The Stampin' Grounds

Some Pics..

Thought I'd share some pics with you of this week - I'm going to bed soon, as I have to get up for an early flight, but I wanted to share a few highlights first!

Our first official day - our Colourful Impressions group got a pic with Shelli...  can you find her?

 

Aftewards, I got her to sign the back of my Founders Circle bag - my first signature I've ever asked anyone for - once you see it, you'll know why - she has the prettiest signature of anyone I've met, and it just seems to belong on that purse!

 

I know - I'm a dork.  That's ok, I like it! :) 

And then a few pics of Awards Night:

Here's Angela getting her 1st Place Rising Star Award - the pics say it all. :)

  Yes, I know -I'm terribly proud.  My entire team makes me incredibly proud, and it's nice to see them be rewarded for it - I think we all share in each other's accomplishments, and this is a big one! 

Ok, then it was my turn - I'll put it in the next post for you, so you don't have to load so many pics all at once. :) 

Cruisin' to the Caribbean!

THANK YOU EVERYONE! 

Thanks to your loyal and AWESOME patronage, I am proud to be able to say I EARNED THE CRUISE TO THE CARIBBEAN!  WOO HOO!!!

Can you tell I'm excited??!  I have reason to be - if you don't know what this is all about, Stampin' Up! has an incentive program where you can earn a cruise/incentive trip each year, based on how much you help people who sign up to be demonstrators with you and how much you sell.  About 30-50 people go from Canada each year, and in my first year as a demo, I was lucky enough to earn the trip to Hawaii (the one I just came back from)!  Once you go on one of these, you just HAVE to earn it again - they spoil you absolutely rotten - I love it!!!

So, if you earn this cruise, they basically pamper you and your significant other with top-notch accomodations, your flights - EVERYTHING you need for the entire vacation!  This time it's a 9-day cruise to the Southern Caribbean, and we will go next spring.  I'm SO excited - we're going to take our kids this time, as the boat has an amazing kids' deck!

Anyway, I wouldn't be on this cruise if it wasn't for you, my so-loyal customers and my Sea to Sky Stampers group of demonstrators - thank you to you all!!!! 

Interested in learning more about the perks of being a demonstrator?  CLICK HERE!

Story from Hawaii

I neglected to tell you guys a story from Hawaii that you might like to hear.  Let me set the scene:

It's 6pm on Friday of Hawaii - we have all boarded the bus to go back to the airport to be whisked away to our various destinations.  Gentle Hawaiian music is playing in the background, and there is a quiet murmer as everyone shares their favourite stories from the week. 

I am shivering like a leaf with the first day of what was to become a terrible flu, and checking up on my fish on my phone (silly game that I play - ask me about it when you see me!).  As we approach the airport, suddenly Tom jets out of his seat, and asks for the 50 people on the bus's attention. . <what?!>  He says 'Hi everyone, my name is Tom Metzger, and this is my lovely wife, Kari Metzger, and what you don't know is that this is our 10 year anniversary, and in honour of that, I would like to sing a song to her in front of you all.  So, bear with me while I hope to find a good key here.. <he humms, and I stare at him blinking like an owl, still trying to catch up with the fact that he is about to sing in front of 50 people we don't know!...  >

And he starts singing 'Time After Time' to me - here are the lyrics:

What good are words I say to you? 
They can’t convey to you what’s in my heart
If you could hear instead
The things I’ve left unsaid:

Time after time
I tell myself that i’m
So lucky to be loving you

So lucky to be
The one you run to see
In the evening, when the day is through

I only know what I know
The passing years will show
You’ve kept my love so young, so new

And time after time
You’ll hear me say that i’m
So lucky to be loving you

**

Yep - and if you don't know this song, it is stunning - such a beautiful melody!  So, he sang it to me on that bus, to my face, and wished me happy anniversary at the end with a big kiss!

Now, knowing that Tom is a singer, you may think this is no big deal.  He sings all the time, I must get this all the time, right?  WRONG!  One of the big 'things' I have always said is that everyone else in his singing group have sung to their wives at their weddings, or other romantic locations, and Tom has never in our almost 15 years of being together, ever sang a song to me.  I have really worked this one over the years. :)  Well, I can't work it anymore!  He sang a beautiful song to me in front of strangers, and managed to hold it together without crying!

My hero. :)

Hawaii Wrap-Up

<sigh> So I'm home now from Hawaii, and I just feel so fortunate to be affiliated with this company.  You've heard me way it dozens of times, but it bears repeating - they are so ethical, caring, and just.  I really am lucky to be here.

Speaking of the company, I completely neglected to remind you that tomorrow is the LAST day of Sale-a-bration!  That's the last day to either order to get the free gifts, or to sign up as a demonstrator yourself with the discounted starter kit and free stampset!  If you have been meaning to sign up, and wanted to do so and earn a little extra cash on the side for you and your family while enjoying your hobby, or maybe you just want to enjoy your hobby for free by earning your products, this is the best time of year to join, but you have to do it by Tuesday!  Just click here to go to my website, and click on 'join now' and use my password of 'join me!' to get yourself set up!  I'd love to have you on my team!

Day 5 Hawaii

Day 5 - the last official day on the island.  We spent the morning on a snorkel catamaran trip.  The snorkeling we found to be not as good as the snorkeling we did on the Gold Coast of Australia, but the boat ride was AWESOME!  We saw humpback whales up close!  WOW!

  This was so cool - this is the male smacking the water to attract the female and her calf - they are getting ready to migrate north for the summer, and the strongest males get the females to go with them.  The baby was so cute - I only got a hint of him though. 

And then, the Luau!  This is the view from our window of them setting up.  It was awesome - there were demonstrations of Hawaiian crafts, dances, Hawaiian God figures, and more!  Not to mention the PHENOMINAL food!!  What an awesome way to wrap up the week!!   

As we entered, the young hawaiian dancers greeted us with beautiful nut lei's

 And of course, when we returned to our room, one final pillow gift - a lovely handmade necklace!

Day 4 Hawaii

Day 4 (Wednesday) - relaxation day!  We hung around the resort, took some pics of the awesome scenery, and relaxed..  ahhhhh..

  At the end of this day, yet another pillow gift awaited us - a Hawaiian wrap to be used at the Luau the next day.

Day 3 Hawaii (continued)

Ok!  Onwards with our trip. 

One interesting thing about the island is that they believe in letting things fall back to nature.  One clear example of this was a restaurant that apparently was in a poor location, and didn't do so well (great food, bad spot) - it closed down, and they are just letting it return to nature.  Kind of neat, and creepy at the same time!

Moving along on the tour, we also got to go into a real lava tube!  The island is riddled with them, and it is fascinating to be in one!  Notice the tropical rainforest foliage on the way in!

Next up on the tour, we got to see our first volcano - Kilauea Iki! As we were on the bus tour, we had to look from above, but there were people down there hiking on the old lava lake!  Now THAT'S a hike I want to take next time!! You can see the steam escaping from well below the lava bed..

The last time this one erupted was in 1959.. this was all a lake of molten lava with a fountain of lava 1900 feet high!  Yikes!

Here's a pic of the entire crater..  Makes Mt. St. Helens feel kind of tame in some ways, eh?

Moving on.. The big daddy - Kilauea!  Here's the big pic:

Now - here's where things got interesting - apparently this volcano has been a bit active lately.  We got a safety briefing on the way there, and then again when we got there, that if an earthquake were to happen, to run for the bus, and the bus would drive off immediately (as it would mean an impending eruption).  The gas that you see escaping in the picture is a mixture of steam and sulfur dioxide, which is fatal if inhaled.  They make sure that the wind is going the right direction, so it doesn't head back over your way instead.

Check this out - this all used to be another lava lake - wow!  They say that at night you can see the red glow of the lava from below the steam - I can almost see it in these pics! :)

When we got back to our hotel, we had the pleasure of joining a couple of Stampin' Up! execs and their wives for dinner - we had a fabulous time over a fabulous dinner, and got to know them quite well!  Such a great group of people run this company!

When we returned to our room, there was yet another pillow gift awaiting us - this time, a banana-leaf wrapped goodie-bag filled with treats from the island!  MMmmmmm

 

Day 3 Hawaii (belated)

I know - this is very belated!  We didn't have internet in our room, so I had to delay sending out my updates!  So, here they are, hope you enjoy!!! 

So, after my last post, what I didn't talk about was where we ate dinner last night!  We ate at the Japanese restaurant in the resort, and being from Vancouver, we kind of had high expectations of the food.  We did the teppenyaki table (where the chef cooks in front of you with sharp knives), and WOW - it was AWESOME!  The show was not necessarily the best we've seen, but the food was great, and we had a wonderful time.  Here's a pic of us there. This was definately a peak experience of the trip.

When we got back to our room, our first pillow gifts were on our bed!  Tom didn't know about the pillow gift tradition Stampin 'Up! has, and he was SO impressed!

We each got a bag/purse with Stampin' Up! logos on them.  SO awesome, and tasteful!  What a great way to come back to our room!

Being jetlagged (can you believe that we never made the time change?). we sacked out early (8/9pm?) and woke up ready for our day of touring the Volcanoes!

And so that brings me to Day 3 - our Volcano Tour Day!  We boarded our bus at 6:45am (uck!), and trust me - you're going to have to come see the scrapbook I am working on to get the full idea here! The scenery on the tour was AMAZING, and we saw some incredible things!  Here are some highlites:

Sea turtle at the black sand beach.. right next to us! Very sleepy though...

Tom had to get a pic with him..

 

Beautiful surf and lava (not hot) - stunning to watch!

Yes - I was there too - here's a pic of me in the lagoon around the back..

Oh wow - I'm cutting through so much good stuff here!  You definately have to see my scrapbook (and I have to finish it!!)  Ok - I'll continue the volcano tour in the next post..

Day 2 Hawaii

 We arrived at the Hilton Waikoloa, after being ‘laid’ at the airport, and taking a coach-bus to the  hotel. 

We just had enough time to look at our beautiful room (pictured here, and the view next!) , and then jet off to the welcome reception from Stampin’ Up! , which was set around the gorgeous pool and sunset.   Yummy food, and lots of catching up with old friends, and then Tom and I hit the sack early after watching TV for the first time in a LONG time! 

The next morning we woke up to a lovely breakfast provided by Stampin’ Up! by the pool - check out the morning view over breakfast!

We then went to a general session where they welcomed us and sneak peeked some upcoming new product in the summer catalog… OH WOW – you SERIOUSLY are going to LOVE this!  And if you  don’t already have a bigshot, holy smokes, you’re gonna after this!  Sadly I can’t share any of it with you yet, but trust me – CUTE!

Then Tom and I walked around the resort a bit, had lunch at a little place overlooking the dolphin pool (and people having ‘encounters’ with them!), and then trotted back to our room for a nap and  a good book. 

Had to show you one of the Koi ponds - amazing how BIG they are, and they let you pet them too!!  They are seriously like little puppies, not fish!

As always with Stampin’ Up!, we’re being  spoiled rotten, and we are lovin’ it!  More coming soon!!

We're In Hawaii!!

We’re in Hawaii!

Today was travelling day.  As in, at 3am, our alarm went off, and of course since we stayed up until midnight doing last minute things, we stared at it in misunderstanding while it got louder and louder…. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why the clock was beeping at me!  (usually it’s the kids that wake us up!) ☺

I then cheerily bounced out of bed (LOL – you’re not buying that one are you?!)  Ok, maybe I kind of slithered out of bed, with my eyes closed, feeling for the door, so they wouldn’t have to open before the VERY last second possible. ☺  Tom is not a morning person… let’s just leave it at that, shall we? ;)

Ok, so after arriving at the Vancouver Airport for the millionth time (we fly a lot), am I a dork for noticing that the lightbulbs are actually sponge daubers?  Or, and I SUPER cool that I would notice that, and you all look up to me because I’m like an artiist, only instead of seeing art in everything around me, I see art supplies???  Hmm… your silence is saying volumes, but I think I’m going to go with the latter explanation. ☺

Sooooo…. After a wonderful flight that we slept through (no wonder!) to San Fran, we had a 30 minute connection to our next flight to Maui, and then a 4 hour layover before our flight to Kona.  I bet you can guess what we decided to do, eh?!  YEP!  We grabbed a local taxi guy, hopped in his cab, and told us to take us somewhere AWESOME for lunch and beach! 

He was awesome – I LOVE chatty locals!  We got lots of insider knowledge about the politics of the island, culture and more, and then Tom and I were delivered to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that is a locals’ favourite, with instructions to have the fish tacos and beer – what a way to start our vacation in Hawaii!

 

He arranged to pick us up in a few hours, so after lunch, we headed off to the beach for a lovely, relaxing hour laughing at the tourists who were having issues in the surf. ☺  (we’ll be the ones being laughed at tomorrow!) 

With our shoes and socks off, our jeans rolled up and our carry-ons as pillows, we nearly fell asleep on that relaxing beach under a tree in the partial shade, the temperature perfect, and the waves crashing in the background, accompanied by a local band in the distance.  Heaven. 

Now we are sitting back in the airport, waiting for our final flight to Kona, and eager to plant ourselves somewhere for a week!  ☺  MORE SOON!!