Earlier tonight and after a relaxing day, Jan Burnett and I were walking through the lobby to grab a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant. Shelli Gardner (cofounder of Stampin’ Up) and her daughter, Sara, were looking for someone to eat dinner with. We were delighted to spend time with them and they are both so easy and pleasant to be around. We walked next door to Iggy’s and had a nice meal together. We didn’t talk about stamping much. It was nice to get to know them on a personal level!
After dinner, we rushed back to our rooms to put our pjs on, grab our cards for the big line swap! We made 125 card fronts and I think I had 6 leftover, so a few short but wow! Wait till you see ’em!
After the swap, we went into the gathering room to take our group photo. Trying to get 120 women to sit still and practically on top of one another to fit into a camera frame is close to impossible but we did it! I was sitting cross legged on the floor and I could hear the groans and cracking of knees around me as everyone tried to bend and squeeze in!
They made up for the pain and increased blood flow by feeding us mammoth butterfly cupcakes and tropical drinks with paper umbrellas:
They also gave us a special notebook and pen to take notes during the Share:
The microphone was in the hand of Bonnie Thurber who was like Oprah in the old days where she went out into the audience and encouraged participation. Demonstrators got up, introduced themselves and shared a business tip. As the night went on, I knew she was coming my way but I just kept my head down, doodled and avoided eye contact! (I’m not the most comfortable at getting up in front of 100 people in my pjs) I took great notes with my new pen and book.
We raced up to our room to see tonight’s pillow gift, which I thought the notebook and pen gift was already enough for today. I heard squeals of delight in the halls so I couldn’t wait to get to my room to see what the SU fairies left on my bed:
Too fun! Garden boots with our Cottage Wall DSP on them!
How fun, Linda! I am really enjoying your posts and appreciate the time you take sharing the Founder’s Circle experience with us….have a great time, can’t wait to start seeing some of the swaps you got. AND any more “sneak peeks” you might be able to share…lol! Jan Hoyt
Ok, SHUUUUTTTT- UUUP! You got to go to dinner with Shelli and her daughter?!!!!! FANTASTIC!!
Cute boots!
I’m trying to find the DSP that matches your notebook with no luck. Do you think that is a preview of goodies to come?
The boots are so precious – too pretty to use!!
Those boots are BEAUTIFUL!!! If you don’t want them, you can send them my way…LOL! Thanks for sharing your experiences at the Founder’s Circle retreat.
Talk about right place, right time! That was so cool you got to hang with the queen bee!
Lucky you – dinner with Shelli and sara!
and how cool are the gumboots!
Those boots are flippin’ adorable!
Im happy for you that you were able to sneak away from the microphone..I probably would have done the same 🙂
Great luck having dinner with Shelli, and her daughter..what a nice bonus to an already fabulous trip!!