Director, Change Leadership

Effective today, I am the Director of Change Leadership at Southwest! I am SOOOO excited and feel so incredibly blessed to have this opportunity. When I joined Southwest just over 3 years ago, this was the role I dreamed of having. I am so thankful to Lori Winters, who hired me, for supporting me over the last three years.

My new boss, Whitney, and Lori put a last minute meeting on my calendar on a Friday to talk through an issue I was having with a VP. I was a little fired up and we were digging into the conversation. Whitney got up from the conference table, and said, "I have something that might help. Just a minute." She walked over to her desk, grabbed an envelope and brought it back over to me and said, "You have been promoted to Director! Does that make this situation a bit better?" I was in shock! I started crying and saying, "Is this for real?" And then, a minute later, I asked, "Do we still have an issue with X VP?" I thought maybe they made up the issue to surprise me. Whitney said, "Nope, we still have an issue, but hopefully this makes your day a bit better." It sure did! But, I did have trouble focusing.

That evening, MJ from my Team came over to help me celebrate since Grant was out of town. We had Tiff's Treats courtesy of Lori (she is SO thoughtful!) and then watched the Taylor Swift documentary. It really was an emotional and wonderful day and I am so excited!

I have celebrated with a trip to New York with Grant and taking Big John with me to Rally. In New York, Grant and I saw Come From Away (AWESOME!) and Moulin Rouge and then stayed the night with Katya and Russell in Westchester. It was a full but wonderful celebration weekend.

Oh yes, and I got a fancy new glamour shots headshot!

Sky Ranch Cowboys & Cowboys

I felt bad that I was a bit late this year in getting out our invites. However, we ended up with an awesome group of friends and it was a really fun evening. The silent auction win that I am most excited about is a birthday party at Epic Waters. Thank you Ryan & Sarah, Caryn & Dylan, Maryann & Samuel, and Jennifer and Daniel for a great evening!

Kicking off 2020 with the Chapmans!

The Chapman family ventured to Dallas from Athens, GA after Christmas to ring in the New Year with us! We had a fancy adult dinner at Sachet with Nina and Papa, Bethany and Nathan, and Grant and I - Big Thanks to Joy for watching ALL the kids. Grant and I had a nice dinner with just Bethany and Nathan at 60 Vines. The Dads took JR, Cadie, and Samuel to Six Flags one day and Bethany and I took the little boys to the Arboretum and then to Baldo's for Ice Cream. Mom and Dad and I took the all the kids to the Perot one afternoon while B wasn't feeling great and Nathan and Grant were working. And we had a lovely evening around the firepit in the backyard that included adult drinks and smores. One night we went to Kaze, but that was a bit of a bust because the service was terrible - can't win them all! I am just so thankful to B and Nathan for taking the time to come to Dallas and hang out with us. I wish we could see them more! And, I wish we had taken a few more pics.

2019 Recap

This was a year of calm, growth, fun, and adventure. The biggest changes were Colton going to Kinder at UP and Cadie going to middle school at MIS. Other than that, things were steady. We loved spending a lot of time with my parents, going on adventures using our awesome Southwest Airlines travel perks, and investing in friendships and memories. Daddy adventures included:

• March: Grant took Cadie and Ranger to San Francisco. It was all fun and games until they couldn't get on any flights and ended up staying an extra day and then taking a red eye home. That would have stressed me out, but the 3 of them rolled with the punches and the kids thought it was pretty cool to stay up all night and shower in the Admirals Club.
• July: Boys trip to Orlando! It was FULL and they couldn't stay on property, but they still had a wonderful time.
• August: Grant took Cadie, Mimi, and Tia on a day trip to Little Rock. Grant said his favorite thing they visited was Little Rock High School.
• August: Grant took Cadie and Ranger to California. Six Flags, here we come! Too hot for me, but Colton and I had a wonderful time hanging out together.
• December: Grant went and checked Ranger out of school. Ranger had no idea what was happened and he thought he might have a doctors appointment. Nope! Just skipping a few days of school to ski at Breckenridge!

And of course, so many trips to Six Flags, dress up parties at home, dinner out with friends, family trips to Sam's Club, mother-daughter book clubs, flag football games, and celebrations at DD and Big John's house. Thank you, 2019, for a wonderful year!