Chicago 2015

Why not make it three posts in one day?

Chicago!
I got to go back for work again - a training - and it was just as lovely as the first time!

Busy summer.

The only place it has been quiet and calm this summer is right here on the ole' blog. It's been a crazy summer so far and the next few weeks are going to bring about more of the same.


I'm still doing lots of pottery. Trying to get to the studio one afternoon per week and I've already gifted a couple of mugs that were meant to be Christmas gifts but I got too excited and gave them to their new owners already. I'm still quilting too. In fact, I did both pottery and quilting yesterday so I'd call that a good day. I volunteered with the pottery studio at the local Creative Discovery Museum while they did some hands-on wheel demos for the kids. It was awesome seeing the kids - of all ages, even some teenie ones - try their messy hands on the pottery wheel. Faces lit up and all kinds of muddy excitement - but then, I feel the same way!


Finished my 4th quilt this morning after sitting under it sweating with a cat on my lap while I finished sewing on the binding. Hand sewing binding is a pain in the rear (and the fingers for that matter) but it looks so nice when it is done that it is absolutely worth it. I'd take a picture but there is a corgi sitting on it right now and I'd hate to disturb her.


More crazy coming: in the next 4 weeks, I'll spend one weekend at camp for an event, a couple of days in Knoxville, make a 2 day trip to Columbus (dad is having his pacemaker replaced), make a 3 day trip to Chicago for work, and then make a 6 day trip to Portland and Seattle with my mom and my sister. I'm looking forward to most of those things...the one I'm not should be pretty obvious (always worried about my dad).


For now, I'm relishing in my third department budget being finished...and in record time. I finished it the same day I got the spreadsheet which is pretty incredible for a team that has at least 22 unique events coming up in the next year. I'm learning a lot about managing a team and writing budgets and made some improvements this year to make it easier on myself.  It'll go for approval this week and I'll have to make some edits but in general, it's mostly done!


Talk to you all again in...2 months or so. Kidding but not.

The bean.

This is my painting of "The Bean". I love it dearly.

Chicago - here it is!

In case you missed the memo, I went to Chicago! I had the honor of representing our GS council at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, hosted by Points of Light.

The conference itself was awesome. The speakers were on point, the sessions were interesting, meeting new people was super fun. I feel like I got a lot out of the conference, even if I didn't bring home tons of new ideas about volunteering; it was just so nice to be among other non-profit leaders and hear them talk about all the things I am passionate about. I feel like our council is headed in the right direction and it was good to be among other people who were asking the same questions, struggling with similar things, and experiencing the same successes!

But of course, on to why you really stopped by...pictures! I took tons while we were there and this is just a sampling.

The reddish building on the left hand side of the background here was our hotel...the Hilton Chicago Hotel and Towers. It really was huge...right beside Grant Park.

This is the Buckingham Fountain - oddly enough, donated by someone French, I believe. It was huge and beautiful!

Chicago has tons of amazing green spaces and public parks. I was impressed by how clean they all seemed to be and how many of them included different forms of art, both large and small. This was a huge flower sculpture that I loved!

This is Trump Towers. nothing special there really, but the view over the river was pretty awesome.

This was one of my favorite pieces of outdoor art (probably #2 on the list for Chicago). It is obviously still being installed there but it is made up entirely of canoes! This water lovin' girls heart was happy!

This is the ferris wheel at Navy Pier....

Look - proof that I really went to Chicago!

A.K. and I took a water taxi from Navy Pier (after walking literally a couple of miles to get there...it didn't LOOK that far away!) to the Field Museum and Aquarium area. The views alone were worth the money.

The Field Museum of Natural History. We arrived about 30 minutes before closing time this day and weren't willing to spend the money to get in for that amount of time. I would love to go back to Chicago for a museum run one day...tons of things I didn't get to see!

Same fountain...at night. Pretty amazing all lit up too!

And this is why I went to Chicago.
I jest but...I was pretty excited to see this piece of art.

It is called "Cloud Gate" and it is basically a huge, mirrored jelly bean.

So everyone calls it "The Bean". And I was super excited to see it. It is pretty amazing at night - reflects the sky and the buildings and it is hard to tell where the Bean stops and real life starts. I liked it so much that I convinced my amigas to go see it again...during the day!

I wanted to kick all the tourists out so I could get really awesome pictures but then I rememberd that I am a tourist too. Oh well. I loved this so much that I bought a small oil painting of The Bean and had it shipped home. It arrived yesterday and I am currently debating on where to hang it!

A.K. and I also went on a sunset architecture tour by boat. The guide was super cheesy but very informative and I learned a lot about the buildings around the Chicago River. This is the Sears Tower (ahem...Willis Tower...but whatever) and it truly did not disappoint. Beautiful!

The plenery session on education was led by the fabulous Soledad O'Brien - who replied to one of my tweets. Made my day. Week. Month. Yeah.

The education session was sponsored by Target - could you tell? Either way, we got spiffy Target glasses which we are all rocking in this picture...

There it is...Chicago in pictures.



Chicago, Chicago!

Sorry I didn't blog. We were pretty much busy from sun-up to sun-down (and later!) which is what I really expected would happen. I learned so much about volunteerism, working with partners to improve the volunteer experience, and how to recruit new volunteers. I met tons of new people and got to see some beautiful sights! In fact, I did get to meet Kevin Bacon - who was pleasant and friendly - and J.R. Martinez - who was even nicer and a local guy to the Dalton area just south of Chattanooga. We chatted for a few minutes about home, which was nice, and he even said he would be in town this weekend for a fundraiser for the local food bank. Nice guy!

I will try to look at pictures today and post if possible. I have a lot of things to catch up with at work and at home so it might take me a few days...

In case you missed it.

I am going to Chicago next week. In case you somehow missed that little fact, I am sharing it with you again. I have gotten to do some really cool things through my awesome job with the GS and this is pretty close to the top of the list. I am attending the National Conference on Volunteering and Service (NCVS), hosted by Points of Light. This is going to be a fabulous opportunity to learn new information (new to me!) about working with volunteers in all aspects of our organization. I will also get the chance to network with tons of other non-profits and ask others how they best serve the volunteers that they get to work with. Finally, there are some really neat speakers coming to the big plenary sessions - people like Kevin Bacon (he has his own non-profit...6degrees...check it out!), Barbara Bush, Jill Biden, Arnie Duncan (Sec. of Education), and J.R. Martinez (war vet, DTWS winner, and local boy to the Dalton, GA area!).

On top of my excitement to go to a city that I have never really* been to before and particpate in this really awesome opportunity, I won something too! I entered a contest for "doorprizes" basically..and won "a signed copy of A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sargent Shriver (who - sidenote - founded the Peace Corps). But wait, there’s more! You also won:

· VIP Meet and Greet on Monday (this is for the opening session)
· Invitations to Points of Light Honors Reception (attached, you’ve been signed up, but please let us know you’re able to come)

· Reserved seating at the front of the room for the opening plenary"

Oh my gosh! I never win stuff (other than my awesome husband...it was a carnival game. I'll tell you that story one day...kidding.) and this is a pretty cool thing to win. I have asked if my three amigas (that are traveling with me) can come with me to any of those things cause I know they will be much more fun if I don't have to go alone!

I am sure that I will be doing lots of tweeting and Instagramming (are those really verbs?) so you can follow me over there. I will try to blog but will only have my phone so I won't do as much of that.

Follow me on Twitter for all the latest sightings and musings: love10984 (but I am hidden, for privacy reasons, so just request to follow!)
And on Instagram: stelmosweetness (the name of our honey!).

Excited and looking forward to it!

P.S. glad that I got a quality little camera last year! I am only taking a carryon and I really, really want to get some good pictures! Thanks fam for that fun gift!