Back in to Reality...

While the bus tour was a blast and Sara and I had a ton of fun all over the Midwest, I'm thrilled to be home. We rocked Minneapolis with our hippie-esque bus and drove all over Mnpls/St. Paul to a ton of schools. In Chicago we weren't able to visit as many places as we wanted. There was this pesky holiday, Columbus Day, that we weren't prepared to encounter. Lessons learned for the next leg of the bus tour: check school calendars to make sure there are no conflicts for the counseling staff, testing days for students, teacher in-service days or national (no-one-really-celebrates-but-you-still-need-to-know-it-exists-holiday) holidays. Also, we learned the media won't cooperate unless you pitch them a very specific, bullet-point style, only-what-they-need-to-know story idea. 

We were able to make some good connections for our company and we spoke with a lot of high school guidance counselors who seemed very receptive to the CZ solution and the services we offer for parents, students and counselors. We also received media attention we weren't expecting. People saw our bus driving around and mixed in with some of the crazy-eyed, why are you in my neighborhood type stares... there were a few people who looked interested... or at least they'll remember our short bus! 

For more details about the tour check out the blog I started just for the bus:

http://whereiszapps.blogspot.com

That first day back from the trip I didn't know what to do with myself! I was so tired, but knew I would never sleep if I took a huge nap. So, I settled for something almost as good as a mid-day nap-- I watched all the recorded TV that was patiently waiting for me. I got caught up on all my shows!

This week at work has been a little rough. Sara and I both caught colds while we were on the road. Mine wasn't as bad as Sara's, but she had two small children cough directly in her mouth. One was her nephew who is 3 months old and didn't know the difference. The other was some snot-nose brat on the airplane-- poor Sara!!! I fought my cold with vitamins, a TON of orange juice and some NyQuil. Although, it turns out if you take NyQuil after a certain hour... the next morning is really difficult to survive. I could have used an IV of caffeine!!!!

Scot (my boss) also decided this tour was successful enough to send us out again. We (Jessica-- new co-worker-- and I) will be going out on the bus from November 4th through the 25th. We'll be attending two trade shows during all that time and make it home just in time for the Thanksgiving Holiday. I'm super pumped about the trip. I've already started planning.

I'm glad to be busy at work and I feel so blessed to have such a great job right now! With the economy the way it is, I couldn't ask for anything more. 

When we get the itinerary set for the next leg of the bus tour, I'll post it!