Leadership McKinney Graduation

Leadership McKinney graduation was May21.  Special occasions call for sparkly shoes, I wore those all night.  Let me just say they look better than they feel after several hours!

Some of my friends wore sparkly shoes, we took this fun picture together.

Here's a picture of our whole class! 

McKinney is #1

What a way to start the week. Proud to call McKinney home and be a part of city staff!

Our city ranks #1 on Money Magazine’s Best Places to Live in America list! McKinney earned this distinction based on housing affordability, education, arts and culture, safety, health care, diversity and the economy, including the fiscal strength of the government. McKinney is the only Texas city in the top 15. Woohoo!!!

Leadership McKinney

I am so excited.  I have been chosen to be part of the Leadership McKinney Class of 2015.  We just had our orientation and took our first class picture.  I am truly honored to be a part of this group.

Busy Weekend

I've been sewing but my time to post has been non existent.  This week I was responsible for our city's Drug Take Back Event.  It was a HUGE success but requires so much preparation. 

Here is a collage with a few pictures. 





























We had 38 bags/boxes of solid drugs. Incredible! We are recycled TEN 95 gallon bins of plastic/paper packaging and a small truckload of boxes. Plus... we managed to have only one half empty container of trash. Eight people really "Making a Difference" in McKinney today--- I couldn't do this without the help of volunteers,  the support of the Public Works Department and the Collin County Sheriff's Office.

Visit Local Quilt Shop Day

Today is "Visit your local Quilt Shop Day".  This should be a national holiday as far as I am concerned.  We must support local businesses, they are the bread & butter of our communities!  Had I known in advance I would have scheduled the day off.  

In McKinney, we are extremely fortunate to have THREE (Yes 3) quilt shops. Not many cities can top that!  All three are locally owned and incredibily different from one another.  I plan to make it to all of them. Luckily two are very close to my office....  The Quilt Asylum off Central Expressway & Virginia and Happiness is Quilting in our Historical Downtown McKinney Square.  Lastly,  Stitched with Love which is brand new (just opened this month) is very close to our home off Custer Road & Virginia.  

If you don't have a local quilt store in your community visit mine online, (tell them I sent you) many are having specials!  Enjoy your day, I better get some sleep and rest up for tomorrow-- it's a big day! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July from my family to yours!

We started the day by attending the Hometown Parade in Beautiful Historical Downtown McKinney!  Be safe everyone!

Hollie in McKinney today!

What a great morning in downtown McKinney, welcoming home our American Idol contestant Hollie Cavanagh!  Parade through Historical Downtown McKinney.

Great parade and incredible concert - that big voice sounds even better in person.

Our Mayor Brian Loughmiller presents Hollie with city proclamation declaring May 26, Hollie Cavanaugh Day.

A street to be named after Hollie.

Hollie during concert, thousands of people in Historical Downtown McKinney.

Great job to the City of McKinney and McKinney Main Street for this wonderful community event. We're so proud of Hollie!  All photos courtesy of McKinney Convention & Visitor's Bureau.
www.mckinneytexas.org/hollie

One of my projects at work...

Here's an article from the Dallas Morning News about one of the programs I am working on.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/020610dnmetdaffodils.3dceb84.html

Getting Ready for Christmas

The old Collin County Courthouse now McKinney Performing Arts Center in our downtown square is getting all dressed up for Christmas.

Green Living Family Festival

If you are local, you might be interested in going to the Green Living Family Festival at the Heard Museum this weekend. I will be there! Click HERE for more information.

Eggstravaganza

We had a great time today at the Eggstravaganza sponsored by the Parks, Rec & Open Space Department in our city. Micaela was excited to take a picture with the Easter Bunny.

They had a tremendous turnout. It was incredible to see 25,000 eggs spread out! The largest Egg Hunt in Texas, right here in our "back yard".

Hope your Saturday was great, thanks for stopping by...

Dickens of a Christmas...

If you are local and want something to do Thanksgiving weekend, Dickens of a Christmas will be going on at the McKinney Square. For more information, check out DowntownMcKinney.com

McKinney ranked 14th in Best Places to live!

Our city was ranked 14th as one of the best places to live in the United States. Read the article from Fortune Magazine here.

With one of the oldest authentic downtowns in Texas, McKinney is unlike most of Dallas newly developed suburbs. But with new facilities and businesses finding their way to the city (established in 1848), McKinney and its residents are managing fantastic growth.

The once-abandoned Historic Collin-County Courthouse was recently transformed into the McKinney Performing Arts Center, and Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson established Texas first athletic training and sports science center here.

McKinney also offers excellent schools and plenty of green space, including a 289-acre outdoor preserve and nature museum and PGA Tour – owned and – operated golf course.