adventures in Kansas and winner!

whew!

Well Dorothy was right....there's no place like home!

I sure felt that way after my flight landed at midnight last evening and I made my way home. 

But, I had the most wonderful Kansas adventures!

Seriously, the sweet folks at DEMDACO treated me like royalty 

and we had the best time working and playing together. 

Yep, I normally don't get picked up by a limo in Charlotte, 

so it was a nice live outside of my minivan for a couple of days.

Sweet Jean, who I work with, squeezed in a great tour for me of some beautiful parts of

  Leawood, Kansas and also Kansas City, MO.

She drove me drove down State Line which is the road that literally divides the two states. 

The neighborhood to the right was in Missouri and the neighborhood to the left was in Kansas. 

It was all so pretty and we ooohed and ahhhed our way through Mission Hills....

a swanky neighborhood with drippy, yummy, elegant estates...

perfectly manicured lawns and sprawling homes and courtyards. 

It's a city known for architecture and many of these homes could get away with 

large sculptures in their front yards.

We even went by the Russell Stover's home...(history here)

yep, as in Russell Stover's candies....and we saw one of the cute candy stores in the nearby town.

This area was once the home of the Shawnee Indians and it was the location of their mission.

We actually drove to the original location and the Mission buildings still exist. 

They were having a festival there and kids and families gathered to hear from the Indian ancestors 

and learn the history of the area.

Jean drove me through the well planned towns developed by Mr. J.C. Nichols.

The Plaza was designed with Spanish influence and was booming with family activity on Sunday. 

The architecture detail was fascinating!

Jean took me by the Nelson Atkins Museum 

and just look at the gigantic sculpture of a badminton shuttlecock on the lawn here.   

These sweet ladies took me to dinner at Bonefish Grill Sunday night. 

Wonderful to talk personal and business over a delicious meal.

Spent most of the day Monday at the Demdaco office.

The building is beautiful!!!

This is a fairly new office for them and it was so incredibly well-planned and designed. 

Gorgeous exterior and lobby,

a fitness room and locker rooms so employees can exercise (smart!)

Fabulous area on the third floor for catalog shoots

 and a very neat space for social gatherings, parties and meetings,

a library for researching trends and gifts and the home dec business and so much more.

Large rooms for products development brainstorming. 

Every floor has its own kitchen and there are rooms designated 

to show new products about to launch and current products.

Downstairs is a huge showroom so customers who come there for meetings can really see 

what an actual showroom for Demdaco will have on their shelves. 

It was a thrill to see all of my products grouped and displayed.

They are prettier than I imagined all together 

and the combination of happy color and faith based sentiment made me grin ear to ear and say 

"Thank you God!" over and over again.

Oh how I wish I could show you sneak peeks but I cannot yet. 

The week before the launch should be about when I can share all of that with you...

so hang tight until early January; I hope you will think it's will be worth the wait!

The conference room table was spilling over with papers and products and samples and prototypes. 

It was an extension of the weekly brainstorming we do over video skype 

only this was sooooo much easier and sooooo much more fun!

And then we broke for lunch at a wonderful restaurant called Bristol.

Heading back into the office for more meeting time after lunch.

Pete Malone, Jean Lowe, me, Kirsten Luckeroth

They interviewed me on video too so they can show "my story" to their sales reps at the 

National Sales Rep meeting in November.

I made it through, but was not looking forward to being in front of the camera.

Jonathan made it as easy as possible and thank goodness for his talented editing skills! (sigh)

Meet me back here tomorrow because I had the most incredibly fun excursion with Jean 

on our way back to the airport. 

I can't wait to show you where we went!

And oh how I wish there was one here in Charlotte!

****************************************************************************

ok, drumroll............

CONGRATULATIONS

Leah Collins said...

Oh this would be a perfect gift for my brother and his wife and their three children! I love it! Especially the words...LOVE JESUS! Thank you for sharing with us!

You are the winner of 

the awesome print 

by Ryan Alexander of Alexander Creative.

THANK YOU RYAN for allowing me to have this give away!!!!

Leah, please contact Ryan here with your mailing address and he will ship your fabulous prize!

xoxo from rainy Charlotte, NC

Caroline