Breakdown and Breakthrough

I have had a busy couple of weeks! Last weekend I was lucky enough to have my mom stay over in Rochester with me because AJ was out of town; we went shopping, ate some good food and spent some much needed time together. Sunday I headed back to B-town for my very good friends Colleen and Randy’s baby shower! They have having a little boy and I was so happy to share in the celebration of the newest addition to their family. I then spent Monday packing up a bag for the rest of the week.

Every Easter holiday for the past seven years I have spent this very important season at Young Christians at Work. This is a program run by the Diocese of Buffalo’s Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, participate come to celebrate Holy Week in an unique fashion, by taking part in direct service and also by learning about the catholic social justice teachings and how they apply to our real world. This program had a profound effect on me in high school, helping me to choice a much different path for my life then I first had plan. It truly have a great impact on my life and every year as I come back I still learn something new and get new prospective and guidance for my life.

Also now as a group leader I hope I service to help give guidance to those going through the program now and a support. This year I was very blessed to have an amazing group of students and a co-group leader!!!! Kevin and I made a great team and having a co-leader really help at the work sites also. For work sites these year, I can say that God truly touch me at them. The first day we worked at Loaves and Fishes which is a soup kitchen. I went there my first year as a student and haven’t been back to the site since. The first time I was there I have a deeply moving experience where there was a woman at the site who looked a lot like my mom. As odd as it sounds it made me feel blessed that we never had that experience, it also help me see that maybe God took my mom when he did because she was in so much pain. This year I was able to be a support of my group who helped serve those that came into the soup kitchen.

The next work site was People Inc. I have not been to this site before but I spent the morning working with Lee a woman with disabilities that loved to do art. Together we decorated her Easter basket and made a picture of a cat , finally I color a picture I left for her to keep. We also interacted with the people who work there who truly create a sense of community at day facility.

On the last day we went to Villa Maria which I had gone to 4 years prior. We were able to talk the sisters there about their lives and they offered so much amazing advice. We also helped clean the church, scrubbing chairs. I was also able to meet Sister Peter again, four years ago I had a chance to talk to her about her life and it ended up she had taught school at the local catholic high school in my hometown. We contact, and it’s hard to explain how deeply she touched me. The next year I was able to visit with her again. However the last two years I have been unable to make it to that site. I walked into her room and her whole face lit up and she said how happy she was to see me again. She asked about the kids I had this year and also about school. We talk about how she has been and about her latest surgery. She told me to always keep my heart open to the young people I was working with, because the love I have for them will so through and never lost that. I was pulled away to help give some of the students a new task, however Kevin and Phil were also able to go in and chat with her. Funny enough she told Kevin to follow my lead that I was a good person to follow. It brought a smile to my face and also a shared laugh between me and Kevin, all the work sites were amazing but there is something so powerful about the sisters it’s hard to explain fully.

The learning sessions as always were eye opening and enlightening; I always come away learning something new even after taking part in the program 7 years. While by the end of the week I am tired and ready to kiss my bed at home after sleeping on an air mat from Tuesday night to Saturday morning, I couldn’t think of anything better.

Birthday

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” - Abraham Lincoln quotes

As many of you know I celebrated my 24^th birthday this past weekend. Honestly going into the weekend I wasn’t totally sure how I felt about getting a year old, and I am still not totally sure. 24 is an age that is not here nor there. It doesn’t make any large mile stone or life changing point. It did however make the official end to my Miss America career. I try very hard not to think about and enjoy where I am now.

I think it is very easy to look at everything that is wrong and horrible and it takes a lot more energy to try and be positive. Being in a in between age makes it a lot harder for me to look at a lot of the great thing. I feel like mile stone ages are easier to have great things to talk about.

Lately I have been all about Bethany Ever After on Bravo. She uses to be one of the New York housewives and ended up getting her own show. She just turned 40 of the show and she was having a very hard time with that age. However all her friends were excited about it because she has done so much in her life, especially during the last five years.

For me I have been having a hard time looking at everything I have done since high school, youth 20s are such a work in progress time. I am in the middle of my grad school program and have a ton of projects going on. I am doing an AmeriCorps Placement, working at Shelley’s office, building my personal business, helping to plan events for the YWCA. There is a ton of stuff I need to try to fit in and start doing, including ballroom dancing, Zambia and starting to work out more again.

I know I have fit a lot of life in the small amount of years but I am still worried that I am not doing enough. Luckily I have plenty more years to fill up.

Pink Inspiration

This past weekend Buffalo was turned pink, it hosted the annual Mary Kay Career Conference. This event is called the “24 hour of power event” and it lives up to this nickname. The event was jammed back with everything you could as for and truly was inspirational and educational. The best thing about Mary Kay is it is truly about way more than lipstick. It lives up to its mission statement of enriching the lives of women.

There were so many amazing things I learn from the event. It would take me forever to share everything however here are a couple of them:

-Multitasking is bad for your brain; it’s have been proven in studies that your brain power can go down by 10 IQ points when trying to multitask. What you should do is something called power sessions; try to do 3 a day where you are completely focused on one task at a time.

-Dreams – God puts them in your heart and in your mind, and also puts people in your path to help. Maybe they are just to help focus you or to remind you others to support you along the way.

-No matter what you are doing, do it with your full integrity and focus.

-Winners= Listening, learning, helping and leading

-No victory without a battle

-“You will remain the same, till the pain for remaining the same is too much”-Barb Stimach

-Be careful who you listening to, do listen to anyone you wouldn’t trade places with. (Garbage in to your brain and garbage will come out).