Convention - Day 4
Well, our week of stamping is over. Claire and I made it home early afternoon today. We both had TONS of fun and we are SUPER inspired. I know Claire has been stamping and so have I. I've been planning some projects for my upcoming events.

Let's see, what did we do yesterday? Wow....seems so long ago. We had our final general session. They're always fun. Can you believe people were still swapping? Claire and I were chatting with a woman in line at security this morning who had made 500 swaps!!! I thought 250 was a lot. Anyway, It's all starting to blur. We also had our final three sessions about recruiting, partying, and something else I've completely forgotten. Oh! How can I forget? It was all about watercoloring. It was a hands-on, make-and-take class. Everyone at convention fell in love with the Pretties. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, they're on page 188 in the catalog. And, if you're going to Lisa's workshop tomorrow, you'll get to see me demo a project with them! And, don't worry, if you're not going to Lisa's tomorrow, I'll be doing a technique with them in my September class.

ANYWAY....Thursday night was awards night. I stressed for weeks about what I was going to wear. It was completely unnecessary. They said formal or semi-formal dress. Well, most people were in business casual or in jeans!!! I found a floor-length black and white dress, put on some jewelry, and wore my most uncomfortable shoes. It's CRAZY the awards that are given. Let's see, over the course of the week, I saw 10 people randomly win a free Bermuda Cruise (10 other people won them in the first session), I saw people receive THOUSANDS and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses, Tiffany crystal, diamond necklaces, and lots of other fun stuff (and money). They know what they're doing, because when we left last night, I was inspired and motivated to be one of the lucky ones walking across the stage next year in Salt Lake City. The night was topped off with a concert from Ryan Shupe and The Rubber Band. They were great, but around 10pm I started to think about what time we had to get up this morning.

Claire and I were both wired when we crawled into bed so we stayed up talking for awhile. My alarm went off at 3:45am sharp. We were on the road before 5am. After exiting 3 times, we finally found gas. We had seen a station near the airport, but it was $3.29/gallon. We ended up paying $2.89 a couple of exits before the airport. Returning the car and check-in was no problem...then we saw security. OH MY GOSH!!! It's been a LONG time since I've stood in line for 30 minutes to get through security. I was stressing as you might believe. When we finally got up to the metal dectors, I headed over to the short line. Little did I know it was for specially selected people. I left feeling a little violated, well, not really, but it was interesting. I got to walk into my first "air puffer" machine. We put all of our stuff on the belt then one-by-one stepped into a booth that puffed air all around our bodies to detect explosive residue I guess? After stepping out of that, we then had to go through the normal metal detector. We stopped for some breakfast, but by the time we reached the gate, they were already boarding. Well, if you know me, you know that I prefer to be at the gate 30 minutes before boarding. I know, I know, it's just crazy. So, I was a little stressed. I was asleep before takeoff and woke up when the captain said we would be landing in 15 minutes.

We had a great time and I'm alreading Dreaming Big about next year. "Dream Big" was the theme of the conference. Anyway, I was welcomed into my house by air conditioning!!! Thanks Dad! And, to top it off, there was a MacMillan's Cream Donut in my fridge. Wow!!! If you don't know what one is, we'll have to take a road trip to Collingswood sometime.