Play-by-Play before Planning!

Como si desee “ONE MORE WEEK!”? It’s official, I got my itinerary for Guatemala. Nik, Stacy, and I are going to talk with God’s Child Social Workers, homeless people, human traffic victims, stay at a villa, see a craft market, visit Mayan ruins! AHHHH! By this time next week, I will be there!

This week was full of work activities! Monday: Was on URL radio to promote one of the community development projects, Tuesday: Julie and I went to Medora to help kick off their go green week, Wednesday: I helped out with the grant writing workshop that we put on, Thursday: We had the Strom Conference, Friday: we had the service recognition and training luncheon.
The Strom Conference was pretty amazing. We had some great speakers and a great turnout. We already have one planned for next year, April 19th.

Had a terrible dating story happen this week. I met a guy a month ago, he wanted to take me out but he lives out of town. He told me on Monday that he would be in town and he’d like to take me out. So Monday night, I facebooked him…a friend asked him what he’s been up to lately…and his response, “nothing much, moved out to Montana, working on the oil rigs, got married, and my daughter just turned 7.” And my response…are you fricken kidding me! Needless to say, it didn’t work out. There might have been something good to come out of it…I’ll keep you posted!

Kim and I also closed out our Scentsy party. Some of the orders have already been coming in…I am excited to share good smelling in Dickinson!

Planes, Plans, Parties, and Posts!

So…it’s official..my flight is booked! I’m so going to Guatemala! I’ve bought my salsa dancing dress, I just need to pick out the jewelry and shoes AND the rest of my wardrobe! I also found out that we are going to broadcast AND tape from Central America. I can’t believe that I will be able to have these memories captured. I’m so excited…and it’s only a couple weeks out!

This past week was all over the board at work. We had our Youth Leadership Summit, for area high school students to come hear the Gen Y guy, Jason Ryan Dorsey speak about leadership, opportunity, and taking risks. In the afternoon, we had 4 area young professionals come and speak about their learning experiences which has got them to where they are and in the careers. I was excited to take Jason out to supper Monday night. He is a great guy with a great sense of humor! It was fun to hear him speak!
We are also working on the Strom Conference, the big event for the Strom Center. This will be the 21-23, with the main event on the 22nd! There are quite a few details still being hashed out but it’s exciting to see it come together in the final stages!

Kim and I had our Scentsy Party! It was amazing. We had 16 people come to the party and a handful order from us afterward. I picked out a plug-in and a new burner and can’t wait for them to come and to have some more scents to play with. As I type I’m inhaling “cutie-pie cupcake”….Ahhhhhh!

The big highlight of the week was taking Sheri home to work and play farm! We went home and built fence with Dad all of Saturday. She worked her tail off and I was proud of her! She thinks the farm would beat the pants off any gym routine. She got to see some of the baby calves, play with the kitties, and even get stuck in the mud! Welcome to my childhood! Ha! She asked great questions and I enjoyed sharing this with her! I can tell she’s a friend…I took her home, she worked, and she still wants to talk to me!

Clubbing it at South Heart and in Dickinson!

Well…I hit the radio waves…Wait for the podcast. Julie and I went to Bismarck to be live on Monday morning on URL Radio. Stacy was amazing, she made it so easy, like we were having a conversation. The first week of our URL promo was amazing, it went off without a hitch. Those two women are amazing. They are even promising to take me the gun range and the opportunity to work a day at the Sturgis rally. These are items on my goals/aspiration/alwayswanttodo list. I plan on accomplishing quite a few of these the coming year, as I get some done, I’ll share the list!
Well, obviously the radio went too well because my father had to show me up! He was on the 6:00 news. Check out my links! I was excited to see a little pink tagged calf make a tv debut! I’m planning on going home this weekend to help with a few chores.

I decided that I’m working on my golfing this summer. I bought a range ball membership at South Heart. I actually practiced three nights this past week, it felt good to get out there and I think I will improve with quite a bit of practice.

It’s a good thing that I hit a few hundred balls. A friend from Minot came down this past weekend. He was celebrating a friend’s birthday…he invited me and Amy Jo to go golfing and partying with them. It was fun…I haven’t laughed that much in a long time…the golf wasn’t bad…I didn’t embarrass myself too bad! I even brought out my tie in honor of the birthday boy, who has an impressive collection of ties! He didn’t think I would! Little did he know it was one of my favorite shirts!

Amy Jo also shared her Little Foot with me!

So Many Blessings at Easter Time!

April is officially here!

Obviously I have already posted about my good news….I’m going to Guatemala and El Salvador, May 2-May 8th. I found my passport, I haven’t booked my flight, but I’m super excited. I have looked at pictures and some info that will help me. I did have a little nervousness about the Spanish. I do have a concentration in it, but past asking where the bathroom is…I don’t think it will help me much!

I finished the grant review! Julie and I created a 1” binder filled with narrative, next year’s plan, financials, and supporting documents. We figured there is about 40 or so pages compiled. We’ve gotten some basic feedback back that said the document looked great and they were impressed with our impact to date. We hope that the final year of the grant will inspire the Bush Foundation to allow for another grant. It just feels good to be done with the review!

The weather was all over the board this week from beautiful to horrific. We hit the 70’s and I got some big spring fever! All the snow has melted in my yard! Then the week ended with a rain, sleet, slush, snow storm that brought winter back to Bismarck. Dickinson finally proved to be the banana belt and had the snow that came with the storm melt by nightfall. Bismarck and Baldwin, not so lucky! I came home to see power lines broke at the base. My parents were lucky that they only lost power for most of the morning and afternoon. Others were out for days…and still are! We went to Denise and Randy’s for Easter and on the way three of the major huge metal big electricity poles. The weather took the lines low to 83 ended up being draped on a semi…closing down the highway! The worst part is the mud that was left in Mom and Dad’s driveway and the corrals…and just when things were starting to look good!

The nice thing was to see the calves bucking and enjoying the sun that came out and started driving everything up the very next day!

I went home to celebrate Alaina’s birthday. I can’t believe she’s 18…I think it was the other day when Mom and Dad gave me sonogram pictures and had to explain what they were. I hope that all of her dreams will come true as she becomes a young woman. She is planning for prom on May 1st, I will get to see her in her dress and have her date pick her up. I know that her and I don’t always see eye to eye but I look forward to watching her grow up over the next couple years and pick her life paths. I gave her luggage for her birthday…I think every girl needs a bag to pack for anywhere she’s going! I made her and Mom an ice cream cake with direction from Sheri. For my first cake...I didn't think it turned out too bad!

Mom took Alaina and I to the Fireman's Concert...the performers were the Crystals and the Diamonds. I knew most of the songs and it is amazing to think of the longevity of the songs. These songs have been around since the 60's and 70's...songs today don't have that lifespan or sustainability...afterall "Chantilly Lace...had a pretty face" and "and then He kissed me" will live on for-e-VER!

I also was home to celebrate Easter. It was fun to watch my cousin Ambour’s kids, Kemma and Carstyn, hunt for eggs. They had such great faces. It took me pack to looking and then blowing bubbles and flying kites. I will always remember Grandma Merle in the field in Lincoln helping us kids put our kites together and help us try to get them in the air!

This week is the week our partnership with URL starts. Julie and I will kick it off by being on the radio at 8:30am MST, with Stacy Sturm. Either Julie or I will be on every Monday morning at 9:00 am talking about a COCO nonprofit member, a community, or an event we are hosting. It is exciting to work with this company that has made so much progress in one year, being heard in all 50 states, 84 countries, and over 597,000 listeners!