Good Night Moon

Recently my friend, Colleen, hooked me up with some tickets to a production of 'Good Night Moon'. She works at a local theatre and they do special children's productions and this time it was for the book.

I was planning to spend an afternoon with Lucie and Audrey who both know that book so it was a perfect activity to do with them.

Before that, though, we went to our favorite lunch place, Mandola's (who recently introduced some gluten free options so we can now go back with Audrey) and played at a park.  I love those girls so much, my heart swells just thinking about them.

While I thought the show was amazing, it was a little bit of a challenge for Lucie and Audrey.  It was the first time they've seen anything in a theatre and I think the loudness was not to their liking.  At first, they loved the stage and props and were mesmerized by how much it looked like the book.  Audrey was on the edge of her seat with big eyes but soon those big eyes filled with tears when Lucie got scared of the 'yelling' and dark and despite my best efforts to explain to them why the actors were 'yelling' we only lasted about 20 minutes.

So it was a good effort but not a complete success.  The rest of the day was amazing, though, and I plan to try again with them one day.

Things That Make Me Proud.....

I feel pretty lucky in my life to be surrounded but such inspirational and highly motivated people.  Two examples of those are the team that I work with at LIVESTRONG.  They are some of the most amazing, dedicated people and I feel privileged to support their work helping people affected by cancer.

My direct team has been taking quarterly outings for the past few years. It's a chance for all of us to get out of the office, together, on a half day of work and do something non-work related.  We rotate who plans it and it's a fun way to learn about what your co-workers like and to take some deep breaths since we're all so busy all the time. We've done things like scavenger hunts, game playing, volunteering and paddle boating. This time we spent the afternoon having a picnic at a local park and going on a hike.  It always feels stressful to try and leave work early but the minute we're out of the office, it's worth it and I'm so glad we do this.

Other things that make me proud are the great friends that I have.  Recently my friend, Haley, completed an 8 week Crossfit challenge. She ate 90% paleo and worked out 4x/week. In the course of her 8 weeks she lost a lot of weight and inches and I improved her work out ability.  The final day of her challenge, everyone who was participating in this event had a final work out.  Devon, Kelsey and I went to cheer her on and not only was that a surprise to her, she kicked butt!  I'm so proud of my friends who focus on achieving something and then do!  Here she is during her final work out.

Work Hard, Play Hard

There is no excuse for how long it's been since I've written a blog post (I would say the same thing to my friend, Jen, who we often give a hard time to for her lack of posting - although lately she has been doing a great job!). But I digress....

February feels like a blur and March is flying by just as fast. Work was incredibly busy (still is) all leading up to a big annual event that we host each year for all of our various partners and leaders across the county who work with us to support the LIVESTRONG mission. This year's meeting felt especially important in light of all that's happened in the past 6 months. Needless to say it's a lot of work to plan an event for over 500 people and it's a team effort.

For the first time, we left Austin to host this event and went to Chicago.  Despite a little influence of Mother Nature, most people arrived and the week was a huge success. It is, however, exhausting. Long days, little sleep, you name it....

I was lucky enough to share a hotel room with Devon who was working harder than most anybody there and could share in my delirium. By the last night, all the staff felt that they had earned a little celebrating and many of us enjoyed our far share of wine.  Of the 30+ staff members there, it was largely women and this picture captures our little family for the week (Anthony was one lucky guy). Me doing splits (almost) in the front is certainly due to the wine but a fun party trick nonetheless!

And as if this wasn't exhausting enough, Carl and I decided to meet up for a weekend in Las Vegas.  We've both been busy and he's been traveling a lot so we decided to find a place I could get to from Chicago and relax?

I realize most people don't go to Vegas to relax but we are the rare breed of people who actually went there and did not gamble. Not even once (my same friend, Jen, referenced above is gasping as she reads this).  While I'm a competitive person, I am not a risk taker when it comes to my money.  I'll save my competitive spirit for other things.

We spent a lot of the weekend sleeping, eating, sitting by the pool, going to Red Rocks for the day and people watching.  We did have some good meals and went to see O Cirque du Soleil, which was amazing!

I think I'm finally recovering from the past month and getting back into a routine at work and home.  And while I know how exhausting last month was, I would do it all over again because I care so much about the work that I do and that keeps me motivated.