As Directed

A big part of this conference has been the 'doom and gloom' surrounding the state of our State. Suffice it to say that I emailed my boss a couple times yesterday and included words like 'morose' and 'depressing'. He wrote back and said 'you need to stimulate the economy next door'. I follow his directives to the letter.

I spent a nice evening in Downtown Disney - first ate a delicious dinner at the Storyteller Cafe at the Grand Californian. Yummy and the first 'nice' sit-down dinner I've had since I got here. Turkey legs are great - but it was nice to sit and be waited on. People watch. Then off to shop - did my 'big shop' at the World of Disney, utilizing the generous discount coupon I got for buying my tickets online. It was a fun time - browsing, selecting gifts for two family members who have birthdays in a week (or less).

I love how grown people walk around in Tinkerbell jackets and various Disney attire and it's perfectly fine here. I love how little girls and boys walk around as princesses or pirates - loving the attention their 'birthday party' attire is getting them. I love how you know they are never going to forget 'the time I got to be Ariel or [insert princess name here] for a day'. Love, love, love that magic that is what Disneyland is all about.

I am on a break before our lunch session. By 3PM today, I will be officially 'done' with work and on 'my' time. I had toyed with the idea of just driving home tomorrow - the hotel tomorrow night is on us and it would save money for me to just go home. I talked to J. about it - and thankfully, he encouraged me to stay. Truthfully, I am exhausted down to my bones. I have walked A LOT this week - and learned a lot. My brain is tired. My body is tired. So a day of sleeping in and doing what I feel like doing would be a nice break before the long drive home on Monday. So I'm staying. I plan to hit the jazz cafe in Downtown Disney in the morning for beignets and coffee and then off to the parks. Moving at my own pace but enjoying my 'last day'.

It's been an amazing conference and now that I've attended (I've been a CBO for close to five years and this is the first time I've attended this conference), I will be back annually. It is a great set of workshops with current, relative topics - and I've learned so, so much the past four days. It's been great - and I can't wait to go back and share what I've learned. We've got so many things happening at our district - and I went to a lot of workshops that will help get us ready for what is coming our way.

Off to lunch. Then one more workshop on energy management. Then changing into jeans and walking shoes and heading to the parks again.....turkey leg? Perhaps.