Well.  Sometimes the best-laid plans just don't work out the way you envision.  And blogging during Convention was one of those things.  Why?  Well, mostly because I was just too busy, and havin' too much fun hanging out with my Sea to Sea Stamper friends that I only get to see once a year!  The alarm would go off at 5:00 am, we met for breakfast at 6:00 am, and headed out the door for our hike to the Convention Center by 7:15.  Then on the other end of the day we had dinner together (along with lots and lots of laughs), and a couple of times I got hauled off to the pool area to watch while others swam or enjoyed the hot tub.  (Why "others", you ask?  Well, this body hasn't seen a bathing suit in about a decade.  And there are NO plans to change that anytime soon!)

So by the time I wrote a Convention update to my downline group back home I was falling asleep and that oh-so-comfortable-and-luxurious bed was calling me and reminding me that 5:00 am was just around the corner again!

But so now I'm home.  And I'd like to share an overview of the week, but "overview"?  What is that?  I could try to recall most of the activities of our super-stuffed days – or just stick to the highlights.  The latter is probably more realistic.

So that's where I'll begin. 

Christie and I were the only two Conventioneers from Whidbey Island this year.  Travel on Tuesday went reasonably well, although Delta seemed to really be having trouble that day getting OTHER flyers to their desired destinations.  But we lucked out and arrived in Salt Lake City on schedule.  Which was good, given that we had signed up for a shoebox swap that began at 6:00 pm that evening.  So after a quick dinner at Denny's we made our way over to the Hilton, where we joined into the swap – already in progress.  Here's the table where we set up shop:

What a fun night!  I'd definitely do it again next year!  Each participant had been asked to create 57 swaps – 30 of them completed in their entirety, and 27 ready for others to stamp them up themselves.  Similar to the style of my events, we moved from station to station….. all around 3 large tables of stamping stations, making a card at each.  The cards were awesome, too….. so don't be surprised if some of 'em show up at some future events of mine later this season!  

But we all know that where there are stampers there has to be chocolate.  So of course stamping wasn't the only attraction of the evening.  Here's our chocolate fountain with goodies for dipping.  (And just to confirm, choosing fruit for dunkin' makes the chocolate a health food, right?) 

There was another table of chocolate treats on the other side of the room, too, but would you believe I was so busy stamping I hardly got a chance to explore it?

Here's the card I contributed to our swap.  Yes, it's the same one I presented at my Hostess Appreciation Party last month, but I figured why reinvent the wheel when it was so popular?!?  Ask to see the swaps I got in exchange - next time you're here!