Chasing the Sun

  My director at work is always encouraging me to invest in my professional development, so I’ve been looking for courses or conferences I might be able to attend this summer. I stumbled upon Canva Creates, a conference dedicated to everything Canva featuring new product launches and keynote speakers with topics on branding, other workshops to see their tools in action and more. I’d thought about just watching the keynotes online, but after mentioning to my best friend/coworker about this opportunity, it seemed like the kind of event we should attend in person. We invited a couple other coworkers/friends from our Events team to join, and we were ready to go. We drove down to LA the afternoon before, which took us about three hours to get there, because we were stuck in crazy traffic - the usual. It was fun catching up with the gals and laughing about ridiculous things that can only come from a road trip such as this one, HA!     We all got settled into our rooms and fres...

    Commencement Weekend is our Super Bowl at the university. It’s our why. It’s why we do what we do every single day. Our overall goal is to graduate students and send them onto their next chapter. Whether we work directly with students or we’re in the background with fundraising or IT. It all points toward student success and helping them in their academic journey. It’s a time of nostalgia and friendship and a new beginning for the grads. Being the sap that I am, I’m always so wrapped up in the season with the recognition ceremonies and such leading up to the big day. Celebrating all the incredible stories of students who made it to the finish line, I’m often reminded of my own commencement - how I felt, all the questions I had and the fear I was facing with all the unknowns.  We had three ceremonies - Friday morning, Friday evening and Saturday morning. I worked all three. I’m on the Commencement committee these days, so it’s always fun to hear about all the progress...

      One of my best friends and I heard Pete Davidson was coming to Bakersfield a couple months ago, so naturally we had to buy tickets. He's been part of an inside joke we have - It came from an SNL skit. But, I digress. It came up a lot quicker than I thought it would.    I went over to my friend's house and rode with her and her husband to the venue.    Unfortunately, we did not get our selfie with him like we'd hoped, nor were we able to record anything...Because, comedy, you know? They gave us pouches to lock our phones in before entering the venue. It was kind of nice to just enjoy the show without the distraction but also shows how reliant we are. I don't wear a watch, so we didn't have a clue what time it was.   There were three opening acts, who I don't recall their names. But, a couple of them had worked on SNL and other projects with Pete, so that was cool. They were funny, and kept the crowd entertained, which is exactly what you'd ho...

    I always consider summer to start on Mother’s Day weekend because it usually gives a sneak peek for what’s to come in the summer. This year, we decided to use our second pass at California Adventures for the beginning of Pixar Fest 2024 .  I was so excited. I hadn’t been to California Adventures since before the pandemic and so much has changed with Marvel and other newer additions, so it was going to be a fulfilling experience. I planned out my outfit, Toy Story themed, from my head to my feet.    We didn’t leave too early that morning, which was nice and made it to Anaheim around 10 a.m. (or just a bit after), which wasn’t long after its opening. We’ve been parking in the Toy Story parking lot the last couple trips because it isn’t usually as busy and feels like the security portion goes a lot faster than the Mickey & Friends lot. We made it to the park and were immediately hit with all the sights and sounds of Buena Vista Street. We went through a fe...