Attendees: Raeann, Spenser, Doug, Jim, Ben & Christine

Icebreaker: What is something you really enjoy doing that is a chore or a bore for many people?

Raeann: Organizing, finding space for things
Spenser: Cooking, baking, reading
Doug: mowing the lawn, likes the smell of cut grass
Jim: going to the library, reading poetry, shaving head
Ben: debugging computers, reparing bikes
Christine: doing laundry and dishes

We talked about our projects: 
Raeann's trunk show supporting African artisans. Spenser applying for a city grant, looking for funding and collaboration for a pilot for his web series. Doug offers financial planning. Ben is a freelance developer (transitioning from logistics) looking for projects for his portfolio, also interested in the Maker Movement, working on a Start Up formed at the last AngelHack. Christine shared her busy business life running the Office Junction, starting StuffMapper, kicking off the Fairmount Park Elementary PTA in her spare time as Mom.

Ben shared 'The Cult of Done Manifesto' for the Overachiever in us. 

We also shared what makes us happy. All the little things, like a cup of coffee, serving others, no long requirements, joy, purpose, how overrated 'Happiness' is these days, colors in nature, living in a great city, being outside, having choices, friends, playing with the dog, Spring in Seattle and looking at clouds.

We ended the meeting with a strong recommendation to enjoy the cold brewed coffee from Stumptown served down at Marination.

Leah, Bob, Stefan and Christine met around the long black table for lunch.

Leah is currently transitioning her career more to communications and editing. 

Bob is an organizational consultant, freshly moved to PNW from Arizona. He is networking, scouting out projects, organisations, is involved in a number of projects, on the Impact Counsel for Burien. He is very pleasantly surprised about the friendly, progressive and collaborative atmosphere in our region. He is looking for projects to get involved - providing general framework, road maps after assessment to get your organisation in the right direction.

We talked about the non-profit space in general, activating underprivileged families, pushing for environmental-friendly changes, PTA challenges, branding problems of schools, catering to specific needs, competing social services reaching out to low-income families, paid to unpaid volunteer work and cultural differences.

We also talked about Flagstaff, known for parties and keg crawls.
And Kansas being a good spot to start a new business. 

Our icebreaker was if you could only watch one show a week for the next 12 months, which would you choose:
Bob - Star Trek
Leah - Cosmos
Stefan - Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica
Christine - Shameless or Shark Tank or Most Wanted

We ended our small but deep meetup with the challenge to find something engaging on TV, the disconnect between engagement and entertainment and how freeing it is to get rid of stuff, especially before a move (which usually ends up not being efficient because of time crunch).

We introduced each other and talked about one thing to let go off!

Thanks everyone for coming!

Miscarriage Support Gathering
Weds, May 7 @ 7 pm
This isn't fluorescent lights, hard chairs, and bad coffee. it's candlelight, a soft place to land, and getting real.
http://www.meetup.com/Unswerving-Hope-Miscarriage-Support-Gathering/events/179228392/


This will be the first gathering of women who need people to lean on, talk to, or bitch at about the unfairness that comes along with first trimester miscarriage or fertility issues.