I know, I know, I was trying to go chronologically and now I'm out of order. My problem is, convention was so hectic and I had my hands so full, I hardly got any photos. And then my camera ran out of batteries just at the cruical moment at Awards Night. So, stay tuned for the play-by-play, and in the meantime, here's some fun random photos! Some I borrowed from friends, since I don't have a lot…
The whole city center area was decorated for us! They loooove it when Stampin' Up comes and we all shop 'til we drop and leave cute stamped things with our tips after a meal or in the hotel room for the housekeeping staff.
This photos will give you some idea of how gigantic the convention was. There were nearly 6,000 of us. It was quite a hoot getting anywhere if you hit the mass exodus from the main sessions. And of course we were navigating in a wheelchair, too. But thankfully only ONE person stepped directly in front of Mom and got her ankle nicked (boy did she give me a dirty look). All the other times I was able to stop in time to prevent it. People really do need to watch where they are going… but there was SOOOOO much to look at, I can't blame them! And everyone else was so sweet and helpful, opening doors and offering assistance or pointing out shortcuts.
The BEST part of Convention is ALWAYS the friends!! "old" friends and new, online friends and friends from overseas… I just love it when someone says to me, "You don't know me, but I sure know you!" and they have been reading Song Of My Heart and enjoying my rambling. Now I DO know many of you I had not met before, and I am so glad we're friends!
So touched by the goodies I got from our foreign demonstrator attendees, many of whom I met at a privately arranged meet n' greet session for North American bloggers they wanted to meet and thank for inspiration and encouragement and the market gets going in those newer regions. They had put so much love and thought into their gifts for us! My husband was beyond thrilled at Leonie's Tim Tams! I told my family they have to wait to eat the rest of the candy until after I get a chance to show the presents to my team back home, though.
And since I see they just posted the official convention video for us, here it is! You can hear from demos for the first couple minutes, then at about the two-minute mark, the theme song begins and the video starts. ENJOY!!! Sure brings back the great memories!
