Create With M.E.

Tweeting~Makes M.E. a winner!

I teased a little last week about all my favorite things but did not reveal what really made this Leadership event my absolute favorite event EVER! 

When we got in our first general session in San Antonio one of the Corporate team announced that 2 people who tweeted and used the hashtag #myleadership would be picked to go backstage during the closing session on Friday.  I whip my phone out and start tweeting.  Yes this almost 50 year old has a twitter acct and knows how to use it!  Okay so I really don't use it much but for a chance to go backstage and see everything I am all over that.  The young (30 somethings) around me were like "M.E. you have a twitter acct?"  Yes, if I can do it you can too.  Several of them signed up on their phones or back in their rooms and are now tweeting.  I thought it was so funny!  Well, anyway Friday during one of my sessions I got a direct message from Stampin' Up! that said I won!  I was going backstage!!

I jumped up right in the class and high fived everyone at my table!  The other hundreds in the class probably thought I was nuts but I didn't care at that moment.  I think I care a little now...nope not really it was FUN!

Although I have met Shelli several times over the years I got to meet her again and visit with her.  Talk to Rich and Chad Roberts and get the grand tour from Chad Williams.  Here are a few pictures from behind the scenes.

Here is what I first saw when I went backstage.  All of my friends out front!

Shelli and I

 

The corporate team and M.E. and the other Winner Rose-Ellen (yep Mary Ellen and Rose Ellen were the winners that day!)

This is Mike, he heads up the prompters and cameras from backstage.  Why did I want my picture taken with him?  He made all 1350 of us Chocolates!  Not just a little chocolate.  3 big bars of different kinds of chocolates.  Delicious!  Mike was the "man"!

Here we are at the Green Room and inside Chad showed us how the cameras work.

Lastly here I am backstage tweeting! Chad Williams said when we asked can we take pictures and tweet or post to Facebook..."Duh, that is why you were our winners!" Okay he might not exactly said that but he did want us to tweet about our experiences which I was happy to oblige.

 

Wow, you're the BEST~Mexican style

While I was in Texas I had the luck to get to visit Austin for a day and spend some time with some GREAT folks.  Meg, my upline, and I were welcomed with open arms by her parents Charlotte and Tom at the Airport and they promised me some "experiences" in Austin and they weren't kidding!  In case you don't know the saying in Austin, TX is "Keep Austin Weird!"   They took us right from the Airport to a BBQ joint called Rudy's where you get to eat scrumptious BBQ right on Butcher paper (my husband would have LOVED this being a butcher and all). There was Brisket and Smoked Turkey and Sausages oh my! A meat lovers paradise.  Here I am drooling at the counter with Meg's dad Tom.  My excuse for my look is a long day flying without eating all day.  This picture was probably taken at about 9pm.

 

Here is the food because you have to see the food!

 

The next day they told me they were taking me to a grocery store for lunch.  I was like...what?  Austin is the Corporate Headquarters for Whole Foods.  While I didn't feel comfortable snapping pictures in the actual grocery store I had to show you the way you get down to the 3 floors of underground parking with your cart.  This is M.E. being silly with Charlotte in front of me.  As soon as you touch the cart onto the escalator the wheels lock in place and can't be moved.  It's a very cool system! 

Oh about lunch, well they will cook you anything you want!  The store is huge and full of delicious goodies.  We had crab butternut squash bisque and fish tacos!  All fresh to order!  The cart is full of snackies and other goodies for our trip to San Antonio because after lunch we were headed that way.

 

While we were in Austin Charlotte took us to visit one of her neighbors.  They had a beautiful home filled with Mexican art.  Our hostess, Polly, still had her collection of nativity scenes up from Christmas and the tour probably took a couple hours she had so many and they were absolutely gorgeous and I didn't want to miss anything.  Some dated back from the 60's when Polly first started to collect.  She also had a big corner in one of her rooms full of 'Day of the Dead' artwork.  Everything was so colorful and delightful.  She really had an eye on putting together different vignettes.  Very eclectic but it all worked. Before we left she presented each of us with a little "souvenier" of our day.  A 'Day of the Dead' skeleton ornament all hand woven.  So detailed.  So I made something to send to her today .  A quick card that I think captures the mexican feel with many of the bright colors I experienced in her home. 

I saw this similar idea sometime while I was in San Antonio but I made this card from my memory and I do not know who to give credit to for the original idea. (as always if it was yours drop me a line I would love to give you credit)  It was just one of those ideas that stuck with me!  I earned the "packed for" bundle of stamps from Stampin' Up! for FREE!!  You can view the full set in the Occasions mini catalog by clicking on that link  above or my signature below.  Here is a close up of the image.  I cut it from the whole group of images.  A great way to use this stamp set.

 

 

Leadership 2012~a Few of My Favorite Things.

Well, I have been back from Texas and Stampin' Up! leadership for 4 days now and it's taken this long to get my life back in order.  Ha who am I fooling, life in order just aint gonna happen around here. The laundry hadn't been touched for a week, yikes! (remember 5 adults and one teenager live in my house, yes take pity on me :) the house was a mess and I had to play catch up on a ton of stuff.  But today, I do a little blogging, quick bloggin but still blogging.  I made a quick collage of my favorites.  My favorite things about going to leadership.  Enjoy with M.E.  My favorite things...

 

My Favorites....

Motivation from my Mentor Shelli Gardner Owner & CEO of Stampin' Up!

Delicious meals with my Favorite Stampers!

Friends! some who I just met and some who I only get to see at Stampin' Up! events a couple times a year.

Ideas Galore!

Great Desserts! YUMMO!

Free Stamps!!

Fabulous Stamping time!

All this, yet this was not my VERY FAVORITE part of the whole week. Come back to hear about my backstage "pass" to personally visit with the Stampin' Up! corporate team, get a tour of the backstage with pictures galore and a stack of more free stamps!

Sale-A-Bration started on January 24th  Book your workshop today or shop in my online store by clicking on my signature image below!  Want to know more about what I do?  This is the BEST time to join Stampin' Up! and my Create With M.E. team.  Discounted starter kit.  Drop me a line I'd love to talk to you about the opportunity.  Next year you too can join us for Leadership!