TEXAS!

Unfortunately this post doesn't have anything to do with my little man....except that I had to spend the last 3 days without him :( I had the honor of attending the CVS Conference in Grapevine, TX as my district's paragon award winner. It was a great time and I learned a lot. We stayed at a HUGE hotel called The Gaylord Texan....our group alone was about 3000 people. Our schedule was packed but we managed to squeeze in some fun. The first day consisted of a REALLY early flight, registration, the General Session, dinner, and the National Paragon Award Banquet and Reception. During the General Session, we got to hear a very motivational speech by Pat Summit, the head coach of the ladies basketball team at University of Tennessee. She was amazing! I wasn't really sure how she pertained to my profession at all but being a good leader is the same anywhere, I guess. The dinner and reception were also great. I've decided I'm gonna have to donate a kidney if I ever hope to win National Paragon...

Again, day 2 was busy, busy, busy. Breakfast is from 6:45-7:45am if that tells you how early we get started (especially considering that the reception the prior night was an OPEN BAR). We had a vendor trade show in the morning, lunch, then a 4 HOUR breakout session with our area. I don't wanna give away CVS secrets but lets just say its a damn good thing we're pharmacists and not a rocket scientists!! This night was what we were all waiting for...we knew we had an offsite event at the Cowboy stadium but nobody knew what we were doing there. Here's me and my roommate, Lauren Berton, in the hotel getting ready to get on the bus to the stadium.

This is the ceiling of the Miller Lite Club in the stadium:

This is what we were doing that night! Dinner, drinks, and a band....ON THE FIELD! It was SO cool! I'm not at all a Cowboys fan but it was awesome to actually be on the field.


A lot of people were throwing and kicking the ball in the endzone but they also had arcade games, pool tables, air hockey tables, etc set up to play too.
And you could take a self-guided tour. We saw the press room and the player locker room:
Yeah, that's right, they get to stare at the Pittsburgh Steelers name EVERY time they walk in the locker room!

What's a Cowboys tour without seeing the cheerleader locker room:
We all joked that they had life size pictures and a giant mirror so they could match up the image in the mirror with the picture to find out which locker was theirs.....kidding.....kind of.
Here's the newest member: HAHAHA!
This one is to make my dad proud. I nearly stalked Larry Merlo all night just to get this picture. In case you don't know, he's the current COO but soon to be President and CEO of CVS/Caremark....and my dad knew him forever ago when he worked for CVS. When I won in 2007, I told my supervisor that he HAD to introduce me to Larry so I could tell him that I was Ken Nichols' daughter. Well, he did. But I was pretty...........wasted. Yep, basically made a fool of myself. Anyway, I had to redeem myself so I waited till AFTER I met him this year to start drinking :) hahaha! Hope you're proud dad :)
Here's the rest of my group with Larry:
....and on the GIANT jumbo-tron! I realize now that a 180ft by 72ft high definition TV isn't a good way to look at yourself.....wow, we looked huge!
Here's some more supervisors, district managers, and paragons from my region. We might have had a few drinks by this time.....maybe.

The last day started even earlier if that's possible. Our first meeting began at 7:45am! Here's some of us in front of the 2010 Paragon Wall. All of our names are on there and we could sign it.
Look! I'm not last!
We had a great time and learned a lot but I was SO GLAD to get home to my 2 favorite people! Now, if anyone needs a kidney....let me know :) I would offer up a piece of my liver but after the last few days, you don't want it!