A weekend of no stress

Everyone should have a weekend that they can be stress free and pampered. The last 4 days were that for me. I attended the Wisconsin Governors Conference on Tourism from Sunday through Wednesday morning. What a blast!
We left right after church (well as "right after" as we are able to) and headed down to the Kalahari resort in Wisconsin Dells. That was where our conference was going to be held and I got special room rates for the family and our friends. We spent the afternoon at the water park. I had to sneak away to attend the opening reception and eat some marvelous food. Then headed back to the room for more family time.
They all left the next morning and I went on to my classes. I enjoy this conference. It's all about tourism, but more importantly it's about hospitality and that is my main "theme" in life. Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you I'm all about making other people feel special and spoiled. My family says that my life's mission is to feed the world. I'd rather do something nice for others, but I will admit that going to this conference feels like "me time". That's something I don't get very often.
I love to learn and I love to create and discuss and brainstorm and round table. That's what we do at this conference. I had classes in cultural tourism, native American tourism, mobile advertising and more. While I am in class, ideas literally jump into my mind and I spend as much time writing notes about the class as I do writing notes to remember the thoughts that I had during the class. To me it is like creative water seeping into my dehydrated flesh. I LOVE the whole tourism scene. After the kids are gone, I may try my hand at becoming more involved on a state level.
My conference started with meeting the Lt. Governor of the state of Wisconsin and then getting to congratulate my friend Stephanie on becoming the next Secretary of Tourism. There's something wonderful about looking at the top person in tourism and having her call you by your first name and give you a huge hug. Does wonders for a po-dunk little wife and mother from the metropolis of Warrens (population 250 on a busy day).
I entered a twitter contest that asked what you did in Wisconsin for fun. I won an I-pad. That was pretty neat, although I really have no clue as to what it is. I seem to have gained some "cool points" with my kids.
I was very impressed with our Governor who actually opened the conference and then closed it too. The previous Governor didn't seem to think it was very important to be there at a function that held his name and was supposedly hosted by him. He was usually in China or somewhere. With tourism bringing huge amounts of money and creating thousands of jobs in the state, you would think that he would be willing to promote it. The new Governor is. He called on us to help promote Wisconsin, love people, and to help create jobs. He asked us to sing.
I was impressed that his wife came with him to the banquet. I was impressed that he gave 2 speeches without teleprompters, without notes and they were good. Aside from a few "little" jokes (nothing cruel or even really political" he never even mentioned the issues in Madison. He focused on tourism and how it can help bring Wisconsin out of this mess. Good job Gov.
All in all, it was a great time. The food was absolutely marvelous and I want all the recipes. The hosting conference center went out of their way to show us a good time. I even managed to come away a winner at the Casino. Big spender that I am playing the penny slots and cashing out before I lose anything....it was fun and I'm thankful that I had the chance to go.
Now back to my life that was already in progress. I think I hear dishes and laundry calling.....I want to go back to the conference..there's no place like WIGCOT, there's no place like WIGCOT, there's no place like WIGCOT....