women's lib and other adventures...

I have been terrible when it comes to blogging lately and for that I apologize. It's been a busy couple of weeks.



This week, I traveled to Scottsdale for a women's leadership conference for women in the energy industry. If you are familiar with the energy industry, you probably know that it is heavily dominated by males. That's why I was so excited by the invitation to join a group of women from my company.



We stayed at the Fire Sky resort and it was heaven. They brought a goldfish named Mimo to my room, I had my own patio...popsicles at two...sangria at five...



But back to the conference. It was small in size ~100 women and a few fabulous men looking to understand women better. A few of my favorite things included learning how to change my context, negotiation workshops and a panel of successful women leaders (including a vp from my company!). What I learned was that I work for a progressive company and that gender equality in 2009 is still a huge issue. One of the most interesting discussions centered around off-ramping when women have children and the dilemma of on-ramping (often way behind their male counterparts). That's a discussion for another day though.



They structured a lot of down time in the conference so we had time to actually get to know some of our fellow attendees. It was a great time.



The flight back was pretty entertaining. 73 businessmen were on standby and a battle of ego ensued. They managed to get a lot of them on. After they boarded first class and platinum/gold passengers, there were about 5 of us left to board. Very humbling. Good thing I checked my bag - the plane was 95% male. The most unusual flight I've ever been on.



Today I took the day off and went bridesmaid dress shopping with Ashleigh, Stacey and Caitlin. It was a lot of fun.



This weekend will be filled with yard work and getting my dad's router and DSL set up at the nursing home. He got a special laptop for his wheelchair so he can talk to us no matter where he is at in the nursing home. He just needs the wireless router for internet access all over the nursing home. Fun stuff!

Eat dessert first.

I have been totally remiss on my posting lately. With good reason. Robert has had a short break from classes in between semesters and tonight he starts his summer session in the B-School. Getting those electives out of the way for graduation in December - yay!

To recap - we took a very quick trip to OKC over Memorial Day weekend on behalf of my 14-year-old sister. When we went to AZ for spring training, she missed the beginning of a concert tour in Dallas so it was only appropriate that we caught the end in OK. We stayed at the Renaissance on the edge of Bricktown which made walking to the concert venue easy. We were upgraded into a two bedroom, two bath suite which was very sweet. Not to mention the room service we indulged in.

I have this thing about trying the french toast at every hotel I stay in (I'm talking nice hotels). The version here was french toast bread pudding. I was intrigued but disappointed. Def not what I wanted for breakfast. Maybe someday I'll be able to give the sooner state another try at french toast but it won't be any time soon.

Back to the real story - Caitlin had a blast at the concert and so did Robert and I. It wasn't too crowded and the venue had air conditioning...sweet, sweet air conditioning. Caitlin caught a guitar pick too!

Sunday night of that weekend was Sprinkles night. We had the "Ashleigh" version of the key lime cupcakes - they rank up there on my top flavor list. She also made some really delish food that I need to recreate!

Monday was spent by the pool getting some sun and mentally preparing myself for Tuesday - the dreaded root canal. I was in pain the entire weekend and I was convinced that I would suffer so bad on Tuesday that I'd have to stay home from work. My preconceived notions were so far from true. I felt zero pain throughout the procedure and afterwards. I didn't need any pain killers - nothing. The next few days I just took Motrin but nothing...I repeat nothing...compares to the pain BEFORE the procedure. So there you have it, myth busted. Root canals are awesome.

Last weekend I had to work the go green home fair. I picked up some green home swag and spent the rest of the weekend napping. I haven't done that in a while so it was much needed.

This week has been great so far. I was selected to go to a women's leadership conference for my industry in a week or two in Scottsdale. My second trip there within a few months. AZ must be calling my name. Or maybe it's the Sprinkles next to my hotel...

Oh, and now that it's official, I can announce that Stacey and Russ are expecting a little one roughly two weeks before my big day! Congratulations! I cannot wait to meet baby Mensik - I have my fingers crossed for a Christmas delivery.