New age, new views, new chapter

I watched sunrise yesterday morning in the air somewhere between Fresno and Denver. I gave up the skies, weekly business travel and started my new government agriculture career last week for more time at home. However I am still going to continue speaking to groups on topics around farming, food, family and social media. It’s a passion of mine and is connected to my personal and professional life. I had committed in last August to this event and it just happened to fall on my birthday weekend and I never would have known in August that this past week would have brought a new career and so much change to me all at once.  However as you read in the previous post, my birthday was not forgotten! My sweet sister, Kirsti, “hacked” the blog to post about my birthday. Only my sister could have found some of those ugly pictures but the message was so sincere and fun to read.

Then I came home to a fabulous surprise yesterday.

My husband found a recipe for Cherry Chip Cake and bought the ingredients. The man knows me really well. Pink cake is my traditional favorite from my childhood. He told his mom about it and she ended up making the cake. It was as yummy as it looks. Plus Nathan made a full steak dinner for the kids, his parents and me.

It was the end to a wonderful weekend, one that allowed me to spend time with family yesterday and fabulous California girlfriends on Saturday.

 I was moved on Saturday and inspired by my friend Barbara aka Dairy Goddess who shared her family’s dairy farming journey and her entrepreneurial jump into building her own Dairy Goddess Farmstead Cheese. In case you don’t know, the dairy industry has had major price struggles in recent years. Many dairies have been lost and Barbara and her husband have innovated to keep going. She moved me to tears and I’m definitely ordering Dairy Goddess “foodie on a budget” French style cheese.

Celeste, me and Karri. These women inspire me!

I have met amazing friends in California. They are women that empower me and will be forever friends. They are leaders, unique and two of them are shown above, Celeste and Karri. Celeste aka Couture Cowgirl was the outgoing president of California Women for Agriculture (CWA) and Karri is now the new president of CWA. I spoke to the members of CWA on Saturday just before Barbara shared her story. The evening ended with a bash. I’ll share more on the bash this week but am so thankful for the entire experience. Karri and her husband Bill and two children hosted me at their home. It was a wonderful time.

So wonderfully fun that I received word from Nancy aka Wife of a Dairyman yesterday that she has a sore hamstring from all of our dancing. Nancy and I didn’t have husbands along to dance with us so we paired up.

Nancy aka Wife of a Dairyman and me. She’s my California sister!

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