Football & Fairy Tales The McSwains: Conference

This week was conference week. It is always a highlight of my year because it is so great to all be under one roof! This year I had a scare because my new big boss initially told me that I couldn't go but it worked itself out and I had a great time!

It was such a great week. I was able to attend my first Management team meeting, there was a touching tribute to Shelly Anderson - one of our great leaders who is leaving to go study public policy, a tribute to Paul Kolheim, a birthday dinner for Kate, a Talent show, and a lot of meetings sandwiched in between.

I found myself forgetting about all of the craziness of the acquisition while I was there. There were a few minutes where it felt like old times and it actually brought me to tears a few times. I hate that we'll never have what we had before. I know we can't go back but it was nice to get a small glimpse of what it used to be like through conference. I was reminded of why I am still here after almost 7 years - I absolutely love the people I work with and we do great work in an industry that matters.

After conference, I stayed for an extra night to celebrate Kate's 50th birthday with some of our friends - Amy Kjesbo Lincoln, Mitzi Piva Raaf, Shelly Anderson, Neera Gupta, Larry Stuckey & Todd Wolk. It was my first experience wine tasting...you can imagine it was pretty amusing since I don't like wine!! I went for the company! There were some beautiful vineyards and we finished the evening with an amazing dinner at Mitzi's.

Enjoy these pictures from the week!

I spent a lot of time pumping as you can see below. I pumped in 2 airports, on 3 airplanes and while conducting an interview (over the phone of course). Phew...I'm glad to be home!