1. A Visit from a Friend
A close friend chose to spend her weekend with me this weekend. She traveled to Colorado Springs from San Francisco, and we had a good, low-key weekend. We hiked Palmer Trail in Colorado Springs, we tried a few local beers, and we ate well. I’m so thankful for her!

Melissa and Christina on Palmer Lake Trail, Colorado

2. Speaking in Small Town Missouri

This week I went back to my small Missouri town  to speak on social  media and digital marketing at the Y-USA Camp Marketing Symposium. Even though I no longer work for the Y, I still have a heart for the Y’s mission and it’s impact on kids and families. It was an honor to speak at the national symposium.

Y-USA Camp Marketing Symposium

3. My fiance comes home!

My fiance had to travel for a few weeks for a military exercise, but he comes home to me soon. The next time he leaves for an extended time will be when he deploys to Afghanistan in 2012. Please keep him and his soldiers in your thoughts.

Happy

4. Seeing Family
Though it was a very fast trip that was dominated by the Y-USA Camp Marketing Symposium, my parents picked me up and took me back to the St. Louis airport, allowing us a few hours together this week. It was great to see them.

5. Brides Across America

This nonprofit gives wedding dresses away to military brides who have either deployed (for service women) or whose fiances have deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Japan, Kuwait, Qatar, or Bahrain within the last five years.

It moves me in ways that I can’t begin to describe here that someone is so thankful for their own freedoms that they would donate a free wedding dress to me as a thank-you to my fiance and I for his military service. What a tender gesture to offer women beautiful, new wedding gowns. Thank you, Brides Across America. I am so moved by your program!

Brides Across America Interview on Fox 2 News

I was interviewed by Fox 2 News in St. Louis during my Brides Across America experience (here’s the video), and some of that footage was re-used by Channel 11 News in St. Louis. The Fox 2 News Blog also used a quote from me in its write-up about the event!

Grace in Small Things exists because we are choosing not to allow the noisiness of life to rob us of the time and energy to be mindful of ourselves and those we love and to recognize the grace that exists in small things.

Grace in Small Things

In these last few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, it seems natural to reflect, and to give thanks for the blessings in our lives. This week I have much to be thankful for…

1. A second blog
I’m recently engaged to an officer in the Army, so I’ve started a second blog devoted to this new adventure I’m on as a soon-to-be Army wife. The blog has been live now for just over a month, and it’s been a source of peace and point of connection for me to other Army girlfriends, fiances, and spouses.

2. New Friendships
I’ve met some great new friends in Colorado since moving here. I feel so lucky to have connected so quickly with some of the people I’ve met here in Colorado. I’m grateful when I’m invited to do things with new groups of people, and it feels good to be building some strong individual friendships, as well.

3. Snow
I like snow, and I live in a place now where I can see it in the mountains nearly every day. The best part? I can see snow in the mountains on days when it’s sunny and warm in the city. How awesome is that?

4. Wool
It sounds silly, but I love wool socks. I’m cold-natured, but they keep my feet warm and dry, even when it’s cold and wet outside.  Smart Wool, I love you.

5. My Yoga Practice
The Bija Studio in Colorado Springs is beginning to feel like my yoga home. I try to take at least two classes there each week, and after two months of regular practice, I can feel myself stronger. Other students have introduced themselves to me, and the teachers have reached out to ask me about myself. It’s nice to feel like there’s somewhere I can go each week to take care of my body, where I am welcomed, and where I know I’ll find an hour of strength and peace.

In these weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, what things are you thankful for?

Grace in Small Things

Last week was rough for all of us in my office, and this week my fiance leaves for another long training exercise – his last one prior to his Afghanistan deployment early next year. I want to start the new week off with the right mindset, which is why today’s GiST post is an important one to write.

Here are five things I want to remember this week, no matter what happens at work or how much I miss my fiance when he leaves for his training:

1. I’m loved.

That’s no small thing, but man, it’s easy to take for granted. I’m loved, and because it’s easy to focus on myself when times are tough, I need to remember to love others, too.

2. My dog is the best.

I have the best little dog. She’s just a mut from a tiny little Missouri town called Zalma, but she makes me crazy-happy, and I love her.

3. I have a home.

I lived in a studio apartment in Taiwan, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a one-room cabin in Missouri. Now, in Colorado Springs, I don’t just have a safe place to sleep at night, I have a home to come home to, and I’m thankful for that.

4. I have a job.

Not everyone is so lucky. I’m very thankful.

5. I work with good people.

I saw some incredible kindness in my office last week. I knew I worked with good people, but last week really reminded me that there are some wonderfully kind hearts in our company. I love that.

Are there things that you’re especially thankful for this week? I hope you’ll take a minute to reflect, and to leave a comment.

Grace in Small Things

Last night I was one of fifty thousand or so fans in St. Louis who were braving the mid-July heat in order to see U2 perform live at Busch Stadium.  Bono is arguably one of the most powerful people in the world, and that’s made apparent in U2′s live shows. He’s an activist who uses the band’s performances to educate mainstream American audiences on global political and human rights issues.

During my adult life I’ve been lucky enough to travel through 18 countries outside of the United States, and not all of those countries have been as wealthy as we are here. Even now, as unemployment rates soar and families and businesses are keeping belts tight, we are blessed with so much that people in many other parts of the world are not.

The U2 show last night brought back memories of my travels through rural parts of Asian countries.  The following are five things that feel small to me, but only because I take them so much for granted. Today, I’m taking a few minutes to express my gratitude and attempt to find grace in these “little” things:

Colleagues in Taiwan

1. Recognition as a Self-Governing Nation
I lived and worked in Taipei, Taiwan from 2006 through 2007 as a Henry Luce Scholar. My fellowship enabled me to work for a Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese non-profit, and I was surrounded by colleagues there who loved America and were incredibly welcoming to me.

When I prepared for a trip to Beijing in January of that year, my coworkers expressed envy that I was able to travel internationally so easily. Because China doesn’t recognize Taiwan as an independent and self-governed country, Taiwanese people are faced with challenges that we don’t see in America.

As an American, travel was easy. If I wanted to travel internationally, I simply had to go to that nation’s embassy, pay for an appropriate travel visa, and book my airfare. For my Taiwanese friends, visas were never guaranteed, and there were sometimes long waiting periods for their visas to be approved by the embassy of the country they hoped to visit. Countries who were allied with or terrified of China often denied Taiwanese people the opportunity to purchase travel visas for their countries.

Each time I consider traveling internationally again someday, I feel wonderfully free. After all, the only things preventing me from traveling are time and money – not whether or not my country is recognized by countries in other parts of the world.

Tibetan Children, photo by MilliGFunk Photography, 2007

2. Clean Water

As I type this post, I’m doing laundry, and I don’t have to wonder whether or not the water I’m washing my clothes in will make me sick. I don’t have to worry about where the water will come from or whether there’s been enough rain this season to provide me with the water I need for my day-to-day needs.

If I’m thirsty, I can choose from dozens of brands of bottled water. I can choose spring water or sparkling water, bottled water or tap water. If I’m dirty, I can take a shower or a bath. When I need to use the bathroom, there’s a toilet in my home. The water from the toilet doesn’t pollute the water that I wash my face with or that I put in my dog’s water dish.

Not everyone is so lucky.

When I traveled through Tibet, I saw real poverty for the first time in my live. At altitudes higher than Pike’s Peak, families survived Tibet’s harsh winters with their children. On my trek to the Mount Everest Base Camp, I saw these children in front of their family’s home. A very large, almost pond-like puddle of water had formed in the grass. Near one edge of the water, a child squatted to relieve himself while on the other side, an adult washed clothes.

I am so, so lucky.

Thai Monastery, photo by MilliGFunk Photography, 2006

3.  Freedom to Openly Discuss Faith

I’m not a terribly religious person, and I’m not very vocal about my faith. I do, however, appreciate that I’m able to openly and discuss my thoughts and publicly gather with others who share my faith. When I was traveling through China, this was not the case.

Train station that would connect North and South, photo taken in 2006

4. Freedom to Cross Borders

When I traveled to Germany in 2005, I visited a museum about the Berlin Wall  and a portion of the Berlin Wall that remains standing as a historical marker. When I traveled to Korea, I visited the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, where North and South Korea meet. What a surreal thing to be able to see into a country whose people cannot see outside of their own borders. I’m thankful that armed guards don’t stand at our borders, imprisoning us in its dictatorship.

V-Day Taipei, photo taken in 2007

5. Freedom to Choose a Partner or Spouse

I’ve not traveled through countries that have arranged marriages, but through my involvement in domestic violence prevention in Taiwan, I’ve met a number of women who are victims of domestic violence, human trafficking and the sex trade.

I try to remind myself how lucky I am not only to have a man in my life who treats me with love and respect, but also that I always have the choice whether to continue to share my life with him. Not all men and women are so lucky.

Grace in Small Things

1. A roof above me and four walls around me.

After the terrible storms in and around St. Louis over the weekend, I’m grateful that I still have a roof over my head and four walls around me. If you’d like to support St. Louis-area tornado victims, contact the United Way.

2. Co-workers who genuinely care about one another.

Several of my colleagues have stepped in to show kindness and support to one another.

3. Spring Rainstorms.

I’m not thankful for sever storms or tornadoes, but I am thankful for the spring rainstorms that lull me sleep at night. Those same storms are gradually helping the trees and the grass to become green again, and they’re also helping flowers begin to grow. I like the colors of spring, and we wouldn’t have those without spring rains.

4. Good mentors.

I’ve begun laying the groundwork for what I hope are strong, long-term mentorships with a few people both inside and outside of the nonprofit organization I work for. The talks I’ve had this year with those mentors have been helping me identify next career steps and long term visions for where my career might go. I genuinely appreciate the time and thoughtfulness of those people who have mentored me so far in 2011.

5. My Dad.

My dad drove an extra hour on Friday night just to pick me up and drive me to and from the Cardinals game that we went together at Busch Stadium. He could easily have met me halfway between our houses and St. Louis, but instead he wanted to pick me up and drop me off. He’s a great dad, and I’m so thankful that he took time to spend with me on Friday night.

PappaGFunk and MilliGFunk at Busch Stadium

On Friday night April 22, I sat beside my dad in Busch Stadium as we waited for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds to take the field. Spring in Missouri often means thunderstorms, and the radar predicted an 80-100% chance of rain between 6 p.m. and midnight. We were excited for a Dad/Daughter date night, though, so the rain wasn’t a deterrent.

Before the Rain

We only made it through two batters in the first inning before the rain began to fall. Fans left their seats seeking dryer places while staff pulled the tarp over the field.

Rain Delay at Busch Stadium

At first, there was just rain and a little bit of lightning. We waited things out beneath an overhang.  The rain continued for more than two hours. At some point during that time, the first tornado siren sounded. The weather radar was shown on the massive screen on the ball field, and a message clearly stated that we were under a tornado warning. My dad and I didn’t get too worked up over the siren.  When you spend most of your life dealing with spring storms, you take their potential power for granted.

Rain and a Tarped Field

When the second tornado siren sounded a little while later, food vendors closed down and fans were asked to seek storm shelters. Bummed that I might not get to eat the baseball stadium nachos I’d been holding out for all evening, I followed my dad into a storm shelter.

While we’d anticipated spending quality time together watching baseball, we found ourselves spending quality time together in a men’s restroom with two dozen or so other fans. Here’s the view from the men’s room where we took cover. (In a very cruel twist of fate, by the way, I had a clear view from the storm shelter of a closed-down nacho stand across the way.

View from the Men's Room

We stuck the storms out, determined to see the Cardinals play baseball before the night was done.  At around 9:00 p.m. the rain had finally let up and the tornado warnings had ended. The stadium staff pulled the tarp back from the field, and by 9:30 we were watching the Cardinals play the Reds.

Removing the Tarp at Busch Stadium

By 10:00 p.m. I had some idea that Lambert St. Louis International Airport had seen damage from the storm, but I really had no perspective on how serious the damage was. I was busy enjoying baseball, ball park nachos, and most importantly, time with my dad. I had no idea that across St. Louis, families were learning that their homes had been destroyed or that their neighborhoods had been leveled by the storms.

MilliGFunk and her Ball Park Nachos

We didn’t get home from the game until the wee hours of the morning, and I didn’t delve into St. Louis storm updates fully until around 10 a.m. on Saturday. I was humbled by the photos I saw of Lambert field, and when I saw the damage done in communities like Maryland Heights and Bridgeton I realized how fortunate my Dad and I, along with the thousands of fans who waited through the rain delay with us, had been.

Last night was a night of Cardinals baseball that I won’t soon forget, but it wasn’t because of Pujols or Rasmus or Holliday. I’ll be hard-pressed to eat stadium nachos or don my Yadi jersey in the future without feeling thankful for the night my dad and I spent standing in safety inside a men’s bathroom at Busch Stadium.

Those same symbols (the nachos, the jersey, etc.) will also remind me how lucky we were to be able to go home after the game on a night when so many other St. Louisans lost their own homes. My thoughts and prayers are going out to the area’s families whose homes and communities were damaged this weekend.

Would you like to help St. Louis tornado victims? Call 866-444-7669 or visit the United Way of Greater St. Louis online today.

Grace in Small Things

There’s always plenty to be thankful for, though lately I keep coming back to the same things; solid employment, great friends and loving family. This week I want to push myself to find grace in things that are specific to where I am at this specific point in my life; right now, this week, on this day.

1. Flannel.

Yep. I’m admitting it. I really like flannel. Flannel is soft and warm and cozy on cold March nights when – against all odds – there is still snow falling from the Missouri sky.

2. Laughter.

My laugh tends to be very quiet, and because I’m usually so serious. I love to laugh though, and it’s wonderful to connect with people whose senses of humor compliment my own. Luckily for me, I have a handful of those folks in my life right now, and I SO appreciate the happiness that comes when we laugh together.

3. Running.

I really enjoy the freedom of running. I like the feeling of competence, knowing that I can run more than ten miles. What a great thing to have a body that’s healthy enough that I can train it to tackle such distances! Good health isn’t a “small” thing, but it’s one I probably don’t consciously feel thankful for often enough.

4. My Physical Therapists.

Crystal, Todd, Theresa, Karen, Bobby and the rest of the gang at Pro Rehab in Farmington, Missouri, have been amazing to me over the last six weeks of physical therapy. I’m frustrated at how slowly my foot injury is healing, but each time I arrive at the clinic, the combination of their caring professionalism and their personable outgoingness make my appointments a lot easier to manage. Even in the beginning when the pain was intense, the staff kept me positive and smiling. I’m so thankful that my foot is in such good hands as I recover.

5. Bread crumbs.

Sometimes you find (figurative) bread crumbs in your life that lead you down good paths. The bread crumbs themselves may seem small, but when you have the patience to pick enough of them up, they can lead you to great places. I’m really thankful for one specific path of bread crumbs I’ve been picking up for the last few months.

As you begin your new week, what little things are you thankful for?

Grace in Small Things

Small Town Life: It’s the Little Things

1. Spring nights spent reading books on porch swings

2. The sound of laughter as kids play outside

3. Short commutes to and from work

4. Old men in old pick-up trucks

5. Chirping crickets

Grace in Small Things

As Missourians brace for what is expected to be one of the worst winter storms in decades, I’m at home with my dog by my side, fighting off drowsiness. Despite a thickening layer of ice outside and progressively worsening news reports, there’s much to be thankful for today.

1. Family.

When the weather began rolling in, I was welcomed to stay with my family. Water has been bottled, the generator is ready to go, and there’s plenty of food in the kitchen. I’m glad I have family who not only care enough to let me stay with them at times like this, but whose company I enjoy.

2. The Friends Who Celebrated My 30th with Me.

My 30th birthday turned into quite an event! Beginning on Friday with a trip to a Frontenac St. Louis spa thanks to an incredibly thoughtful friend and ending with dinner with my family on Sunday night, my 30th birthday was pretty darned fantastic.

In case you missed the post about my mustache-themed celebration, be sure to check it out. The Dirty Thirty Mustache Bash took place on Saturday night at HandleBar, one of St. Louis’ newest and hippest locally-owned bars. Dozens of friends came out and donned fake mustaches in honor of my 30s.

The Mustache Girls, photo by Dave Mills

3. My Readers!

I started a Facebook Page yesterday for A Small Town Girl’s Guide, and I already have more than fifty Fans. My readership skyrocketed yesterday, too, for reasons not directly related to the Facebook Page. Either way, it’s pretty amazing to see how many people support A Small Town Girl’s Guide. Thank you!

4. My RFT Web Awards Nomination.

A Small Town Girl’s Guide was a finalist in the Riverfront Times‘ Web Awards under the category of “Best Personal Blog”, and as a result, I was invited to attend the private awards party last week at a small St. Louis music venue called the Firebird.

An acquaintance of mine in the St. Louis social media world, Patrick Powers, won the award. Check out his blog if you’re interested in social media, communications and higher education.

RFT Web Awards, image credit the Riverfront Times

5. My Newest Story in Insider573 Magazine.

This story, which was originally supposed to focus on my blog, became a story about my family’s rural Missouri history. Be sure to read the story here on pages 44 &45. Thanks to Tom Smugala for the outstanding photography and the opportunity to write for the publication again in this issue.

Story in Insider573 Magazine Jan/Feb 2011 issue

1. Thoughtfulness.

This is not a small thing at all, but waiting for me this morning in my email account was an early birthday present; a trip to a spa in a very nice part of St. Louis. Thank you to the thoughtful person who sent this to me!

2. Rosie’s Fierce Hunting Skill.

Rosie is a source of unending joy, and this morning was no exception. I bought her three brand new toys last night, giving her the rope toy this morning just after taking her outside. Within an hour, she had completely destroyed the poor little toy. Rosie is a fierce, fierce, hunter dog:

RIP Rope Toy

3. Good Coworkers

All-around, I work with good people. From helping cover me at trade shows so that I don’t have to work crazy-long days back-to-back on my birthday weekend to picking me up with their four-wheel-drive when I’m stranded in the snow, my coworkers are good people.

I’ve not always been so lucky, so while I usually don’t blend work and personal on A Small Town Girl’s Guide, I am very thankful for the kind hearts and good intentions of my colleagues.

4. Good Coffee

Months ago, I accidentally broke my coffee carafe, and I have no idea why I waited so long to replace it. Rather than buying another coffee pot, I opted for a French press.

This morning I enjoyed the best cup of coffee I’ve had in ages in my tiny little cabin in the woods while Rosie enjoyed decimating the rope toy shown in the photo, above.

All was right in the world of Small Town Girl and her fierce little puppy:

Can I Get an Amen?

5. Prickly Pear Marmalade

Again with the morning theme…How did I not know about prickly pear until January of 2011?

I mean, I think I’m a relatively worldy, well-traveled, well-educated woman, but the ways of Arizona were entirely lost on me.

Thanks to my rockin’ host, Nick, for not only sharing the joys of prickly pear margaritas with me, but also for sending me home with a jar of prickly pear marmalade. English muffins have been taken to a whole new level now:

Prickly Pear Marmalade