Lunch Tramp

It seems like it was longer ago that the Lunch Tramp was born. An impromptu lunch with 3 lunch dates - and there I was...

I've taken another luncher into my fold. There will soon be another Lunch Tramp to call by name. I won't tell you her name yet. (We're in the process of designing her card!)

I promise to have more information soon - and more talk of food - and more blogging about food. Pretty soon it will be part of my job description. (Details to follow)

In the meantime, I googled "Lunch Tramp" tonight and my card came up as the first image. It made me so proud!

What I SHOULD Have Said

BizFest is winding down tonight with a performance by Graham Greer and Tyler Kealey. The week was full of workshops and presenters, including Gerry Visca and Dennis Van Staalduinen (or DenVan as he, thankfully likes to be called). Last night BizFest put on BizShow, a twist on the Trade Show, featuring local businesses and entrepreneurs in the community. In addition to their booth spaces, exhibitors were encouraged to come up to the podium and speak to the group about why they're awesome. Gerry, and event organizer Joey Gault dared me to tell the crowd about "my brand" which for those of you who may not lunch with me, is The Lunch Tramp.

Never one to back down from a dare, I did venture on over to the microphone and in a minute or two, I did tell everyone who was listening that I was known in the #CornwallTweetup world as The Lunch Tramp. (Feel free to follow me on Twitter at @keithatweets.)

What I SHOULD have told the crowd was that the Tweetups are important, both for the social element but - and more importantly, in the way they bring people who would never know people otherwise together. There are AT LEAST a half dozen people I didn't know a year ago that I consider my friend now - all because they were following me on Twitter - and came to the table one day.

Not only that, I've learned things, connected with people who've helped me in many ways, including giving website advice, where to find really delicious coffee beans, donated door prizes for charitable things I'm involved in and more. The Tweetup is important - and if I get a title from it, so much the better!

I'm not going to pretend it is any sort of official meeting nor do we go with the intent to "network" - but that's what makes it better. There are no expectations and when something cool comes of it, well, to use @iamjoeygault's favourite hashtag, #awesome.

Get out there and be SOCIAL with the people in your social media circles. You never know where it'll take you.

What I Did(n't) Do During My Summer (non) Holiday

For those of you who may not know, I spent my summer managing the Cornwall Farmers' Market in downtown Cornwall. Of course, I had intended to do a tremendous amount of blogging, both about the experience of being part of the market as it was in grown stage and also about meeting the vendors etc. That didn't happen and I'm not writing today to dwell about it. Instead, I'm going to take a few minutes to ask to the blogging universe for suggestions slightly more convincing than "just do it" to get me off my (ahem) procrastinating behind.

Until then, I shall just say I attended BizFest today. It is the first annual event put together by Cornwall's Chamber of Commerce. The speaker today, and in fact, for most of the event, is Gerry Visca. I'll write more (I'd say I promise but well...) about my experience shortly but first I promised some people I'd actually update my also errant foodblog.

Back to School/Back to Blog

Okay... so errant blogger implies that at some time there is actual blogging that occurs. I'm beyond errant. If I were still in school, the truant officer would be after me.

I just blogged about food and now I'm heading over here. Two blog posts in one day. Hopefully that doesn't mean it is the end of the world.

This short and sweet post will, I hope, lead to some conversation about what I've been up to. The Cornwall Farmers' Market has taken up a lot of my summer. I've been a stay-at-home Mom this summer too and we embarked on a lot of adventures I hope to capture before I get too caught up in homework and the fall.

We're approaching my favourite time of year - leaves turning, harvest coming in from the fields and I hope that'll be the inspiration I need to share my (erratic) musings with you.

Until then, I hope you're as excited about back to school (and my blogging intentions) as I am.

(Not a) Snow Day

As I was getting the kids ready for school this morning I heard the boys on the radio say repeatedly that the buses were running and that they'd let us know if they got any news. I'm always slightly annoyed when I hear that people are calling in, as though the radio personalities who are entrusted with passing along important information would somehow forget to tell us this little tidbit.

And then I looked outside. AS IF the buses were running! My dh and kids had shoveled the driveway yesterday down to the pavement and there was A LOT of snow on our driveway this morning. Long story short (so as to avoid swearing on my blog), the bus had still not arrived 20 minutes past the pick up time and five minutes after school had started so the kids got a ride in. When we got to school, fifteen minutes late, seven of the buses had not arrived. Seven.

The roads looked like what I would imagine you'd find in American cities where it doesn't really snow and they have some sort of apparatus that they attach to their garbage trucks "just in case."

That the sidewalks at the school had yet to be touched was a whole other annoyance - but perhaps that's just me.

Long story short, the last snow day had a minor sprinkle - and today's barrage was not bus canceling-worthy. Oh well...

Birthdays

February and March are busy birthday months for me. My mother-in-law starts the celebrations near the beginning of Feb. and she's followed by one of my best friends, my father, another 2 friends on the same day (today), my husband (tomorrow), another friend next week and then my mother mid-month.

What I love about having so many celebrations so close together (aside from the cake) is the fact that just as we're beginning to be very tired with winter, I'm forced to remind myself of all the great people I have around me (and, let's be honest, the cake). I'm still very much looking forward to the disappearance of the snow and ice - but I can acknowledge that if for no other reason than my awesome people, the end of winter has some good stuff going on as well.

Tomorrow is Friday, my official Lunch Tramp day. I'll be taking some more pics tomorrow so I can show you all how great lunching can be!

Guest Blogging

My friend Denise is a regular blogger - and writes a blog I actually take the time to read. When I do read her blog/look at the fun pictures/read the comments from fellow readers I'm inspired to do more writing of my own. View From the Glen is the kind of "normal person" blog that reminds me that there are other people out there who have busy lives, sometimes have messy houses but who find ways everyday to appreciate their kids, their dogs (okay, I don't have a dog), their husbands - and all the good stuff that is not quite as huge as these things but still make a difference.

It doesn't always happen - the writing, I mean. I tend to have a slight obsession with digression and strangely, that translates into meaning to write but getting distracted by a thousand other things. Sometimes at the end of the day, I'm discouraged that I didn't write more; I'm disappointed that I let a lot of other things (like sub-par television, my strange obsession with the entertainment page of Huffington Post) get in the way of something I love to do.

Why don't I write more? I'm sure there's an answer but, just for today, instead of letting myself digress, I took a few minutes to blog.