Stage Fright

Part of my job includes writing speeches for a member of my company's C-suite. So ... y'know ... just a little pressure. But, the challenge can be exhilarating. 

Today, to help me and my peers become even better speech writers, we were given the opportunity to practice reading off a teleprompter and walking across the stage so that we could better understand the experience our speakers have when delivering their speeches. 

Ah, reading a prompter and trying to look out at the audience ... it is tough stuff. Especially when they decided to throw in some tough words like accretal to keep us on our toes. Of course, there was the added pressure of my peers watching me, so I felt like I needed to deliver the words strongly and with emotion. (And of course, they were all great, so it was important to try to at least at minimum be on par.) 

Of course, I know I pronounced one word hugely incorrectly ... but alas, no one decided to call me out on it, so I can hope they all forgot or were to focused on other things.

But I'm grateful I got the experience to see what it was like and it helped me understand how to better write for executive. How to use spacing for emphasis and to give their eyes a break. It also reinforced that I much prefer to be the behind-the-scenes person writing the inspiring words ... not the one delivering them to crowds of 15,000. 

Cheers to personal growth and development!

Hump Day

I just finished Sheryl Sandberg's book Lean In. It was a good read, a quick read. But very motivational. I found myself nodding in agreement with the things Sheryl said, like about the right way to have mentors. (Not a formal cold exchange, but in the moment, gleaning expertise.)

She also provided some thoughtful tips and advice on ways to make sure you own your success and move yourself forward. Before I read it, I had wrongly assumed it would be this tome that would have me shaking my head and saying, "well, that works in your situation." But it was highly relatable on most levels and written in a light converational tone. A reccommend for anyone looking for how to navigate the corporate world and help businesses succeed.

I hope to keep her sage words in the back of my head daily as inspiration.

First Day of School

Today was K's first day of second grade. Last night he was so excited he had a hard time falling asleep. But this morning, he work up ready to go.

I have the flexibility of being able to work from home when needed, and so today I took up that option so I could send my boy off in a grand affair. His favorite breakfast is buckwheat pancakes. I love this, because buckwheat pancakes were my favorite as a kid. I have a very simple GF recipe for buckwheat pancakes (because surprisingly, buckwheat is not actually what). So I whipped up a batch of special pancakes to start his day off right.

Then it was time to drop him off. We live less than a mile away from the school and have opted to drive K to and from school. If he rode the bus, his commute would be like mine: unnecessarily long. So, we braced ourselves for what we knew would be a busy parking lot and dropped our little man off. I actually had nerves in my stomach as I watched him walk off.

We returned home, and I worked through emails and got sporadic interruptions from O and D and then it was time to pick him up.The only mix-up of the day, the school system had him noted as a bus rider. Which I find odd since he's never ridden on the bus. However, since he's a big second grader, I guess they trusted that he would know how he was supposed to get home and they let him going during parent pick up.

He shared how his day went, that it was really great day and he liked his teacher. He even shared that there was a new kid in his class an he helped show him around (totally proud parent moment and we let him know how wonderful it was that he did that.)

While he's sad that his two best buds aren't in his class, he still gets to play with them at recess and see one of them at soccer ... and I think he realizes he will be able to widen his friend network, too.

Having kids in school makes time fly by so much faster ... it's a good reminder to cherish every moment you can with your babies!

It's Beginning to Smell Like Pumpkin

To me, the perfect food is pumpkin. Followed closely by ginger. I think one of the reasons I enjoy pumpkin so much is that I only really have it September through November. So, it's a limited time only type of treat. There's something so rich and luscious about pumpkin. It's velvety complexity, it's brightness ... it's automatic connection to my favorite season: autumn.

Today was a crisp cool day. Like a sneak peek to autumn. In fact, when I went out for my morning run in capris and a tank ... I almost turned around. (And based on what every other runner was wearing ... I was definitely under-dressed.) The coolness of the air gave me goosebumps, but in a good way. In a way that said orchard season, warm drinks and sweaters are just on the horizon. Of course, it's Minnesota, so we'll have a few more heat waves that will be sprinkled here and there ... but nothing makes me so happy as leaves changing color and the scent of spice in the air.

The boys and I made a quick trip to a local shopping area to get K some new pants for school. There was Williams-Sonoma, and of course in the window display was their pumpkin bread. I told D I wanted to hop in and see if they had a GF version. They did. I bought two bags.

I baked one this afternoon. And now I have promptly ate too much of it. But yum. Of course, I just need to find a good recipe that I can adapt, because while I will buy a bag or two, it's a bit pricey and I have a fantastic GF gingerbread recipe made with almond flour that is absolutely amazing. But I don't start baking that until December!

The other discover on our little jaunt: Whole Foods. It may be hard to believe, but it was D and my first trip to a Whole Foods. We love grocery shopping, but until recently the only locations were in Minneapolis and St. Paul ... and it was hard to justify driving to them. Since we didn't realize this location was open, we weren't prepared to do any serious grocery shopping ... but we did take a self-tour of the place and picked up a few items that I usually have to pay for at the co-op (and a much heftier price) and we found our beloved St. Croix coconut water that our Target has stopped carrying ... and it was cheaper than what Target charges. So we got two 12-packs.

It's great to know that we now have a grocery store where we can get a little more gourmet healthy options and some harder to find things. Alas, it's still a 20-minute drive away. If only they would open one up on the North or Northeast side of the suburbs!

Whoa, September!

September is the beginning of my favorite season.I kicked it off with a special pumpkin Chai latte from the coffee shop. But, upon looking at the family's calendar for September ... we have our work cut out for us. I think this may be the only day we don't something scheduled.

My finger, which is still swollen has gotten better. But I can't put any weight on the hand, which means no sweat yoga until I can. Argh, oh, well. I am still running ... I just splint it before I go. A girl's got to do something when she has a 5K each month,right?

Today's big adventure ... in search of bunk bed. We're not sure which boy will get it yet ... but D just really wants one of them to have one. I've finally broken down and decided it's fine. I'm leaning toward K since he will be the one to have possible sleepovers way before O will. Either way, we think we found one that we liked that was modern enough and won't break the bank. Now to search for the right mattresses before we commit. Oh, the joy have having kids and needing to grow up their furniture.

I'd say for the  month of September I would like to try to blog every day. We'll see. It might be tough, especially until my finger is back to normal.  Here's to all the autumnal treats in my future,