2nd Annual Employee Engagement Picnic, Donating to Micah House & MDA Gala

This week was crazy, busy, rewarding, lovely, hot, stressful, magical, enlightening... I could go on forever but it was a whirl wind week that can only be summed up in one GIANT post. So hang onto your boot straps here we go!

 

Wednesday

2nd Annual Employee Engagement Picnic

My company is awesome. There I said it you can fight me about it later if you do not agree. We had our 2nd annual picnic sponsored by our site mayor (Shout OUT to Dawn)! This is such a time consuming event and it takes a large committee to put it together and execute each year. This year was fantastic. It was a little... okay a lot of hot but that did not damper the good times to be had by all. I will be honest I have like no pictures because my phone was playing Spotify the entire time for the picnic. Classic Rock was actually a big hit. I do want to say I work with some really awesome people.

Thursday

Micah house donation

We always have a ton of leftovers after our annual picnic and we usually bring them to the homeless shelter. This year we did something a little different and brought it to the Micah house. This day time location a branch of St. John’s homeless shelter supplies the homeless with breakfast/lunch and a safe place to hang out/ get help/ find jobs etc. The even told us last week that they had UHC out to talk Medicare and Medicaid plans.

 

We thought this time we would try to get some pictures of all the food we donated as well as some of the volunteers. The homeless actually helped us bring some items in and were excited about the almond milk and fresh fruit! Two full car loads of donation that was not food waste!

Above are the pictures of our donations at the shelter and some of the volunteers. Vicki the lady with the bag in the above picture is so easy to work with if you ever need to donate!

MDA Gala

This is my second year attending this charity event. My company throws a huge fundraiser each year for them as well. We raised like something around $30,000 this year for them outside of this event in March. I love going to this event because it is for children and families and it really makes a difference with the money they raise. This year I had three of my agents from my team join me which made it even more magically for me. I just love this event. Here are some highlights.

There was a good turn out even with the crummy weather.

Uh... You could win $2,000 in booze. I was proud to take at least 9 people into $100 donations.

From Left (Jen, Anna, myself and Vicki) You rock team!

With my boss Tanya added in the middle.
I love a team that volunteers together!

You could win this in the raffle.

"I only had one drink at the gala I swear it."
Okay I promise I did not drink anything but diet pepsi.

Volunteer Badge.

I love donating my time, energy and money to good causes that bring others joy. It's time for the holiday and for me to recharge a bit now though.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Taco Bake

I mean easy is what it is all about some nights. This is tasty and easy. The perfect recipe!
I made this for taco Tuesday this week before I went to the gym and finished it off in the oven while in the shower when I got home. I love that you get all the yummy flavor of a taco and so many leftovers for work.













What you need~
1 pound of ground hamburger
1 medium onion diced
1 can of corn salsa
1 can of red (hot) salsa
1 can of rinsed black beans
1 can of black olives diced
1 cup of shredded cheese
2 avocadoes diced
3 cups of shredded lettuce
1/2 bag of tortilla chips crushed up a bit
Taco seasoning to taste

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook your hamburger meat with taco seasoning and onions. Put half of your black beans, olives, salsa's in the bottom of a 9x13 dish. Top with the meat mixture and then the remaining  black beans, olives, salsa's, chips and cheese. Place in oven for 15 minutes. When you remove it top with the avocado and shredded lettuce. Eat it all up!

This was satisfying and was a great way to prep a meal and have it done in a timely manner in our busy lives. I hope you make this soon.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Travel Adventures: Blue Ox 2019

It was intense but bliss. I love losing myself in an experience or vacation and having my soul tank refilled up to the max. I have been working really hard by staying curious about experiences and not over reacting when things do not go the way I want them to go. This trip was packed full of rain, mud and cold but I think we weathered it well enough and still had a blast. Here are the highlights.












Day 1 (Thursday June 13th)



Camp site.

2017 & 2019 wrist bands!

What a beautiful day it was.

Relaxing in the grass.

We brought our reusable cups again from 2017. $6 refills for Bells beer!

Hi. Ryan and I.

Ryan. :)

The stage!

Sitting and listening.

This is hands down the spiciest salad I have ever ate. I thought I would die.

Old Salt Union. They were fun!

Horse Shoes and Hand Grenades. I heart them.

The main stage at night.

The trees are like magic here. Reflecting all the light.

Wonton tacos.

mm...

View of the stage from the food trucks.

Curds.

Night time!

Stage looked cool.

Day 2 (Friday June 14th)

$6 bloody Mary's in the AM.

Day 2 pre-storms.

AND so the storms began.

We felt prepared. Ha!

A big Blue Ox guitar!

It was a beautiful day for a short time.

We had no idea what we were in for.... Pre-storms.

A little relaxing for 15 min in the AM.

Gyro

This is post storm. Notice the tent is lowered all the way. The storm came through with 50 mile an hour winds and soaking rain. Music was stopped from 5pm-9pm. Tree damage, tent damage and stage damage occurred. We survived but were muddy and damp the rest of the weekend.

Cool!

This is before the madness of the mud. So fresh and clean thanks to Ryan cleaning them.

Trampled by Turtles. The stage was broken limited lighting but we did not care. It was the music that mattered. Only band I have ever seen that is blue grass and as a mosh pit!

 

Late night set in the woods is always magical.

Love it!

Day 3 (Saturday June 15th)

This dog was just chilling.

The side stage still lowered after the massive storm Friday.

Ready and prepared for the rain/mud.

How I love "Them Coulee Boys". I cried through this set. It was just awesome.

Notice the mud and water? Also did you notice the stage is missing large sections on the sides? Storm damage.

This natural pop was awesome.

Charlie Parr. A national treasure. Some of the best folk music ever.

The Wooks. Fun!

Dang the Dead South killed it!

They finally put the ox out on the last day!

Poor ox has some damage.

Billy Strings. Love.This is when the mud fest was in full gear. Please see below.  

Pert Near Sandstone. They founded this festival and run it. Rattle snake!

Now I thought something fun to do would be to take a picture of our boots after each set on Saturday. Please see the progression from wet to MUD.

First picture of the morning.

Seems dry-ish.

Look still grass not all mud. yet.

Okay-- Getting worse.

We found more grass to stand on!

Just wet.

Starting to get black on the bottoms.

Bye grass we will miss you!

Yep-- getting ankle deep now.

Dancing in mud is hard guys!

After this last picture we left at 11pm and drove all the way home so we could sleep in a dry bed instead of another wet night in the tent. Still got all the good music in!

It was for sure a great trip and we will have stories for a life time living through that storm. I love this festival so much it really is so jammed packed with talent and good music. We do not tend to do the same festival in a row or ever again but something is just special about this one that is for sure. Happy to be there for the 5 year anniversary.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily