Monday January 10, 2011 - 3:15 p.m.

Governor Shumlin and his staff are happy to be kicking off our first full week in office.

We all had a great time at the Inaugural Ball at Sugarbush. Many thanks to the CelebrateVT inaugural committee who put the whole thing together. We sampled delicious cheeses, hors d'oeuvres, and even hot dogs from various Vermont vendors. The band had everyone dancing including Governor Shumlin and Secretary of Human Services Doug Racine. It was a wonderful way for us to end the inaugural week. You can see photos from the ball here.

Governor Shumlin was the keynote speaker Saturday evening in Barre at the Voice of Democracy Banquet, hosted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The Voice of Democracy is a scholarship program that encourages students in grades 9 through 12 to express themselves in regards to democratic ideas and principles by entering an audio-essay competition. The entrants compete first at the VFW post level then at the District level. The District winners compete at the state level and are the students who will be attending the VOD banquet. They have combined VOD with the Patriot’s Pen Scholarship Program, designed to encourage students in grades 6 through 8 to examine our nation’s history and their own experience in modern American society by expressing their views in a 400 word essay. Middle grade students are judged in the same manner as VOD.

The Governor arrived early and walked through the crowd to shake hands and talk with VFW members about issues they feel are important. He also spoke at the dinner.

Monday morning started off with a visit to the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce's legilslative breakfast. Governor Shumlin had breakfast with, and addressed, about 325 members of the chamber. He told the crowd it is his administrations singular goal to "lift the economic boat for those who have jobs and get those that don’t back to work, one job at a time." You can read more about the breakfast here.