MESSAGE FROM HATQUARTERS Would you indulge me in one of my analogies, of which I am so fond, for a moment?  Picture a woman in a forest, gathering sticks to make a small fire, then patiently working to create the first flame, gradually adding material until the fire blazes.  Now she has created warmth for herself and – very possibly – warmth for others nearby. This woman, dear Queen, is you.  You are the one who has gathered friends (old and new) and formed them into a fledgling chapter of the RHS. You are the one who has helped clarify our Mission and purpose to them, infusing them with the RHS spirit.  You caught a vision and then turned and shared it generously with others.  You are a leader; beyond that, you are a Star! The Red Hat Society theme for the year 2012 is "The Stars Among Us," and our Queens are our stars.  You have spread your glow upon your chapterettes, by modeling good humor, kindness and patience. You have led your chapters to the playground and helped them remember how to play. You have truly behaved like the Star that you are!  We are not interested in the Hollywood type of star – all fluff and hype.  We are talking about women like you, who shine on others, who inspire and lead! Like the woman in the analogy, you have started a small fire – a fire that glows.  We know that that the RHS and its Queens are impacting people positively in many ways.  We hear sparkly little stories of kindnesses, inspirations, "coincidences", and love among Red Hatters. With our chapter renewal this year I received the following card - an oath for Red Hat Society Queens: OUR 2012 PROMISE I am a Star amongst Royalty - a Beloved Queen I am a Brilliant Sparkling and Empowered Woman I am a Dazzling Facet Within the Sisterhood I Promise to Wear my Crown with Love in my Heart, a Positive Spirit and Commitment to continue the RHS Legacy         Link to the Red Hat Society Official Page

Message from Queen Tourmaline     Can you believe we are celebrating our 6th year as a chapter of The Red Hat Society?  We sure have had loads of fun, and lots more to come in 2012. Along with the all the fun, and laughs, is a lot of hard work and long hours preparing, documenting and planning our events. While everyone shares in hosting or co-hosting an event, there is still lots of work behind the hats.  With our 17 members, the workload is shared among a few, who deserve recognition and our thanks. Vice-Queen Pearl does all the photos at the events, makes our amazing event flyers, maps, photos, and collages, and emails them to us so we are informed, and can laugh at our antics.  Our events are well documented thanks to our Paparazzi Pearl. Princess Opal sends out birthday cards to all of our members on behalf of the chapter, and I am sure it adds to our birthday celebration to know that our Red Hat Sisters are thinking of us. The cards are donated by Queen Tourmaline and the stamps by Vice-Queen Diamond. Princess Emerald is the Keeper of the Royal Purse, and keeps our finances in check, collecting the dues each year and making sure we pay our bills. Princess Amber our PERC - Princess Event Resource Co-ordinator, helping organize events and sending email reminders with directions etc. Queen Tourmaline (that's me) writes all the text for the website, donates all the prizes for our events, provides hostess gifts for the event hostesses, and gave out 125 gifts/prizes in 2011.  Since I love to shop, it is my pleasure.  I am always helping at hosting events when needed, in fact 10 out of 16 last year. That brings us to VICE-QUEEN DIAMOND, our WEB DIVA.   She works tirelessly and endless hours making sure our website is the most dazzling, interesting, amazing Red Hat Chapter site there is.  She deals with frustration with the web site hosts, but deals with it in Red Hat style and perseveres to make sure the site is up to the standard she has aspired to.  The site changes in its entirety on the first of each month. It is inconceivable that with 17 members, we have hit the amazing number of 10,000 hits on our site.  There sure are lots of people checking us out, not only our own chapterettes.  This is all due to the spark and fire that Vice-Queen Diamond adds to the site each and every month.  We are all anxious to log on and see what she has come up with. I don't think anyone is aware of the amount of work and hours that she devotes to it - changing the whole site each month. (she sure won't tell us - she is too modest).  She does it all with a good heart and dedication to the chapter and what we stand for.  We can never put into words how grateful we are or how amazed we are - 10,000 hits,  it is just unbelievable.  It was our pleasure to honour her at our Annual Meeting in January. We sure surprised her, I think she was in shock for awhile there. We presented her with red roses (what else?) and a gold star paperweight that read "Congratulations on 10,000 hits Precious Gems".  She is our gold star and when she looks at it on her desk she will be reminded of our appreciation. Thank you to all the chapterettes who host events, Vice-Queen Pearl, Princess Opal, Princess Emerald, but most of all to Vice-Queen Diamond, for her endless hours and dedication to the Precious Gems, and our website.  We can never thank you enough or show our appreciation.  The pride you put into the website, makes us all proud to be one of the Precious Gems and have you as our Web Diva.                                                                                                                                       Hats & Hugs, Queen Tourmaline             February 2, 2012