The Shafferland Shuffle

I'm hommmmmmmmmmmmmme!!!!

Oh my goodness. I had a wonderful time at the Speak Up Conference, but I missed my man and home like crazy. Thankful to be back!! Much to tell you!!

* Last Sunday afternoon, Ryan's sister and her new husband invited the family over for a cookout, which was so nice of them! Ryan was particularly drawn to the corn on the cob. HA!!! We stopped by his co-worker's house for him to help with something real quick, and I got to meet her new puppy, who is so cute! And then I finished constructing my binder for the conference. Organization overload. My happy place!

* Ryan calls this picture the workout version of our ziplining picture. That was one tough workout on Monday, but I survived it! And that night, our plans to go to the fair were canceled in favor of tornado warnings! (Please read all sadness into that.) Hours of stalking the radars and hoping we would be okay. (The Starbucks isn't fully rebuilt yet. Let's not knock it down again!)

* When we woke up Tuesday morning, there was a lot of flooding in our area, but thankfully our property was spared. Know what we weren't spared? More rain. It did clear up, eventually, and we went on a run, where I promptly narrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrowly escaped a face plant onto the sidewalk. It was a semi-gracious save and I sure hope someone got to see it! Would have been a shame to waste that on zero viewers. It was so insanely humid that I could not drink enough water when I got home. WHEW.

* Wednesday was our fake fair night. You remember that. When we meant to go to the fair, but it was storming, so we went to Sonic and Dairy Queen instead? It was our last night at home together before I left for the conference, and I started to get really sad about being apart!

* Thursday was parting-is-such-sweet-sorrow day. Minus the "sweet," of course. I was so sad to say goodbye to Ryan, but I was thankful for the opportunity to attend the Speak Up Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I rode up with a friend (who actually invited me in the first place) and we had a great time talking and learning throughout the first evening of the conference!

* Friday I woke up with the worst headache I've had in 11 years. It was awful. Coffee didn't help. Food didn't help. Medicine didn't help. Finally, after lunch, I just went back to my room and had a massive meltdown. THAT helped. Who knew? But despite feeling terrible, I had a great time at the conference, and Ryan had a good day at work. (Fun fact: we missed each other so much, we FaceTimed our morning coffee.)

* Yesterday was the end of the conference, and even though I was sad to leave the amazing atmosphere of learning, I was so ready to see Ryan! He had to work at the fair (volunteering for his work) so he sent me fair pictures, but he also brought me an elephant ear!! He does love me. I got home safely and oh my goodness. So happy for big hugs and return to routine!!!!

If you need me for the next three days, I'll be processing everything I learned!!!