This is another private blog. Some things are best left told in confidence.

First of all, I had a great time at Bud Murphy’s with Maura and Ashley. It was a long time coming but it was worth it to hang out with the girls. I did receive a nice compliment beforehand from a woman about how I dressed. My leather jacket, boots 👢, and scarf 🧣 got rave reviews from this female I never met before last night.

This night was a month or two in the making. Before that, I spilled my guts to Mr. Clougherty and while that felt good, this dinner date was more important. I don’t care what the consequences would be.

We talked about our day and then I got down to business. I wanted to talk about the September overnight in Ashtabula. Even though no one else cared, I was a little more sensitive.

Maura also complemented me on my attire and I told her why I dressed up when we would go out for dinner on the overnight trips. While everyone dressed normal, one decided to look stunning.

Emily, the girl from Uniontown whom Chase was hanging out with, was wearing a dress. I then realized how silly I looked when I saw her looking all gorgeous. Maura told me that Emily always wears dresses. But it was a turn-on for me and since then I have had a crush on her.

I admitted to the girls that I was still attracted to Emily and they promised to keep it a secret.
Not to repeat anything, but seeing Chase and Emily happy made me realize that I longed for someone myself. The events of that night ignited a passion in my heart for learning about relationships and marriage.

I’m thankful that Maura and Ashley were good listeners. My cousin Katie also heard me out It’s because of her that I’ve been posting to my blog. The girls (Maura and Ashley as well as Katie) didn’t tell me that it was stupid for me to have a crush on someone, much less have feelings for them so young. For all of them to go easy on me was exactly what I needed.

I’m glad Maura was able to get Chase to come to the Greensburg Rite Aid that day. Because of him and Ashley having come back, I’ve seen our friendships grow. Adding Emily to that mix makes the circle bigger.

The loneliness I experienced after Grandma died probably helped drive this crush turned attraction. God works in mysterious ways. Therefore I’m thinking the Lord is using ChEmily to fuel my interest in intimate relationships and marriage.

Last week, the three of us saw a lot of each other. Emily and I exchanged compliments on our leather jackets, I told her and Chase ” ❤️ you” when I left the Dollar General in Scottdale. They told me the same thing in return. After the Erie Lowe’s, Maura and I couldn’t stop talking about the tree Chase bought for their apartment. Maura said it was a cute tree. I told him on Thursday when we left that he and Emily make a cute couple.

We finished our dinner and I felt thankful the girls and I did this and we would plan something soon. We parted ways by saying ❤️ you and went our separate ways.

This is from October but this explains how I’ve been feeling the last couple of months.

10/24/19–Today on break I opened up. We were at our Dollar General in rural Carmichaels in Greene County. But first…

I’ve been patiently waiting to move back home, but had to wait on my sister to have the rugs put in. Once I move back home and get settled in, I’ll feel a little more at ease.

However, the loneliness has begun to get to me. It’s been five months since Grandma fell and eventually passed away. Some days are better than others, but lately it’s been hard.

In the last month, I’ve also been fighting back a crush at my workplace. But I’m not going to admit that it is a crush. I don’t want to betray the trust of one of my good friends in the process.

We were on an overnight in Ashtabula last month. After counting the Lowe’s that afternoon, we had checked into our rooms at the local Red Roof we were staying at. We met up in Mark and Twan’s room waiting to go to dinner.

Two of the girls from Uniontown walked into the room. One was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. The other was wearing a pink dress. The blonde looked stunning and it’s been hard for me to forget that night ever since. I knew that Emily liked Chase but I’ve been smitten with her for the last month.

I’ve been lonely for most of the summer and seeing her all dressed up that night set off those feelings. It didn’t help that I was wearing gym shorts and a T-shirt. It didn’t matter to anyone but it did to me. The loneliness I’d been dealing with exacerbated things too.

I was sad 😞 over the recent loss of loved ones within the past year. Seeing Chase happy with Emily made me realize how lonely 😔 I really am. I never told Maura that day because I didn’t trust her to keep a secret; plus her, Ashley, and Chase are thick as thieves.

Those five minutes I got it off my chest today didn’t seem like much. For Maura to listen to me made me feel good. I thanked her at the end of the day before I went home and we hugged. I told her and Ashley ” 💕 you” as Maura always does with me. We would make plans to hang out soon.

It was a great day for a Christmas Party, if you didn’t mind the snow.

I had the liberty of attending two parties yesterday. The first one I had to dodge snow squalls to get to but I got there.

At first it looked like it was only going to be a handful of us there. The big bosses (John, Tom, Sarah) plus Bobby, Tyler, and myself. Tyler had the holiday tunes playing and Tom was loving my stylish attire. Pretty soon, the snow let up, and more people showed up.

Chase and Emily pulled in. Chase looked festive in his ugly Christmas sweater. Emily with her cake was looking stylish in a skirt and heels 👠. The girls and Chuck were next to arrive. Maura and Ashley had their plate of cookies and Chuck surprised us with his plate of vegetables. Josh and his girlfriend were last to show up. Now it was a party.

We stood around and talked for a bit before the pizzas came. Then we sat down and ate. We laughed, we cried, we talked shop. Maura wowed us with her ugly sweater and the unicorn 🦄 sticking out of it. Ashley and I looked more festive with our Stylish Christmas sweaters. Chase entertained us with some exceptional singing. Emily shared her dessert with us. I praised her for her sense of style and told her that it started rubbing off on me.

Tom got a picture of all the ugly sweaters and the people wearing them. Chase and Maura tied for most ugliest sweater, Ashley and I tied for most stylish sweater. Maura and I rocked our boots 👢 very nice. Tom said I was dressed the most stylish out of everyone, but I felt that Emily rocked her outfit just as well. Here’s the Stylish (or ugly) Christmas sweaters of Pittsburgh.

At 6pm, it was off to the Greensburg Toastmasters Christmas Party. Michelle and Jim laid out a nice spread with the cookie table and the four pizzas. We sat around and ate and socialized like we always do in Toastmasters.

Around 7, Faerie led us with a great Table Topics session centering on Christmas traditions. Everyone gave some great information about other countries and how they celebrate the holidays.

I am wowed by the trees and different Santa’s I see when I check out the PPG Wintergarden every holiday season. Plus, in the past, students have crafted some pretty neat gingerbread houses that have been shown during the holidays.

Later on, Chuck played some classic Trans-Siberian Orchestra tunes on his guitar along with a few popular hits. With our help, he was able to get the lyrics down great.

We played a game to end the party. The person who says left passed it that direction, same with right and across. We played the game well and had a lot of fun with it.

Here’s the ugly or stylish Christmas sweaters (well, some) of Greensburg Toastmasters.

Like the holiday party with WIS, I think I passed for most stylish Christmas sweater, along with Kim. The Teagues of Jim and Michelle won the ugliest sweater contest of the night. Loved the gorillas 🦍 you two.

These last few days have partied me out, so I was happy to chill tonight. Have a great night. One week until Christmas. ❤️ you.

It was a Toastmaster Weekend to remember.

For the first time in my Toastmaster career, we had Winter TLI in December. It was nice to see Westmoreland County Community College decked out for Christmas 🎄.

We had a great turnout for our Winter TLI as 143 people showed up though it did seem like there was almost 200 there. Our chair Elizabeth Carter kept the event moving and everything was on time. I helped out by purchasing wraps from Walmart for the box lunches and picking up six cases of water. Because a Toastmaster needs water during their training.

The Spring Conference chairs Jim and Michelle Teague got me to sign up early to help out with the event. They got a good list of sign ups on Saturday and more will be on the way. This makes me think it’s going to be a great conference.

Our day started with a presentation by Sarah Andreas. One of the things that stood out from her talk was that we had to list three things about ourselves. A couple of the things I mentioned was that I’m stylish and that I’m insecure. She talked about some of her books which she had for sale at her table.

From the first keynote speaker it was off to our Division Breakout. Our Division C Director, Brett Aristegui, led a marvelous session and introduced the current and past district leaders including me. We got an opportunity to sign up to help out with upcoming speech contests and TLI makeups. I’m putting my hat in the ring and helping out all across Division C and with all four Division contests once again. From State College to Johnstown and Oakmont, I’ll be everywhere this contest season.

I then attended Club Growth Director Bob Johnson’s session on Retaining and Gaining Members. We broke off into teams and did some brainstorming on how to maintain membership.

Carol Snyder and I ran the secretary training and we had 12 people show up. It was a Q&A session more or less. We got enough done to accommodate the hourlong session.

I stayed in the room and took part in Nate Stephens’ Effective Evaluation session. We evaluated a speech and played Evaluation Bingo. We learned what a good evaluator and bad one do.

The workshop wrapped up with Fred Vornbrock leading a Dale Carnegie Training that we all enjoyed.

At the end of the day, I got high praises on my blog by the Division B Director, Terye Carney. She encouraged me to keep working on it and not give up. I had multiple people complementing me on my stylish attire. The houndstooth scarf was a big hit.

The next day at Achievers, we had a small turnout but two great speeches. Jim Teague gave his icebreaker and broke it down into three phases. Fred Vornbrock gave a speech about the idea of having a speech-craft event and asked us all for advice.

Jim and I discussed the possibility of his wife joining Achievers and I said I ask her to join. We also talked about a dedicated Johnstown member as a possible new addition to the club.

Yesterday was a day off for me. So naturally, I made the drive up to Cranberry for my visit to the Cranberry High Noon club meeting. I was so impressed with the greeting I got. Everyone was so happy to see me (this was my sixth visit to the club since I began attending in 2016). I even got called my new blog name. They even wanted the link to my blog.

The meeting itself went well. Three excellent speeches, a great Table Topics session (where I gave my 20 things I want to in 2020), and great evaluations from seasoned members.

After the meeting, we had some baked goods and socialized. One of the members even asked me how I picked out my stylish clothes every day. I did mention the reason why I started dressing nicer. She thought it was nice that one of my coworkers inspired me to dress more stylish.

I spent time last night reading over the comments from my visit. Definitely one of my best trips ever and one of my best Toastmaster weekends ever. Thank you for letting me get in on the picture as well.

One week to Christmas. ❤️ you.

Well today was the day. After pushing back the gift exchange a week due to conflicting schedules, we were finally going to do it.

Chase texted Maura and I yesterday about getting together. I was definitely up for it because I had gotten the idea across to everyone back at the beginning of the month. While the girls were unable to hook up with us, Chase and Emily agreed to meet me. We had lunch at Penn Station Subs next to Valley Honda. Ordering was a breeze. We then took our seat and hung out.

I’m always a little careful because I don’t want to act like I’m on another level. Chase always insists and says that that he and Emily love having me around. The fact is that I’m grateful for their friendship this year and for that of Ashley and Maura too.

All of them have helped me in some way. It wasn’t an easy year for me as I lost my Grandma to cancer and in September, my cousin passed away. Having the girls around to talk to helped me feel like I’m not alone. Having Chase come back made me enjoy my job. Getting to know Emily helped make me a better person.

We ate our subs and I opened my gift that they got me. It was some Ghirardelli chocolate 🍫 and a bucket to keep a candle in. I was grateful for the gift. 

We each told each other what we got and it sounded like we all had a nice Christmas. We even expressed our interest in the Gilmore Girls (and I never could stand that show when it was on the WB but I enjoy it now).

We then left for Penn Center but not before I gave Chase and Emily their gifts. They loved what I got them (there’s enough candy there for a movie night at their place). We decided that we should make plans to meet up once a month for dinner and Chase said he was up for that.

We got through our pharmacy very easily. More standing around than working but we still got paid for it. Once Zach excused us it was time for the girls to receive my gifts and for them to exchange with Chase and Emily. Maura and Ashley received my gift bags and loved them very much. I put a cat toy in everyone’s bags since they all have cats. I think my gifts went over well with everyone. Before parting ways we did a group hug. Here’s my fun loving friends.

In 2020, I hope we continue to maintain our friendship. I wish the girls the best of luck as they get ready for their wedding and Chase and Emily as they begin to ascend the company ladder. Best of luck to me as I make the most of my new blog and try and promote it so I can make money off of it. Also as I try and find true love 💕 in the New Year; and, as I consider looking for a place of my own.

One more blog before we go Stylish. Have a great last weekend of the year (and decade).

❤️ you.

Hoping to grow the club and qualify for Presidents Distinguished honors, the Greensburg Toastmasters chapter held its second open house of the Toastmaster year. 

Mike Dalton served as meeting Toastmaster. Before we heard our ice breaker speeches, President Jim Teague gave a presentation promoting the open house. He covered Pathways, which everyone is enrolled in by now. 

New member Marissa Wallace (my former coworker at WIS) gave her ice breaker on her best friend, Art 🖼 (the actual art itself not a real person). She embellished on her love of art and majoring in Communications at Pitt-Greensburg. She is a regular at the Arts and Heritage Festival held every year at Twin Lakes and was disappointed when they cancelled the event. 

Faerie Grace gave her “ice breaker” as well and discussed the Five Love Languages. She talked about the quiz that helps us find our love language. She used examples when talking about the Five Love Languages. The five ways to express and experience love called “love languages” are words of affirmation, quality time, giving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch.

I led our table topics session and asked the audience questions pertaining to summer. My only regret was not getting the guests involved (I ran out of time since we wanted to keep the meeting running at a good pace). Jim Teague served as General evaluator. Our evaluators Sam Wieder and Denise Pullen gave excellent feedback. I caught some of Sam’s suggestions for how Marissa can improve her next speech and heard Denise tell me my love language in addition to her evaluation of Faerie’s speech. 

Jim called for guest comments and they all enjoyed the meeting. No one joined at this time but fingers crossed we will grow our membership by five before June 30. 

I’ll have a blog on the Five Love Languages coming soon. Have a great night everyone. 

❤️ you.

Are you looking to advance your speaking skills further? Do you want feedback from experienced Toastmasters? Are you interested in giving longer speeches that won’t fit the timeframe for a normal meeting? If so, come join us at the Achievers club.

Our chapter meets at 2:30PM on the third Sunday of every month. We meet virtually via Zoom; if no quarantine, we meet at the United Presbyterian Church on 137 N Walnut Street in Blairsville, PA.

Our meeting format is divided into three parts: Prepared speeches, formal evaluations, and the Round Robin Feedback Forum.

While some speeches may be 5-7 minutes in length, others are longer. That’s one of the great benefits of this advanced club. Just like a regular Toastmasters meeting, the speaker receives feedback in a supportive environment. The evaluator will provide comments using the TI evaluation form for that speech.

Here’s what’s nice about Achievers: the Round Robin feedback. Members will also give their remarks on what they liked and how to challenge you to improve on your next presentation. The late, great Distinguished Toastmaster Charlie Wilson credits the round robin feedback he received in Achievers for his success in the many speech contests he was a part of. The ideas he got he applied to help him give an award winning speech.

You are welcome to attend meetings as a guest. To join Achievers, you must have your Pathways Level 2 completed (or have your CC).

Come join us at our next meeting on July 19.

Hey everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve posted on this page. I also did say I was launching a new one that would pertain more to Toastmasters. For now let me share with you where I’ve been lately.

Work did start back up on Mother’s Day weekend. While it started slowly it has picked back up. We’re heading into a busy stretch up to the Fourth of July weekend. The reason I bring this up is because I’m scaling back content. Posts on the Stylish Traveling DTM will be cut back to once or twice a week. It’s for the best. I don’t always have time to have a blog ready to go everyday. I think you all will be better off knowing that less is more. It’ll give you something more to look forward to every week.

In other news, I made my last car payment this month. My plan is to pay off the remaining balance on my 2016 Subaru Forester next month. Then next month I will be debt free. What I plan to do without a car payment is up to me. From being in that Financial Peace University class, I can say that it is great to not have that burden of making monthly payments.

I continue to read multiple books a day. I’m finished up my FPU related books and I am reading a chapter a week out of my inspirational books. I think the idea that less is more works here too and it’s time to cut it down to one or two a week.

Less is more and once I burn that into my mind, the happier I’ll be.

Easter Supper, The Young and the Restless (her story), All in the Family (or, as she passionately referred to the show, Archie Bunker), the Jeffersons, and Family Feud. Those are a few of the things I remember my grandma by as I mourn her loss one year later.

Tonight, we had raviolis for supper with garlic toast and salad with Olive Garden dressing. That’s a meal she’d be proud of cooking. Katie and Annabelle live in her house now and they’re keeping it up well. We ate Thanksgiving dinner there last year and I think she’d have been happy knowing we celebrated the holiday as a family.

Her favorite tradition was going to the Olive Garden for Great Grandma’s birthday. The whole family got together to celebrate. We ate great Italian food, laughed til we cried, and enjoyed each other’s company. She missed the tradition when Great Grandma passed away in 2006.

How about the surprise 80th birthday party at Persichetti’s? She knew nothing about it. We walked into the room and were greeted by family all wishing her Happy Birthday. Grandma was definitely surprised that night.

She took me in when Katie gave birth to Annabelle (the original plan was them living there and I continued living at home). I’d live there for several years. Eventually home would be calling me back.

We thought she’d beat her cancer last spring. When she took that fall in her kitchen, and she would hospitalized, and eventually put in hospice, we knew it was the end. We wanted to believe she’d get through this, but we knew better. She took her last breath the weekend I was at Hersheypark. I got the news coming home that she died.

Family and friends came to offer their condolences. Even some of the Gaffrons paid their last respects. Aunt Sue always thought of Lucille as family. Mr. Clougherty even came to the viewing to be there for me. After the funeral and burial, we had a celebratory lunch at Denunzio’s restaurant in Jeannette.

It was a lonely summer without her and I’d feel that loneliness even into the fall. Between seeing my coworkers happy together and my grandma passing away, I’ve begun longing for someone myself. But that’s another story that I blogged about last fall (one of my favorites to read).

I’ll close the blog with some advice to you. Love your family and don’t take them for granted. You never know when they’ll be gone for good.

Bye everyone. ❤️ you.

A great turnout by our Achievers club today with four exceptional speakers. These women spoke very well. The speeches were well-prepared and had our attention. But first…

Before we began the meeting I introduced our guests and we had a lot of them for today’s open house. Four from McKeesport (Yasmin, Daryl, Anna Lisa, and Vasco); two from Eriez (Mike Cortes and Mukesh); Sarah from Cranberry High Noon; Shanda and Manda from Elk County; Sanchita from Monroeville; and Isabelle and Emily from Woman 2 Woman.

Fred Vornbrock served as Toastmaster and introduced our speakers. Shanda Kelsch was our first speaker. Her speech was titled “Start”. Very powerful and encouraging. Hearing some of the inspiration from that speech, I may want to close off the blog with it. She made great use of the stage and rocked the red dress well. I gave her some small suggestions for improvement and let the round robin evaluators handle the rest. My challenge to her was to use that speech to be a blessing to someone, to be the lift that they need.

Manda Shaw, Sanchita Sarkar, and Yasmin Brown also gave great speeches. Manda shared her amazing journey with us and taught us to party like it’s 1999 (classic Prince song). She taught us to live life intentionally as well. Sanchita used dialogue in her speech and communicated to us well. She talked about a time where she stood up for what was right and was applauded for her direct style of communication. She would make a great mentor to someone trying to find their way in Toastmasters and in life. She was the champion of our Area contest. Yasmin rounded out the speaking portion by telling a personal story. What she spoke about took courage and the club and I praise her for stepping up like that. Check out Yasmin’s books when you get a chance.

All of our speakers hit a home run today with their speeches. The feedback was phenomenal and when I asked for guest comments, I can tell everyone learned a lot, even those who didn’t speak. I heard that a lot of people took notes. Fred addressed the club and our guests and encouraged them to come back. I see some potential new members out of today’s open house. Patti Thor (incoming District Director) promoted club officer training which will take place June 20. I ended the meeting at 5pm. Thank you to everyone who came out today.

Time to close off the blog. In light of the recent protests, I have to commend my city (Greensburg) for how they handled theirs today.

“Greensburg, you are not without your flaws; we are not without our flaws. However, today, you – we – showed up in the most flawless of ways. Today, you – we – breathed life into a peaceful protest. Thank you for your individual and collective voice!!”. Thank you Patricia and Kim. Greensburg set a great example today. I’m think all cities should follow their lead. I love my city.

There are three things in life that are constant. Those are death, taxes, and change. We can only control change. It takes courage to choose to live the life we deserve. We feel that we’re stuck, but we’re not.

Anything is possible. Believe in yourself. Forgive yourself. Love yourself enough to hold people accountable, to express yourself, to follow yourself.

Love yourself enough to say enough is enough. Great speech today, Shanda.

I’m posting to the Greensburg Toastmaster Reporter tomorrow. Look for my stuff there as well on here.

Bye everyone. ❤️ you.