Life's Whirlwind Adventures

This isn't going to be your typical book review, first because it may happen in a couple of posts and second because I want to share with you the messages I have gotten from this book.  Again these are about my personal journeys and this is way for me to share with whomever wants to read it but also away for me to look back and reflect on what I have learned. Implementing Servant Leadership stories from the field  is by Don. M. Frick and is a compilation book about how a variety of companies implement servant leadership as their leadership model.  He uses examples from hospitals, to large construction companies, to neighbourhood coffee shops and churches.   In each it started with one person speaking to a group of people wanting to make a change so that things would be better for the company, it wasn't the necessarily about the bottom line but when a company is floundering trying anything is better than not trying at all.  In every story the company that embra...

For those of you that know me, you know that I am a big reader, like from way back!  I love books and even in fiction I can often find messages that I can apply to my own life.  If you aren't a huge reader, then maybe it will be hard for you to understand this, but maybe you use a different type of media to get messages to apply to your life, maybe it's music, maybe it's movies, television, reality television... everyone has something, books are my major venue for finding reasons and ideas to apply to my life. So here is how my journey began.... It was during a committee meeting that Servant Leadership was first officially introduced to me, I had seen certificates for it at work but I didn't know where it came from or what it meant, so I let it be. Then the COO began speaking to Servant Leadership, and something sparked in me.  I wanted to learn more, I wanted to explore more and become versed in this new idea... a new idea, so I asked for some reading material, an...

Does this ever happen to anyone else? You are go, go, go..... then all of a sudden, the motivation that was driving you to complete everything on your plate disappears.  Just vanishes, and try as you might you can't get back on track... from quotes buddy.com It's like your body, or mind, telling you to it's time to take a break, so that motivation that was propelling you forward takes a time out, and until you realize that you need to take a moment to figure things out, that motivation won't come back. So then it was time for me to take a break, from all things, and I did... I literally stopped posting blogs, photo uploads to my 52 week challenge, reading my books, even at work I was approaching things with a just get it done because there's a deadline, not because I wanted to complete them well.  I'm not super proud of this mental break, but it is what it is, and now it's time to put my thinking cap on and move forward. Because I don...

Calgary Zoo, twice in a week, my life is on an up swing.  I went the first time with the girls from work and it was fantastic, so I thought it would be a great trip to take with the boys.  Then I realized that I had been a neglectful mom and had never taken Lil Man to the zoo before, and I can't even understand how that happened. So Sunday after the family reunion we headed to the zoo with our cousins, Graham, Carla and their two girls!! There are so many sights to see at the Calgary Zoo, the newest exhibit is the Penguin exhibit.  Unfortunately, they closed down the Australia Exhibit (back in 2010) and that made me sad. I didn't exactly like the Australia exhibit, it was never my favorite but the kangaroos were neat and some of those night creatures were creepily intriguing.  Our first stop at the Zoo was the Penguins, it's right when you come in, so it makes it easy!! Those lil penguins are so darn cute.  The little tuxedo wearing acrobats! The rock ho...

The Schnell family is a very close family that enjoys holding family reunion events at least once a year if not twice a year, I am so blessed to have been brought into this family.  Just to be clear, this is my husbands maternal family and I really, and truly love them all. After all my gallivanting around the world, ok North and Central America, I came home in time to celebrate birthday's for two uncles.  So we had a mini family reunion the first weekend in May. And I got to drive my new car down too!!! For me family is so important, I love all my family and I cherish the time I get to spend with my family. It's not as frequent as I would like, but when we do it's always a good time.  So to all my family, new and old, blood and chosen, I am very grateful to have you in my life and I love you all!!!

So since taking a picture of the sun would have been cliche, I decided to find the next best thing.  A light bulb, no joking, but I did find some great plants that had some great sunlight shining on them, so those were my submissions for Week 20!! Also Lil Man playing at Sylvan Lake and the treacherous stairs that inflamed my sciatic nerve.

Good bye Explorer Remember back on Good Friday I told  you my car had been involved in a hit an run?  Maybe you do maybe you don't, anyways it was involved in a hit and run and then the insurance adjuster told me they were writing off my Explorer, there was just too much damage. I had an idea of a car I was going to get, it was just going to be a car to get me through until we had some more of our bills paid off.  I had looked at the north end car dealerships and had found a Kia at the Kia dealership.  It was a Forte and it looked ok, nothing fancy, but it seemed to have the added features I was looking for, but it wasn't a car I loved.... not by a long shot, but it would have done the trick. When we checked our mail upon our arrival home from Vegas there was a customer appreciation invitation for MGM for the following day.  The kicker was, if we bought a car that day we would get a free trip to Vegas!!! Now this may seem like a fantastic deal, and reall...

The day after the wedding, is always one of those anticlimactic type days.  All this anticipation for this big day has built up, the day comes it's wonderful and then it's over and now everyone involved in the wedding has to come up withs something else to look forward too. I suspect that's why after people get married they are bombarded with "So when you going to have a baby?" type questions. Hubby and I just sorta of hung out, we went back to Ross I had to get a couple more items, and I was looking for something for Chandler.  We hung out by the pool, said good bye to Nellie and Rhi because they were leaving that night.  Hubby and I contemplated hoping the plane early but it didn't work out so we just sort of did a little walking tour of the south end of the strip together. I really and truly enjoyed our trip together but I was so happy when we were boarding our plane to Calgary to head home!! I was done with vacations and I was ready to sleep in my own be...

The first day where my body seems to want to sleep in I had to be up early, as I had to head over to the Bellagio to get my hair done and start prepping for the wedding with my beautiful sister. All the bridesmaids met in Courtney's hotel room then we headed down to the salon so we could make our appointments.  Courtney got a manicure done and when she was finished we all had our hair styled.  Courtney looked absolutely stunning, she has the nicest ebony colour hair and it's long and they had a half up do done for her!! After the hair was all styled and pinned into place we headed up to Courtney's suite for the dress and make up portion of getting ready. After ordering some room service the girls began the process of doing make up and getting into our dresses.  It was fun and Courtney's other bridesmaids were great to hang out with, I knew Pam from before but this was the first time I had met Courtney's friend and sister in law Trinity.  She was very nice ...

So after a full twenty four hours in Vegas you would think we would have become accustomed to the various differences in time and various need for sleep.  But no, even though I was in bed by midnight, almost three hours past my regular bedtime (I know lame), I was up at the crack of dawn.  That wasn't even bad my hubby had only arrived back to the hotel at 4 in the morning, complaining that he hates this town because he got lost, and he was up and wide awake at 8 am.  I had laid awake for an hour, trying to will myself back to sleep which became a useless task. So let's begin this day!! Saturday wasn't as full as Friday was, catching the bus in Vegas is simple but it can be a little time consuming and they only allow 5 people in a cab, apparently that's a state law.  So Saturday morning we went shopping again, ok i went shopping and hubby begrudgingly followed me around.  We only walked a couple blocks down the strip to Ross so that I could buy some items I was...

Sleep what's sleep?? This is especially true in Vegas!! I was so tired when I finally fell asleep the day we arrived in Vegas yet, I was up at 7 like normal, and wide awake.  So I got up and headed down to the gym and did a workout. After that workout I met Adrian back in the room and we got ready to head out for the day.  First stop.... OUTLET shopping!!!  Where i bought almost nothing, seriously, I bought nothing!! My husband on the other hand bought tons and tons of stuff!! Ok maybe not tons and tons, but he did buy a significant amount of things.  Well ok he just spent more money than I did. After wearing our shoes out at the outlet mall we headed off to the pool at the Wet Bar in MGM.  It was an experience, but it was a lot of fun!! There was music and a pool and table and lot of booze!!  I think it was a pretty expensive afternoon, but the boys from the wedding party were winning and spending their money as fast as they won it.  No wonder no on...