Yes, I know the blog is a bit behind...

Hello. I've been traveling and it's been busy so that's why you've not heard from me. Also, quite frankly, I've been a bit lazy, as well. Going through some mental stuff.....that has kinda been keeping me away from doing a lot of stuff. But, it's all good in the neighborhood overall so can't complain. I'm in Las Vegas right now attending the MPI PEC. http://www.mpiweb.org/ is the address to the organization. You can click on there and then check out info on the World Education Congress and then you'll see info about the conference I am attending.

OK, how do you make links with words as opposed to typing the boring website page address? If anyone knows how to do this, please do let me know.

As soon as I get a chance to download my photos, I'll share pics from my recent trip to Orlando and to this Vegas trip.

Hugs to all!

My brother B, The Peace Corp Volunteer

So I believe I mentioned before that my brother is now a member of the Peace Corps Volunteers. He is really excited about this opportunity in his life. I admire him greatly for his service and his sense of adventure. Didn't know he had it in him myself but it's great to know it's there and he's got the spirit and drive to make it happen. That's great.

Here is the website for the US Embassy for Krygzstan, the country that B is headed to as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

http://www.kgembassy.org/

This county is in Euro-Asia, as I believe it was part of the former Soviet Union. They speak Russian and a local dialect of the country. My family hopes to go and visit B before he comes home in two years to see what he's been doing. I'll have to save up my money to do that!

Columbia, MD

Well, today I find myself in Columbia, MD attending a company wide sales meeting. Today was a pretty good day as we had great training on our call accounting system. Now tomorrow may be an entirely different story as we are getting our reviews. I'll be interested to see what exactly my boss has written in her section about me. They had me do my section of the review three times so it will be interesting to see what she has to say. We've been having a tough time getting along lately (her insecurities have been showing their ugly head recently and I've not been very accommodating of those insecurities) so it will be interesting to see what it said. I'm working on going into the meeting tomorrow with an open mind and open to whatever she says with grace and humilty. They are not my strongest qualities; however, we'll work really hard on them.

So we're staying at this cute little Hilton Garden Inn in Columbia, MD. Fridge and microwave - I might be convinced to stay up here more often and get the Hilton points to boot! Hmmm, we'll have to see. And there are restaurant options close by too....................yahoo!

Say a prayer for me that I don't lose my cool tomorrow. Hugs to all.

There is exhausted, and then there is EXHAUSTED....

Hi ho everyone.

Wow, is June over yet? All I've done this month is work! Work with my day job, work with my sorority (well, helping a soror) and just working in general. The day job has really been a challenge as I had one more client program to work at the Chicago Hilton. Who knew that I would end up being Account Manager and Convention Services Manager as I lost my CS Manager. His son took a terrible fall that landed him in ICU with a broken wrist, broken jaw (in three places), busted teeth, collapsed lung and a host of other bruises and issues. So, he left us mid-show to go up with his wife (as he should and we were after him to get going the day it happened). Unfortunately, there was no one to replace him on the show so for a show that was already understaffed, we lost another management person so I was working 12 - 15 hour days (and surviving on 4 hours sleep for five nights) until the program ended on Thursday evening. Let's not even count that my client loved to make on-site changes that caused us to be running from sun up to sun down. It was CRAZY but yet and still, it all worked out! Thank goodness! The client was appreciative of all our hard work so that's a good thing. I'm just now coming up for air. I had the idea that I could actually get a jump start on the work this weekend of billing, etc and it was all I could do to stay awake.

I did manage to stay awake long enough to go to the Taste Of Chicago to see Stevie Wonder on Saturday evening. Grant Park was SOOO CROWDED that they actually quit letting people in the park for the free concert. It was really good, though, Stevie performed for three hours - what fun. Do you want to see more great acts at the Taste? Here's the website to see who else will be performing: http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalEntityHomeAction.do?entityName=Taste+of+Chicago&entityNameEnumValue=166

Hmm, I'll have to learn how to list websites with the pretty title of the site vs just the actual article.

OK gotta get back to work. Hopefully will have more posts of fun times to share come July as I have two trips lined up and hope to have some fun while I'm out. Hope you're having a grand summer! OH - more on Lil Bro's Peace Corp Assignment and the parent's upcoming Alaska cruise later. I'm so jealous!

Happy Mother's Day (belated)! Happy Father's Day!

I came to visit my parents and brother Brian in South Bend today. The primary reason is that Brian is going into the Peace Corps. I'm bummed b/c we won't see him for like....two years and I'll miss him. But, the second reason to come home was to spend Father's Day with Dad and Mom. I felt bad b/c I was sick in my bed on Mother's Day but am glad that I now get to see both of them in South Bend. I have not seen them both since they came up to Chicago for Founder's Day (and mainly that was with Mom - Daddy just chilled out at my hosue).
So anyway, it's always amazing how you appreciate your parents more once you become a grown up. I have some terrific parents and I love them very much. Mom & Dad, thanks for being such fabulous people and good role models. Brian, we'll talk more about him and his new adventures in a future post.
Happy Father's Day to all my friends who are Dads!

Weekenders Inc. goes belly-up!

Many of you know that I've had a side hustle (part-time job) since May 2003. Selling Weekenders Clothing Line was a great gig for me. I had some great clothes (many of you who read the blog have been customers of mine, and I truly appreciate your support), made some new good friends and had a little extra cash to pay for some trips, etc. Not to mention some terrific tax write-off's, which a single sista needed in the worst way.

Well, unfortunately, on June 9, 2008, Weekenders declared bankruptcy. I had only been selling the clothes through catalogue sales for the past 1.5 years as my day job had kept me so daggone busy. This Spring & Summer season was my first "active" season with two shows scheduled and having gotten some samples together. Well, bummer but now we're done.

What's Shaking???

Hey everyone. It's been a CRAZY Spring, that's for sure but I'm making it through. I'm a little tired right now....one more show to get through and then I can take a break - thank goodness.


So, in early May I went to Grand Rapids and stayed at the lovely Amway Grand for our MPI-Chicago Area Chapter Board of Directors Retreat. The folks in Grand Rapids treated us like royalty and I had a blast! Here is one of the turndown sweeties they set out for us.


Here's my buddy me and L hanging out in one of the fabulous suites at the Marriott just taking it all in and taking a breather! Sista needs to go on a diet, that's for sure.

Here are the final night owls hanging out at a comedy club. The comedians weren't that great but we had a good time hanging out!

Since then, I was in town for most of May but then headed right out to Baltimore to my client's program SLEEP 2008. We had a few bumps on the show but overall it went pretty well so I'm really glad that the client is happy. One highlight of the week is that I got to visit with my brother Jeff & his wife Laura. That was just awesome. I also got to hang out with ALL MY DC GIRLS (MSA, RDHCH, ARB, & LW). We were quite hilarious and loud and tons of fun. Actually went clubbing - haven't donw that in YEARS! One other highlight was tons of YUMMY crabs in a good ole' crab feast - in season. How fun!

Now I have one week and then my last Spring program MDS runs at the Hilton. Then I think I'm taking a bit of a break b/c I'm a bit tuckered out!

I want to start looking for a job but I'm just really too tired to concentrate on that right now. I've put some feelers out there. I really want to just take a few moments (days) to just sit and do nothing and just think for a bit. Hopefully, I'll get some downtime at the Delta convention. Hope springs eternal!

Hugs to all. Happy Father's Day for all you dads!