This blog is entirely Toastmaster themed. I attended two meetings today. One in Cranberry and later, I attended a meeting in Erie. Well, it was virtual but still it’s fun to pretend now isn’t it?
I arrived for the Cranberry High Noon meeting around 11:45 this morning. Mike McKivigan, the club president, asked me to step up today and be an evaluator which I happily agreed to. He served as Toastmaster for the meeting and introduced his role players. Linde Riley served as Grammarian. She wowed us with her speech on last week living in New Mexico. Cristina Sanchez served as Timer, and Gauri Mengane served as General Evaluator.
Dipali Gupta was our first Speaker. She gave a great motivational speech on how to stay positive during the pandemic and having to be on lockdown. I picked up some great points from her speech. Diana Lomelin taught me a new word today and that is wanderlust. It’s a passion for wanting to travel. She spoke on some of the places she’s traveled, including Alaska, Hawaii, and the Grand Canyon. I really enjoyed hearing about her trip to Europe. A lot of work went into her speech and she provided some great pictures along the way. I would definitely visit France 🇫🇷 and Italy 🇮🇹 but would also throw in Germany 🇩🇪 and Switzerland 🇨🇭 on my trip. As her evaluator, I suggested using the part on France as a marketing vehicle for the convention in Paris which will now be next year. Ale Perez rounded out the speaking portion by talking about Toastmasters mentoring. Let’s have a Speak off to see who can talk about mentoring better. Ale vs. Walter J from Earlybirds.
Our soon to be Program Quality Director, Bob Johnson, gave an outstanding Table Topics session. Only three speakers participated to keep the meeting running on time. Rahul, Don, and Amit all gave great answers to the questions. The theme was Tell A Story Day. Almost everyone wore a hat today too. Shoutout to Tina Kramer for coming up with this great idea. If we had a contest for best hat, I think Judy would have won first prize. Mike had the best background. Went great with his hat.
Mike wrapped up the meeting at 1pm and thanked me for attending.
Let’s take a trip up Interstate 79, stopping at Slippery Rock and grabbing a late lunch at North Country Brewing before walking around campus. I ate outside and watched the traffic go by. Around 3, it was back on the road to Erie for the Eriez Toastmaster meeting.
I arrived around 4:15 and killed some time downtown before heading to my destination around 6. Division B Director Terye Carney and longtime Toastmaster Tom Quiggle (we go back to 2012) greeted me. The Eriez chapter also celebrated National Tell A Story Day. As Table Topics Master, Terye had us give our favorite stories. I talked about how I came up with the name for my blog.
The stylish part came to me during a trip to Ashtabula for work. We were going to dinner after work and we all met up in our motel room. It was a casual trip and we were all just hungry. One of the girls who was with us came into the room and was rocking a pink dress. While no one cared how I looked, I felt upstaged. Seeing her look so stunning made me start paying attention to my appearance. I was also feeling lonely after my Grandma passed away that summer. Seeing two of my colleagues happy together made me realize that I longed for someone myself.
I started dressing nicer and thus the name would soon be born. I was really flattered when Sarah Souri referred to me by my blog name when I visited Cranberry High Noon. The blog has been going strong since November.
Our speakers all gave exceptional speeches tonight. I learned in Alexis’s speech that even the biggest successes have had to deal with ADHD. She was courageous in speaking about her struggle with it. Swati’s speech on pranking was great. I think she could gave us a great campfire speech if the vocal variety was improved a little bit. Are You Afraid of the Dark material.
Our evaluators did well and stayed within time. Despite the small turnout it was a very productive meeting. Lots of awards and leveling up coming to the club. Terye has been hard at work running Division B and serving as the Education lead for Eriez. Her and I were both disappointed we couldn’t run the gauntlet this Spring. Hopefully we get to do it soon. Time to close off the blog.
I’ll be attending Meadville’s virtual meeting soon and plan on checking out Midday, Next Step, Elk County, South Hills, Mercer County, and Cranberry Area in the near future. Lots of virtual meeting on the agenda. Now time for my words of wisdom.
Remember to live your best life. Be your best you. ROCK out because you are worth it. Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.
Whether it takes you to Spain, Nashville 🎸, New Orleans 🎭 or up PA 271 to Westmont (PA), enjoy the ride and experience.
If get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance 💃.
Bye everyone. ❤️ you 🤗 😘.
Stylish 🍒 