Wella Man #1

Here’s my #Truth to all of you:

1. This email is very late and I apologize.

2. I physically crashed after Wellapalooza 2015, and I’m pretty sure Jan did too.

3. There’s been a lot going on the last 4-6 months, much more than having fun planning Wellapalooza. Putting together Wellapalooza 2015, was my highlight, my dream & what I studied Public Health for. However, the stress of all else that was/is going on behind the scenes in life outside of Wellapalooza, took a toll – physically, mentally and emotionally.

4. I’m not one who can hold my feelings back. I’m horrible at lying, so I like to lay things out on the carpet right away, address issues, learn from them and move on.

5. Hence, why I’m stating my #truth in the beginning of this email to all of you.

My trashed car

6. My car (and my husband’s) was broken into after Thanksgiving and my video camera with Wellapalooza conference presentations on it was stolen, as well as other stuff. I had the video camera in my car, because I was taking the presentation recordings to get edited. I did not realize that the video camera was in my car, because it was tucked on the floor, concealed by the passenger seat. I’m also pretty sure my car was locked, because it automatically locks. Either way, whoever did it, only broke into my car and my husband’s and no one else’s in our cul-de-sac. There were also not any other break-ins in our neighborhood within a 7 day period before or after the incident with our cars. The whole thing was more than odd and unsettling. They also totally trashed and vandalized my car. Again, strange. Not usual for car break-ins and especially not typical for the ones that happen in our neighborhood.

7. Thus, crash #2.

8. My #truth is that I felt like I failed you, all of you…..again. Because I was running ragged leading up to Wella Day, there were a number of things that didn’t get printed in time. Everything was done, but there was no time to deal with things that didn’t work or get finished when I attempted to get them done. Therefore, our sign-in sheet, information and evaluation forms, as well as a folder’s worth of information that I put together to send home with everyone, was sitting at Kinko’s waiting to be picked up. And because the venue allowed such little time to set-up, we had to rush like mad to set-up all equipment, chair, snacks and bags, etc. in 30 minutes (Thanks Liz for lending us your husband to help!). Therefore, we had no time to run and pick-up the papers from Kinko’s prior to the conference starting. Additionally, my friend who was planning to help with the Periscope broadcast, had a sick pup and was delayed. So, even after Wella started, my husband had to stay to help with the video recording and the Periscope broadcast. He was supposed to be my Kinko’s boy. Hence, what felt like failure #1. Someone stealing the video camera with Wellapalooza presentations on it felt like failure #2.

9. My 2nd #truth – I’m not always the fastest at getting all the things done that I say I’m doing or will do, but I always finish and deliver on my promises — no matter how delayed.

What does that mean to anyone who came to Wellapalooza?

I still have Wella Swag Bags for anyone who I owe bags to, as well as contest prizes for those who participated in the Wella contest prior to the conference, or any of my other contests. Please let me know if you were not able to attend and still need your Wella bag, or if you are owed a contest prize. I return on Jan 5th, 2016 from vacation and will be shipping bags and prizes later that week. For real.

10. The good news? This email is my delivery on promise #1 – that I would send you an email with the evaluation form that we had printed, but could not give out at Wellapalooza 2015. Just in case you forgot why, see #6. 🙂

Bonus – 11. Remember how I discussed “The EDS Spiral” and how important “Just 5 Minutes” a day is? Because of decondtioning in my upper body and neck, due to sitting too much during and not moving around like I usually do during the day, I started having symptoms of Chiari Malformation. I will find out more when I get home from vacation, but the EDS spiral is so real that it still happens, even when you always talk about it.

Putting Wellapalooza together while trying to keep up with everything else that needed to be done at the same time, was humbling. When you are juggling too much for too long, you become ineffective at everything. Nothing good comes out of becoming ineffective. You end up feeling like you are going to spontaneously combust. There are only so many hours in the day and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get things done as fast as I needed and wanted to get them done. I began sacrificing my health in order to keep up, and we all know what happens when we do that.

Kendra, Dr. Theo and Jan

Despite all that I mentioned above, my focus was and still is on gratitude. The last year has been crazy, but incredible. Years of hard work is all coming together — It’s just happened to all fall into to place at the same exact time. I am beyond blessed to have been able to put together Wellapalooza 2015 and have three incredible speakers agree to come present to us. I’m thankful to Jan for helping and trusting me to organize Wellapalooza from across the country.

We (Jan and I ) are more grateful to everyone who came to Wellapalooza or listened via Periscope. Your enthusiasm and support for our more-than-one-conference-effort means the world to us. Thank you for your patience in waiting for a post-Wella email, and thank you for understanding that all great things have to start somewhere. Nothing is perfect the first time around, but Wellapalooza will get better and better with hard work, dedication and passion, and we are incredibly excited for all that is to come.

Post-Wella email part 2 will follow soon, including information on uploading presentations to our new Wellapalooza website, re-videotaping conference presentations, and other helpful information that was promised.

Please fill out and send back the Wellapalooza questionnaire and feedback form attached below. Doing so allows us to ensure that we have the correct addresses to send Wella Swag too, as well as your best contact information. And please be truthful in your feedback. Wellapalooza can only improve when we hear from those who we want to help. You can email, fax or mail the form to me, whichever way is easiest for you.

Again, thank you all so much. Post-Wella Update Part 2 will follow soon, including more of the fun stuff on various topics discussed at Wellapalooza 2015.

– Kendra

Please send filled out Wellapalooza questionnaires and/or any questions to: Kendra@Wellapalooza.com

You can also fax or sent in the questionnaire/feedback form via mail to: 7717 Maryknoll Ct. Bethesda, MD 20817. If you cannot open the attachments, please let me know and I can send the questionnaire as a word document.

 Wellapalooza 2015 welcome questionnaire

Wella Man #2

Save the Date!

Wellapalooza 2016 is June 9-12th!

Details will be announced soon. Please make sure to sign-up for our newsletter and for email announcements concerning Wella updates & new blog posts.