We arrived to The Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island on Thursday afternoon. Let me say that as soon as we pulled up to the front of the hotel, I told them to find the nearest Holiday Inn because I felt so out of place. The Ritz gentlemen were rushing to our car as quickly as possible to open the doors for us. They grabbed luggage carts and hauled our bags out of the car, never allowing us to lift a finger. I wanted to bring one of them home with me. The hotel was nice, but the service was even nicer. They came in every evening to turn down our beds and leave chocolates on our pillows. They usually left the sweetest notes like "sweet dreams" or "goodnight!" as well. I almost didn't know how to act when I returned home Sunday night and had to "turn down" my own blankets. And I was disappointed that there was no chocolate to indulge in before drifting off to sleep. The life. Now that I've had a taste of what the exceptional is like, I don't want to return to the average hotel life. Sigh, too bad I don't have an option. ha!
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| the view from the patio in my room |
Thursday night was our "Cocktail dinner" which was originally supposed to be more formal, but they changed it week before to more casual dressy attire. We had a three course meal that consisted of salad, then filet mignon, lobster, creamed potatoes and veggies, then chocolate cake with a raspberry drizzle for dessert! It was all so delicious!
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| Ryan! |
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| Katelyn! |
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| Kelli! |
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| My construction girls! Jennifer, Alisha, and Jenny |
Friday morning, we had breakfast and a meeting at 9am. The CEO and COO shared a little bit about the company. Where we've been, where we are, where we're going and that type of thing. It was pretty cool.
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| The "rolled towel!" P.S. Melanie, your book made it to the Ritz-Carlton! ;) |
The rest of Friday was free day. As soon as the meeting was over, we hit the beach! We relaxed in the nice beach chairs with our fancy rolled towels and splashed around in the waves for the majority of the day. I've definitely got the sunburn to prove it. We had lunch at the Oceanview Cafe at the hotel, which was tasty, but quite expensive for lunch! I went back to the room after that and took and nice long shower and relaxed for a bit. That night, a group of us found a fun mexican placed downtown called Peppers for dinner. It was good, and the company was even better! We walked around to look at the different places and some of them stopped for ice cream at the Fudge Shop! My "group" went back to the hotel and sat on the beach talking until about 1:30am. It was so peaceful and beautiful.
Saturday morning, Landmark planned activities for us. We got to pick between skeet shooting or 18 holes of golf. I, of course, chose skeet shooting so off to the range we went! It was SO hot and we were there for what seemed like an eternity, but it was still fun! They also had a BBQ lunch buffet catered at the range, with lots of sweet tea, which was delicious!
That afternoon, the rest of the crowd went back to the beach, but I went to meet my cousins Jeff and Brooke back downtown. They only live 45 minutes from Amelia Island so I asked them to come visit! We walked around, looked in the cute shops, got some ice cream, and had a fabulous time.
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| More views from the hotel. |
That night for dinner, we had a Low Country Boil dinner on the Courtyard of the hotel. There was blackened mahi-mahi, cornbread casserole, sauteed baby portobello mushrooms, chicken, low country boil, and jalapeno cornbread. There was a salad bar with the best citrus dressing I've ever tasted and the cutest dessert bar with mini pecan pies! It was all so delicious! Once that was over, the majority of us went inside to the lobby where a band was playing and everyone was dancing! We stayed until the band stopped, then ventured back outside to the patio to talk around the fire. We stayed outside talking and laughing until 2:30am, and it was such fun!
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| We also received goody bags with snacks, a t-shirt, koozie, and sunglasses! How thoughtful! |
Sunday was departure day, and I can tell you right now that it was definitely time for me to come home. While the beach was somewhat relaxing and completely fun, I needed some rest after the busy life of the weekend! I drove the majority of the way home, and crashed almost as soon as I walked in the door. (I might have gone to bed at 7:30)
I did get to stop and visit with my Daddy in Thomson for just a few minutes on the way back home. I hated that I missed spending Father's Day with him, so I was thankful we could stop for a bit.
The retreat was fabulously fun, but getting to know everyone a little better was the cherry on top. I'm thankful to work for such a well respected company, and one that treats their employees so well!!
Hope your weekend was fancy!
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