Happy Wednesday, ya’ll. And boy oh boy does it feel good to be back! I didn’t mean to take a hiatus, but when those 12-hour days and working on the weekend started, I needed to offload where I could to maintain my sanity. But now that I’m on the other side of that massive project, and I’ve had a chance to get some sleep and recharge? I feel so proud of everything that was accomplished in March.
It has been a wild ride these last couple of weeks, so why don’t I give you the rundown with some photos?
Rodeo
How about I start with the Rodeo? I rodeoed my little heart out just twice this year. But honestly, twice was all I could pack into my already jam packed schedule. My friend Katie and I went to go see Gwen Stefani, and she did not disappoint. It was the perfect weather, and we spent some time in the wine garden before we headed in to see the show.
Later that week, Aaron and I had tickets to see Chris Stapleton. We weren’t there to see the rodeo, though. Or Chris Stapleton. He was just the icing on the cake. One of my best friends got engaged at the rodeo, so we were there to see it all go down!
And, here’s one of the group!
Looking back at these photos, I feel like I’ve gone years and miles since then – even though it’s been just two weeks. Time – it’s a wild thing. I got home from the rodeo and the engagement that night to lots of emails. I was supposed to have Friday off, which was sort of a wish upon a shooting star to begin with.
Waco Weekend
So, I woke up bright and early that Friday morning to knock out tons of emails, calls and to try to get myself to a good spot. I had a hard stop mid-afternoon because I was headed to Waco for a girl’s trip with some of my all-time favorite ladies. Now, every Waco weekend deserves its own recap, and I’ll do one either later this week or next, but for now, I’ll give you a few highlights.
Listen up. If you read nothing else in this post, what I’m about to say is of crucial importance. I am not a sweet tea type of gal. But, run – don’t walk – to the Alabama Sweet Tea food truck at the Magnolia Silos. The tea is delicious, and I’m sure it has gallons of sugar. But, with some sort of witchcraft, it doesn’t taste super sweet. Delicious. 10/10 would go back and purchase again. And, the tea is served in glass mason jars!
And, no trip to Waco these days is complete without a trip to Magnolia Bakery. You can smell it half a mile away. Because my husband has really been taking one for the team lately (I mean – he was really holding the household together this last month), I brought him back some sweet treats to lessen the blow that he spent a weekend watching our pups so I could get away.
The 80th Anniversary
And for the grand finale…… in this photo, you’ll find the 2018 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine. He developed a drug called immunotherapy that has had success in treating cancer patients (in a nutshell). Well, last Thursday, we launched a new institute that will help lay the groundwork to train tomorrow’s scientists and researchers in immunotherapy. That was just in the morning. You can read more about that here.
Later that evening, we held our 80th Anniversary event. So many people across so many different teams were involved in this to make it all come together. It was truly an evening to celebrate. This was the calm before the storm.
And here I am with some of my favorite work friends. These two ladies are members of the events team – who helped spearhead the entire evening. I just played a small role in scripting the event!
It was a celebration concert. We had John Stamos, we had The Beach Boys, we had the Commodores, Todd Rundgren and more.
But, for all of us who grew up watching Full House, it was a highlight of the evening to see “Uncle Jesse” up on stage. I’ll go into more detail about this in a later post, but the event ended on a high note, and we ended up raising $10.5 million dollars! John Stamos even got up on the stage at one point to play with The Beach Boys. I took my husband and two of our friends as our guests, and we had the best time. I worked the beginning of the event, but was finally able to breath a sigh of relief as soon as John Stamos hit the stage.
All the hard work over the last couple of months to help get these two projects off the ground was worth it! I’m glad to be on the other side of this after getting some sleep and spending some quality time with my people. I feel energized and ready to tackle my next project. Friends – here’s the thing. When I was fresh out of grad school, I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to to do with my life. And, after lots of thought and prayer – and some doors closed while other doors opened, I landed on a career where I can feel like I make a difference. And, at the end of the day, that’s what matters to me the most.
If you feel stuck – or unsure, I encourage you to not give up. Keep persevering. Keep praying. Keep staying the course, and keep up the dialect with yourself about the things that you do ultimately want out of a career.
So, that’s my two weeks in a nutshell. It’s great to be back here in my little corner of the internet. I missed ya’ll!
