Canberra, Part 2

And now for the actual event.....we started Friday morning VERY EARLY!!!! Here we are, in the last few minutes before 7am (that's what time we opened check-in and Memento Mall). L to R: Derek, Angie, Cindy & Amanda--the check-in crew.

In this next photo, you can see behind me there was a soda machine so I got my morning beverage for no less than 3 DOLLARS!!! That's right friends, a $3 can of soda (actually about $2 US). A 12 pack runs around $4....which makes it about $.33 for a can normally. Emma said $3 was cheap and she was right because a little later I found small bottles in the mall for $3.50.....anyway moving on....

Friday was filled with tons of fun activities--Main stage presentations....

...break-out classes (I taught Wise Investment w/a fabulous demo--Alison Charlton--who I somehow managed to NOT get one picture of!! DUH!), and we ended the day w/Manager's Reception.... Emma, me, Amanda...
Then Emma and I hit the shops---we had 1.5 hours until they closed--and that was only b/c it was the late night for shops (open til 9). Seriously--shops all close at like 5 or 6 on normal days. In 1.5 hours, I found 2 skirts, 2 pair of shoes, a fabulous pearl bracelet to wear to Lindsey's wedding, and a new pair of sunglasses. Plus we ran into the Western Australia ladies shopping too.....Skip, Ngaire, Me, Cherita & Jo....
Once the shops closed, we rendezvoused at Koko Black for some extremely delish hot cocoa (Amy Ealy, me & Emma)...

The other side of the table: Jeanette & Clare who are two of our contact center agents in Sydney. They all arrived Friday night and it was so great to finally meet them too!

And the end of the table: Hollie (facilitator in AUS) & Angie.

Saturday was equally awesome....we started w/breakout classes--this time my class was Demonstrator Theatre where I taught w/Makeesha Bye and Marelle Taylor--again no pictures. Booooooo! Then during the general session the Workshop Wow demonstrators presented--I got to work with them to help them prepare and so while we were setting up, we snapped this picture....Nicki Tidbold, Ngaire Anderson, Michelle Habib, moi & Shelli....

Of course I am not the tallest person in the world, but it's pretty rare that I am the shortest one in the picture! And I don't think anyone had heels on....

After general session, we cleaned up, packed up, then had a quick change in the bathroom. It was a frenzy of hairspray, glitter & of course flashes (from cameras of course).....
I did manage to obtain a picture w/Makeesha at the awards dinner....

It's tough to say what my favorite part of Convention is--but the actual awards ceremony definitely ranks towards the top. Just seeing the amazing accomplishments from the past year of all different demos makes me a bit emotional! This year I got to hand out some of the prizes---here's me and Amanda where we greeted demos as they came off stage and congratulated them with prizes....

That night, I finally fell into bed around 2:30am....to be awakened by my alarm @ 5!!! I was in the lobby by 5:30 and we were @ the airport by 6. They even put us on an early flight to Sydney because our 8am flight was going to be delayed....so we sat on the early flight....and watched the 8am flight leave us behind. That's right--delayed already! So it was back to the airport where we snapped this photo: Back to Front and L to R: Jason Gerber, Dave Baugh, Derek, Jason Hatton, Cindy, Pam, Jill, Amy, Deb (a demo from Melbourne), Shelli, me & Emma...

I finally got home around 5pm on Sunday--so the delays weren't too bad. But my luggage didn't show up til 4:45am on Tuesday morning (yes, they did call and wake me up). But at least it arrived!!!

And now to complete the story....Monday I went to lunch w/Hill & her two youngest--to one of my favorite spots--Einstein's Bagels--where I got 32 ounces of complete deliciousness for a mere $1.79!!!

And p.s. pretty much all soda in Utah is refillable--so it's really all-you-can-drink....but I can walk out w/32 oz. in hand! And that's why $3 cans shock me. :)

And here are 2 more awesome things that I got to experience at Einstein's....

Is that an amazing welcome home gift, or what????