Awesome Numbers

Hey everybody!
Let's just get to it, shall we?  This week had a lot of cool numbers in it!

I look fantastic in Official Dress. :)

My speech at the South Anchorage Rotary went well on Thursday- at least I feel like it did.  There were about 70 people there, which made me nervous, but I got a standing ovation and a woman tried to offer me her son's hand in marriage...so I'd say those are good indicators of success. :)  But I felt really good about it as well.  I just watched the recording of it yesterday, and I was pleased.  I added some new material but didn't forget any of it, and I included only four U-Ms.  (that's a word I'm not allowed to say anymore.  I owe Rayne ten cents every time I do, so far we're up to $1.20.)  I've enlisted my mom to listen to it and give me harsher criticism as well.  I know I need to work on using the stage better and  on answering questions s-l-o-w-l-y.  But overall I think it went really well.  I got a business card from a woman who is the president of Toast Masters in Anchorage, so I think I'll try to get into Anchorage and check them out one of these days.

And thanks to that speech, and the other studying I've been doing (of course) I did another 50 hours in just three weeks!  That's 250 in all!  And that's half way to my goal of 500!  Hip hip hooray for me!

As for today, I took the day off of work and am having a study marathon.  I just spent a good chunk of time calling people to schedule speaking opportunities.  That is really hard for me, I'm discovering I'm not a very good self-promoter.  Anyone reading this though, seriously- I'm looking for places to give speeches!  And to give workshops especially.  So if you know of any, call me at 907-355-1685 and let me know.  You'd be my hero.

And one last, totally fantastic, really big number: 520,000.  That's the number that the National FFA estimates will be exceeded by the 2009-2010 membership tally (which doesn't officially end until August 31st)...and it's an all-time membership high!  This number  marks an increase of over 10,000 members since the last record, which was set in 1977.  I'm totally thrilled about this, guys, can you tell?  You can read the official press release here, if you're interested.

Have an awesome Wednesday, and I'll be here, still studying. :)
Rachel

Pictures from Spring Creek Farm

I told you I would put these up eventually!  This was such a fantastic day.  Me on a farm is like a kid in a candy store. Or Toys-R-Us, I used to go crazy in that store... :)  Enjoy.

Rollin' Along

Hey guys,
Tomorrow I'm speaking at the South Anchorage Rotary, and I'm really excited about it.  I was able to take apart my last speech with Rayne's help and improve on the areas I was weak on last time.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Also, on Sunday, I had to give a talk at church.  I won't go too into detail, because this is not a religion blog, but it was a good experience to do some more public speaking in a totally different arena.  And I also talked a lot about learning to love others, which I mentioned before was my goal for June, so that helped me out a lot.  I used this quote (that I also used in my retiring address) by Stephen R. Covey that I absolutely love and thought I'd share with you:

“Love is something you do: the giving of self, the sacrifices you make, even for people who offend or do not love in return.  Love is a value that is actualized through loving actions.”

As for studying, things are going well.  My American Degree is done and in the mail- woot!  I also am getting a little better at interview questions with each meeting with Rayne, but I still have a ways to go.  I just ordered 6 new leadership books on Amazon.com.  I officially love that site for cheap books!  We'll see how I like them.  I'm just tearing through them reading a half-hour per day, and I finished the ones I had- so my study routine feels a little off-balance as I usually start by reading.  I only have 4 left on the Recommended Reading List from nationals, so I got a few that past national officer candidates recommended.  Anyone have any ideas for great autobiographies or biographies to read too?  I want to have plenty of leadership examples for answering interview questions.


Whew, where has the time gone?  I've got to run do some babysitting tonight, but I promise to blog some more soon.  In facilitation terms, here's a preview of what I'll be blogging about soon:

Three words that describe ME

How my LIFE is like a GIANT CABBAGE

What I see THROUGH MY WINDOW

Stay tuned...

Rachel

An Update

Hey everyone,
I'm having technical issues, so I can't put the pictures up right now.  But I will eventually.

I just wanted to write and give you all an update on what I've been up to.  Last weekend, I felt extremely overwhelmed.  If I had blogged, it would have been depressing, so be glad I didn't.

Today, I feel awesome.  I'm typing as fast as I can trying to get things done. I'm speaking at the South Anchorage Rotary (per special request of someone who saw my speech at the Palmer Rotary- woohoo!) a week from Thursday, so I'm trying to revise my speech according to what we noticed from the recording of it.  That's going kind of slow, I'm just so scattered I need to organize myself.  But other than that I'm getting a lot done in the areas of self-improvement, FFA info. study, and practice interview questions.  Go me!

One of the reasons I feel so on fire today is a chapter I read in the book "The 17 Essential Qualities of Team Player," by John C. Maxwell.  The chapter is all about discipline, and here are a few of the quotes I loved:

"Discipline is doing what you really don't want to do so that you can do what you really want to do."  

"A person lacking discipline is in a prison without bars." 

"Discipline means doing the reight things at the right time for the right reason."

And Maxwell also included a quote by Thomas Huxley, which I really liked:

"Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like or not, it is the first lesson that ought to be learned, and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly." 

This whole chapter made me think.  I've always prided myself on my discipline.  One of my favorite things in the world is to tackle a long a difficult piano piece and work at it slowly but surely until I've memorized it and performed it.  I take many things in my life very seriously and have to be disciplined with my time in order to achieve all I set out to do.

But lately, I haven't been very disciplined in my actions.  I find myself watching TV instead of fulfilling my goal of exercising, and putting off practicing piano in favor of reading, until it's too late to practice anymore.  Even my preparation for National Office, which admittedly I have been doing more than at college, is still lacking discipline.  But that chapter has inspired me, and I am excited to take over my thoughts, emotions and actions once more.

Last post I told you I was trying to decide on a goal for the month of June, and now I have.  It's a huge one, one I'm sure that I'll work on for the rest of my life, but this week I'm focusing on loving people better.  There are many people who I know that are trying to change and do right things, but it's hard for me to allow them to change.  I have a really difficult time letting go of grudges and I need to spend time trying to see the good in everyone and truly love them.  I'm guided by this awesome anecdote about Clara Barton (which, incidentally, can be found in "Developing the Leader Within You," by John C. Maxwell):

Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, understood the importance of choosing a right attitude even in wrong situations.  She was never known to hold a grudge against anyone.  On time a friend recalled to her a cruel thing that had happened to her some years previously, but Clara seemed not to remember the incident.

"Don't you remember the wrong that was done to you?" the friend asked.

 "No," Clara answered calmly, "I distinctly remember forgetting that."

Have an awesome Tuesday,
Rachel

Did you miss me?

Yeah, sure you did.  Sorry for the long break in blogging.  I can explain why with just two words:

200 hours!

Thanks to some awesome hours racked up last week, I am well on my way to my goal and I am pumped.  I've been really busy, last week I spent most of my waking moments writing, editing, and memorizing a speech for the Rotary club, and then about 20 minutes giving it, of course.

Then on Friday Rayne and I had an all day study jam.  It was awesome, we talked about a lot of stuff, watched and critiqued the video of my speech, and then spent about four hours exploring and learning about Spring Creek Farm, which is this huge hog operation only a few miles down the road from my house!  And they had steers, bison, yak, and even an elk.  It was great.  Rayne took like 300 pictures (literally) so I'll get a few up here soon.  I had a great time.  Who knew preparation could be so fun?

The fun is good, it balances the feeling of being overwhelmed.  Like the feeling I have about filling out my American Degree application- it's so huge and confusing!  I have to keep reminding myself that it's worth it though, because my American Degree is separate from running for National Office- it's something that I'm going to achieve for sure!  So no matter what happens running for National Office, I'll leave this convention with a key on my chain, and that's an awesome accomplishment in and of itself.

For some reason, I thought the hot topics for my speech, writing assignment, and facilitation round weren't going to be released until August 1st- but I just found that they're up already!  How awesome is that?  Seriously awesome, I'd say.

So, today's the first day of June, and I need a new goal.  I'm sure that there are a million things I need to work on, but I can't think of anything right now...suggestions?  Rayne reminded me the other day that I shouldn't be preparing to run but preparing to be.  So what's a good quality for a National Officer to have that I can focus on developing for a month?  Let me know if you have any spectacular ideas.

One more thing- check out what came in the mail the other day....

I'm stoked. :)