I don’t want my title to have a negative slant to it… in fact, August was awesomely great! Despite this year’s bleak first three quarters, the last quarter is proving to be BOOM BOOM UBER MENTAL!
First off, my month started with my 29-year wedding anniversary with my husband Tony. Happy Anniversary (such a patient man… in regards to my professional life)
We were off to an annual educational conference this year in San Francisco for the meeting industry. I try to attend it every year – it’s sooo enriching to me and my business. My husband was able to come along since it falls right at the same time as his work vacation. The timing was perfect, and we are finally traveling together (YAY!).
What we did is turned it into a vacation/business-type of thing; sometimes even though I’m on holiday, I’m still “on” and always on the lookout for new properties/venues and activities to do. I call it “Research and Development.” So, after the said conference we took a road trip (with a rented car) and headed north from San Francisco coastline all the way into the state of Oregon . OMG seriously OMG it’s gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! Why don’t we know more about this place … WOWOWOWOW… Seriously, they should promote this place more. Everyone knows the coast of California is beautiful… however, no one hears about the Oregon coast… WOW it’s just as gorgeous. The landscape is different and spectacular. At some point we continued our road trip to another state: Seattle, Washington . WOW another beautiful and fabulous discovery; due to our time schedule we were only able to stay for 24 hours. Having said this, once we dropped off the car rental, we took advantage and did the tourist thing all over this VERY VERY PRETTY CITY. We saw the famous Space Needle, had a Tete a Tete picnic along the waterfront, did the Hop on Hop off Trolley Train, (you get the picture).
The morning after we then headed to the train station where we were Vancouver, BC bound. Boy were we excited! Once we arrived and settled in our hotel, we headed out to discover this glorious city. Yes, we did the typical tourist things: toured Canada Place, rented bikes in Stanley Park, took the ferry to beautiful Victoria , took an all-day tour bus to Whistler , enjoyed the nightlife and dined in Gastown, and yes I managed to squeeze in a few site visits to some hotel properties.
Conclusion: we (hubby and I) managed to do the entire Pacific Rim from top to bottom, and it is just BREATHTAKING. Doing this, one can appreciate the beauty of Mother Nature… I know it’s cliché but hey, it’s something one NEEDS to put on one’s bucket list… just a MUST DO (humble thank you, universe).
As if that weren’t enough, I came back on Saturday and went back to work… the following Saturday I put the final touches on a Destination Wedding I was coordinating. The grooms were from Toronto and came to get married here in our BELOVED Montreal . WOW what a day it was… such a GLORIOUSLY GLORIOUS wedding. The LOVE that was in the air was electrifying… I NEVER get tired of this stuff… even though the schedule was a “MENTAL” one for me:
- started at 6am
- wedding party ended at 1am
- got home by 2am
- slept approx. two hours
- left for the airport at 5am – last-minute business trip
- arrived in Mexico City at 11am
- needless to say I was EXHAUSTED!!!
YES I ended up going to Mexico City (on business for a full week Sunday – Sunday). I usually don’t do a full week, however a client needed and wanted to do it then and there, so as per the norm I complied (we were going to do this anyway, but it was just a question of when). Well the when came and off we went. Although it sounds very glamorous (and it is) it was a lot of hard work. For the first half of the week, we basically did back-to-back hotel site visits (this was to see where we could do the next Incentive program for my clients). When we were done in Mexico City we then took another plane to Ixtapa, Zihuztznejo , to once again see what it had to offer for an upcoming Incentive program. WOW what a pleasant surprise! It was the complete opposite of the hustle and bustle of Cancun, for example – it’s calm and quiet with a beautiful coastline. Easy decision was made and the deal was closed… YEAH BABY!!!!
So you’d think: OK that would be enough “action” for this month right? NOOO – came back to YUL and dove right into a few large projects I have coming up this last quarter:
- Sweet 16
- 25th wedding anniversary
- Annual (3-day) sales conference
- Annual (3-day) general meeting
- Fundraiser Wine Tasting
- Few corporate holiday parties
- Logistical planning on three upcoming Incentives
- Several speaking engagements
- School Fall Session preparation
Just to name a few … all to be executed by year’s end … OUFFFF… your head is probably spinning and you’re thinking; “She is nuts…,” right?
Well, it’s the nature of our business… sometimes it’s all and sometimes it’s nothing. When it’s all, we take it on FULL FORCE (to make up for the nothing).
August has been busy busy busy, and September doesn’t look any different. However, I TRULY wouldn’t have it any other way… #lovemywork #lovemyjob #thankyouuniverse #keepitcoming
