Viva a Mexico!

 I was very fortunate to be asked to go to the Annual Service Leaders Conference this in November.  It just so happened that my manager Sue and the other assistant manager were going to Japan for a woman's workshop meeting at the same time.  And, it just so happened to be in Cancun, Mexico.  I was nervous about traveling internationally by myself for the first time, but everything was fine. 

The meeting was held at the Hilton Cancun Golf and Spa Resort, which was absolutely wonderful.  However, it was not all-inclusive.  But - I didn't min because the room and two of my very good friends Danny and Donny just so happened to plan a last minute trip, the week before, to Cancun - without even knowing that I was going to be there. 

Danny and Donny's hotel was about a 5 minute cab ride, about 6 hotels down from mine... but a 45 minute walk on the beach.  I met up with them the day after I arrived and ended up buying a day pass so I can eat, drink, and play at their resort.  It was great!  I am not much of an ocean person, but you really couldn't get me out of there.  It was such a great time.  Donny reminded me of my cousin Eric when we were down there 6-7 years ago - he was on "Party O-Clock" the whole time.  That night we went to a club downtown Cancun, called Bull Dog where we purchased an all inclusive drink package for $30.  We went with a group from their hotel and it was a lot of fun.  However, I don't remember much from that  night... good thing I was with two really good friends.  ;-)


The next day I decided, hell I am in Cancun - I am gonna go back and get the drink package since I didn't have to start work until 4:30, which ended up being more like 6 o'clock to go to the welcome dinner. It was funny how people were surprised I was drinking when I had to work later... but I was a good girl.

Dinner was very good.  One of my directors was also in Cancun for this meeting.  He and I work very close together with my program in Latin America.  So it was nice having him there.  We went to Beach Palace for the dinner and it was wonderful.  It was such a great resort.  But it was far from Downtown so I probably would never stay there. 

The next two days were meetings.  Our facilitators were excellent.  We learned so much from them  And it was such an honor to be with all of the leaders in other service clubs.  It was also interesting to see what their issues are and how much they look to LCI for guidance and information.  Next year the meeting is in New Orleans.  I hope that I am lucky enough to attend again.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I attended a workshop in Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh the beginning of October.  I have never been to Pennsylvania before, because Philly running through the airport trying to catch my flight to Ireland (BTW, Not Fun!).  Anyways,  It was a great trip.  I didn't get to do or see much because I came in on Saturday, Sunday was the workshop, and then Monday I flew home.  But I was there during fall and all of the colors were changing so it was really awesome to see while driving down the hilly roads.  Each turn presented another great opportunity for a photo-op.  I can't wait for a new camera.

The training went really well and I also got to spend some time with one of my consultants from Arizona, Mary Michaelis.  We had a lot of good feed back from the 30+ participants at the training, which was great!  And as always, I love meeting new lions from different areas!

Wisconsin... Say Cheese!

 

The USA-Canada Forum this year was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Yay!  I don't need to fly... I can drive to this one.  I left on Monday to drive up there, after working in the morning at the office finalizing last minute details.  And came back home on Saturday after the forum was over.  

This was a great forum.  We had very productive meetings with the consultants.  All who attended were very pleased.  And I also got to launch the our new Level 2 Extension Workshop - which was well received by all consultants as well as officers and attendees of the forum.  I was very excited about this launch because the level 2 was my idea and I worked with one of my senior consultants with the details and he executed it by doing two pilots that seem to be pretty successful.  So we will see.  

On Monday, I went out with my cousins to a local pub for wings and beers.  It was so great to see everyone and for everyone to be there.  Usually it is hard to get all of them together at the same time because they are all busy.  And when I say everyone, I mean everyone including Lauren's husband Josh and Emily's fiance Eric.  We had a great time and had some great laughs.  

On Tuesday, my manager Sue and the other department manager Patricia went to an Italian restaurant that was really good.  And Wednesday we went to Maders which is a famous German restaurant which was delicious.  Thursday was the opening ceremony so we had dinner and watched the flag presentation.  After Sue, our executive director, another manager and I went to the hotel bar and had some drinks and played some pool.  It was a good time.  And on Friday, I met up with my friend Dan and his girlfriend Heather at the same hotel bar.  We had a good time, and even came up with another bet.....  If the Bears win both games this year, then Dan has to come to come to my wedding wearing a Bears tie.  If the Packers win both, then I would have had to play a Packers song at the wedding... but luckily, but Bears won the first game... so no cheesehead music will be played.  Now we just have to win one more.  I would love to see him show up to the wedding wearing a Bears tie, cause he is such a Packers fan and to have those pictures to last a lifetime.  That would be great memories!

Saturday was a long day, all I wanted to do was go home.  The bell boys have been so awesome at helping me out with getting boxes and supplies to meetings, except for when I want to go home.  It was frustrating and I ended up wheeling 2 carriers for the exhibit booth and 3 boxes plus by purse and bag about half way until a Past Director saw me and her and her friend helped me out.  Thank God.  After 2 calls to the hotel bell desk and explaining exactly where I was - I decided 45 minutes of waiting was long enough.  But I made it home and without any speeding tickets, this time.  =)

California, knows how to party.

So, we just got back from the other side of the world, and now we are headed to California for our friends Gavin and Amy's wedding.  We are really excited for them!  They are so perfect for each other.  

This trip was so much fun.  First it started off, by Jay and I giving up our seats on our flight to take another one about an hour and half later to receive a $400 voucher each!  How or why would you pass that up.  Then we get in, and drove in lovely L.A. traffic to San Diego to meet up with Kenny, Kelly, Jake and Melinda at Sea World.  We watched a couple of shows and went on a couple of rides.  It was a blast!  Then we headed to the hotel in Anaheim to finally check in. 

The next day was the wedding and it was such a perfect fairytale wedding. I can't even explain it.  I guess all I can say is, horse-drawn carriage entrance.  Need I say more.  Anyway, it was soo great!  And they let me use their awesome camera to take pics for them during the reception - so I was living out my dream of being  professional photographer before I got too drunk and the battery died... haha. 

A lot of crazy stuff happened that  night, it is all kinda a blur.  But what I can say it was a great trip and our whole group of friends were there - which made it such a great time.  

Jay and I had an extra day in California so we switched hotels to one near LAX and spent a day in Hollywood.  It was great! I love every minute of it, and would love to go back.  We did the celebrity house tour, ate at Hard Rock (got my souvenirs), went to a hookah lounge, did a little shopping on Hollywood Blvd.  It was awesome!  Such a great trip!

Congratulations Gavin and Amy!!!  Love you guys!  Thanks for letting us be part of your special day!

New Zealand

So after the LCI Convention, and since we were already in this part of the world, we decided to go to New Zealand to spend about a week.  It was much colder than Sydney.  Since it is their winter we couldn't do a whole lot - but it was such a great time.

Sam found an I-stay which is apartments converted into hotels.  We had a two bedroom apartment, with a washer and dryer as well as a kitchen.  The first day, Sam and I took the ferry to Davenport and did some shopping in the rain. They have such cute little shops there!

While in Auckland, we did a hop on, hop off bus tour and saw some cool sites of the city.  But we were really excited to go to Rotorua, which is about a 3.5 hour drive from Auckland.  But we heard such great things, so we rented  car and drove down.  (side note - very annoyed with Katy Perry's California Gurls song... it was constantly played).

While we were there, we went up on a skyline ride, went to Wai-O-Tapu geo-thermal park and saw a geyser and sulfur pools.  It was such a nice little town.  We all agreed we would love to go back on day, but next time during their summer.

Sam and I were going to go Zorbing, which is rolling down a hill in a big ball, which looks totally fun... but they were only offering water rides, which they put some water in the ball, but we didn't have our suits and we thought it was a little too chilly to be doing it with water.  So we went to the Agrodome to learn about sheep.  Sounds funny, but it was a really good time.  We saw a sheep show, got to pet and take pics with them.  

We also had the opportunity to use the sulfur hot tub at the hotel next door and relax it was great!

Sam left a day earlier because she was offered by her boss to fly home business class - who wouldn't turn that down on a 13 hour trip back to California.  So, Jay and I had a day to ourselves and just drove around looking for sites.  We went to this small zoo that turned out to be pretty cool and we took lots of pictures.  After we just drove around and took in the beautiful scenery.  I was happy because we found a beach so I got to walk along the water and pick up shells to take back home.   

We had such a great time... and there is sooo much more to tell, but it is so hard trying to remember everything.  All you need to know is, if you ever have the opportunity to go to New Zealand... DO IT!

Going Down Under... Aussie Style

 This year's annual Lions Club International Convention was held in Sydney, Australia.  OMG, it was sooo great to be there.  Although, I can have done without the 15 hour plane ride from Los Angeles.  Jay and I got lucky, since we arrived at LAX so early, we were able to get an emergency row exit and no one sat in between us, but unfortunately, the arm rests didn't go up. 

We arrived early in the morning, checked into the hotel, and went to find some place to eat.  Jay really wanted to try kangaroo, so that is what he did.  I even tried a bit.  In fact, here is a reaction shot of me eating a bite of it...

It really wasn't that bad... but, if you know me, I don't like exotic-adventurous foods nor vegetables...lol  We very quickly found out how expensive Australia is, especially along the harbour. Ouch!

Our hotel was great, minus the cost of internet.  We ended up going to vodafone to buy a wireless internet hotspot drive, which was much cheaper than $30+ /day.  The view of the harbour was breathtaking.  It was also set up for the World Cup.  They had a big screen floating in the water and crowds and crowds of people would come out late at night to early morning hours watching the games rooting for their team.  It was quite the experience, since the states could care less about the world cup.

Jay also found 3 Irish bars, and we probably visited each 2-3 times.  One we went to for Sam's birthday... She also came to Australia, but arrived a couple of days after we did.  We had a good night meeting a lot of Aussie boys, even a professional rugby player, unless he was just messing with us... 

The convention was great!  It is always wonderful to see all of the Lions out and about.  As well as the Lions who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting and those who I talk to on a regular basis who I haven't seen in a while.  My meetings and seminars went great.  Convention is such a great time to make you remember what you do on a daily basis makes a different to these 1.35 million Lions across the world.  I love my job!

After convention was over, we went to the Blue Mountains - which was breath-taking.  We really enjoyed being away from the city of Sydney and seeing some of Australia's natural beauty.  It was just what we needed, especially before heading to New Zealand.

Gainesville, Florida

In March I went to Florida to evaluate another consultant.  He is from a town outside of Gainesville, Florida.  I had a great time visiting and getting to know him and his wife.  They were absolutely wonderful.  The day I arrived, they drove me to St. Augustine to have dinner so I can see the city.  It was absolutely wonderful.  Before dinner, we walked around and took some pictures of the Fort, Lighthouse, water, and the old part of the city....  What a great place.  I would love to go back!


It was such a great experience recruiting in Trenton, Florida.  It had such a great community feeling. The first person we talked to signed up himself as well as a young co-worker and also called the police chief to tell him we were coming to speak with him.  This was great to experience recruiting the way it is suppose to happen.

I also got to learn a lot about my consultants background and he really motivated me to act on my dreams so they become a reality to me.  I left feeling like a whole new person.  He also gave me a 10x12 glossy picture shot with the moon really close and a picture of the earth that he gave to all of his clubs when he was district governor.  The story behind it was that it was his dream as a little boy to go to the moon.  He didn't do anything to achieve that dream, but someone did.....  So you should always achieve your dreams so they become a reality. 

Back To Vegas... But for work (and maybe a little fun too)

The end of January I went to Vegas to evaluate a potential consultant and to meet with one of my senior consultants on ideas to expand the program to the next level.  It was a great experience.  I met a lot of great Lions from the state of Nevada and I also had the opportunity to recruit for a new club in Henderson, which is where my cousin lives. We stated at a station casino in North Las Vegas and I also had the opportunity to be on the radio during a Lions program they do every Sunday.

 
After the workshop was over, I moved to the strip for one night to stay at Harrahs.  My friend Dan was in town to visit his brother who lives there, so we met up along with the potential consultant I was evaluating.  We went to Hofbrahaus (my favorite German Beer Hall), then to The Pawn shop on PawnStars which was closed (I couldn't even buy a t-shirt) then Toby Keith's and Carnival Court.  It was a great night in Vegas! I can't remember if I did any gambling.  I guess if I would have won, I would have remembered.  ;-)

I'm Engaged!

Jay finally popped the question!  Yay!  It was New Years Eve 2009 in the afternoon at home, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him with my grandma's ring my mom gave him to use.  I could tell he was nervous, but he knew what my answer would be.  But for him to make that commitment, he was scared.  But after 3.5 years together, he knew I was the one for him, as he is for me.  We complement each other so much.  We are the same in so many ways, and different.  I truly believe that I have found my one and only soul-mate.  

Later that day we went shopping for rings, because I decided that I wanted my own ring from him.  I love my grandparents so much, and they had a very strong marriage, but when I look down at that ring, I want to see and think of Jay.  We didn't have much luck, until I decided to go with the ring I have been eyeballing for many years.  We ordered it from the JC Penney's and got a pretty good deal.  Problem was, is that I had to wait a few weeks until it was delivered.  But we are very excited and had set a date for Saturday, May 7th, 2011