Leading off this blog, Division Brilliant was well represented at Saturday’s TLI! That’s news to us! Thank you Trainers and Attendees. Nice to see all Division Directors and our Program Quality Director in attendance.
If you missed out, you can still attend the event on January 27. Register in advance (and soon!) on the District 13 website at d13tm.com. Training will run from 5:30 to 9:30pm.
Upcoming Area Speech and Table Topics contests in Division B include Area 15 on February 4 and Area 12 on February 6. The Area 15 contest will run from 6:30 to 9:30 that evening. The Area 12 contest will run from 9am to Noon. Links will be posted on the District website.
Wednesday night’s Bayview Toastmasters meeting saw the club add two new members. In addition, Area 13 Director Fred Vornbrock won best speaker and Division B Director Jing Humphries won best evaluator. Member Alicia Aldridge won best Table Topics. The club meets on the second and fourth Wednesday at 5:30pm.
Congratulations to Cranberry Area member Meg Major on becoming the new Chairwoman of the new Diversity, Equity and Inclusions Icons advisory board for Shelby Publishing!!!
Finally, a special shoutout to a wonderful Toastmaster who loves my content and my fashion sense. I always enjoy getting to meet up with her whether it’s on Cranberry High Noon visits or at speech contests. One of these days, we’ll have to eat at Jimmy Wan’s and go disco dancing 🕺 💃.
To Sarah R Souri, my Toastmaster friend and biggest supporter of anything Stylish and Trendy I come up with, happy birthday 🎊🎂🎈.
The Earlybirds Toastmasters club held their club contest on January 9 via zoom.
Cameron Suorsa and Walter J Smith participated in the contest. They both did an excellent job answering the table topics question and Walter delivered a great speech on “a brewing storm”. Congratulations to both contestants as they advance to the area round.
Cameron placed first and Walter J was the runner up in the Table Topics contest. Walter also won 1st place in the International Speech contest. Both of them will represent Earlybirds at the Area 14 contest on February 25. Best of luck to both as they look to advance even further.
Volunteers were from Earlybirds as well as outside the club. Bayfriends, a new Toastmasters chapter, in Division A, also had members in attebdance. Thank you to all who showed up and cheered on our contestants, as well as those who helped out.
The Area 14 contest will be February 25 from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. The Division B contest will be March 21 from 1:00pm to 5:00pm. Here are our winners from the Table Topics and International Speech Contests.
Yesterday, Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters held its Club Contest. While only one speaker participated in the speech contest (Amit Grover), five took part in Table Topics. All gave great answers to the question that contest chair Tina Kramer came up with. But only one could win the contest and move on. While Amit won the speech contest, he placed second in the Table Topics contest. The winner of the Table Topics contest was Cranberry High Noon Vice President of Education Linde Riley. Finishing third was last year’s evaluation contest champion, Sarah Souri. Amit and Linde will compete on February 17 at the Area 13 International Speech and Table Topics competition.
Cranberry High Noon and Aspinwall member Amit Grover will advance to the area speech contest. He also placed second in the Table Topics contest. He will represent CHN on February 17. Cranberry High Noon Vice President Education Linde Riley placed first in the Table Topics contest and will represent Cranberry High Noon in the Area 13 contest on February 17. Here’s our turnout for Monday. Nice to have our district leaders in attendance.
Overall it was a fun contest. I liked the interview questions that Tina came up with as well as the Table Topics question itself. We had some dignitaries in attendance as well. Bob Johnson, DTM and Program Quality Director; and two present Division Directors (also past District Governors), Jing Humphreys (Division B), and Stephanie Scott (Division D).
That evening, the Eriez Toastmasters club held its contest. Six contestants participated. Terye Carney won first place in Table Topics and Azeeza Reed won first in the International Speech contest.
The Table Topics question was all about “The time to do something right.” Azeeza’s winning speech was titled “You”. Terye and Azeeza will compete in the Area 15 contest to be held on February 4.
Last night was the first Greensburg Toastmasters meeting of 2021. Overall it was a successful meeting.
Our president Michelle Teague opened the meeting and introduced me as Toastmaster. I introduced our three speakers.
Awesome speeches by Greg, Chuck, and Sam. Greg really spoke to me with his speech on retirement plans. Should I go with a 401k or Roth IRA? I actually have an IRA CD with my bank. But at my age, this is something I need to get serious about and really commit to. I’m learning more about retirement from Chris Hogan. Chuck’s speech involved humor. With his setup, I thought he was going to give us a comedy routine. Break a Leg is what we tell those in the entertainment industry when we want to wish them good luck. Sam’s speech was something very near and dear to him. It’s also something that we need to pay attention to.
Jim Teague led Table Topics. The answers were very creative as we found out everyone’s theme song. Mine was ‘Smile’ by Vitamin C. I laughed as I learned everyone’s song.
We welcomed Josh Dilly to the meeting as our club coach. He brings lots of leadership experience to the table, serving as an area and division director.
Our club International Speech and Table Topics contest is during our next meeting on January 20. We have three speakers lined up (Denise, Jim, and Chuck) and four Table Topics contestants (Myself, Greg, Diane, and Jim).
Our Area contest is February 7 from 1:00 to 4:00 and the Division C contest will be March 13 (same time). I’ll be attending the Cranberry High Noon club contest Monday from Noon to 1:30. All three events will be covered in the blog.
This is a blog for all things Toastmasters primarily in District 13 and Division B.
Leadingoffthis blog, TLI Make-Up is scheduled. You can attend either training. Register in advance on the District 13 website at d13tm.com. Dates and times listed below:
January 16, 2021 – 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM
January 27, 2021 – 5:30 PM – 9:30 PM
FRED VORNBROCK RECENTLY APPOINTED AREA 13 DIRECTOR
District 13 and Division B congratulate Fred Vornbrock, DTM on his appointment as Area 13 Director. Fred is supporting the district in multiple roles including Corporate Liaison and President of the McKeesport Club; as well as other club officers roles, club coach, club mentor for two clubs and a personal mentor for various individuals. Recently retired, Fred is a dedicated Toastmaster and he is changing lives and having an impact on those whom he is serving.
Here is a schedule of upcoming Toastmasters events and contests.
I will be attending all division contests in addition to the area contests (Area 12 and 13, and three from Division C).
April 9-11, 2021 District 13 Conference and Annual Business Meeting
June 2021 Toastmasters Leadership Institute (Club Officer Training)
The Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters club, is hosting its international speech and table topics contest on Monday January 11th at 12 noon EST. Let the club know if you are interested in attend this event. The event is online and is free of cost.
I’ll close the blog by giving a shoutout to our district leaders for representing Division B this year. Thank you for your dedication in making District 13 successful.
Time to put the past behind as it has no place in 2021. What happened in 2020 stays there. I don’t mean the pandemic and all the shutdowns, but the grudges I held against others and the fights I may have had with people. It’s a new year and that means you’re forgiven.
A fresh start awaits me in 2021. That includes reading. I already started on a reading project at Christmas, and that’s the story of Hall of Fame safety and former Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Polamalu. I’m already on Chapter Six and thus begins the USC part of Troy’s life. He would play at Southern California before being drafted in the first round by the Steelers in 2003.
He was the heart and soul of the Pittsburgh defense in the 2000s. He descended from a great Samoan king. I !earned a lot about his upbringing in Oregon and his family life. His other brother was a great athlete, however, drugs and gangs derailed those dreams. His USC days set the tone for the Trojans to become of the best teams in the nation. He played with Heisman trophy winner and top pick in the 2003 NFL draft, Carson Palmer.
In the spring of 2020, before COVID became a household word, I was taking a class at church called Financial Peace University. I had taken it before in another life and wanted a fresh start this time around. The class was much different this time, with only nine weeks but the same seven baby steps. Joining Dave Ramsey this time around was daughter Rachel and personal finance and retirement planning expert Chris Hogan. Rachel definitely is following in her dad’s footsteps and educating everyone to live like no one else so later, they can live like no one else.
While I was off work in the Spring, I took the time to read their books. Chris Hogan’s Everyday Millionaires and Rachel Cruze’s Love Your Life Not Theirs. Both books pertain to the world of personal finance and money habits.
In Chris’s book, I learned that ordinary people can build extraordinary wealth. You can have $20 to your name in your early 20s and think getting rich is just a pipe dream. But if you educate yourself and discipline yourself, then it’s possible. The testimonials from these everyday people who became millionaires are astounding. Buy the book and read it. You won’t be disappointed.
Rachel’s second book was the one I read. Her first one is about teaching kids how to use their money wisely. I learned in ‘Love Your Life Not Theirs’ not keep up with the Joneses. When someone keep up appearances, you know something’s up. Life isn’t always as good as it looks on social media. Comparing your life to theirs will only make you feel insecure and inferior.
Here’s what I learned from my boss babe and blogger friends, social media is not real life. Facebook isn’t the whole picture and neither is Instagram. If you stay true to you and live and love your life, you will be just fine.
I look forward to reading ‘Retire Inspired’ starting this week and learning from it. I’ll have an updated report next week in the blog on this book as well as Rachel’s new book ‘Know Yourself Know Your Money’. I’ll dive into both this week.
Before I close out the blog, I want to give The Trendy Bunny Studio a shoutout for their event tomorrow night. This Goals Journal Class will help those create a Visual Goals journal and there will be a guest speaker. Tickets are required for entry. For those who can’t make it tomorrow night, Alisha has said this event will likely be once a month and a series. Sounds like a great night.
This holiday season was different for many reasons. Those of you who had planned to travel were stuck at home. If you wanted to have a big party, you were only going to be limited to a few people. Or you were going to have learn how to throw a party virtually.
I took advantage of the virtual platform known as Zoom and attended a few holiday gatherings myself. I attended four Christmas parties and I have Zoom to thank for that.
On December 17, I attended a joint Christmas party with the McKeesport and Penn Hills chapters. We heard a few speeches, played games, and sang songs. I also crushed it on the trivia that night, answering almost every question right.
The following Monday, I took in the Cranberry High Noon Christmas party. The word of the day was ‘festive’; the theme of the meeting was “Two Truths & A Lie”. We had to get the club to guess the one thing about us that wasn’t true. For me, I had the misfortune of making my question too easy to answer.
The next night at South Hills, we rocked our Christmas colors and had everyone laughing with our holiday swag. We also discussed our holiday traditions. The day before Christmas wasn’t a virtual meeting, but I stopped at Trendy to pick up a gift from Juliet to give to my co-workers for Christmas. I also had my picture taken with Team Trendy. They loved the picture when I gave it to them a week later.
The Gaffron Christmas party would have to be done virtually this time. My family had some experience with the platform. It turned out to be a success. We ate our cookies, rocked our bluelights, and whose Christmas tree that was. The virtual Gaffron Christmas party lasted a little bit over an hour. I even explained to my family what Trendy Bunny was. Liz and Olivia’s bluelight glasses reminded me of Trendy because Lacey always wears them. They do help out when you sit in front of a computer screen all the time.
Your plans may have been interrupted this year and you might have had to take it easy. But maybe a quiet Christmas is needed sometime in order to reflect. This was a crazy year after all.
Here’s to a Happy Healthy 2021. Wear a mask 😷, wash 🧼 your hands, and stay safe.
If I repeat some stuff in today’s blog, I do apologize. It’s been that kind of year.
Just like 2019, let’s break down the year 2020. Bet you didn’t think we’d be dealing with a pandemic when the year started, did you?
Early 2020– It started out normal. I developed a love for Gilmore Girls. I wanted to grow my work friendships from the previous year with my Squad. I was blogging every day. During the middle of the month, I had a ugly run in with a total stranger over a comment I made on a Pro-Trump page. She then started to attack my blog and my selfies. I got a vote of confidence from my District 13 Toastmasters family and from my cousin.
I started to realize that I was on a different path than my work family. They had their interests and I had mine. Toastmasters contest season heated up around the middle of February. Still a pretty normal start to the year if I do say so myself. I did a model speech for Area 22 and was a contestant in the Area 24 Speech contest. The best weekend was leap day weekend. It started out bad when I got ghosted by my friends at White Rabbit but I began to introduce myself to other people. The Area 21 contest was very well attended and I made some new friends from Elk County Toastmasters. I even started to make more friends at church.
I also began to follow local business around Westmoreland County. This would have a bigger impact on my life later on in 2020 and showed my love for my community and small businesses. The Trendy Bunny Studio opened up on March 6. I followed the shop and Masterspieces on Instagram and really enjoyed the content.
Then, the pandemic hit.
Spring 2020–With local businesses and malls shut down, there was nothing to do. Most people stayed at home and started eating junk food, gaining their “quarantine 15”. I was able to attend virtual Toastmasters meetings, go out to Ligonier, and walk around Twin Lakes. Parking was free as all the stores were closed.
Eventually I began to make the transition back to work. Masks would be required while working, and managers did their best to social distance the crew. Overall, it wasn’t too difficult to jump back in. The weather in May was crazy. From snow flurries on Mother’s Day to hot and humid just after Memorial Day. We had virtual club officer training on June 20. Over 200 toastmasters attended.
With the pandemic wreaking havoc everywhere, we decided to stay close to home for vacation. Instead of going to Cape May as in past years, we went to Erie instead. We went to Waldameer Park, Presque Isle, and I even went to the Dobbins Landing and saw all of downtown. It was a quick and easy vacation that concluded with a stop at the Grove City outlets. Just like last summer, it wasn’t very eventful. But excitement was in the air for the fall. Remember Masterspieces, which at the time was part of Trendy? Courtney, the owner, was getting ready to open up her own store over Labor Day weekend. One summer day in Latrobe, as I was appreciating the beauty of the fountain and the Fred Rogers statue, I looked for the location of the new shop. I knew it was going to be a great location. Next to Greensburg and Ligonier, Latrobe has became my favorite local town.
I attended my first night market in late August. I met Wolf and Whisk Baked Goods owner Kelsey Blahovec and bought some cookies (included was a GBG sticker from Masterspieces). I was excited about the grand opening. She was going to have a popup one of the nights of the grand opening. This night was the start of many local business experiences for me in 2020.
That night, I also made the decision to let go of my past. It was 20 years since I started at Hiram G. Andrews center. It could have been so easy to just relive those good old days but in the end it was best to just let the past go. Labor Day Saturday I decided to bid my past farewell.
Just as late 2019 was about improving my style, late 2020 would be about growing friendships. I began my Labor Day holiday by visiting Masterspieces for their grand opening celebration. The next day I made my first ever visit to the Trendy Bunny Studio. I also stopped at RSVP before making my way up to Johnstown for my aunt’s birthday. I began to build great relationships in the community. I also grew my network on Instagram by following the bloggers who attended the event at Trendy on September 20. One of those people has encouraged me to find the joy in my everyday life.
At the Fall Symposium, I 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. In December at our Club Officer training event, we held a panel discussion about the Spirit of Toastmasters and answered questions pertaining to membership, education, and other club experiences.
This might be the third time I’ve done this blog so it might be a bit redundant. But I can say with enthusiasm that I’ve gotten 2020 out of my system. It’s time to do 2021 and look ahead to all that this exciting year has to offer.
I’m sure all of you are ready to end this year we called 2020. I am too. I’m ready to jump into 2021 and set some goals. But let’s talk about the good that came out of this year.
I came into 2020 hoping to improve my work relationship with my four friends I collectively called the Squad. It started out well and then we all got busy and we didn’t always work together. Our last day working together was right before everything shut down due to the pandemic. We all reconvened at some point in June.
I became active on Instagram and began to follow small businesses and boss babes on the network. I learned more about businesses that were opening up like the Trendy Bunny Studio and Masterspieces. Eventually, I began to visit these stores in person. Thanks to Instagram and Trendy, I also began to grow my blogger network. Plus, I’ve grown my friendships very well this year. I traded up and it’s benefited me very well.
My shining moment came in September when I won the Spirit of Toastmasters award at my Fall Symposium. I earned the award because of passion for visiting other clubs in the District and promoting them in my blog. I shared my award with my work family as well as my church family. I was quite surprised when I was honored with the prize. It even led into the three of us who won the award to take part in a panel discussion at the club officer training.
But let’s get into what this blog is about. My plans for 2021. The whole year isn’t quite set in stone, but the first three months look exciting so far. Let’s talk about it.
January will bring some interesting reading. I have some Christian books as well as some personal finance reading in mind. I will be promoting Division B in the blog as well as the upcoming event at Trendy on January 4. Now that I’m debt free, I’m going to get serious about saving and planning long term for retirement. There’s also that little trip to Disney coming up in September. I’ll have to plan for that too. Club contests start up in January and I’ll be participating in those too.
February is when we celebrate Valentine’s Day. Area Contests will be starting up as well. Hopefully, it won’t be as crazy come March like last year. I’d like to plan a shopping trip to Tanger Outlets around the end of the month to usher in Spring. I want to treat myself while at the same time planning for the future.
2021 will be a milestone year and it will be a magical one as well. It will also be a year of self care.
Continue to look for my #joyspotted posts on Facebook as well as positive affirmations.
I’ll start this final blog of 2020 by telling you what I told accidental_farmgirl (Bria). If I learned anything from this year, 2020 has taught me to invest in my community, let go of my past, and support my local everything.
This year was my 20th since graduating from Hempfield Area High School and starting college at the Hiram G. Andrews Center. It’s been very easy for me to want to relive my past and recreate those moments because they were my good old days. On Labor Day Saturday, I made the decision to leave the past behind.
2020 brought me new friends and connections. Courtney from Masterspieces; Kelsey from Wolf and Whisk; and Cheri from Maisy Cakes. Also, the girls from the Trendy Bunny Studio. Before I visited these people and their businesses in person, I followed them all on Instagram. I was keeping up with Team Trendy even before their grand opening. Masterspieces followed, and late that summer brought Wolf & Whisk and Maisy Cakes.
I’ve become great friends with all of Team Trendy. I’ve shared my Toastmasters achievements with them (my Distinguished Toastmaster medal and my Spirit of Toastmasters award). I’ve shopped there and I’m always giving them my encouragement and blessing. The event held there in September encouraged me to keep up with and befriend those Instagram bloggers who attended and I might have some ideas about what kind of content to post in 2021.
The new name for my blog symbolizes my last two years. 2019 taught me to dress nicer (the Stylish) and 2020 brought me new friends (the Trendy). Both experiences were the inspiration for my new blog name. You know what they say, third time’s the charm. I think this name will stay.
“Stylish 👢 and Trendy 🐰.” I really love it, and I know you will too.
The year 2020 is almost over. Good riddance. It’s been a hard year with COVID, social distancing, and a crazy election year. But 2020 also had its moments where it was wonderful.
The blog was really beginning to take off. I was hoping to grow my relationship with my work family before COVID hit. But things turned out for the best thanks to social media.
I was so excited about upcoming Toastmasters speech contests and the conference, and then the pandemic shut everything down.
2020 taught me to find new interests, develop a routine, and appreciate my community and local businesses. My work has taken me around most of SWPA and even beyond. In the past I would go to Pittsburgh and shop. This year was different. I started to hang out more in downtown Greensburg, Latrobe, and my new favorite hotspot, Ligonier (my little Stars Hollow).
Oh yeah, I discovered Gilmore Girls in 2020. Around the holiday weekend just before New Year’s Eve, I began to get into the show. I watched all seven seasons on Netflix. It really related to me this time around. The series ran during my college years. I didn’t have as much interest for it when it aired on the WB. Now I’m a huge fan of the show and would definitely rewatch the series. I’ve accumulated so much Gilmore merch this year. Can you say fanatic? Here’s my latest Stars Hollow find.
Downtown Greensburg had a grand opening for a store that would have a major impact on me later on this year. On March 6, the Trendy Bunny Studio opened it doors to a packed house. The line to get in stretched all the way back to South Pennsylvania Avenue. The place consisted of three women, three businesses, and big dreams. For a long time, I followed Trendy and another business (Masterspieces) on Instagram and learned about them by following their posts and watching their videos. Eventually we began to share common interests. Alisha and I both love Gilmore Girls. She wanted to be like Lorelai and I wanted to be like Rory.
When COVID hit in March, Trendy was shutdown along with everything else. They were only open a week before being forced to close. But they persevered though it all and reopened in June. This pandemic would teach me to appreciate small businesses and to support my local everything.
This summer, due to COVID-19, was uneventful. Our Cape May trip was cancelled as my family worried we’d bring home symptoms. Therefore, we settled for Erie. It was still fun but nowhere near as fun as the shore. The end of August marked 20 years since I’m started college. Rather than try to relive it all again and again, I felt it was best to just let it go once and for all and leave the past in the past. My walk around HGA on Labor Day Saturday marked the end of an era. Just as last year when I retired my SRU homecoming tradition, so I did the same thing with Johnstown.
Just as I wrapped up my visits to the past, I began to shop small and support my local everything. My visit to Masterspieces on Labor Day Friday was awesome. I got to meet Courtney’s family and hooked up once again with Kelsey. We had met up a week before at the Greensburg Night Market. She did a pop up that night. We talked about night market and this visit would be a turning point.
I worried that people would look at me weird because of how I presented myself. But everyone made me feel confident. I learned how to “Be Me” and I made out pretty well that night. The Mister Rogers book and Shop Local tumbler are still two of my favorite purchases from Masterspieces.
My visit to Trendy the next day would be the first of many. I introduced myself to Jen and Lacey and got to know more about the business. We talked about life and I learned that we’re all Hempfield graduates. Soon after, in subsequent visits, I got to meet more of Team Trendy. The girls have all become wonderful friends of mine.
In September, the Trendy Bunny Studio held a blogger event. I read about it on Instagram and while I knew most of Team Trendy (I’d meet Juliet a week later), I got to meet some other new faces and start following their pages and reading their blogs. One of those is Joyfullyyoursamanda, and boy does she have a story to tell. She has had her struggles with depression and isn’t afraid to talk about her mental health. But she started her page to spread joy, and I’m blessed to call her friend, just like I am friends with Team Trendy.
Amanda posts those things that bring her joy, also known as #joyspotted. Her passion for finding the joy in every day has encouraged me to do the same. She’s one of many Instagram bloggers and boss babes whom I’ve had the opportunity to befriend this year. Others include Kati (LondynnKate Photography) and Bria (accidental_farmgirl).
Here’s some pics of Team Trendy from their big events this year. Halloween, Small Business Saturday, and Christmas.
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 Symposium. I 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 visiting other clubs paid off as well as my passion and personality. Cranberry High Noon won club of the year for Division B and, along with Earlybirds, is one of my most visited clubs in District 13.
In December at our Club Officer training event, we had a panel discussion about the Spirit of Toastmasters. The three award winners all answered questions that pertained to membership, education, and other related topics. The theme was a Christmas Carol, so the panelists dressed like the Spirits of Toastmasters Past, Present, and Future.
I’m going to close off the blog by talking about how much I love going to Ligonier. It all started during the pandemic when I needed something to keep me busy. I made it up there a few times in the Spring. I walked around Main Street, ate lunch in the Diamond, and sat in the gazebo. Once the restrictions were lifted, I was able to go in some of the shops and look around.
Ligonier is pretty at Christmas. I can’t say that enough or don’t go there enough to appreciate it. The Diamond is just stunning with all the decorations and when it’s all lit up. I took many pictures this holiday season. Here are just a few.
Merry Christmas. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and be grateful for what you have. Remember that Christmas is not about the presents under the tree, but the people you’re close to. You don’t know what someone’s going through, so be good to them this holiday. Remember when someone helps you out to pay it forward in the future.
Stylish 🍒 