Stampin Lady, Pat Shepherd: Hello from Nashville, TN

Hello from Nashville, TN – Number 2

Originally posted by Jim on our travel blog (here)

Thursday morning January 13, 2011 (Second travelogue of this trip).

Hey, this is kind of fun. Pat has been sending me some photos from her phone and I will include a few of them. We have not been able to talk much, but I am gathering from the photos that she is having a wonderful time – as usual.

My wonderful wife of 47 years!

First, she has described the Gaylord hotel as “unbelievable”. It must be spectacular and very luxurious. I asked her if there was any signs of the flood damage from this the terrible floods this spring and she said that she did not see any.

Pat at the hotel

A view of the hotel

For those of you who do not know much about Pat's association with Stampin' Up!, I need to give you some background. First of all, the Stampin' Up website will tell you a bit about the company (click here). Pat has been a demonstrator for them for over 11 years. She maintains the executive level and has almost 80 other demonstrators in her organization. She has earned eight wonderful cruises/trips. The last one was in 2009 to Hawaii (documented in our blog starting here). She has a website that ultimately links with her page on the SU website (here).

Stampin' Up! is a wonderful company with fantastic products. But, more importantly, they truly appreciate their demonstrators and treat them very well. I often say that it would be difficult to earn a large income with the company, but the experience is unmatched. It is wonderful to attend one of the conventions, or go on one of their cruises, and see how much positive impact that the company has on these demonstrators.

I mentioned the fact in the last blog that Pat was invited (as were some of her downline who have achieved the manager level) to the Manager's dinner last night. Stampin' Up! always makes this a “big deal”. They do not tell the managers where the dinner will be held until they board the buses. Last night's dinner was at the Wildhorse Saloon (link). I have not talked to her since that dinner, but one of the photos suggests that they had a lot of fun {grin}.

I probably need to clarify “fun”. When we attend the functions, it is interesting to note that there is almost no drinking (indeed, Pat can not drink alcohol because or her Rheumatoid Arthritis medications). We often laugh at the fact that when SU charters a large ship for the cruises, the ship companies must cringe – the bar charges must be almost nonexistent.

The ladies at the Wildhorse Saloon

I mentioned in the last post that the ladies love to swap cards. The photo below shows that activity, but not the frenzied level that I have witnessed {grin}