For me, 2010 was a year of excitement, challenges, opportunities, new adventures, making new friends, and getting reacquainted with old ones.
In January, I was named President of the South Fork Chamber of Commerce; which was a great joy and challenge at the same time. There is so much time, work, and dedication that goes into a position like that. It was an honor to serve this year as the Chamber President. I also began my Master's degree in Community Counseling at Adams State College. This was a challenge in itself since I was working full-time, have a child, and volunteering in my community; however, I managed to finish my first semester with all A's and kept a 4.0 GPA until this last semester, when it dropped to a 3.77 because of two B's.
In February, I celebrated the 1 year Anniversary of my florist and wedding consulting business, Gifts from the Heart Florist. The first year of the business was interesting and required a great deal of trial and error, but I made it and had a great 2010.
On May 29th, I married my husband (after 4 years of dating) in a riverside ceremony at the Lazy Su-Z Ranch. Our wedding day brought an amuzing challenge, which was the result of the Rio Grande peaking the morning of the wedding. The river created a moat around our ceremony location, but with a little ingenuity, the groomsmen built a bridge over the water and all was well. Other than a little wind, which made for some pretty cool photos, the weather was perfect. We were blessed to have so many great friends and family members come to help us prepare for the day and celebrate with us. After a wonderful celebration with family and friends, we headed to the Bahamas for our honeymoon (my first out of the states trip). I loved it!!! The beach was beautiful, the weather was great, and we had a wonderful time...after I got over being upset about losing my new husband's real estate camera on a public bus in downtown Nassau. We made it through that ordeal without fighting, so I think we're good. (LOL) We also had an amazingly interesting beginning of the trip before we even left the states. We stayed the night before our flight at a hotel near DIA. My husband is an avid hunter and fly fisherman, so he was super excited when we met Patrick Sebile (CEO of Sebile Lures) in front of the hotel while waiting for the shuttle. What was ironic was that we have a friend with his own fishing show on World Fishing Network and this friend had scheduled Patrick (Mr. Sebile) to come to South Fork to fish with him and my husband the following month. After arriving at the airport, we ran into my Pastor and some church members who were leaving that morning for a trip to Europe and then, my favorite part....while waiting for our connecting flight from DIA to the Bahamas during our layover in Charlotte, NC, we met Snoop Dogg! He was waiting for a different flight in our terminal. It was pretty cool.
June was a very busy month, playing catch up from the wedding, getting back into school for the summer semester, and celebrating birthdays. My husband and daughter share the same birthday and mine is just five days later. Needless to say, June is a very busy month for our family.
July was busy as always with our local events that I am involved in because of chamber: 4th of July and Logger Days. Then there is always Ski-Hi Stampede, where we enjoyed watching Clay Walker perform. We always look forward to "Stampede"...good music and lots of dancing...oh, and the professional rodeo.
In August, my baby girl started Kindergarten. I can't believe she is already old enough to be in school. She has gained so much knowledge this year and has the best Kindergarten teacher ever (and I'm not just saying that b/c she is one of my good friends). My little girl is reading, doing math, and knows so much more than I did as a Kindergartener. I'm so proud of her. I also started my toughest semester yet, but pulled through it with better grades than I anticipated, so I was really excited about that. I was honored with the title of Mrs. San Luis Valley 2011 and will be the first representative from my area to compete in the Mrs. Colorado Pageant in March. I chose to hold a platform based on Domestic Violence Awareness, as you know from my blogs and website.
September was a busy wedding month for me and is one of my favorite months here in Southern Colorado. The end of September/beginning of October brings crisp air and beautiful fall foilage. I love getting in a jeep or the truck and riding around looking at all the colors on the mountains. It's absolutely beautiful. Sometimes you forget what a wonderful place you live in, but Fall in the mountains brings everything back into perspective.
October was a busy month, as I began promoting my platform. October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, so it was a great time to get started. I interviewed with KSLV Radio about my platform, spoke to Del Norte Rotary and Val Alto Study Club on Domestic Violence, I read to Mrs. Duda's Kindergarten Class, and participated in the Adams State College and Del Norte High School Homecoming Parades; as well as hosted a "Paint It Purple" party in my home. In between all this, I found time at the end of the month go head back to Texas for my high school homecoming. It was great to reconnect with some old friends that I'd like to keep in touch with. We also had a great time celebrating Halloween. My daughter loves Wizards of Waverly and was a Sorceror, my husband was Brett Michaels and I was Lady Gaga. I love dressing up, so it was a lot of fun.
November and December are always slow business wise and is a great time to enjoy family and friends during the holidays. November brought mid-terms and December finals for school. I'm glad those are over. In November, I was honored with my second nomination in a row for Citizen of the Year. It is nice to have my efforts recognized and I appreciate it, there are others; however, who do a great deal in the community and who fail to get recognized because they are not in the public spotlight and I think those are our true Citizens of the Year. December ended my first year of Grad School and as I stated before, I ended the year with mostly A's, two B's and a 3.77 GPA...not a 4.0, but I guess I can't complain. It was great to see my nieces (3), nephews (2), and sister-in-laws over the Christmas holiday and to celebrate Christmas with my husband and daughter as a family. Christmas Eve consisted of a nice family dinner at home and then a desert (Bananas Foster) with some friends. Christmas day was a day of relaxation after opening gifts that morning and then dinner and more gifts at my parent's that night. My child is so spoiled, it is unbelievable. All she wanted for Christmas was a lady bug pillow pet; which my mom bought for her. She was very disappointed that Santa didn't bring her one or that dad and I didn't buy her one. My mom finds it amusing to hold the best gift for last, so my little one was very excited when the last gift to be opened was a lady bug pillow pet. Santa did bring her lady bug slippers to go with her pillow pet though.
Looking back, 2010 has been a pretty good year and am already making plans for 2011....starting my second year in Grad School (which includes internships), celebrating my 1 year Anniversary, building a new house with my husband, Mrs. Colorado, and more platform work. I am hoping that 2011 brings love, joy, happiness, prosperity, and success to each and every one of you. Hope you had a great 2010 and best wishes for 2011.
With Love,
Heather Meyer
Mrs. San Luis Valley 2011
