N.O. Part IV- Popular Appearances

If you have missed the first two posts in my New Orleans/NIRSA series, feel free to catch up and check them out--- Food, Mardi Gras World, and Site Seeing!

Every year NIRSA hires and brings in volunteer speakers, this year we had three phenomenal speakers at our conference... Archie Manning, The Ripples Guy, and Dr. Maura Cullen!  We were also fortunate to have Patrick House come visit us!

Archie Manning

Archie was the speaker for our opening ceremony... it was a fantastic way to kick off the conference!  He spoke on leadership and shared many of his own experiences as a player with the Saints and then on into being a father of the Manning boys in the NFL now.  His speech was entertaining, hilarious, and very heartfelt all in one.  One of my favorite quotes from him was "Being a leader is like being a lady, if you need to say you are one, you're probably not".  Initially it made me laugh, and the more I thought about it, the more it sank in as a true analogy.  He did not stick around for autographs or anything that I know of, which I was bummed about, but it is still cool to be able to say that I heard him speak.  Here is a video that has clips from various talks he has given, many of the clips are things he mentioned to us. 

The Ripples Guy

Also known as Paul Wesslemann, was an incredible speaker!  He had a LOT of energy and never lost your attention for a second.  I liked him so much that I went to two of his sessions, one of stress and one on motivation.  Paul was grateful enough to email me with a an overview of what he talked about during the stress management session.  Here are the four keys to stress management:

• Assess
• Acknowledge 
• Act
• Appreciate 

Here is a sneak preview of how great he is... this is a speech similar to the one he gave at NIRSA.

If you're interested in learning more about the four keys shoot me an email or leave me a comment and I would be more than happy to share the overview with you.  Some of you may know Paul as the guy who sends out little bits of joy everyday through quotes like "Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth... tame the dragon and the gift is yours".  Some days these messages speak right to you, other days they may be meant for someone you know, hence the "ripple" effect.  If you would like to get connected with The Ripples Guy or learn more about him you can do so the following ways:

Twitter: Ripples Guy

Facebook: Paul "Ripples Guy" Wesselmann

Quote Pond: http://TheRipplesProject.org

P.S. How can you not love this guy, he's from Wisconsin :)

Dr. Maura Cullen

Dr. Cullen is an incredible woman, with incredible experiences and knowledge.  I went to two of her sessions, one session was on diversity and the other was on lessons learned on the playground.  She does a fantastic job at getting her audience involved.  In fact during her lessons on the playground session she brought out the kid in a lot of us by inviting us to come up to the front and dance (don't worry I did).  She also invited us all to do something we didn't think we could do or questioned we could do... break a archery arrow by holding it between the wall and the soft spot on your neck!  I was incredibly nervous when she was showing us how to do it, but then I tried it and I realized there was nothing to be sweating over.  She has a way of making you believe in yourself and believe you can do anything you set your mind to.  

Sneak preview time...

If you would like to learn more about Dr. Cullen or purchase her book check out her website.

Patrick House

I don't know how many of you are Biggest Loser fans, but I know I am... I LOVE the show!  I know that the way they do things is not necessarily the healthiest way to do it, but you have to give them credit for doing it, for losing it, one way or the other.  Weeeellll, I had the chance to meet last season's Biggest Loser at NIRSA! 

He's so adorable! 

Patrick did not speak at this conference, he was actually there with Cybex.  He works for them now as a traveling person, but he was there for a Q & A session and hung out for a couple days at the fitness expo.  For any of you Boston Marathon watchers or runners, he and some of the other Biggest Losers from his season ran in the Boston!  Did any one see them?  Granted I did not get to spend a whole lot of time with him, my friend (in the picture above) and I were GEEKING out at the chance to meet him... we made sure to let him know :-p  I was bound and determined to become Facebook friends with him, but I still haven't gotten my friend request from him ;)

This is probably my favorite post about New Orleans, because I met and heard so many great people I wish I could listen to them everyday.  They all gave me such a fresh and positive view on life and my job.  If you have any questions about any of these people, feel free to let me know :)

Laissez le bon temps rouler!

N.O. Part I- Food

This past week I spent an amazing time in an amazing city that I love going to for an amazing conference and met many amazing individuals!  This year the annual NIRSA (National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association) was held in New Orleans, the Crescent City.  For those of you who do not know, I spent a weekend in the Big Easy in December for the first time (well I was there in middle school, but that doesn't count) and fell in l.o.v.e. with the city, the people, and the culture.  When I found out our conference was going to be held in New Orleans I made sure that I was going to be there.  Over the next week I plan to share my experiences while in the city and at my conference.  Some posts to look forward to...

• Mardi Gras World
• Site seeing in NO
• Popular appearances at NIRSA
• Traveling Trips
• How to fund an expensive conference

A few more may also be added to the list as I go through and reminisce on my pictures I took.  Today I will share with you some of the phenomenal foods that I got to eat! First stop... Huck Finns

This is where I got my first and FAVORITE meal of the trip.

Jambalaya Wrap

I actually didn't even eat my fries, because the wrap filled me and quite frankly there was nothing special about the fries... why eat it if you don't like it!  I'd eat this wrap every day if I could :)

On a couple of occasions we had ourselves some beignets, a real New Orleans treat.  One time I had them at Huck Finns and the other time I went to the famous Cafe Du Monde.  Last time I was in N.O. I got some of the boxed mix so I could make them at home, and surprisingly they are close to the real deal.  

Margaritaville was another great restaurant we went to.  For those of you who have not been to one of these before, I recommend it, not just because of the food was great but also because the restaurant is InCrEdIbLy colorful and bright!

 I ordered a quarter muffaletta and gumbo... both great dishes.  The only downside to muffalettas is that they are super greasy from the meats and olive "salad"/spread put on it.  

Here's the crew at Maragaritaville :)

Another one of my favorite dishes that I got, which was from Mulates, was shrimp etouffee.  My boyfriend's mom makes this sometimes and hers is actually a lot more spicy than this since she uses garden peppers and we never know how hot they'll be... both renditions are awesome! 

Also in this picture is an enormous glass of sweet tea! Two things about this drink, 1.) all glasses are ginormous there! 2.) The sweet tea recipe that I posted was pretty darn close to the delicious sweet tea I had in New Orleans! I ordered sweet tea for pretty much every meal... "When in Rome" right?!

That's all I have for the foods I ate while in the Big Easy.  I was able to try a couple other things at socials, but  did not get a chance to take a picture, many of them we varieties of the things I previously mentioned.  Have you been to New Orleans?  What foods would you recommend? 

Hope you all enjoyed Part I of New Orleans!  Were any of you at NIRSA 2011 or have you been in the past?  If you have any questions please feel free to let me know!  And as they say in the Big Easy "Laissez le bon temps rouler"!  Let the good times roll!

Sausage and Shoes

This was the question of my morning... Are these really sausage links?  

I cooked these up in the microwave (running short on time) this morning to have in my homemade breakfast sandwich and this is what they turned out like...

Now you may not be able to tell by the picture, but after I took these out of the microwave, I threw them onto my English muffin that had an egg and slice of cheese on it and dove right in.  I took my first big bite into  the sandwich and did not even continue chewing after my initial bite.  These sausage links had gone under some sort of transformation while in the microwave that made them turn hard, cardboard-like, and some adjective I don't even know.  They also turned a very dark brown.  After my first bite I took the sausage out and ate the rest of my sandwich.  I was extremely disappointed in the product.  Has anyone else had a similar experience with the Banquet sausage links?  Sans sausage, my breakfast sandwich was delish!

NEW ORLEANS

In other news I leave for New Orleans in 8 days!!!  I will be attending the NIRSA conference in New Orleans, this is going to be my first time attending the national conference so I am very excited to see what it is like.... not to mention I LOVE the Big Easy!  I am hoping we get a little time to do some exploring.  Since I will be leaving in about a week, I decided to do a little shopping to get some professional looking items.  I got myself two new pairs of shoes and a pair of dress pants. 

Aren't they cute?!

 I DID NOT, however, get what I was really looking for, which is khakis.  Does anyone know where I can get some good fitting khakis?  I have very long legs, a flat butt and semi-wide hips... not an easy combo to shop for.  The last pair of khakis I bought was my freshman year of high school and they are really worn!  You can almost see through a few patches in the butt!  I have been searching for a number of years, but have not ever been able to find any khakis that I like, so I am open for any suggestions people might have.

Hope ya'll had a wonderful weekend!  Happy April!