With the year 2024 set to draw to a close in ten days, here’s my top ten countdown for the year. Most of these are my own experiences with some events that made news locally and nationally.
#10-August 16, 2024—I bought a book after having breakfast at Eat’n Park. This book covers the story of Eat’n Park as it celebrated 75 years in 2024. I enjoyed it immensely.
#9- Spring 2024–Crazy weather in our area with floods in April, tornadoes in May, and excessive heat in June that welcomed Summer 2024. Two devastating hurricanes that caused damage in Western NC and Florida.
#8–Dinner with Mr. Clougherty. We continued our yearly tradition of eating out starting in the Spring (we had our first dinner May 2 and ended in October). Pictures are from my birthday dinner in June at the Olive Garden and September at Eat’n Park.
#7-June 2024–My first of two vacations this year took me on some fun day trips including Slippery Rock and Indiana. Here are pictures from my visit to the Jimmy Stewart Museum and my purchase from the Michael Kors outlet in Tanger Outlets in Washington.
December 2024-It was much colder when I took my second week off. I went Christmas shopping in South Hills Village and attended club officer training at WCCC in Youngwood.
#6-In 2024, Cutie’s Coffee Company in downtown Greensburg became my go-to place for great coffee. Their seasonal menus have been great too and every other week through October, they held a Bible study in their small parking lot. Just bring a chair and a heart for Godly worship.
#5-May 2024–I attended my first in person Toastmasters District Conference in five years at the DoubleTree Hotel in Washington PA. The keynote speaker were excellent and our guest speaker listened to me as I connected with her about my “journey.” I was inspired after she told us a similar story. Here are the winners from the two speech contests.
#4-April 2024–Toastmasters International celebrated its 100th anniversary. We celebrated the crowning achievement at Winter TLI on December 7. Johnstown Toastmasters celebrates its 70th birthday at Hoss’s in Richland Twp. I visited Indiana and Johnstown clubs early in the month. In December, Pittsburgh Toastmasters celebrated its 85th birthday. Oh, and don’t forget, Greensburg Toastmasters celebrated its 45th year in July.
#3-June 2024-District 13 finished the 2023-24 Toastmasters year with the highest honor, Smedley Distinguished. Fittingly enough, our District was the 13th to achieve Distinguished honors. Greensburg Toastmasters finished Select Distinguished with seven goals met during the 23-24 TM year.
#2-November 2024–The week before Thanksgiving, we took a trip to Hershey where we saw Trans Siberian Orchestra at the Giant Center. We also saw lights near Hersheypark, enjoyed great Italian food, and we wrapped up the trip at Chocolate World where we shopped before heading home.
#1-October 2024–We held our annual Gaffron Family reunion on Columbus Day weekend. My uncle played a slideshow consisting of old Gaffron memories. The weather was perfect with sunshine and readings around 70 degrees. We also celebrated Annabelle’s birthday by taking her to dinner at EDO Hibachi and she had a Karate party with her friends and cousins at the studio where they practice.
Finally, I continue to live my best life with my fashion journey, as hard as it can be to stay loyal to it. It can be lonely at times, but I’m trying my best to ignore the voices telling me to give it up. No matter how compliments I receive for my outfits, they will mean nothing unless I compliment myself.
Stylish 🍒 