Lessons about Yourself...

Ah January...

It's really amazing that the first month of 2012 is already over! January for me is always a hectic time, mostly because I'm busy trying to reorganize after Christmas and work picks up so fast this month.  

For those of you who don't know what I do (and frankly sometimes I don't either) here are some tasks that I took on this past week:

·        Call trophy maker’s to check on my large trophy/plaque order – my kind sales rep says they should be ready Wednesday.  I leave for Tulsa on Thursday.

·        Work on seating chart for banquet – I have little to no kind or appropriate words for this task...so we’ll leave it.

·        Answer the phone.  Lots of questions about the banquet on Saturday and mostly the usual stuff like “What’s the attire?” and “What time does it start?”

·        Prepare agendas for my meetings

·        Schedule a few upcoming meetings and get a time for a plaque presentation for a new learning center I have to help with in February.

·        Review contracts for two different hotels we’ll be using in 2013

·        Schedule a flier to go out using our Constant Contact (one of the Internet’s greatest inventions)

·        Update email addresses and send out spreadsheets to new committee members

·        Drive to Midwest City to pick up trophies.... AND naturally there are only 25 trophies – I need 26.  After shifting through boxes we determine that #26 was never made (although I have the proof for it) and they assure me it will be done by Friday.  My New Year’s Resolution is to say “Okay!” and go with it.

·        Back at office on Thursday, I get my stuff together and head to Tulsa.  Check in at the Renaissance, unpack and head to CLC meeting (Young Professionals group I head up for work).

·        Good group! We always have a kick off/idea meeting in January and we met at Uncle Buck’s (the name is unfortunate and I was hoping I’d see the ghost of John Candy floating around but no such luck).  Good food though.

·        Friday is my relatively slow day.  I got up and went to Starbucks (shocker) and then to Target until my meeting with my hotel banquet manager (love her) and my AV guy (Super Scott!).   Good meeting! Got lots of last minute glitches fixed and I cannot tell you how nice the Tulsa Renaissance people were to work with.  Everyone from front desk staff to bellmen to bartenders was so great.

·        I spent the end of the afternoon watching people come into the hotel for check in and drinking a relaxing glass of wine while reading Mansfield Park.  Then I headed back downstairs after making myself look decent to put my board and their guests on the bus/limo thingy for their Board Dinner.  Waived goodbye.

·        Saturday morning the races begin! Board meetings all day followed by a quick rush upstairs to change (I’m certain my husband think’s I’m crazy).  Then, ran back downstairs to supervise the setup of our banquet and AV and put out trophies.  Our speaker was supposed to be late but he ended up showing about 7 p.m. SUCH a great guy.  I gave him a hug when I saw him (and no we don’t know each other) and said “Thank you so much for not coming late!”

·        We go back to my spot at the back while people are enjoying dinner to que up his videos with my lifesaver – Adam, the sound/video magician who made my life manageable from 7 p.m. – 10 p.m.

·        Lots of running back and forth through the kitchen to take special surprise guests to the bathroom so they’d be unseen J

·        Get called up on stage to receive my 5 year service plaque...urgh.

·        10 p.m. – it is FINISHED! I have not eaten nor had anything to drink since about 5 p.m. so we head to the hotel bar.  Our group sort of overtakes the hotel bar en masse so I kindly ask a bartender for food.  One of our sweet members puts it on his tab J  Pizza and beer finished I head to bed at midnight.

In short, event planning is great! It definitely keeps you thinking and moving but it does wear you out flat.   You cannot please everyone and you should never try to.  You also have to remember that there is always going to be that group of people who, even if you do everything they ask, will never be happy about anything.  It is what it is.

It’s a life lesson for me – I’m such a black and white person with little gray in between.  I hate waiting for people to make decisions and just want it finished and done.  I sometimes think God put me in my job to teach me lessons about myself but isn’t it hard to learn that kind of lesson?

Okay now for more coffee...

So Long, Farewell...

I don't think I've ever been more excited to start a new year.  2011 wasn't bad, I had some great high points but for some reason I found 2011 more stressful than not.  I think I felt like I rushed through the entire year and by the time I got to December I was completely exhausted.

To be perfectly honest, I'm looking forward to 2012 and truthfully asking God for a year filled with more peaks than valleys and more time to spend with my family.  I am asking for a year to be more relaxed and joy-filled rather than rushed, stressed and tired.   

Rather than dwell on valleys, here are my peaks of 2011 –

In April Matt and I celebrated our 3^rd wedding anniversary.  I know it’s not that long in the scheme of things but this year was a blessing for us as a married couple.  We realized this year, more than any I think in the course of our relationship that being married to your best friend is simply the best thing in life.  We were reminded this year that love is more than how you feel about someone or what they look like or what they have or don’ t have.  It’s about making promises and keeping them and about listening, caring and giving whether you get it in return or not.  Marriage is about loving another as Christ loves you.  As I grow older and we are married longer, I will never go one year without counting our anniversaries as a peak in any year no matter if it’s good or bad. 

On a very early morning in June I drove 2.5 hours to Wichita and arrived sometime around 3:30 a.m. at the hospital to sit with my family and wait for my sweet nephew’s arrival.  I was so happy to be there when Jackson Paul was born! I saw his birth and saw him take his very first breath.  It was a wonderful moment I will never forget and God blessed me with the ability to be there.  I love being Aunt Po Po J

In October Matt and I took a two week vacation to the UK.  I love my husband! He makes all my dreams come true! We spent two weeks wondering around the Highlands of Scotland, I fell in love with Edinburgh – a town where it rains most of the time and the sun only comes out once a day.  I half jokingly tell Matt we will move there someday. 

I gasped in wonder of stepping out of a subway station and walking out into London.  I saw paintings and scenes I have only seen or read about in books and sipped coffee as I walked down 1000 year old streets.  I think it only made me want to travel the world more and Matt and I have made a deal that we will do it as much as we can.

I’m looking forward to 2012 with lots of hope and more peaks and while there will be valleys, hopefully they’ll be green. 

Happy New Year!