Little Brother
Over Spring Break, I spent some time with my little brother. It was wonderful. I am truly blessed to have a family I love very much, and a family that I enjoy hanging out with. Look at that handsome guy!
Monthly Archives: March 2011
I heart CARPOOL
Disclaimer: If you have never heard me talk about CARPOOL, these videos will explain to you what it is and how it is fabulous. Also, I linked to CP about a million times, because I wanted you to be tempted to click on it and learn about how it is truly awesome.
The CARPOOL GALA was last weekend in College Station. This year it was in The Zone at Kyle Field, it is an amazing venue. Going back every year to celebrate CARPOOL always makes me feel very grateful to have been a part of the organization. It is still one of the best things I have ever personally been apart of.
Last year, CARPOOL ran out of money. The staff had to stop operations for the first few weeks of the Spring semester. The organization got so much support from the Aggie community and was able to raise $115,000 in the Spring alone. It never ceases to amaze me what a determined group of people can do. The current staff, of which I no longer know a soul, is working to create a buffer of funds. They hope to have enough money to pay for two years out, instead of just the next couple of weeks.
The vice-chair (Ryan Mieras) gave a speech about how CARPOOL has impacted him. While CP has impacted thousands and thousands of people (the website currently states they have given 183,658 rides home), it also profoundly impacts the people who chose be members and pursue a leadership role. At the age of 20, I had a group of 25 people to lead. At the age of 21-22, I was in charge of fundraising efforts and led operational nights. We organized who would drive, who would go out to bars, we organized calls, and what to do if something went wrong. I planned a 5k and wrote grants (I raised lots of dough – still proud). JMO built a caller record/ride sort program and built the website. We were running a business, and not really a small one. CARPOOL is expensive to run, we maintained donor relations, obtained sponsors, and begged for money. CP was an amazing learning experience, I grew tremendously as a person. The experiences I had will never be forgotten, and I am proud of the person CP help mold me into.
So, basically CARPOOL rocks.
GALA helps make money for CARPOOL, and it is fun… here are a few pictures from the evening….
Mrs. Oswalt and her fabulous new bench.
JMO and his fabulous mother.
JMO and his fabulous girlfriend.
P.S. CARPOOL ROCKS. If you watch this video, you can see me for all of 2 seconds on a computer, and JMO for all of 2 seconds on the phone, we are much younger. Plus awesome quotes from Jeff, the founder, at the end.
Happiness Project Progress (February)
Complete February Goals = FAILED
The beauty of doing goals monthly is that I can fail one month, and start fresh the next. The beauty of designing your own rules is no one can call me a cheater.
February was all around a tough month. Bootcamp ended, and I fell off the work out wagon pretty quickly. I got wrapped up in over preparing for my writing lessons because I was scared to death of my first TAKS test as a teacher. I got wrapped up in my personal life. I got wrapped up in the feeling that I couldn’t do everything and keep everyone happy. Overall, February was very mean to to me. I did manage to stay in my budget, I made no extravagant purchases or buy anything that I didn’t need. For me, those are great strides, but I definitely have a long way to go in the financial departments. So that goal will have to be readdressed. Although I did not work out 4 times a week like I originally planned, I did complete a 10K. I worked out HARD on the weekends because I just couldn’t manage anything on the weekdays this month. Next month shall be better, but I’ll get to that.
So, there were some successes for the month. I did get to have my friend night, it was hosted by Christine. Tranee also helped me with my mini adventure, and it was a good one! Taking time out to go out of town with Tranee was such a treat, and it was a treat I needed. Most mini adventures will be smaller, but this was a good one.
March is going to be better. I’m looking forward to March. On my original time line of my project, I planned to focus on good eating. Now, because this is my project and I will do what I want, I’m going to focus on relationships. The good people in my life are key contributors to my happiness. In February, I found myself retreating from those I love, so this month I want to make room to strengthen my relationships. I want to work on building up some of my newer friendships and spending quality time with people I haven’t seen much of. Secretly, I am doing this, because I need to win at March after February’s failure. My mom is coming up next weekend, and I’m spending part of Spring break with my brother. This afternoon I’m going to the CARPOOL Gala, and Leah has already set a friend night date. Relationships are good for me, and it is an area I will be able to feel successful.
I’m keeping working out on the calendar. I’m not quite ready to move on from tracking it (clearly). Work out requirements are being decreased from 4 times a week to 3 times a week. Hopefully I will be motivated to achieve the goal of 3 and go for the 4th work out on a few of the weeks.
Good riddance February.
Hello March.