To kick off the holiday season, my Mom and I rode Amtrak up to New York City on Saturday and saw the Radio City Christmas Spectacular show. Despite the rain, we had a fabulous time seeing the show, munching on cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery, window shopping in Saks 5th Avenue’s Shoe Department,  waiting in line at the Nintendo Store so I could get some fabulous goodies for Peter, and having dinner at the Tavern On The Green restaurant in Central Park (it’s closing – how sad!). While I was there I took a lot of pictures with my little point and shoot and camera phone, and took a few videos with my phone as well. I loved being able to back everything up with Microsoft’s new MyPhone service. Because of it I’m able to share this photo since I could download it from the site (I left my hard drive at work – oops).

Our $5 umbrella from the NYC street vendor yelling “UMBRELLA, UM – BRELL – A!” reminded me of trips to New York with my parents as a kid. It kept us nice and dry!

Goals

I just found out that I was selected to be the Department Chair for a group of departments known as the Information Technology Academy at my school. I am so excited about this! This means that I have to update my goals list for the next 5 years – you can read about my goal plan here.

Interviewing a Leader

I had the opportunity to interview my school district’s Director of Business today with another colleague who is participating in the Aspiring Leaders Program. It was really cool to have the chance to sit down with him and hear his thoughts about leadership. This was the first time I tried recording a interview (with permission, of course), as I thought I had to transcribe our conversation. That requirement has changed so now I just have to write a summary but I think having it to listen to will be helpful.

Wednesday

I drove down to Dover this past Wednesday to attend the first state-wide meeting of the Aspiring Leader Development Program. My school district selected me to participate in this program and I’m super excited about the opportunities that have been outlined for the next year. This program is sponsored by the Delaware Academy for School Leadership (DASL) and our first meeting was held at the Dover Downs Hotel. This meeting provided a general overview to the program, gave us some materials to work with, and gave us a chance to network with other aspiring leaders across the state. I will definitely be talking more about this program as the year progresses.

Thursday

It was back to Dover (again) for me on Thursday as I went to the American Council on Education (ACE) Office of Women in Higher Education (OWHE)’s Annual Fall Dinner and Awards Ceremony at Wilmington University’s Dover campus with my Mom. I joined this group about two years ago (coincidentally right before I actually worked in Higher Ed – I started teaching as an adjunct professor at a college shortly after that), and have really enjoyed their events. This dinner was particularly interesting as the speaker was Dr. Lillian M. Lowery, Delaware’s Secretary of Education.

Saturday – Halloween!

Souffled Pumpkin Pancake courtesy of Food Network – it was easy AND tasty.

An impromptu photo shoot with Jasper and a Halloween prop. He was more interested in eating it than posing with it though.

My annual Pumpkin Roll. The only time I can get Peter to eat sprinkles. He tends to still brush a lot off before eating.

Here’s to another great week – Happy November!