I Need More Weekend...Or just to Slow Down!

Phew…I need to catch my breath…I need a vacation!
What a busy weekend…okay busy past two weeks. It feels like the rummage sale weekend was for-e-ver ago!

Moline went well. I met some incredible women that have been involved in community and economic development for years and have such personality. Julie and I took a walk downtown, enjoyed a local brewery, and peeked around. Moline is part of the quad cities(like the song Train that I remember from 8th grade) but it’s real claim to fame is John Deere. We took a walk down to the pavilion and I sat on the 500,000 combine made….I couldn’t crawl up into and see it but Dad said if I really wanted to see what it looked like he’d take me to RDO.
The flying was very interesting both ways. We cut getting on our planes really tight because of weather problems and such. However coming back, I had the worst decent of my life, I actually got queasy and thought I was going to puke. Turns out the weather was turning for the worst in MN and ND, that was the night that 20 tornadoes touched down all over. No wonder the air wasn’t conducive to flying.

When I got back I decided to stay home for a couple days and spend it with the family. There are some big changes happening out there and the first one that I wanted to see was Mom’s house…it looks so nice and if I didn’t know what she went through to get it I would be super jealous. I even got to see her new porch landing before she did…It look nice! The sad thing that I thought of was how it’s going to change first day of school pictures!

It was nice to spend a little time with them…in fact for Father’s Day, we went to Medora. We hadn’t been there as a family since 1993 or 4! We took in a little Johnny Holmes and strolled around a bit to see the ND Cowboy Hall of Fame, a few (as Dad would call them: Crap) shops, and even had a little ice cream! It was nice to wander and relax! We even took a family picture…

This past week I have not been home for much but to sleep! Busy running, golfing, and some appointments….I think TonyDanza and Lola are plotting how to trap me. The weekend was no different, I was excited to have Tiffy come and do a quick breeze through as she was making appearances in Medora and at the Dickinson Roughrider days! Where and how she keeps all that energy…I’ll never know!

On Saturday, Aubrey and I took off to stay with Candy during McQuade’s Charity Softball tournament. Those girls make me laugh! I don’t think we were in Bismarck for more than 24 hours, but we made the most out of it! We dressed up, went to Fiesta Villa, Elbow Room, and finished the night off at Bucks….Those girls know how to keep me moving and smiling! The next day we woke up early and took in a few games and a bit too much sun. I’m a little red! Awww….Memories!

Working it for YP!

We’ve had so little summer sun, what’s up with that. It feels like it’s been years since summer. I’m hoping when I go down to Moline this week, I’ll be able to sneak in some rays! I’m excited about this trip as I don’t know what to expect. I’ve been in this field (Economic/Community Development) now for a year and a half, it’s constant changing. I never know what I’m going to be doing each day. I kinda make it up as I go, but sometimes it’s nice. We are still working on a trip to Minneapolis to go and talk with the Bush Foundation; they are who provided funding for the first grant. We’ll see where this pans out. I know the universe will take care of me…but I wish I knew how that plan was going to start!

We had a productive YP week. We had an executive meeting that was perfect timing to build off the momentum that we had from the Great Plains Young Professionals Summit. We are shaking things up and creating some sustainability strategies for the leaders of the network. We also held on social on Saturday that had 17 people attend, which in turn resulted in 3 new members. That’s not too bad of a night! The next day, on a Saturday, we had a charity rummage sale scavenger hunt. We went up and down Hwy 21 and collected items that House of Manna usually asks for. We had four teams competing, one team from Bismarck, and people were so giving. My team was Amy Jo and I, I gotta admit we did pretty well! This was the brain child that I drummed up last year but I wasn’t sure how the pragmatics of it was going to play out. I wasn’t sure if people were going to want to give. WOW…people would take our list out of our hand and start wandering into their house! I deemed the event a huge success and created some good stories! We also had a cook out that night at Josh’s house with a camp fire and barbecuing. We had quiet a few people attend this as well. We are revising our format so we will actually have a weekly YP newsletter which will talk about past events, share about upcoming events, and other member highlights. It’s exciting to see all of the things we’ve done this year. I can’t believe our banquet is coming up in September already! I also found out I was appointed to represent DYP on the State NDYP board.

I was happy to hang out with my girlfriends this weekend. I know that I’m looking for Mr. Right and sometimes I’m not patient with it but I gotta admit the passengers on this journey have been the best part. It’s nice to talk, share ideas, and b1tch about things with women that are all in the same place but with different points of view. We had a bonfire at Aubrey’s house last night….oh I giggled. There was a lot of beer spilt on the patio but I wouldn’t have traded the conversation and camaraderie for anything.

I’m also working on a few creative points right now; one of my goals is to write a book. I’m still working on the vocal point. I have a few ideas but am not sure how I’m going to lay it out or what direction I’m planning on going to. I guess you could say I’m still in R & D! It’s been fun to see that start progressing as ideas begin to spin out.

Next week I'm all over the board...we'll see where it takes me.

Summits, Spills, and Scheduling!

This past weekend was the first Great Plains Young Professionals Summit, held in Bismarck, ND. What a great event. I was impressed with the support and range of people that attended. They had a high power line up of speakers with a great amount of range: economists, writers, social media, trust, government/politicians, leadership, cultural, nonprofits, etc.
I took in breakouts on trust building, social networking, living in truth, and sat in on changes, leadership, and living keynotes. A lot of great things that I needed to hear or things that I needed to think about. The conference left those of us YP’ers that went with some great things to think about and reenergized our efforts!

One thing popped up this week and shows how the world is more connected. Because of the oil spill that is happening in the Gulf, Sheri and I figured that we weren’t going to be able to go to Corpus Christie this fall for my birthday. Sure we can go but it won’t be the same because we won’t be able to go to the beach or have the seafood, etc. We are now reviewing where we want to go…We’ve been looking at California. We’ll see...

My week was busy but slow….I leave for Illinois on the 15th …But not before the YP Scavenger hunt/rummage sale and a day trip to Watford.

What happened to May?

Seriously I lost a whole month…

I had a great weekend. I started it off visiting Stacy at the Station. I dropped off a picture collage I made for her and Nicole from the Guatemala trip. It’s hard to believe that the place where we wandered around and took in just 3 weeks ago is in complete disarray from the volcano eruption and then being dumped on (25” of rain) by Tropical Storm Agatha. The pics on their page amaze me.
I spent some time with Kam on Friday night too…he made me surf and turf! I was impressed by his cooking abilities! I was feeling pretty good until he schooled me in wii…whatever!

Saturday through Monday I spent with Janice and Jerry! Those two make me giggle. Between their fights, their language, their nursing home plans, their shopping….I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Janice and I took in some shopping at Gordman’s, I love that store! We saved over $375 together! HA! We also were lazy clothes tryers!
We went to Mexican Village, where I was outdrank! We also went and saw Great Great Aunt Ruth, it was the first time I met her (it wasn’t an official meeting!).
I love being able to sit up and talk with Janie…I hope at 71, I’m on top of things like she is….We got her set up with her facebook page. We’ll see if that sticks.
It’s weekends like this that make me really wish she wouldn’t have moved back!

I got back home to my yard that could have been hayed! The grass was so long it was going to seed! It’s good to have good friends as I couldn’t figure out how to start my “fancy” mower!

New fear: Summer might go too fast too me!