26 and rolling...

You know you missed me.

After seeing that the Büschelmännerhaus had posted 3 times in the past week, I realized that it was time to update the old blog. Lots of thing have happened since my last post, but I'll try to keep this short and focus on the highlights - and what the heck, I'll just skip forward to January 2010.

I got back from spending the holidays in Kansas and then jetted off to San Francisco to see my friend and former teammate, Ashley, who is in law school at Stanford. It was a quick trip, but it was just what I needed to get refreshed after being back at work for only 4 days. It was my first time in the Bay Area and I have to say, I loved seeing the Golden Gate Bridge...there's something about seeing landmarks in person that you have seen millions of times in pictures. We also visited Alcatraz and ate plenty of good food - including the West Coast trend: frozen yogurt. I didn't know that TCBY could be out done.

After getting back from San Fran - it was back to work. As my family knows, this is the "busy time"...and well, it lasts until August where I'll have my four weeks off...so I know it is worth it. In the past month and a half, I have schedule nearly 200 interviews to select the staff that will training the 550 new corps members at the Chicago institute. This year, certainly went much better than last year - so I do feel good about that!

In late January, I was in Tulsa for a quick team retreat - it was nice to get away from the Chicago winter for 48 hours....but then I headed back to Chicago and then to Madison for my 26th birthday. It was a great day - including free Einstein's bagels, balloons picked out by my nieces, pumpkin cheesecake, ice skating, BWWs, and a great KU basketball victory.

My boss gave birth to the newest member of the Chicago institute management team on Groundhog Day - so I (we) have been without an official boss...and will be so for the next couple of weeks. It has certainly been a test for our team - to make sure we are getting things done and holding each other accountable as we continue to shape what this year's Chicago institute will look like. It's been a learning experience and I will definitely be glad when my boss gets back!

My team getting ready for our first conference in Houston - our boss sent us a cookie bouquet!
L-R: Abigail, me, Demi, Nikki, and MaryAnn

I was able to spend a weekend in Madison and take part in the 4 annual Feuerzangenbowle there as well as have a girls (and boy) night w/ the Reddig kids as their parents headed off to winter ball. I'm currently considering a switch in careers having done a decent job with Katie's hair.

Aren't they cute?

I was then off to Houston for the first training conference for our institute staff...it was the first time we would meet the leaders of our institute - and it was a success! Looks like we are in the right place for a great summer, but there's a bunch of work that has to get done between now and my vacation in August!

Our institute's motto

This is how I decorated our tables - the "table tents" have our institute's goals listed on them...
and a shout out to the Madison party store that still had 2010 confetti!

The 2010 Chicago institute leadership team
aka my family during the months of June and July!