Way behind on blogging!!

Hello,

Just got back into Colorado last night. Obviously, I did an extremely awful job of updating my blog along the way. I wish there had been time but there just wasn't! Over the next few days, I will update and get pictures up. Thanks for reading!

And so it begins...

Today was the first day of training. It was a lot of paperwork and picking up everything you needed, which includes an 8-pack of Mr. Sketch smelly markers! I know... if markers get me excited I probably won't even be able to handle the inauguration!  It was only a half-day of training, so it wasn't too bad. It felt a lot like college orientation. No one knows where to go, you meet so many people in one day that it's impossible to remember names or life stories. I have met a lot of great people and the roommate situation is good. Most people have done some sort of conference with Envision before or were participants themselves back in the day, so I am one of the few that has no prior connections to the organization. We got our schedules for the week. It is jam-packed! They got some amazing speakers: Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lisa Ling, Colin Powell, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Al Gore and Erik Weihenmayer (first blind person to climb Everest).

Tomorrow is a full of training and I am trying to get as much sleep as possible before the scholars come in (we aren't allowed to call them kids), so that's all for tonight! 

Jen

Across the Midwest to the East Coast

Hello Again,

I'm here!! Here being Chevy Chase, Maryland where I will be spending the next three days training for the conference. It took three whole days, 30 hours of driving and a tour of nine states to say "I'm here" but I made it! 

I took off with Jen and her black lab, Loki, on Saturday at 4:00 a.m. It was a good three hours after we left that I would say I was a pleasant person. I don't do mornings well! We followed Jen's mom and sister the first day. Jen's sister, Kate, was going back to school in Memphis, so it was fun having a convoy. After driving almost 15 hours, we spent the night with the Ingraham's/Wood's relatives in St. Louis. Very nice people who sure know how to cook!

The next day, Jen and I went north through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio while Kate and Mrs. Ingraham went on to Memphis. After looking at our route, I realized that it was an hour off our route to my grandparents' in Belpre, Ohio. After making a quick call, we made arrangements to stay with them on Sunday night. Since I hadn't seen them in almost three years, it was such a wonderful stop! 

We had about a six-hour drive from Belpre to Stafford, Virginia, which is where Jen and Chris will be living. Even though West Virginia is such a small state, our route took us through the absolute back country roads, which took forever! I haven't seen the movie but Jen compared it to Deliverance. I was almost as excited to leave West Virginia as I am when I leave Kansas. Almost... We were so happy to make it Jen and Chris' new apartment. I think we had all reached our traveling limits and the car was starting to get that funky road trip smell that I can only imagine is the combination of Doritos and socks. Loki was quite the trooper of a dog. I think he handled the trip better than I did, actually! Despite the length of the trip, it was a very good trip with no problems and it went surprisingly fast. I am hoping that doesn't mean my flight back to Denver is going to be filled with the problems. 

Since their furniture won't be delivered until Friday, Jen and I spent the night on their apartment floor, eating frozen pizza and watching Sex and the City on their portable TV. There were no alarm clocks set this morning! 

Jen and I ate lunch at a Greek/Italian restaurant in Chevy Chase before she dropped me off. AMAZING food! It was just a random place that we happened to find but those are always the best places when traveling! 

I am now at the National 4-H Center for training. To give you an idea of what a naive city girl I am, when I heard 4-H, I was picturing staying in  barn-like dorms with bunk beds where horses and other farm critters roam around outside. Fortunately, I was totally wrong. The facility is gorgeous and I am staying in a room that is essentially a hotel room. I will have a roommate but I don't think she gets here until tomorrow. 

Since training doesn't start until tomorrow, I am just relaxing for now. A nap is sounding delightful! Sorry, no pictures yet but I don't think anyone really wants or needs pictures of the desolate Kansas roads. I will try to get some pictures of the Maryland area because it's beautiful! I love the East Coast houses. Much different than the cookie cutter houses of Highlands Ranch. 

Sorry I don't have any cool inauguration details yet but it's coming! Thanks for reading. I will update soon. 

Jen

So, what is Jen doing?

Hello Everyone,

I thought 2008 was a crazy year for me but 2009 is already proving to be quite eventful. In the one week that it has been 2009, I have quit my temporary job at the construction company, moved in to an apartment with my best friend from elementary school, who I recently "re-found" at church after 10+ years of not seeing each other and in less than 48 hours, I will be taking off for what will undoubtedly be the experience of a lifetime...the inauguration of the first black president. 

For those of you who don't know what I'm doing, keep reading. For everyone else who has heard me describe what I am doing for the 20th time, feel free to skip!

I got a one-week job as a Faculty Advisor through an organization called Envision, which is based in Washington D.C. There are three conferences being held for high-achieving youth scholars, one for middle schoolers, one for high schoolers and one for college students. Between the three conferences, there will be 15,000 youth coming to D.C. I will be in charge of a group of 16-32 high schoolers. I will be doing some teaching and facilitating debates and discussions with them. We will be attending several speeches. The last I heard Colin Powell and Al Gore will definitely be speaking. We will also be touring D.C, going to Obama's inauguration and attending the inaugural parade! We will have private access to the Smithsonian and the conference wraps up with an inaugural ball for the students. There are many more details of the trip but I will write about them as they are happening. 

I had to pay for my transportation to and from D.C. but they are putting all of us up in hotels, transporting us around the city and feeding us for the duration of the conference. Plus, I get paid on top of that!

I know...next question...how did she find out about this!? In short, being a dork finally paid off! I received an e-mail from one of the honor societies that I was in at CSU about the opportunity back in September. I almost deleted the e-mail since I am no longer in college (sad but true). However, they were looking for alumni of my honor society and after reading the description, I was thinking, why not try? My temporary job will be over by then and it seems like a lot of fun. I sent in my resume, they did a phone interview with me and a few hours later they sent me an e-mail saying I had the job as long as the background check and references checked out. (This would be a really depressing blog if they didn't check out!)

So after three long months of waiting, it is finally here! Since my life is currently about the weird way things work out, I will be driving out to D.C. with my friend, Jen, who happened to be moving to Virginia right now to  be with her husband who is in the Marines. It will be a 26-hour drive across the most boring parts of the country. I hate Kansas by the way. If anyone has ideas for road trip games, let me know!

Here is my basic schedule:

Jan 10-12 - driving

Jan 13-16 - training for conference

Jan 17-22 - the conference

Jan 23-25 - fun time in D.C.

I decided to stay an extra few days after the conference to have fun and see some East Coast friends. 

Right now, I have the excitement that a kid must have of having Christmas morning, a birthday and a cotton candy high all at the same time!!

I still have a million things to do and I am quickly running out of time to do them all!

I will try to keep my blog updated as much as possible but I will be working 18-hour days, so I make no promises! If nothing else, I will update the whole thing when I get back. In the meantime, look for me on TV at the inauguration! Regardless of political affiliation, this is an historic event of a lifetime. 

Love, 

Jen