Saturday night was the Circus. A bunch of my friends and I headed downtown to Barnum & Bailey's Circus. It was great! It's always nice to act like a kid again. It was interesting, though, to be at an event that is geared towards kids when I was the youngest one in our group. I loved the acrobats though! I think that is amazing no matter how old you are!

I finally thought I was beginning to feel better by Tuesday which was a relief because I had my certification test (for the CFM - Certified Facility Manager) that day. It all started out great but about an hour into the test (it took me about 5.5 hours), I started coughing like crazy. I couldn't bring any water into the center so I had to sign out/in every 15 minutes to get a drink and blow my nose! It was great. Unfortunately, I have no idea how I did and won't know for over a month.

By Thursday, I finally felt better physically, but the stress just got worse. Our fridge has been broken for over a week and I found out that we still wouldn't have one for another week, and I found out that both of my roommates are moving out this summer and the roommate search started again....

But, then it all got better! Thursday night I had a reception for an conference I was attending on Friday. We also did a night tour of the District. I haven't done that for awhile and it was nice to be with a bunch of associates and just relax (plus they were all getting drunk, so it was entertaining). Friday was a leadership training for my professional association (IFMA). It was a great day, and I got some great ideas for leadership both professionally and personally. Then the rest of the weekend was Conference!

We had a brunch at our house this morning and even with the lack of a fridge (and a way to keep food cold), we totally pulled it off! We fed close to 20 people (we had breakfast casserole, pull aparts, and food that others brought). Good food, good friends, and great conference! Definitely a turn around for the week. And now, I am leaving tomorrow morning for Denver (and I got upgraded to First Class!).

My favorite talks were probably Saturday morning's. Although this post was a lot of complaining, I loved the talks that focused on not complaining, backbiting, gossiping, etc. I am going to focus on making sure I use words to uplift and lighten others loads. What were your favorite conference talks?