this year it was no different. we weren't in a hotel like last year; we tried something new. we were in air bnbs, and vrbos. i'm pretty sure each house had its own pros and cons. we were in an ideal location, near everything. i got in a little late (non-stop flights only go out twice a day from tpa)...so brian was good enough to pick me up from the airport, and take me to the condo. once we got there, it was a little adventure finding the unit, but we did! it was great to see julie k and lori h when i arrived so we sat around for a bit before hitting the hay.
love that there is a starbucks around the corner from the office, so we went each morning-great way to start the day! day one was a happy birthday theme, and fortunately no one came in their birthday suit- we had a birthday fairy and several festive hats...day two we did super heroes and on the last day we did memes or t-shirts that characterized us. we worked on math content and did some product knowledge, as well as sharing some tdl lesson-fun. we had a great time working together and playing!
our evenings were busy as well-we were entertained at the home of one of our higher-ups in the company- i personally loved the burgers! the layout of her house is perfect for entertaining, and everyone pretty much gathered in the indoor/outdoor patio area around the pool. that was the first night we were all together, and we had our white elephant gift-there were some good ones! from practical tool plunger to amazing 8-ball, we had fun with it.
the second night we were at our boss' home, which has become tradition, and we hung out in the backyard-sitting around in the pools, on the patio, and i will say that the food truck was pretty fabulous! i'm so glad michele was up for splitting portions so that we could experience a couple items! it was a great evening.
i brought a 'friendship ball' with me because we'd been discussing EQ (emotional IQ) over the past few months in preparation for the summer conference. i've loved the concept of the friendship ball since i first saw one when i was down near the river market in kc back in the early 90s. i've purchased a few over the years and tried to start them in circles of friends, but they never got very far. sad day. so i decided this might be the perfect chance, and i introduced it that night and the concept and purpose behind it, offering to start it and send it to a colleague who had to leave early. the kicker was that when we got back to the house we were staying at, i couldn't find it anywhere! i couldn't remember if i'd sat it down in the house while gathering my things, or what. looked all over the suv, and didn't find it anywhere...looked again the next day-no dice. so i just decided that i'd purchase another (fortunately i remembered the name of the website where i'd gotten it!)
thursday we finished out the conference and everyone headed out a little after noon. i was set to take off on the 4 pm flight through nashville, but unfortunately things were delayed with a huge storm system moving through the semi-east portion of the u.s. and my flight was too close for comfort, so i got it switched to the 8:30 nonstop. grr. i hate getting back so late...but at least i made it back the same day.
that wraps up summercon18 we managed to finish a lot of work and have a lot of fun, but i think the most important thing about these get togethers is always just having conversations, touching base with everyone and just building on relationships. love my job and love working for such a great company-thanks, and happy 20th birthday, istation!
good day-
julie
p.s. i just got a text the other day from amanda-it was the friendship ball she found buried deep under one of the removable seats in the car! so we may just have to figure out how to integrate that one into the mix without things getting too confusing- or i'll just hold onto the extra for another day.
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