Saturday, July 26, 2014

Home From Convention 2014!

Well, this is the debut of my new blog! I thought it fitting that my debut post should include a post about my trip to the Stampin Up Convention. I hope to post my ongoing projects here and to keep you informed about Stampin Up info. Hope you enjoy it!

It's hard to believe that just four days ago, my upline, Charlene, and I were in the wonderfully hot, arid climate of Salt Lake City! Such a beautiful, clean city with lots of history. Our mission: to attend Inspire Create Share, the 2014 Stampin Up Convention.

We had a fabulous time—I would definitely recommend attending! Tons of good tips and loads of inspiration as well as the chance to connect with demonstrators from both Canada and the United States.

Our hotel, Salt Lake Plaza, was located right downtown, only a five minute walk to the Salt Palace Convention Center.

Salt Lake Plaza
Salt Lake Plaza
View from our hotel room
View from our hotel room

Since we arrived early, we were able to do a good bit of sightseeing and a bit of shopping before we had to register.

Salt Palace Convention Center
Salt Palace Convention Center
The Salt Lake Assembly Hall
The Salt Lake Assembly Hall
Salt Lake LDS Temple
Charlene in front of Salt Lake LDS Temple
Cedar Creek Mall
Cedar Creek Mall—The mall with a creek running through it!

Registration was a surreal experience—thousands of demonstrators lining up to claim their free Stampin Up bag and free stamp sets! And the interesting fact about this was that there were more demonstrators arriving the next day to register!

Registration
Registration
Registration 2
Waiting for my turn!

Of course, we had to get a selfie in front of one of the Inspire Create Share banners—it's not as easy as people make it seem! It took several tries to get it right.

Selfie
Selfie
Selfie Fail
Selfie Fail

A trip to visit the Stampin Up home office was a delight! An amazing, supportive place to work and an impressive building as well!

Outside SU Headquarters
Outside SU Headquarters
Selfie in lobby of SU Headquarters
Selfie in lobby of SU Headquarters
SU Headquarters Warehouse
SU Headquarters Warehouse

Of course, the Inspiration boards were wonderful to see! My favorites showcased the Kinda Eclectic stamp set.

Inspiration Board 1
Inspiration Board 1
Inspiration Board 2
Inspiration Board 2
Inspiration Board 3
Inspiration Board 3

Because we stayed for two days after convention, we were able to take in a carriage ride tour of the oldest section of the city, as well as a visit to both Saltair and Great Salt Lake.

Horse and Buggy Tour
Horse and Buggy Tour

Saltair has an amazing history and must have been quite the sight to see! I really enjoyed the slide show we saw which included some of these vintage photos:

K

Due to fire and flood, there were actually three versions of Saltair, with the third version lacking the ambience of the two previous versions.

Saltair III
Saltair III

Great Salt Lake did not have any swimmers when we visited but it was still amazing to see.

Tour Bus
Charlene with our driver for the tour
Great Salt Lake
Great Salt Lake

The rock in the foreground hid some surprises. Spiders!

Spiders
Spiders

Soon enough, it was time to pack up and fly home. The anticipation and excitement of the trip to Salt Lake could not be repeated on the flight home—fatigue overcame me and I dozed between Salt Lake City and Calgary. Arriving in Calgary, we learned we were actually a half hour early but could not disembark because another plane was still in our spot! Finally off the plane, we suffered through Customs while watching the minutes tick away until our connection to Winnipeg was less than 5 minutes away! We booted it to our gate only to learn that the plane was delayed by half an hour!

Finally boarded, we amused ourselves on the flight by playing a game of Scrabble on my iPad.

We reached Winnipeg only to learn that our checked luggage was still in Calgary! Can you say, "Peeved?" After filling out paperwork at Baggage Services, we were able to leave. Luckily our bags were able to be picked up the following day.

So, wonderful trip for Charlene and I and now it's time to put some of the things we learned into effect! Stay tuned for pics of the loot we brought back!

My new hat!
My new hat!

 

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