Apr 06 Five For Friday 3/31/13 & 4/6/13: Benefit Concert Edition

Oh hey there, blog. Remember me?  Sorry for the neglect…Life is crazy.  I am currently living in benefit planning land.  It’s fabulous. Interesting. Intense. A blessing. Stressful. And at times, it can be completely insane. But instead of making excuses, I’ll get right to the last couple of weeks…This will be a combined edition.  The top 10 of the last two weeks.

1. Medical Stuff:

• 2 sessions of Physical Therapy, with lectures on pacing, along with all of my exercises.  It is a beautiful thing when your therapist looks at you and says, “I know exactly what you need today. Sit down and listen.”
• One trip to urgent care due to POTS, stress, exhaustion, and dehydration. (Cue the physical therapy lectures).
• 5 Home Rehab sessions.
• One telephone conversation with Dr. Larry about what I need to do for me to survive.

2.  The Saturday before Easter we spent in Grass Lake celebrating Easter with the Jaskolski’s.  It was such a beautiful day with family; one that actually felt like SPRING!

3.  On Easter we went to mass and then ate dinner with the Herner’s, our best family friends.  It was perfect and low-key.

4.  Silent Auction:  I am sending a HUGE shout out to the silent auction masters: Team Amazing!  My sister-in-law, Jill, who has coordinated the whole auction the last few months, my mother-in-law who has shopped non-stop for baskets and supplies, and my sister-in-law, Audrey, who has brought her own donations and personal creativity to the table when putting together the baskets.  They have spent two straight days in our basement and are ready for a third.  The baskets are almost finished, and they are the most beautiful baskets I have ever seen. So grateful for their time and expertise!

5.  Jan (Our main event coordinator) and I met with Pam, our Kellogg Event Coordinator, and picked out the food, linens, staging, room layout, centerpieces, and we went over many other logistical details for the benefit. It was actually a fun meeting and Pam made it super easy, which is pretty amazing because I have been known to not be able to make decisions (I like to blame that on being a Libra.  You know, I have to balance my scales…).  The best part was, I made it out of our meeting under budget.

6.  Monday of spring break was a crazy but productive day.  I did my rehab and then had a conference call with our sound guy about the 13th to go over everything that the Joshua Davis Trio and Chris Trapper require for sound. I also spoke with Allie a million times as we worked to write the program, put together the PowerPoint, design the t-shirts, order the sizes, make an outline for our emcee, talk to media contacts, and figure out silent auction details. Besides getting a good amount of work done, the best part was I got to stay in my pajamas while I worked.

7.  Tuesday, I had four meetings.  I spent most of the day at Kellogg. First, I met with Evan Pinsonnault of News 6.  He was interested in talking about Allie and my story, the foundation, and the upcoming benefit.  After Evan, I met with Jan (the main event coordinator) about logistics for the night.  Then I met with Mimi who is our other event coordinator about stage design.  She is designing the stage and I cannot wait to see how it turns out.  I finished the day by meeting with Deb Hart, of WMMQ who is our event emcee.  I walked her through the night and we went over what she will need.  I left feeling so excited, but so exhausted.  I pretty much got home and collapsed…a happy collapse.

8.  Media: The next couple days I spent on media.  I did a live interview on 89.7’s Coffee Break.  I taped an interview for 94.9 (Deb and Joey in the morning) that will air on Tuesday. I also taped a PSA with Gary Austin about our foundation, EDS, POTS, Vasculitis, and the benefit that will air on several different radio stations next week.  I also confirmed with Evan Pinsonnault that I will be on News 6 for a live interview with him on Monday morning (the 8th) at 6:15. Monday evening, I will be on Melik Brown’s show, Time Slot 2x.  I am extremely grateful for the opportunities to get the word out.

9.  I made it to Thursday before I was in urgent care.  It forced me to rest most of the day which was a good thing.  I definitely needed the down time and the chance to lay with my legs up while I answered emails and proofed the program.  I was also able to nap some, which is what I needed the most.

10.  Friday, I spent in my classroom getting prepared for the week.  I’m not gonna lie.  I’m pretty scared for this upcoming week. I will need to pace and be very conscious of getting rest throughout the week so I can make it to the actual benefit; to not only make it through, but to also enjoy it.  So, if you don’t hear from me until after the 13th, please understand I have gone into survival mode so that I can be okay for next Saturday.

Love you guys.  Hope to see many of you Saturday.  If you still need tickets, go to www.ZebraNation.org. Allie and I would really, REALLY love to see you there.

~Katie xoxo