I attended my very first Leadership event this year in Nashville and what an event it was! I found out just how much Stampin' Up! loves to spoil it's leaders! It was WAY too much fun and I know that as long as I'm invited to attend, I'll never miss it!
Over the next couple of posts I'm going to share some of the highlights of the event! Are you coming with me next year? Apply for your FREE Starter Kit before 5pm today!
Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Hotel
I attended the event with Mary Ellen Scheiber, one of my sidelines. It was great fun hanging out with her—she's an awesome roommate!
We stayed at the beautiful Gaylord Opryland Hotel, and I was delighted to find that they still had a lot of their famous Country Christmas decorations still up!
You can see some of the beautiful lighted ornaments hanging in the photo of Mary Ellen. Wow! What a fabulous place!
I was especially interested in seeing how the hotel had been renovated after the devastating Nashville floods in May, 2010. I found some photos of some of the areas to show you the damage that was done by the swolen Cumberland River.
This is my photo in the Cascades Atrium after approximately $225 million in remediation and restoration. Here is what it looked like in May of last year…(use the large palm tree and white information sign at the bottom of the escalators for reference).
Wow! What an undertaking that must have been!
Here is another comparison of the Delta Atrium:
It's pretty amazing! All I can say is that Opryland looks better than ever and I highly recommend a visit! They have the friendliest and most helpful staff, too! OK—let's get on to the stamping festivities!
Stampin' Up! Manager's Reception! YeeHaw!
Managers and above are invited to attend the Manager's Reception at Leadership. Attendees are not told where the event will be held, so we were giddy with anticipation as we waited for the 11 buses (there was 600 of us!) to whisk us away to our secret destination!
All we knew is that there was a cowboy boot on our invitation, and they passed out cowboy hats to everyone as we waited in line.
And, by the way, the hats had been adorned with 5/8" Early Espresso Grosgrain Ribbon and Antique Brads! Love it!
We were in the first part of the line, so we had the privilege of riding on the same bus as Stampin' Up! CEO Shelli Gardner and her husband, Sterling. Smile, Shelli…!
Doesn't she look so cute in her hat?!
After a short ride, we all started cheering when we ended up at the famous Wildhorse Saloon, a three-level, 66,000 sq. ft., Nashville music entertainment mecca—and Stampin' Up! had reserved it exclusively for us! I'm a HUGE country music fan, so this was TOO COOL!
First, we enjoyed a southern smokehouse buffet, along with entertainment from Dave Robbins, who was one of the original members of the country band BlackHawk, and has written music for Kenny Rogers and Restless Heart (like the Bluest Eyes of Texas, for my fellow country fans). Mary Ellen had a moment with him after the show.
Next, we took to the sawdust floor for some line dancing! I loved seeing all of our cowboy hats! Gosh, I miss dancing! Who wants to go line dancing with me again, soon?! I'm serious.
Then, Brother Trouble took the stage! They recently won Kenny Chesney's Big Star competition, and got a chance to open for him! They were talented, funny…and cute!
Here they are showing off their Stampin' Up! Manager's Reception shirts (I got one that they threw out into the crowd)!
Or, wait, maybe this is when they were translating the lyrics to their cover of The Nitty Gritty Band's, Fishin' In The Dark… ♪ ♫ "down by the river in the full moonlight…" ♫ ♪ See their interpretive dance video: Fishin' In The Dark. They were great fun!
When we got back to Opryland, we were given a new Travel Log stamp set (from the upcoming 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog), and were allowed to pick up our Leadership Bags early. The quilted fabric purses featured the Vintage Wallpaper pattern in Early Espresso and was accented with Early Espresso Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.
I love all of the extra little touches that Stampin' Up! adds to everything to make it so special. What a fantastic event! So memorable! Thanks, Stampin' Up!
Wait until I show you the Ultra Too Cool projects we did for Make & Takes this year! You will definitely want to make them! Stay tuned for more highlights…!
Angie
That is a pretty cute purse! It looks like your meeting was at a really fun venue.