It's been four days of a whirlwind tour at the N.A.R. Meetings in Washington, D.C. Every year in the spring the National Association of Realtors along with all the Societies and Councils come to D.C. The purpose is to convene, make plans, educate and to gather the members for political purposes.
State Associations gather their members and take them up on Capitol Hill to meet the powers that be. N.A.R. has long been a protector of personal property rights and all things real estate.Although I am not personally involved with the political side of real estate, I took the opportunityon our first night here to tour the Capitol Building, after hours.
Congressman Doug Lamborn from the Colorado Springs area was gracious enough to spend the last hours of Tuesday evening with us, touring the "out of bounds" areas at the Capitol. You can imagine my delight in being able to snap photos of seldom visited areas. The U.S. Capitol Building was built to awe and impress, and that it did!
I loved the arches and angles and ornate symbolism everywhere my eyes glanced. I was humbled to think who had walked these halls before me on the well worn but still exquiste marble.
We were privileged to have all our our gear, purses, phones and cameras striped from us, so we could enter the floor of the Senate. Like obediant children we were told "do not touch anything!" We complied as we wondered about reading the name plates on the desk, McCain, Clinton and Obama.
Yes we marveled at the no so trivial fact, the desks are the original stock. Some in fact had names of very famous grafitti artists carved inside, Kennedy, Lincoln and others.
Day Two I stole away from the activity for a couple hours to take in the National Zoo. The Zoo is amazing and best of all it is FREE! My favorite animals here are the Giant Pandas. I must admit, I spent the entire time at the zoo behind the lens of my camera, trying to get a good capture of these amazing and adorable animals.
The Panda habitat was large with lots of vegetation. This young Panda named Tai Shan cruised around eating constantly to the delight of all that watched. (Panda Cam direct from National Zoo)
Wednesday evening we gathered at Clyde's for a re.net event put together by Matthew Rathbun .
The food and atmosphere of Clydes was terrific, but the best part of the evening was the company. It is always a delight to meet other bloggers from the re.net. I enjoyed meeting for the first time; Chris Griffith, Sarah Stelmok, Heather Elias, Tony Arko, Jay McGillicuddy, Bill Lublin, Brian Block, Frank Llosa, Ben Martin
and many others. What impressed me was how young and organized the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors is. They certainly have their technology act together.
I also got to renew acquaintances with Moni McGillicuddy, Bob Carney and Pat Kennedy. As always it is great to see and spend time with people you know from the re.net.
The very last day I was invited to be on a panel for Women's Council of Realtors talking about marketing in today's market, "Biggest Bang for your Marketing Buck". It was a pleasure to sit next to an icon in real estate, Margaret Rome who sells Baltimore Real Estate. Margaret is a lady I respect and admire, who is gracious and talented beyond the norm. She shared her trade secrets and the exciting news of her new company called TRAC ~ The Realtor's Acution Company. Leave it to Margaret to find a much needed niche that will serve Realtors and consumers like never before! You owe it to yourself to investigate TRAC to see if you can use it to assist your clients!
Oh! Margaret also announced her new book is in the works! The cover was unveiled in postcard handouts for Real Estate the Rome Way! No surprise Margaret chose an artist from Active Rain to assist her with the creation of the card, the Art of Marketing You! Margaret is a master of Paying it Forward for sure!
After the panel was over I only had a few hours to spend before catching my flight out a Reagan National Airport. Not wanting to waste a minute, Larry and I took the Metro over to the Newseum. Only open less than a year, this addition to the the D.C. landscape is worth much more than a few hours of time.
I was totally drawn into the exhibits, particularly appreciating my good fortune to be Born in the U.S.A. A stroke of luck for sure when I stood looking a a section of the Berlin Wall complete with guard tower right there in the Newseum!
Again pride and thankfulness overcame me in the First Amendment Gallery. All the displays were extraordinary, but if I had to pull a favorite it would be the traveling exhibit of Pulitzer Prize Photographs. Such dramatic and emotional photos tell more than words can ever hope to tell.
Next year when it comes time to make the trip to N.A.R.'s mid-year meetings, I hope more will go. It certainly is worth the trip.
Kristal Kraft ~Denver Real Estate~303-589-2022
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Kristal, it was great to meet you and so many other people from Active Rain, Twitter and little nooks and crannies around the web.