Today was my first “Official Day” of Leadership and I was so excited to see what was in store for us! First thing on the agenda was my first organized swap hosted by my roomie, Tammy Baldwin and the ladies in my LateNightStampers group. It was the “Occassion Mini” and I chose Baby Blossoms as my set. It was alot of fun getting to see what everyone came up and to put actual faces with names! The swaps are terrific and I’ll be posting some of them soon! Next on the agenda was picking up “THE BAG” and I couldn’t wait! Those that attended Managers Reception got theirs last night and so we were anxious to get ours! I was too excited that I got mine from Shannon West (YES I LOVE HER) and one of the girls was sweet enough to take my picture getting it! Do I look excited??
Here’s a picture of me with two of my roomies (Tammy, and Pam) along with a new friend from LNS, Kristy waiting to enter the Gathering Place! While we waited for the doors to open, you know we had to SWAP!!
We made our way into the Gathering Place where everyone would get together later for lunch and dinner, started our first classes here, saw Demonstrations, the Product Walls which were phenomenal, Momento Mall, and a host of other things! In our bag was a variety of goodies including a button that we had to wear the entire time — mine was Pumpkin Pie and we were told they were very important and held alot of power. We found out later that at certain times depending on your color you won free goodies and got to go shopping first in Momento Mall! From the Gathering Place we went to a variety of classes (all of which were wonderful)! One of my favorites was called Ready, Set, Lead and it was presented by Jan Wakeland! I really enjoyed listening to her and her ideas were fabulous! Can you believe it…she has over 2100 in her downline! WOW! Here’s a picture of me and Jan after the class! Isn’t she precious??
After the morning classes, we got to do lunch on our own within the hotel! It is the most incredible place and hard to believe there is so much under one roof! I mean it’s like a mini city complete with waterfalls, plants galore, and in one section a river with actual boats you can ride. We decided to go to Delta Island to Stax Hamburgers! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a burger this big! But I was starving and ate the ENTIRE THING!
I really enjoyed sitting outside with all of my roomies and getting a chance to really talk and learn about each of them! They are so much fun and I know we’ll be friends for a long time to come. After lunch it was time for our first General Session! I couldn’t wait to get there because I had been told I needed to meet someone from “my list” because she had a gift for me and I was too excited! As soon as we found our seats I spotted her and she is even more awesome that I expected! I still can’t believe that at that point we had only talked on the phone and she called me by name the minute she saw me! That just made my day and I can honestly say I LOVE RONDA WADE! She has taught me so much in just the few months that I’ve been training with her and it’s easy to see why she has been in the Top 10 Demonstrators for the past several years! I love how this picture turned out! I’ll post a picture of the awesome gift she had made for all her trainees later! I have it sitting here on my desk but I can’t bear to write it in cause it’s just too darn cute!!
I also got my picture taken with several of my favorite people who work for Stampin’ Up before the session started!
Aside from lots of wonderful announcements all geared around the +One theme, they did something they had never done at Leadership before and that was a March of Promotions! This is something that is usually only done at Convention and I was so excited! I was not able to go to Convention for my 5 year walk so it was a big deal for me to be able to walk in front of all these leaders. Both Pam and I got to walk the stage for promoting to Senior Supervisor and we made sure to let out a big WhooHoo when it was our turn in the spotlight. Here’s a picture of us just after doing that…..
After our afternoon classes, we all went back to the Gathering Place for dinner and our Grand Opening Party! Check back tomorrow and I’ll post more pictures and finish telling you about my fun first day!
