Anyone who knows me, knows Bessie. She goes everywhere with me. She’s my constant companion at all of my events, and she is a good warhorse. Bessie has taken me up and down the California coast, and even when she was suffering she made sure to get me to my destination. True story: even when her transmission went out, she waiting until we were a mile from the location to finally give it up, and then she actually coasted to the event before dying entirely in the client’s driveway. I was able to call AAA and have her towed back to the warehouse without ever interrupting the party, that’s how dependable she is!

Bessie is my van. She’s got 160,000 miles on her odometer. She’s got dings and scrapes, and all kinds of little wounds. She’s been referred to as “the stinky van” by my husband for years, and borne the criticism of many that she should be replaced for a newer, sleeker, larger model. To others, Bessie is just a van, but to me, Bessie is a friend.

So when it came to discussing the new website, and how we should start our grassroots advertising campaign, the natural choice was Bessie. I have to share with you that Bessie, has brought in more business than any web ad, brochure placement, or expensive listing in the Yellow Pages. I often will see people jotting down my information in a parking lot, or have them stop me at an intersection to ask what I do... then ask me to throw them a card. Bessie is a rolling billboard.

But of late, Bessie has been looking a tiny bit tired, and I knew that she needed a bit of a makeover.

After contacting my fabulous sign painter Larry Sweat (of the South San Francisco’s country rock fame, Larry Sweat and the Sweat Socks), I set about making Bessie presentable. First she needed a good bath. You must understand, I’m a pretty low-maintenance type of gal, and super busy to boot, so it’s been a while since Bessie has had a proper bathing. I took her to the local do-it-yourself car wash, where I was thrilled to learn you can use your credit card to run the spray and foam machines (mind you, this was after having to make several mad dashes to quell the one-minute warning signal with my ever-depleting stash of scrounged quarters). It was awesome. You just slip in your card and the machine keeps track of your usage until you tell it to stop. It was actually quite fun, soaping Bessie up with this thick lather of foam and then rinsing her down with a high-powered spray gun that could take out a bird out at 20 paces. I must admit though, it was then that I realized just how faded poor Bessie’s paint job had become. Up until then I think I had convinced myself it was just a thin layer of dirt that had dampened her luster, but once scrubbed and scoured it became apparent... Bessie needed a face lift.

Thankfully Larry was up to the task, and by the end of the day my beloved Bessie was not only clean, but also vibrant, sporting our new logo and website address proudly. I think Bessie can feel it, and has a new lease on life. My staff and husband have actually complemented her on how good she looks!

Now if I can just figure out how to gussy up her grungy little seat cushion...