AnnMarie's Stamping Adventures!!: Convention Part 1!

Hello! Happy Tuesday! (I think!) It is Tuesday, isn't it?! LOL I am still feeling a little loopy and off because of all the the time differences and my lack of sleep! Ok, I have a few photos to share with you from our first and second day in Utah! My very sweet down line and I flew out together! We landed on Tuesday at 4:13 in the afternoon and took an express shuttle to the hotel. We stayed at the Marriott and it was just beautiful! For our very first adventure we went to a yummy Mexican restaurant called the Blue Iguana! Now keep in mind that we ate breakfast in Charlotte North Carolina, lunch in Phoenix, Arizonia and dinner in Utah! (Too cool!!) The servings were ginormous and the food was awesome! (I am all about the food!) LOL This first picture is of Jo in front of the entrance to the Blue Iguana! If you look really closely you can make out the sign on the door that says Welcome to Stampin Up! Demos! Too cool!! :) This is Jo pointing to the sign:

After dinner we went back to our rooms to unpack! Then I hit the gym for my daily walk and Jo went swimming! I was worried about missing my walk. I have not missed a day since I started on January of 2009! I was able to go to the gym every day while there though so that worked out great! :)

Ok, our first real whole day there was a whirlwind of motion and activity!! Our schedule looked something like this:

Visit Starbucks
Check in and Bag Pick Up
First Business Class
Lunch
Riverton Campus Tour (40 minutes away)
***Change clothes!!
Flower Power Party
Dinner
***Change clothes
First Organized Swap (In our Jammies!)

We were literally on the move from the minute we woke up until we crashed way after dark that night! It was such a blast!! We planned super well though because our last function ended with us already in our jammies! LOL Here is a re-cap of our day:

These were the bags we got at check in! Isn't this cute! I just love the bright happy colors! It came with our new stamp sets inside, a new catalog, a lanyard, a new pin and a pen...pink of course to match the bag! :)

I couldn't resist snapping this shot! This cute lady said she didn't want to have to carry and show off her swap card all day so she was wearing it on her head! LOL Isn't she adorable! Loved this!

This was a shot of Jo and I on the bus headed for the tour at Riverton. This is the Stampin Up! facility where all the magic happens! It was absolutely gorgeous!!

This was the sign to welcome us in the lobby!

The view from the top floor down into the center of the main room and where the employees hang out and eat at break time! It was all really pretty!

Another angle!

This was taken in the museum. They had several displays set up along with history of the company displays. Everything was decorated beautifully! Lots of eye candy in this room!

All of these yummy treats were made from paper!!! Just wait until I share tomorrow's photos of the Sweet Shoppe with you...thud *falls right over!!*

More displays!

This was the Idea room! They had a beautiful room with lots of tables and giant bean bag chairs and room to create! Here is Jo doing some hard creative thinking of her own! LOL This room lead into this next fun room:

Floor-to-ceiling white boards with tons of room for brain storming!

Check this out!! Was hoping one (or ten!) of those boxes had my name on them! LOL This place was immense!! So cool to see the process in motion!

This picture was taken of a desk in DS!! They gave all of the SU! employees the days off from the facility so they could be at the convention to play too! Their desks were all covered with cards and pretty displays! It was neat to see!

This was a neat thing! They have a goal of 10,000 recruits in 2010 and they are actually keeping tally on this board in the hall way! Look at all those tick marks! Since it is really important that I do my share I will need to sign up 7-8 recruits in the next little bit! Let me know if you would like to be one of them! :) Big grin!

Ok course me being me...I wandered into the break room where the food was to be found! LOL They had oodles of fun vending machines and a cute kitchen with microwaves and sinks etc. The vending choices were awesome!! Everything from candy to coffee (Starbucks in a box!), to ice cream to soup! My absolute favorite though was the hot pizza vending machine!! How awesome is that!?! Drop in your money or use your charge card (!!!!) and out comes a hot personal pizza ready to eat! I was so excited by this! Guess I do not get out enough! :)

This is the traditional picture in front of the Stampin Up! sign. Had to take this one! *Note to self for the future...no slouching! LOL

This amazing shot was taken standing in the parking lot! This is the view these folks have every day when they come to work! So nice!!

This was taken back on the bus on our way back for the rest of the day's activities.

This was my Flower Power party outfit! I had peace sign earrings on and my sweet daughter iron on-ed all of my hip patches! *Thanks Hannah!* The party was a blast!! There was a Scavenger hunt, and games and displays! Hula hoop contests, face painting, twister, free give-aways, awesome music! (I discovered I really dig some of the tunes from the 60's man!)

Cute lady in her 60's duds!

One creative lady's idea of bell bottoms! Too funny!

Our new friends Debbie and Laura! They looked awesome!

More great outfits!

Far out wig, man!

This lady had a ball!

Groovy band!

More great outfits!

Me hula-hooping! Not sure what was going on with my face! LOL

Jo and I at the party!

Ok, back to the room to change clothes and head to the Marriott Lobby Jammies Swap! This was me in my jammies!

Jo and I in our jammies! :)

...and finally the beginning of the swap line!

It was an amazing day! We had such a great time! I will be back tomorrow with lots more to share! Hope that you have a super day! See you soonest!

AnnMarie