Good morning and this time – really, happy Saturday.  If you were around a couple of days back.. you know that I woke up in a St Paul Minneapolis hotel room and promptly wrote a Saturday Snapshot post before I went downstairs to get coffee and go to the next session of my conference.

I wrote that Saturday post on Thursday.  😯

So….. other than a total lapse of what day it was… and probably a moment of “Where am I?”, when I woke up in that dark room in a huge bed of white sheets, white comforter, and more pillows than a Bed, Bath and Beyond….  my day went normally. 😀

Today…. on the REAL SATURDAY (I checked twice, it is Saturday), here is a little more about the Bremer L3 Training final session in Saturday Snapshot style. 

The Bremer L3 was a trial idea to connect libraries of different sizes, patron count, and other literacy agencies within Minnesota for 8 months and dream big, brainstorm together, learn skills to take your vision to the next level, and hopefully come out the other side feeling stronger and more confident about your place on this earth and your purpose within your literacy program.  6 Libraries were chosen, and 6 literacy agencies.

The Brainerd Public Library was lucky enough to be chosen as a participant.  I was lucky enough to have been asked to be part of our three person team.  Along with our Librarian Jolene and our Outreach Library Assistant Laurel.  We started last fall and had our final session this week.

If you ever find yourself at The Coates Plaza Hotel and are in the elevator and see that the 22nd floor is labeled “Windows”, make sure you go up there.  Windows is just that, an entire conference room that is floor to ceiling windows.  The picture above is taken from that 22nd floor.  So are the pictures I posted on the false Saturday Snapshot. 😛

The food is fantastic!  This is my lunch we had before our graduation.  We ate our lunch on the Windows floor.  It was delicious!  Salmon over my raspberry vinaigrette salad….. oh Yum!

This was my dessert.  I didn’t want to eat.  I didn’t need the calories…. I knew it could not taste as good as it looked.  I did eat it.  It was as good as it looks.

This was not my dessert.  This was Jolene’s who was sitting next to me…. she did not eat it (she was stronger than me).  For the record, I did not eat her dessert either.  😀

In the end, we all graduated and received a certificate and a cool paper weight in a beautiful box that said L3 Participant .    The Bremer L3 trial was a success.  All groups involved had made huge steps in grants, and other ideas.  One small library is building an addition that will literally double its space.  Another has built up the confidence to get out in their community and promote library services and has already seen a change in their community for the better.  Others are adding programming and working smarter with other agencies in their community.  As for us, we applied for and received a large grant, and, we created Wine and Words.

When asked what was the best thing about the Bremer L3 training, my quick answer would have been that Wine and Words came out of this.  But, when I thought more about it, my true answer was spending that time in the car with Jolene and Laurel for the three-hour trips each way was even more valuable.  By spending time with them I learned more about our local library, after all they work there!  By spending time with them I was able to understand what out library does for our community, what has been tried, and what has not.  By bouncing ideas off them and receiving feedback, that is what built up my confidence to move forward into the volunteer positions I hold now.  Wine and Words could have easily been brought up during those car rides and decided it was not a good idea and that could have been the end of it.  It was an idea that had the potential of never leaving that car.  However, it was encouraged…. and therefore it is happening. 😀 

West Metro Mommy is currently hosting Saturday Snapshot.  Stop over there to see what others are posting about this weekend!

As for today…. I have some errands to run, a few things to prepare before I fly out on Tuesday morning to New York.  I am in that mode where I feel like I have plenty of time to prepare…. and at the same time think I don’t have enough time to prepare.  Good grief.  At least I know it is Saturday 😀