The 3.5 Hour Palm Springs Airport Update

Well I don't really have anything else to do this morning, so I thought I'd hit Starbucks and come to the airport. It's so teeny and cute. Since it's open to the outside there are lots of birds in here. This one is bathing in the water fountain at my gate!! I know that I shouldn't have taken a picture of him in the bathtub, but I'm not sure birds really have a right to privacy, do they? :) They are public figures!

Okay - some questions I got asked yesterday that I will try to answer. The bulk buying program for demonstrators is kind of a test program - it got a great response from the crowd when they told us, so I think it will be a success. They will bulk package some items for us to purchase - for example, there is this super sassy new silver hodgepodge hardware kit that has these cute flower shaped ribbon sliders in it. They will take larger quantities of SOME items in this kit and let us buy them in bulk. Same with certain rub on images, and some chipboard or die cuts (we were talking about this last night and can't remember if it was chipboard, die cuts or both). We will all know soon. But it's a great idea because if you want to use the ribbon sliders in a camp, or rub ons, etc., you won't have to buy multiple sets of hardware to get X number of sliders to show to your customers. So it makes camp and workshop projects a lot more economical for us and lets customers try the fun new stuff before they buy it - always a good thing.

Question #2 - the new Occasions mini is available to demonstrators on Feb 1, and that's when we can pre-order EVERYTHING ;) in it. Customers can order from it on March 1st and it runs from March to June. You're really going to freak when you see this thing. No doubt the best one ever. Unbelievable.

Okay - so last night, for some reason which I began to question the second the ride started, we took a crazy scary tram ride 8500 feet up the San Jacinto mountain. OMG. What the heck was I thinking?? The whole tram rotated 360 degrees while we were ascending STRAIGHT UP the mountain, like two inches from these steep vertical faces. There were towers we had to pass over on the way and each time we did the tram would swing in a really terrifying way. Looking back down the mountain, you could see hundreds of miles, with the lights of beautiful Palm Springs and towns far far beyond spread out. It was beautiful, but we were shaking and in dire need of a beer when we got to the top. We walked a little ways down a winding icy sidewalk, me, of course, in open toed heels (Jane took a pic of my shoe while I was attmpting to climb up for a picture), and it was insanely, frost bitey cold. I'm pretty sure there was a bear trying to eat us. Quite possibly that blue bear from Denver. There were these beautiful tall sugar pines, giant boulders, and brave souls walking up from the bottom where they had been boogie boarding. We stopped when the path out-iced our footwear, but we did get some really fun pictures in the snow. I have some great ones of the hind ends of Melissa and Jane, scrambling up on a big rock for a pic, but unlike my little bathing birdie, they are NOT public figures, so I'll spare them. However, trust me - I'm hanging onto them for the day that I really need some cardstock!!

We were very nervous about the trip down. With good reason. The trip up the mountain - a slow and terrifying 18 minutes. The trip down WAS LIKE A FREAKING ZIP LINE!!! They just barreled our butts down in like 5 minutes, with everyone screaming roller coaster style when we went over the towers!! It was a very party atmosphere - they played music on the way down and it was just insane. You really are quite wobbly after you get off the tram car. Crazy fun. I'm really glad we went - I would say definitely do it if you're in Palm Springs, but it's not for the faint of heart. Jane had to bear hug me every time we went over a tower on the way back down. Thanks Jane! Love ya!

I'll see if inserting this video clip works. It's kind of long, but at the beginning right after you hear me say "hold me" you will hear everyone on the tram screaming as we go over the first tower. You will also hear crazy Jane saying "I LOVE IT" several times. You can hear a good scream at the end too. It's pitch black, but it's fun to listen to.

The CFO of Stampin' Up! is Scott Nielsen, who you may know as a pitcher for the Yankees back in the 80's! Like every other employee of SU! he is a warm and sweet man. Where do they get all these tall people? Maybe they look out at all of us and say - where did we get all these short people?

Hey - take a look at your Stampin' Up! paper trimmer. They told us something I didn't know. Between your blade and the edge of the clear ruler is exactly 3/4" inch! Cool - for people like me that like to do things fast (possibly because I've procrastinated, YES, so what??) this is great to know. Of course between the cutting blade and the left edge of the trimmer that is exactly 1" - that's one I use all the time and so I'm stoked about the 3/4" thing. If you're laughing at me because you already knew it, please stifle out of respect for the naked bird!!

I packed my notes or I'd put more stampin' details in, but tomorrow after I get a little sleep I'll catch up on cards and fun stuff. Leadership 09 is going to be in Orlando! Whoopee!!! (99% sure, Shelli said).

As I wrap this up, an Alaska airlines flight arrived, passengers debarked from the rear of the plane, came through the gate with three barking dogs just on leashes - what the heck?

More from home sweet home... :) Happy Sunday.