Stepniowski Family » jenn

Visit me @ ijenn

jenn — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:04:20 +0000

For whatever reason, I decided to create a separate site where I could post miscellaneous things that aren’t necessarily family related. Luke registered me the domain ijenn.me and helped me setup a WordPress site. I’m really pleased with how it’s turning out so far, but we’ll have to see how far the momentum goes.

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VA Field Trip

jenn — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:47:53 +0000

I was recently fortunate enough to receive an invitation to the FTE HSBC Institute on the Environment & the Economy series up in Irvington, VA. Truth be told, a former EMBA professor and friend invited me after I had assisted with some redesign work on the agendas.

Two flights and a two hour drive through a gorgeous VA countryside landed me at The Tides Inn. It’s an absolutely beautiful resort that’s nestled perfectly on the Chesapeake Bay. The first evening, we took the hotel’s recommendation and tried out Oogywawas (the translation now escapes me) for dinner. I swear they had the best crab cakes and fried pickles with blue cheese that I’ve ever had… and, the outdoor seating on the deck made the experience even better.

The lectures that followed Saturday through Monday exceeded any expectations I had. There were about 35 teachers in attendance, with subject matter covering basic economic concepts through creative and interactive class simulations. There are several that I’m already looking forward to using next fall! Don, FTE and the Virginia Council on Economic Education really did a great job with the planning of it all. The people I had the opportunity to meet within these organizations were all very dedicated and interesting individuals. I really enjoyed spending time with everyone!

The field trip we took on Monday included a tour of Omega Protein. Their sustainability efforts are comprehensive and noble. And, the tour regarding how they capture and process the little Menhaden fish was truly interesting. Shortly afterwards, we left for the Reedville Fishing Museum where we were fortunate enough to receive personalized tours and lunch with a few of the locals. The remainder of the seminar continued in the old schoolhouse, which the two gentlemen I had spoken with once attended. Special props go out to Don and Brad for keeping the content interesting and dynamic.

As we headed back to Norfolk on Monday afternoon, we stopped through Colonial Williamsburg and walked around for a few. It was actually pretty cool to stand on the same streets that our founding fathers once did… it really is an amazing little town that’s so different than anything we have here in FL.

While I had an amazing few days hanging out with great people and learning new things, I also missed the crew and was incredibly happy to return to their smiling faces. Skye and Aidan were kept thoroughly entertained by Luke. They even managed to make it to Busch Gardens and Sarasota Beach and didn’t miss a beat when it came to cleaning up the house and taking care of grocery shopping.

2009 Road Trip – Asheville, NC

2009 Road Trip – Helen, GA

2009 Road Trip – Savannah, GA

Get Acquainted… With Me

jenn — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:18:11 +0000

So, I plugged myself into the Pro QC quarterly newsletter this time since our Managing Director failed to get me the information I had requested for a write-up on him. www.proqc.com/newsletter_subpage.php?id=132

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New Seminar – Marketing & eMarketing for Small Business @ USF Sarasota

jenn — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:26:39 +0000

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be teaching a new seminar starting next January for the USF Executive & Professional Education Center, in Sarasota. It’s a new program at the university, and I’m told the website will be up in October.

The course I’ll be teaching is Marking & eMarketing for Small Business.

Small businesses present unique marketing challenges, such as budgeting or other resource allocation issues. Tailored with that in mind, this discussion based seminar uses case studies to explore successful strategies for understanding and reaching your market. Promotional opportunities will be evaluated for a variety of industries, with special consideration provided to eMarketing initiatives.

Who Should Attend?:

Anyone interested in learning how to identify and reach their market effectively, optimize their marketing budget and increase overall action item success would benefit from this seminar. Those working for, invested in or that otherwise own a small business would particularly benefit from the ability to develop and execute more strategic marketing initiatives.

What You Can Expect:

You will walk away knowing how to develop a targeted and strategic marketing plan that takes into consideration the specific issues associated with small businesses.
You will learn how to maximize the benefits of online marketing tools, such as website optimization, social networking and emailed communications.
You will know how to employ effective contact management, meaning you are capturing key information and also regularly using the collected data for relevant marketing research and performance metrics.
You will have thoroughly explored promotional ideas across a variety of industries and will be able to identify and assess opportunities more effectively.

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CCFA Take Steps 2009 – Team GottaGo!

jenn — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:36:42 +0000

Well, the day finally arrived when it was time to walk for a cause. I’ve always thought the idea of a fundraising walk was pretty cool, so I admit I jumped at the chance to be involved with one that was related to Crohn’s. I actually signed up before Skye was born, so my participation in the fundraising part was limited due to my skewed expectation of how much time being a new mom would take. But, my mom really took off with a passion soliciting everyone we knew. She was even diligent about follow-up when checks weren’t promptly submitted. I admire her passion about the whole thing and now see that she has a natural ability to raise capital when necessary. My strategy was just to send out an email and then hope people would reciprocate with a donation. At the end of the day, we did raise over $700. And, sincere appreciation goes out to those who helped us out.

Team GottaGo! included my mom, dad, Aunt Wanda, Cousin Ryan and friends Danielle and Karen. I decided to have Luke stay home with Skye, since she doesn’t do too well past 6pm. My mom and I had tie dyed some shirts for the team, which made us stand out quite nicely. No one will argue that I like to make an appropriate entrance! The walk took place in North Shore Park, in downtown St. Pete. The view of the water is really quite stunning there. When we arrived, they took our donations and gave us some tickets for food and t-shirts. Unfortunately, they didn’t plan very well and only had one size left. Aidan enjoyed the free light-up shaking things that stuck in my peripheral for most of the way home. My cousin pointed out something interesting about the food choices, in the sense that they were not exactly “digestive friendly”, if you know what I mean. And, the walk was in fact all about digestive issues. But, I guess free food is what it is, and I did eat my fair share.

The walk itself was really very easy, much to my delight. We were able to kind of stroll along and talk. The whole distance took less than an hour, and I was home by 10pm. It was definitely fun and well worth the experience. So, to conclude, I think it’s important to thank again all those that helped us out with their donations. And, an even larger appreciation goes out to those that dedicated both their time and money as part of Team GottaGo!. It certainly meant a lot that my aunt and cousin would drive all the way over from Tallahassee just to show their support. Ryan… you better get that colonoscopy!

Take Steps For Crohn's & Colitis – Team Gotta Go!

Aunt VJ & Aunt Pat Visit

2009 Resolutions

Tweet, Tweet… I’m on Twitter

jenn — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:46:19 +0000

I actually broke down and signed up for Twitter yesterday, even though I proclaimed its lameness only a few months ago when Luke first added it onto his page.

Why did I do it? I’m not sure… I’m not actually sure that anyone would care what I’m doing, except for Luke of course. But, I admit that it’s really cool to be out somewhere and send a text that will update on Majjix, Facebook and Twitter. It’s just really neat, and that’s pretty much all I can say!

twitter.com/jstepnio

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Luke proclaims "I told you so"…

jenn — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:40:33 +0000

Luke, along with my parents, all agreed it would be impossible for me to wait for nature to take its course and begin labor. And, it turns out they were right.

Unable to wait any longer, I scheduled the delivery of our baby for Friday, 1/9 @ 7am. Currently, I'm 3cm dilated and 60% effaced, so it was only a matter of time anyway.

This works out perfectly and serves to create an organized and predictable course of events.

I've decided it's OK for Luke and others to be right about my anal-retentiveness. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted and now can relax in knowing that everything will go smoothly. I plan to enjoy the rest of the week as much as possible. I'm actually still kind of getting used to not working, although I admit I've crossed an incredible number of tasks off my "pending" list as I continue to be restless.

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All play, no work…

jenn — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:30:37 +0000

With Luke back at work and Aidan back in school, today was the first day I had at home without a full-time job. One would think that a certain sense of enjoyment would come from a lack of responsibility on the work-front, but I found that not to be the case. In the morning, I hit Starbucks as part of my usual routine but found it somehow unsatisfying. Then, I ran a few errands and came back home to go through the emails that had accrued during the holiday. As it turns out, significant time was required to deal with homeowners' association stuff that I'm actually finding to be more frustrating than valuable. But, there's no one else to do it and I couldn't trust that it would be done well if I gave it up. I did reply to a few work emails just to say that I wasn't officially managing accounts anymore.

I picked Aidan up from school after lunch. He just wanted to go home and play with Legos, so we spent the rest of the afternoon building ships and towers and then coloring superheroes. We started dinner, ate dinner and are now wrapping up the evening with an episode of Ben 10 and some books before bed.

Tomorrow, I'm going to work on getting my mind in the right place and appreciating this pretty awesome opportunity that I have to stay at home with my kids and be a real part of their lives. I need to separate my perceived worth from "paid" employment and realize that the effect I have on my kids' development is both more rewarding and potentially more fun.

Regarding Skye Riley developments, I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow and have officially given in to scheduling an induction at the end of the week. I can't wait any longer. Luke was right… I crave schedules, order and organization. I just can't sit here and wait for the unknown!

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2009 Resolutions

jenn — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:03:03 +0000

Every year as Christmas comes to a close, I make resolutions. And, every year Luke mocks me for taking part in such a self defeating ritual. I use the term self defeating because there’s a core batch of resolutions that seem to carry over year to year without any progress. But, this year I’m going to try something different… This year, I’m going to write them out for the world to see so that I’m truly committed to dedicating a best effort.

So, here’s what I’m wanting to accomplish in 2009:

1. Now that I won’t be working full-time, I want to truly throw myself into motherhood and develop my little monsters into the best that they can be.

2. I will finally make an effort to get off my butt and get into shape. I will do this not only for my own health, but also so that I can keep up with my kids (and Luke). Note that previous resolutions to this effect never took into consideration what a second pregnancy does to one’s body in their 30′s.

3. I will make healthy choices in my diet and not only set an example for my kids but also improve my own well-being and keep Crohn’s at bay for as long as possible.

4. I will keep writing. Note that this one has changed from writing my book to just keep writing. I think the goal is a little more feasible that way. The book will get written, eventually.

5. I will stop biting my nails because it is disgusting and characteristic of a crazy person. This obsessive behavior must stop, with no exceptions.

6. I will make make every effort to be conscious of my impact on the environment and make choices that take this into consideration.

And, there they are, written out for the world to see. Sure, they seem kind of generic in that I think most people want to eat healthier and exercise. But, that doesn’t belittle their importance. And, it ‘s worth a shot to have an opportunity to set a good example and “walk the walk”… or so they say.

CCFA Take Steps 2009 – Team GottaGo!

Labor Day Weekend 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

Take Steps For Crohn's & Colitis – Team Gotta Go!

jenn — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:53:02 +0000

Well, I'm proud to say that Luke and I have put together a team for the May 2nd Take Steps for Crohn's & Colitis Walk. Luke, as always, came up with a creative name… Gotta Go!. We're hoping that my parents will join us, along with some other friends and family.

Take Steps is a national walk organized by the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation (www.ccfa.org). It's actually the largest event dedicated to finding cures for digestive diseases. I've been a member of CCFA since my disease took a turn for the worst in 2006. As I've gotten older, I can see the importance in supporting organizations like this and want to do everything I can to help myself and others afflicted by these diseases. It should be an interesting event with Aidan and baby Skye in tow.

I still need to organize some things on their website, but our links are:

Personal Page: http://online.ccfa.org/goto/jstepnio

Team Page: http://online.ccfa.org/goto/gottago

You can even make donations online using the links above. We're hoping to raise at least $500, but I'm betting we can do even better than that!

More on this event later as we get organized…

CCFA Take Steps 2009 – Team GottaGo!