Yesterday was a day full of conference sessions and tentative conversations and seeing friendly faces while being lost in a sea of snazzily dressed professionals from all across the state. Granted, I’m new to the conference life, the one academic conference I went two blew-who-whoooooo and was the first signal that the path I was on might really not be the one for me.

So it was a beautifully pleasant surprise that I LOVED this one. Loved the sessions on Work/Life Balance, Telling Your Story via Social Media, Non Profit 101 and a keynote speaker that had me THIS CLOSE to ugly crying in my industrial white napkin.

Have you heard of Bob Goff?

I was surprised when I had friends comment with recognition on Facebook. Well, not so surprised when Holly had already seen him speak and was feeding me podcasts featuring him because she is so in sync with where I want to be in life it’s cuckoo. But seriously. This guy. He was everything a speaker should be. He was energetic. He was entertaining and funny. He spoke on big themes that could be applied to whatever sector he was speaking to i.e. church groups, non-profit groups, businesses, schools, communities. He was heartfelt and self deprecating and whimsical and serious and by the end of his talk I was mopping my face ever so delicately with my white napkin. I was clapping and laugh-sobbing and had I not immediately needed to swoop into networking mode I might still be sitting there processing all that he said.

I went and bought his book last night. And one for Suzy for her birthday. I can’t wait to get to it, but I know for certain that things come to you at the right time. I was struggling with a few choices and issues and sitting through that luncheon yesterday it was as if he was speaking to me. It was as if he was saying, “Misti, LOVE BIG. What if you loved so big that it just dripped all over the place? What if you showed those in your life that you loved them so generously that they were moved to do the same for someone else? LOVE BIG! BE AWESOME! BE NOT AFRAID!!!”

There are moments in life where I just don’t get it. I am as dumb as a box of rocks and I just don’t get it.

Yesterday I got it.

What IF we loved so big that we left soggy footprints wherever we went, love dripping off of our clothes and out of our pockets? What IF we understood that failure and success doesn’t define us? What IF we tell people what they are instead of what they want to hear?

You are courageous. You are amazing. You are so smart. You are engaging and bright and witty and beautiful. You are a captain of smiles.

You. Are. Awesome.

What if, in that struggle for work/life balance that we just DECIDE to pay attention to the ones that we love? We just choose to stop being busy and love and reconnect and have an afternoon of sex, or pick up the phone and lay down a grudge or hurt feelings? What if we just choose that?

Yeah, I totally got it.

 

I’m writing the “sermon” part for Maggie and Chris’ wedding on Saturday.

I have a goodly amount of it down, but I keep getting inspiration from other places that I want to include, (namely from the bride and groom to be) and I fear that we will be in the middle of a full blown CAN I GET AN AMEN kind of thing where the Momma’s are pinching kids in that place under your arm that really hurts and refuses to bruise, the men are checking their watches and the bridal party are weaving on their feet, just thiiiiiis close to passing out.

It’s hard to pare it all down. I want to say all of the things! Quote all of the things! Get all of the things into the sermon!

I’ll purge some more then start chopping it down. But I’m into the process enough that it’s really all I can think about. I’m so excited for these two and to get to spend the afternoon/evening around these people that I love so much.

I’m thankful that I started the daily writing again. It really really has helped my brainspace in terms of being able to focus on this task, focus on this process. It is a helpful escape from work and daily issues. And in keeping with my desire for NaBloPoMo, I’ve reached out and started reading other places. I found this today, it’s from a blog that is written by a LTYM producer/director in San Francisco.

Isn’t it lovely? I thought it was just lovely. 

It’s cold here today. Like…20 degrees colder than yesterday. Windchills are making it feel like a whopping 19 out there. I’m going to have another cuppa, snuggle in front of the tv a bit then hit the shower and go learn about Leadership! Networking! Connections! Relationships! 

Let some light in today, ok?

A long time ago we all used to do these fun and elaborate cyber birthday celebration posts on our blogs. They were some of my favorite things to do and to receive.

I stopped because I couldn’t keep up with them and feared hurting people’s feelings if I missed their day.

Today this one is on my mind. It’s not an active blog anymore, but it remains one of my favorites ever. 

On Wednesday night, Frank-n-Suzy joined us on a road trip to Dallas.

Yes it was a school night.

Yes we (Mark) drove home that same night.

Yes we were all really tired.

Yes it was totally worth it.

Let me back up a bit and give some details.

Several weeks ago we saw that the Milk Carton Kids were opening for Sara Jarosz at this place called The Kessler in Dallas. Suzy saw that you could get a reserved table for really a great price and we all said a big fat YES to that. Everyone in the group had already seen both acts before and really couldn’t say enough about either of them. I have known the music of the MCKids but never seen them live. Sara Jarosz I had nuthin on. Nary a note nor a phrase had I heard. So I was excited!

Traffic was a little stupid on the way down but we made it fine if not famished. Promptly securing a free parking space we found a place called The Pour House right next door and though time was tight we managed to scarf down some food and beverages and walk back across before the show started.

Our table was RIGHT UP FRONT. No. I mean I was leaning on the stage at one point between acts. We were realllllly close. And it was still great. That venue was amazing. Perhaps the only reason it’s not my number one favorite venue is because it’s at least three hours away. It has some awesome history. Here’s an excerpt from their website

 

“The real cool history begins when Gene Autry gets out of the war and purchases properties owned by Mr. Dunbar,” Cabaniss says. “He became the owner in 1946 and operated it as a movie theater till the early 1950s. He then sold out to Robb & Rowley, which then sold to what became modern-day United Artists. And somewhere along the line, they decided they were going to shutter a lot of different theaters,” the Kessler among them. It would eventually become a revival tabernacle.

Much of the theater was destroyed in the ’57 tornado that swept through Dallas; the storm took off the top of the theater, as well as its back facade. Five years later, it was rebuilt as a church — only to once again face destruction courtesy a three-alarm fire that gutted the entirety of the inside.

“Somewhere along the way, it was a church and a sweatshop, so I’ve been told,” Cabaniss says. “Someone leveled out the original theater floor. When we took it over, the foundation was not in good shape, and we’ve gone back to the original slope floor and found remnants of the original stage. The last use of this, far as the city is concerned, was 1978, and it was a retail shop. So far as I can tell it hasn’t been used for any purpose in 31 years.”

 

Pretty cool, eh?

Josh Ritter is coming in Janurary. On a Friday night. I’m already planning.

So anyways, the music was sublime. It was ridiculous. Perfect harmonies, amazing musicianship in a sold out space that the perfect size. We all were wishing we had a space like that here in Norman. Oh the things we could do…

It was a fun way to celebrate early birthdays. (Suzy’s is Tuesday)

 

I’m so thankful that Mark is the kind of man who says YES to life.

I’m so thankful that he’s the kind of man that does floors, too.

We’ve cleaned like fiends all day long. I ran errands, grocery shopped, bought new bathroom mats for way too much money. This house is feeling finally like we can live in it and not hate it. Like we can keep up with the chores. There are still some major things that need to happen, but this work today? This will allow us to go have a fun meal with friends tonight, and to enjoy tomorrow fully relaxed.

I spent the entire day at a Care for Caregivers seminar. The CEO forwarded the invite to myself and another girl from work thinking it might be a good thing to attend, network with other agencies in the relief effort, etc.

It was an entire day of really touchy feely stuff.

8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. on a Friday.

I started feeling really stabby about 2:30.

That’s pretty much all I’ve got.

I’ll write more tomorrow about how we went to Dallas on Wednesday night to see the Milk Carton Kids at this kickass venue called the Kessler Theatre with our friends Frank and Suzy.

I’ll write more tomorrow about how I feel about turning 43 on Sunday.

I’ll write more tomorrow about better things.

But tonight I’m just a little sideways from being so in touch with all of the feels today.

I’m going to go eat popcorn and get my iPadmini and read some Outlander.

Remember when I started this whole NaBloPoMo thing seven days ago? I said that I wanted to kickstart my writing again, I wanted to become a more active participant in other blogs and to become an active member in Oklahoma Women Bloggers. I did. I said that. I typed it out and hit publish, even.

I feel like, seven days in, I’m doing ok with the NaBloPoMo thing. I’m still writing. I’m still posting. But more than that my brain has started to move again. I’ve started to view experiences through a writers lens again. I’ve started to carve out time in my day to (not exercise) read more and to write daily.

My next goals are to spend some really quality writing time this weekend and pre-write. Use that little scheduling thingy that so many fancy bloggers use. Use my draft folder and go back and perfect things. As it works for me now, I basically purge. Publish. Go back and edit. Publish. Go back and edit. Publish. Say F-itall and go start laundry. (I never go start laundry)

12 months ago two women, Mari and Heather, started this community and called it Oklahoma Women Bloggers. I knew very little about the whole deal, other than Heather had been a participant in Arkansas Women Bloggers and there was some awesome retreat and lots of boots from Country Outfitters. I knew some of these women via Listen To Your Mother 2012 but not enough to consider participating.

So now it’s 12 months later and I read the posts and comment occasionally and make plans (then break them because of work commitments) to be social at the meet-up and try to really start connecting outside my tiny closed off Norman circumference and it’s not enough. When November rolled around on our calendars I really wanted THIS to be the time where I jump in feet first and swim among the cool kids.

Turns out they are so stinkin nice and gracious and giving! (Sometimes I still get worried that I won’t fit in)

I’m today’s featured blog. Go over and give me a read, peruse the OWB site and say hey to some of these ladies. If you’re doing NaBloPoMo it’s a great resource of reading material. If you aren’t, nor could care less about NaBloblablablafishcakes, it’s STILL a great place to read, find recipes, find new people to follow. So. Go over and let’s tell them thank you for including me, ok? 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I officially welcome you to LTYM:OKC 2014.

It is our honor to have been asked back to the dance.

We are as giddy as Sandra Dee and as revved up as black catsuit Sandy.

We’ve got chills, they’re multiplyin’

Are you ready? Because you remember that this thing doesn’t happen without you, right?
Your energy and excitement and joy and attendance and support…none of this happens without your stories and your voices.

So get ready.

We’re ready.

 

The rain came today, the rain and the cold that signal closer to my birthday than not. It’s cloudy and overcast and there isn’t much that I want to do other than cook and nest in my house which at the moment is filthy and covered in cat hair and boxes. . . yet the moments that I am home I just want to lay.

I try the couch, and it’s… uncomfortable.

We’re in negotiations about a new one. The ones we have don’t fit my body or long legs. It’s like laying on something that constantly says, ‘hey fatty, you don’t fit… why would you ever think you’d be comfortable here’

Yes.

I have a smack talking couch. Two in fact.

It’s really better that I just get up and come to work. My office is cozy and warm and inviting. I have all kinds of special friends roaming the halls, my newest friend is Alan and he never fails to make me smile.

Trying to be productive on a day like this isn’t the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I like being tucked into my space and crossing tasks off of my list. I ran some supplies out to a volunteer and then got some lunch and then sat myself down for an hour and a half of webinar on hot button topics that my company is facing. I thought I wanted to talk about all of that, and maybe I will at some point this month.

To quote Kizz…”being inclusive is hard work.”

It is. It’s just so much more than I ever thought it was going to be. And yet, it’s still the exact place I’m supposed to be.

I love that I work for an organization that is inclusive, that not only builds girls of courage confidence and character, but supports them in their choices and welcomes all.

I’m proud of the way they are beginning to address and handle issues and set an example for the girls that using their voice is always their right, and leading by that example. That makes me really happy.

So while I’m sleepy, and it’s rainy, and I have to work tonight facilitating CST troop cookie training…I’m ok with it.

The weekend was full of adventure and fun and fall color and time with those that I love…and here it is Monday and we’ve had a time change and though we gained an hour, I am already behind on things that need to be done. I have a photo order due to Bonus Mom, and I’ve had Ryan waiting on a piece of writing from me for months. I’ve got some things almost ready to put down for the ceremony but that needs more attention.

Last week during our AllStaff meeting we had a guest speaker from the NBA Thunder. We worked through a training piece that all of the volunteers/employees of the Thunder go through, called Click Training.

C-Communicate Courteously

L- Listen to Learn

I-Initiate Immediately

C-Create Connections

K-Know Your Stuff

He was a dynamic speaker and really touched on some points that I think were valid and worthwhile. Also validating was the fact that many of his points I was already doing in my professional life. The thing that stuck with me the most was that he said studies show that on average, a person has about 20,000 moments a day. It’s the sum of those moments that make the day a good one or a bad one. Most people however, fly through those moments with little to no cognizance.

Since that meeting, it’s been really weighing on me to become more aware of the moments. To become a fully participating member of this life I’m living.

I felt like I did a really good job of that on Friday and Saturday…Then Saturday night came with the bachelorette party for Maggie and  I woke up Sunday with a hangover that Charlie Sheen would’ve feared and everything went to shit. I spent most of it in the bed and then in the afternoon evening, I was just in this space of anxious about the wasted day. This morning I woke up dreaming of exercise classes I wish I was taking and as you can tell from the beginning of this post already focusing on the to-do-list that is past due.

Deep calming breaths.

Great gulps of coffee.

I’m going to start over, focusing on the moments today, focusing on the color of the trees, and the good things the week holds.

I challenge you to count your moments today. The small, seemingly insignificant moments that when added up will make your day either a good one or a not so good one.

Let’s meet back here and talk about them, ok?