Final Blog

Final Blog

This is my final blog. After I give a 2-3 minute speech on my experience, I will complete the Presentation Mastery path, Level 4 elective to “Write a Compelling Blog.”

This last blog story is about magnetic picture frames. We had several of them from Las Vegas but didn't really have good pictures in them – or at least any good ones of us together. Our last trip to Gatlinburg in August, we were eating dinner at the Best Little Italian place on the main strip in the Elks Lodge Plaza. They had a photographer going around taking pictures of people.

One of the things that Troy and I rarely do is take pictures of ourselves, especially of the two of us together. I’ve seen challenges on Facebook where you should post seven days of pictures of you and your spouse, and it was always a struggle for me to find seven pictures of the two of us together because we just never really did that. But we are trying to make a better effort of taking pictures of the two of us.

So, when the photographer came around, I said yes, take our picture. He took several of them. At the end of the meal, he came back to our table. You get one free picture and it's not always the best one. And then he gives us another picture, which you need to pay for if you want it and I wanted it. It was a black and white photo. Troy is kissing me on my cheek, and then we have the “Forever and Always” and it included a Gatlinburg magnetic photo frame. I fell in love with a photo; it just this pure joy that I have on my face with Troy kissing my cheek because I knew that he was embarrassed, but I knew this will be a fantastic picture of the two of us.

This is one front and center on the refrigerator. And again, just like with the simple little cross, when I look at that picture in that frame, it brings joy to my entire being. I smile and think of the special bond that Troy and I have together. I think back to that last trip in Gatlinburg and how much fun we had and look forward to many more trips together with Troy as well as a lifetime together with him.

My magnetic memories. I hope you enjoyed reading through these. And maybe I’ve given you a few ideas to go and make some memories of your own and then showcase them on your refrigerator.

Cedar Point Amusement Park

Cedar Point Amusement Park

Not all the magnets on the refrigerator are mine. Some are ones that my hubby picked up – mainly from his vacations he took with his brother to Cedar Point.

And you’re asking yourself why my hubby is going on vacation without me? Simple. I don’t like amusement parks (except for Dollywood). I don’t care for the rides, and he loves them. He and his brother are roller coaster junkies and I want him to have some fun without me.

When he comes back, there are a ton of stories about the rides and food he experienced, and of course, at least one or two magnets.

I love that Cedar Point has the Peanuts gang as their “mascot.” Snoopy and the gang are scattered throughout the park. And the best one is “What a Day!”  

Vegas Baby!

Vegas Baby! 

I love going to Vegas, or at least I used to. It used to be our happy spot. We would go at least once a year. The last time I went to Vegas was just over 12 years ago; I went with my hubby and my Dad. We had a blast and I even got Dad to play the slot machines by the end of the trip. 

We spent four or five days over Christmas time – just to do something different for a change. Like I said, it took most of those five days to get Dad to put in a quarter into the slot machine and gamble, which was just fine. He was so content, walking around and standing behind me or my hubby watching us play. He was enthralled. 

And did you know that in Las Vegas, in addition to the gambling and the drinking, they have shows and gambling and drinking and food and gambling and drinking and shopping. Oh, and did I mention that there's some gambling and drinking in Las Vegas? 

They also have magnet stores; several of the malls have an actual store completely dedicated to magnets. And we made it our mission to make sure that we were able to get to the magnet store at least once every trip. It didn't matter if we would buy anything or not, although most times we bought at least one magnet, but it was enjoyable to look at everything that was available. Some were just beautiful. Some were just completely hideous. Oh, my goodness. Why would anyone buy some of these things? 

We picked up magnets to reflect the different hotels we stayed at through the years and to represent the different music shows that we saw, including Blue Man Group and Phantom of the Opera. It didn't matter. It was something that represented our memories and why we enjoyed going back repeatedly.

I don't remember what happened and why we stopped going to Las Vegas on a regular basis and instead transitioned to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I think as we've gotten older, Gatlinburg is a little bit more our pace.

But remember, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas… unless of course it’s the magnets that come home to rest on my refrigerator and bring back memories.

Traveling Abroad!

Traveling Abroad!

January of my senior year of college, I had the opportunity to leave the country for the very first time. I took a class it was my graduation present to myself. I went with one professor and 11 other students. We went to Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany. At the time, I was not into collecting magnets so much as I was into boys, drinking, having fun, and looking at churches and castles, so I missed out a little bit at the time.

I’ve done quite a bit of catching up since then. I have some wonderful friends, family, coworkers, and supervisors that I trained a little bit that when they went traveling, especially overseas, they would bring me back a magnet.

I have two from Holland. My supervisor went and came back, brought me a package, dropped it off on my desk at work. And when I came in, he was there watching and he said, “Okay, that one you can open here, but the other one is for Troy and you have to wait till you get home to open it because otherwise it's considered sexual harassment here at work.” Yes, it was from the red district of the Netherlands. No picture of it here, but I’m sure you can imagine a magnet with a topless woman. The other one he got me that trip was a wooden shoes magnet. And since then, I’ve also received a windmill magnet.

I have magnets from Russia, Sri Lanka, China, Shanghai, Iceland, and more.

And every once in a while I will come home and there's a little package on my front porch; I open it up and it's a magnet from wherever. And sometimes he'll even get it when he goes down to Key West, Alaska, or wherever he may be and I know that it's from him when I open it up. 

And since joining Toastmaster, I have friends around the world. When we get together in person at the International Convention, I get more magnet gifts. 

I relish the opportunity to get memories from other people when they take their travels and bring me back a magnetic memory.

My College Roommate

My College Roommate - Still Friends After 28 Years! 

Who here still is friends with their college roommate? 28 years and Annie and I are still friends.

I graduated from Carroll College (now Carroll University) way back in January 1994. Annie was my roommate that first semester my senior year; we knew that she was only going to be there one semester then she was going to move out of state, and I only had one semester senior year because I was graduating early.

It was tough sometimes after college to stay in touch. This was before email and the Internet became so popular. Annie was in New York and I was in Wisconsin. She married a couple years later and she and her husband were stationed in Germany. She still has the letter I wrote to her there saying that I met a boy and was in love… that boy is now my hubby, Troy. 

 

Once Annie’s husband retired, they soon moved to a little city about 10 minutes from my house which it made it very easy to stop at their house or them to stop at mine.

I loved babysitting their children. These were the ones we would “rent” when a child was needed to watch a movie or go to Great America. My hubby, who usually doesn’t like children, actually enjoyed these kids. Of course, it helped that the two boys loved Nerf guns and Star Wars and Legos. And when their daughter was born, that little girl had my hubby wrapped around her little finger!! 

We always receive gifts of magnets from Annie and her family because they travel a lot. They recently went down to Florida for the SpaceX. They have gone to Iceland, Germany, Holland, South Dakota, Utah and many other places. We get magnets every single time. That's part of our relationship now.

I also have magnets of their children. Their middle child went through a ninja phase when he was probably about five years old; he would dress head to toe in black – black sweatshirt, black sweatpants, and a black scarf around his head. I have that ninja magnet on my refrigerator to this day. And he's so different now that he's older and 17 years old. We also have one of him playing peewee football. My hubby took pictures at one of his games and turned them into trading cards. It’s fun to look at the magnets and remember then when they were younger.

And then one day a few years ago, they moved away. Only about 45 minutes away, but to me, it seemed like the end of the world.  I know it's not that far away but them. I don’t see them as often as I would like anymore, but I’m lucky they still think of me and bring me gifts of magnets.