"VISIONING"

Today I attended a fundraising luncheon for an organization called First Books, whose mission is to get children's books into the homes of low income families to help them build home libraries and promote early literacy. GREAT mission.

Provo City's Mayor Curtis was in attendance and talked about the "visioning" that is happening within his cabinet for Provo City. It is a simple concept - assess where you currently are, what you want to see happen in the next 12 months or so, then start "visioning", or dreaming of where you would like to be in 20 years. The plan you create for this "vision" includes the forseeable steps and projected needs to get there. This process is parallel to strategic program planning, something we do every year at work, though only three to five years out.

So what does "visioning" look like in Katie's life? Good question ~ one I have been thinking about all afternoon. It is easy to think about one to three to five years out, but twenty?

In twenty years:

• My oldest nephew will be as old as I am now, 33 (almost)
• My parents will be in their mid '70's, likely with some great grandkids
• I just may be an expert gardener by then (and accomplished herb-grower)
• I hope to still be active in the early childhood profession on some level
• I would like to be a published author
• The title of "awesomest aunt EVER" will hopefully still ring true with great nieces and nephews
• The continent of Africa will no longer be undiscovered by moi
• And there is always the hope of marriage and family

I guess what I truly hope my life looks like in twenty years is not too different from now (ideal-wise) ~ personal satisfaction in knowing what I do, think about, stress over, plan, and work on is in some way helping others' lives be better. And, still being content with who I am, always striving to improve in some regard. I hope you take time to look twenty years out and DREAM about where you want to be.

Here is to the "visionary" being in us all - SALUT!

Valentine Tradition

Today I returned from my second annual valentine trip to Maryland to see Sharee and her family. They are deep in snow, so we spent the weekend playing in the house and just being with each other.

Because of all the snow, we spent part of one morning building a polar bear cave that was to be sprayed red. We didn't get it dug out all the way, though, due to collapsing risks.

Sunday evening, in honor of the last box of valentine sayings candy, Dima and I sat on the couch, head-to-head, pulling each little heart-shaped sugar cube out and reading them individually as he alternated putting one in his mouth, then mine.

That was a treat.

WEDNESDAY BLESSINGS and OFFICE TALK

I work late almost every Wednesday night. In fact, they are often 12+ hours at the office days. I have a standing 9am meeting that I try to be in by at least 8 to ensure I am prepared for; then my program has an evening socialization or parent meetings that go until about 8pm. Now, ideally I would work a few hours less the rest of the days of the week, but that rarely works out. Today I spent about 7 hours as part of an interview team for the new executive director we are hiring, and as I left the interview room after 7pm and saw my swirling, busy staff taking care of their responsibilities, I was grateful - grateful for their dedication, hard work, reliability, determination, and follow through. I couldn't ask for greater employees!

There are many exciting things happening at work with all the growing we are doing, and my office is no different. I have a new desk with actual work space (way awesome - you'll have to come visit to see it). But mostly I have been waiting for this little baby to arrive:

Yep, that's right - it doesn't take much to get me excited. I have really been wanting a duo track dry erase board and was finally able to get one. It arrived in a ginormous wood crate and took three men to lift and hang on the wall. Now why is this so exciting, you might ask yourself? Again, I invite you to come to my office and see. (Okay, I just want visitors, but it is really cool too! If you came I would totally let you sketch a picture on it.) Now if only everything was organized after all the moving around that has been done the last two weeks. Maybe after the long weekend (I am heading to see my baby sis in Maryland - if my plane can land in their bizarrely snow-panicked condition - I never would have thought that part of the country was ill-equiped for the snow masses; California or Vegas maybe, but not the DC area. Keep your fingers crossed I can actually go!)