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:

US Grant Lobby SU getaway trip

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!

spaced shop now sig bar


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