Emergency Management Day

My Leadership Collier class had a behind-the-scenes tour of Emergency Management. We saw the 911 Call Center and learned about Disaster Response.


There was a demonstration of the Ebola suit.


We all got outfitted in fire gear and sprayed a real fire hose- wow, it was heavy!


I went up in the bucket, 17 stories, which was scary as all hell, but there was an amazing view.




What's even scarier are those stairs which firefighters sometimes have to climb if there isn't another operator available on the ground.


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Fancy Affair

I got invited to a swanky restaurant opening on 5th Avenue, so Brittany and I dressed up and hob-nobbed our way through the luxiourous food and drink.


The place was gorgeous, the people were elegant, and we did our best to play the part. Aside from being the youngest guests in attendance, haha, we schmoozed the fancy folks and each took home $100 gift certificate!


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Halloween- many costumes

I couldn't decide on a costume this year- so I wore many! I made this Medusa outfit years ago, but when I ball python got dropped off at work, I knew it would make the perfect accessory for my work costume this year. 

Yes, that is a live snake around my neck! Kids loved it!



I thought this sumo suit would be good for eating lots of candy, but it turned out it wasn't practical for things like sitting, going through doorways, or driving a car.

I've always been a sucker for the costumes with a person on a character's back. This one is incredibly corny.


Mavie and Sheba wore some homemade crayon costumes, which everyone loved.


Sheba grew tired of the hat, but tolerated the t-shirt all night!

I reused my Leadership Collier flapper dress for the nighttime party.

Bumble made his annual trick-or-treat appearance, but does not enjoy costumes anymore this year than ever before.


This year we used stencils to make the pumpkins pretty intricate! The neighbors were really impressed!

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Sea Bean Symposium

I met up with Terri at the Sea Bean Symposium again this year. Its always such a good time to see all of my beaning friends!

Our friend Curtis gave updates on his research into the tsunami trash from Japan and his prediction that more rubber duckies (and the 3 others in the package as pictured above) should be washing up in the US any time now.  The containers about the cargo ship carrying the rubber duckies capsized in 1992 and Curtis uses weather and ocean current data to predict where and when they will appear on beaches.  Read about it (and see that I'm not making this stuff up!) by clicking here.

He spoke of this octopus lego and someone found one in Texas and brought it to the conference.  It was neat to see it in real life since I had been reading about the lego theory online.

During my own time on the beach, I found fewer sea beans than past years, but did come across some interesting shapes of beached jellyfish.  Perhaps I used my imagination a bit?

Gordon's Pass Challenge (GPC)

I've been running on the beach with a really fun group every Sunday morning. We meet at the pier, take a pic, and head to the end of the beach- Gordon's Pass, 2.8 miles south. At every jetty, we pause and do 10 counts of calisthenics. The group waits at the end until everyone gets there and then we all run straight back to the pier, without the yoga poses or jumping jacks. It's a killer workout!










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Tour with Norman Love

As part of Leadership Collier, I was required to do an externship in one of the focus areas of the program. I chose a visit to Norman Love Confections with a small group of classmates. Since it was a tour of chocolate factory, we wore the most stylish hairnets ever!

Norman spoke to the group about how he build a chocolate empire; he outgrew being a pastry chef at the Ritz-Carlton and he and his wife created a company that is now ranked one of the top three chocolate companies in the U.S. And it's right here in Southwest Florida (with stores in Naples, Ft. Myers, and Sarasota.) 

Norman was very inspirational, telling us of his travels in search of ingredients to create the most perfect chocolates. We toured the manufacturing area where they were already creating Xmas chocolates because the volume is such that it takes months to fulfill the orders! Look for them in the exclusive "G" collection of the Godiva line.

He was a humble guy, for someone who has won so many prestigious awards for his work. We throughly enjoyed the free samples!

34th Birthday!

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It started with my favorite kind of cake at work- Carrot Cake from Amelia!

I am always so pampered during my birthday month and this year was no exception.

Ladies and gents alike joined me at my favorite restaurant on 5th Avenue.

Followed by the most beautiful birthday cake ever, made with love by Maria.

Which included a gourmet dinner, of course!

Thank you friends and family for making this only child feel uber special, again :)