Finally

Hello my F-ing friends
I am finally sitting down to contribute to this wonderfully fun blog. Way to go Sarah!
I wish to comment on your question about professional identity immediately. I do not believe that it is our professional identity that is as important as our soul's identity. Perhaps that should be the first thing we say after our name. For instance, one could say, "My name is Sarah. I am a kind and very creative person who likes to do fun and spontaneous things. My friends think I am the coolest, unless they accidentaly allow me to drink cans of Mountain Dew, in which case they seem to hide." (important words bolded for emphasis) Your soul is what I think is vital to what people need to know.
On another topic, maybe we should make a list of all of the things Karla Smart did fail to teach us...:) Is this public domain, however? Maybe not, but the list would be long.
I hope that you are all doing well! Julia learned to crawl this weekend. It is so cute!!

I'll talk to you all soon,
Mandy

Blog ground rules

Now I know the title of this blog refers to an annual event, but I don't think that should limit us to postings in regards to the Festival. Therefore I make a motion that we be able to post whatever we want to create a dialogue amongst ourselves. I'm quite pleased that there have been several posts and hope many more are to follow. If you would like to make a motion about the ground rules, please let us know.

Since the motion as come before us (and seconded, by my dictorial account), let's talk about professional identity. What is it? Who defines it? Does it really matter?

What is it?
After name introductions, professional identity is usually the first thing discussed when first meeting someone. "Where do you work? What do you do?" It is the identity we give ourselves, or others give us, during the hours we slave away at our jobs. And is it a job or a career path we are on? Well I know that working at World Market is a job for me and not a career path. But does working at World Market define part of my professional identity right now?

Who defines it?
Those that have the power to do so. It is those that believe our job/career/profession should be an extention of what we believe. And it is those that seek a definition of something that can perhaps not easily be defined.

Does it really matter?
Intially my response would be, no. However, upon further consideration I would say that is does matter. I do believe our professional identity should be an extension of what we believe is important. Does our profession go so far that someone could be clued into our morals and values...I'm not sure. I would like to think that higher education promotes professional identity, and maybe it does for some, but for me I don't think it did. At least I might not have been listening during one of those sessions. Here's what I mean: I trained for four years to become a teacher and is that what I really want? I know that I like education and kids so it is natural to be a teacher, right? Well, perhaps. But what are the other options not discussed by the incompetent Karla Smart?

I look forward to your thoughts about this topic. Hopefully this blog does not becoming me simply rambling my late-night thoughts . But I believe I have a firm sounding-board from which to bounce ideas off of. (Yes, that's you.)

THANK YOU

This needed an entirely seperate post to say

THANK YOU

for your thoughtfulness, generousity and spending the day with Micaela and I. The whole day (suprises and all) was so good for the soul and just the lift we needed to face the tasks ahead. You women hold sacred places in my heart, that I've realized no matter where we go, or who we meet can these places be filled by any other. We were meant to be sisters-that is clear!

I love you all and hope that our F-ing festival is just one of many, many more memories to be made!

God's Peace to you!

Elizabeth

Life after icecream

I would love to narrate the next chapter in our adventure...

After the DQ we made our way to Old Navy where we acted like "girls with all the frills", following our clue's directions! We shopped and shopped for a new outfite for Micaela and decided that Target was a better bet. Through the shopping expertise of all the ladies-Micaela was clad in a beautiful baptism sundress (pictures to come)! Of course, no one can escape a Target run without purchasing, so many other items were bought as well!

The ravenous women scooted to a beautiful park for BBQ and croquet! It was a little cloudy, but we're brave, determined and crazy hungry! Sarah opened her car truck and revealed a full BBQ set up (tablecloth and all)! We feasted, played croquet and Shripes and Breanna braved the world's scariest pop machine to quench our thirst.

As babies' bedtimes approached and the ladies were winding down, we made our way back to Scander's (the F-ing festival's headquarters). We took lots of pictures, said good-bye to Julia, Mandy and Breanna-who will have to finish they're own chapters.

I will leave it to one of the Sarah's to finish our chapter...

Sarah is a rockstar

Not only did she set up a blog, she also wrote the events of the day. I think she should be the guest of honor next year for all of her effort. This is cool. I have to sleep some though. Good night!

On Saturday, June 10th, there a was gathering in the Minneapolis area of five ladies and two babies. It just so happened to be that Elizabeth Romero was the guest of honor and was chosen to decipher the clues for the day. She wore a tierra and the rest of us buttons (you can see Mandy sporting hers). Our first stop was Minnehaha Falls. We walked around the pavilion and noticed many celebrations. Julia and Micaela gave a little show at the bandshell which impressed all the people around them. After walking through a garden of weeds, we carried the girls and their strollers down thousands upon thousands of steps. The Falls were pretty as the picture displays and then we carried the girls up the thousands of stairs once again. A couple of benches along the path were calling our names so we sat awhile. When Sarah A. returned from a trip to the ladies room, she noticed her friends were no longer at the benches. Had they been abducted by aliens, sucked into a blackhole, or gone off without her? She was relieved to find that they were only hiding...right in front of her face in fact with blankets over their heads. I guess Sarah will never learn.

An unplanned visit to the Dairy Queen on a 65 degree day proved not only to be delicious (lacking nutritious) but also eventful with Julia. Apparently she was feeling a little bit left out as the rest of us were enjoying our frozen delights so Mandy decided to feed her some cereal. After a few handfuls Julia's jealously of others became clear. Not only was she not satisfied that the adults were eating frozen treats, she also noticed Micaela getting a bite of her mom's fudge bar. Since Julia's words are still unintelligible to most humans, she took her bowl of cereal and throw it to the birds. Cereal everywhere! But, mom played it easy and did not give in to Julia's wishes of frozen yummies. It simply meant less cereal for her. Way to show her who's boss, Mandy!

There is more to this day that should be shared. Perhaps someone will take over from here. But for now, this participant is going to bed. Buenas noches, chicas!

Test 1-2-3

This is the first post of our blog and while I feel it should be something excellent, I'm merely posting something as a test run.