Time Out for Women

This past weekend the Fruge women drove to San Antonio to attend the annual Time Out for Women conference. It's sort of like a mini women's conference. The theme was "Joyful Life", so most of the talks focused on finding joy in the everyday.

On our way to San Antonio, we stopped for lunch at the Katy Mills Mall...Katy, TX in on the Northwestern edge of Houston. It's a huge, HUGE mall with every store you can think of. When we walked past the Books-A-Million store, I decided to go in just to see if they had any of Kristyn's books there. Well, not only did they have a few copies of "Bedtime at the Swamp", but it was on a shelf that said "Books-A-Million Recommends". It was cool! I had to snap a picture!





Once we got to San Antonio, we checked into our Hotel and then headed over to the venue for the Friday Night event. They had musical performance from Hillary Weeks and Michael McClean and Sister Cheiko Okasaki spoke. Her presentation was really funny. The next day we ran into her at the book store and got to talk to her for a bit. She is so tiny! And such a sweet woman! After she left, we realized that we didn't get a picture! Darn it! I think most agreed that the Friday night concerts and presentation were the highlight of the trip. We really enjoyed Michael McClean especially.

The next day, we attended the morning presentations, then skipped the second session so we could grab some lunch and walk around the River Walk a little bit. Since it was about a 5 hour drive to San Antonio, we knew weren't going to have much time after Time Out for Women was over to see the sights. So we went to the mall that was right there on the Walk and had lunch and then went on a boat ride. The tour guide on the boat told us all kinds of interesting historical facts about the area. It was fun, and the River Walk has some really beautiful scenery!


This is a photo of all the presenters giving a little introduction to what they will be talking about during their presentations.




All the girls together. Don't know what that white orb on Sarah is? And I should mention that our good friend Sunshine Seekins was also with us, but was inside watching a presentation when we took this picture. So, sadly, she didn't get in on the pic.

We ran into one of the speakers on our way to the mall. He was funny. He spoke about the lost art of letter writing and encouraged us all to write a letter to someone we love.


This soda can sculpture was hanging in one of the buildings. I thought it was cool, so I took a picture.

This is a picture of the girls on the boat tour. I thought it was a pretty fun and interesting ride. I love historical tours like that. The following pictures are just a few that I snapped while on the boat tour...






I really had a great time on this trip. It was a much needed getaway and the messages of the conference were just what I needed to hear. I've been a bit blue the past few weeks, so it was nice to get a spiritual boost and to be reminded that I need to make an effort to find some joy in this life. With the state of the world and the economy and all that, it's easy to lose hope and to feel depressed, so I will try each day to find something joyful!