Is This Too Much?

On Easter Sunday, I met my fabulous friend, Tami, in Iowa City for our jaunt to Des Moines. We were going for the Kids First conferest. We stayed at the wonderful Embassy Suites on the River. We are two very intelligent, well prepared, organized women. Most of the time. Luggage? Check. Handouts for presentation? Check. Clothes for two nights and two days? Check. Silent auction goodies? Check. Snacks and adult beverages? Check. Address and phone number of the hotel? No. GPS? No. Oops. After a few trips around the same 4 blocks and 2 sets of screwed up directions, we found the hotel. All hotel rooms should be suites. What a way to relax! We took up EVERY available surface with our stuff. Here's a picture of our "stuff". Yep, this is what we brought!

The hotel, Embassy Suites on the River, was fabulous. Once we found it, that is. After a few trips around the same four blocks and two sets of incorrect directions, we found it. All hotel rooms should be suites. We unpacked and moved right in! We opted for dinner in the hotel Sunday night, then spent the evening catching up and playing "drag 'n' brag". (In case you've never played, it's where I show you my cool stuff and you show me yours. :-p)

The conference was well attended and it's always good to meet new people and catch up with old friends. The breakout sessions had something to offer everyone.

For our next adventure, we had our friend Linda join us. Destination? Trader Joe's. This trip was much like the one leading to our hotel. Only this time it was almost dark. And pouring rain. I won't even tell you how long it took us to get there. A couple more sets of incorrect directions didn't help matters any. It was worth the trip. Dinner at Mimi's Cafe, on the other hand, was not.

I mentioned that Tami and I both had contributions to the silent auction. The action brought $479 for the youth services division of the Iowa Library Assn. Woo-hoo!! There were only about a dozen items, but they really brought in the bids. A super THANK YOU to the other people who made contributions and to those who posted the bids. Here's what I took. They were so fun to create and didn't cost much at all! (I added a jar of honey to the Pooh basket.) I took a "Bowl of Sunshine", a box of "Monkey Business", "Pooh and Friends" box, and a wreath made with book-page flowers.