In and out of ISU in less than 24 hours!

I flew into town for an Operation Beautiful event – my first of the 2015 Fall season!  I’m going to Tufts University next (in October).  If you’ve been reading for a while, you may remember that I use to jam in a lot of events, sometimes flying to 6 schools in 2 weeks!  I’ve spoken at over 100 colleges.  But it’s a lot harder now with two littles at home – I don’t like to be away and it’s hard to coordinate.  Still, I really do love it when I get to travel to speak and spread the Operation Beautiful message.  It feels extra special these days!

Also, sleeping ALL BY MYSELF is a nice bonus!  I lay horizontally in bed and soak up the peace and quiet as much as I can.  And then I do hotel bed angels (like snow angels, but even better).

My first flight was painfully early (7 AM – ouch) but once I got a huge coffee in the Atlanta airport, all was right in my world again.  Caffeine to the faaaace.

And a pretty decent breakfast bowl – rice, eggs, veggies, sour cream. 

As an aside, I wasn’t very sore from Saturday’s triathlon.  I seriously thought my muscles would be destroyed, but I survived.  Walking through the airport actually felt like a nice stretch.  Maybe I wasn’t out of cardio shape as much as I thought I was?  Or maybe it was because I took the race slow?  Regardless, it sure was nice not to be suffering for days after the event!

So I arrived in Terre Haute, checked into my hotel, and explored the ISU campus for a bit before three events – a workshop with residence life staff, a dinner with key student leaders, and finally – the main event!  We had a good turn out.  Every school does it differently, but I loved how ISU had Post-It notes out for students to decorate (Operation Beautiful is about leaving positive notes in public places for strangers to find).

It was a great group of women!  So much love and positivity out there in the crowd.

And on a random note, I ate at an off-campus restaurant called Roly Poly… they had pretty decent gluten-free wraps.

I picked a quiet table to sit down at and, while waiting for my wrap to arrive, was thinking about how I really missed the kids and the Husband…

And I look up and see this photo of a peregrine falcon…

Henry is super obsessed with all animals but really is into fast/scary animals in particular.  Like cheetahs, alligators, sharks… He thinks peregrine falcons are the best birds ever because he once watched a nature TV show that described how they’re the fastest divers in the world (they reach speeds up to 200 MPH!!).  Anyway, when I saw this at the restaurant, I broke into the biggest smile!  How random, right?  It made me so happy – like my babes are always with me, even when I’m away for work.  I love little moments like that.

Quote of the Day:

What little thing are you enjoying today?