And that’s just fine.

It’s good to want things–like variety.

To want to see changes–for the better.

Life is a constant transformation–a series of hellos and goodbyes.

It’s exhilarating–it’s fantastic.

With always something to look forward to, we’ve found our cure for boredom.

What cures your boredom?

Tell us in the comments below.

It’s exciting to have something to look forward to and to work toward.

We have a vision in our minds about how everything will turn out, and the idea that no matter what, it’s going to be great. It will be something we will cherish for years to come. Time just lingers on as we count down the months, weeks, hours, minutes and seconds until the big moment.

Then, it happens.

And no sooner did we blink, it is gone, leaving memories that desperately wish to be shared with others. We look back fondly and it makes us feel like we have really lived.  And it naturally paves the way for something new to achieve.

Living life on purpose is a work in progress and the highway we have to travel is wide open.

It is easier than ever to live our dreams.

We opened Mixin Mingle to give people like you a place to let your curiosity run wild, have fun, and do something different.

In our short time on this planet, we have been transformed countless ways by the creative people who have been here. We refuse to be defined by anything that will limit what you can do here. We want you to be great, and we know it will be…whatever “it” is.

What are you looking forward to with anticipation? Tell us in the comments below.

And don’t forget to check out our featured events!

You can rent our space for:

• Birthday Parties
• Baby Showers
• Bridal Showers
• Baptisms
• Family Get-togethers
• Dances
• Mixers
• Reunions
• Celebrations
• Graduations
• Receptions
• Farewells
• Weddings
• Holiday Dinners
• & More!

Thousands of people attend soirees at Mixin Mingle, so it only makes sense to offer a new way to say hello and make your business stand out.

Goody BAGvertising™ is a unique, cost-effective way to advertise to a variety of people.

We give these stylish tote bags out for free to attendees at popular events, and you can put your business in the spotlight by offering a surprise they’ll never forget you for.

Click here for more information and to apply.

The creator recently asked us to do an interview, and wrote this for us.

The complete interview is pasted below.

1. What made you decide to run Mixin Mingle?

Ever since I entered the workforce, I always wondered if I had what it would take to open a business. Back then, I was always looking to achieve the next milestone in my career and education. I thought to myself, “if I could only learn more skills”, or, “if I could get the right job or promotion (i.e., make more money)”, then maybe I’ll be “happy” or feel like I’m “enough”.  I was very frustrated in my career even though I was making great money. I spent 8 hours a day in a cubicle staring at a computer screen waiting for life to happen, waiting for life to become exciting. I was extremely bored and started daydreaming all the time about my dream business. I had just finished my Professional MBA at Northern IL University in Hoffman Estates. As part of the program our group was supposed to meet once a week to work on our projects and sometimes we needed to practice our presentations. This is where I began to identify how difficult it was to find a meeting space.  We ended up having meetings in a conference room of a library, or at Panera, or at a team member’s home or work. It was very hard to find a place that worked well for all our needs.

Then, I decided to have my graduation party and again found how difficult it was to find a room to have a party where we could bring our own food and drinks, have a DJ and alcohol. We ended up using a clubhouse at a condo association because it was affordable and could fit a lot of people. But we had to know someone to get in there.

A few months later, my longtime boyfriend and I decided we wanted to marry because we were expecting our first child.  I looked everywhere for an affordable place to have a decent wedding.  We didn’t belong to a church, and I really wanted to have our ceremony and party in the same place. We ended up getting married in the banquet room upstairs at Pirro’s.

In August 2010, a few months after giving birth to my son, I came down with a severe case of postpartum depression and was hospitalized at Centegra. During my stay there and in the outpatient program, they had a series of activities to help patients get well. There was everything from fitness to arts and crafts to music. I realized then that I needed to incorporate these activities regularly in my life.

Shortly after returning to work from the medical leave I was laid off from my job. My world turned upside down and I knew that finding a new job in the recession would not be easy.  At the time, I was seeing a doctor who was treating me using clinical hypnosis. One of the things I asked him to do was help me figure out if I should start a business. He said he could and he asked me to write down what I liked doing and what my skills were. I told him I wanted to use my skills in marketing to help small businesses. I also wanted to have a fun job that would work with the lifestyle I wanted to have. The best I could come up with at the time was to be an independent consultant, but I knew small businesses really wouldn’t have the funds to hire me. So he set the intention during one of our sessions that the idea would just come to me one day.

Well, that day came when I was standing in my kitchen putting dishes away. All of the sudden I was flooded with ideas because it dawned on me that in the last few months I went to all these different places to do different things. I went to a yoga studio for a meditation workshop, I went to a fitness center for a Weight Watchers class, I went to a church for an event with many classes, I went to a library for a cooking class, I went to a historic building to see a small play, I went to the Racetrack for an expo, and I went to Starbucks for a committee meeting. I realized I was going all of these places to do all these things and I saw no reason they couldn’t all happen in the same location. It was the perfect job for me. I was so excited that I told Steve (my husband) that I finally knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.

That motivation was powerful enough to lead me to take that leap of faith and dive head first into starting a company.

2. When did you open the shop?

We officially opened our doors on Thursday, May 5th, 2011. It was Cinco de Mayo. I had my friend Tracy Walker come and teach a Hatha Yoga and Meditation class. Nobody from the public came, but my family, friends and husband showed up. Someone was looking in the window at what we were doing so I went outside to talk to her. She said she would come if we did a Zumba class. So I found a Zumba instructor and people started coming for Zumba. That’s how I got my first real customers.

3. Have you had any help?

My family and friends have helped support my venture as much as possible. Plus every customer, instructor and event planner has helped shape the business and has worked hard to help it grow.  My business suffered three disasters over the years with two floods and a car crash. People in the community were a huge help during those difficult times.

4. What are you most proud of?

Every time there are people I don’t know in the space who are there for a class or event, it makes the hair on my arms stand up. Or when people say what a great idea they think it is. Because when I first started out, I had no idea what I was doing and frankly I felt stupid putting myself out there this way.

5. What is your favorite event to be a part of?

I think I’m the only person who has been to every single event, and for the most part, they’ve all been special in their own way. I am a person who likes variety and I have a short attention span, so I want my business to be a place that attracts popular activities.

6. What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen or been a part of with mixin mingle?

Hands down it was the Homestuck party. Hundreds of young people came dressed in costumes and threw a dance party.

7. What are your goals with mixin mingle?

Long term, I want to create a repeatable and profitable business model in order to bring the concept to other places. Short term, I would like to fill the empty space with activities. I am also working finding other businesses that can make use the space to offer great public events.

8. Do you feel like you’ve been successful so far? Why?

From a buzz building standpoint, it’s certainly been successful. It’s hard for businesses to get people to visit their space and to get people talking about them. We have so many different people hosting and planning events and they are spreading the word for us. The more people who see the room and feel at home here, the better our chances they will think of us or recommend us in the future.

9. What is one thing you want to do with mixin mingle you have not done yet?

I always thought it would be cool if a big brand came in to do a pop-up store or event.

10. Is there anything else you feel we should know about you or the business?

We are one of the most open and flexible companies around and feel that we can accomplish more through partnerships than we could by ourselves. We like putting other people and businesses in the spotlight to connect them with the community.  We can learn so much from each other and help each other succeed. If anyone reading this has the inkling they might like to try something entrepreneurial or out of the box, we urge them to contact us because we provide a low risk mechanism to do just that.

Talented wedding professionals decorated Mixin Mingle to create a “mock” wedding reception themed event complete with Appetizers, Desserts, Mock-tails & Live Music so guests could experience the many possibilities for planning a wedding.  Over a dozen experts were on site to assist couples preparing to say “I Do” with all aspects of a wedding event, including:

Florist: Petals n’ Bloom

Photographer: Happily Ever After Photography

Bakery: The Sugar Circle

Caterer: Now We’re Cookin’

Linens: Beautiful Day Linens

Guitarist: Andrew Sedlak

Make-up: Aaron Gomez

Clutches/Purses: Girl By Aileen

Party Planning: “I Do” 4 U Weddings & Events

Jewelry: Catseyes Jewelry

Hair Stylist: Hair Xtensns Studio

Personalized Gifts: Thirty-One Becky Vidales

Ring Bearer & Flower Girl Accessories: Sassational Parties By Sarah

Photo Booth: Special Moments Photo Booth

The party hosts decorated the room with balloons and party favors for both teams’ colors.

Of course they had pools guests could participate in, and then during the halftime show, everyone played a game of Super Bowl Jeopardy.

The name of the game for the Super Bowl is to have the best food, right? This party definitely should win five stars in that area. They had everything from sandwiches, pulled pork, meatballs, to chips and dip. There was nothing lacking in the food and drinks department.

Although decorations, games and food are important, what would the Super Bowl be without big screen T.V’s?  The party brought in two additional T.V.s and an HD receiver for their party – so guests could watch the game on any of the three big screens.

Mixin Mingle turned out to be a great location to host a Superbowl party. Contact us at 1-815-308-5170 to book the room for your game day shenanigans.

The full list of classes included: Yoga, Belly Dance and Shakti Shimmy with Krystle Hope of  Serenity Haven, Zumba with Stacy Weber, Capoeira with Artista Steve, BollyBeatz with Akhila Rao Damerla and a water education clinic with Sarah Armburst of Nurture Yoga and Massage.

After their workouts, people were able to browse through many health and wellness vendors. Some of the vendors were Juice Plus, Chiro One, Advocare, Young Living Essential Oils, It Works!, Scentsy, Tastefully Simple,  and BioMat.  McHenry County Housing Authority was also present to give information about the Affordable Care Act.

We had a great time and are looking forward to the next Taste of Sweat event in September 2014!

Aspiring songwriters showcase original music at Woodstock venue

By JAMI KUNZER – jkunzer@shawmedia.com

Jim Green performs during the Songwriters Showcase at Mixin Mingle Friday in Woodstock. Cassandra Vohs-Demann owner of A Place To Shine Music studio on the Square, has started a monthly showcase to “bring Nashville to Woodstock,” said Vohs-Demann. (Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com)

The hardest thing for a songwriter can sometimes be finding someone to listen.

Once a month in a quiet room on the Woodstock Square, a crowd gathers to do just that.

“This is my divorce angst song,” Tim Merkel said after stepping up to the microphone, his guitar in hand. “It’s pretty self-explanatory, an analogy to a house falling apart.”

All eyes are on him as he strums and sings his creation.

Merkel (www.treebeardsound.com) was one of three performers on a recent Friday night invited to take part in a relatively new Songwriter Showcase hosted by Cassandra Vohs-Demann and A Place To Shine Music, the training program she runs for singers, songwriters, educators and artists.

A singer/songwriter herself who also performed that night, Vohs-Demann has brought in local and regional songwriters since October in an effort to promote original music and accentuate the art scene in McHenry County.

“I’m trying to bring Nashville to Woodstock,” she said.

The Songwriter Showcase takes place the third Friday of every month at Mixin Mingle, 124 Cass St., Woodstock. The next showcase is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21. Admission is $7.

Songwriters take turns performing their original songs, often relaying the story behind them. Audience members laughed, then tapped their toes and nodded their heads as Jim Green (www.jimgreenmusic.com) shared his “Boxcar Man” song about a hobo jumping a train.

“It’s not often a lot of us get to play to a very attentive crowd,” he said.

Using his guitar as both a drum and a string instrument, he also played the harmonica.

He’d thought of the song while listening to an old cassette of “train songs” created by harmonica players, he told the crowd. The songs actually sounded like trains on a track.

“I thought the idea behind that was interesting, so I tried to translate it to guitar,” he said.

Another song told the story of a man trying to jump a train with a time-sensitive freight, or a “hot shot,” Green said.

“If you get on one of those, you’d better hang on because you’re in for a ride,” he said.

Behind the piano, Vohs-Demann’s songs told a different story, one written for her niece’s wedding, another for stressed women everywhere.

“No Time to Cry” is about how women tend to overextend themselves, she told the crowd.

“All of a sudden you wake up one day and say, ‘Man, I’m a mess. I hate everybody. Nobody loves me,’ ” she said with a bit of a laugh. “You get overwhelmed, and I think sometimes we give so much we forget we need to refuel. I’m a better giver if I’m fueling myself.”

Vohs-Demann performs often throughout the area, and her CD “Here I Am” is available on iTunes and elsewhere. Through her own songs, her studio and now the Songwriter Showcase, she follows the mission statement, “Believe in what is possible. . . “

Those who know her, have worked with her and attended the showcase admire her effort to bring the community together through music.

“She wants to let the community experience the wonderful artists right in our backyard. That’s her goal,” said Flora McIntyre of Woodstock, who attended the recent showcase. McIntyre’s daughter, Alayna DeVar, has worked with Vohs-Demann as a voice instructor.

Vohs-Demann said she’d love to draw in as many diverse artists to the showcase as possible from all over the country.

“We hope to get the word out and fill the place,” she said.

Toni started off the workshop with a brief intro about herself and sharing her tried and true methods for setting goals. Then, she turned the tables on the group to share more about themselves. We went around in a circle, spilling our dreams and aspirations, as well as our personal struggles. It was inspiring and comforting to hear everyone share openly to complete strangers. At the end of the sharing, Toni brought us over to the tables filled with vision board goodies. She brought everything from magazines, scissors, decorating materials and glue.

We each grabbed a blank board and began to clip pictures or text that we wanted to paste to our vision boards. Toni encouraged us to choose a word and a color to start.

After a little while, we posed for a picture with our visions for our fresh New Year. Excited to see it unfold.