The Stampin' Grounds

Canyoneering at Founders Circle (part 2)

So, up we went up the nearest little 'mountain', warming up for our potential bad-guy smack down.  You can imagine our extreme disappointment when we reached the road into the slot canyon, and there was the sign 'road closed'.  <sigh>  We were turned away and this time informed that due to union regulations, we were being surplussed in favour of 'real cops'.  <humph!>  So much for the excitement of both a slot-canyon AND bad guy chasing!  Or so we thought....

Since our guides had planned a special day for us and it was thwarted, they quickly scrambled and planned us a NEW adventure for the day, bigger, better and harder than the one planned!

So, off we went with Feo to first have the most incredible gourmet lunch ever, prepared by him!  Not a bad day so far - a short hike, and then a gourmet lunch - and even my vegetarian lunch was the best ever - YUMM!

Our guides then took us to our next destination, where they taught us to rappel down a boulder, and then a cliff.  The only rappelling I had ever done before this was in university, when I used to rock-wall climb, and I have to say that it's not the same thing at all!  Yep, I was scared, but I did it!  Here are some pics from the experience:

Here we are, getting the crash course in rappelling...

Here I am going over the boulder first (my first rappel) - note the ease and look of confidence... You should have seen me once I had actually gone over the boulder!  LOL (not so confident!)

And me on the 'Real Rappel' - and believe it or not, I actually was pretty confident by this point!  Once I got over the edge, it was actually kind of fun! 

My friend Lynsay Mahon going down the 'big rock' - check out the height - cool, eh?!  That's one of our guides at the bottom in red!  (the speck roughly below her bum)

Here's the view from the bottom up:

When we got to the bottom, we landed in this beautiful kind of sheltered area - SO gorgeous down there!

After we all got down from the 'big ol' rock', we found out that our next adventure was to zip-line across a 600 foot canyon - WOW!  I didn't get any shots of the canyon itself, but here's a shot at least of me going across!  WHEE!!

At the end we had a scramble and quick climb (roped in) to the top of the cliff, and then a short walk back to the car.  The entire day was about 9 hours of adventure, and while I was scared a lot of the time, I am SO glad I did it, and if I ever have the chance to do it again, I would do it in a heartbeat. 

Probably the coolest part about the experience was that I got to hang out with 9 friends from Founders Circle, and we got to share this adventure together.  Founders Circle gives you the time to really get to know each other in off-site events, if you choose - what a gift!  What a chance of a lifetime!  I am so blessed.

In closing (for this part of the trip), I want to thank Paragon Adventures, our guides, for their amazing guidance, support and teaching on this trip - if you are EVER anywhere NEAR St. George (as in Vegas, or some other city), you HAVE to contact them - you won't regret it - honestly the best adventure company I have ever seen, and you know you are in safe hands.  They are so good, I am considering dragging Tom down with me for a vacation canyoneering there sometime!  Click on the pic below to get to their site!

More on the Official Events of Founders Circle soon!

Stampers 10 On a Mission... (Founders Circle Day 2 Report)

So, Thursday morning, bright and early, I woke up and boarded a white van with 9 of my Stampin' friends.  What you don't know is that this group of unlikely-looking stampers are actually a highly sophisticated, terribly dangerous group of FBI/CIA agents called....

'The Stampers 10'.. 

When things get rough out there, they often call on us to 'stamp out' the trouble, using our brains, beauty and brawn.  We never know when we'll get a call, and Thursday was no different. 

Suspecting nothing, we all gathered aboard the transportation vehicle, driven by Fio, our brave, fearless driver and mission controller (as we later discovered).  While we suspected nothing, I suppose we all knew something was up, as our leader, Kim Peck, had arranged our activity for the day to be 'rappelling into a slot canyon' and 'canyoneering' throughout pools of water as we made our way back to the vehicle.  Hmm... a strange activity for sure for 10 seasoned stampers, as only two of us had ever rappelled before (on completely separate missions). 

Believing this to be a training exercise, we headed out for the so-called 'adventure'.   Upon arriving at the location of the slot canyon, we were stopped by an unmarked vehicle containing police/FBI agents, who were watching a circling helicopter - we knew this did not bode well.  We were told that 6 armed and dangerous men from the Mexican Mafia were loose in the mountains, as they were running a marijuana farm in the hills.  There were 80 police, FBI and DEA agents already covering the hills, trying to catch them before they escaped back to Mexico.

Wondering what our role was to be, they told us that we were their 'secret weapon', and that they were going to use us when and if things 'went wrong'.   You see, our fee of stampets, embellishments, Bigshots and paper on missions is often confusing to them - our last mission resulted in many hours of back and forth with their accounts payable dept. that bashful blue cardstock is NOT the same as brilliant blue, and they needed to replace it tout de suite!  As a result, they try to only use us if absolutely necessary. 

We decided to 'warm up' while waiting for them to sort out 'the bad guys', by taking a hike up a nearby mountain to scope out the situation and check out the local views.. little did we know what adventure would follow from there!......

Founders Circle 2009

So, if you haven't heard, this week is my awesome week of FOUNDERS CIRCLE!  WOO HOO!  I'd normally be posting up a storm, but the internet service here is really spotty, and my camera has gone missing <!>.  But, I've managed a connection now, so I'm going to borrow some pics from Ange's blog (#1 Rising Star this year, and one of my first level downline!  I'm only SLIGHTLY proud as you can see!)  Here's a pic of her in front of her door - we each get a room to ourselves with our names on the door - so cute!

In the meantime, I thought I would at least update you a bit on the trip so far.  I arrived on Wednesday morning after pulling an all-nighter the night before (I had to leave for the airport at 4am) and spent the entire afternoon getting the longest, best massage of my life.. ahhhhhhhhh.....  I rarely get massages, so it is a real treat to have gotten one here - one that my Sweetie, Tom, insisted upon!  THANKS TOM!! :)

That evening Stampin' Up! put on a fantastic soiree for us - a dinner with stunning table linens, turkey dinner and beautiful cards from her too.  It was so beautiful! 

Shelli welcomed us all, and we spent the evening reconnecting with each other. 

I bagged out early, as I had a big hike the next day scheduled, as a few of us were going to rappel into a slot canyon and hike our way out - so exciting!  So, off to bed I went, and when I arrived in my room, the first pillow gift was on my bed - a brand new stampset (can't show you it even, as it won't be out until the Spring Mini!) with new ribbons and a pack of in-colour markers too!  How thoughtful. :)

Now, the next installment in this series gets pretty dramatic.. check back for info about my day of canyoneering.. what was supposed to be a simple rappel into a slot canyon and then a hike turned into much, much more. 

It all started with the Mexican Mafia..........

Off to Convention I Go!

Day 1 Convention – Travel Day

 

Woo hoo!  I’m on the road!  So, Tom’s been gone for about a week and a half, and he got home Sunday evening.  That meant that last night (Monday) I was in the tough position of choosing between getting a good night’s sleep, and spending time with him. Before we knew it, it was 2:45am, and I had to get up at 5:45am for my flight!  After a very brief ‘night’ (2 ½ hours) of sleep, I blearily headed off to the shower, and got off to the airport. 

 

Making my way past the Sponge Dauber lights at YVR airport (LOVE flying international!  LOL – see my post about these from Hawaii trip here!)  It was a very smooth morning actually – made it through customs quickly (thank you Nexus!), and then hurried off to my terminal to sit quietly and wait, as San Francisico (my connecting city) was covered in fog and not accepting flights in.  No big deal – I had a 2 hour buffer (I always try to have a large buffer when flying through San Fran, as it is invariably fog ridden – ask me about our missed approach/landing several years ago – SCARY – now there’s a fun party story! 

 

Anyhoo – finally got to San Francisco 45 minutes late, and am ready to continue onto to Salt Lake City – 2 more hours of flying and I’m there! 

 

In the meantime, I thought I would share my other swap with you!  This one is made with one of the most popular sets in this catalog – the Medallion stamp!  LOVE IT!  I made 100 to swap with the lovely demonstrators I meet from all over North America.  Can’t wait to share with you what I get back!  Here are the ingredients I used for it: 

 

·      Medallion Stamp

·      Sanded Background Stamp

·      Dusty Durango Ink and Cardstock (with Sponge Dauber)

·      Crushed Curry Ink and Cardstock

·      Crushed Curry and Dusty Durango Polka Dot Ribbon (NEW!)

·      ½ Pearl from Pretties Kit

 

Look out for the tutorial on how to get this effect in my blog when I return next week!

 

I’m really excited about tomorrow morning – when I checked into Convention online before I left, there was THIS message on it:

 

 

I wonder what I’ve won?!  How exciting is that?! I'll be sure to tell you as soon as I know!!

 

Ok Ladies – I’m off to my flight now – when I arrive I’m jumping right into that shoebox swap I showed you before – SO fun!