Northwest Stamper

Tag: san diego getaway

  • San Diego Getaway Incentive Trip–Heading Home

    Hi again, friends!  I’ve been having so much fun in San Diego that I completely missed getting a blog post together last night… but now that I have 2 hours at my gate here at the San Diego airport, I thought I would take a few minutes and share a little bit more before I SanDiegoBlogBadge-whitehead home and back to work and the real world. Smile 

    So, a quick recap for those of you who have no idea what this trip is about, each year Stampin’ Up offers incentive trips for demonstrators to earn based on a combination of sales and team promotions for the year.  This year, there were about 150 of us in San Diego and met some awesome demos from across the US and Canada.  And I was especially inspired by the woman I met who was there for her first time and has only been a demonstrator for 2 years!  Awesome!

    So, these were the amazing ladies who planned the whole trip and made our stay extra fabulous!  Thanks, Angie, Laura, & Kellie!

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    They even got us treats on Saturday!

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    This was a great vacation for me and my husband and we made sure to take full advantage of it by taking the Stampin’ Up! trolley to Old Town San Diego

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    Catching a movie (ahhh, the luxuries when you don’t have your toddlers with you!), a fabulous fondue dinner at the Melting Pot, visiting the San Diego Zoo

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    and visiting some great gardens and museums (loved the Museum of Man) in Balboa Park.

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    (Mayan sculpture in the Museum of Man)

    There wasn’t any stamping at this event, but what would a Stampin’ Up! event be without something stamping related. Smile  So, on our last night, we came back to our hotel room to another generous Pillow Gift.

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    Scott laughed at me when I squealed with excitement when I opened it up and it was FILLED with stamping supplies!

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    That is the I Am Me designer paper (LOVE!), the We are Here stamp set, Hexagon Punch, 3 colors of ink, Designer Buttons, and Epic Day washi tape!  Ahhh!  I’m getting excited just looking at the picture again. Smile  I cannot wait to get home and start playing with these!

    So, all in all, it was a great getaway experience, I loved meeting and chatting with other demonstrators and their spouses, and now I hope to take this enthusiasm and turn it back into my classes and stamping projects to share!  And hopefully I will have more downline and stamping friends join me on the trip next year to Washington DC or even the grand vacation to Hawaii! 

    Want to join me next year?  Send me a message to jennifer@nwstamper.com and we’ll talk about how to get you there!

    You can do it!

    And I know this blog post is getting super long, so I thought I would share what I’m going to be posting about tomorrow (getting back to the crafty stuff). 

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    It’s the cute Christmas star!  This is a new single stamp from the Holiday Single Stamp offerings and I’m going to show you a few different ways you can use this unique stamp! 

    So be sure to stop by tomorrow and check it out.

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  • Saying Hello From Sunny San Diego!

    Yesterday was full of excitement as I gathered my things and headed to San Diego with the hubby for the weekend Getaway incentive trip from Stampin’ Up!   This was my first year to have earned an incentive trip and so I had no idea what I was in for and regardless was just excited and grateful to be given the opportunity to go.

    So, for today’s post, I didn’t get my rear in gear to have a crafting project ready to go for you, and instead I thought I’d share some of my excitement of my first day in San Diego!
    (though if you are looking for crafting ideas, check out my pop-up swallowtail tutorial or yesterday’s paper piercing samples.)

    The morning started with a flurry of activity for me.  Not just the normal last minute packing job and getting the kids ready to go to Grandma’s house…. but Stampin’ Up! decide that that would also be the perfect morning to update the clearance rack!  With cardstock, Big Shot dies, and ribbon added at 60% off, you know I had to take a minute to shop!

    Talk about crazy, I finished placing a clearance rack order at the airport, just as they were doing the final boarding call!  Needless to say, my husband thought I was crazy!

    We flew to San Diego and were met at the airport and shuttled with some other arriving demonstrators to our hotel in downtown.

    Outside of the US Grant

    Now, I knew that this was a trip where Stampin’ Up! was trying to make us feel special, but for some reason I didn’t look at the hotel ahead of time and I was expecting a nice hotel like a Marriott or something…. but it was even nicer and more amazing than I imagined!

    This was the side lobby we entered through and our own SU Hospitality Desk:

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    And our snazzy hotel room!

    US Grant hotel room SU getaway trip

    There were no organized plans, so Scott and I relaxed for a bit and then met up with my Aunt and Uncle for dinner and a cool hole-in-the wall Italian restaurant in the suburbs.  My Aunt and Uncle had been going there for almost 30 years and my cousin had grown up eating there and eventually working there.  So it was cool to see; especially once we learned when we where there that they were closing down in a few days.  So, bittersweet night for sure.

    Then once we were back in downtown, we walked to Little Italy (a neighborhood nearby) and stopped at a coffee and gelato place my uncle recommended.  It was called Pappalecco, and if you are ever in downtown San Diego go try their gelato!  It was amazing; I had the lemon and strawberry flavors.  I tried Scott’s Nutella flavor and discovered that was definitely the way to go next time!

    Finally, we made it back to our hotel room only to discover that during turndown service, we received a pillow gift as well!  What a fun way to end the day!

    I unwrapped the gift and it was this pretty painted pitcher that matched the themed items from the trip.  I’m thinking I’m going to take it home and make some flowers to put in it, so I can use it as decoration and a reminder of this fun trip.

    Tomorrow there is a trolley to Old Town and I’ll hopefully be spending some time relaxing at the hotel as well. Smile

    Thanks for listening to me share my excitement about this trip!  I feel so incredibly lucky and blessed to be here and just had to share.

    I’ll try to pull together a crafty blog post for this weekend, but in the meantime, have a fabulous Friday!

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