Close To My Heart Convention 2014 - Arrival and Day 1

Theme of the convention

Well, another convention is in the books and I think it may have been the best ever!

It was held at Disneyland and since we were already in California, I wouldn't have to fly.  YAY!  I really loved to fly in the past, but the past few years, it has become more of a hassle.  Anyway, our plan was to be camped north of Los Angeles at the Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails in Acton.  Glenn would then drop me off at Disneyland on Wednesday and pick me up on Sunday.  Great plan, right?
Well, when we arrived at our last campground, our curbside bedroom slide would not extend.  We took it to a local RV repair shop and waited for them to find the part.  Toward the end of our planned stay, it looked like the part would be hard to find.  Glenn talked to Monaco, found a part number, the called the dealership we bought the motorhome from.  They are in Fresno, so it wasn't really out of the way.  Up to 2 weeks for the part to ship, so we extended another week at San Benito TT.  We moved on to Fresno after that.  The dealer had a place for us to park, with water and 50 amp electric hook ups.  We would have to use their dump station, but we weren't going to be there that long.  After a few days, it was apparent that we would not make it down to Acton in time for my convention.  Now what?  I could drive myself but Glenn would not have any transportation while I was gone.  Rent a car?  Kind of defeats the savings of not having to fly.  I put out a call for help on our company's bulletin board.  2 kind consultants offered me a ride!

Gwen and her mom picked me up on Wednesday morning and it was a fun ride down.  Gwen has been with Close To My Heart for 22 years and she even worked for a circus for a time!  Needless to say, we had enough conversation for the trip down!

Disneyland Hotel

I had been texting my room mate, Cheryl, to keep her informed as to my arrival time.  She was there waiting for me at the drop off point at the Disneyland Hotel.  We got my bags stowed (our room wasn't ready yet), got my registration done, and went to have lunch.  She was starving!  There was a little restaurant by the pool area and I had a delicious Kahlua Pulled Pork Flatbread.  We then met up with another friend, Laura, by the pool and chatted until our room was ready.

We hit the jackpot!  Great view of the pool, large room and even a couch!  Figures, since there was only 2 of us.  Normally I room with 3 others to help with expenses, but decided to treat myself to my own bed this year.

This wall has lights and plays "When You Wish Upon A Star"

 

View from our room

Unpacking done, I got ready for my team meeting.  I'm a second generation Scattered Hearts, 1st generation Scrappin' Sisterhood.  Tina Sutton is the head of the Scattered Hearts and a Presidential Director.  She has over 1000 in her entire downline!  She always puts on a great team meeting with projects, awards, gifts and other goodies.  My director, Chris Szechowski, gave us all our choice of 6 trading pins to use at Disneyland.  I'm saving those for the grandkids we'll see soon at Disneyland.
The meeting lasted until 10pm and my room mate was already sound asleep when I returned.

Scattered Hearts Team Meeting

Thursday morning, the real excitement begins!  General Session is where our fearless V.P.'s reveal the new products and programs for the next catalog cycle. 

VP's Brian, Kristine and Monica during product reveal

They always put on a cute "skit", this year it was done like "The Amazing Race".  Always good for a laugh or two!  At the end of general session, as we broke to lunch, we were given our convention bag and the new catalog!  Love, love, love the bag this year!  Lunch on that first day is always spent with our noses buried in the new catalog!  We also received the supplies and new products to create projects throughout the convention.

Convention bag - it's a backpack, too!

Don't you love the color of the interior?

After lunch break, half of us attended a business class and half a creative class.  In between, CTMH provided a snack buffet.  Yummy!

During the business class, VP Kristine Widtfeldt reviewed the thinking behind the product line and the target groups for each one.  Very interesting and Kristine always makes it fun!

In our creative session, we created cards using cuts from the NEW Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge.  I'm so excited to try this cartridge out, but it is not available until sometime in July. :(    Like our other Cricut Collections, this one will be $99 and comes with a full pack of 12"x12" White Daisy Cardstock (great for card bases) and 3 D size stamp sets ( a font, a frame, and a sentiment).  This cartridge has 25 card themes and 5 formats plus a font for a total of 700 images!  Here are the cards we made.

We also made a cute mini album with Picture My Life cards created just for convention.  Quick, easy and it showed us how to use these cards for a different purpose.

Are you tired yet?  As you can see, we pack a lot into each day at convention.  I've only brought you up to 4:30pm on the first day!

Dinner was on our own.  I walked into Downtown Disney trying to decide what I wanted to eat.  I ended up eating jambalaya and crashing a table with some friends I found there.

After dinner, we had the opportunity to peruse the Consultant Creativity Showcase.  It's amazing the talent in this company!  Makes me wonder why I try!  LOL  Here are some samples.

Hard to believe this is made of paper!