URNotAlone

First Event 2009: Karen Reeve's Thoughts

February 2nd, 2009 8:57 pm MST

First Event 2009:Some Thoughts

Peabody, Massachusetts (15 January-18 January 2009)

First, check out my new album "First Event 2009" which I just posted.

Better late than never, here is my report on First Event 2009 (though after reading this report you may not agree!).

My friend Jackie and I arrived late on Thursday evening at the hotel. Let me tell you it was C-O-L-D! at he door Denise Armel greeted us with a bear hug. Because we were so tired and had worked that day we went to our room, unpacked, and ordered food to be brought in.

On Friday we were up fairly early (9:30 A.M.) I LOVE the Marriott Hotels so we ordered room service for breakfast. The food was exquisite. We attended a couple of seminars and visited with some friends afterwards.

In the evening our intrepid sorority (Sorority Sisters of New England) went out dining in Boston. Tiffany Starr drove one vehicle and I drove my car since it has a kick ass heater. It was 5 degrees out.

Arriving at the No Name Restaurant in our group was Brenda Sue, Tiffany, Jennifer Lane, Jean W. Jackie T., and myself. The crowd inside was light due to the F-R-I-G-I-D weather outside (for me from Maine it was balmy!).

The waiters and waitresses were thrilled to see us all again and remembered when we visited before. I’m not sure if that is good but they did not throw us out so I guess we were acceptable.

The staff was so friendly and nice. We all filled up on delicious seafood dinners (I LOVE SEAFOOD!). After the round of drinks no one felt the cold too.

We met the radio personality Morgan White Jr. (The Man From T.R.V.I.A.) who has a show on WBZ-AM Radio. I think I made his day when I told him that I LOVE to WATCH RADIO! He just shook his head. He is a really nice guy BTW.

Later on we went back to the hotel and visited down in the lobby restaurant/bar. As usual at these events it was hopping!

On Saturday we got up late (10:00 A.M.) and got ready for the day’s festivities. We attended some seminars and met a lot of people that you do not get to see too often during the year (the grind of daily life sort of thing you know).

Jackie actually got a new presenter to come to First Event for the first time (Kathy Perez of Exceptional Voice in Denver, Colorado). She is an awesome lady and KNOWS HER STUFF! She is a board-certified speech pathologist. As one who is an expert in this field (If you do not know why then you do not know me very well!) if you want to feminize your voice or have any vocal issues then you need to go to a professional.

Saturday evening was the Awards Banquet. If you are not a member of the host organization (Tiffany Club of New England) then the awards are about as exciting as watching paint dry on a wall. They host this convention so this is their prerogative.

The dinner was quite tasty. Jean W., Jennifer Lane, Brenda Sue, and Jackie were also in attendance. Unlike last year there was no dancing in the spacious dining room but rather in the exceedingly cramped bar/restaurant. Most of the girls would rather go drink than dance. My observation on this is that is a more of a male pattern than a female pattern. Girls like to dance, guys do not! (Here come the complaints now!).

We danced the night away and then adjourned to the infamous Dr. Z upstairs party. In attendance was the Royal Couple (the plastic dolls). It’s weird how a naked plastic doll just evokes such interest.

In the late evening it was snowing heavily. When Jackie and I got down to the lobby at 10:00 A.M. most participants had bailed. We ate the "Brunch" (Hey! BRUNCH is BR for BREAKFAST and UNCH for LUNCH. Why was there only breakfast food available?) For the price this is a real rip off. I would suggest that if you attend this event in the future that you simply have room service or order in the restaurant.

Jackie and I decided to stay another day and avoid the hassles of the snow. We sat down in the lobby watching the beautifully fallen, flaky snow come cascading down. While chatting with Jamie Dailey and some other girls a big brute of a guy lumbered over and in a hushed voice told us he was coming to First Event. He said he could not get their earlier since he was ill. I have my thoughts on this "illness" but will remain quiet. He left after a couple of hours after we gave him some requested info.

I realized that at 4 P.M. I was still wearing my nametag. I am sure I was the LAST participant to be wearing one for this year!

That evening Jackie and I had a lovely dinner in the restaurant. The hotel was deserted. It was so nice and the staff even came over to visit with us. Later we watched a movie.

On Monday the weather was nice. When I checked out it was amazing to see that the hotel staff had actually shoveled out, and cleared the snow off of my car. Talk about service!

I left for home well satisfied with my "First Event 2009" experience. It has been an EXTREMELY long time since I have been out like this and it was very nice.

Is Karen back on form? Stay tuned!

*Kisses*

~Karen~