R+F Convention 2018

The 2018 Rodan and Fields convention was right here in NOLA from September 13-15. My teammates and I had such a great time over the course of those few days. We learned a lot, laughed a lot, bonded a lot, and ate and drank a lot. I just love this group of women.

We had our first team dinner at Meril on Wednesday night. I went downtown early to register and pick up my convention materials and then walked to the restaurant. It was such a fun night and so good to see everyone again!

 

Thursday afternoon was the opening general session. Nopsi dropped me off at the Hilton Riverside so I could stash my stuff in the room I shared with Jen and Sue until Sunday. (I figured it would be much easier staying on site than commuting in every day. Plus it was way more fun.) Then we all walked over to the convention center together. Tara and I were in broadcast viewing while the rest were in main stage viewing. We ended up really liking broadcast, though; the energy was great!

After the opening session, Tara and I had a social media breakout session scheduled together. We heard fabulous home office leader Myisha Procter speak and even got to meet her afterwards. Then Tara, Kerri, Aimee, and I went to Mr. B’s for dinner that night. So good!

 

The next day was the product general session and then two more breakouts. We also took a couple team pictures and spent some time wandering around in the Expo. Everything was top notch and so impressive.

 

 

We ended up at Gordon Biersch for dinner that night and then Ubered (with an awesome driver, June) over to the NOPSI Hotel for drinks with other teammates. Then some of us ended up out all night long in the Quarter while others got some sleep. Y’all know which group I was in!

We all took it easy for the business general session the next morning, opting to watch it virtually in our hotel rooms. Mel Robbins was the keynote speaker, and she was AMAZING. (5-4-3-2-1-GO!) Then I made it over to my last two breakouts, while Tara was still recovering from the night before. I took one final walk around the Expo and even got to try out two of the new products before heading back to my room and the LSU game. GEAUX TIGERS!

  

Saturday night was the closing masquerade gala, hosted by Mario Lopez and featuring a performance by Kelly Clarkson. Tara and I watched it in the Expo with the rest of the broadcast viewers. It was a great way to close out an awesome convention!

 

 

So. Much. Fun.

Riley’s 8th Birthday

Riley turned 8 on August 30, and this birthday was particularly epic. He had a half day of school, so we decided to have his birthday party at Nola and Nopsi’s pool that afternoon. So fun!

He woke up to birthday balloons and streamers and ate his requested two strawberry PopTarts and apple for breakfast. Then it was off to school for a short 4 hours.

When I picked the boys up, we spotted Riley’s birthday twin, Mrs. Allison. She was excited to have a half day of school too!

We went straight to Nola and Nopsi’s house to get set up for the party. His friends started arriving shortly after we got there: Claire, Colin, Alcee, Maddie, Brennan, Ansleigh, Myril, Eli, Blake, Evan, and Finn. I had pizza, Chick-Fil-A nuggets, assorted mini po-boy sandwiches, sunflower crunch salad, chips, grapes, and Oreos for everyone for lunch, and the pool was open and ready to go. It didn’t take long for the fun to begin!

For dessert, since the birthday boy doesn’t like cake, we put together an ice cream sundae bar. We had three flavors of ice cream and lots of toppings. Everyone LOVED it!

We let Riley open his presents after a few of his friends left. He was so excited to get the two Lego sets he had been wanting, as well as lots of gift cards to Target to buy even more Legos. Claire sat with him as he started on one of his new sets, but he politely informed her that she couldn’t actually help him build. Then he built even more when we got back home. He is LEGO OBSESSED!

  

The boys were off of school the next day as well, so I took them to Luv 2 Play for a bit in the morning. Then we came back home so Riley could build more. He was so determined to get his two new sets done as fast as he possibly could. It ended up taking him less than 24 hours to build both. More than 2800 pieces. Amazing.

 

Happy happy birthday, my sweet Riley-bean. We love you!