Centennial Celebration in DC/National Convention Recap Day 1

OMG, this has been a BUSY Summer. Sorry, I have been missing in action, but this has been a summer of ALL Summers.

First off, I planned a 70th birthday party for my mom. It was hard to do since I live in  AZ, and she still resides in Chicago. I was expecting with my brothers and sisters who live all over the world, and that was quite a joy! I was named "Teacher of the Year" at our School, which was a pleasant surprise, and on top of that, my principal encouraged me to be the summer school principal at our school. It required a ton of work but gave me a ton of experience. It was interesting for managing teachers, handing out discipline to students, etc.  I enjoyed every min of it. In between this time I did a massive amount of traveling, back and forth to Chicago, Texas for hubby's convention,  Las Vegas, and finally DC for our centennial.

I have SOOOO much to say about the centennial I don't even know where to begin! Since I am on a break from school, I will ATTEMPT to make a post about each day I spent in DC, so I hope you all enjoy as I take a break from advising to on  becoming Greek."

So here's to the first day. I was wondering if I should pack an empty suitcase because of all the "Goodies" I would find at the vendors. What type of clothes I need to pack for business sessions, Social Action Luncheon, Choir Attire since I was chosen to sing and be a part of the centennial choir AND praise team, club clothes, etc........ I was also able to connect with my Ships (Line Sisters) during this time as well.  Although my husband was trying to convince me to go alone and kick it with sorors, I couldn't bear the thought of not being with him during our wedding anniversary, so I BEGGED and PLEADED with him to come.
Okay, so WHERE should I begin? Packing was a Pain in the Patootie! I had to make sure I had enough "White Dresses" for Choir, Opening Ceremony, Memorial, etc., etc., etc.... And for those who know me, know I am a fashionista, meaning I am NOT going to be wearing the same white Dress over and over again. I also know that since I needed to have several backup chargers for my phone. So I packed several of them.

We decided to take a red-eye flight, which was the FIRST time I ever made a red eye. I had a lot of fun until I found out from several sorors via FB, and twitter that a lot of their flights was delayed due to bad weather. As I was sitting in the airport, I realized that our flight was delayed as well. I was NOT a happy camper because I had the entire itinerary planned out for the whole week and a half we were in DC and mother nature decided to mess it up for us. Blah!!!!  We finally got to our layover the next morning, only to experience yet ANOTHER layover due to the rain. BOO!!!! I was able to snap a picture of how it looked while we were waiting in the airport.

When we FINALLY landed in Baltimore, I was thrilled to be greeted by several sorors, and this great Airport Sign.

Exhausted is all I could say......After spending several hours in the airport, not getting in sleep due to the excitement of seeing my sorors, my chapter sorors, my shippies, my Big Sisters, etc. I couldn't believe I was FINALLY HERE! When my hubby and I finally reached the hotel, I was in awe to see how many sorors waiting to check in. From the look of things, one then I was SO glad I packed was my patience, LOL! When we FINALLY got to the hotel, I was greeted with THIS!

The Look on my hubby's face was priceless!!!! What is not captured in this picture is how there were suitcases wrapped around the hotel.  He was like my goodness he has never been to a convention with this many people, even at his Centennial in 2006. All I could do was laugh!

After it had taken over an hour to check in, thankfully the hotel gave us a ticket and told us that our luggage would be in our hotel, so we didn't need to wait. I ran up to the hotel, changed into some comfortable shoes and headed out to register. My heart was pounding because from the looks of my hotel I could only IMAGINE how hectic and LONG the registration lines were going to be.

We got on the shuttle and headed out register. Once they dropped us off, I had to take some quick pix of the signage.

                                                      Upon Entering the Convention Hall

                                             

                                                                The Line to Register


The line was LONG.....and by long I mean 3 1/2 hours long. When I first entered the Convention Hall, I first thought to myself, this line isn't that long,,, but then I was told that the end of the line was down two escalators, YIKES!   My darling husband never complained once and was very patient. Although he didn't wait in line with me, he found a nice cozy spot on the floor in the OTHER hall where I needed to go after registration to get my bag.

After the long wait, meeting new sorors, and seeing a few old ones, I was finally registered and was pleased to have my badge.

My Official Convention Badge

After registration and retrieving my badge, I was dead tired, and although I was "suppose" to meet up with my line sisters, my feet were killing me, and I needed to eat. I also had choir rehearsal at 6 am in the morning so although I felt BAD about not meeting up with them; I realized I had to get some REST! When we got back to the hotel, it was beautiful to see all the sorors in the lobby dressed to the nine in their crimson and cream. A lot of them was with their hubbies as well, so it was GREAT to see my boo hook up with a lot of his Fraternity members. (AphiA) My darling husband and I decided to order room service and call it a night. I was praying that I had a voice to sing with the next morning. (Or should I say later that morning since we didn't turn in until 3 am)