Tag Archives: work

Amazing Success!

Posted in Work and Professional Life by

Yesterday was the first annual Heartland IIBA Conference – and it was a HUGE success. I am so happy with how everything turned out. It was a long day, got there at 6:45am and got home at 5:30pm, but so worth it. I am the President of this organization but can not take the credit for the event. We had a separate committee plan it and they did such a good job. It really sets the bar high for next year’s conference!

We had 5 speakers – which I helped to acquire so I will take some credit here 🙂 – and they were all phenomenal. We got so many comments on how great the presentations were. There was a lot of interaction from the audience too which shows how much they were getting in to it. All of the speakers commented that this was one of the best planned and executed conferences they’ve been to! This is saying a lot as most of them do this for a living and have been across the country speaking at these types of events.

There were over 100 attendees and the feedback was very positive. The facilities and food were great. The participation was awesome. The give-aways were a big hit. All in all, it went off without a hitch and was just perfect! Couldn’t have asked for anything better.

Being the Prez, I was the go-to person when there was something to be done that didn’t fit in a particular category. I was the emcee most of the day, directed people and traffic, acted as the “heavy” when speakers started to run over time, worked out some things with the vendors, took pictures, answered questions and more. I felt like a bride at a wedding getting pulled in several directions all at once! LOL I love being active and involved though.

The only down side to the day? I woke up with a cold. I was achy and a bit stuffed up when my alarm went off. Bollocks! But, I’m the president and I had to be there. So I took some Dayquil, a few Ibuprofen, grabbed an OJ and off I went. With all the adrenaline of the day, I felt pretty good for the most part. It wasn’t until late afternoon when things started winding down that it started to hit me again. By the time I got home I was really tired and just wanted to curl up in bed. BUT, instead, I had to play volleyball!

Playing volleyball while sick can go one of 2 ways – I can either play really crappy or I can play amazingly well because I’m extra focused. Last night, it went the way of the latter – I played awesome! Our team had so much fun and won 5 of our 6 games.

Now I’m so glad it’s Friday. Have a relatively low-key day at work and then CJ and I have a date night! We were supposed to go to a Halloween Party but with the craziness of the last few weeks, have had no time to get costumes ready so instead, we’re going to take advantage of having a sitter booked and go out! Munchkin is staying with my parents all night so we can hopefully get some much-needed sleep.

Have a great weekend!!

P.S. I was on the radio yesterday morning! Sort of…One of the stations here has a segment called “Top News” where they read the Facebook statuses that appear in their Top News feed. Apparently mine was yesterday! My status was regarding the conference and having a cold. I didn’t actually hear it but several of my friends did, which is totally cool!

Random Thought Wednesday

Posted in Health and Weightloss, Holidays and Seasons, Work and Professional Life by

I lost 2 pounds this week! The funny thing? I have no idea how. It goes against all laws of nature. I have eaten like nobody’s business this week! I’ve had s’mores every night for dessert. Yesterday I ate my way through a goodie bag of sweets – Kit Kat, Reese’s’ PB Cup, Skittles, and M&Ms. Granted, they were the fun size ones but still, it’s not good to eat 4 of them in a row and then polish off pumpkin seeds. BUT, never-the-less, I lost 2 lbs. and no one can take that away from me!

I have to lead a workshop at work today and I’m really nervous about it. What if the computer doesn’t work? What if the attendees think it’s a waste of time? What if we go way off track and don’t get anything done? These are the thoughts going through my head. When it comes right down to it, I’m sure it will be fine. I also have to remember that not everything rests on my shoulders and in the grand scheme of things, it’s really not that big of a deal.

Tomorrow we are having a big conference for the organization that I am the president of. It’s our first all day event and we have literally been planning for it all year. There are over 100 people registered along with 5 speakers coming from all over the country. It’s pretty big. And I’m the prez. Oddly enough, I’m not nervous about it at all. This is 3 times bigger than my work even today yet I feel good about it. Maybe that’s because I know it’s been well planned whereas the work one was sort of thrown together. At any rate, tomorrow marks a huge milestone for our organization and I’m really excited about it.

I am loving this fall weather! It’s cold and rainy and I love it! Wearing warm wooly sweaters, boots and drinking warm beverages is awesome! I also get to use my seat warmers on the drive in. There’s something special about having heated buns when you arrive in to work.

Several weeks ago I was really excited for Halloween and now that it’s almost here I’m so “not in the mood”. Sorry Halloween, I think I feel a headache coming on. It’s not that I don’t like Halloween, it’s that I’ve had ZERO time to get anything ready. Between getting Munchkin’s costume ready, work, planning for tomorrow’s conference, painting the house and trying to actually sleep and stuff, I’ve had no time to get myself a costume. And as of now, I have no energy to do it in time for a party on Friday. We had some good ideas too. Who knows, maybe I’ll get inspired and throw something together. Or maybe CJ and I will just take advantage of having a sitter and go to a movie instead.

I think that’s all of my random thoughts. Well, at least the ones I’m willing to share! Have a happy hump day!

I could get used to this

Posted in Family, Isabella/Munchkin by

I took last Friday off of work so that CJ could work on painting our house. Which means I got to be with the Munchkin full-time for 3 days in a row! And let me tell you, it was awesome.

Friday we had a play date with a friend of mine whose baby is 5 days older than Munch. They had fun walking around and exploring. We took them to the park, which was Munchkin’s first real taste of sand and playground equipment. She was tentative at first but eventually got in to it and after a while, she was walking all over the place and playing running her fingers through the sand, etc. It was really cool to watch her get over a fear right before my eyes and then embrace it.

Playing in the sand

Saturday she and I ran a few errands and otherwise just hung around the house. Sunday was more of that, with a family dinner thrown in. She is really getting in to this whole walking thing now and literally does laps around the house (from the living room, through the dining room, to the kitchen, then down the hall to our bedroom, then Samson’s room, then her room, back down the hall and starts all over. No wonder she’s tired at the end of the day.

Here she is crawling over Samson to get to a volleyball. That's my girl!

I gave her a haircut Friday night (her 2nd one – she has a lot of hair!). I basically just trimmed up the back and her bangs. She has little pixie bangs now. And she looks so darn cute! Yeah so I’m biased but really, she is such a doll.

After her haircut, sucking on the comb.

All this time with her really makes me wish I didn’t have to work full-time. Being with her everyday or even every other day, would be such a gift. And I got so much done around the house too! Granted, not all days would be full of rainbows and sunshine like this weekend was, but it sure gave me a taste of the other side.

Looking out the window while cuddling with her monkey (and wearing her Steelers shirt!)

There are advantages to working too and the grass is always greener. I know that I’m where I need to be for now. But another 3 day weekend sure would be nice!