All Dressed Up

I had the pleasure of joining Kelly on a CSMFO (in short a Finance Officers) conference dinner last night. 

 It is always a huge event as they kick off their annual conference with a fancy dinner.

 The California city finance people get together in different locations each year.  Kelly only attends the Northern California conferences which is every other year.  I've only had the opportunity to join Kelly on two other occasions.  Once in Modesto at a country club amidst fruit orchards and vineyards and the other in SF at an old Speak Easy.  The later was really cool.  We entered through a big door in the middle of an alley in the business district of SF.  The interior took you back to the time of Art Deco, a live jazz band played in the background as waitresses wandered the crowds with platters of hors devours.  Truly incredible. 

 If you asked me to show me where it is, I'd never be able to find it again.

This time we found ourselves in the city of Burlingame (just south of SF) on the peninsula, at Kohl's Mansion.  It is currently a Christian school but a very popular place for wedding receptions which boasts of amazing grounds.  It was also the sight where "Lord Fauntleroy" was filmed

(for those of you familiar with that). 

The dress code of the night was tuxedo's for the men and cocktail or formal dresses for the ladies. 

Luckily Kelly bought his tux when we got married (it has been put to really good use with proms, cruises, etc).  I pulled out my red floor length dress and pulled up my hair.  It's fun to play dress up especially when you know that everyone else will be out in their finest. 

Kelly and I explored the mansion as we sampled hors devours and ordered juice from the bar.  These events are especially fun because we have the opportunity to see Kelly's friends from all over California who he's worked with in finance.  Because of his stint at the League of California Cities, he knows many of "Big Wigs" and past CSMFO presidents. It is always fun to talk to them and catch up on everyone.  I have come to know that finance people are genuinely nice people who are easy to talk to. 

As a string ensamble played, we dined on salad, peppered steak and sea bass (that was my plate and it was incredible) and dessert of chocolate lava cake drizzled with raspberry sauce and fresh fruit.

Kelly and I spent an incredible eventing together. 

Short note from Ty

Hey Everyone!

Here's a short letter from Ty.  It's pretty funny.  I should probably post more of his letters more often. Things have been going well for him lately.

Emily

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Dear Family,

Well I’m incredibly short on time. I’m going to quickly get something going for responding.

Rhett!

I thought that it was pretty funny that you just pasted those tabs for Stairway to Heaven in the email you wrote me. I remember the intro. Like you can, I am able to play songs in my head back pretty well. I think that I remember most of the whole 8 minutes of that song. I do that with a lot of music. I like what you said about your pushups thing. What else have you been up to? Tried anything new lately? Those “I don’t know”, “nothing”, “the same old stuff” answers will not be tolerated! Tell me something I haven’t heard yet.

Mom!

 I don’t have the time to respond to you right now so I’ll have to get to that tomorrow. We were just playing a prank on our new student of almost 2 weeks. My group makes up something and tells the new kid (James the Mexican) to ask me whatever they think of. This time it was (as it usually is) “how many pushups can your dad do?” to which my response was (jokingly) “my dad has no arms”. When he asked I yelled at him, pounded on the desk, threw my chair, and stormed out of my room. Luckily we set it up with the staff so nothing bad happened.

That’s what’s going on right now and what robbed my time. I’ll get you guys something tomorrow.

Love you all

Ty

The Ascent

The Ascent

Ty Norman

We long to walk on the pathless beach

And forest undisturbed.

The stairs go up but our spirits down,

Our standards were absurd.

We compromised and strove for peace

From our relentless lives,

Dancing with dangerous choices

As if they were our wives

To stand atop the hills we all face

Each stride must lengthen wide

So lace those shoes and earn a new life.

Hold that head up with pride.

Good only comes to the working man

Or he who sets a plan.

Don’t fear to aim high, confidence’s key,

It’s time to take a stand.

Over the ridge and through a meadow

With flowers all in bloom,

Golden sunsets and silver lined clouds

Give us no sense of gloom.

All of the flowers bend toward us

Beckoning all to stay

Comfort’s deceiving, it’s all on us

To find a better day.

Seek for people who bring out the best,

Ones who have earned full trust.

Ignore those who cause us more pain

Leaving us there to rust,

Search for people with true happiness

They’re life’s true spaded ace

Whatever is done, meet new people,

They’ll help us find our place.

We longed to walk on the pathless beach

And found our family there.

The stairs went up and our spirits soared,

We breathe the cleanest air.

All have suffered the slips and the scrapes.

Jump to our feet’n we’ve won

But always remember, through small steps

Anything can be done.