and electronic devices, I decided to start a business to help mom's find a better solution to organizing their family data in a shareable format.

The Purple Martin & Co. creates customized family handbooks to meet each mom's unique needs. We capture everything from medical basics, to carpool schedules, to which child prefers to go to bed with the lights on. As mom's we tend to underestimate the amount of knowledge we possess and forget to communicate much of it to husbands, babysitters, mothers in law, etc.

Through an in home consultation, I take the time to fully understand your information needs as a busy mom. After carefully listening to your needs, I will guide you through the different ways we can capture your "life of paper." I will then word process your "mommy data" and put it all in a handbook organized to your specifications.

If you are a busy mom with a dreaded "pile" of family information (think that awful drawer you keep crumpled business cards in, the scribbled family schedule you hand to a babysitter with misinformation on it, the 4 different phone directories you have to reference and can occasionally NOT find) The Purple Martin & Co. can help!

Purple Martin & Co. Hat Sales to Benefit The Relatives

The Purple Martin & Co. is selling white cotton hats with our logo on the front (the bird in the tree) and The Relatives logo on the back (helping hands logo as seen on our blog) .


100% of the profit from hat sales will benefit The Relatives.


For those of you not familiar with The Relatives, it is the only youth shelter in Mecklenburg County (Charlotte, NC) for children ages 7-17. The shelter has 9 beds for homeless, runaway, and other youth in crisis.


In today's economic times, non profits in Charlotte are experiencing an increasing need for individual donor support. Those non profits who have traditionally received support from The United Way are experiencing an even more difficult time this year due to a significant decrease in funding.


Please help provide support for The Relatives by purchasing your Purple Martin & Co. hat today.


Cost: $15

How to Order? email thepurplemartin@bellsouth.net

Thanks for your support of The Relatives!

Custom Family Handbooks Become An Invaluable Family Resource

I founded The Purple Martin & Co. on the single principle that every household should be in possession of a regularly updated, hard copy resource that contains ALL critical family information.

Today's busy mom's tend to keep too much information in our heads and our PDA's. As a result, we leave those individuals who would like to help (our husbands, moms, babysitters, caregivers etc.) shorthanded and without the proper information to simply step in at a moments notice.

We either expect them to read our mind's or hack into our electronic devices to get the gist of which child is supposed to go where, who has what food allergy, and when is the next doctors appointment.

Why a Hard Copy (aka Paper Based) Resource?
When I studied the habits of how moms communicate the specifics of their households (schedules, carpools, medical information, school information, etc.), the common denominator was paper!

Paper is the only truly shareable resource that translates a mom's "intent" amongst family members and caregivers.

The Solution?
A paper-based Family Handbook that becomes the command central of ALL critical family information.

How Will A Family Handbook Help Me?
• Your personalized family handbook will serve as a clear, concise guide to others, describing how your household operates.

• Your plan of action for emergencies will be clearly outlined for everyone who helps to run your household.

• Your completed handbook will assist you with family schedules, contacts and general coordination.

• Unlike electronic devices, your family handbook will always be an available, up-to-date resource.


What Will My Family Handbook Contain?
The Purple Martin & Co. will customize your family handbook as a desk reference for you, your children, your caregivers, in-laws, pet sitters, house sitters, etc.

Handbooks will be fully customized for each family, however basic information will contain the following:

* True Emergencies & Insurance Coverage
* Neighbors & Friends Who Can Help
* Medical Basics
* School Basics
* Customized Family Calendars & Important Dates to Remember
* Preferred Service Providers
* Travel Specifics
* Adult Routines & Schedules
* Children’s Routines, Preferences & Schedules

Additional Benefits Your Family Handbook Provides
Family handbooks are designed to be a single repository of all important family information in case of an emergency …. However, they also have additional benefits!

* Time Saver
* Last Minute Travel Efficiency
* Reference for New Babysitters / House sitters / Pet sitters
* Calendar Coordination
* Quality Service
* Frequent Updates Available

Extra Handbook Solutions

* Labels
As I partner with you to keep your contacts, calendars and daily routines up to date, you will also have the benefit of having labels printed in advance for large mailings including: Christmas Cards, Large Events, Birthday Parties, etc.


* "On-The Go" Book
Upon finalizing your family handbook, we will take the important information you would like with you on a traveling basis and put it in a smaller “on the go” version.

This smaller handbook is a perfect replacement for your “day runner” as it will contain all of your important contacts, service providers, calendars, children’s schedules, and class lists.

This is also a nice complement to any hand-held electronic device you currently use, because sometimes we just forget to charge them or leave them at home.