So last weekend we left for my very first work conference! It was actually a state association I'm a member of, so it was less of something specifically for the campus I work at and more specifically for the type of work that I do. Either way, it was so fun!
We headed off to Cville one day early and visited Monticello. I don't know how much of what I learned about Thomas Jefferson was real or not, but he seems like an interesting person. And I'm not saying that in a good or bad way... He was just interesting.
His manner of decorating was pretty nice though!
The grounds weren't as big as what I'd expected though, so we got done pretty early and ended up going downtown. I went ahead and parked at the hotel we were having the conference at (where we were also staying) and we went to QNoodle and Kung Fu Tea.
The food at QNoodle was SO GOOD. We got spicy xiao long bao (soup dumplings), jiaozi (dumplings), and we got some egg rolls too. I loved the flavor of the chili oil there, I would love to come back here one day!
Oat had been wanting one of these Princess Peach drinks ever since he saw an ad for them. We don't really live anywhere near a Kung Fu Tea. As it turns out this was the third closest to us (still 80~something miles away), and we normally don't drink a lot of sugary stuff, so this was a fun experience! And we even got little crown shaped straw caps too!
So, the actual conference I won't really talk about since I don't want to talk about my job much... But it was enjoyable! We got a lot of nice food (Oat and I went out to eat when we could as well).
I learned a lot, met lots of new people, but wish I'd been able to network a bit more. I was a member of a committee and some of the members remembered me from the meetings while others were like, "Do I know you?" when I introduced myself ( ¬▂¬) I'm going to have to network more next year since the next year my boss wants me to run for a position in leadership...! If nobody knows who I am, how am I supposed to get votes?!
I met another girl (I guess I should say woman since we're in our 30s) at the conference who was using a Hobonichi and I got all excited and we talked about journaling. Two separate conversations I had (one with her, and another with Oat) convinced me to basically get back into it again to at least help me with all the CRAP I have to do for work. My schedule has been insane this year and I feel like it's going to get more busy as I get more involved in the "professional" world.
Anyways, working girl out. I have to go do presentations at 4 DIFFERENT HIGH SCHOOLS this upcoming week (they're trying to kill me). Ciao!