It’s time to look ahead to next month, but before I do I’ll give an update on how Monday night went. A few nights ago, I attended a Bible Study that the newest coffee shop in town, Cutie’s, held. They had been doing this for a little bit now and at the last few, the turnouts have been great. This month has seen me get back into reading the Good Book, one chapter of Proverbs a day.
Monday night’s turnout was just as amazing as the last few have been. You can get free coffee outside or you can walk in and order a drink (the cafe was open until 7 on Monday). We started off the night with a song and then it was time to study the Scripture and hear an encouraging word from the speaker. Overall, I was very pleased. The study runs every two Mondays and the next Bible Study will be August 12. It’s scheduled to run through October 21.
For most of us, August means that summer is still here and it’s still going to be hot. However, for the kids it means that summer vacation will be winding down soon and school will be starting in a few weeks. Tomorrow night is the unofficial start of the NFL season as the preseason kicks off. Without further ado, let’s see what August has to offer for me.
To kick off the month, we’ll be spending some quality time with family who are visiting from out east this week. We’ll have a picnic this Friday and it looks to be a great time.
I’ll be making some more visits to other Toastmasters clubs in August as I continue to relight my Spirit of Toastmasters fire. I’m hoping to do an online visit for Allegheny Mountains tomorrow night. Sometime this month, I am also looking into visiting Bakery Square Toastmasters, hopefully next week. That will be an online visit. I am going to shoot for an in-person visit later this year, likely during my vacation week in December.
It’s going to be a busy Toastmasters month for me in my clubs and with those I’ll be visiting. Next Wednesday I’ll be speaking at my home club, finally beginning the process of knocking out my level 5 so I can finally finish my path. I’ll schedule speeches every three weeks, with August 27 at Laurel Highlands and September 18 at Greensburg also be scheduled for speaking engagements. We just got word that our District received the highest honor in the world, being a Smedley Distinguished district. We placed #9 in the world, out of all the districts. We really poured it on at the end of the year getting our clubs to finish Distinguished or higher, and we even chartered a few new clubs. One of them is Giant Eagle Toastmasters, which will be in the same area as Cranberry High Noon, Cranberry Area, Promasters, and Westinghouse. I’ll be interested to see how this club works out.
Emily in Paris is back for season 4. This upcoming season will be split with the first half premiering August 15 and the second half premiering September 12. As is the case, I’ll watch an episode a week. For the first half, I’ll watch two episodes so that I’m ready for the second half to premiere in September.
I’m halfway through the last Harry Potter book and plan to be finished by the end of the month. I realize I still need to watch the last three movies in the series. Therefore, I’ll be doing that in August with part two of the Deathly Hallows planned for Labor Day weekend.
I’ll be doing a few restaurant reviews in August and I’m planning on trying out Nico’s this Friday morning. Later this month as part of my dinner series, I’ll be eating at Don Patron. If I can go to Ligonier for Night Market, and that will come with better planning and leaving earlier, then I will do a review there as well.
Finally, it’s almost August which means we should hear more about Night Turn Appreciation Week at Giant Eagle and if and when we’re doing it. Last year’s theme was a lot of fun with lots of great food and words of encouragement from our management and higher ups. I hope whatever’s planned for 2024 is just as awesome. It’s a kind gesture for those of us who work “behind the scenes” overnight to make sure the customers find what they’re looking for in their shopping experience.
Stylish 🍒 