No way to describe it...

...you would have just had to have been there.

I previously promised I'd sit down and write about Usborne Books & More National Convention.  Well, I don't think that's really going to happen; not in the way I want anyway.  You'll just have to take my word for it... it was so much fun, and certainly motivating, challenging and genuinely well worth it!

For my own memory's sake, a quick rundown of how it went...

Thursday, June 21st
- Headed out with Holly at 1030am, drove for just under 5 hours to "Paradise."
- Arrived at hotel, received an awesome bag of goodies (ie New Titles!) and got settled in, met our roommates and suite mates, including my Team Leader Deb for the first time (and Carol, Julie, Christine and Nancy)!

- Had dinner with the Champion Texas Team (meaning us and the Walles) and Christine (who enjoyed trying to imitate our accent; she is from Massachusetts) at the Oriental Buffet, which left most of us... uncomfortable.
- I hit up the Bargain Book Store (spent $11) and the More Store for supplies. 
- Went to watch karaoke and dancing.  Took a while to heat up but once our CEO, Randall White, took the mic... watch out!

- I did not sleep well at all, as the three women in my room were snorers.  =/

Friday, June 22nd
- The morning started off with a bad news phone call at 5am... our Team Leader's father-in-law had passed away.  =(
- We had breakfast at Panera, a few blocks away.  This was my first time to eat there, funny enough.

- The Walles, Holly and I had a great time showing off our Texas Team shirts and wearing our cowboy hats.  Lol!

Yeehaw?

- General sessions kicked off intro of the Usborne Books & More staff and company info.
- Then we were handed over to Julie Anne Jones, who is absolutely phenomenal.  She enchanted us and completely schooled us in the ways of direct selling and home partying.
- Super quick boxed lunch and then right back into general session with more of Julie Anne Jones.

Peter Usborne

- Guest Speakers Peter Usborne, founder of Usborne Publishing, and Michelle Nelson-Schmidt, author and illustrator or Dogs! Dogs!, Cats! Cats! and the Jonathan James and the What If Monster.
- We were given our iPads!!!!  Oh man, so awesome!

- We had a little bit of a break, then got ready for our Champion Team Murder Mystery Dinner.  I went as Audrey Hepburn, y'all!  Wow.  It was an interesting experience... I had no idea what was going on, to be honest.  Haha!

- We went back to the Bargain Bookstore to spend our $50 in free books - it was a mad house!
- I certainly slept better because I was just so tired after the full day!

Saturday, June 23rd

- Woke up early and had breakfast at IHOP with some teammates.
- Jumped right into workshops!  I did "Get Connected, Not Frazzled," "Maximizing Your Booth Opportunities," and "Running Your Business to Make a Profit."
- Celebration Lunch, where we ate, learned more about the Mediterranean Cruise, heard guest speakers Kira Lynn, editor for Kane Miller, Rafiq Ahmed, founder of Demibooks, Inc., and Susanne Gervay, author of Butterflies and I Am Jack!

- Right back into workshops!  I did "Simple Systems for Making Reach for the Stars Fun!" and "Connect for Comfortable Recruiting."

- Then we got gussied up a bit and attended the Grand Awards Banquet and got to see how successful you can be with this business... such high sales numbers, so impressive!!

- That ran pretty late, and by this time, since the day had been so packed with very little slow down, a few of us, were a little bit... shall we say... delirious?  Lol.  Holly, Julie and I spent the rest of the night laughing hysterically.  We had to leave our room so we wouldn't keep our suite mates up, because we literally could not stop laughing at everything.  Around 3am we were down in one of the lobbies and lots of people were coming out of the karaoke and dancing.  Tom Dean, who, along with his wife, won nearly every single award that night stopped to chat with us.  He ended up hanging with us for a good, long while and giving us all kinds of advice and tips (we had stopped giggling uncontrollably by now, thank goodness!).  It was just so nice that at 3 am, he'd take the time to answer our questions and remember our names!  Anyway, I can't remember the last time I laughed and laughed like that... it was so nice and it just felt great to do it!  We got to bed around 330, I think.

Sunday, June 24th

- We got up and around, packed our stuff and said some sad goodbyes.  We only knew some of these people for a few days, but it was like leaving behind dear friends!  

- Holly and I drove over to the EDC Home Office and took a tour of the offices and warehouse.  It was really neat to see how things worked.  It is a modest place in a warehouse district, no fancy offices with a view or anything like that.  It really reminded me of Power FM studio/offices because it just felt like home.  It showed that all the effort and money went into making a great product and keeping consultants happy instead of having fancy stuff for the "higher-ups!"  Love that!
- We made the 5-hour drive back home, stopping in Atoka to have lunch with the rest of the "Texas Team."

So much more happened... lots of fun things to remember and look back on, but I just wanted to at least get down some of the experience so I could look back at it!  Hopefully I can steal some photos from my teammates to post soon, I didn't get that many!  I came away feeling much more equipped, much more motivated and assured of my business and with some friendships I didn't have before!

Oh, and my kids and husband survived without me!  Praise God!