Club TAOS officially kicked-off with a feel-good activity scheduled two weeks before Christmas. We gathered at Reston Interfaith www.restoninterfaith.org to sort holiday gifts for the Adopt-a-Family gift drive. Each year, Reston Interfaith works with community members to make the holiday season fulfilling and memorable for our neighbors in need. The Adopt-a-Family gift drive in December ensures that families are well-fed and children receive personalized gifts.
The 2009 drive signed up record numbers of families in need, and also received the most donations to date in the history of Reston Interfaith's drives. We wanted to be a part of this community service project and our help was surely needed! There were more than 1,800 gifts to be sorted and distributed to children and their families and senior citizens in the area.
Upon arriving, we were giving a fairly lengthy set of instructions (a little annoying - who knew gift sorting was so complicated?) and placed in a room crowded with trash bags full of presents. We were a little overwhelmed - there was obviously a lot to be done... and we quickly realized that our two hours of volunteer time would not even put a dent in this project! Nonetheless, we jumped right in working mostly independently in an attempt to cover more territory. Our tasks involved tearing off wrapping paper, analyzing gifts for age and gender appropriateness, estimating the value of each gift, cross-referencing the gifts to the list of "adopted" children and families, highlighting spreadsheets, re-bagging gifts in new trash bags, labeling them with the adopted family's assigned number, and finally depositing "our work" in the designated spot within Reston Interfaith's office space.
If it sounds like a lot to do... it was... and after a little more than two hours, we felt pretty good about what we had accomplished "something", but were somewhat deflated that we hadn't done "enough" and didn't leave with the "feel good" in our hearts that we anticipated. Let's face it... it really was work and it wasn't exactly fun. While we tried to imagine how these children would look when they received the gifts we had "inspected" for them, we didn't get to see that child's face light up with joy - and THAT would have been much more satisfying. Still, we reflected on the experience while eating lunch at a bakery down the street and patted ourselves on the back for doing something for others during this "busy time." We said our good-byes as we headed off in separate directions - no doubt running errands and tending to our own mundane list of "to dos" and "to buys"... 'tis the season!
Ashli, Shana, Kristin, Summer (and some guy on TV)
Each month one of the founding members- Ashli, Shana, Kristin, Summer - suggests and plans an activity for the group, which is then documented on this blog. The activity is analyzed based on a set of criteria that was developed by the Dilettantes -- and tweaked to fit Club TAOS requirements.
Selection criteria for activities:
• All activities are one-time events that run for a period of no more than four hours
• All activities have a registration fee of $50 or less per person
• All activities must be active so that participants learn something new
• All activities must end with a recap over drinks and food
• I will remain open-minded when trying a new activity
• I will be respectful of the activity, the activity leader and other participants
• I will approach every activity as the learning opportunity that it is
• I will not shy away from any activity no matter how potentially humiliating or painful.
Kristin spent most of her youth with her nose in a book at home, playing piano, or performing in the dance studio. She was a precocious child who interacted better with adults than with children her own age - she was a "born leader" and natural caregiver from an early age. She also added band, color guard, yearbook staff, and "academic" clubs to her repertoire in high school and college. As an adult, Kristin has become more care-free, but still independent-minded. She is a military wife who has moved 6 times in 14 years. Kristin also worked as a retail manager for over 10 years and had little time for "hobbies." After her second child was born in 2004, Kristin left the Lipstick Jungle of retail and has been a stay-at-home Mom. Hobbies have remained out of reach until now.... she resides in Burke, VA, with her husband, Mark, and two daughters, Morgan (8 1/2) and Allyson (5).
Ashli has always wanted to be a ‘star’ but her shyness and lack-of-commitment demeanor has held her back. Appropriately nicknamed “Bulldozer” as a toddler, she spent her early years singing in church, dancing tap, jazz and ballet, taking piano lessons, always try to be as good as her sister in the arts. Her singing seemed to suit her best and her hobby “record” stands at 10 years in various school choral groups. In high school she joined the color guard and proudly doubled as a chorus and band geek for three years. Her sports qualities made her a fearless skier from the age of six, taking on Utah and Austria as an adult. Her passion for travel could have been her career but since she never got paid to travel, Ashli remains proud to have visited 14 countries to date. Then came running… three marathons, numerous 10-milers countless bagels, a marriage proposal at one finish line and the birth of her children forced her to retire from this hobby in 2007. After living in seven homes in the DC area and vowing never to live in NoVA for the rest of her life, Ashli now resides in Oakton, VA with her husband, Tom (aka TG) and children, Thomas (almost 3) and Reagan (10 mos). (Brevity is not Ashli’s strong suit hence she has the longest bio)
Shana’s childhood allergies to trees and grass kept her short-lived hobbies and interests mostly indoors: piano, ballet, tap, jazz, children’s theatre, tennis, choir, sailing, crafting (to name a few) As an “adult” she has used a variety of excuses NOT to try new things but recently had a life-changing experience that has caused her to change her tune. She enjoys both relaxing on her couch in her pajamas and dressing up for a fun night out. The things that are most important to her are her family and friends, and their health & happiness. Shana resides in Oakton,VA with her husband Paul and their son Jack (almost 3) and loves birthday and tea parties.
Summer's dilettante past includes sports and activities such as sailing, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, track, yoga, kickboxing, cheerleading, cotillion, piano, ballet, children's theatre and choir. Her career history features highlights such as lifeguarding, hostessing, accounting, marketing & teaching high school. She has also dabbled in sign language and spent a few Christmas breaks handing out hams for Honeybaked. Summer enjoys the gym, movies and good TV shows, and dining out – or in - with husband, friends & wine. Summer recently moved back to the Oakton area from Laguna Beach with her husband, Jason. She loves the beach and the Christmas season. Her favorite things are her friends and family and her Portuguese Water Dog, Otis.
We admit it -- we have all been searching for a THING. Our thing… our book club that will never get off the ground, the scrapbooking club that is – to be blunt - just not our style, the running enthusiasm that existed when we were 25, the theatrics and musical talents that peaked at 16 years old, and while we are quite successful at “wine night”, gossiping, and hosting countless jewelry parties – we were easily inspired.
Ashli was the first the catch the ‘dilettante’ bug upon learning of the original social club that her neighbor created five years ago. It sounded like the perfect thing for her and she set off to recruit her fellow dilettantes, soon to be her “sistas” in trying anything once. What better place to begin than with her own sister, partner in crime and fearless best friend. Enter, Kristin. Bonus to choosing my sister -- regaining some devoted sister-best friend-time that does not involve a family gathering or child-related event. Not that those are bad things, they are just frequent occurrences that lack anymore than five real sentences exchanged between grown-ups in the room.
Now… who else to include in this oh-so-exclusive club? Friends are swell, but sisters are super. Look no further than the daycare moms turned good friends (Ashli + Shana) thanks to the “BFF-ness" that their sons share at ‘school’. Bonus to choosing Shana – she has a sister, too! Brilliant.
