Well, here I am at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in Kansas City, MO, after an already exciting day. My good friend and miniature cohort, Norma Jeane, generously volunteered to drive me to the hotel. It's an hour-and-a-half drive, which gives you an idea of how nice she is!

We left Marshall around 10:30 am. First stop: Nelson Art Gallery for lunch in the fountain court. Lovely! We did a quick spin of the ground floor galleries and stopped at the gift shop. There we found some lovely little silk rugs, just right for small dollhouse rooms, for just $4.50 each, including a history of the design. Let the shopping begin!! :lol:

Next stop, The Plaza: Barnes & Noble (got three more of the 1st Ladies Detective Agency series) and Baby Gap for a birthday present for a little cutie who's moving up on the big ONE.

Next stop, Mini Temptations, Laura Way's shop in Overland Park. We were there for a long time while NJ chose wallpaper for the house she's working on. I was delighted to find a Pierce under construction, so I spent a good bit of time just taking in the size of rooms and studying the staircase placement. I'm definitely not going to use the stairway that comes with the house, and I'm thinking of altering some of the walls on the second floor a bit. And now I'm sure that the man of the house will have a telescope in the tower room.

After that we headed back toward the hotel, but on the way we passed a Gate's BBQ restaurant. The wonderful fragrance stopped us cold, and with a zippy maneuver that left a bus driver shaking his head, we nipped into the parking lot and enjoyed a lovely short ends dinner. Yummmmmmmmmmm!

Waved good-bye to NJ and checked in. Have a lovely room on the 30th floor overlooking downtown. Quite a change from the view I'm used to in Marshall. :angry:

Registered for the conference, got a bag of lovely mini goodies (more on this later), name badge ... the usual. The name badge identifies me as a first-timer. I found this designation a bit amusing at first. After the 3rd person greeted me with, "Oh, you're a first timer," it got less amusing. *sigh*

Got a few hints from seasoned house party attendees about getting the round table goodies I want and got the last seat at Table 15 for brunch and the banquet. I'm ready to roll!

In tomorrow's workshops I'll be making a roast beef dinner with all the trimmings (from 8 am to 4 pm) .. and then from 6-9 pm I'll be working on a pet shop vignette. (Please note we'll miss the CSI mini show, which runs 8-9 pm here; am going to ask if a TV can be brought in. :lol: Dear hubby promised to tape it, so I'm covered either way!)

Will be taking pictures and am hoping to find some time to post them. Wish all of you were here!