Speaker Mania!

It's been a wild, crazy week in my world. Wonderful, but a little crazy nonetheless. It started with last Friday night, when Shannon last minute won twelve... count em, twelve... tickets to the Dierks Bentley/Gary Allan concert at Red Rocks. It was purely absurd, and we had a matter of hours to scrape together twelve people who could go up there that evening for the concert. It was so much fun, although purely exhausting. It rained a large portion of the concert, and Red Rocks is the only concert site in the world where rain almost makes it cooler. We had a blast.

The next day, I took Shannon's hung over ass downtown for Taste of Colorado. We met up with Darren and Laura, Chris and Courtney and walked around in the beautiful sun and heat for a while, although we burned out quite quickly because of the stale August heat.

On Sunday, the CAMPUSPEAKer madness began. Speakers are taking Denver by storm right now, and I love it! Elaine Penn, one of our fabulous speakers on the issues of wellness, leadership, and diversity, was in town at Johnson and Wales. I met up with Maggie to head over there to see her speak, and when we got there were were bummed to find that Elaine was horribly ill, and since a large portion of her presentation utilizes singing, this was a bit of a concern. At the last minute, though, J&W lost power due to a thunderstorm, and they had to reschedule Elaine. So she will come back in a few weeks. We did have a great dinner and conversation with Elaine afterward- she's a very cool person.

Monday was Labor Day, and so we were out of the office. I spent most of the afternoon and evening at my friend Erin Weed's house (see top photo). Erin is a speaker, as well, and is an Alpha Phi. She and her husband Peter recently moved to Denver from New Jersey and it's great to have them out here. Parties at Weed's crib often lead to things like flip cup tournaments, which are always intensely competitive and wildly fun. Good times. :)

Then on Tuesday, rocking speaker Randi Driscoll was in town at Johnson & Wales as well. She put on a concert in a coffee shop on campus, and we went out for a few drinks afterward. Randi is a sweetheart and an incredibly talented musician, so if you're looking to check out some new music, you can find her on itunes. Even more cool, she dedicated my favorite song to me, "Breathe". Definitely check it out- you won't regret it! (See me and Randi in the photo above.)

On Wednesday, sexual assault speakers Kelly & Becca came to town. Kelly & Becca are some great friends of mine, and it's always so fun to see them. This time, though, I only got to see them present and I came home and collapsed for a couple of days with a rough case of bronchitis and a sinus infection. Awesome! I was so sad I didn't get to see much of Kelly & Becca, cause they rock the house.

And here I am. Saturday and still on the couch wheezing and drugging up. Hopefully the bird flu is on its way out, though, because things are jumping at CAMPUSPEAK right now, and I hate being out of the office. Speaker Ross Szabo is in town next week and Mari Ann Callais is here the first week of October, so that's what's on the agenda in the future. Good times ahead.

Also, super excited because my AFA trip to Cincinnati looks like it's going to luckily coincide with my family's Thanksgiving trip to Columbus. So I will get to see the Butler fam! Can't wait. :)

Birthday Fun

On Thursday, August 30, I turned 25 years old. I started my day with a venture to the Colorado DMV to get a new driver's license made, since my old Virginia one expired on August 31. I still had the 'under 21' license, the one that is vertical and has your birthday in red type. I am bummed to give it up, though, because I really liked my picture and I have a hunch that the new pic isn't going to be quite so good. At any rate, I got to the DMV at 7:30 and was the second person in the door when they opened at 8, so it was a quick trip, thankfully. I hate the DMV.

Then I headed in to work, where my office had been decorated with lots of streamers and balloons. The fun folks of my office were very good to me and we had a nice day. I heard from so many of our speakers, also, with birthday wishes, and several of them sang to me as well, which made me quite happy. I have some great friends. :) It was super busy, too, and the phones were ringing off the hook, which is good! Then we closed the office down at 3pm and went on an office bowling venture! We hit up the Brunswick Zone for a couple of super competitive games... or at least, competitive for those folks who are bowling savvy. Which is not me. Darren wound up clenching the office title of bowling champion, but only by two pins over T.J. It was close and while I won't elaborate, let me just tell you that there were some painfully uncomfortable bets on the line.

After bowling, we did some dinner at the Texas Road House. There were lots of appetizers and beers, and I had a phatty steak, which makes me quite happy. Darci came out, as well as my long-lost sorority sister Becca, who I recently discovered to live in Denver.

'Twas a good birthday, and it's over for another year. Whew. And now, sadly, summer is drawing to a close. It even snowed a few nights ago in the mountains. And that, I am NOT ready for.

(Photos: Me and my buddy Vance, our Programs intern; Christopher and me on the bowling venture- best hugs ever!; my fellow lunchers, Courtney "Runs" Barstad and Darren "Lunchbox" Roth. We're tight, we're like a mob. Or a gang. Watch for us on the road, coming soon with our new educational program, "Hold my hair, pull my finger: A Discussion on Destructive Habits and IBS.")