The fat girl

A fat girl has taken over my body. It happened a few years ago, I woke up and there she was in the mirror having moved in with out me realizing it. I let her stay. That was my first mistake. I thought she'd move on, realizing that I was much to thin for her and she'd be much happier on someone else's body. I was wrong. So now she has to go. She's not as fun as I am, not as brave and certainly not as fashionable.
I've done a lot of research on how to remove a fat girl from your person and it is not an easy task. Short of expensive surgery my only choice is the old fashion method of starving her and exercising her to exhaustion in hopes that she will lack the strength to hold on. It'll be tough but I'm the woman for the job!
I know you feel sorry for her...pooor fat girl....Who will be her friend now?
Let me assure you, you don't want her. She's no fun. She never wants to go anywhere or do anything. She won't date and won't have her picture taken. All she wants to do is eat and watch TV.
Sucky fat girl!
Today I fed her a doughnut....Tomorrow she won't be so lucky!

The Yoga curse

I have a crick in my neck. I blame it on the yoga. I've been cursed because I opened my eyes during nap time and looked at the clock to see if we were almost done. I can't get into the 'zone in a room full of people. What if I fall asleep? What if I snore?
I think the crick might be guilt because I can't relax from the shoulders up. I can't. I tried. Really I did.
I know our Yoga teacher was talking to me the 20 some odd times she told us to relax our jaws. I couldn't. I told my jaw to relax. I tried consciously tightening and releasing my jaw. Within two seconds it was tight again. This morning I woke up to find that I am unable to lean my head towards my left shoulder, or turn my head to my left. This of course impeded my ability to drive safely today and caused me to make sudden moaning and yelping noises at the most inopportune times. Like at the gas station counter or running on the treadmill next to a very cute guy who, I'm sure, thought I was trying to lure him into my lair with sex noises.
When it comes down to it I'd rather snore in Yoga class.

Creepy Canadian Wildlife

This is the Asian long horn beetle. Don't let this picture fool you these bugs are huge and the antennae are VERY long.
Not only are they huge but they are not afraid of you. The bouncing up and down, shaking your arms and screeching tactic that works to scare most bugs away does not work on this bug it just stays attached to you and does not move until you knock it off your person with force.
I don't like that.
My first experience with this horrid beetle was a couple of years ago while camping outside of Revelstoke. What should have been a lovely camping trip enjoying the scenery and the quiet mountains sounds turned into a paranoid freak fest after I had been introduced to this vicious creature. For some unknown reason these bugs are attracted to me and so I spent most of my time swatting them away dancing about like a crazy woman and keeping paranoid watch for the next invasion. Luckily I didn't encounter another one for a long time ....Until this summer.
First I found a dead one on my deck. I was glad it was dead but not glad to know that they had made their way to my home. That they now lurk near by waiting for me to be in a relaxed state on my deck so they can attack and startle me into the dance that they seem to enjoy so much.
The web site says they pose no risk to humans.
I beg to differ.
Yesterday on our way home from visiting my parents my son David and I stopped at a road side rest stop to stretch our legs and shovel out the road trip garbage that had accumulated on the floor of our car.
Ever vigilant I saw it approach and land on the pavement some ten feet away.
I watched, horror filled me as it took flight and bore down on me. Knowing it's intent I ran. Fast. It flew after me chasing me in circles around my car. It chased me around the car three times never wavering from it's destination. Me!
Finally I saw an opportunity and dove into my car slamming the door behind me. We quickly drove away the sound of David's hysterical laughter in my ear for the next five kilometers.
We didn't stop again till we got home.
I have since beat two of them to death on my porch and I'm afraid to go out there. I think the rest of the summer will be spent indoors!

Miscellaneous and book covers

No pages yesterday but I did go to the gym. I did 30 minutes on the treadmill and most of it I ran...YAY! I also took a yoga class for an hour and a half. The Yoga class was awesome and at the end when we were just lying there breathing I almost fell into complete relaxation when my cell phone started to ring. Yes I had forgotten to turn it off. I lay there waiting for it to go to voice mail hoping that everyone else in the class was so in the zone that they didn't hear it. No such luck.
It was my son David wanting me to bring home KFC which obviously falls under the dead or bleeding rule I have about children calling my work cell phone.
On to today's topic.
Book covers.
Previously in my blog I posted my disappointment over category romance covers, cheesy pictures, cheesy titles.
I was pleasantly surprised to find (while at RWA) The the times they are a changing! The book covers I saw were for the most part FABULOUS!
The titles were intriguing, Dating Can Be Deadly-Wendy Roberts, Fast Women -Jenny Cruisie
I bought and picked up more books based on title and cover than I ever have in my life.
My personal favorite title Since your leaving anyway take out the trash I haven't read that one yet but I have high hopes. I picked up enough books to last me the rest of the year and I am soo excited to read them.
Because of the blurb? No, Because of the author...No.... Because the titles are so fun!
I'm so happy to see the publishing world going in this direction I hope when I finally publish, years from now, my book has a very cool title and an equally cool cover.
I'm so happy that I can hope for that.
Have a great day everyone, as those in the Yoga world would say "Namaste"

Stupid boy tricks

I'll start by saying...I WROTE TEN PAGES YESTERDAY!!!!! Whoo hoo!
If only I did that everyday!
But on to other things.
This morning I was reading one of Amy's posts on the Write minded blog and it reminded me of the antics of my boys which continue to this day Amy...Sorry.
In particular I was reminded of the evening I came home from a town meeting on health care to find only one son.
"Dustin, where's your brother?"
"Upstairs."
I proceed to call my youngest son David who does not respond.
"Where upstairs?"
"In my closet."
"What is he doing in your closet?"
"I put him there"
At this point I am running to the stairs.
I reach the closet and find my then nine year old son sitting in his brothers closet with his hands and feet duct taped together and his mouth duct taped shut. You would think the poor child would be crying and scared locked in a closet while duct taped, but no, his eyes are dancing with insane laughter which I was privy to once I ripped the duct tape from his mouth. But only for a second because it hurts to have duct tape ripped off your face.
I turn to Dustin who has run up behind me ready to explain himself in rapid fire.
"What the hell Dustin!"
"He was bugging me?"
"Dustin that is no reason to duct tape your brother and leave him in a closet."
I must add here that it is very difficult to keep a straight face during this conversation. Having been an oldest child myself for a fleeting moment I wonder why I had never thought of this.
"Dustin go down stairs and wait for me!"
I finish un taping David and ask him what we should do to get back at his brother.
"We should duct tape him." David says with a clear understanding of eye for an eye.
Back downstairs Dustin is rocking from foot to foot wondering what his punishment will be and trying to think up a good and wordy excuse for his behavior. As I approach he says
"David wanted me to do that Mom, he likes it when I do that."
"So you've done that to your much smaller brother before?"
"No"
"really?"
"well maybe once"
I pull out a kitchen chair and point to it.
"Sit" and he does.

I pull out the duct tape.
His eyes grow wide.
"what are going to do?
"I'm going to give you a taste of your own medicine."
He grins clearly thinking this is much better that he had imagined I'd do. I'm sure he thought he would be grounded or worse lectured for hours on end. His grin however was premature.
I duct taped Dustin to his chair.
"This isn't bad" he says. I take that as a challenge and grab his quilt from the couch. I throw said quilt over his head. Duct tape it on to his head and pick up the chair with him in it.
"What are you doing ?" he asks in a voice between panic and laughter.
"You'll see....Oh I guess you won't."
David opens the front door for me and I place Dustin on the porch. I then walk back into the house where David and I proceed to watch him, through the window, struggle to get out of the duct tape. We laugh and after about ten minutes I go out and free him.
He never duct taped his brother again.

As far as I know....

Getting to the end

My oldest son will graduate at the end of this school year. I can't believe we made it this far. One more year to go. Don't get me wrong I love him dearly but we are too much alike and the fact that we haven't killed each other to date is an accomplishment in it's self.
The funny thing about teenagers and my son in particular is they want to be grown up only if it means they don't have to do anything themselves. I have had many examples of this over the last few months and I realize that as much as I've tried his future wife is still going to look at me with disdain because I didn't teach my son how to do ANYTHING.
I tried. I did! But for some reason none of it sticks. For example he still does not know how to close a door, which my neighbors are still angry about since the dog got out and refused to come back for the entire night while he barked at everything that moved.....All night long.
My son's response "who cares what the neighbors think"
He also can not and will not deal with any issues on his own.
Me at work...
"Hello"
"Mom the internet is being 'gay'"
"Dustin stop calling things 'gay' and phone Telus"
"Why can't you phone?"
"Because I'm not the one having a problem and I'm at work"
"but I don't want to be on the phone for hours I have plans"
and I do????
"then I guess you'll have to do with out the internet"
"but I need the internet to make my plans"
"then phone Telus"
"whatever bye"
twenty minutes later.....

"Dustin?"
"Yeah"
"Did you get the internet fixed?"
"No I'll phone later , I don't feel like it right now."
"Oh My God!!"
"What?"
"Never mind, bye"

The problem is always urgent until he has to fix it himself. We've had the exact same conversation about his cell phone, his x-box live and the satellite. Although when he called about the satellite I was not only at work but 400 km away at work....And he graduates this year...

To Dustins future wife I am very, very sorry.

Are you kidding me????

I recently attended a workshop on stress in the work place. This is a good thing as my top secret job is very stressful. However one piece of advice the -very pregnant with her first child- instructor told us was don't multi task. What? Don't multi task? How the hell does one get through a day with out multitasking? She says we should be present fully in everything that we do.
I haven't been fully present in anything that I've done in eighteen years.
I'm happy to get a phone call, it's a good opportunity to do the dishes. I hate conference calls but I am able to clear off quite a few emails during that period of time. I think of story ideas and set scenes in my head during meetings and in fact restructured my entire office during a two day managers meeting.
I fold laundry while I watch TV and clean my shower while I am taking one. I usually have four to six web sites running at the same time and I am doing something on each of them while I play spider solitaire. Right now I'm having my morning coffee while I write this blog.

I 'd like to have a conversation with that woman ten years from now and see how she's doing with the 'fully present' concept after she has had some time raising her child who is attending school and maintained her day job.

Fully present! That's crazy talk.

another post

The following is courtesy of the lovely and, like myself, chronically single- Cindy K.


How to dump a man.


Dear ________, I regret to inform you that you have been eliminated from further contention as Mr. Right. As you are probably aware, the competition was exceedingly tough and dozens of well-qualified candidates such as yourself also failed to make the final cut. I will, however, keep your name on file should an opening become available. So that you may find better success in your future romantic endeavors, please allow me to offer the following reason(s) you were disqualified from the competition. Check those that apply...

___Your last name is objectionable. I can't imagine taking it, hyphenating it, or subjecting my children to it.
___Your first name is objectionable. It's just not something I can picture myself yelling out in a fit of passion.
___The fact that our dining experiences to date has left MY wallet a little lighter, and YOUR pants a little tighter!
___Your inadvertent admission that you "buy condoms by the truckload"
indicates that you may be interested in me for something other than my personality.
___You failed the 20 Question Rule, i.e., I asked you 20 questions about yourself before you asked me more than one about myself.
___Your constant e-mailing shows me you have TOO much time on your hands!
___Your legs are skinnier than mine.
___You're too short. Any son that we produced would inevitably be beaten up repeatedly at recess.
___You're too tall. I'm developing a chronic neck condition from trying to kiss you.
___I find your inability to fix my car extraordinarily unappealing.
___The fact that your apartment has been condemned reveals an inherent slovenliness that I fear is unbreakable.
___The phrase "My Mother" has popped up far too often in conversation.
___You still live with your parents.
___Although I do enjoy the X-Files, I find your wardrobe of Star Trek uniforms a little disconcerting.
___Your frequent references to your ex-girlfriend lead me to suspect that you are some sort of psychotic stalker.
___Your ability to belch the alphabet is not a trait that I am seeking in a long-term partner.
___Your height is out of proportion to your weight. If you should however, happen to gain the necessary 17 vertical inches, please resubmit your application.
___Somehow I doubt those condoms I found in your overnight bag were really necessary for a successful business trip.
___I am out of your league, set your sights lower next time.

Sincerely, ______________________

Wildlife

There are a lot of things I don't enjoy about mountain living.
The rain for months at a time is one. Long winters and short summers is another. The one thing I truly enjoy is the wildlife. Such as this lovely Steller's Jay on the left. My first year living in this lovely area Mom and Dad Steller's Jay thought it a wonderful idea to build a nest in the crook provided by the motion sensor light on my garage. I immediately turned off said light for fear it would bake the little eggs growing inside the nest. It wasn't an inconvenience even when I started parking out in the driveway so as not to disturb the little family living above. I was quite honored that they had chosen to share our home and like any good hostess wanted to make sure they were comfortable during their stay.
As time moved on I learned quite a bit about my neighbor's. One thing I learned is they really are quite loud. They have the amazing ability to mimic any bird call and when threatened they fought back with the call of the hawk. Apparently the most feared predator in the bird kingdom.
Unfortunately they thought I was a threat. Every morning they would cry out in mock hawk and wake the whole neighborhood. Including my very grumpy pubescent eldest son.
I confess that I often woke him, when they hadn't, to tell him of the new developments I had witnessed while spying on our blue neighbors.
"Dustin, I think the babies hatched I hear tiny bird sounds!"
"hrumph"
"Dustin, Daddy Jay was sitting on the porch rail just staring at me through the window!"
"grumph"
"Dustin, you should have seen the cat staring out the window at the Jays"
"Mom! I'm sleeping and I don't care!"
"Fine"
Disappointed I followed the lives of the Jays all on my own. By the time the babies were big enough to see from the ground the fascination had worn off just a little. I regret that I hadn't been paying attention and had no clue the babies had been booted from the nest on the fateful day that my dog Eddie discovered their existence.
He was quite excited to have some new fluffy blue balls to play with and even more excited to see that they made noise and ran about the yard. This of course must be purely for his amusement.
Ah... But the story does not end here. My absolutely disinterested pubescent son rescued one of those cute fluffy balls from the jaws of death and poor Eddie was made to watch his balls play with out him from the confines of the house. We're positive that all three babies grew up to be happy healthy Jays and make hawk sounds to this day.

Change is in the air

What do you think of the new look? Being a woman who changes my living room around with every major cleaning and repaints rooms on a whim I appreciate the ability to change the look of my blog. So thoughts... did you like the old one better?

Have a great day everyone.

It's back

The rain...Which is good I guess. Now I don't have to water my lawn. The writing is coming along slowly but the gym was great. I feel good today in spite of the rain.
Just a short post I will leave you with a 1/2 naked pirate pic for inspiration.





A Treasure Island Pirate one of my pics from Las Vegas

Neglect

I've been neglecting my Blog. I am a very naughty blogger!
I blame it on the dial up and telus for not getting my moden to me by now. ETA at this point is three days. I hope that it isn't any longer.
I'm missing out on my favorite blogs and my favorites on line shows cause the dial up can't keep up.
And no I am not writing more because I have little computer access. I wish I were but I haven't.
That will change TODAY!
Tonight I go to the gym after work. Come home feed the children and I will write. Poor Amanda is screaming at me to get on with it and so to quiet the voice inside my head I will write tonight...
After Big Brother...

What's up with that?

I went to the gym today First time in...Well a long time and it was great! I felt good. I still feel good but I felt good while I was doing it. I always do and I know it.
If it feels good do it...Right?
Then why is that philosophy so much easier to live by when it's about cookies than it is when it's about going to the gym?

update

My modem broke and telus is on strike so waiting for a new modem and using dial up. very slow connection.
Yvonne still hasn't got pic to me so no pics to post. sorry everyone.

Awards ceremony thoughts

Yes I'm doing it. I'm jumping on the complaint band wagon.
When the ceremony started I wondered what happened to Nora...just two days before she told a room full of people that one must always keep their commitments. She was talking about deadlines but I am sure that the philosophy must extend to all commitments in her life. Tragedy must have struck to make this icon miss a commitment. Was she sick ? Did someone die?
Unfortunately The organizers ( such as they were) did not feel it necessary to enlighten us so I was left wondering.
I was also left wondering why I was looking at 25 years of tragic news events rather than 25 years of organizational change? What were they thinking?
I'm sure who ever put this montage together was trying to show worldly change over 25 years and perhaps thought those images would have an emotional effect. They were right but the effect they were looking for? I think not. I have some sympathy for someone with so little imagination that they took the easy route to time travel.
Perhaps it would have been too time consuming to put a call out to members for pictures of past conferences or video footage of past events. Perhaps it was too much of a challenge to obtain photos of past book covers to show us how romance has evolved over 25 years. Perhaps it was too cumbersome to ask for stories and antidotes from life time members. Perhaps showing us the fairy tale wedding with the scandalous ending was just easier to do. Perhaps images of death and political tragedies were just what the organizers wanted to share with us. Perhaps there is some lesson for romance writers in the montage we were shown. I'm too thick to see it. I have no idea what that was supposed to show me.
What I have learned is ...Well that Nora is a brave soul who stands by her beliefs ....GOOD FOR YOU NORA!
Statement from Nora.....as copied from her message board

Before I get to the good stuff--which may take another day of recovery--I want to post here what I intend to take out as an ad in the Romance Writers Report. It concerns the awards ceremony in Reno which I was slated to emcee.As Ms. Quinn refused to read my statement, as agreed, before the awards ceremony in Reno, then again reneged on her agreement to read it after the awards, I will write it here.Nora Roberts declines to host tonight's awards ceremony as she feels the content is inappropriate and believes the focus should be on the nominees and the organization.Oddly, I wasn't given a script by Ms. Quinn. One was provided by a member of the production team when I requested it on Friday afternoon in Reno. The only significant change I was able to implement, though I argued and debated with Ms. Quinn, Laura Hayden and Diana Pershing, was the deletion of the video containing the fall of the Twin Towers and the Oklahoma City bombing. How painful those images would have been to the many editors and agents in attendance who lived though 9/11. Instead of a celebration, a night of fun and anticipation for the nominees, and an entertaining and sparkling event, the audience was treated to a three-plus hour world history lesson, heavy on disaster, death, politics, war and tragedy--in one memorable moment, Don't Worry, Be Happy was played over those images.I can't comprehend how such tragic events and images had a place at a ceremony meant to showcase the nominees and the twenty-five years of the organization. Nor can I understand how it was thought proper to juxtapose those with presenters being driven on stage in a limo, walking to the podium to Joan Riveresque commentary in a format that gave more play to the presenters--through no fault of their own--than those who were privileged to take home a Golden Heart or a Rita. The emcee's place in all this seemed to be to recite endless dry facts and figures of RWA dues, conference fees and sites over the last quarter of a century, instead of relating the heart of our organization.It was tempting to resign my membership--the first time I've been so tempted in 25 years. But it wasn't RWA that pushed this agenda. It was a handful of individuals. RWA has, as always, my respect, affection and gratitude. The current president has none of those.
Nora Roberts

What I got out of it was a chocolate statue wrapped in silver and a burning desire to enter the golden heart.
I am happy to say I missed the second half. My thick brain just couldn't get through the rest of it.

Thoughts from other attendees?

Lovely Sundays

When I was a child Sunday was the worst day of the week. It was slow and boring. There was nothing on TV, the mall was closed and 1/2 my friends were at church. Sundays were the day when time stood excruciatingly still.
Now I love Sundays. Sunday is the day when I do nothing. I patter around my house shovelling up after the teenagers...if I want to..., watch TV... if I want to,...read a book...if I want to. I love Sunday.
Sunday has changed, there are so many ways to fill it now that one could be busy seven days a week. I choose not to fill my Sundays now. Today I think I'll write a little and read a little and tell my kids to do their own freakin laundry. Yup that's what I'll do today.

The new era

My sons.
As you can see Dustin (my oldest) is not very impressed with his younger brother wearing the ratty old afro wig he brought home from drama class.

Of course it will be a cold day in hell when Dustin is impressed with anything David does...LOL





A new era has begun, two nights in a row I have come home and found that I am alone. There is evidence that I share my home with teenagers. Chocolate bar wrappers on the desk, empty cans of alphagetti on the kitchen counter and black clothing strewn about the house (why is it that David must take off his clothes in every room but his own?) but other than that the only living being waiting for me is the dog who is frantic to get out and go pee!

I've always told the dog that someday it would just be me and him. I just didn't expect it to be so soon.
As much as it is a shock to my system I can't complain. I have the TV to myself, the computer to myself, the bathroom to myself and only have to cook for myself.
I never complain about what I make myself for dinner.
But I miss them a bit.
Just a little.

By the way

Yvonne you need to email me those Merrit pics the girls want to see some more 1/2 naked cowboys and maybe some bodyguards.

Time to move in to the digital age

I picked up my two rolls of film at the walmart today and the whole roll I took of Vegas at night and the inside of the luxor didn't show up!
Well 5 picks did but they suck. I'm so pissed off. Time to buy a digital camera.
The pictures on the other roll lead me to tell a humorous family story.


This is my Dad.


I've always thought my family was pretty normal. Sure we were always the loudest group at functions with my mothers side of the family.
Sure I never saw my friends parents behave this way but I figured they were the abnormal ones.
As I introduce my friends to my family it is made very clear to me that in fact my assumptions were wrong.
Case in point I brought my friend Yvonne with me to my parents house on the way to Merritt Mountain Music Festival.
Yvonne has met my parents before but I don't think she had ever fully experienced a May family gathering. Poor thing and it wasn't even the full family experience.
My Dad and I struggled through my teenage years to find some common ground but a few years ago we finally did.
Red Wine.
One liter bottles of red wine. No wimpy bottles for us. This is not civilized red wine drinking. This is a Peggie and Dad red wine drunk. We're fun drunks, loud drunks, and the more drunk we get, nonsensical drunks.
So while my friend sipped her 3 glasses of red wine in a completely civilized fashion my dad and I polished of a one liter bottle and started on another.
While my Mom took her usual place as an amused observer.

I know I've told you before Yvonne has the mouth of Samantha and the behavior and ideals of Charlotte. I'm sure she was appropriately horrified.
More when my Dad- after many hours of wine and uproarious laughter- managed to flip his chair over and put a nice sized dent in my Mom's freshly painted yellow kitchen wall with his head. I of course laughed It's hard enough to keep a straight face when someone does that and you're sober. My Mom asked if he was ok and when he said yes she said "Look what you did to my wall!"
I don't even know what Yvonne was thinking but she was way more concerned about his health than we were.

However if you look at the picture you will understand why weren't that concerned.
In the picture my Dad (after much wine) is trying to convince my sister- who's on the other end of the phone- that he is not drunk by standing on one foot and balancing there.

An accident waiting to happen?
Most definitely.
But I couldn't be more happy that this is my family.
Stuffy would never do.

No one is safe Dad....(evil laugh)

I'm back!

Reno was an experience and a half.
First we (my mom and I) flew into Vegas. My sister didn't get in till after midnight and mom and I had been up since 3 am to catch our flight in Vancouver. So our first night in Vegas was a write off. The next day and night we walked and shopped and ate and saw amazing sights. Vegas is something else, there is no way we could see all we wanted to see in that one day. I will have to go back again some day and just spend a weekend exploring.
Reno was even better. We arrived Wednesday afternoon just in time to change and go to the literacy signing. We stood in line for such a long time. A woman behind us was appalled because we had each brought one favorite book to have signed by a favorite author. "did you bring you're own books? She asked with a tone that clearly indicated her disapproval. Before we could answer her she went on to say "this is for literacy..."
"we will be buying books as well." I said interrupting her rudeness.
If the horrid little troll from, I think it was, cafe press ever reads this I would like to inform her that we bought over a hundred dollars worth of books each and ensured that three people who had not read the first two books of Nora's In The Garden trilogy were able to get one of the precious few copies that were available. They hadn't sent Nora enough books and since we had already read the books we did not buy them.
So for the horrid little troll HA!

I was so fortunate to meet many of my favorite authors and for my Mom and sister- who are avid readers- it was a thrill to be able to attend that event.
My Mom was almost brought to tears after having her favorite book signed by the queen of romance Nora Roberts and for me that was a highlight of the night. My having the drive to write and publish my books allowed my Mom to meet her favorite author. What a beautiful side effect.
I was fortunate to meet Suzanne McMinn in person and get a signed copy of The Beast Within. Which I had been looking for all over Nelson and Kamloops. You see it was sold out everywhere. What a compliment to Suzanne but a frustration to me. I was so happy the book was there.
I am also happy to report that my Mom read and finished The Beast in two days and loved it. She says that Suzanne's descriptive powers are wonderful, not too much not to little, and just enough to immerse you in the story world she has created and allow you your imagination at the same time. So two thumbs up from Mom Suzanne !
I had so many books from the event that I had to buy another suitcase to bring them home in!
I met Jennifer Crusie and Julie Leto. Went to a book party for Suzanne Brockmann. She was so nice by the way. And listened to Nora Roberts tell a room full of people about her writing process.
Nora Roberts is a Pantzer and I was thrilled to find that out. I'm a pantzer and have been feeling like I would never amount to anything if I didn't start plotting in an organized fashion. ( so not my strong point) I don't feel that way anymore.
The conference was amazing and inspiring. Sure I would change things next time. I will stay at the same hotel with roommates. You meet so many people but you never see them again so I didn't develop any strong bonds with anyone. I was exhausted from late nights and early mornings so didn't meet up with people after. I also had my Mom and sister with me and wanted to spend time with them as well. I will not do the basic courses next time as most of what I got I already have. And I will make sure I am there early enough to get my bearings. I think I missed a lot because I was too late for the newcomers orientation.
But all in all I learned more than I can say. It was the experience of a lifetime and I want to win a Golden Heart! Yes that is my goal. Next year I will enter the Golden Heart and I will at least final! OH Yes I will!
I'm going to take my pictures in today and hope to have some for you tomorrow.
For now that is all.