Cincinnati, Day 5

Today is the last full day of our Annual Meeting. It's a little crazy to me that I'll be back in the office on Thursday. The past few days have been a blur. This morning started off with a roundtable where we had about 35 people attend, which far exceeded my expectations. I am hopeful that people will be emailing me over the summer for more information and interest to participate in my project more in the Fall.

For lunch, we had chicken, risotto, mushrooms, and green beans. I really liked the risotto, but the chicken was a little dry. There was also some apple spice cake, but I just didn't have any more room. Oh well. I made it up by having ice cream for dinner for the third time during this trip. This time the flavor of choice was strawberry chip. I can't decide which one was my favorite- the blackberry white chocolate chip or the strawberry chip. Both were so yummy. Tomorrow, my goal is to stop by the cupcake shop that's near the front entrance of the hotel. I hope they have something red velvet. That would totally complete my trip here.

Tomorrow should be interesting. Dr. Richard Besser from ABC News is supposed to speak. And then that'll be the end of my first Annual Meeting experience. As much fun as I've had in Cincinnati, I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tomorrow night and getting back to my normal routine. And of course, my crafty goodies. And my cat.

Ok, ok.

And my parents too.

Cincinnati, Day 4

Another morning at the registration front desk today. Overheard conversation between some senior people from work: "If we didn't bicker, we wouldn't get along." It's nice to work with people with a sense of humor, especially around 7 AM. I found the end of the day most interesting with the Member Assembly. Many of the meeting participants were really engaged in the discussion, and I appreciated that they were so passionate about the Association and its direction. I also felt energized with the speeches that the Executive Director, past President and President gave. Public health laboratories do serve a great purpose in our community, and it'll be interesting to see what the future brings.

For dinner tonight, I grabbed a roast beef sandwich at Potbelly (second roast beef sandwich for today, heh) and after I inhaled that along with a bag of chips, I decided to go to Graeter's for some ice cream. I went with a scoop of toffee chip, but in a cup this time since getting ice cream in a cone proved to be very messy last time. Calories don't count when you're not at home right? :D

Working a roundtable session tomorrow, which means I get to sleep in until 7 AM tomorrow (as opposed to 6 AM). Hey, I'll take what I can get!

Cincinnati, Day 3

Day 1 at the registration table went really well. I think that it helped that I wasn't the only one there, that there were more senior/experienced people around to answer questions that I didn't know the answers to, and that there was a huge chunk of people who registered yesterday so that there wouldn't be a huge rush this morning.

Miss Iowa was the guest speaker for today's conference. Yes, a beauty pageant queen at a public health event? I know. That confused me too. And before you roll your eyes like I mentally did when I found out she was coming, I found her to be super nice, super smart, and very articulate about her passion for science and inspiring the younger generation to be interested in science too. I thought it was a pretty cool platform to speak on because I'm not sure that the laboratories out there get the attention, funding, or credit that they deserve considering how much work goes on in them. I found Miss Iowa's opening remark to be amusing: "I wanted to be a tooth fairy when I grew up." P.S. Her crown was some serious bling.

After my shift at the registration desk was over, I went back to my room and took a nap. I really needed it, and I was up in time to help my boss set up for her session. A reception with vendors followed and that's basically the end of my day. I have another morning at registration tomorrow, so it's going to be another early night.

No interesting food report today. The ice cream place closed up right when I left the reception. I hope to go back tomorrow. I did eat some more of that yummy potato gnocchi though.

I got this free plush Giant Microbe from one of the vendors today. It's supposed to be 1,000,000x the actual size of the Influenza A H1N1 virus. However, really, it's like a pig's head without ears. I wonder whose job it is to come up with this stuff. Oh, wait. It says on the tag "Giant Microbes by Drew Oliver." Ooook.

Today was the first day that I can remember actually wearing a suit for the whole day and actually, it wasn't that bad. What a nice surprise. :)

Cincinnati, Day 2

Disclaimer: none of my blog entries for the next few days will be anything card related because I'm on travel for work and away from my crafty goodies. Tune in on TH when I'll be back to my regular crafty adventures.

The best feeling ever (no, nothing food related) is feeling like my hard work paid off. The workshop that I made the 40 binders for was this morning. I was able to meet people that I've only been communicating with over the phone and email. Do you ever get the feeling that the image of the person you conjure up in your head of the person you're talking to on the phone doesn't match up with the real-life person? I had that feeling today a few times, but it's very possible that that person thought the same thing about me. Even though I wasn't able to participate in the workshop because of another meeting across the hall, I was able to sneak in during the last hour and hear the evaluation portion of the agenda. Every participant had to comment on what they thought of the day and offer any suggestions for improvement. It was awesome for me to hear the enthusiasm from the participants and know that they plan to take what they've learned from the workshop back to their respective work places. Oh, I also got a comment from one of the speakers about how great the binders looked. Suh-weet! :D

The hotel food was pretty good today. I wish I was able to take pictures of the potato gnocchi that I had at lunch, but I think that would have looked really weird to the meeting participants. There's no way to do that subtly with people around you. After a reception with hors d'oeuvres, I went to Graeter's with a bunch of co-workers and got ice cream for dinner. I got a scoop of blackberry white chocolate chip. OMG, it was so good. It was so good that I didn't care that I was making a huge mess. The ice cream was getting very drippy, very quickly (see picture). The ice cream place was near Fountain Square, where the movie screen on top of one of the buildings was playing Night at the Museum 2. I made a mental note to myself to make sure to block off some time during this trip for some photography.

After ice cream, I stopped by Walgreens with two of my co-workers. I wasn't planning to get anything in particular, but when I saw these Mike and Ikes: Lemonade Blends, I HAD to try them. The box was only $1 anyway. They are quite yummy.

Even though it's been a long day (for a Saturday), I felt like it went pretty quickly. Before coming on this trip, I was thinking as long as I made it through today that the rest of the trip would be downhill from here. Hooray, I made it! :)

Cincinnati, Day 1

Finally, after months of prepping and anticipating, the big work meeting is here! The flight to Cincinnati was uneventful except that the person that was sitting next to me across the aisle was snoring. She was snoring before the plane even took off! She must have been really tired. It wasn't a big deal because I slept through most of the 1.5 hour flight anyway. The guy on the other side of her was prepared too. He had some noise cancelling headphones on. Lucky him.

In contrast to other work travel I've been on, this is the first one where I was on the same flight with some of my co-workers. 3 of them, in fact! I appreciated travel buddies.

When I got to the hotel, I checked my email to find that I got another Etsy sale today. Too bad I'm away from all my cards. This takes "a watched pot never boils" to a whole new level.

After roaming around a little bit and ate some dinner from Chik-Fil-A, I was beginning to feel guilty that I scarfed down the Chik-Fil-A, fries, and Coke Zero, so I digested a little and then schlepped off to the hotel gym to run it off, 2 miles total. I gotta keep these eating habits in check since I probably won't be at spin until probably next Saturday. Geeze, that seems so far away from now.

It's going to be an early morning tomorrow...and the day after that...and the day after that...you get the point. I am looking forward to getting this work meeting off to a good start tomorrow. Bring it on.

One-Layer Wednesday #7

While reading some crafty blogs today, I stopped by Jennifer McGuire's blog and saw that she'll be teaching 2 classes in the DC area in August. OMG, I immediately dug out my phone to reserved my spot. I think her work is amazing and her videos are quite informative and inspirational, so I'm suuuper (yes, 3 u's) excited about meeting her in person and taking her classes.

On to today's cards. I went to Simplicity by Lateblossom for her One-Layer Wednesday card challenge, and this week it featured repetition. I took a 3-"flower" stamp and used it in rows of different colors. I did 4 rows and stamped a sentiment and thought about adding more images to the card, but then decided it'd be overkill and stopped while the card still looked clean. Then I decided to make another card with the same stamp set. In retrospect, I should have chosen the colors more carefully because I think the card turned out darker than I would like it to be. I might revisit this card in the future with a brighter feel. P.S. OMG, my fingers are so stained tonight.
Card Specs (best wishes):
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Green, Blackberry, Yellow Ochre
Stamps: SEI- Moravia (flower, sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

Card Specs (i appreciate all that you have done):
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Prussian Blue, Charcoal, Deep Green, Creamy Brown, Maroon, Dark Peony
Stamps: SEI- Moravia (flower, leaves), Fiskars- Thank You (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

Have you noticed that my cards have more rounded corners ever since I got the We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper? One of the best tools ever.

Happy Times at Work

I made some coworkers happy today by bringing in some cookies. They get some cookies. I get cookies without having to eat the entire batch. Everybody wins. Now, who doesn't like a win-win situation?

My abstract got accepted as a poster presentation for a humongo national public health meeting this Fall. I wasn't sure what to expect when I submitted it, so now I'm pleasantly surprised. :D But enough about that. My goal is to make it through June 9 without wigging out. That's when our Annual Meeting is over and I can cross it off my to-do list.

On to today's cards. For the first card, I wanted to use some of the American Crafts paper that I bought on clearance recently. As the card assemblage went along, I decided that I wanted to have a pink, black and white theme, which was perfect because there was black and white paper in the pack. Then I thought that the pink might be too overpowering, so I decided to add a splash of light blue in the flower. With the second card, a discarded card base from this card last week was sitting near the printer and caught my attention. I did a similar overlapping thing with it, but since it's not a one-layer card, I allowed myself to use some cardstock and rhinestones to add some dimension.
Card Specs (celebrate):
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black, Bazzinks! in Petunia
Stamps: Inkadinkado (leaves), The Paper Company Studio- Whimsy Greetings (sentiment)
Foam Adhesive: EK Success
Brad: Making Memories Brad Value Pack- Chelsea's Place collection
Flower: Prima
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Paper: American Crafts- Metropolitan

Card Specs (miss you):
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackberry, Lavendar
Stamps: Basic Grey- Cup of Tea (teapot), Fiskars- Girlfriend (sentiment, flourishes)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Threading Waters border punch

Song of the day: "Chances"- Five For Fighting.