What an adventure!

What an adventure! It’s hard to believe that we have spent the last 6 days in Alaska! Not to mention winning a national award! Who would have thought this is where ITCW would be almost 7 years later? You should all be proud of your accomplishments. I know that I am proud to be a part of such an amazing community.

We are currently in the Houston airport (Not really, I am typing this in Microsoft Word on the airplane. But it will be posted in the airport. lol) and are about to board our last plane on this exciting trip. As wonderful as it has been, I can’t wait to get home. There are so many things to do to prepare for next year! In case I haven’t mentioned it, we are going to be on the NUSA tour next year when the conference is held in Indy. We have tossed around some ideas, however, I would love to hear your input on this.

We shopped and saw some sights in Seward this morning and headed back to Anchorage to catch our flight. The village of Seward is about the size of Irvington Terrace. I took some photos of some neat things they are doing in their parks. I will attempt to put together an online album for you all to view.  We will also be posting information on the NUSA workshops we attended on this blog (later this week hopefully).

Thank you all for your well wishes and support while we were in Alaska.
Have a wonderful Memorial Day!

Love to all,

Tam

Asking Forgiveness

Good evening all~

First let me apologize for not blogging yesterday.

I could give you some big long sob story about being soooo busy and not having time yadda yadda yadda. Truth is...WE WON!!! And we were out celebrating until the wee hours of the Anchorage morn.

So....turns out...YOU GUYS ROCK! (but we already knew that) Our category was Physical Revitalization and we got first place. The overall NOTY went to a multi-neighborhood partnership. They totally deserved it.

Because we won, we had to present again. This time to a bigger crowd of our peers. It went even better the second time (and we got a few extra minutes thank goodness). It was amazing! Afterwards, we were approached by a really neat gal who had lots of questions about how to encourage her neighborhoods to stay positive. We spoke to her for about an hour. Pat spoke to another individual regarding kind of the same things. It was so great to be able to tell other neighborhood leaders about all of the awesome things you do!

After the presentations and workshops wrapped up we went the reception dinner at the Alaskan Native Heritage Museum. To be quite honest with you, we were all so pooped out we almost didn't go. SO glad we did though! It was so educational. Really awe inspiring. They brought in native dancers from two of the three regions of Alaska. They also showed us some Eskimo Olympic games. Then we went straight to bed. If you believe that I have some swamp land I'd like to sell you! So, I can't post any of the pictures from later that night because they are all blurry. But true to ITCW form..."a good time was had by all".

So today, morning went a little rough for some. We went to the final lunch and heard Father Michael Oleksa (http://www.fatheroleksa.org/) speak. He was great and his presentation was about how important it is to listen and understand each other across cultural boundaries. The diversity enriches us if we listen. Very applicable. After we said our goodbyes we loaded up the car and headed to Seward. (Fred...you were right...AMAZING!)

Along the way we saw waterfalls, glaciers, lakes, creeks, this kind of bird: (http://vireo.ansp.org/feeders/steller), the inlet, and I almost had to witness Pat peeing by the side of the road. Fortunately for me, she shut the door!

After arriving in Seward, we checked into our hotel, put on some warm clothes and headed out for a walk. Seward has a wonderful trail that runs right along the inlet. The whole village is surrounded by mountains. The posted pictures do this landscape not a stitch of justice. We walked up the inlet to the harbor and ate at a great seafood restaurant and walked a brisk 40 minute walk back to the hotel.

It's late now and I am going to sign off.

Will write more from the airport tomorrow.

Love to all!

Tam

p.s. the sunset picture was taken at 11:00 pm Friday night!

Presentation Day

Good Evening All~

Today we spent all day at the NUSA conference. So interesting!
Cathie and I were able to watch presenters in the Social Revitalization category while Pat attended the Alaska Botanical Gardens workshop. We broke for Lunch at 12:00 and worked on our presentation for 2 hours while on break. With Pat's help, we were finally able to get our presentation to under 15 minutes! We were SO excited. We were going to nail this thing!
We headed back to the conference center (only about 2 blocks away) to watch our competition.
We were up against some pretty organized forces!
We presented 2nd to last. Cathie and I were pretty nervous right before going on. Surprisingly, Pat was the calm one.
When we got up to the podium, Pat was able to get the Prezi lined up and Cathie and I started to feel a bit better. This was just like a meeting! We even let the judges and audience know that we were going to present like we held our monthly meetings. We were

sailing along! Telling them all about the fantastic projects you all have accomplished. We were on a ROLL!!!!
Then, out of the blue...dum, dum dum.....we get the 5 minute warning! UGH!!! Only 5 minutes left!?!?!?!?! But we have so much more to say!!!

We were able to fit the last of our presentation in....however, one of the judges asked (while laughing and telling us he needed a drink) how long "us ladies had been doing our road show?".
All of the judges had a great time. They asked a few questions but I think we answered most of them during the presentation.
We all felt really good about how we did. We really did nail it! We are all so passionate about this part of our lives and the work that all of YOU do! How could we NOT be passionate??!?!
That came across to the judges today.

Tomorrow at lunch we will find out whether or not we won. However, Pat said, regardless we should definitely receive the Ms. Congeniality award! lol

You all will be the first to know how we did after lunch tomorrow.

Signing off until then.

Love to all!

Tam

You are not going to believe these pictures!

The day started out super early for all of us. The sun started coming up around 3:45 (ish). Cathie was the "good" one and went to the gym at 4:30 am for a cardio workout and Pat and I went for a nice hour long walk in downtown Anchorage.

After eating breakfast and getting ready for the day we were on the road at 7:30 am. We headed south to Whittier, AK. Along the way we spotted an American Bald Eagle (Pat's first cry of the day), a glacier that was absolutely beautiful (Pat's second cry of the day), waterfalls, low tide, some kind of plants (that Pat took pictures of and was extremely excited about), railroad tracks along the inlet, the longest tunnel in North America and lichen (I am still not exactly sure what this is, however Pat is really impressed that it is orange here).

Once we arrived in Whittier, we boarded the Glacier Explorer and were on our way to a day filled with amazing sites.

I cannot even put into words how beautiful the glaciers, sea otters, mountains, waterfalls, an American Bald Eagle SWIMMING, etc were. This is a truly amazing place. It feels almost completely untouched. (by the way I threatened to started taking pictures of Pat crying at this point)

I have added several pictures for you to see for yourselves.

Signing off for tonight as we need to put the finishing touches on our presentation. We present at 3:30 pm tomorrow...which is 7:30 pm for all of you. Please cross your fingers and toes and do a little dance that we knock their socks off. We will present knowing that we live in the best neighborhood in the country!!!!

Love to all!

Tam

Wow! What a Day!

Where do I even start!?!?!?

4 airports and 14 hours later we are finally in Anchorage!

After leaving Indy we arrived on time in Cleveland. (Didn't you know the way to Alaska is through Cleveland?) :)

The flight from Cleveland to Seattle was brutal. Cathie even compared this trip to some of the international flights she has taken. However, Cathie brought the Checklist Manifesto for me to read so I will be completely organized by the time I get back to Indy. Watch out ITCW!!! lol

We were all so excited to be on our way it was hard to concentrate on anything at all. I think we all managed to get a bit of sleep (me more than Cathie and Pat). We actually were able to catch a glimpse of Mount St. Helens on our way into Seattle!

After arriving at the Seattle airport, we were able to have nice lunch and walk around for a bit. NICE! Especially after being cooped up on a plane for the previous 6 hours!

Our flight from Seattle to Anchorage was only about 3 1/2 hours. Just a drop in the bucket. Anchorage is beautiful! So amazing! We are all so excited to be here.

We met with Pat's cousin Alan and his wife Diane. They were so sweet! They took us to this fantastic restaurant where we had the best halibut of our lives!

So now it is 9:00 pm in Anchorage. The sun set is supposed to take place around 11:00 pm and the sunrise is going to happen around 5:00 am.

We are going to Prince William Sound tomorrow morning. The NUSA reception is tomorrow evening from 6:30 - 9:00 pm and then we will be fine tuning our presentation.

Going to get some (more) sleep.

Will post more tomorrow!

Tam

We're on our way to Alaska!!!

Good Morning Neighbors, Friends and Family~

The day has finally arrived! We are on our way to Alaska! Bruce was kind enough to get up at 3:30 this morning to drive Pat, Cathie and I to the airport. I swear, there is a special place in heaven for that man. Thanks Bruce!

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare and our flight was delayed. This was a clue that we needed to start the blog right away and not procrastinate doing it (although Cathie and I NEVER procrastinate anything! LOL)

Our first leg is Indy to Cleveland. Then Cleveland to Seattle and Seattle to Anchorage.

We will post more when something exciting happens.

Have a great day all!

Tammy