march so far

march has been great so far. but it is a crazy month. i'll be in my office for 2 days this month (both have already happened) and i'm traveling for work for 26 days with 20 of them in a row, and then 3 days of fun travel. i'm currently on day 2 of 20 of travel for work. so here are my adventures so far. 

yup - double knee brace skiing! i went with the boy to central pennsylvania and went skiing for a weekend. it was great to get out skiing again! and while the first few runs were rocky as i was rocking double knee braces by the last runs on sunday i was tearing it up down blacks. 

 

a little bit of ZTA pride for International Badge Day. I love my Zeta Badge and everything it stands for. 

  my day at o'hare last week. last tuesday i spent 6 hours in the airport hoping my flight would still be taking off so i could get to ohio. i found out monday morning that my original flight from chicago to columbus was cancelled so i was prepped to spend 5 hours in o'hare. luckily i had a united club pass and well i couldn't think of a better place to use it. 

so i spent 5 hours doing work in my office ---- while i waited for my flight and had snacks and did work and caught up on tv while doing it. so i had a pretty good day! my flight was slightly delayed but considering 80% of flights from o'hare were cancelled i couldn't complain! though i was exhausted when i finally got to the hotel!

woke up to this view outside my window of the ohio capitol building covered in snow! and then kicked off a fun conference in columbus!

a fun teambuilder - using  rolled up paper as light sabers and beating each other up! here i am beating up ali and then a program coordinator love picture after!

so then sunday after we finished work we went on a little adventure. so another co-worker paul mentioned the world's largest basket and he has some story about it and why his friends will never let him go. so because of that i was like i am getting to that basket. so jean and ali came with me and we had a fun 45 minute drive to newark, ohio and had a fun photo shoot with the basket. it is 7 stories tall and it the headquarters of longaberger baskets. and a fun way to spend the afternoon!   sunday evening i headed back to virginia for 36 hours. where i saw the boy and had a day in the office doing a million things and catching up with coworkers who weren't traveling that week. and then monday night was the end of an era. 

a kinda short era but one nevertheless. as we know friendships evolve and change as we get older and mj, patricia and i all met summer 2009 when we were coworkers at all of our first conferences. at the end of the summer mj stayed in dc, i moved to nj and patricia went back to kansas. i saw each of them separately a few times but it wasn't until fall 2010 we were back together in dc working conferences again. and now patricia had moved to dc as well and we were all in dc for a few months summer 2011 when i lived there for a bit and when i was in charleston we saw each other whenever i was in dc. and then for 7 glorious months we were all living in dc after i moved here and had almost weekly dinner dates if not bi-weekly. and in december mj got engaged and is getting married in may and while there was talk of moving i didn't expect it so soon - i was guessing summer. but last week mj's fiancee got a job in utah. and they are moving in mid-april. while i am so happy for them it just sucks that one of my closest friends is moving across the country. (and it is weird my friends are moving and i'm not the one bouncing around!) and also patricia moved in with her boyfriend last week too. so a lot of big news. so the crazy part is with my redic schedule and mj's the only day we had with all 3 of us in town before the wedding in may was monday night. so we did a quick plan for dinner and had a great night catching up over the last few weeks since we last got together. and got to see patricia's new place! so i'me excited for the new adventures and friendships to grow and hey, trips to utah! 

so tuesday morning i was back on the road. headed to westchester, ny for my next conference. and it was a gross rainy tuesday. my flight from dca to philly was delayed and i just barely (seriously 30 seconds) made my flight to westchester. after i landed in westchester i had calls from us air letting me know i was booked on the 4:20 flight and then letting me know the 4:20 flight was cancelled. sooooo glad i made that flight! but it was the worst flight ever. 45 minutes of turbulence in a propeller plane. and looking out the window you only saw white from the clouds - it was rough. i had such a headache from it. 

so now kicks off a weekend of fun in westchester for a conference and then i can't wait for sunday! i'm headed into the city to see suz for a few days and to play in nyc! including a little bit of st. patrick's fun on sunday! which i'll need! and i can't wait to hit a few of the manhattan national park sites on monday! then tuesday i'm headed to albany for another conference and then the next week to orlando! i won't be back in dc until april 1st! crazy crazy crazy. but i wouldn't have it any other way!

how has your march been?

recently

so heeeeey february... i'm really slacking on blogging in 2013.  so i've been a mix of busy and quiet the last few weeks and need to work on my wanting to be on my computer when i'm home.  so i've mostly been hanging out with friends - doing dinners a few times a week and being quiet on the weekends as work has been kinda crazy.  but saturday i did venture out and get my first national park of 2013 in! 

i went to fort washington - just across from alexandria, va in maryland. it is an old fort from the 19th century similar to fort mc henry, fort sumter... and your other atlantic coastal forts. so it was fun to get another fort in. it was a bit cold & windy but i can't wait to go back on  a nicer day as there were some nice hiking trails and it would be fun to go picnic there!

park #62

looking up at the fort from along the potomac

cute little lighthouse

love the cannons

so many national park passport stamps there!

so work has been busy busy busy. we just had a 5 day training for our next round of conferences for our staff. so i was teaching a lot this week and it is just so exhausting. it was fun though because these are our traveling conferences which i've done a few times so the staff is mostly people i've worked with in the past, which is fun, but now i'm their manager which adds a new dynamic to it all. but i'm ready to start traveling! it is nice that i'm in the office all this week and don't start until next week! my spring is pretty crazy but i'm excited to go to new places and see friends!

but i'm headed to:
feb 19-25: indy, indiana (work)
march 5-10: columbus, ohio (work)
march 12-17: westchester, ny (work)
march 17-19: nyc with suz
march 19-25: albany, ny (work)
march 25-26: austin, tx
march 26- april 1: orlando, florida (work)
april 9-14: columbia, south carolina (work)
april 15-17: charleston!!!!!!!
may 3-5: san diego/newport beach, cali - mj's wedding!
may 10-12: charleston for amy's graduation

so a interesting schedule the next few weeks - march i'll be traveling for 4 cities in a row, so it should be a bit crazy, but i'm looking forward to it! i need a little travel time - lots of flights coming up!

and then despite knowing what program i'm working this summer i went ahead and did the mega-ticket for 8 country concerts from may-september! i'm most excited about seeing luke in may! woooo! i'll probably have to miss 2-3 in june/july depending on what i work, but it was too good of a deal to pass up! you know my love of live country music and there is just nothing like a great concert in the summer! so very looking forward to that!

but before i head out on my travels i'm headed to jersey next weekend - i haven't been home in a bit and with the schedule i'm not sure the next time i'll be able to. plus my parents are moving sometime the spring and i'd like to go home and bring more of my boxes back to virginia.

how was everyone's weekend?

rocked it!

So it is a week post-PIC and I think I've finally adjusted. It was absolutely amazing experience and I am so proud of my team and what we were able to do. It was crazy to see 2000 high school students all at once, train and work with a staff of 108 plus the 15 people on my team running it all and just survive on minimal sleep. I'm glad this only happens once every 4 years. 

So I run leadership conferences for middle & high school students and we run one for the Presidential Inaugurations. Since I started my job in August I've been almost primarily focused on this conference at work and since mid-November was pretty much all I was thinking about. Last time I posted I was about to head into the 10 day stretch of staff training and conference. So mostly in pictures here is my experience. I don't have any photos from training but it was fun to bond with my team, meet the 108 staff members we hired and train them for the conference. After the 12ish hours of training - between set up and meetings/re-set for the next day I ended up hanging out with my fellow PCs and just laughing so much at the inside jokes we created and really just hoping things were going to go well. And it was so fun to see so many people I've worked with in the past all together! 

giving one of my two program overview speeches on arrival day - the second one had over 1000 students in the room!

Got to meet Condi!! I planned all our student interactions with our speaking events - room set up/seating,  photo opportunities, asking questions during events. It was really awesome to see it all come together during our speaking events! Plus I also got to meet Bob Woodward (I LOOOOVE Watergate), Nick Clooney & General Wesley Clark!

Bob Woodward & Nick Clooney during their panel! I need to find my picture with them!

My roomie and i on Inauguration morning. We had the Air & Space museum prior to the Inauguration and totally had McDonalds at 9:30 am when the staff opened it up just for my team! I had been up since 3:45 so it was totally lunch time!

I didn't go out onto the Mall until late-ish 10:30 so we were around 10th - the 7th street entrance had already closed. But still pretty cool!

Washington Monument behind us!

Out of the 1 million people on the Mall what are the odds I run into my 2 super good college friends?  Linds, Em and I lived together all 4 years! 

heeeeeey Anderson! 

My Inauguration buddy - Kaley and I!  And yes - if you saw anyone on the mall with a yellow/blue scarf they were a staff member for our conference!

My roomie and I stretching during a coordinator meeting - yup, we like to keep it professional after standing all morning for the Inauguration. Sadly this wasn't too weird when it was just us coordinators!

The student's final event was at the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum - the big one that holds all the planes. It was a awesome time!

Roomie and I being all official at the dance! And yes - due to getting 13.5 hours of sleep in 4 nights I wore my glasses almost the whole conference except arrival day & inauguration! 

Survived! Susan and I at the staff party after all the students made it home! She was with the middle schoolers all week.

PC partner love! 

Sums up the week! 

 It was absolutely crazy in the best possible way. The weather gods were upon us with amazing weather on Inauguration Day and somehow all of our students got out on departure day. And it was just crazy to see 39 busses for 2000 students. Plus 13.5 hours of sleep in 4 nights. I was on an adrenaline high the whole time. I did have one minor freak out - about 2 hours before Condi and I was finishing organizing everything and saw the room set up was wrong and had emailed who I needed to make a switch, when my directors did a quick touch base - as soon as they asked how I was doing I burst into tears (I know, right!, when I'm stressed I get real emotional and I tend to cry when asked how I'm doing, plus I had only 2.5 hours of sleep the night before) but it was a good moment to remember to ask for help as I can't be in 3 places at once, teamwork and that the event was going to be awesome. I knew all the little details, but the 2000 students didn't so don't fret the un-important things. I am still just so happy I had the experience  with our speaking events and that my directors let me do that because it was so far from the usual things I do with curriculum. But I learned a lot about logistics and it will only make me better at what I do! But overall I was so proud of myself and my team for what we did with this conference and how much we rocked it! Wooooo!

keeping it classy with Michelle

The days after were a bit crazy. We had an all staff party on Wednesday night and it ended up with me bringing a cardboard cutout of Michelle Obama home - and somehow she ended up in my bed that night... and then continuing to drink and laugh with my coworkers Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights and a mimosa fueled brunch on Sunday.

Finally getting normal sleep patterns back! Woooo! But that is just a start to the crazy. We start our training on Monday for 5 days for our spring conferences and then I'm off around the country!

So never boring in my life!


What is everyone up to? I've missed blogs!

so far

so it is january 9th - a great time to write about new year's eve right?

becca and i new years 2003!

so back at thanksgiving becca, suz and i talked about doing new year's eve together and when making plans it made us laugh because we were seniors in high school ten years ago and rang in 2003 at suz's aunt's while we babysat her cousins - (where if i remember correctly were asleep when we came over). but i remember laughing at the fact that it was now 2003 and we really felt like seniors! my photo albums from hs are at my parents house but i have this one scanned of becca and i. i wish i had a copy of the 3 of us in hs here in virginia! but so it just made me happy that ten years later i still talk to two of my hs (and for suz elementary school) friends. while in the last 13 or 21 years we've had times when we were closer than others, i love that i've had great friendships with friends who've seen me over some of the awkward years! 

so when we made plans for nye - we said keep it low key, go to suz's - she lives on the upper east side. dinner in the city and drink some champagne at mid night at suz's. well - this photo should sum up the evening. and it was only taken at 9pm - heading to dinner.  i was holding the elevator! so when we got to suz's around 6 we cracked open the champagne and drank 3 bottles by the time we left for dinner.  and it was just a funny night! we went to dinner at this awesome mexican place with delish guac and margs! and then we threw out the plan of going home and ened up at a southern themed bar where i had drinks in a mason jar. and immediately had drinks bought for us by 2 guys. so it ended up being a hilarious evening - i did make out with one of them at midnight - classy i know! and we ended up staying out until 2am and let's just say i had a horrible first with how hungover i was. champagne & tequila don't mix! but it was awesome to ring in 2013 with 2 great friends! 

me, becca & suz! 

so i did manage to squeeze in one last national park! on the way to suz's we stopped at federal hall in downtown nyc. it was the site of george washington's inauguration! i need to plan a trip there as there are 11 NPS sites in NYC. 

                       
the statue of george on the spot where he gave his inaugural address! and wooo NPS #61! yes - i know, i'm a really big dork! who else crams in her last national park site of the year on new year's eve? and was sad most of the NYC ones are closed monday/tuesday so i couldn't do more then!

so i've been super crazy with work this week and it is only getting worse! the earliest i've left the office has been 6 and i was there until 7 today. so many things to do before the staff arrive on tuesday and the student arrive next saturday. and then after this one ends we have 7 work days before our state training and then i begin my 6 of 9 weeks traveling! but i am looking forward to it, just keeping my fingers crossed for good weather and nothing too crazy! i'm still really curious to know what 2000 high school students look like! hell i just realized that is way bigger than my college! wac only had 1300 undergrad! how crazy is that!

so not up to much besides work - went on a bad date last week, had the weekly mj & patricia fun and caught up on life and went to the movies. sunday i got to see jerz! yay for quick friends catch ups, and monday night watched the first half of the notre dame/bama game with some friends. i don't have any weekend plans - keeping it quiet before the crazy, but the weather is supposed to be gorgeous so i'm hoping to get outside and possibly get a national park in!

and i'll end with his gem - figured it was fitting with a 1993. 2003 & 2013 photo!

figured i might show a picture from 1993 as well!

2012 in review

2012 was a very interesting year for me. More uncertainty than I'd ever had - and while that was stressful I had a great year and never expected I'd end up where I am right now. 2012 started out slow but got super crazy by the summer with all my traveling and then moving to Virginia at the end of August! So total I went to 18 states - with 2 of them new Colorado & Wyoming! 

So here is the month by month recap:

January: A quiet month with a lot of physical therapy, I decided to work State again and training in DC where I got to see my DC friends! 

dc fun

February: Still lots of physical therapy and issues with knee braces. Superbowl fun with Meg & Suz, lots of NJ ZTA time!, substitute taught in NJ for most of the month , Boston conference, my last great grandmother died at 98 and trying to enjoy the month in jersey! 

superbowl fun

March: Still lots of subbing! Going to Chicago for a conference and having a wonderful time there -  lus it was 80 in March! After my conference in Princeton I was given the ok to go back to Charleston! Woooo! Finally! It was so nice to get to go back home to Charleston!

Chicago!

April: Back in Charleston! Woooooooooo! April was a busy month with being back in Charleston and taking advantage of everything there. I also subbed a lot and also had conferences in Atlanta & Irvine. Atlanta was a blast and I got my National Parks Passport! Which only set off my obsession! Went on a lot of first dates. And I went to Denver to visit Annie and fell in love with that state!

exploring Charleston with Amy - Old Sheldon Church ruins

Atlanta fun with coworkers!

NPS Passport!!!!

Fort Moultrie - you can see Fort Sumter in the background!

 

COLORADO FUN! Yay for seeing Annie!


 

May: Super busy! I subbed almost every day! Watched a lot of hockey with the Devils in the playoffs! Had a fun weekend in Columbus, Ohio with a conference. My aunt came to visit Charleston. And enjoyed going to the beach every chance I could! 

Columbus state capital

with my aunt in SC

spent a lot of time at Sullivan's Island!

June: Kicked off 7 weeks of traveling! Jeanne's bridal shower & bachelorette in New York. Had a few 36 hour visits to Charleston and saw a Phil Vassar & Dustin Lynch at Party in the Park concert, went to Denver for a conference and then went camping in Rocky Mountain National Park for 3 days! It was a blast and I saw a moose! I loved all the hiking and just taking in the most gorgeous scenery! And my quick last minute trip to Wyoming where I enjoyed lunch in Cheyenne!  Another conference in Houston and then a surprise trip home for a job interview, but I enjoyed being in jersey longer than I had planned for twin's shower - and a fun hiking trip with her & Andy. A few hours in Charleston before headed to Philly for a conference at UPenn.

Jeanne's shower

gorgeous sunset in Charleston at Party in the Park

Rocky Mountain National Park fun!!

Woooo! State #34

hiking with twin at the gap

co-worker fun on UPenn's campus!

July: More interview fun at another school in NJ (aka I got to see my parents a lot this summer). A fun weekend at Yale for a conference (the Mean Girls quoting weekend!) And then a wonderful weekend for Jeanne' & Travis's wedding!! 10 days in Charleston - it was glorious! Working a session of NYLC in DC and celebrating my 27th birthday being super excited to get passport stamps on the National Mall and catching up with my DC friends!

Yale conference fun!

Crew loves at Jeanne's wedding!

summer 2011 loves reunion! froyo for life!

happy 27th birthday! woo! passport stamps!

August: Continuing the FA fun in DC and interviewing for the position here, spending quality time with MJ & Patricia after the conference, spending a lot of time in the car driving between NJ & SC and stopping at as many historical sistes I could! Reuniting with my big for a fun time at the beach, twin & Andy's wedding! Finding out I got the job in DC!! Wooo! Packing up and saying goodbye to Charleston, my parents coming to vist Charleston to help me move! And going to my first Civil War 150th at the Second Manassas.

a fun night with MJ & Patricia

my big & I! Hadn't seen each other in 6 years. 

Twin's wedding!

mom & dad in Charleston

Fort Sumter with my parents

September: Started working!! Wooo, and the fun of apartment searching. Stayed with MJ while I was looking and had fun with her roomies. Drove 8 hours in one day for the Luke & Jason concert with Momma & Kelly and then drove home for Grandma & Pa's 60th wedding anniversary dinner,  moved into my apartment. Continued with my 150th Civil War with Antietam, enjoyed getting to know the NoVA Zetas with a Redskins game, enjoying my National Parks in the DC area and just loving getting to see so many of my friends.

with MJ & her roomies at UVA - we went to say hi to Thomas Jefferson!

<3 amp="amp" i="i" momma="momma" sister="sister" td="td">

J-E-T-S!

150th at Antietam

My Apt!

yay for fun DC days with friends!

October: Kicked off the month by going home for an Army football game with my parents and the NNJZTA Think Pink game with the Giants! Moderated a panel for work, went to see Zac Brown with friends, a hilarious night in Baltimore for kspice's bachelorette where I met a guy with my same name (so freaky!) a hilarious trip to Skyline Drive with MJ & Patricia, lots of running, a fabulous Kip Moore/Justin Moore/Eric Church concert, and sadly ending the month with Hurricane Sandy - where I saw my state get destroyed.

momma & i at the Army football game

Love my NNJZTA sisters

kspice's bachelorette in baltimore

a wonderful day on Skyline Drive with MJ & Patricia

meeting Kip Moore! SO EXCITING!

lots of running in prep for my half - marathon! 

November: Helped kspice celebrate her wedding! election day, lots of fun with coworkers, more national park exploration! Going to Arlington Cemetery to honor our veterans, a great weekend in Philly for the Philly Half Marathon with Jeanne & Chelsea! Woooo 13.1 miles a year after tearing my ACL, enjoying a long weekend home for Thanksgiving, did my first Turkey Trot for Team Steve, stopping at Gettysburg on the drive back to Virginia and more fun with friends!

congrats kspice!

love this quote! at Arlington

13.1! Woooo! Philly half!

coworker fun

team steve!

December: A fun time at Walburn's annual holiday party with my college friends, continuing my historyness with the 150th of Fredricksburg, an amazing Redskins-Ravens game! catching up with college friends at the WAC holiday party, wreath laying at Arlington, Amy coming to visit in DC, a great Christmas at home with my family, the annual NYC trip with my parents, 3 more national parks that week and ending 2012 with Becca & Suz in a hilarious night- we all rang in 2003 together, so it was even more fun 10 years later! 

wreath laying at Arlington

WAC holiday party - love these ladies

Redskins- Ravens game with the NOVA Zetas

The Capital Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas!

parents at Rockefeller Center!

Happy New Year!

So a really great 2012! I was able to go to 18 states, 2 new states, 3 weddings, a lot of work conferences, waaaay to many days subbing, a lot of first dates (and a few got 2+ dates), lots of physical therapy, 42 flights, 5 drives between NJ & Charleston, 41 national park sites!, 132 nationa park passport stamps, 138 books read, 3 NFL football games, waaaay too much put on my credit card, so many visits to visit friends,  5 country concerts, 6 job interviews and 1 job!! 

Hope you had a wonderful 2012!