The last two weeks have been really good to me. A lot of great things have happened in my life. I’m here to be a goodwill ambassador, spreading my congeniality and kindness. I’m your friend and everyone’s friend. So it gives me great pleasure to present you with some of the great news happening in my life.

At one of my recent Lowe’s, I learned that I was getting a 50 cent raise at work. My production has improved greatly over the last few months and the bosses have taken notice. I try to hit my 3000 UPH when I can at every store.

Last Thursday I made a visit to see Team Trendy and I finally got to meet Alisha, the store owner and founder. I had two previous visits and had some nice conversations with the other girls. I’ve made some friends for life in her, Lacey, Brook, and Jen. On my third visit, I bought a round to place on my wall. It says Hocus Pocus. Here’s to many more visits to the Trendy Bunny Studio. Shop local and hang local.

The District 13 Awards Ceremony was last Saturday. It was held virtually. The awards ceremony was held first before the main portion of the Fall Speech. Yours truly was recognized for my DTM and as an added bonus, I also won The Spirit of Toastmasters award. I was quite surprised when my name was called. But my visiting other clubs and enthusiasm and personality really paid off in the long run. Cranberry High Noon won club of the year for Division B and, along with Earlybirds, is one of my most frequented clubs in District 13

At the end of August, a pair of my old glasses but the dust while I was at work. That was a wake up call for me to get some new eyewear. I went to America’s Best two weeks later for an eye exam. My new glasses came this past Monday and I rocked them at swim practice.

After three months, it was time for a haircut. I went to my local Sport Clips and got my hair trimmed, plus shampoo and a massage. I love the tea tree shampoo that the girls use there and was complimented on my shoes 👞. I came out looking like a million dollars.

I took some pictures of me with my awards and I can make my powder blue work shirt look stylish. I forgot to show off my bling last week so I had to make up for it yesterday. I even took a picture of me with the proclamation that I received for achieving my DTM, plus the card immediate past District Director Denise Etter sent me, along with my medal.

How sweet is this attire? I grew to love Gilmore Girls this year, watching all seven seasons and the revival. My small business pals love the show too so there’s something right there that we can agree on. This sweatshirt is at my favorite new shop, Masterspieces, and I’m going to buy it for me. It’ll go great with jeans or sweatpants and with a cup of coffee (for those who drink coffee like a Gilmore Girl, like me).

What I’ve been doing has been and where I’m going next will be too. But you’ll have to wait until the next blog for that. Until then, stay stylish. I look forward to providing you with more content next time. Have a great week everyone. ❤️ you.

14 years ago I lost Great Grandma, Aunt Nan, and Gramma within the span of a month. Soon after I began to enter a dark period of my life.

I was working and I even had benefits but I missed school and I missed my friends. I was ashamed of myself because I felt like nothing had come out of my college experience (that’s how I felt at the time). I was competing with my classmates and I was losing. It got really bad in 2008 as I felt like a total failure. I was starting to see my friends from high school and college go off and start their lives, buying houses and getting married.

Things got a little better in 2009 but it would still a few more years before I appreciated what I really had.

By 2013, I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Walking around Slippery Rock University following my friend Gary’s memorial service, I took in the sights and sounds. I thought about the memories I made and realized I was meant to be there. I was still having problems at work with troublesome coworkers (by now I was at WIS). I had a hard time letting things slide and took a lot of things to heart.

My past controlled me for a very long time. I was in a bad relationship with “the person inside me” and realized that if I didn’t end it, that person would keep tormenting me. I’ve recently kicked “them” to the curb and the end result is that I’ve become more confident, not assuming the worst, and definitely not worrying about what others think of me. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

You’ve loved with all your heart over and over and over again. All that love will find its way back to you because you never got it back from them. Here’s some inspirational messages that might be future blogs.

Be confident and don’t always assume the worst.

Be someone who makes you happy.

Learn to love yourself before falling in love.

Appreciate everything you have. Maybe what you have isn’t bad after all.

Have a great Monday everyone. ❤️ you.

Looking back on this Grandparents Day, I remember my wonderful Gramma Hilde.

It’s been 14 years but we still miss her. I was at work at Kings the morning that she took her last breath. I feared the worst as I left. When I got picked up that afternoon, I got the news that Gram had passed. I was numb.

It was already a hard year as I was trying to figure out my path in life upon graduating from college. Great Grandma and Aunt Nan died within two weeks. I was dealing with unemployment and like an idiot, was holding out for the perfect job. Eventually I was going to have to take what I could find. But enough of that.

My memories include many Friday nights visiting her and watching Jeopardy. When I graduated high school, she gave me a subscription to Newsweek. Having a big family, every Christmas was an Endless Gaffron Christmas. She loved the holidays and her family, including all of her grandchildren.

One of her best meals she made was rouladen. It was a great Sunday staple for years. She also treated us to dessert, her apple crisp. I remember Friday nights having ginger snaps and drinking coffee.

My cousin and her family stayed at a cottage this weekend at Shawnee State Park. Gram loved staying there when we took our vacation. She also loved our traditional Mother’s Day picnics every year, and the pictures of all the grandchildren that we took as a group. Even with the chilly weather and rain yesterday, I have a feeling that she would have enjoyed the picnic and time with her grandkids and great grandkids.

There is no such thing as the perfect year, the perfect person, the perfect job, or the perfect life. Leave perfectionism behind and see how quickly you grow.

Last year was far from perfect, but it ended well.

This year with everything going on, also far from perfect. But I broke up with the “person inside of me” who controlled my thoughts for years.

The end result is I’m more confident now than I’ve ever been, and I’m living my life for me.

We feel anxious when we fixate on things we can’t control. For me that was college graduation. For a long time, I had a hard time letting go of my past. Mainly my academic years. Just as I began to get better in my studies at Slippery Rock, it was too late and I had to graduate. This left me with a feeling of despair that hung over me for a long time. I felt mediocre for the first several years after I graduated and feverishly tried to recreate my past. I even attempted enrolling again to prove my experience in college wasn’t a failure. I let my past control me for the longest time.

Since 2013, I’ve begun that process of growing into the person I want to be. It’s been a slow process but I think I finally got it. I’ve learned to control those things I have power over. I’ve learned to control how I start my day, who I speak to and what I speak about. I also control what I listen to and what I eat. I’m not letting my past control me anymore either.

I’ve broken up with that “person inside of me” who controlled my thoughts for years.

I’m more confident about myself now and not worried about what others think.

For example, just the other day I got a compliment about my bag from one of my managers the other day and it made me very happy. She even wanted to know where I got it. I ordered it off of Amazon. As I left work that day, my superiors encouraged me to live my life and as Mr. Clougherty always says, “If it makes you happy, go for it.”

In the past I would feel insecure and not get my money’s worth out of an item bc one person would feel uncomfortable or didn’t like it on me saying it made me look bad. That opinion ate me up and I put my possessions in hiding.

I always talk about rocking a nice outfit. Well, rock that self confidence and don’t always assume the worst. Finally, be someone who makes you happy. Have a great night and enjoy your weekend. ❤️ you.

I was looking forward it since I heard the announcement on Instagram. The grand opening of my favorite gift shop, Masterspieces. I decided on Friday to come down and shop. I was also looking to finally meeting my small business owner friends in person.

I arrived at 6:15 and was greeted by Kelsey (of Wolf and Whisk fame). I was blessed to meet her at the night market a week earlier. I also bought some of her cookies and some stickers from Masterspieces.

Masterspieces grand opening was awesome (I probably talked enough about Friday night). Latrobe has become one of my favorite places to shop. Fred Rogers should be proud of his hometown. Best Friday night I had since my dinner date with Maura and Ashley at Bud Murphy’s last November. I learned about Masterspieces when I was checking out another small business, The Trendy Bunny Studio, located in the heart of downtown Greensburg. I’m proud of Courtney for opening her own store and blessed for my newfound friendships with her, Garrett, and Kelsey.

More small business fun on Saturday. I had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the year ❤️ from White Rabbit. It was also my first time visiting the Trendy Bunny Studio (and The Tee Life and Little Gray House) and RSVP, where I bought Aunt Sue’s birthday present. If I wasn’t strapped for time I would have went to downtown Latrobe (for my second trip to Masterspieces and also Terri’s Gourmet Sweet Treats). I was on the road to Johnstown for lunch with Aunt Sue at Nyko’s. I received my Distinguished Toastmaster medal in the mail when I got home.

Yesterday I rocked a nice outfit and my new Shop Local tumbler at church and celebrated Aunt Sue’s birthday by giving her the gift that I picked up from RSVP. We had a nice visit from her and Benny, as well as Uncle Bob, Elizabeth, and Marnie 🐶.

So what did I take from this weekend? I made some new friends for life. I plan on coming back to visit my new favorite stores. I gained a passion for Shop Small and look forward to Small Business Saturday on November 28th. Latrobe has become one of my favorite places to shop and walk around.

I left the past in the past for good when I departed HGA after stopping for a quick stroll on Saturday. Over time, I’ve become more confident about myself and have stopped worrying about what people think of me and that includes family. My new friends as well as Mr. Clougherty are accepting of me for who I am.

I also enjoyed great time with family. It was a great weekend and Fall will be here in two weeks. Only regret was I didn’t get more pictures.

Hello Fall. I love you a whole Pumpkin Spice Latte 😄. OK it’s not here yet, but I’m allowed to get excited for my favorite season. It’s the football 🏈, food 🍏 🥧 🎃, and fashion 🧣 👢. It’s also the foliage 🍁 and festivities, but we’ll save that for a later blog.

I’m counting down the days to this great event. It’s also the anniversary of my awesome coworkers and friends becoming a couple. This coming off of dinner with Mr. Clougherty, Fall Symposium, and our first in person Achievers meeting since March. I’ll be on my autumn high. Maybe I can rock a nice fall outfit for dinner.

Football 🏈 has gotten out of hand if you like the NFL. Some may say it’s too political or there’s too many fines for no reason whatsoever. College football is all about the money and the five power conferences. But high school football and the Friday night lights are still fun to watch. A rivalry game that pits two schools against each other (think Aliquippa and Ambridge; Greensburg Central Catholic and Jeannette) gets everyone involved. I still enjoy Lee Corso donning the mascot head to pick the winner of the big game. The SEC is still hands down the best conference in college football (go LSU). The NFL is still watchable but not as great as it once was. I’ve taken to enjoying the older games and announcers on YouTube. Summerall and Madden were the gold standard for announcers.

This is not going to about how great pumpkin spice is, but there is lot to love about food during the autumn season. Apples 🍏 are the perfect fruit for fall. A nice slice of apple pie with cinnamon ice cream 🍨 hits the spot on a crisp fall day as well as a cup of hot apple cider. Pumpkin spice, oh yeah. I love the taste of the first PSL from Starbucks (however I’ve decided to go local in search of the popular fall beverage). It’s fun to carve pumpkins with friends and stick candles in them to make them look scary or spooky.

The fashion is my absolute favorite part of the fall season. Summer ☀️ lets us wear as little as possible, fall 🍁 lets us layer up for those cold nights. It started last year for me when I ordered a new leather jacket from Amazon and then came the scarves from Old Navy as well as a houndstooth scarf and an infinity scarf from Amazon. Every fall since 2017, I bought a pair of boots 👢. Kohl’s has the brand I really like. I’m hoping to buy a black leather pair this time, or another suede pair. Waiting for the cool weather to get here so I can rock my fall outfits.

Shoutout to our local businesses before I end the blog. Congrats to Courtney who is opening Masterspieces in downtown Latrobe. It’s a gift boutique that she started earlier this year. Her custom illustrations and just about everything that she has posted on social media is just amazing. The store will have its grand opening September 2nd through the 5th.

Also check out the Trendy Bunny Studio (as well as The Tee Life and Little Gray House) and RSVP. Great local, small businesses all in the Greensburg area. Trendy Bunny Studio is located in downtown Greensburg, and RSVP is on US 30 just past Sheetz.

Have a great week and stay stylish.

Bye everyone. ❤️ you.

This is a blog for all great things happening in Division Brilliant and District 13.

Leading off this week’s newsletter, a big shoutout to all the Division Directors in District 13 (Marci Antion, Jing Humphreys, Carol Snyder, and Stephanie Scott) for their work providing amazing Club Officer Make-Up Trainings. Also, a special THANK YOU to everyone who donated their time to present and provide technical assistance during the virtual training.

The leadership and dedication of everyone will help all of our Clubs provide their members with the ultimate member experience as they achieve excellence in 2020-2021!!! A round of applause for all who helped out in this trying time.

Another big shoutout to the following clubs for “registering” their club to vote at the Annual Business Meeting by assigning their club’s votes to a proxy holder. Here is the list of clubs in District 13.

It’s the middle of August already, and in a little two weeks is September 1. You know what that means, Toastmasters. Time to collect dues. There will be more on this in upcoming newsletters as the dues renewal time nears. Remember, this is Goal #10 in the Distinguished Club Program (have membership dues submitted on time).

Finally, Cranberry High Noon would like to thank and recognize a few of our senior members who took on key leadership responsibilities and contributed to the success of District 13 for the year 2019-2020.

A mighty shoutout to Denise Etter, DTM (District 13 Director), Bob Johnson, DTM (Club Growth Director) and Rashmi Tevate, DTM (Area 13 Director) for your leadership and contributions to Cranberry High Noon and Toastmaster District 13. Denise and Bob served as part of the District Trio in 2019-20 and Rashmi served as Area 13 Director in 2018-19.

In closing, Fall Symposium is coming soon. Check back in the future for more details.

Lose the what if attitude and learn to love yourself more. Begin a routine and learn to follow it, and take on a new hobby. Have a great week everyone.

Bye everyone. ❤️ you 💋 🤗.

What is a tradition? A tradition is a custom or belief that is passed down through the generations or that is done time after time or year after year. Examples include eating turkey at Thanksgiving, opening presents at Christmas, or ESPN College Game day’s Lee Corso wearing the mascots headgear to pick the winner.

For me one of my current traditions is having dinner with longtime friend and mentor, sponsor and head swimming coach Kevin Clougherty. We started getting together once a month in 2013 and have held the tradition since. With his move to Greensburg, we have decided to have dinner locally (and we try to support the small businesses too).

Another tradition is our club officer training which is held twice a year. It’s usually held at Westmoreland County Community College, but this year was obviously held online. We still had a great turnout with over 250 people showing up virtually.

It’s hard to say goodbye to past traditions but that’s what had to happen with the Fall Conference ending in October 2017. It was a bittersweet event and it was well-planned by our conference chair. The Spring Conference would still go on but the Fall event would end so the District could focus on growing clubs. I had attended every Fall conference since joining Toastmasters in 2011 and the last one was the best. I made a lot of new friends in Toastmasters through these events. The hotels were nice too.

Another tradition that came to an end for me but lasted longer than it should have was Homecoming at my Alma mater. I graduated from Slippery Rock University in December 2005 and would attend Homecoming every year after. I got some flak for going in 2006 as I took off from my job at Kings. The best one that I attended was in 2007. I was still fresh, having been out of school a few years and all my pictures made students think I was the Rocket photographer.

For three years of my time at Slippery Rock, plus the first four years after college, I attended. The themes were always good. I loved the parades and you could tell everyone showed their Rock Pride. As much as I loved it, I realized that 2009 should have been the end.

By the next decade it wasn’t as fun, but I did get my Slippery Rock book in 2012 (and I got it signed by the former Director of Student Life). After feeling that my time there was mediocre, I finally accepted it eight years after I graduated. I made a brief comeback in 2016, but like the Fall conference, this tradition is retired for good.

The Toastmasters Fall Symposium is my new Fall tradition. When I missed the first one in 2018, I realized that a change needed to be made. This year’s event will be held on September 19.

I appreciate all of you who enjoy my blog. It’s always a tradition to provide you with great content.

Have a great night and great start to the workweek. Bye everyone ❤️ you.

This is a blog for all great things happening in Division Brilliant and District 13.

Reminder: The last District 13 Toastmasters Club Officer Make-up Training is on August 15, 2020. Register now!

Couldn’t attend one of the many District 13 Club Officer Trainings? Remember that you can attend training in any District. Be sure to communicate with your Division Director to provide proof of attendance and receive credit for attending a training outside of District 13. Below is a helpful link to District websites to review their training dates. Training will be hosted by Division D and will run from 10am to 2pm. Here is the link if you’re looking for it.

https://www.toastmasters.org/leadership-central/district-websites?fbclid=IwAR2KJuR3uQ_2YdP26VZEbQcKGKdrgK-GadF5PrXMpsdify3FCddDpEwpark

Public Service Announcement from your friends at Zoom, Toastmasters International, District 13, and Division Brilliant:

Now that Zoom has become the video-conferencing platform du jour, remember that everything that appears in your little square frame is being noticed and evaluated for better or worse.

Learn how to prepare yourself and your home for your next virtual call in our August Toastmaster humor column, Zoom Boom.

https://bit.ly/TI_ZoomBoom

Do you want to make a positive impact in District 13 Toastmasters?

Join the 2020-2021 Program Quality Team. Whether it’s a day, week, month, or even a year, we invite all of our friends to lend their creativity and talents to help promote “Quality” across our District. Please visit our opportunities page on the District website or reach out to Program Quality Director Bob Johnson directly with your thoughts and ideas! #MembersMatterMost

Shoutout to a great member and District Leader!

Area 14 Director and Immediate Past Administration Mamager Kim Santillo made the latest edition of North Hills Monthly. Santillo is a licensed insurance agent through HealthMarkets and her company is making it easier for people to find the right insurance coverage. She is a member of Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters and Zelienople Toastmasters. Way to go Kim!

In closing,

Immediate Past Division B Director Terye Carney joins past Division C Director Dana Mitnik as the only other Division Director to be standing alone in Distinguished or above in a TM Year. She did get Division Brilliant to Select in 2019-20. Brett Aristegui got Division C close to select distinguished.

This only amplifies a trend that Dana saw during his tenure as a Division Director. That is the shift to the community club. Division B and C is best suited to capitalize on this. It’ll be interesting to see where Divisions D and A stand as both boast a good amount of corporate clubs (Awesome has a good mix of community clubs as well).

My advice to you is this: Lose the What-If attitude and learn to love yourself.

Have a great week everyone.

This is a blog for all great things happening in Division B and District 13.

Cranberry High Noon held their first hybrid meeting on July 20! There were some quirks to work out but the club powered through it, collected feedback and suggestions, and is looking forward to the next Monday meeting.

The club also inducted Linde and Rahul. Congratulations to them.

The meeting’s theme was a single dream, a world of hope. The Word of the Day was Faith.

Program Quality Director Bob Johnson gave a speech on how to build a “Quality” team.

Amit Grover served as Table topics master. Participants included Mary Barr and Linde Riley.

The meeting was held at the Cranberry Rotary Pavilion at Cranberry Community Park on US Route 19. The park is five minutes north of Cranberry High Noon’s physical location (Cranberry Municipal Bullding).

Hats off to our Division B Clubs who have completed 1/2 DCP goal for Club Officer Training! Well done!! 👏🎉🏆. Five of the club have trained all seven of their officers and several more have trained four to six giving them their goal. Let’s work toward Distinguished honors and make it a great year for our Division B Director, Jing Humphries.

It’s August now, but I’d still like to give a nice welcome to our new 2020-2021 Division B Director, Jing Humphreys, DTM!!!

Congratulations as well to 2019-2020 Division B Director, Terye Musolff-Carney, and her leadership team for leading Division B to Select Distinguished! 👏👏👏

DCOT make-up, hosted by Division B on July 11, was a success! Big shoutout to all the trainers and attendees. It was a very engaging session and with many hats and lots of personalities. Wish I’d have been able to attend.

Have a great week and a great start to August.