Beat the Blahs!

 

I was feeling in a bit of a funk lately.  It's true.  I'm not always rah rah go go about being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  Sometimes I feel a little blah about it all.  Two things recently really perked me up big time.

First, I was chosen to be on a group called Team Canada.  It's a grassroots group of 150 Canadian Demonstrators that are meant to be representative of the Canadian demonstrator base.  The Canadian Manager, Dale Hampshire held orientation meetings this week to meet with us face to face in small groups so that we could better understand why he felt the need to start this group and what he hopes to see happen through the group.  I was allowed to bring one guest to the orientation meeting so I brought my friend and Team S.T.I.C girl Pei Pei.  We had a great time chatting on the drive to Kitchener, had dinner together and then went to the meeting.  I found all the information Dale shared during the meeting extremely fascinating and amusing.  This is especially true because he's not one to necessarily stay on topic if you know what I mean.  All it takes is one word and he could go off on a tanget about his wife the body builder (we were told about this twice during the evening) or his history of running businesses. (We heard that he used to set up fish tanks...twice)  Part of me (probably because of my occupational therapy training) wondered if perhaps early alzheimer's was something I should be concerned about but then he would share so elequently about another topic and I would say probably not.   

From what I understand, Dale shared that he wanted to bring a group of demonstrators together because he feels that as Canadians, we can begin to find solutions and strategies that are applicable just for us Canadians.  He said for 11 years he's been talking to the top about things over and over and just because of the nature of the organization, he knows that this strategy of trying to make change for Canadian demonstrators and the canadian market is not that effective.  "hello, we need more French stamps, hello, we need more than just 2 regionals in Canada a year." etc.  So he is going to use the smartest resource of all.  Canadian demonstrators.   We are going to be his volunteer work group to work on solutions that will benefit Canadian customers and demonstrators alike.  It's going to be a low budget  grassroots movement but since these 150 demonstrators on Team Canada represent all experiences and levels and all parts of the country, it's hoped that our solutions and our voice together will make impact.  It feels exciting to part of these new, yet uncharted group.   The most hilarious part of the evening to me was at the end when Dale was sharing about the movie Braveheart.  (Did I mention that he tends to go off on tangents sometimes?) I thought he was on another tanget but he brought it back by talking about the part in the movie when Braveheart is telling the leader that the key to winning the battle is to unite the clans that were warring among themselves instead of being united in fighting the enemy.  Certainly he was not implying that Stampin' Up! corporate home office is the enemy but just the idea that as Canadians we need to work together so that the battle of getting relevant Stampin' solutions for us will be achieved. Dale was so passionate talking about it his face was just alight with enthusiasm and he's holding up his fist and declaring "unite the clans!" (which apparently is a key line in the Bravehart movie).  I couldn't help but howl with laughter and hold up my fist and declare "unite the clans!" I haven't even been assigned to a work project yet but I'm excited to work co-operatively with whoever I'm assigned with and be a voice for the Canadian Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and the Canadian Stampin' Up! customer.  All the way home with Pei Pei I couldn't resist holding up my fist and declaring "Unite the Clans!" Okay, you probably are shaking your head thinking we are all crazy.  yah.  You're probably right.  As soon as I got home last night I told Kevin all about it and both of us were laughing and holding up our fists shouting "unite the clans!"  Here's a picture of us from last night.

 

 

The second thing that helped dissapate the blahs for me was my U.F.O day today.  It was meant to be a retreat day so people could come and work on their "unfinished objects" (UFO's).  It was so wonderful for me to be able to serve these ladies who chose to register for this event and take the time to enjoy crafting. All I could think about was that I was so happy they came and I was thankful for the opportunity to make it a great day for them.  I love receiving gifts when I go to Stampin' Up! events so I wanted to do that on a smaller scale for the girls that came today.

They received a welcome gift bag that had the fancy friends kit inside.  Then after lunch they received the little spring treat pouch. 

I also prepared a simple make n take for them if they wanted to stamp a card. (This is from the best of flowers stamp set)

 As a goodbye thank you, they received some early espresso grosgrain ribbon in a sweet treat cup.

The relationships and experiences are one of the greatest rewards of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  Thank you for letting me be your demonstrator. I hope you will be able to come out to a class or event soon.  It encourages me to see you!