And it begins...

What a crazy, crazy day it has been!  Today is the official start of Convention 2010 and right now, I'm totally exhausted...but in a GREAT way!!

We started our morning bright and early with a nice hot breakfast at the hotel and a quick jaunt over to the convention center to get in line for Momento Mall!  The official opening of the mall was 9:00am.  I was fortunate to earn an incentive to get in at 8:00am.  But, we got over and in line before 7:00am.  Man or man, was that ever a good idea!  The lines got nuts but it was well worth the wait.  The fun toys and great new product were just incredible.  I was so excited to be able to get in, grab my goodies and get out before anyone in the general admittance was allowed in.  I got LOTS of great goods but I don't want to spoil any surprises so I'll keep a little to myself for a while.  Just know I had a lot of fun shopping!!

One of the awesome benefits we get at convention is a cool, special, only available to convention attendees bag!  This year's bag is a vinyl messenger bag.  It's bright orange and pink.  There are lots of great pockets and crevaces to carry around the essentials.  I'm totally in love with this bag (and NO Mickey, you can't have it!!)  The bag comes packed with materials, pins, pens, and FREE STAMPS!  One of the free stamp sets this year is Just Believe, possibly my favorite new stamp set out of the new catalog.  I can't wait to see what kinds of make-n-takes we'll be doing with this set that I'll be able to bring home and share with you!

Today I swapped, met lots more new stampin friends, and also had an opportunity to visit the Stampin' Up! home office in Riverton, UT.  Tell me with this view out your office window you'd be able to get any work done?  Another simply breathtaking background, I'd say.  The tour was so wonderful.  I'll definitely blog about it in more detail at a later date.  We saw our Demonstrator Support center, the place where the incredible ideas happen, and got a full rundown of the distribution center operations from the Warehouse Operations Manager himself!  It was such an amazing experience to hear all about how it your orders go from my computer, through the pick lines, and off to UPS with incredible ease and precision.  Cool, cool stuff!!  I'm so glad I had the chance to experience it.

Tonight was "Flower Power" a full blown 60's themed party.  That was a real hoot.  Great music. Lots of energy.  I tried my hand/foot at Twister (and failed miserably), danced to amazing classics, and had an all around great time.  When Stampin' Up! throws a party, they really throw a party!  Games, face painting, prizes...Linda won a wonderful stamp set from the upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog!  Nothing for me but I'm sure my time is coming!  Oh, there were also a TON of great samples and incredible projects on display.  I have over 150 photos that I need to weed through before I share them.  I promise I'll post some of those goodies tomorrow!

I'm totally off to bed. Tomorrow is the first day of our general sessions and great classes.  But before I go, I will say that if you're ever in Salt Lake City and have an opportunity to go see the Stampin' Up! campus, do it, but also stop at the Sno Shack.  We got the best snow cones this side of the Mississippi!  Thanks, Susan!!

Until tomorrow, Happy Stamping!