Sheila Roberts's Blog, page 9

Ladies Night Out - Behind The Scenes

    Ladies night out - so many towns have them. It's a great way for women to explore their local downtown, get out with the girls, and have fun. And it's a good deal for the merchants also, helping to create visibility. In Bremerton, WA, that's especially good since many of our local businesses are owned by women.
     When some of us first talked about doing this it seemed like a simple enough idea. It turned out to be a little more complicated than we'd originally envisioned and it was certainly more work. My committee of amazing women labored over this for months, signing up merchants, getting sponsors, bringing in special entertainment. And boy, we had it in spades last night: the Sweet Adelines sang barbershop for us, the symphony provided a quartet, we had salsa music from a great band. And we even had tap dancers. Something for everyone. Our merchants went all out, offering everything from free flowers to chocolate covered espresso beans and free lattes. Almost everyone offered appetizers and wine tasting. And chocolate - you can't have a women's event without lots of chocolate!  And of course, our ladies got goody bags with some freebies in them to start them on their treasure finding adventure. Ladies, if you could have seen us stuffing all those goody bags you'd have given us medals... or at least chocolate.
     When it comes to something like this you work so hard, try to cover all your bases and then... hope the weather will cooperate. It did! A lot praying kept the rain at bay until ten minutes after the event ended. Talk about perfect timing!
     And a good time was had by all. This was only our second Ladies Night Out so maybe we're still in the honeymoon stage, but our team of women was pumped last night, high on success and good vibes. Yes, and chocolate.
     One man heard me talking about it at the bank with my teller and chimed in with, "Why don't you have a men's night out?" Well, simply put, you guys don't have the shopping gene. (But hey, if someone wants to plan one, go for it!) Anyway, like the old Cyndi Lauper song says, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."
     So, a big, public thank you to my wonderful committee of local businesswomen and volunteers who worked so hard. A big thank you to all the women who turned out, too. We did, indeed, have fun!

LADIES NIGHT OUT - BEHIND THE SCENES

    Ladies night out - so many towns have them. It's a great way for women to explore their local downtown, get out with the girls, and have fun. And it's a good deal for the merchants also, helping to create visibility. In Bremerton, WA, that's especially good since many of our local businesses are owned by women.
     When some of us first talked about doing this it seemed like a simple enough idea. It turned out to be a little more complicated than we'd originally envisioned and it was certainly more work. My committee of amazing women labored over this for months, signing up merchants, getting sponsors, bringing in special entertainment. And boy, we had it in spades last night: the Sweet Adelines sang barbershop for us, the symphony provided a quartet, we had salsa music from a great band. And we even had tap dancers. Something for everyone. Our merchants went all out, offering everything from free flowers to chocolate covered espresso beans and free lattes. Almost everyone offered appetizers and wine tasting. And chocolate - you can't have a women's event without lots of chocolate!  And of course, our ladies got goody bags with some freebies in them to start them on their treasure finding adventure. Ladies, if you could have seen us stuffing all those goody bags you'd have given us medals... or at least chocolate.
     When it comes to something like this you work so hard, try to cover all your bases and then... hope the weather will cooperate. It did! A lot praying kept the rain at bay until ten minutes after the event ended. Talk about perfect timing!
     And a good time was had by all. This was only our second Ladies Night Out so maybe we're still in the honeymoon stage, but our team of women was pumped last night, high on success and good vibes. Yes, and chocolate.
     One man heard me talking about it at the bank with my teller and chimed in with, "Why don't you have a men's night out?" Well, simply put, you guys don't have the shopping gene. (But hey, if someone wants to plan one, go for it!) Anyway, like the old Cyndi Lauper song says, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."
     So, a big, public thank you to my wonderful committee of local businesswomen and volunteers who worked so hard. A big thank you to all the women who turned out, too. We did, indeed, have fun!

Armed Forces Parade

Today our little city of Bremerton turned out to watch the annual Armed Forces parade. Ours is one of the biggest parades in the country, which is astounding considering the size of the city. But we are a navy town and you could tell that today by the large turnout in spite of a steady rain which was anything but warm. Felt more like March than May!
Still, all branches of the armed forces came out and every high school and middle school band dutifully braved the rain and cold to play for us. Service organizations, city officials - everyone was there. It was so great to see such a huge turnout considering what a cold, rainy day it was. Still, everyone was in a festive mood.
There's something unifying about this kind of event. Seeing all the branches of the service represented - so many!- drove home to me that a lot of people are risking their lives so that I can happily sit home and write. I certainly came away appreciating all the young people who feel called to make defending us their career. So I applauded and hooted along with everyone else as they marched by or drove past in vintage army jeeps. And I took pictures, of course.
Loved the guys giving out hot dogs and potato chips! Lucky Gerhardt got a hot dog. I, alas, am dieting so no hot dog for me. Wah.
Still, I had fun in spite of getting drenched. I felt badly for all those school kids in the drill teams and marching bands. Hope they were all properly rewarded with hot chocolate when they got home!
As for all the military folks who came out... thank you for your service!

ARMED FORCES PARADE

Today our little city of Bremerton turned out to watch the annual Armed Forces parade. Ours is one of the biggest parades in the country, which is astounding considering the size of the city. But we are a navy town and you could tell that today by the large turnout in spite of a steady rain which was anything but warm. Felt more like March than May!
Still, all branches of the armed forces came out and every high school and middle school band dutifully braved the rain and cold to play for us. Service organizations, city officials - everyone was there. It was so great to see such a huge turnout considering what a cold, rainy day it was. Still, everyone was in a festive mood.
There's something unifying about this kind of event. Seeing all the branches of the service represented - so many!- drove home to me that a lot of people are risking their lives so that I can happily sit home and write. I certainly came away appreciating all the young people who feel called to make defending us their career. So I applauded and hooted along with everyone else as they marched by or drove past in vintage army jeeps. And I took pictures, of course.
Loved the guys giving out hot dogs and potato chips! Lucky Gerhardt got a hot dog. I, alas, am dieting so no hot dog for me. Wah.
Still, I had fun in spite of getting drenched. I felt badly for all those school kids in the drill teams and marching bands. Hope they were all properly rewarded with hot chocolate when they got home!
As for all the military folks who came out... thank you for your service!

Friday The 13th Cruise

 DOES MY HUSBAND LOOK WORRIED? Maybe he sensed that today we were going to have a Friday the Thirteenth boating adventure.


It started off innocently enough. Our condo neighbors have a boat. Lucky them! (I've been hankering for a boat.) He’d had shoulder surgery and needed someone to run the boat for him. (Lucky us!) The weather was supposed to be great. We all set the date for Friday.
On Friday at noon we walked to the marina, armed with the necessities of life: pop, pretzels, and oranges (and an egg for Sheila, who was determined to stick to her diet.) We did our pre-cruise check and Captain Gerhardt settled in behind the wheel. The engine started right up. Sounded a little sickly but, not letting a little thing like that stop us, we began to putt-putt our way out of the marina. Two minutes later the engine putt-putted to a stop and we wound up drifting into a slip, an unwelcome third between two other boats. Thank heaven they were small!
And, thank heaven for Bryce the boat detailer who saw our dilemma and helped us tie up and work on the engine. And work on the engine. And work on the engine. At this point I turned to my husband and said, “Maybe I don’t want a boat.”
At last it was time to give up. Fortunately, a nice man in his bilge pump boat came over and towed us back to our slip, while we hummed the theme from GILLIGAN’S ISLAND. As we limped back someone remembered that it was Friday the Thirteenth. Well, that explained it.
Anyway, it was quite the adventure and, in spite of our technical difficulties we had fun. Because when you’re with nice people you can always have fun no matter what. So, many thanks to our hosts. And, better luck next time. (We’ll be sure to check the calendar before we take out the boat!)

FRIDAY THE 13th CRUISE

 DOES MY HUSBAND LOOK WORRIED? Maybe he sensed that today we were going to have a Friday the Thirteenth boating adventure.


It started off innocently enough. Our condo neighbors have a boat. Lucky them! (I've been hankering for a boat.) He’d had shoulder surgery and needed someone to run the boat for him. (Lucky us!) The weather was supposed to be great. We all set the date for Friday.
On Friday at noon we walked to the marina, armed with the necessities of life: pop, pretzels, and oranges (and an egg for Sheila, who was determined to stick to her diet.) We did our pre-cruise check and Captain Gerhardt settled in behind the wheel. The engine started right up. Sounded a little sickly but, not letting a little thing like that stop us, we began to putt-putt our way out of the marina. Two minutes later the engine putt-putted to a stop and we wound up drifting into a slip, an unwelcome third between two other boats. Thank heaven they were small!
And, thank heaven for Bryce the boat detailer who saw our dilemma and helped us tie up and work on the engine. And work on the engine. And work on the engine. At this point I turned to my husband and said, “Maybe I don’t want a boat.”
At last it was time to give up. Fortunately, a nice man in his bilge pump boat came over and towed us back to our slip, while we hummed the theme from GILLIGAN’S ISLAND. As we limped back someone remembered that it was Friday the Thirteenth. Well, that explained it.
Anyway, it was quite the adventure and, in spite of our technical difficulties we had fun. Because when you’re with nice people you can always have fun no matter what. So, many thanks to our hosts. And, better luck next time. (We’ll be sure to check the calendar before we take out the boat!)

FRIDAY THE 13th

 DOES MY HUSBAND LOOK WORRIED? Maybe he sensed that today we were going to have a Friday the Thirteenth boating adventure.


It started off innocently enough. Our condo neighbors have a boat. Lucky them! (I've been hankering for a boat.) He’d had shoulder surgery and needed someone to run the boat for him. (Lucky us!) The weather was supposed to be great. We all set the date for Friday.
On Friday at noon we walked to the marina, armed with the necessities of life: pop, pretzels, and oranges (and an egg for Sheila, who was determined to stick to her diet.) We did our pre-cruise check and Captain Gerhardt settled in behind the wheel. The engine started right up. Sounded a little sickly but, not letting a little thing like that stop us, we began to putt-putt our way out of the marina. Two minutes later the engine putt-putted to a stop and we wound up drifting into a slip, an unwelcome third between two other boats. Thank heaven they were small!
And, thank heaven for Bryce the boat detailer who saw our dilemma and helped us tie up and work on the engine. And work on the engine. And work on the engine. At this point I turned to my husband and said, “Maybe I don’t want a boat.”
At last it was time to give up. Fortunately, a nice man in his bilge pump boat came over and towed us back to our slip, while we hummed the theme from GILLIGAN’S ISLAND. As we limped back someone remembered that it was Friday the Thirteenth. Well, that explained it.
Anyway, it was quite the adventure and, in spite of our technical difficulties we had fun. Because when you’re with nice people you can always have fun no matter what. So, many thanks to our hosts. And, better luck next time. (We’ll be sure to check the calendar before we take out the boat!)

Girlfriend Getaways

     ... are the best! There's something about spending extended time with good friends that is simply good for a woman's soul. Of course, it helps if you have exceptional friends like I do!
     I just recently returned from a midweek mini-vacation spent with "the Game Girls," a group of women I've been hanging out with for many years. Once a month we get together for lunch at someone's house and then spend the afternoon playing games. This can range from card games to word games, the two newest favorites being Farkle and a card game called Golf Ten.
     We soon realized that we needed to enjoy more of a good thing and so started doing a yearly weekend getaway in April, which we dubbed "Enchanted April," naming it after that classic chick flick with Josie Lawrence and Joan Plowright. We've been doing this for about ten years now and we've been to a lot of wonderful places: Whidbey Island, Portland Oregon, and Granville Island in Vancouver, to name a few. We even took a weekend cruise from Seattle to Victoria one year. This year we were on the Oregon Coast. For the most part the weather cooperated, but even if it hadn't we'd have had a great time. (You don't need good weather to stay up until two in the morning laughing and playing games.)
     We have several gourmet cooks in our group so the food was spectacular. And the treats were, too. Trader Joe's dark chocolate caramels - oh, chocolate heaven.
     But really, the best part of the trip was being able to share our joys and troubles, to be able to be ourselves and know that whether we were at our best or worst we were still loved. Because we've long since gone from friendship to sisterhood.
     How about you? Do you have a special group of friends you hang out with? I hope so, because I'm convinced that friends are one of God's greatest blessings.

GIRLFRIEND GETAWAYS...

     ... are the best! There's something about spending extended time with good friends that is simply good for a woman's soul. Of course, it helps if you have exceptional friends like I do!
     I just recently returned from a midweek mini-vacation spent with "the Game Girls," a group of women I've been hanging out with for many years. Once a month we get together for lunch at someone's house and then spend the afternoon playing games. This can range from card games to word games, the two newest favorites being Farkle and a card game called Golf Ten.
     We soon realized that we needed to enjoy more of a good thing and so started doing a yearly weekend getaway in April, which we dubbed "Enchanted April," naming it after that classic chick flick with Josie Lawrence and Joan Plowright. We've been doing this for about ten years now and we've been to a lot of wonderful places: Whidbey Island, Portland Oregon, and Granville Island in Vancouver, to name a few. We even took a weekend cruise from Seattle to Victoria one year. This year we were on the Oregon Coast. For the most part the weather cooperated, but even if it hadn't we'd have had a great time. (You don't need good weather to stay up until two in the morning laughing and playing games.)
     We have several gourmet cooks in our group so the food was spectacular. And the treats were, too. Trader Joe's dark chocolate caramels - oh, chocolate heaven.
     But really, the best part of the trip was being able to share our joys and troubles, to be able to be ourselves and know that whether we were at our best or worst we were still loved. Because we've long since gone from friendship to sisterhood.
     How about you? Do you have a special group of friends you hang out with? I hope so, because I'm convinced that friends are one of God's greatest blessings.
You have to start the trip off with lunch at a diner and a caramel shake. One of our fine chefs in the kitchen! Jilly, trying to check her email. (I thought she was trying to hide!) A stop on the way home to buy flowers. And a stop at our favorite fruit stand.

Little Sheila's Big Lesson

    BEFORE YOU READ THIS... here is my disclaimer. This is not to make anyone feel guilty for what you have or how you spend your money. And if you have cable, yes, I'm a little bit jealous. But this is a lesson I learned recently when I was whining and I wanted to share it with you for what it's worth. 

     "I don't see why we can't have cable," I grumbled. This whole thing of saving money by having a TV antenna and recording shows on our old VCR was ridiculous. In my humble opinion. Life was so much easier with cable when I could program all my HGTV shows to automatically record whenever they popped up. (Yes, costs had gone up but I was worth it.)
     This was a constant complaint and my husband really wasn't happy to hear it again. His usual argument: a terrible waste of money and a rip-off. "You can find HOUSE HUNTERS on Amazon and Netflix," he reminded me.
     Fine. Just. Fine. Someone in this household was not listening to his wife. I stuck my chin in the air and went to bed to read. The book was an autobiography of Lopez Lomong, an African Olympic athlete, who was taken by Sudanese rebels at the age of six and wound up escaping only to grow up in a refugee camp. In this camp, the UN, trying to take care of so many, offered the refugees oil and enough grain to last a week if they ate one meal a day. The big highlight of the week was when the dump truck dumped the workers' garbage, which could consist of anything from a half-eaten banana to a scrap of bread. These lost boys would jump into the garbage and fight over the scraps.
    Reading this I felt God's reprimand. What are you eating? How do you live? Have you looked at your incredible view recently? And you're complaining because you don't have cable? Seriously?
      I realized how right my husband was. We already lived in the proverbial lap of luxury and I wanted more? There are people in the world subsisting on garbage. I'm thinking perhaps I can find better uses for that money.
     You'd think that would have been enough lessons for one night, but no. I read on. "What is the point of such complaining?" said Lopez. "After all the whining and complaining is over, you still live in a refugee camp. All the complaining in the world won't make your life any better. Instead, you must choose to make the best of whatever situation in which you find yourself..."
      I thought of my feet, which were tingling even as I read - the peripheral neuropathy, a souvenir from my chemo treatments two years earlier. Actually, I try not to complain about the neuropathy. It's not extreme, and I can lie with it. But it does bother me enough that I'm still trying to cure it with everything from laser treatments to vitamins. It dawned on me as I lay reading that instead of seeing this as a frustration I could consider it a bit of a blessing because it's a reminder that God took me through a really rough time, that I'm still here to enjoy my family and friends, that I still have an opportunity to grow and learn and do some good in the world. Sometimes, after going through hard things, it's easy to put them so far behind us that we quickly skip on with our lives and forget how much was done for us. (At least it is for me.) My neuropathy serves as a reminder of how I was spared and how blessed I am.
     So, here I am with my tingly toes and my money-saving entertainment methods. Remembering to be grateful and closing the complaint department.
     How about you? What are you grateful for?