7QTs on Coffee Trends, Cat Feast Days, & Snow Cone Trucks

--- 1 ---

Did you know that there's a new trend in coffee and it's called adding BUTTER to it? Right? What!? I'm so confused. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this...

It's called Bulletproof Coffee and it was created by this dude after he climbed mountains in Tibet. Apparently it can help you lose weight? It's all about the type of butter you use. Who knew, right? I'm not sure if I'm going to hop on this trendy bandwagon, but I'd be interested to try it. Anyone want to go in on some grass-fed butter with me?

--- 2 ---

So, I ordered a case for my ukulele. Because I want to be able to take it places and have it protected, right? Not only did the thing come in a GIANT box (thank you, Amazon), but there was a ukulele INSIDE of the case! So now, I have two ukulele's. And it is extremely unnecessary.

This is what they sent me.
Image via.

I decided to play said second ukulele, and it turns out it's really nice. Like really nice. Like Amazon made a mistake and sent me the wrong product nice. So now I'm in love with the new ukulele, but alas, I have to return it because I'm pretty sure they made a mistake and I'm also pretty sure keeping it would be stealing.

--- 3 ---

In other news, my 2008 Macbook died when I got back from training. The screen putters in and out, is excessively slow, and is almost dead. After a lot of deliberating & soul searching, I have decided to purchase a MacBook Air. I got it Wednesday night and it is SO EXCITING! I went with the 13-inch basic 128GBs, but when I went to migrate my files from my old computer to the new one, it was going to take up 98GBs. So I've decided I definitely do not need any of my papers from college...but the main question is what do I do with my pictures? Do I store them on google? Dropbox? Some other fancy application!?

--- 4 ---

Stubenville of the Rockies is this weekend and it is going to be way fun. I am chaperoning for my parish and I get to spend the weekend with 32 of our highschoolers, 3 of them being members of my discipleship group. I am so excited for this on so many different levels - for my own spiritual refreshment, for the kids to encounter Christ, and from a professional standpoint.

--- 5 ---

Speaking of professional things...I got a (quasi) promotion! Well, it's more like a title change. I am now a SENIOR Event Specialist for FOCUS & it is pretty much the most exciting thing ever. Because I get to change my email signature, LinkedIn profile, and NEW BUSINESS CARDS.

--- 6 ---

Monday was St. Kateri's feast day. And since I don't know my cat's birthday, I dubbed Monday as her feast day/birthday!

My roommates finance suggested we have a procession, but since cats don't do stuff like that, I just gave her a few extra treats.

--- 7 ---

Since I've posted almost nothing about the actual happenings of NST on here, please enjoy this candid photograph from Snow Cone Day.

Please note the PURE JOY on Carol's face and the dysfunction on mine. This picture is everything.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

7QTs on NST because the Event is 8 Days Away & I Can't Think Of Anything Else

--- 1 ---

WHEW this week has been BUSY. And so was last week. We are 8 days away from the leadership heading down to Summer Training, and I'm 15 days away from going there myself. I keep forgetting that an event that I'm planning for July 4 does NOT need to be finalized by the time I leave. So I keep having to tell myself to relax a little.

--- 2 ---

For some reason, I didn't process how busy and crazy we would be the few weeks leading up to NST. I was really mentally prepared for SLS, but not so much this time. Hence the blog slacking and the fact that all I can think about is summer training. Sorry, friends. Bear with me.

--- 3 ---

However, I am getting really excited for NST. I think our team has done a great job of planning, and I'm really excited to see our event managers schedule play out. We have two new teammates (!!!!!!) who will be helping out, and our committee heads are the BOMB. So it's going to be a legit summer.

--- 4 ---

Part of my job has been to plan the weekend events and "random fun" that's been added in throughout the summer. Guys, I can't wait! I'm hoping the staff will really buy into the games and themes to add excitement to their busy, busy days at training. 

--- 5 ---

Sure, I'm excited to see this event come together, but I'm really excited to see my friends. NST is like a big homecoming for all the missionaries. It's a time to step back, reconnect, and get ready for the coming year. Oh, it is challenging as all get out, but I think I have a better mindset going into the event this yet!

--- 6 ---

I fell in love with google docs when I was the Director of Special Events for Delta Gamma, but I think my love affair has grown to a strange level now that I'm an event planner. I have over twenty New Staff Training documents and I may or may not have made google docs for my family to plan our upcoming vacation.

--- 7 ---

I don't know what else to say, so you should check out the newly redone Camp Tecumseh website. It's awesome.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

7QTs on Jim Gaffigan at SEEK & NST

--- 1 ---

So, this was announced on Tuesday:

People were pretty excited. Heck, our whole team is pretty excited! I think my favorite reaction was this:

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.

We had like 10 people sign up within three hours of the announcement. Which is so great! We're bringing Gaffigan so more people will come. You should probably come, too.

--- 2 ---

Also, when you search the #SEEK2015 hashtag on twitter, it seems that people who are not in college really want to come to SEEK, and think that they can't.

Good news, people. You do not have to be a college student to come to SEEK. It's for everyone! If you want to know more about the Catholic faith, want to deepen your faith, and are at least a senior in high school, SEEK is for you. Registration is open at www.seek2015.com, so go check it out. And register now, because there are some legit contests going on.

--- 3 ---

Jen's book, Something Other Than God (or SOTG), came out on Tuesday! Hooray! You can buy it on amazon & enter in her amazing contests. I need to remember to buy my copy!!

UPDATE one minute after publishing - I just bought my copy! 

--- 4 ---

Remember how I gave up TV for let? It was a really good life choice...except now I want to watch everything nonstop so I can get caught up. Ugh.

--- 5 ---

The theme of my week at work has been CARNIVAL!! We're having a welcome carnival to kick off summer training and it is going to be SO FUN. A few of the FOCUS execs have agreed to sit in a dunk tank for a bit. It is going to be legit. The main thing I have learned from this carnival endeavor is that photo booths are expensive. 

--- 6 ---

Last week 4/5 of my team finished reading Divergent. In the back of the book, there is a quiz that you can take that will place you into your faction. Christine & I made everyone take it at the Fort Myers Airport, even if they didn't read the book. We declared our layover in Indianapolis "Choosing Day." Hilarious. Christine & Christina have now both watched the movie as well, and they engaged in quite the passionate discussion about the differences between the two this morning. Christina just said, "I don't want to work! I want to talk about Divergent! Yes, we are all working adults and we are obsessed with this YA book. #notashamed

I just got my hands on Insurgent and Allegiant, so I'm looking forward to some quality reading time this weekend.

--- 7 ---

We are 22 days out from week 0 of NST, and I am 28 out from heading down to Ave for a month. The worst part of NST is packing for it. How do you even pack business casual for a whole month!? I know I did this the past two summers, but the task seems so daunting. I think I need to start planning my packing strategy now so I don't go insane.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

May Goal: GET MY ROOM CLEAN

Remember how I moved in the middle of February? Time to be honest: my room still looks like this: 

I can't believe I'm posting this on the internet. *shudder*

It's awful. I hate it. But I somehow can't seem to find the motivation to clean it. 

So here's where you come in, internet! Hopefully posting my shameful, messy room for all of you to see will help me accomplish my May Goal. 

This month, I don't have habitual goals - I have one goal. My room will be clean by May 29. No questions asked. Oh, and that includes getting the things that are still in my car inside the house and putting them away.

I head down to Florida for four weeks on May 30, and the only thing worse than being in Florida for four weeks would be coming back to this hot mess of a room. 

So, here's to May and finally getting my room cleaned.

Hey, Michelle! If you get your room cleaned sooner rather than later, you can probably go to Ikea and buy those cute organizational things you want for your room. #motivation.

7QTs on Traveling to 10 Cities in 8 Days

If you were to count airports, I was in 10 different cities these past 8 days. Woof. Please enjoy the following quick takes that chronicle my cross country journey this week.

--- 1 ---

City #1: Leawood, Kansas. My whole family was home for a hot second with enough time to go to lunch on Saturday. It was great to be back Friday & Saturday afternoon to spend time with those that were home. I didn't do much, so it was a nice, relaxing way to start this cross country adventure.

--- 2 ---

City #2: Kansas City, Missouri. Megan, a friend from Drake, lives in town, so I got to spend a bit of time with her Friday night. Also, she's watching my cat before my allergic roommate moves out, so that was fun.

--- 3 ---

City #2: Lincoln, Nebraska. Read about this trip in more detail here. This trip was filled with ALL THE NOSTALGIA. It was great.

City #3: Omaha, Nebraska. AIRPORT.

City #4: Chicago, Illinois. AIRPORT & being reunited with Carol!

--- 4 ---

City #5: Nashville, Tennessee. SEEK 2015 is a mere 8.5 months away. Crazy. I am so glad I was finally able to see the space so I could stop picturing the Hyatt in Dallas for this event. The Gaylord Opry is HUGE and has three giant gardens indoors. It's amazing. I could start to picture what it would look like with 8,000 college students bustling through there. Our CSM, Banquet Manager, & Sales Manager were great - it is always nice to have a face to all the emails you're getting.

The best part was spending time in the exhibit hall with EideCom, our production company, and the marketing team brainstorming ways to implement the theme and the feel into the set and the space. I am so excited to keep working on it and to see what happens when it comes together. #whatmovesyou

Something I don't think I'll ever get quite used to as a meeting planner is the VIP status the hotels treat you with. When we check in at the Gaylord, they took us into a room called Celebrity Services. What!? I am not a celebrity. Regardless, it's fun to be treated well every now and then, even though it can get awkward when they discover our whole team is under 30.

City #6: Atlanta, Georgia: AIRPORT.

City #7: Ft. Myers, Florida: AIRPORT.

--- 5 ---

City #8: Ave Maria, Florida. We returned to the tiny, tiny town near Naples to prepare for New Staff Training (NST). Not only was the trip fun, it was essential to the success of NST. For the first time we had the Event Managers (the events team), the Collegiate Outreach Representative, Formation, the Committee Heads, and Ave Maria together in one place to talk about NST. We toured, we planned, and we had a lot of meetings. But mainly, we had epic golf cart races from Queen Mary's Pub back to Xavier Hall. Brian, Cait, & I totally beat Christina, JP, & Mark. This team is great, and I think we are going to ROCK NST2014.

--- 6 ---

City #9: Indianapolis, Indiana: AIRPORT. When we got off the plane I mentioned to Christine that every single time I've been in this airport the last few years I've run into someone I know. To which she responded, "well, today is the day that will change." Such a naysayer. Approximately 10 minutes later we were waiting for our lunch and Paige, a former camper of mine strolled by. I had her in Teton in 2011 when she was a baby sophomore. Now she's 18 and graduating in 19 days! I'm old.

Paige is Mt. Wister in this picture.

City #10: Denver, Colorado: HOME.

--- 7 ---

You know you've been on a site visit when the last 25 pictures on your phone are of different meeting spaces.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

7QTs on Camping, Reading, and Spontaneous Piercings

--- 1 ---

Tomorrow, I will have been back in Colorado for a whole week for the first time in what feels like forever. And I'm not leaving the state until April 17. A whole month of stability. I forgot what this feels like. I'm not quite sure what to do with myself now that I'm not traveling. Maybe I can finally get unpacked from all these travels and moving.

--- 2 ---

On Tuesday, Carol & I were spontaneous. Well, as spontaneous as you can be when you sent an outlook calendar invite the day before. We told Christina of our adventures the next day & she sent out this email to our team:

"Let's play two truths and a lie...

1. Michelle got her eyebrow pierced.

2. Michelle got her ear's triple pierced.

3. Carol got her cartilage pierced."

Christine guessed #2 was the lie, Zach tweeted "THIS IS TOO HARD," and Brenda guessed that someone actually got a giant tattoo. Any guesses?!

--- 3 ---

My team is about to start reading this book and I cannot wait.

I'm also really scared of it. I feel like it is going to kick me in the pants, nonstop. When we read 7 Habits of a Highly Effective Person, it transformed the way we plan our weeks and interact with our work. I'm interested to see how this next book will change the way we interact with each other.

--- 4 ---

I have another cross-country adventure coming up in a month. Part of being an event planner means going on site visits. Which I think is just so fun! You get to see the space, meet the staff, and start to visualize what your next event is actually going to look like. So our team is doing two site visits in one week. First we're headed to Nashville to check out the Gaylord Opry. I'm excited to stop visualizing the Hyatt Regency in Dallas and actually learn the names of the ballrooms at the Gaylord! Then we're headed to Ave Maria, Florida with all of the committee heads to rev up for summer training! Site visits with the team are so fun, and I can't wait for SO MUCH QUALITY TIME.

--- 5 ---

Speaking of adventure, I want to go camping so bad right now. Seriously. Hurry up and turn into spring, Colorado so I can sleep outside. For some reason my team has been talking a lot about tents and camping this week, and we recently learned that Christina has never actually been camping. When she was a girl scout, they set up tents with persian rugs. What!? It reminded Carol and me of this:

image via.

--- 6 ---

Answer to two truths and a lie: I did NOT get my eyebrow pierced! I'm mainly confused as to why Christina and Christine thought this would be something that I would do. I'd appreciate the insight. haha.

--- 7 ---

Next week is the saddest week of my entire time on the events team. Carol is moving back to Illinois so she can get married (dumb). I will be protesting this move every step of the way.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

My 23rd Year

I rang in my 23rd birthday in a van full of pretty amazing girls. We were on a nun run, and I spent the night in Nashville with the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. I joked and told them I had now spent two birthdays in the convent, to which they replied, "any many mooorrreeee!" Hilarious. 

Some of the best live tweeters I've ever met. And some nuns.

On Monday night, my friend Elizabeth asked for my high, low, & God moment of the year. She asks such good questions, and I hadn't really thought about it until that moment. 

Low: Summer Training. NST is a magical place where hundreds of Catholics gather together in the middle of nowhere to grow closer to God and to be trained in evangelization. Training for me was, well, awkward. I felt kind of out of place - I was no longer a campus missionary, but I wasn't quite yet on the events team. And then there's the business of it being summer time and missing camp. But I think the biggest reason that training is so hard is because we missionaries put ourselves in a place of vulnerability where we are trying our hardest to conquer ourselves and grow ever closer to God. So this past summer, I got very attacked with loneliness and a confusion of where my place truly was. The beautiful thing about struggling in a place such as NST is you are surrounded by people who are passionate about others. My fellow missionaries, the priests, and religious that were there made all the difference in my place of struggle. And the thing about our low moments and struggles is that they propel us forward. If everything is perfect and easy all the time, we will never grow. Shout out to Caitlin & Katie for walking with me during this time, to the Marco Island crew for providing much needed community and carefree timelessness & to Carol for being so welcoming & the beginning of our events team friendship.

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee belong, we belong togeeeetherrrr.

High: Closing Campfire the week I subbed at Tecumseh. Of course my high would be from camp. I wrote about this when reflecting on 2013, but this moment was so profound for so many reasons. I last minute decided it would be so fun to have a picture with my campers who are now on CT Staff, so I asked Rachel to spread the word that we should meet behind the benches after cheers. I was not prepared for being stampeded by those 10 girls, being picked up, and all the squeals and hugs of reunions. 

such a happy heart.

It was in that moment of nostalgia, cherished memories of their time as kiddos in my cabin, that I remembered why I loved working at camp. Yes, we have fun, Yes we get to be crazy. Yes, I have made lifelong friends there. But this moment reminded me what camp is all about: loving those kids. 

God Moment: I had two I just could not choose from. First: being prayed over by my Nebraska teammates. I really struggled to understand why God sent me to UNL and how I was making an impact for the kingdom. As the year drew to a close I had no idea if I would go to the DSC or stay on campus. So my team prayed over me for a solid 20 minutes, and then we hurried off to Mass. 

look at these beautiful, holy people. 

Over the summer, I was telling a friend the story and I realized that ever since that moment of being prayed over, I had been blessed with a divine perspective of my time as a missionary at UNL. God had graced me with the ability to see some of the work He was using me for. It was a beautiful moment, and I was so grateful to The Lord for this gift and my team. 

Second: August & September of this year. Oh how the Lord blessed me during those months. I was so full of Jesus and gratitude and joy that I thought I felt like I would just burst. I was reading Interior Freedom by Jaques Phillipee and the fruit of the book was oozing into every aspect of my life. Jesus was so real and present to me and I am being propelled from that consolation even now. 

Thanks to you all for being a part of my 23rd year of life! I can't wait to see where year 24 will bring us.

planning with vision

Why do you do what you do?

Sometimes, we can forget why we started a job, a hobby, a new goal. Especially when it gets hard. Especially when there's a task that we don't want to do. In those moments, we can be tempted to quit. So how do we fight this?

My team has been reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for a little while now (we took a short hiatus mid-November to mid-January due to SLS), and we really love it. It is changing the way we interact with each other and with other departments. 

Most recently, we started working on implementing the 6 step planning process. Each Friday morning, we set aside an hour to prioritize the upcoming week and create time and space to work on important goals and priorities. But before we even get there, we must begin with the end in mind. This means taking a huge step back and looking at why we are even in our jobs.

Our team works on three main events: SEEK, New Staff Training, and the Student Leadership Summit. I firmly believe that all three events are vital to FOCUS and the advancement of God's Kingdom. But I'm human, and there are some days when I'm stuck in spreadsheets and logistics and emails and tiny details that I forget why I left campus to work on these events.

A few weeks ago I was upset about something I was supposed to do at work. I just couldn't figure out why. My friend Katie and I talked it out, and suddenly I realized it had to do with my pride. I wasn't thrilled about a task I was assigned and wanted to do a more glamorous task. Which...is a problem because the whole of the event is important. Even the less exciting things that I don't want to do.

The next say, Jesus wanted to talk to me about it in prayer, so He made the first reading apply to my life:

The scene: God has sent the prophet Samuel to find the new king from Jesse's sons. Samuel sees Eliab and immediately think's he is the next king of Israel - he's strong, good looking, charming...all the things a king should be. He had that outward appearance and glamour that I desired with my job.

But God had other plans (typical). He says, "Not as man sees does God see, because he sees the appearance, but The Lord looks into the heart."

image via.

The question I had to ask was where was my heart at with these events? Was I in this job for the status? Or was there more?

I sat down with each event and prayed through why it is important to me. 

my new desktop background at work

These are the reasons I love my job. These are the reasons I do what I do. And when the going get's rough, I will take a step back to remember my vision, so my planning and goals can stem from this pace of purpose.

This is why I do what I do. I'd love to hear...why do you do what you do?