CONVENTION 2009

Hello and I am sorry. Technology cannot be trusted and the last two posts were not supossed to be there for the whole weekend. But that's where they ended up( I will explain later) and I want to thank you for your funny comments. I want to also warn you that this post will be very long and very photo heavy, make yourself comfy and ask a loved one to make you a nice cuppa. You will thank me as you read on but make sure you won't be spilling it over the screen when you come to read a particular piece about my unbelievable experience at Convention.
I have returned form our very first European StampinUp! Convention in Frankfurt and WOW!! What a weekend! I cried and laughed and hugged and cheered and talked until I lost my voice and I loved meeting so many happy and wonderful people that share their excitement about this wonderful company. I met german demos and french demos and they were all wonderful, we were made very welcome by our german hosts, I met the Monacco trip achievers and I am wishing my life away untill June when we can meet again. The highlight however was the Awards night. It was truly amazing and I was honoured and humbled to have been awarded **Demonstartor of the Year* for the whole of the UK.

This is of course a wonderful achievement and it was the result of a lot of hard work over this last year but I loved every minute of it so thank YOU my loyal customers and my wonderful team members for choosing me as your demonstrator and your team leader, I will work double hard this next year to continue to inspire, lead you and serve you . As nice as taking the top spot was I have to tell you that I was even more excited to cheer my wonderful team, there were 6 of us making top 25!!!!
We had Linda Lloyd ranking at number 9, Rebecca Prideaux number 16, Sally Hodder was number 18 and the lovely Tricia Ablett number 20. Just amazing I was beaming with pride that night I can tell you. And what could have topped me getting first place? One of my Passionettes coming second!! and lo and behold my wonderful Yorkshire lass Jules did just that, you should have hear the cheers in the room she is so loved by everyone, a real sweetheart. The next photo of us together on stage shows just how happy I was for her ( thank you JO for your wonderful pictures), click on the pictures to see them bigger.

Here are the top 3 recruiters, Jules came first ( she had such a great year and she worked really hard, I love this girl to bits), I came second and Amanda Fowler took third place( Amanda looked beautiful in her lovely dress and she had this amazing pair of red sparkly shoes, gorgeous!!). All Julie could say on the stage was I can't believe it!!! and then later on I feel like Miss World!! LOL well she definitely looked gorgeous and her beautiful smile showed how happy and excited she was, and I was grateful she was there with me. The top 3 sales spots were taken as follow

The wonderful and ever so talented Jenni Moors came first, I came second and my Julie came third( I was on cloud nine by this point).

Here s the picture of all the European top sales achievers ( the ones that attended Convention of course, I think there are a few missing)

Next we had leadership
Leadership is awarded based on promotions within your team. I ranked 1st, Caroline Counsell came second and Amanda Fowler came 3rd. I was doing a few bearthing excersises at this point hence the wierd photo LOL>

It did all get a bit too much at one point, and yes my mascara ended up all over.

And then they announced their top 3 Demonstrators of the Year.

And here we are the 3 of us. Myself first, Julie second and Amanda third, along with the most wonderful woman that created the opportunity for us to be part of this amazing company, Shelli Gardner co-founder and CEO of Stampin'Up! She is so elegant and the most beautiful woman I have ever met. Her smile touches your heart. We shared a few quick and funny stories as I was running towards the stage each time my name was shouted, not because I couldn't wait to get there but because that was the only way for me to make it safe and in one piece. I was wearing a pair of very high heels and the floor was extremely slippery. She said that I was cute and that I would end up exhausted by the end of the night. Sterling (Shelli's husband) also made a sweet comment and he said that I should stop up there with him to save me doing all that running about. I know this post will bore some of you as is all be about myself and my wonderful team's achievements but please know that I didn't put it on here to boast but to share it with all of you that supported me and to show those that are thinking of becoming demonstrators that it can be done. You can achieve great things running your own business and I am living proof of it. When I joined nearly two years ago I couldn't believe that I would be able to sell £250 worth of goodies and was convinced that I would be my only customer, well I proved myself so wrong. If you are reading this and you are thinking of becoming a Stampin'Up! demonstrator send me an email at telemech01@aol.com, I would love to have a word and welcome you to the most successful team in the UK, take the plunge and become a Passionette!!! you have nothing to loose only a lot to gain, what s even more exciting the starter kit is on special offer right now( you get £240 worth of goodies for only £125 until the 13th of this month and you could recoup your investment in just a few workshops.)

Now before I leave I have a very funny story to share with you. You probably noticed my beautiful outfit (well I thought it was), here I am with the gorgeous Zoe my roomie. She had an amazing night herself, she found out she ranked at number 22 a lovely surprise, and I was so happy to be able to share it with her.

My outfit, I felt really good wearing it, it was comfortable but still I thought it looked elegant, the top was from Coast, my silk trousers were Armani (got to love designer outlets) and my beautiful shoes were from LK Benett. Well we got ready on the night, then made our way downstairs for the awards dinner. We got a table we sat down and started talking and enjoying the evening. About 10 minutes in I could feel myself getting quite hot, you need to know that I survived the whole week prior to Convention on very little sleep as well as the night before I didn't get to bed till 4am, mix that with excitement and nerves and you've got it. I could feel my arm pits getting wet, my beautiful burnt orange tafetta jacket didn't stick a chance at hiding the evidence and when I asked the girls who sat opposite me they confirmed my fears, I was sporting two lovely wet patches, yukk. So I knew something had to be done and before desert was served I sneaked upstairs to sort myself out. My wonderful roomie Zoe offered to help me and I was so grateful. You need to picture myself with my arms up in the air and Zoe using the hairdryer to dry the patches, it was amazing just how quick that happened and in less than 30 seconds I was dry and with no sign that anything ever happen. However, I knew I needed something more than that if I wanted to secure a worry free night. In a desperate attempt we searched for something that I could use to absorb the extra moisture but we weren't having any luck. You see we were missing some kind of sticky tape. I mentioned the word plaster and Zoe said I am a doctor's wife after all, let me see if I can find something in my bag. She disappeared back in the room only to return and say

**I couldn't find any plasters but I have found this...........holding up in the air for me to catch a good glimpse of  was...... a SANITARY TOWEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I looked at it in disbelief but very quickly realised that this was my only viable option at the time so we got a pair of SU snips (we had the bloomin snips but no glue can you believe it?), cut the wings off, chopped the pad in half and secured it to my pits. I am so pleased to report that they worked just fine and I felt confident the whole night hugging Shelli and the other achievers, no one suspected a thing but can you just imagine if one would have dropped off.......while I took to the stage.

Big hugs and lots of love Monica xxxx