In February 2012, I accepted a job with Keep Akron Beautiful as the Program Manager. Basically, I am in charge of planning our events, doing all of our Public Relations, and being the point person for all of our volunteers (as we have many different events throughout the course of the year.) We are affiliated with Keep America Beautiful, a national organization, and my good friend, Melissa had this job before I did. Needless to say, I am filling some big shoes. Melissa moved on to BIGGER things and is now working in the Keep America Beautiful office in Washington, DC.
On top of my job with Keep Akron Beautiful, I decided to stay with the Cleveland Marathon as the Volunteer Coordinator. I love the race and it is something I look forward to promoting and working on each year. My strength is definitely the "volunteer portion," so I was blessed when Joan asked me to stay on the team. My position runs January-June, so only half-year--and I am still able to stay connected with an organization that is near and dear to my heart.
I have made 2012 a quite busy year for myself through scheduling activities for my family and I to participate in, getting involved in organizations such as the Junior League of Akron and Junior Women's Civic Club, and still volunteering for many organizations near to my heart. I am currently spending quite a bit of time working on and fixing up the house that Bruno and I purchased in February in North Akron. We are really excited to have our future 'home together' be in the Akron-area, because it is a community we have truly come to love. (After all, it is the place where we met!)
They say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I am just going to finish this post with some of my top-favorites from this year so far. Sorry you missed out on 2011, I have been really bad about posting updates that are significant to my life and to what is going on. But, I promise to be better about this, as I am trying to learn the 'World of Blogging' so that I can create a blog for Keep Akron Beautiful here in the near future. Until next time...
October 2011: The ING NYC Marathon, at the finish line--one of the best moments from 2011. Pictured here with Katie (my cousin), Joan (a friend from the CLE marathon staff) and here mom. What a great day!
October 2011: A family photo-op spending time together during my Grandma Flaherty's birthday. Love this.
November 2011: Visiting Walt Disney World during Christmas-time with the family. This is Jimmy and I.
December 2011: My beautiful family on Christmas-Eve! I love them!
December 2011: My love graduates from The University of Akron. So Proud!
February 2012: This is my friend, Melissa and I at her going away party! She moved to DC to work with Keep America Beautiful and I now work for Keep Akron Beautiful, her old job!
April 2012: Jessica's prom. Seriously gorgeous. Love my little sister!
April 2012: Reconnected with some Alpha Gamma Delta sisters and hosted a baby shower for my pledge sister, Jamie (center), with my other pledge sister, Alyssa (pictured on the right). One of my favorite parts of 2012 (so far) has been re-connecting with these girls and helping Jamie welcome beautiful baby Aubriella into the world in June! :)
May 2012: Cleveland Marathon Race Day (on the grandstand) with some wonderful ladies.
Pictured left to right, Leigh, Joan, myself, Jen, Darla and Sarah. Love. These. Ladies.
May 2012: Baby sister graduates high school! This is one of my favorites of my younger siblings. Love them!
May 2012: A huge win for Jimmy and his baseball team! He is a little rock-star on the field :)
June 2012: I visited my friend Melissa in Washington, DC in June. What a wonderful trip--I had never been to DC before, so I loved everything about the city! So much history! So much fun!
June 2012: Mike and Courtney's Wedding. This wouldn't be complete without a picture of Bruno and myself. I just love this photo (and this cute guy) so much! We had a wonderful time that evening celebrating two wonderful friends. Unforgettable!
June 2012: Jessica's Graduation party- A wonderful opportunity to catch up with our babysitter (Kristen, picture in-between my sister and I) and her daughter, Samantha! The world has come full-circle. This is another one of my favorite things about this year; being able to catch up with some wonderful people I haven't seen in quite some time, especially Kristen! I just love her and her kids.
July 2012: The final picture... that I just adore. My girls and I volunteering our time at the 2012 Italian-American Festival at Lock 3 on July 13th! What a wonderful time to give back, enjoy ourselves and bond with my family and friends. Pictured left to right is: Shannon (my cousin and good friend for 24 years), Juanita (my sorority sister--just love her), Me, Alyssa (my sorority sister--we pledged together!) and my best friend, Ann (who I have known virtually all my life.)
So glad I was able to update on all these wonderful things that have happened. I am incredibly blessed. I love my family. I love my friends and life is good. Most of the time ;)
