Archive for "Events"
Zoobilee 2018
Posted on September 26, 2018 by Ching under Events.
As much as we say we’re not going to go to Zoobilee again, we always have so much fun. It’s definitely our favorite event to end summer and officially kick off fall. And, despite thinking each year will be our last, we’ve yet to miss one of these since we started attending in 2009. This year marked our 10th consecutive one.
We wouldn’t have gone this year because I didn’t buy tickets. I figured I was getting to old to hang with the YPW folks and felt guilty about buying through their group. They have a really nice private party set up though and early entry so if you’re buying tickets, YPW is definitely the way to go. For the same price, you get in much earlier and don’t have to stand in the ridiculously long line.
Anyway, some of my coworkers got free tickets through work. I was not special enough to get one. The Zoobilee tickets are so popular that there are never any leftovers. I’ve only ever gotten free tickets from work once in the ten years we’ve been going. In the past we’ve attended by volunteering, which I very highly recommend if you want to partake but are limited on cash, or buying our own tickets through the YPW group.
This year Isaac and Crystal decided not to go. I think they had something else going on that day. I ended up inheriting his tickets and so Brian and I were able to attend, though we totally had not planned it.
I may not be the most spontaneous person but I’m always ready for a party. LOL.
Here’s a picture of Brian in line for his first drink of the evening. Success!
So Brian’s face doesn’t look it but he actually has a lot of fun at these events (most of the time). There was one year we attended despite me having a massive headache and we still had a blast. We went because we didn’t want the tickets to go to waste.
Here’s a picture of us with Josh and his wife Jessica pretty early in the evening.
This time we are with Josh, Jessica, Darcy, and Jeff.
And then with Josh, Jessica, Derek, and Vicky.
And then with Andrea and James.
And with Gina’s brother BJ who is always at these events.
Here is Brian enjoying a free cigar from the Humidor.
Group pic with Laura and Chad and Josh and Jessica (again).
We were with Josh and Jessica most of the evening.
Cox Communications had a special sports bar area this year that neither of us remember seeing in years past. We both think it was new this year.
Here’s a picture of us with Johnson, my new favorite massage therapist at Sveta’s.
Here’s a picture of us with Sveta herself and my original favorite massage therapist Michael. He’s not working at Sveta’s anymore but still helps out for special events.
Another group photo, this time with Richard and his wife.
And then, finally, a selfie of just the two of us.
So there you have it. Another fun Zoobilee event in the books. Until next year — or maybe not. LOL.
Click here for more past Zoobilee pics. GNG.
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Wine, Women and Shoes
Posted on September 18, 2018 by Ching under Events.
A few pictures from Wine, Women and Shoes event by the Wesley Chidren’s Foundation. This is the first benefit that Brian has sat out in a long time. The funny thing is, he actually wanted to go but I thought it was a women only event so I told him to stay home and took Kate as my plus one instead.
Me and Pat and Kate
Me and Stephanie
Also ran into Annette and Mike, which made me feel bad for asking Brian to sit this one out. There were actually a lot of guys there.
Guys even had their own special area. The Gentlemen’s Lounge had scotch and bourbon tastings and cigars!
Here’s a picture of Kate with one of the handsome “shoe guys” at the event.
Kate and I at the after party, which we didn’t realize wasn’t included with our event ticket. Oops! Anyway, I didn’t stay too late because Brian wasn’t with me. Kate and I had a lot of fun but it’s just not the same without Brian.
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Pictures from Youth Entrepreneurs’ Biz Bang 2018 Event
Posted on September 9, 2018 by Ching under Events.
Brian and I had the privilege of attending Youth Entrepreneurs’ Biz Bang 2018 last month. With the exception of the Home for Doc Gala, this is probably the most lavish event that we’d ever attended.
Here’s a picture of me and my friend/coworker Yuvina.
As you can tell, I’m the only woman in costume. Yikes!
I misunderstood the invitation and thought they wanted guests to show up in superhero-themed attire. Thus, the Wonder Woman shirt and cape.
Unfortunately, no one else interpreted the memo as I did. All the women were in fancy dresses. “Summer chic” was the suggested attire for if your “cape was at the cleaners.” Well, mine was clean so I decided to wear it. LOL.
I saw a couple of guys with Superman shirts under their dress shirts, as Brian had done, but none of the other women, with the exception of the volunteers, had superhero outfits on. I felt quite silly (think Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, but with me as Wonder Woman at a fancy gala instead of a Playboy Bunny at a frat party) but didn’t let that stop me from having a great time.
These lavender lemonade vodka drinks made my Xclusive Events‘ Crystal McDonald helped me to loosen up and not focus so much on the misunderstanding about the dress code. They were so delicious and didn’t taste alcoholic at all.
Here’s Crystal, the woman behind the delicious concoction.
Here’s a group selfie we took with Yuvina and her brother Luis early in the evening.
Another one with Mike Carroll from Splurge magazine.
Charles Koch had the same idea as Brian. He also wore a Superman shirt under his shirt. At least Brian was in good company with his choice of attire.
Here are a couple of selfies of me and Brian at the event.
Anyway, we had super awesome time despite my feelings of being out of place. Not just because of my outfit but also because we were surround by people who had more money than we could ever hope to make in our lifetimes. Seriously. Nothing in the live auction went for less than $25K. It was ridiculous — but also awesome in that the event was hugely successful and they raised a lot of money for Youth Entrepreneurs, which is a really great program. I highly recommend it to everyone. I wish they were available at my school when I was in high school.
That’s all for now. More stories and pictures next time. GNG.
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Symphony in the Flint Hills 2018
Posted on July 4, 2018 by Ching under Events, Things to Do.
I’m super behind on the blog so it’s now July and I’m only getting around to posting pictures from this year’s Symphony in the Flint Hills. Before you call me a slacker, you have to understand how crazy busy my schedule has been both in and out of work. It was actually very lucky for us that we were both able to carve out some time for the Symphony this year. If there was any year to go attend the event, this was the year to do it because the site was only 45 minutes from our house. It’s usually about three hours away. It’s rare and special when it’s this close.
The last time that the Symphony was at Rosalia Ranch was four years ago. I couldn’t for the life of me remember why we missed it because we never would have skipped it knowing full well how conveniently close it would be to Wichita. I actually had to look up what we were doing that year. It turns out, we missed the event for a very good reason (and I can’t believe I forgot). We missed the 2014 Symphony in the Flint Hills because we traveled to the Dominican Republic that year to celebrate Brian’s 40th birthday. Can you believe that was four years ago? It’s wild how time just seems to fly by.
Fast forward to 2018 and the Symphony is back at Rosalia Ranch again. The event usually falls around Brian’s birthday but, as soon as we found out about the location, we made a pact not to make any plans that would prevent us from going. We even took it a step further this year and volunteered with the Westar Energy Green Team on the Friday before the event.
Here’s a picture of some of our group in waiting in the parking lot of the school in Rosalia, down the street from the site. To minimize the impact to the prairie, we met and parked most of our cars at the school and then carpooled to the Symphony site. That way we’re not parking a bunch of cars there.
Here’s a picture of Ben giving us our briefing.
Here’s a panoramic view of one side of the Symphony site.
I took a fun selfie with Caylin (left) and Alex (right) during one of our breaks.
We worked on several tasks that day. Setting up the patron chairs was one of them. It was very meticulous work. The chairs had to be a specific distance apart and the rows had to be spaced just so.
A few more selfies… I think we took these during the lunch break.
This might have been when we were in line for food. That’s my friend Faith with me in the next photo. She and Krystee volunteered with me last year. Krystee wasn’t feeling well and didn’t make it this year but we had a great group from the Contact Center with Alex, Alicia, and Mike volunteering with us.
Brian disappeared after lunch. He had a heyday driving the telelift forklift. When it was time to leave, we had to have Ben track him down and tell him to quit. He just wanted to drive that thing all day. If it were up to him, he would have worked clear up until sunset and we would have missed Ginger’s retirement party.
Brian and I went back the next day for the Symphony.
Here are a few photos.
These next ones are from the after party.
Here’s an aerial shot of the Symphony site that I found online courtesy of Kansas Drone Imaging. Do you see us? 😉
I’m so glad that we had the opportunity to volunteer and also attend the event this year. Next year the Symphony will be back in Chase County. It will be tricky to attend but I hope that we are able to find a way. I just love this event. There’s no better way to enjoy the Symphony and the beautiful Flint Hills sunset. GNG.
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Ginger’s Retirement Party
Posted on June 23, 2018 by Ching under Events, Leadership, Life.
The longest boss I’ve ever had retired a few weeks ago. She was my boss for thirteen years — starting on August 2004 when she hired me as a Contact Center Supervisor to June 2017 when I got transferred to Michelle’s team. But she was more than just a boss to me. She was like a second mom. For years she and Terry (another wonderful leader who I’ve had the privilege of working for; he retired a couple of years ago) looked after “the kids” — that’s what they called us. When Terry retired, I knew this day would eventually come but I had always been kinda sorta in denial.
I’m not really in our Wichita office as much because I’ve been reporting to Kansas City the last few months. Mostly I am there on Fridays (and late on Thursdays when I have to return the company car that I’ve borrowed for the week). Even so, it still feels weird to me not having Ginger around. At least before she retired I knew I could pop in once in a while and see her. Her old office is now Isaac’s and, whenever I walk by, it’s just not the same.
Here are a few pictures that we took from her retirement party at the Pumphouse a couple of weeks ago.
What you don’t see in these photos is that my black dress turned white from getting cocktail sauce spilled allover it and then being cleaned up. It was pretty bad. I was lucky that it was dark in the restaurant because it didn’t look as bad. However, as soon as Brian and I walked out into the daylight, you could see the entire mess all over me. The only thing worse was the smell. LOL.
It was a great turnout.
Carmen did a great job on Ginger’s picture board.
For our part, Brian and I didn’t get too fancy. We just put together a “retirement care package” consisting of a “No Work All Play” pilsner and Ginger’s favorite beverages (Tito’s Vodka and Coronas).
Here are some progress pics of putting the present together.
Brian printed nice labels for us to spruce up the crate.
The part that required the most effort were all the origami flowers which took me several hours to do. I tried to get Brian to help me but he has such a short attention span that he gave up after making only one. LOL.
I had to make the rest of the origami flowers by myself. It’s totally worth it, though. I wanted to put our special touch on the present. Or, I guess, my special touch.
Anyway, I’m super sad about Ginger’s retirement but at the same time I’m really happy for her. She no longer has to be bogged down with work and finally has the time to pursue all the things that are meaningful to her.
I hope someday when it’s our turn leave the working world, we have the opportunity to retire at a reasonable age to still enjoy life (#Goals).
I guess that’s all for now. GNG.
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