Gartner Symposium 2017

I haven't fully recovered yet, but George and I had a great time at Gartner Symposium at Walt Disney World this week. It was a good mixture of business and pleasure. And we love the Magic Kingdom, especially at night!



We even got a pic at the Pirates of the Caribbean, a new feature that I haven't seen before.



George and Zac enjoyed the first day, including an homage to Danny's favorite drink, Beverly. 

 

I got a shot of my favorite guy with my favorite food and wine festival sign,



and Moana Sculptures at Ghirardelli,



and got to listen to the Eat to the Beat Concerts including Mark Wills and American Authors,



After touring around a near empty Epcot.



We also enjoyed the Thrice Spiced fries at Abracadabar



And then going back to the room to enjoy my favorite apple pie caramel apples.



For business, my favorite session was the Susan Cain CIO lunch on harnessing the power of introverts,







and some Techie fun!



We had an awesome time!

Prelude to the craziness

The day before Gartner Symposium, a little break before the craziness. 



George Creamer Jr. even got me to climb the tree at Swiss Family Robinson's tree house!



I love fall at the Magic Kingdom. The decorations are adorable.

Phoenix, Day 2

2nd day in Phoenix is done. I'm still on Eastern time and ready to chill for the night, but I did enjoy a good dinner and a walk around the hotel grounds. Not a bad location for a conference.

  

  

Day 1 in Phoenix - CCSSO EIMAC conference

Arrived in Phoenix today, and all I can say is, it is hot!

Take Your Child to Work Day, 2017

This week has been a blur, and besides prom, we've had a lot of other activities going on. One highlight was Take Your Child to Work Day. This was Danny's first time going with George Creamer Jr., and he had an awesome time.

Congratulations Hubby!

Congratulations to my wonderful husband on more than 20 years of service to the people of Tallahassee!

Take Your Son/Daughter to Work Day

Today was the annual Take Your Son/Daughter to Work Day, and both Megan and Danny were able to go with me this year.

They had a great time interviewing my supervisor, Sherry,

and T.K., the CIO.

They also got to take a tour of the data center that controls $90 billion worth of transactions.

They had a lot of fun, as did I. And while my job may not be as exciting as their dad's. it is good for them to see that it is still important.

Catching up...my new job

Just after my last post, on October 12th, I started my new job as an IT Business Consultant Manager at the Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Information Systems. In a nutshell, my new job consists of analyzing legislation for IT impact, overseeing the IT budget, creating Legislative Budget Requests, and improving business processes in the division.  That weekend, George and the kids helped me move into my new office. The highlight of my new office is the set of windows with a lovely view of the Florida Capitol and some other downtown buildings.

Only one other year in my 15 years in state government have I had a window, and you never know how much you appreciate windows until you don't have them for a while.  My plant, inherited from DBPR, appreciates it too!

Here are some pics from the move. I'll spare you the butt shots that George always manages to get of me. Be warned, these pictures include several images of silliness and kids being kids.

I really appreciated their help, and we got a lot accomplished in a very short time. My family rocks!

Our summer week...

This week was busy, as usual, but we had some fun. The kids got to try their first Whataburger hamburgers and chocolate malts.

They had never had Whataburger before, and Danny had been watching the commercials and begging to go, and I finally decided to take them. They absolutely loved it! We now have two more Whataburger fans in the family.

Friday, George took me out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then dropped me off at work. He then took this photo as he was pulling out of the parking lot and sent it to me to brighten my day.

How sweet is that?

Saturday morning after karate (Danny got his last stripe and is almost ready for his purple belt test!),

we decided to take a road trip up to Thomasville for some South Georgia fun.

We were hungry when we got there, and we just happened to park next to Jonah's Fish & Grits.

Not having been there before we decided to try it, and we're so glad we did. We started off with a shrimp appetizer

and then had some of the best grouper and cheese grits (I had a sandwich) imaginable. The mission of the restaurant is to provide a good, Christian alcohol-free environment for people to take their families to eat. And do they succeed...we got the last open table, and folks were waiting in line to get in the whole time we were in town. We highly recommend it if you're ever in Thomasville.

Then, we walked around downtown for a while, stopping into Sweet Grass Dairy's cheese shop,

Firefly gift shop, Loli's, and lots of other little places. For a dessert treat, we went into Savannah Moon Bakery & Cafe for some chocolate cream pie

and some tin roof pie.

The kids were in heaven.

We grabbed some of their delicious key lime cookies to go and headed back to the car...George had had enough of the gnats outside. In all, it was a very pleasant Saturday afternoon outing, and I hope we do it again soon!

Have I told you lately...?

OK, so I know I'm biased. But, I just have to brag on my husband a little bit. He just found out that, one month before he gets off probation from promotion to sergeant, he will be moving to the Target Enforcement Squad, a city-wide squad that focuses on intelligence-led policing tactics.

George, you are an awesome sergeant, an awesome father, and I am happy to say the best husband and friend I could ever dream of having. I am so proud of your success in your career, but even more proud of your success in spiritual growth and commitment to our family.  Oh, and it doesn't hurt that you're hot! :) I love you!!!

My "21st" Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday, and it was a wonderful day! My fantastic husband made me breakfast in the morning, and then took Megan to the bus stop to save me some time.  When I got to work, my staff surprised me with bagels, cream cheese, and the largest jar of Nutella I've ever seen...I was beyond happy! Around lunchtime, my men (George and Zachary, that is) surprised me with some of the most beautiful flowers I've ever received.

My day continued at work with the usual meetings, and although I would have liked to leave much earlier, I got out at about 4:30. Upon arriving at the house, George and the kids made me sit down and open my presents

and then took me to dinner at the Country Club. After dinner, we all came back and had some fun eating cake,

taking pictures,

and just playing around.

Well, most of us did. George spent most of the time setting up the new laptop he got me so I can write my posts anywhere in the house.

The day ended with me going to bed early for some much-needed rest. Thank you so much to everyone who made it so wonderful!