Bound by desire...

Wow, what a day! But let me start at the beginning...

Because I'm still on New York time, I woke early. We had set the alarm for 7:45 (the first mixer .. ie, breakfast.. started at 8:30), but I was up by six. Ended up being great because my husband and I IMed for over an hour. There are days we don't get that much time together when I'm home!

The breakfast mixer was hosted by our own Lori O'Clare, Lora Leigh, Mary Wine and Jaci Burton and let me tell you, they put on a great spread. I had a walnut muffin that was huge! I got a chance to talk with Patty Marks and Crissy Brashear for a bit...there are some great things coming for EC! You ain't seen nothin' yet!

Afterward, Angelica and I headed up to beard the lion in his den...otherwise known as the Front Desk Manager. "He" turned out to be a "She" on the daytime shift. "She" was quite pleasant, very helpful and tremendously apologetic. We went back to the bellhop's desk for her to begin tracking it down...and lo and behold, there sat my box...right out in the open, with my name and room number on it. Not delivered. Not secure. Right there. Were we ticked? You bet!

So we gave her what for, she apologized some more and I told her I wanted it delivered to my room by the time I returned at noon. She also told us she would have the bellhop's superior contact us at some point during the day to get more information (which, by the way, he never did -- perhaps tomorrow?).

The good news is...I have my promo notepads back. The bad news is...I do NOT want to carry 47 pounds worth of them back home on the plane. LOL After mapping out a new promo plan, we decided to put the notepads out on Promotion Lane and hope people would still pick them up. They're going like hotcakes! We've gone through almost half of them already.

And yes, I still have some home, so I suspect whoever wins the contest on Monday will be getting one. Then you can let me know if the hullabaloo was worth it!

I'm afraid we skipped the Awards Luncheon. The workshops on promotion in both the morning and the afternoon sessions were great, but we were tired and decided on a quick lunch at The Grill (a very pricey restaurant in the hotel) and a nap. Gotta be rested for the party at night!

Cerriwidden launched today and EC had a nice mixer with lots of fresh fruit, cheese and crackers and a fruit punch. Raelene Gorlinsky helmed the mic and there were lots of goodies (chocolate, of course...and a neat traveler's manicure set).

Tonight was the Masquerade Ball, and I wish I could tell you I wore a costume, but alas, I did not. There just wasn't room in my suitcase for everything! But plenty of others were dressed magnificently. Our very own Mary Wine and Lisa Stoddard were two of the five winners of the costume contest. Lisa wore a white and royal blue jester's costume and Mary wore a beautiful Victorian lady's dress...complete with corset and the requiste "S" shape. But the piece de resistance of her outfit had to be the mask...covered in the same material as her dress with feathers dyed in the same hues. Yes, I have pictures and will upload them to the group site...as soon as I figure out how to get them off my camera!

And so another exciting day in St. Louis draws to a close...till tomorrow, play safe!

Diana