A Rendezvous is A Gathering Place where people meet to Celebrate, Learn, Exchange Ideas, Share and Relax. 

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That being said, we interrupt this scheduled blog post to give a Well Deserved "Shout Out" to 2 Special Members of Fraiche Aire who were Celebrating Significant "Moments" this Week!

Broker Associate William Collins

On March 18th, 2007, William stopped to savor a "Significant Moment".  In his own words: 

"I wanted to stop and savor the victory of accomplishment. Today I achieved the 45,000 point mark. It is significant in many ways. For me it represents more than a number. In the process of navigating the community I have met some wonderful neighbors here in Active Rain. I have learned from so many people, how do to what I do better. I can only hope that my effort to share my experiences have helped to enrich others, as I have been"  William's posts goes on to talk about how relationships with other members of Active Rain like Jeff Turner & others have impacted his life & career.  William, we agree with you; it truly is a Rainer's Celebration & we join with you in Extending our Hearty Congratulations on this Significant Accomplishment!

This week we also witnessed another Huge Milestone as Craig Schiller Celebrated 3 Years in the Staging Industry.  The Celebration grew...and grew...and grew...until it encompassed the whole wide world in an extraordinary fashion as Craig's Blog went NATIONAL !  NBC picked up a couple of his posts & well...as they say, the rest is history!  We're so Proud & Pleased to see hard work, Creativity & Innovation recognized!  Craig, Fraiche Aire Joins with YOU in saying Thank You to all the Members of this remarkable community whose support & positive encouragement continues to enable all of us to become better & better.

A Common Thread that was Evident in both of these Significant Moments was the role that Relationships have played!  A wise saying informs us that "No Man is an Island".  We all need each other & are motivated to reach our highest potential when we are in supportive communities.  In a groundbreaking book,  Happiness, economist Richar Layard points out the following: "Humans seem to be genetically wired for community.  All primates live in groups and get sad when they're separated:" an isolated individual will repeatedly pull a lever with no reward other than the glimpse of another monkey".  Is it just me...or do you see an amusing picture emerging of why we may feel compelled to be a part of this blogging community called Active Rain? Are points synonymous with the lever???  Ahem...moving right along to the...

 Fraiche Aire Reading Room...

Where the Focus this Week is on Relating & Relationships.

Some good stuff in the Library aka Archived Posts on this topic. 

Interview with Keith Ferrazzi...This post by Benjamin Bach is a very worthy read!  I don't know how it was missed on it's initial run, but I'd encourage you to re-visit this Article originally published on Dec 14, 2006.  Benjamin conducts an interview with the author of "Never Eat Alone".

 Hi, Will You Marry Me? ...This interesting article by Ray Cobel focuses on the "courtship" process of professional client relationships.

Your Values are Your True Brand (Part 2) By Jeff Turner ...focuses our attention on what we truly believe rather than what we say we believe & how this impacts every area of our life profoundly...especially our relationships.  Read this thoughtfully.

It Must  Be the Stockholm Syndrome By Lenn Harley explores how improperly managed relationships play out in the real estate industry & gives some sound advice as well!

Re-Discovering the Gold Core...The Power of Professional Relationships by Lola Audu deals with the power of re-connection!

Relationships were an animating theme in several Blog Posts this week.  Kelli Fronabarger wrote about "What She Had Learned from Active Rain".  As a result of the investment of several individuals whose posts & encouragement have been so helpful, Kelli has emerged as a winning voice on Active Rain.  Therese VanderMeer penned an incredible tale regarding a bank manager who was willing to let a 12 year relationship GO for (I Repeat ) $37.50!  Diane Rice figured out how to make RUDE become WOOED and TLW showed us that Being A Friendly Realtor is a good thing in more ways than one! 

Last tidbit... I thought I'd do a Search on Google to see if Fraiche Aire is Indexed.  There were some interesting results.  As this is an entirely made up name, it was intriguing to note that is also indexed by http://www.topicala.com/  which is a topical directory under "tips for Selling Your Home Realtor". 

New Member Welcome:

We Welcomed the Following Individuals to Fraiche Aire This Week.  Please Stop By & Say Hello!

Sue Arque, John Cilladi, Renee Kokoszka, Heather Kramer, David Williard, and Sandra Williams!  We're so glad you decided to Join Fraiche Aire!  We look forward to reading & learning more from you in the days ahead.

In Closing we take this quote from an article written by Steven Conner entitled "The Help of Your Good Hands: Reports on Clapping"

"You cannot clap alone. Clapping is not applause (the word that has got so much of the spattering plosiveness of clapping in it). Applause is a kind of infection, inflammation, conflagration, cloudburst. The impulse to clap runs as fast as an electric shock, and certainly faster than thought. This makes applause both unstable and subject to manipulation..."

" Clapping creates a space, a shape in time and space. A group of people define themselves as a group, rather than merely an aggregate; they enter into an exchange with the one being applauded, who is at once placed in front of the applause, and centred in its midst. Applause performs the same merging together of particularities as occurs in what it names, applause is a collective name for ‘plaudits'."

So We End the Blog Post with Collective Clapping & Applause for Each One of You Who has Chosen to Be A Vital Part of Creating Fraiche Aire on Active Rain!!

Now, Click On the RendezVous Logo at the Beginning of this Post for a Clap Worthy Performance as we Applaud One Man's Peculiar Perspective on the History of Dance!