My Week in Chicago

I've spent the past week at a conference in Chicago.  After I signed up for the conference, I have to admit that I was dreading it a little bit.  Somehow I didn't check our calendar and I ended up missing Belle's last band concert.  To add salt in the wound, Mike was working second shift, my mom was out of town and my in-laws had plans.  Thankfully Michael was around so she at least had one person in the audience who loved her.  While she said it didn't bother her, I felt like the worst mother in the world!

Even though I was dreading the conference I ended up having a nice time.  We stayed at the InterContinental Hotel.  The room was quite nice even though it overlooked the parking garage.  My colleague ended up with a nice view, I don't know how he rated!  The bathroom looked pretty cool, but in my opinion wasn't very conducive to getting ready in the morning.  Here's a couple pictures of the room.

I realized as I was loading the bathroom picture that my purse snuck in the picture!  If you read my "What's in My Purse" post you'll notice I bought myself a new one - and it doesn't have red crocodile leather :)  I bought it when we were in St. Lucia as my souvenir.  I love it but it's really only for summer.

There were several highlights of the conference.  The first was the very first keynote speaker.  She works for Microsoft and gave a dynamite presentation that pretty much everyone could enjoy, I felt a little bad for the next speaker because he was very dry, she was a hard act to follow.  The next highlight was the new friends we made.  At lunch the first day we ended up sitting on either side of a gentleman who was there by himself.  Michael proved to be very friendly and we enjoyed our lunch with him.  Later that night there was a reception at a local art center.  As soon as my colleague and I walked in into the room we were approached by a woman who introduced herself as one of our company's carriers (we all had badges which stated the company we worked for).  We ended up spending the rest of conference with her and Michael.  Hi Sheila!

The last highlight of the conference was getting to meet one of the speakers.  This speaker is a well-respected authority in our field who actually invited me, can you believe it - me, to be a contact on Linkedin last year.  He's written a book (which I bought) so I took the opportunity to go up, introduce myself and ask him to sign my book.  As soon as I introduced myself he says "Ah yes, we are connected on Linkedin aren't we?"  I was pretty surprised that with his wide range of contacts he would actually recognize me.  Totally one of my highlights.

For dinner the first night we went to the restaurant inside the hotel.  Unfortunately we weren't really impressed by it.  Even though the waiter was awesome, my pork tenderloin was overcooked and the potatoes were tasteless.  My colleague's tuna wasn't much better except it was under cooked!  However, to give credit where credit is due they rocked breakfast!  We both had chef cooked omelets that were excellent.

I had made dinner reservations the first day we were there for McCormick and Schmick's.  After we had a chance to get to know Sheila and Michael, we asked them to join us for dinner.  The dinner was phenomenal starting with our waiter.  He was a lot of fun and took such good care of us.  We started with the calamari for our appetizer, highly recommend it if you go there.  I had the stuffed salmon as my entree, which was also wonderful, followed by creme brulee for desert.  Everyone else had the death by chocolate for dinner which also looked pretty good.  The dinner was a great way to end the conference.

The best part of the week?  Getting home and getting a huge hug from Mike, who of course promptly asked if we were getting Chinese for dinner.  He missed me :)

So, that was my week.  Did anything fun or exciting happen in your life?







 

The Lucky One Update

The winners of The Lucky One novel are: Melissa Kristie Kelli Helen Gina I've contacted you by e-mail for your addresses. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Weekly Menu

Talk about an easy week for menu planning, it's definitely this week.  I'm leaving Tuesday for a business conference in Chicago and won't be back until dinner time on Friday, looks like the family will be having a lot of "fend for yourself" nights this week!

As we were grocery shopping yesterday I told Mike that he was NOT going to get spaghetti.  He was a little pouty when we walked by the spaghetti aisle but I stood firm.  I figured since I was going to be gone for the week we could have a meal that would excite the kids so I planned on serving brats tonight.

Well.......Mike must have been a good boy because God decided we weren't going to have brats.  We went to a family get together earlier today where brats were on the menu.  Brats are a favorite in our house, but not enough for two meals.  Add to it the storms that went through and all plans for grilling was done.  In case you were wondering, my brother-in-law stood outside with an umbrella to grill our brats and hamburgers :)

So, as we were leaving I made a list of ingredients for the boy to pick up at the grocery store.  Can you guess what we're having for dinner?  Bingo - spaghetti!! The kids aren't to happy - yet again.  I'm not sure if it's the actual spaghetti they don't like or the work involved in the clean-up.  The meatballs make quite a mess and there are a lot of pots to clean.  I should really look into buying some cooking bags, but why take away the kids' fun?

Here's the menu for the week, I told you it was an easy one!

Spaghetti and meatballs, strawberry salad, corn, garlic bread
Fend for yourself x4
Dinner out
Chicken and stuffing, glazed carrots, homemade applesauce, salad, bread (Mike is working next weekend so I'll cook a meal the kids love next Saturday).

I of course will be eating out all week!  We'll do at least one really nice meal but the rest will probably be low key.

What's on the menu at your house?  Feel free to link up or share in comments

I'll be linking this up at Good Cheap Eats, Money Saving Mom, I'm an Organizing Junkie

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Fend for Yourself Ideas

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that every week we have at least one or two  "fend for yourself" nights.  Since it is a regular on our menu plan I thought I'd share some of the items that I keep around the house for those nights when the kids are on their own.

Basically, a "fend for yourself" night is just what it seems.  Every family member is responsible for making their own dinner.  I plan these on nights when we're all coming and going with no hope of sitting down as a family.  If I'm around when one of the kids is eating I will sit down at the counter with them so that we can spend a few minutes together.

Even though everyone is responsible for feeding themselves, I do want to make sure that there are healthy, semi-nutritious options available for them.  I can't control whether they eat them or not, but they are available!

Snacks
Del Monte No Sugar Added Mandarin Oranges
Nature's Child Applesauce Squeezables (my daughter's friends tease her about these but she loves them!)
Pre-packaged sliced apples with caramel
Apples
Oranges
Bananas
Strawberries
Mushrooms

I have found that it I put the fresh fruit (apples, oranges, bananas) in a bowl on the counter the kids (and me) are more apt to eat them. If they are kept in the fridge they tend to be forgotten. The pre-packaged fruit is a little more expensive, but the I feel more comfortable with the all-natural aspect and the packaging is convenient for the kids to grab it on the go and they stay fresh longer.



Meals
Frozen Lean Cuisines or Kashi meals
Hard boiled eggs (for egg salad sandwiches or as is)
Flavored tuna packs
Mac & Cheese
Sweet Baby Ray's Pulled Pork
Frozen hamburgers patties (our son is old enough to throw them on the grill for him and Belle)
Soup
Sandwich meats

Depending on what we've had earlier in the week the kids may opt for leftevers, otherwise the options above (or something similar) is pretty much available all the time. Of course, that doesn't stop the kids from complaining that there's nothing to eat :)

That's what fend for yourself looks like in our house.  What does it look like in yours?  Do you have any other ideas to share?

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Organizing the Garage

Excitement is filling the air at the WWIN household.  The tension is palatable.  The reason for this excitement?  Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie has announced a new organizing project.  Yeah!

Ever since her weekly organizing sessions last year ended I've felt my momentum dwindle a bit.  Ok - there have probably been other issues like being completely stressed out first quarter that might have lended itself to my lack of organizational focus.  The good news is I have a new project to focus on!!!

Laura is hosting a Great Garage Clean Out Challenge.  I know what you're thinking.  "Are you serious!?"  "You're getting excited about a garage cleaning party!?"  Yes, yes I am.  Typically the garage cleaning is Mike's domain.  After all, isn't having the whole house enough work for me?  Usually you would be right, however there have been a few things lately that have been bothering me.

This is close to the view I see every time I pull out of or into the garage. 

See those Ultra Wheel roller blades?  I haven't put them on my feet in well over 15 years.  My daughter hasn't been a shoe size 8 for at least two years (she has her father to thank for that).  Me thinks it's time to get ride of some of that stuff.

If my camera wasn't acting up I could show you the an area that would make you cringe.  I'll save that for next week:)

I'm not sure what my plan will be, but it will definitely start with getting ride of the roller blades and ice skates!  I'll update you next week on my progress.

Do you have any organizational projects you're working?  Feel free to share in the comment section.

I'll be linking this up over at I'm an Orgaizing Junkie

Gift Idea

I enjoy gift giving and am always on the lookout for fun and unique gifts, preferably “experience gifts” if I can swing it. You know the gifts I’m talking about, the ones that truly delight the receiver. Gift giving can get a little expensive though so I try to make sure that these delightful gifts don’t break the bank.

For my goddaughter’s birthday this year I decided to give her a portion of her present early, without her even realizing it. This turned out to be one of my favorite gifts of the year so far; an experience gift, an inexpensive gift and a unique gift all rolled into one.

During the kids break this past Christmas I invited my goddaughter (who also happens to be my niece) to spend the evening. I had done some research into public places in our city that had unique Christmas displays and mapped them out. I took the girls (my niece and Belle) out for “girl’s night” of stopping at each display. At each location I took a picture of the girls with the display. I tried to get nice picture and a fun picture at each stop, sometimes taking multiple pictures of the girls while they primped and decided on what pose they wanted.

Here they are doing the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evel" pose.

Once I got home, I logged onto my Mixbook account and chose one of their Christmas themed books in a soft cover 8 x 8.5 size. The temptation to go a little crazy with my Mixbook albums is always there, but I was able to restrain myself this time. It only took me about an hour or so to put the book together, I was really pleased with the results. Make sure you look for coupon codes at sites like ¢ouponchief.com before ordering.

Dinner:               $8 (for all three of us)
Gas:                   $7
Photo Album:     $13.50 (including shipping)

In all honesty, I really wouldn’t include dinner and gas in the price of the present. We eat out way too frequently for me to consider this a gift expense. Due to the fact that I commute to work, my gas budget is pretty high so I don’t really consider it a big deal to drive around the city using a couple of gallons of gas either. However, I did include them in the interest of full disclosure because I realize that there are a lot of families that may view those as expenses to be considered.

We had so much fun spending the time together and seeing all the displays that was a gift in itself. However, seeing her delight and getting to share the experience with the family was truly a pleasure.

Here are some ideas to do something similar in your area.

• Find all the parks in your city (you’d be surprised at how many small neighborhood parks are out there) and visit each one. Take the kids picture in front of the park sign (or make your own so you remember where you were) and then spend some time playing there. Obviously this wouldn’t all be done in a day!

• Find all the statues in your area; take pictures of the family reenacting the various poses.

• If taking a driving trip this summer, take a picture of the family in front of all the restrooms you visit. You might as well make those frustrating stops fun :)
• Identify all the historical markers in your area and stop at each one, even if they are dumb.

• If you live in a really cool historical area (or are planning on visiting one) decide on something funny to do at each site. Wear a goofy hat, make silly faces, etc.

Whether you choose to do it the old fashion way by printing the pictures out and putting them in a photo album or use one of the new digital sites, be sure and get an album to commemorate the fun times you had.

I'll be linking this up at Life As Mom

Note:  This post does contain affiliate links
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10 Things I Learned Being A Beauty Pageant Contestant

With the popularity of Toddlers and Tiaras a lot of focus has been put on the pageant industry. While I personally think the parents on that show go a little overboard, I do think that pageants can offer young ladies of the appropriate age many lessons they can carry with them through life.


When I was 18, I had an opportunity to participate in our local pageant. The winner would go on to represent our city in the state pageant with the ultimate prize being the Miss America title. Although this was 20+ years ago I learned many lessons from that experience.

1. Prepare for your big interview - If I were to do it again I would put much more time into prepping for the interview. At the tender age of 18 my interview experience was very limited and I did not know what to expect. As an adult I recognize the value of preparation and would encourage someone getting ready for any kind of interview to do a sufficient amount of prep.

2. If you can walk across the stage wearing nothing except high heels and a swimsuit there isn’t anything in life you can’t do – There are few things scarier in life than standing in front hundreds of people wearing nothing but high heels and a bathing suit. Before my foray across the stage I thought that the term “knees knocking together” was simply a phrase. I’m here to tell you that it’s not! Whenever I get nervous about a presentation I think back to that day and am glad that I don’t have to give it in my bathing suit. Note to future contestants, please do not go skiing the week before the pageant. It’s hard enough to walk on those heels let along doing so while recovering from a sprained ankle. Additionally I don’t think judges are impressed by a bluish green hue running up to your mid calf.

3. Experience counts – I was very naïve entering the pageant world and it showed. Many of the girls had participated in other pageants and some of them had actually been crowned in other cities. My inexperience was very apparent from my choice of swimsuit to my song choice. If you find yourself lacking experience, ask for help from those that have gone before you.

4. Different people make the world go round – There were some very unique ladies participating in the pageant with me. I didn’t really appreciate all the different personalities at the time but we all brought something to the table. Celebrate the differences in people, it keeps the world interesting.

5. Spray adhesive really does keep your swimsuit bottom from creeping up – Who knew how fantastic something like spray adhesive could be? Spray adhesive as well as dress tape can usually be found in the undergarment departments of your finer establishments.

6. Practice makes perfect - The pageant contestants make it look so easy, gliding across the stage in their swimsuits or strutting their stuff to music. I can attest to the hours spent practicing those moves. Making something looks easy takes a lot of hard work.

7. Winning is great but you need to enjoy the journey – I did not win the pageant, place or even go home with the Miss Congeniality title but I had a blast participating. The reasons that I signed up in the first place were varied, but while I would have loved to take home the title I was looking more to prove something to myself. So often in life we only have our “eye on the prize” and we forget to enjoy the journey.

8. Grab the opportunities that are presented to you – As a pageant contestant we had other opportunities presented to us for participation such as modeling for a bridal show and doing a radio interview. These were experiences that helped me bond with the other contestants and allowed me to do things I haven’t done since. Whenever unique opportunities are presented to you grab them, they truly will enrich your life.

9. Doing something unusual will give you an interesting ice breaker for the rest of your life (or a blog posting) – I don’t pull out the pageant card very often but when I have it’s usually greeted with a lot of interest. One of my co-workers once told me that I should use it more often since he thought it was so fascinating. Take the opportunity to do something few people do and you’ll always have something interesting to talk about.

10. Appearance isn’t all about beauty, it’s about how you present yourself – As a society we place a lot of emphasis on beauty. How much money goes into plastic surgery, hair extensions, make-up, spanx, etc to give the illusion of beauty that we aspire to. My heart aches when I hear how some of these young girls feel about themselves because they don’t look that way. While we can’t always put the time and effort into the “illusion”, we can control is how we present ourselves. The most beautiful contestant isn’t always the winner; it’s the contestant who presents her best self for all to see.

Is there anyone else out there participant in a pageant? What were your takeaways?