on my honor, i will try...

yesterday, i got up at the buttcrack of dawn to get myself ready and trek my happy ass all the way out to woodland hills for more girl scout troop leader training.  this time, we'd get to focus on how to manage a daisy-level troop, which i was excited for since that's what i'll be helping to do over the next nine-ish months.  

the traffic wasn't as horrible as i'd braced myself for, but it was helpful to have my co-leader with me so we could cruise in the carpool lane.  we managed to pull into the parking lot with about ten minutes to spare.

the training room wasn't hard to find, and we took a seat with the two others who were already there.  at each spot there was a training manual, an evaluation form and a sample craft.

as we waited for class to begin, we got to make our very own bracelets - one bead to represent each line of the girl scout law.

while a three-hour class on managing a herd of 6- and 7-year olds sounds like it'd be boring as all hell, the time flew by for me because i've actually become pretty excited for this whole thing.  i think it's because i so wanted to be a girl scout when i was younger, which of course means that i'm absolutely going to be living vicariously through the bean.  poor thing.  heh.

it also helped that we got up a few times to play games, and i managed to score a piece of halloween candy (not pictured, because it went right into my belly) and a girl scout-branded flash drive.  yay for me!

and before we knew it, we were here.  holla:

each of these girl scout service centers also has a fully stocked store, offering all sorts of things from uniforms to patches to scarves to totes and everything in between.  as we walked in, i noticed someone standing at the counter and silently fangirled like mad when i realized that it was someone i totally recognized.  now, this won't help you one bit, but it's all i could get:

it's tia carrere.  she's been on general hospital, dancing with the stars, celebrity apprentice, was the voice of lilo's sister nani in lilo & stitch, and of course both of the wayne's world movies.  i would have loved to approach her even just to say hello or whatnot, but i held back and just went about my business in the shop.

on the way home, we decided to make a quick pitstop for some delicious lunch:

and later, when i picked up the bean and told her that i wasn't going to be home for dinner because of another girl scout shindig - this time, to meet the parents of our prospective new troop members - i got this.

i guess i couldn't blame her - i've been away for a ton of meetings already, and she has yet to join in on any of them.  and i suppose when you're seven, it's not easy to grasp the concept of how much work it takes to get a brand new troop started.  hell, i'm 43 and i didn't know it was going to be this involved.  well, okay, maybe i did, but still...i'm just ready to get started already, dang it.

at our meeting place, we put out a fun spread of cookies and snacks and girl scout paraphernalia for the parents to peruse.

and i got to wear my very first piece of official girl scout gear:

the meeting with the parents went swimmingly.  we were concerned about not being able to answer questions or fumbling for answers or generally looking like we didn't know what we were doing, but i think we did a pretty good job of communicating what we needed to get across to the parents.  they all seemed to be cool with meeting times, volunteering requirements, forms to fill out, dues to pay, uniforms to buy.  we all got along really well, and i'm hoping we'll all get to know each other as the months (and years?) go by.

and now that we actually have a troop - and a pretty good-sized one at that! - i'm really excited for our first meeting with the girls.  it looks like i managed to rope in at least one or two of the bean's friends at school too, and she's going to be so stoked when she finds out.  oh, i can't wait.