conferences, tswift & march madness

i can't believe it is march 15th and this is the second time i've posted in march. i guess this is what happens when i've been working the last two weeks and little internet. i need to learn to blog more on my phone.

so last week i was in dc - back at the good old 4h. ummm, it wasn't a good weekend for me. but i did get to see two of my friends from this fall who are in dc working another program! yay!  i've realized i don't really like this set of conferences that much. the curriculum is interesting and i love observing it and really challenging the students to think (they are all about becoming a better leader for 8/9th graders) buuut i've realized i don't like co-facilitating and being inside a hotel for 4 days. i think because out of the 4 co-fax's i've had one was amazing, one was good and two weren't good, it is frustrating. you aren't with the same person each week so you can't learn and grow with them to really get it going well. so each week you are starting from scratch, plus i like to be in control. for example this week my co-fax was older (early 30s) and had been doing this for a while now, but didn't want to be seen as an authority figure and wanted to be their friends. so i was the one who kept things in control and was "bad cop" uugh. annoying. and then with other programs and conferences i've worked we go out and about dc and while talking about leadership & government and then they go see it. love love love it. this one we are in a hotel conference space from 8am-10pm. so i've realized i go crazy being inside. but it has been a good learning experience and i've learned a few things about myself. and i enjoy the travel aspect and it has been a fun experience overall.


so i'm off tomorrow to birmingham, alabama!! so excited for this! alabama will be my 30th state. so i'm excited. i'm getting closer and closer to all 50 states! yay! i really need to get to kentucky as it is all alone right there in the middle. and then the first week of april i'm off to texas too!

so driving home from dc sunday night was good. i met with my friend patricia for dinner and then headed home, leaving at 8 and getting home at 12.30, which i was happy with. i would much much rather do the drive at night rather than during the day. anyone else like that? but i realized i needed to sing and so i put in taylor swift's newest cd - speak now, which i love and sang along to that while driving through maryland. and then because it put me in a good mood i decided why not just have a tswift night? so i put in her first cd (still love it) and belted out all those songs that reminded me of the summer of 2006 and my senior year of college. and loved hearing the difference between 2006 taylor and 2010 taylor. and then i put on my favorite of her albums - fearless. and rocked that one all the way home. i love listening to her driving and it makes the drive go much faster. 

and another thing - march madness is upon us! YAY! sadly i'll be working a lot during the first two rounds but yay for some great college basketball! so as much as i love the tarheels - i don't see them going all the way this year. my choice to win it is pitt and then uconn, kentucky and kansas going to the final 4. so here is my bracket - i pretty much just pick and have fun with it! do you do ncaa brackets?

off to bama!