NW Mid-singles Conference...Memorial Day Weekend

Ah, it's good to be back online and posting for all the world to see. Or at least a few select people.

I registered for a mid-singles conference (between 28 and 45 year olds) in Seattle (well, Bellevue, WA) for Memorial Day weekend. I couldn't find anyone to go with me from my stake, so I sent out the S-O-S and got a few hits. This though, would mean that strangers would be riding up and sharing a hotel room for a stressful weekend. For the remainder of this post, this phenomenon will be called "stranger danger". yes, when planning an event - words to the wise - don't do it with STRANGERS. You just don't know what you're getting for your buck.
Well, it wasn't all bad, as soon in this pic.

L-R Jenny, Kristine, Cherish and Me, Sharona

J-31, student, K- 40, PhD, Cherish- single working mom of 3 and recently active,

Me, normal, lol...j/k!

The conference was good the first night. We had a catered dinner with fabulous food. I also think it was the night with the most attendees. I guess spending the entire weekend was too much for some. But, it was nice. Speed dating - for any of you who might EVER need it in the future, is kind of nice because you are not trapped into talking to any one person for too long. Plus, you get to talk to people who you would never talk to if it weren't for this opportunity. It was a good way to break the ice with a lot of guys. Only problem was: 400 attendees, 70 men. yeah, so we'd talked and laughed about the m to FM ratio on the way up in Oklahoma, Huntington Beach and other areas around the US but we never thought we'd blow them out of the water! There are so many singles in our age category but it seems they just aren't coming out. They are all over the place, online, in our wards, etc. Whatever...

Cherish is working on her temple recommend and while the rest of us could attend, as she was dropping us off, she reminded us of how jealous she was and that made me re-recognize the blessing of having a recommend. Maybe I take it for granted sometimes and there is NOTHING to be taken for granted.

We met some other folks - Sarah and Clark to be speicifc. I fell in love with Sarah. She's 29, divorced, took a 60% pay cut to be home with her daughter but still makes enough to manage to do fine. She's brilliant and won't be making that little for very long. She will excel quickly. Clark and she are probably dating now. They make an awesome couple.

Sarah and Clark

More later...

ItIt's the Middle of May ALREADY!

I'm a little overwhelemed with life. I have a lot to do and enough time to do the important things - like, keep my job performance up and eat healthy, or at least pretend to.

I have been putting off yard work and so I said to self "Self, get 'er done, tonight, no excuses." And so I began the process. hauled out the lawn mower, weed wacker, edger, extension cord, two buckets, the dandlion weeder thingy, the shovel, and a spade. It was like a garage in the front yard, I swear. I have so much grass...ok, not like acres and acres or anything but enough that in just the front yard and little tiny strip along the driveway, I had to empty the bag like 5 times.

You won't believe that while I was working, a kid (36 year old drunk, recovering from drugs, smoker dude) from church saw me sitting weeding, pulled over and helped me for two hours. We got soooo much done. He really is a sweetheart and honest. He said Sharon, I can either be here helping you or go home and get systematically drunk. I said, hey, stay as long as you like.

For work, we've been challenged to meet and greet at least 20 community folks and I am getting ready for my golf tournament. I've been meeting lots of very cool people and am speaking at several service clubs in the next little bit. We are looking for a chairman and some other folks. We are also planning on doing a commissioner search by taking a look at folks who have volunteered over the last 5 years and who have dropped off - they are candidates.

Alright, I want to post a cool flyer but I dont' know how. I have Till. Roundtable tomorrow and then EV Camporee this weekend. I'm teaching RS on Sunday, have our annual pack planning on Sunday at 1 and a Singles rep committee meeting at 5 PM. I am overwhelmed. one step at a time or one bite at a time or whatever. One check mark at a time. And I KNEW this job wasn't family friendly when I took it.

Ok, gotta go. Report later.