Here comes 2009

The rest of fall has come and gone.  It was a beautiful, simple holiday with a lot of relaxation and family time.  A lot of things are changing, but I feel really good about life right now.

I'm sorry I've been kind of abandoning this place for the past couple of months, but I have been very busy with work and life, but I'm back now and one of my resolutions (although in the past I haven't made them) is to Blog more.... so here I am.

I won't go into great depth about the past, but I will present you with my crazy itinerary for the upcoming  months!  The travel blog will be seeing a lot of me so stay tuned!

It's going to be pretty intense much like last year!  And I'm completely pumped!

January:
Northport Maine for the MSN winter retreat. 

Staying here: http://www.visitpointlookout.com/accomodations/ 

February:
AMCHP Conference 2009 in Crystal City, VA

Presenting on involving youth in successful needs assessments

Also- representing KASA at the annual family voices gala.  Anything with the word gala in it makes me happy!  

Staying here: https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/wasdt-washington-marriott-wardman-park/

March:
Visions of Community Conference in Boston

Presenting on Transitioning to adulthood in the healthcare world.

Staying here: http://www.seaportboston.com/Accommodation/Overview.aspx
(oooh flashbacks. Four of us shared a one bed room here when our car got stolen. Fond fond memories. Although it is a sweet hotel!)

WEST SIDE STORY- NYC
Eat, drink and be merry with no other agenda with the bff :-)

April????? There must be something in april…..?

May
ICYCC 09 conference- Ft. Lauderdale, FLORIDA

Presenting on engaging youth in policy change and leadership.

ALSO, MY 24TH BIRTHDAY. oh heeeeey.

Staying here: http://www.icycc2009.com/hotelaccommodation.html 
(um, at one of them? Not sure yet. ….hmmm)

June
OLEY 2009- St. Petersburg, FLORIDA
Just attending, being awesome, and enjoying learning and networking.   And the beach...some more.

Staying here: http://www.tradewindsresort.com/?PID= 



AND THEN ITS SUMMER!!!!!

completely pumped. oh man. watch out 09. Here I come.


The diva is back ♥

Behold, the power of a facial!

So, following up from my birthday post, my party was FABULOUS.
There are pictures: here
But it was absolutely perfect. The only thing I would've changed is that Colin would've been there, but he spoiled me crazy on my actual birthday, so it balanced out (we ate all day long- Espo's, Applebee's, and Starbucks of course, and he bought me Enchanted on DVD....which we saw together). This whole birthday was amazing!

Yesterday, mom and I drove down to Vermont for a conference I was presenting at today. As some of you know, I've been feeling sort of...in a rut, in regards to my work lately, so I was really not looking forward to coming. We had no air conditioner driving down, so it was a little annoying, but soon we got a rainstorm and began driving up the mountain and it cooled right down!
We found a random amazing restaurant on the way up since the restaurant in the hotel was closed for the season. Silly skiiers! We ended up having an amazing dinner, and I slept wonderfully. I always manage to sleep better in hotels bed, than my own (hmm...maybe I need a new bed.....)
Before we turned in however, Patti showed up to go over our presentations, and I mentioned how I had noticed that the presentation they had us down for on the agenda was not the 2nd powerpoint she had sent me. Then something incredible happened. We began a new Powerpoint, and she created 2 new blank slides and said "Here. These are yours."
I looked at the situation and figured I could do 2 things. I could just say "I can't think of anything...", or I could run with my two slides and begin proving what I AM capable of.
I chose the 2nd one. I made one slide a list of what I have learned in my life that I would like to relay to others, and the other one was a collage of pictures of things I've done to prove there are no limitations, and anything is possible if you're willing to find a way!
After hardly even looking forward to the conference, I went to bed feeling actually EXCITED for our presentation, which I had really not felt in a long time.

I woke up energized and excited to make the most of the day, no matter how it went.
The day began with our keynote speaker, Scott Chesney. He was absolutely wonderful, and everything echoed my life to a T. He overcame his challenges and did everything he wanted. He even had a job in PR in NYC. Hello. Did somebody call him and say "Hi Scott, Mal is going to this conference, and is really questioning everything in her life right now. Anyway you could give a speech and bring her spark back?" Because that is exactly what happened. He made me remember anything really is possible, and what kind of a person I really am. I don't settle, I don't get trapped. I make the most out of every moment and follow my heart. I always have and I'm not going to stop now.
I spoke with him after, and he even said he'd e-mail me and put my name in with his people in NY! Eeeeep! Overall, I was just transformed.

During the speech I also got a phone call that my beloved purple Fit I met when my mom was car shopping, can indeed be adapted!!!! There was an automatic blackberry pearl Honda Fit coming in this week, unclaimed. My dad put a deposit on it today, and let's just say NOW IT'S CLAIMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The universe is completely on my side this month.

With this news I was completely amped for our presentations, and they both went wonderfully. I didn't hold back. when I wanted to say something I did, and I was MYSELF. I was me again, and that was all it took. I wasn't afraid of not knowing the information absolutely perfectly, I just dove in head first and had fun, and the audience did too. It was excellent.
All in all, the entire day put me in such a good place I'm ready to take on the world!

Before we went to dinner, we had some time to kill, so I decided to investigate the spa. I wanted a mani or pedi, but they didn't have a nail tech. I felt so good about the day I decided to reward myself with a facial.
I t was worth every penny, and I can't even describe it. It was borderline spiritual.
I mean, how often do you just lay there quietly, thinking peacefully while taking care of yourself. I just kept thinking about all the good things in my life and how absolutely lucky I was. It was like a trance. I pretty much did not want to move after. It was so rejuvenating, and I felt like a totally movie star.
I'm hooked now. there will be another one before Cali (I get to go to California.... I got my dream car.... I get facials)
I think these conferences really wake me up to how lucky I am, and how much I take for granted. I'm going to work on that. and I'm going to write my book. Because I can.

I know it sounds cheesey, but I really got an awakening and am ready to tackle this summer for everything it's worth. I have too much going for me to complain. I need to just DO.

So.... here's to a new summer. A new car, and refound gratitude for everything I have!

Cheers.




(as always, you can read more about my travels here: http://divajetsetter.blogspot.com )

Miami!

I got home from Miami around midnight on Sunday night. It was decent, albeit not what I had hoped it to be. Basically the best day was the first one when we ended up not having to go to any of the conference stuff.

Mom and I woke up had an incredible breakfast in our room (Miami officially has the best smoked Salmon....even better than NYC) then we got fabulous and took a cab to South Beach.

We rented chaises and spent a little over an hour on the beach. Good thing we didn't stay any longer cause I did start to get sunburned but it was beautiful, and there was a breeze that kept it from being too hot. The spring breakers were definitely fun to look at too ;-)
We walked the street a little bit and decided to have lunch at a Cuban restaurant, which was fun, and it was a good way to watch people walk by. We did a little bit of shopping, and caught a cab two stores before I saw a MAC store! AAAAGH!!!! (luckily I did find one later and finally scored some Fafi)

When we got back to the hotel, we decided not to waste a minute and moved the party down to the pool, which proved to be absolutely unreal. It was heated and beautiful, and we got drinks at the poolside bar, which were also incredible.

That was the only thing I really had my mind set on, was tropical drinks by the pool.... good thing we did it on Day 1!

While we were at the pool I randomly found a gold/diamond bracelet on the ground.... obviously I didn't think twice, and gave it in to the bartender (I don't wear gold.... and I have a conscience) so while we were enjoying our drinks, the owner of it came running down and when the bartender gave it to her, she told her i had found it, and the woman (who ended up being a member of our conference) thanked me profusely. I was half hoping she would give me a cash reward or something... but that didn't happen. It made me happy to be able to help her out though cause that would totally happen to me! After that, every time I saw her in the hotel she told anyone she was with "that's the girl that found my bracelet!!!!" It was cute.

(randomly- the view from our room)

Anyway.... we ended up meeting up with people from the conference and eating dinner in Bayside (Bubba Gump shrimp.... not my choice, but we had a nice waiter named Angel and the food was decent, so it was ok)

The next day was pretty uneventful, I couldn't really go outside due to my lovely sunburn I got in the hour and a half we were on the beach, but I had my presentation that day anyway so it didn't really matter. The presentation went really well, but I've learned that I get really drained after.
It takes a lot out of me emotionally to hear everyone's stories and realize how screwed up the system really is. It also makes me think a lot about my future... which makes me very tired...
Do I want to do this my whole life? Do I want to dig deeper to make a difference or do I want to just say "Screw it all, I made it out!" And work for a magazine somewhere..... Every time I go to a conference I go back and forth I just know I need to start the process of moving out. Every time I come back to Maine I realize how much I dislike it and I'm really starting to say "What is here for me?" I'm not in school anymore, a lot of my friends are gone. I just don't know. I need to start thinking about what I want for my life I think. It's scary. But what isn't scary is that I'm set for now... and nobody is pressuring me to do anything, I just need to start thinking seriously about it.

The next 2 days, the days we had set aside for actual vacationing, IT RAINED. POURED, MONSOONED, FLOODED. I was pissed.

Luckily, there was an amazing mall right by our crappy second hotel that we switched to when we were on our dime (another bummer... but that's a whole other entry....) and I bought adorable juicy sunglasses!!!! And finally made that Fafi haul.
We spent time with my aunt and uncle and baby cousin, and they took us around which was nice too. We had dinner on Lincoln Rd, and the day it poured we hit the mall and just drove around all day basically, then had an amazing home cooked meal, which actually hit the spot.

I was sort of bummed we didn't get to do more tourist stuff like oh you know THE BEACH AND SUN, but it was nice that we didn't have to sit in our hotel watching TV all day....
They invited us over for Easter too which was pretty nice. It would've been weird without being family on Easter. We went over first thing in the morning...we were itching to get out of our hotel as early as possible, and my aunt and uncle made us a fabulous brunch with mimosas. My aunt even made my mom and I Easter baskets (so I ended up getting two, because my Easter Bunny is a jetsetter and there was totally one in our hotel. He put it on my bed when I got up to go pee in the morning and my reaction in the dark was "OMG WHAT IS ON MY BED....ITS LIKE A SMALL ANIMAL OR SOMETHING" It wasn't. It was a gift card to the spa and Starbucks and peeps. Lovely.
After brunch we all took family pictures and just chilled watching the 10 Years younger marathon and judged ugly people. Then we had to go to the airport.

So our flight could not leave for two hours until after we boarded because obviously we brought more thunderstorms with us to the airport.
It was such a long day, at this point we both just wanted to be home (not in the "Be back to Maine" sense, but to be with our family, in our own beds) We were supposed to fly into Portland at about 10 which we thought was late anyway, but we ended up not getting in til about midnight due to all the delays. Stupid weather.

So yea. In conclusion, it was a good time but far from what we had hoped and I definitely want to plan a trip to go back down, without work obligation and hopefully with the entire family, it was a little weird not having Mais with us! I was sad.
She's coming with us to Wisconsin in a few weeks but that's.... not quite the same. I'm sure we'll make the most of it, but I seriously wish I had not been like Eeyore and had a giant rain cloud over me in Florida.... that was kind of the light at the end of a long tunnel of blah.

But oh well...so is life, and hopefully there will be more opportunities.
Now I need to start planing for Wisconsin and in the mean time try to reconnect with some of my friends I haven't seen since before my wisdom teeth surgery! Seriously!!

Also- I created another blog, of reviews of all my travel experiences, without all the narration, so if you want nitty gritty reviews go there. If you want my rambling... stay here. Or be cool and read both. Your call but here it is! http://divajetsetter.blogspot.com/

Next up: Eau Claire, WI with my mom and sister! Not Miami, but I'm pretty excited!
As for Maine.. spring is welcome to appear any day now. I'm over this snow in April crap. that is so last year!


xoxo-
Mal

NFI Grantee Meeting:



So I just got home from my first business meeting ever. It was a D70 Grantee meeting, which means it was all other states who receive the grant that we have and we discuss what we're doing with it and the varying progresses.
It was amazing. It was completely mentally exhausted, but equally exciting. My mom and I flew into DC Monday afternoon, and I was reminded of how I love flying so much! I think being above the clouds is one of the most amazing things ever, and it was such a literalization of how far I've come and how I really am "above" Farmington, and everything I've gotten through. I felt like I was in a movie.
The meeting wasn't until the next day, so we had some time to go shopping around the city and get dinner. We went into American Apparel, and there was a little Australian Shepherd puppy who wanders around the store wearing one of their T-shirts, and he was absolutely adorable.

Then since it was just the two of us, we had a sushi dinner and toasted to a new business venture. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, got changed and met Patti in the lobby for drinks with "the national folks." We had come home. All of these people had been in "the system" for years and we're finally at this point where we can get together at a national level and discuss the changes we've made. We shared stories and experiences of challenges and successes and my mom got to talk to so many different parents that had been in similar situations. As she said, "it was like drowning for so many years and then finally coming up for air."

The next morning was the actual meeting and we wanted to take our time getting ready, so we ordered breakfast in the room and I had a divine croissant and authentic cappuccino, which was he perfect start to the day. After going downstairs and finally figuring out where I needed to go, I got registered, with my official name tag and title which was pretty cool, and we had some time to meet other people and chat. then we went to our first breakout session which had various states talking about their parent to parent programs they have, and although they didn't mention youth until we asked them, it was a pretty good session.


It was weird to realize that I was the only "youth" there. Everyone talked about their Youth Advisory Committees (YAC) but I'm truly the only youth to be hired to do this full time and actually be the voice of all the youth that aren't in positions, or can't speak up. It's pretty intense. But I'm proud to be that voice. Everyone was so excited to have me there and told me all about their youth counsels and what they're doing or hope to achieve and how I can help. It was awesome to be so respected and treated as a professional equal.

After lunch we had our breakout session about our youth involvement, and I actually spoke to everyone about how I got involved and everything we've done as far as planning conferences and everything, and what our next steps were. We presented with Arizona (who's reps were so awesome and had cute bags! One of them looked like Britney Spears and had started a Coach girls club at our table), and North Carolina and everyone had really good programs going. It was a great presentation.

It was a ridiculously long day, but after all the focusing mom and I went out with Deb and Toni and one of their friends Beth, and we sat in the bar for awhile, where they were playing the entire Michael Buble CD so I pretty much died. I've decided I love him a lot.

Then we hit the town and had dinner at Macaroni Grill which was divine, since my ultimate love is pasta! And while we were waiting, Toni and I went across the street to Ulta, which is like a Sephora, but it has drugstore brands too. It was awesome. I'm so going back in October!

After the next sessions the next day- we took a cab to the airport, and we shopped, and I finally bought the Vera Bradley bag I had debated about all through college. I finally have a stable income and it was time to reward myself. It was just meant to be that I bought it in a DC airport instead of Farmington!

Now I'm home and exhausted and leaving again tomorrow for our Family/Youth Advisory Council meeting, but at least that's in Maine. But I'm busy...and Happy!





so is life! I'm a business woman now!!! what what!!!

xoxox.
you know you love me!

Malphie