I've been back since Cincinnati for over a week now; I don't know what's taken me so long to talk about it. I think I had to do a bit of sitting back and absorb everything, try a few new ideas out, work out a plan for the year. All the pics are safely stored in my camera still but I will post some soon.

There are a LOT of Pampered Chef consultants in the States. There were 120 of us Canadian leaders in attendance, and a whopping 3500 from across the U.S. I quickly realized the novelty of my citizenship, so everytime I met someone new, I'd introduce myself: "I'm Leah...FROM CANADA!" They ate it up. They were all super-nice, and very supportive and encouraging. It makes me all warm and fuzzy thinking about how this is the culture of the company. Every single person I came across was great.

On a side note, I stayed at the Westin - home of the Heavenly Beds. And boy, are they heavenly. Especially when you hear about the other hotel running out of hot water the first night and the 6-hour waits for check-in. And what's even better? I got one of my nights for freeee! Remember?! You know I love it....

I think the #1 goal I had for this trip was to network with as many Directors as I possibly could, to soak in their wisdom, and to really connect with the leaders within my Cluster. I am very happy to say that I achieved this. I formed friendships with fellow consultants from Alberta to Texas to Boston to Winnipeg and a whole pile around Ontario, many of whom have committed to hold me accountable to the goals I shared with them, checking up on me in the coming months. This is much needed and appreciated.

I even got a bit star-struck. I saw the high-achieving consultants who were featured in our recruiting dvd and the magazines/catalogues. It was nice to see them and remember that they're normal people like me, who started with the same little Starter Kit that I did. Wow, that thought just gave me a kick in the pants.