year in review

December 30, 2014December 31, 20141 Comment

the end of the year is all about making lists, which is something i can totally get on board with. this past year was definitely a game changing year. so many incredible things happened. here are my “tops” of 2014. cannot wait to see what 2015 has in store…

top four in 2014

worth mentioning

blog milestones

over 8,000 views in 2014
over 1,000 views in one day
100 blog followers
attending Go Blog Social in april [game changer for my blog]

social media diva highlights

presented my half day workshop on social media for the 2nd time at EXHIBITOR2014 in Las Vegas, NV
and again at EXHIBITOR FastTrak in Boston, MA
spoke on a panel on event planner at the 2014 Cvent Corportate Meeting Summit
was featured in an article on mashable (!!!) on top stressful jobs
had my first [paid] speaking gig on social media for the Upper Midwest EDPA
spoke on a Power of Live webinar on Amplifying the Social Experience at Every Touchpoint hosted by Cvent and BrandRepublic

life + family + travels

got ENGAGED to my best friend and love of my life [b] on the beaches of st. eustatius in march
traveled to: florida (x5), the carribean, las vegas (x2), texas, kansas city, cincinnati, niagara-on-the-lake, on (canada), nashville, phoenix, san diego
celebrated 2 years with [b]
met my social media soulmate, dick vitale. and he said i was Awesome with a capital A
went to my first, second and third concerts of my life. (imagine dragons, iggy azelea, garth brooks)
sold the townhome & bought a first home together in st. louis park (sidenote: moving is the absolute worst)
my big brother bought a house + got a job! my baby brother graduated from high school + started college! my momma & daddy celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary!

you may also like:

2013 in review | a year of changes and blessings galore

2012 roundup ((WOW… that was a busy year))

[2011 roundup] a year of changes and growth

travels // niagara-on-the-lake [eh?]

May 1, 2014November 9, 2014Leave a comment

happy may day, friends! best month of the year as far as i’m concerned. just arrived back in ‘merica after spending a few days in the lands of canada. it was a good trip, but it’s good to be headed home – especially knowing that i won’t be traveling again until june. i do enjoy my travels (not the packing part, obviously) and now is the time of my life where i want to take advantage of getting to have these experiences and explore new places, but there is definitely something to be said about getting back into a routine. i know a certain pup that will be pleased to have me around for more than a few days at a time, too.

this trip was full of cute things and great photo opportunities. i flew into the buffalo-niagara airport and met up with some co-workers to make the to the lands of tim hortons. we stopped along the way at a local place, the flying turtles, for their “famous” beef on weck [roast beef on a kummelweck roll aka a sort of french dip]. then we made a pit stop to get some shots of niagara falls from the american side. yes, i’ve been told the canadian side is much better, maybe next time. it was surprisingly a nice sunny day so the views were beautiful.

then it was off to niagara-on-the-lake which truly is the loveliest little town in canada. so quiet and quaint and historic. driving down main street i lost track of how many times we said, “awwww” or “cute!”. thus, that street was dubbed, the cute street. we stayed at the queen’s landing which was equally as lovely. we enjoyed good food, incredible wine, great company and a successful conference. and with that, it’s time to prepare to board. see you soon, minnesota.

wknd recap // little brothers prom

April 28, 2014November 10, 2014Leave a comment

currently sitting here waiting to board my connection from Detroit to Buffalo with a final destination of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada with a shoddy wireless connection, thus I am writing this from my fancy iPhone. And so it shall be short and sweet.

I had a lovely weekend that was full of family, diet coke, rain, wine and pictures. I headed back down to the dirrty south of albert lea Friday afternoon to be home for the young pups senior prom. Cannot believe he’s gonna be graduating in just over a month. I was so happy to get to be there to overwhelm him and his lovely girlfriend with an obnoxious amount of pictures. Got a little teary thinking about how grown up my notsobaby brother is. And also realizing that my senior prom was 7 years ago. Back when we took pictures on digital cameras. And took selfies before selfies were a thing. Cray.

Always hard I leave my family even though this was the 3rd weekend in a row id spent with them. But I had to head back up to see [b] and #starksthepup and pack. Yayyyy. Thankfully this is the last trip for about a month. I think #starksthepup is the most excited about this. He was not pleased as I left this morning.