Travel Adventures: Mile of Music Festival

 




Yes! Every year I say I am going to this music festival and something always comes up. My allergies were raging but I did not care I forced myself to go this past Saturday. Mostly wanted to go because Pert Near Sandstone was going to be there and I loved them at the Blue Ox Music Festival last year. This festival is all original music by artists. NO cover music allowed. Here are some of the great high lights from the festival and the bands we saw below. Check them out!

 

 

 

 

Artist we watched:

Pert Near Sandstone
 It was roughly a decade ago that Pert Near Sandstone first gathered around a microphone in a Minneapolis basement to record its debut album, “Up And Down The River.” So much has happened since then: highs and lows, personal struggles and artistic triumphs, new faces and new sounds. The winding road the band members have traveled over the years makes it all the more meaningful for them to come full circle on their dazzling new release, “Discovery Of Honey.” This album finds them once again recording in a basement and reuniting with founding member, Ryan Young, who's spent the past seven years touring the world playing fiddle with bluegrass stars, Trampled By Turtles.

Smooth Hound Smith
 

Based in East Nashville, Smooth Hound Smith has travelled over 150,000 highway miles to date on an incredible musical journey. The group’s humble beginnings consisted of "car-camping" in a van in Walmart parking lots and led all the way to performing for tens of thousands in support of the Dixie Chicks at arenas and amphitheaters in the U.S. and abroad. Founded by husband/wife duo Zack Smith and Caitlin Doyle-Smith, Smooth Hound Smith performs a unique style of folky, garage-infused rhythm and blues.

The National Parks  The National Parks was formed by frontman Brady Parks in early 2013 in Provo, Utah. Together, the band’s first two independently released full-length albums (and a standalone single, “As We Ran”) have amassed more than 13.2 million Spotify streams and garnered praise from press outlets such as NPR’s All Songs Considered, CMT Edge, Baeble Music and Pop Matters. The National Parks’ self-booked touring began in the summer of 2014, and by 2016, the act was filling clubs in every region across the country while also performing at SXSW, Canadian Music Week, School Night at Bardot’s, Musikfest, Snowmass Mammoth Fest and Make Music Pasadena. The band released its third studio album (“Places”) in 2017.

Cool outdoor venues as well as indoor venues. We stayed outside.

Chilling in the grass. I recommend you bring a blanket to sit on if you plan on being outside.

The back of Pert Near Sandstone.
Great show as always!

How cool is this can!?

Pert and a beer for Ryan!

Cool art all over Appleton.

The last artist before we headed home due to rain and being wiped tired.





 

I hope that next year I can carve out more of my schedule to see more acts. It is worth the trip to Appleton. This festival runs TH-SUN each year.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Travel Adventures: Leadership Conference 2018 Atlanta GA

Inspiring. I mean I am exhausted but at the same time it was worth it. I felt like this was so rewarding to be asked to attend this conference. This conference ran from Monday July 30th through Wednesday August 1st. The agenda was jammed packed and my head is swimming with knowledge and inspiration. I wanted to quickly put down some of the highlights of the conference before things get hazy. Of course I took a lot of pictures and they can help sort out some of the exciting things that happened.

 

 

 

 

Day 1:

We not only got to hear from our CEO (UHG) David Wichmann we also were lucky enough to listen to speakers Steve Nelsom CEO (UHC) and Molly Joseph CEO (UHC Global). I know for you these are just names to you all but to me this was really rewarding and a call to action in my work and personal life. We did a fun social responsibility event stuffing bags for kids full of goodies. At night I got to eat with my direct team and meet all my team mates from FL and MN. I feel so much closer with my peers after this conference.

Favorite quote of the day comes from David Wichmann "Your deeds speak so much louder than another's words." From a fortune cookie he keeps taped to his computer.

Social event. These little dogs are so cute.

John and I before stuffing the goodie bags.

Our hotel was attached to the CNN headquarters. Creepy fish!

The view in my hotel room.

Pre-dinner mixer. What a view!

Gregg Stallwood (My boss's... boss's.. boss..) I loved meeting him and interacting with him as well as senior leadership. 

We went on the giant Ferris wheel at like 11 at night!

The brave souls that went on the Ferris Wheel.

 

 Day 2:

If you do not know who Cy Wakeman is check out her book "Reality- Based Leadership." I mean I learned so much from her lecture. I mean who does not want to ditch the drama in their life.

Favorite quote of the day is from Cy of course. But I had more than one from her!
"Your circumstances are not the reason you cannot succeed; they are the reality in which you must succeed."
"Stop judging and start helping."
"Your ego is not your amigo."
MY ultimate favorite: "What would great look like?"

This day was packed with updates on our company and then we did some inclusion practicing making sure everyone is at the table in our meetings. We also did a big brainstorming session where I spoke in front of all 804 people about "recognizing my agents for embracing the grey." Have you ever talked in front of 800 people? Ever? Yea me either and it did not hit me that I was doing that till I sat down. I was told after I did really well but I think I blacked out through most of it. Ha!
After all that craziness and learning we did breakout sessions with our teams and I pretended I was stuck in a plane crash with my team for a team building exercise. We did well!

Dinner and awards followed. It was uplifting and I got to do a ton of networking. What a day.

All the ladies from my team that made it to the conference. (myself, Tanya (my boss), Lori and Terri) Not pictured Deb she was holding down the teams back home.

It is always raining the entire time.

All of the leadership under my branch of the company. Dawn my Director and my boss's boss is pictured in the cute skirt.

I don't know this person but I had to have my picture taken with her and her sweet hat.

We wanted a picture with Dawn!

This is great. Tanya, Steve, Emily and I.

Terri and I at dinner.

All of the guys from my FL and MN offices. Tanya, Dave, Rick and Keith.

Me and the HSA boys. Keith, Rick and Dave!

Tanya and her team. All my peers from left (John, Dave, Terri, Rick, Lori, Keith, myself and Tanya) Not pictured Deb.

Day 3

We did some emotional wisdom training, coaching wisdom training and cool panel discussions this morning. Then we did a call to action. Here is my elevator speech as well as my "I will" statement.

The E&I leadership conference was inspiring!

I learned about leaning into the momentum and what great looks like. I met Gregg Stallwood (Dawn’s new boss) and my HSA team supervisors. I came away inspired to take ACTION!

I am truly lucky to work for a fortune 5 company and get to do work that makes a difference each and every day to peoples lives. I would not work here for 8 years if I did not believe in what I do. I also have amazing peers. What a great trip.

Can I have a nap now?

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

French Onion Soup: Crockpot Edition

Rich and delicious this soup is usually rather time consuming. Not with my trusty crockpot though. This was super easy to make and the fact I have leftovers makes my heart super happy. The last time I tried making this I did it on the stove top and it was a nightmare. Have you ever stirred onions all day? I have it sucks. This recipe requires none of that and turns out BETTER than my stove top version with way less work. Try this and you will not regret it. Plus I had all the stuff at home all I had to buy was broth. Try this!








What you need~
3 pounds of  yellow onions (I researched and 2-3 large onions is about a pound)
2 tablespoons of melted butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons of brandy (optional)
Some thyme sprigs (about a handful)
10 cups of broth
1 piece of Swiss cheese
Parmesan cheese to taste
A piece of really good bread






Start by slicing your onions thin. I used a mandolin but you can just slice them thin if you do not have one. The crockpot should look heaping with onions. Pour over the butter and oil. Season aggressively with salt and pepper. Turn the crockpot on over night for 12 hours. I started it early so I could reset mine since it only cooks up to 10 hours on low. Then I could get it the full time. No need to stir but you can. I was sleeping so I did not. In the morning add the vinegar, brandy and thyme to the pot with the broth. Reset your crockpot for another 8 hours. Let it cook all day. When you come home ladle the soup into oven safe dishes. Remove the woody part of the thyme sprigs right now as well.  I then toast the bread to get it almost stale like and rip it up to top the soup dish. Place your cheeses on top of that. I put the dishes on a sheet tray and in the oven under the broiler on high. Once your cheese is nice and bubbly remove from oven and let cool to not burn yourself. Tuck in and enjoy.

Easy... Tasty. OMG I now want some now. Scroll down for more yummy pictures.


Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Pork Roast With Veggies

Hello beautiful. This was delicious and I cannot wait to make it again really soon. I sometimes need quick meals because Ryan and I are always so busy with work and other things. This was the perfect answer for us this week because I could prep most of it on Monday night and throw it together in like 5 minutes Tuesday morning before work. Easy.... Tasty... What is there not to love about this?









What you need~
1 pork roast (mine was a pork butt to be specific)
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 containers of mushrooms (sliced)
4 carrots washed (chopped)
1 red onion (rough chop)
.5 pound of small potatoes (I had small yellow)
Paprika seasoning
Salt and pepper

Ready to cook.

Start by layering the veggies (besides the mushrooms) in the bottom. Season the veggies. At this point you can pop this in the fridge for the next morning like I did the night before or do all the prep in the AM but I am a zombie in the morning so this was done night before. Take the veggies out and place the roast on top of the veggies. Season the meat. Place the mushrooms around the roast and top the sides of the meat with the soup (over the mushrooms). Let this cook on low for 8 hours. Before serving mix up the sauce and remove meat to cut before serving. I usually let the meat rest for about 5 minutes before cutting into it.











Looks so tasty.

I had to be careful I could have ate like 5 servings of this.

This is so tasty and you will love the leftovers.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

YELP Event: Appleton Beer Factory

Yes! Fun!

Okay so lately when I mention I am going to a YELP event people have like a 1,000 questions so I figured hey lets start posting about my monthly events I go to. So here are the deets on the latest event we went to last night. If you want more information on YELP... CLICK HERE to read up on one of my old posts.

Official Yelp Event: Brewventure at Appleton Beer Factory
If you click on the link you can view some of the details of this event. It was super cool to hear about their business and sample their beers. We also got some free food and who does not love free food right.

A fun dark beer and a beer flavored with Jalapeño.  

They had all sorts of tasty bites this is a flatbread. Yum!

Hello beautiful!

The table had cool little facts about their beers.

One of the owners and Scott!

How cute is this sticker? YELP Love!

mmm.. All the beer.

Another beautiful sample.



I know YELP is not for everyone but if you ever wonder about it or want more information on how to get involved in these cool free events shout at me.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily