This weekend was booked solid with campaign activities. With only five weeks until ballots come out, I’m kicking into high gear as far as meeting residents and attending events. But, I still made time for a bit of fun as well!
Friday night kicked off with a happy hour that was sponsored by the Town, with all of the candidates on the ballot invited. I already knew most of the residents there, but there were several who I knew personally and they weren’t aware I was running for office! It was fun to get to share my views on various issues, and hear residents opinions on what’s working well and what ought to change. But, unlike a typical happy hour, I skipped the wine that was served in favor of iced tea, to ensure I could keep a clear head for all the discussion. Don’t worry, I more than made up for that later! 😉
After a quick run to the grocery store to pick up some final supplies for the campaign booth that I was hosting Saturday at our Town Beer and Chili Fest, I dashed home to meet my house guests for the weekend: Theodora and Meg were visiting from New York!! The two of them were doing a cross-country road trip that will culminate in Theodora moving to LA, a huge change and a big step I’m proud of her for taking. Throughout the weekend, we both marveled at the fact that I’ve been in Colorado for years, and yet this is the first time Theodora’s made it out to visit. With her in LA, we are definitely going to change that with more visits in the future.
I was fully prepared to take Theodora and Meg out to dinner once they got in, but they surprised me by saying they’d actually prefer to flop on the couch with pizza and wine. That sounded like heaven to me after my busy week, and I was so grateful for the opportunity to kick back and relax with my close friend that I never get to see!
The three of us ended up staying up till 1am chit-chatting, so between that and the wine, I woke up at 6am not feeling so great. But Saturday was a big day: I was running the Getaway 10K in Boulder (and Theodora was running the 5K), then setting up and hosting a campaign booth at my Town’s Chili Fest, and finally, hosting my own beer and chili party at my home (since I knew I wouldn’t get to enjoy the food and drink while I was campaigning).
Although I hadn’t gotten much sleep (or nutrition for that matter… dinner was just pizza, chips, and wine!), the race went surprisingly well. I came close to a PR, and even though I missed it, actually had one of my proudest ever moments in racing! More on that to come in a full race report.
As soon as I got home, I kicked it into high gear. I headed down to Community Park (the site of the Chili Fest) still in my racing clothes in order to get my tent set up. My friend Cathryn’s husband Brian owns a handyman business, and he had volunteered to come help me set up. Between the three of us (Cathryn helped too), we got the tent up and everything ready in only about 15 minutes! I was thrilled for the helping hands, since I have never set up a pop-up tent like this before. I made one quick run to the grocery for ice and a few other last minute items, then headed home to shower and change. Meg and Theodora helped me load a ton of stuff into the car, and also finish off the last steps of the chili that I was making for the party later. And then, it was off to the festival!
The photo booth was a smashing success, though I ran into a hitch in the plan when I realized that a lot of kids were coming to take their picture without their parents there. I had a note on the booth that said that all pictures would be posted to Facebook afterward, but I realized I couldn’t post the photos of kids! Most people used the functionality to email their picture to themselves anyway, so I hope no one was later disappointed that I didn’t post all the pictures. Instead, I simply posted one of my favorite shots of the day, from my friend Mark (who is currently a Trustee). I figured that was representative of the event, without anyone getting upset that I was posting photos without their permission 🙂
Although the Chili Fest was four hours long, the time went by very quickly, and almost before I knew it, it was time to pack up and head home. I got to speak with a lot of great neighbors while I was there, and it was nice to get into some in-depth conversations about controversial issues in a relaxed setting. However, when it wrapped up, I was also excited to get to go home and not be “on” anymore!
My party was pretty low-key: some chips and dip, some of my award-winning bacon turkey tequila chili, and plenty of drinks. But after that long day, I wasn’t even overly interested in beer – it was just nice to sit on the couch and put my feet up! We called it a night around 11pm, and I gratefully went to bed.
Sunday morning started early with taking Theodora and Meg to the train station downtown, then hitting the grocery, and baking some carrot cake muffins to take over to my friend Chris’s house for breakfast. The first debate of my campaign was coming up Tuesday, and I had asked Chris and her husband to help me prep with some practice Q&A. I felt pretty good when I left, though I still needed to prepare opening and closing statements.
The rest of the day Sunday was filled with meetings with residents to understand their ideas and concerns for the town. I got really excited about some new technology solutions when I sat down with my neighbor who is a Google engineer (our town has so many brilliant people!). Later, I met with another neighbor who’s on our cultural arts committee and had some fabulous ideas for not only art, but great festivals and events to get more people engaged. Although I think my little town is already the best in the country, I’m really excited by all the ideas I’m getting to make it even better!
I wrapped up my last meeting at 6pm, and then I was finally able to get some quality time in at home. It wasn’t quite relaxation time, though – I still had to shoot a campaign video, write up a few social media posts, and catch up on emails that came in over the course of the weekend. All that on top of getting ahead on some (non-political) work for the week, since I hadn’t otherwise done any work this weekend… oops.
This weekend was completely chock-full of campaign activities, and between that and Friday night with Theodora and Meg, I really didn’t get much sleep. I’m realizing this dearth of sleep is probably going to be the case through Election Day on November 6th, so I’d better get ready for that! But I’m trying to figure out which of my personal obligations I can cut back to have more time… and I haven’t solved that puzzle just yet. It may be that I spend less time providing life updates on this blog as I focus on getting more updates on my campaign blog? The content on my campaign blog may not be interesting to people who live outside my town, but you’re of course more than welcome to follow along at www.lauraforsuperior.com. In the next few weeks, I’m going to some fascinating conferences and events on the topic of IoT technology, designing smart cities, and creating “placemaking” town experiences… so those may be of broader interest.
Cheers to a fun election season!