Conference Fun

I'm so jazzed up... got into a spot in the She Speaks Conference, sponsored by Proverbs 31 Ministries. I saw it a year ago on their website, but when I checked again the site reported that the conference was full. Lo and behold, spots open up on the waiting list and I got in!! I'm taking the writer's track so I can learn how to write for magazines... my goal is to be published in a Christian women's magazine in the next year.

Jas has been incredibly encouraging about me going, despite the cost and the fact that it may take away from our vacation time together... I'm very fortunate that he's been supporting me in my effort in the last two years to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. This conference is one small step towards doing the things I want to do as opposed to baking in a cubicle all day.

I'm excited to see what God has in store for me at the conference....

As a side note, one of my favorite verses in the Bible is from Proverbs 31. I wrote it on a post-it when I first started my job a year ago to give me perspective through the difficult days:

"She is clothed in strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come." - Proverbs 31:25

Almost Sliced Bread

I know this site isn't new to most of you, but I am in love with CraigsList.com. We had our first experience with Craig's List when we put the Jeep Wrangler up for sale a few months back. Well I'll be darned if we didn't have 11 people call us within the first several hours of the posting. The second guy bought it for nearly asking price.

So now I'm on to scouring the classified ads site for lanai (patio) furniture and a picnic table. The joy of Craig's List is its simplicity and free posting status. Yeah, there's lots of junk, but I've never let that deter me from a good resale shop or flea market.

Don't get me wrong; I still have affection for eBay. Craig's List has just captured my fickle little heart for the time being.

Welcome Spring! .... Oh, Nevermind.

We had about 16 hours of Spring and then *poof* right into Summer. Some of you may dislike me intensely for saying this, but I do miss seeing the emergence of green shoots and Spring flowers after a long winter. Not that I long for the 6 months of cold and snow beforehand.

Jas and I have been out and about lately. About a month ago we took a mini-vacation to the land of the mouse, Orlando. One of my favorite bands, Third Day, was playing at the House of Blues. It was a fantastic concert and we both burned about 500 calories jumping around and waving our hands in the air. The second night that we were there, we had the opportunity to snag the last 2 tickets to Cirque de Soleil. It was amazing!

We were able to easily resist the Mouse activities mainly through sticker shock. It seems that families either have to use their home equity or their children's college funds to vacation in Orlando.

Otherwise, we're gearing up for attending a couple of weddings this summer. We already went to a beautiful one for our friends Kelly and Daniel at the Ybor City Museum.

I took a day of vacation last week and headed to the beach. I still can't believe the beach is a mere 20 miles away, as opposed to 1,000. It's a very odd feeling for a native, land-lubber Illinoisan to take one day off (as opposed to seven) and find myself with sand between my toes. One of my favorite beaches here is the relatively undeveloped Honeymoon Island.

Jas has been travelling quite a bit this month - to Chicago, Boston and Texas. His Texas adventure is at a hunting ranch that can't be located on Mapquest. (It's a sales meeting/good ol' boy retreat. I'm very, very frightened. I told Jas to run the other direction if he sees an orange hunting vest in the wild.)

So that's our lives in a nutshell here recently. Love to ya'll (as they say in Texas.)