Of Vail and conferences and rain

Dan and I headed off to Vail for a workforce conference on Wednesday. We headed off at the crack of dawn and actually got there 45 minutes early. Whewwww! First up on the agenda was an opening speech by Governor Ritter. It was short, sweet and to the point. He signed three bills into law that had to do with business.

After that, we got the registration mixup fixed and got all of my conference stuff. 🙂 We got settled in our room which was great. The bed was huge, and there was a fireplace in the room. LOL… granted it was about 85 there. Oh, and the bathroom. A bath and a shower. :):):)

We went to a workshop, and then at dinner we had a speaker who was really good. Sarah Michel. After dinner, we were so tired that we soaked in the tub and then went to bed.

Thursday started WAY TOO EARLY. Up at 6am, breakfast by 7am and in the conference room with 150 other people by 8am. This was the WIB (Workforce Investment Board) workshop. It was for all the workforce regions: their chairmen, members, etc. I got to go because Dan felt I should go and Taryn agreed. The WIB is involved in getting a new Colorado Workforce Council up and running. Lots of politics. Lots of egos, tempers, ideas and worries to work through. Since I was a rather late addition, I got put on the ‘left over’ table. Not a bad thing, and pretty soon, those of us on that table joined in with other tables that were missing people. I jokingly called our table the ‘Group W’ table. For a bunch of misfits, we really worked well together.

We worked for 8 hour on Thursday. It was tough, exciting and exhausting. After we finished, Dan and I went out to dinner at a place called Garfields. It was good food and after dinner we walked around downtown Vail. Then we headed for the hotub! Wheee!!!! a whirlpool no less. We were back in the room by 9 and asleep by 10pm.

Up early again, and in the conference by 7:30am. More hard work, but very worth it by the time we finished. When it was done, we went down and had lunch. The group Chicken Lips was speaking/performing during lunch. They were a motivational comedy group. Hilarious! Had a great time and laughed, oh did we laugh! After lunch, we packed up and headed home. It was just starting to rain as we left Vail. Idaho Springs was a downpour! Rain stood on the highway and some of the puddles were so deep that we had to slow way down to get through them. It cleared up a time or two near Denver, but we had more rain all the way home. We got home around 6pm. Once we unpacked and said our hellos, we headed for bed. It was meant to be a nap, but… We woke up at 10am this morning.

Spent most of the day with Stefan and Anabell. 🙂 They had dinner with my parents, but we are now watching movies and Morgan is painting Anabell’s toenails and fingernails. 🙂 Best part of the day besides spending time with S&A,… I Got A Job!!!! I will be cooking for La Plaza!!! Oh, and Ian got a job too as a waiter. happygotajobdance!!!!!

Tomorrow I’m making runza for dinner. Yum!!!