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CKC - Charlotte, NC

So...who's ready to hear about my latest travel adventure?

As I dig out from under all the things I didn't do when I was traveling the first few weeks of the month, I am finally (mostly -- I was still hoping to receive a few pic in the email, which I didn't get...boo hoo!) ready to post about my *super fun* trip to North Carolina for
Creating Keepsakes Convention - Charlotte!


Now, I was looking forward to this trip so much. Number one, because I LOVE MY JOB! Number two, because I knew I was going to teach Taste of Scraptique twice to 2 SOLD OUT rooms and that is SUPER EXCITING! And last, but NOT LEAST, I had my Bestest Buddy, Sherry coming up from Savannah to work in the booth for the weekend!!
(and we had not seen each other in a WHOLE YEAR!!!)

Now, I know you must be asking yourself, why was I so excited to see her?

Well, short and sweet...I love her. She's a total sweetie and we had only gotten super close in the last year I lived in Georgia. And we were seriously sad when I moved. Last Summer, she came to Topeka in June. You can read about our adventures here and here.

Then, I went to Savannah in August of last year (the plane tickets were a birthday gift from Big Daddy- yep, he rocks!) And while I was there we had a TON of fun! From shopping for Kristine's "personal" wedding shower (purrrrrr!) to eating at our favorite Mexican place to getting spur of the moment decision, matching tattoos!! Read about that here.
Anyway, as much as we are alike, we are different.

And, we are great friends!


So, when I knew we might need some reliable help....I was quick to throw Sherry's hat in the ring to my boss as a possibility. And Sherry was quick to accept the invite! Yay!

So, as the date neared, I was getting excited, but I was just so busy at home. This time I was flying from Kansas City International Airport, which is actually in Missouri. It's about an 1 and 1/2 hour drive from my house to the airport. And upon further inspection of my plane ticket, I realized that I was going to need to be on the road no later than 3:30am to make it in time to catch my 6am flight. Well, at Midnight I was still waiting on the last load of laundry to dry and by the time it did and I packed it....it was about 1am.

So, I went to bed. But, as soon as I hit the pillow....I started panicking.

What if I don't wake up?

What if the alarm doesn't go off in an hour and a half?

What if I turn it off and go back to sleep?

What if I hit snooze and I'm late and miss my plane.

Will Kim kill me? (pause) Yep, definitely.

I WAS UP.
Bottom line, I was so freaked, there was NO WAY I was sleeping!!

So, at 2am....I took a shower.

But, unfortunately for me, I slipped while shaving.
(possibly...fell asleeep?!?!)

Take my word for it...
...shaving while slipping and/or falling asleep is BAD.

(just ask my poor leg!)

So...you remember those cuts that you got when you were like 13 years old and just learning how to shave. You were clumsy and scared. And it seemed no matter how careful you were, you almost always got nicks and sometimes cuts? Well, this cut was one of those BAD BOYS! Started burning the minute it happened. Blood pooling in the shower. BAD!
And when I got out of the shower, it took me like 30 minutes and the help of about 7 bandaids to get the whole thing contained. Seriously.
(THANK GOD I DID NOT GO TO SLEEP.....I WOULD HAVE BEEN SO LATE!!!)

So, I got on the road at 3:25am or so. Went to get gas and hit the highway.

I was really exhausted. But, cold air , loud music and some major caffeine were sure a big help to me and I made it to the airport just fine, with about 50 minutes to spare.

Sherry's morning started around the same time as mine.
Sherry drove up the 4+ hours from Savannah on Thursday morning, as well. As soon as Sherry arrived in Charlotte, her first "assignment" was to pick me up at the airport. Now, it's hard to load bags and say hello and give a good solid hug at the Arrivals loop at the airport, but we did it anyway! I was so happy to see her....and we laughed to find out that we have the EXACT SAME HAIRCUT!

After we got out of the airport and headed to the hotel to pick up boxes that had been shipped to us. Well, that was supposed to be easy, after all we were following a GPS in Sherry's van. Well, not so. Every single way we tried to reach the hotel, we kept encountering
NO TURN signs. After about 10 minutes of driving in a circle downtown (which the Charlottonians call uptown) --with much frustration, we "accidentally" turned because somehow "we just didn't see that sign" and made it to the front of the hotel!

After the hotel "found" our boxes, we loaded them up we went to the convention center.
After more search and find...and another few wrong turns....we found where we needed to be. As we turned the corner at the conventions center loading dock, we came face to face with this... (blurry photo...a drive by photo shooting!)...it's the SEI semi. (And the same thing that I freaked out about seeing the first time I worked for Kim. For scrapbookers, that semi means there's good stuff in that there!!!!)
I had to laugh because I felt that way the first time I saw it...now it's just old hat to me!

When we got there, Bev and Leanne had been there for a bit working before we arrived and the grid was up. Sherry snapped this picture, because she was like WOW!(what a mess, right?! And this is only one booth space, we always have 3 or 4 booths, so it's really this mess X 4!!!) This is how it starts! See....it's ALOT of HARD WORK!
So, after a quick meet and greet...we got busy!

We worked our little buns off and the girl kept working as I set off at 6pm to teach my Scraptique class. I had 100 women signed up for class, so it was a big one!

It was a *FABULOUS* class! I had so much fun!!!! And as I was getting started, I got a shout out from a couple of girls from Savannah about 1/2 of the way back. OLD FRIENDS who drove up from Savannah to come to the convention!!!! And they were in my class!
HOW EXCITING!!!!!! (Hi Girls!!) And it was so hot in there....I made some new friends and even one who gave me her paper fan, so I am wasn't as hot as I was!!!

After class, I went back to the booth and we worked until 10pm on the booth.
(They kick you out at 10pm...we weren't done, but we had to go!)

Then we had to hoof it a few blocks back to the hotel. (with the parking costs being anywhere from $8 to $18, we did a bunch of walking this trip!)

We picked up some dinner TO GO at the sports bar in the hotel, because we were all so exhausted we just wanted to veg out. (remember, I never went to bed and it's now about 11pm) So, we find our room on the Concierge level (woo woo) and open the door.

Look at this....NICE..........and see that white thing at the end of the bed? Yep, that's one of those white hotel robes! How cool is that? (except they only gave us one....and there are TWO of us! So, we ordered up another robe for the 2nd night. We were too tired to care on this night!)
And we had a bag of nuts by the bed and mints on the pillow. Classy!

And here are the remnants of our bed picnic. We had quesadillas and nachos, which we split. (have I mentioned we BOTH LOVE MEXICAN FOOD?) And we followed that up with a piece of divine carrot cake that we shared, until we were about to burst! Not Classy! And there is also a pic of the water bottle we shared because we were completely outraged that if you weren't paying attention and drank THIS BOTTLE OF WATER.......they will charge you $4.00!! Isn't this picture hilarious?!?! I was going for "Outraged!"

(ok, ok..I know I look like a demon spawn...but again remember....no sleep last night, flew 1/2way across the country, worked all day building booth and working on booth and taught 1 1/2 hour class to 100 women and it's now Midnight.......I WAS DEAD TIRED!!!)


Cue....passing out..............


FRIDAY MORNING....
(opening day of show)Here are Sherry and I on opening morning in my beloved Bind-It-All Section.
(Have I mentioned recently how much I Y my BIA?!?!)

This photo was taken like 5 minutes before the show opened. And as soon as the doors were opened, I heard the feet of some crazy lady running....and I was thinking....wow, she's looking for a good deal! And one moment later....she slammed right into me!
Turns out....I was what she was looking for!!! It was my old friend Trish R. from Savannah! (you see....she had emailed me quite a while back to ask if I was working at CKC-Charlotte and I told her I wasn't, because at the time my nieces wedding would be the same weekend. Well, along the way, the date got moved back a week to get the church. And at the last minute....Kim needed me to go. So, I went.)

Anyway, Trish had run into the other Savannah girls and they told her I was there teaching, and apparently she was a little excited!!!! (because, I wasn't supposed to be there!
Isn't that sweet?!?



So, that was a super happy start to my Friday! A huge hug from a good friend!


So, on Friday night, I taught Scraptique again. Another *spectacular* class with a bunch of *fantastic* ladies. Oh, man I had some sweeties in this class! Really enjoy this one!

When I was finished, we walked back to the hotel and went to get dinner.
Surprisingly, I can't remember what we ate for dinner. I have no idea.....

After dinner, we went back to our rooms. So, of course, Sherry and I had to take some silly "bathrobe" pictures, since we made sure we had 2 robes this time. Ya, were pretty much dorks! On Saturday, I was able to snap this picture with one of the "Savannah girls," my friend Joy P., while she was doing the altered clipboard make-n-take in the booth. Cute pic!
It was nice to see you, Joy!


And lastly, I wanted to include this photo with my friends from Rusty Pickle, whose booth was directly across from ours this show. It's Alaina, ME and whatever his name is?!!!!
(this is totally a joke....every single show he puts a different name on his nametag. And this show I even threw out some suggestions of what he might use as his alias next show!
I'm not naming him, just in case......)


And...I'm looking forward to next time.......

What a *FANTASTIC* trip!!

Another city, another CKC Convention...

Welcome to Valley Forge, PA!

I've never been to Philly before and if you can believe it, I never even made it to get a "real Philly Cheese Steak!"
And I didn't get to see the Liberty Bell, either.

I was actually pretty disappointed, but some trips are just like that. This one we were real busy and I taught a lot of classes, (6 classes for a total of 7 teaching hours) so we didn't even go out for a relaxing dinner until Saturday. And we went to this Irish pub and the food was so good! Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Anyway...on to the good stuff!

The booth...we had lots of great product.
KaiserCraft...if you've not heard of them, check them out here. They really caused a splash at CHA-Summer!

Prima....flowery goodness. An addiction for sure!

Fancy Pants...YUM!! I just love the About A Boy line.
With a bunch of boys to scrap for, I am always looking for boy lines that I love. And this one fits the bill!
And of course, Bind It All! My single most favorite scrapbooking tool this year! What fun! And the Round-It-All is a close 2nd Place! And have you had a chance to check out the DreamKuts? If not, and you love to make cards....
this tool is fantastic!!!!! See all the Yummy Bind-It-All bags hanging on the back wall! Love 'em!!! This is Alex Ann. She was my roommate this trip and she's so funny! She's has 3 kids and she's like a super mom!


The best thing about a job you travel for, besides going to all the neat places I get to go, it getting to meet people. If you've met me in person or know me, you quickly figure out that I am a social butterfly. I am most happy when surrounded by people and if those people happen to be scrapbookers, than I am overjoyed because we all share a common bond. And this trip was a treasure trove for making and actually "meeting" new friends!

First, there are all the wonderful women in my classes! What a bunch of sweeties!!!! Smart and talented women, who could possibly teach me a thing or two about scrapbooking!

(and I met one new friend, who we both swear that we know each other, but couldn't find the connection....talk about driving you crazy! But, she and her friends were so sweet!)

Then, I had a red-headed beauty who was quick to chat and smile ever time I ran into her after class! I love people like her! (I just wish I was better with names.....it's just so hard when you meet hundreds of people in 3 days!!!)This is a pic of me and my friend Kelli! I met her thru the online scrapbooking site... ScrapbookerOnline.com. Those women on there are such a blast and so talented, too!

This is a pic of me and my new friend Julie. What a doll she is! She even offered to cook me dinner on Saturday night because she was grossed out by the dinner (if you can even call it that) that Alex Ann and I ate during the crop on Friday night. Isn't that so sweet!?

Julie is the mother to one little cutie-pie little boy and based on how sweet she was to us....I can tell she's a rockin' awesome momma! (and she's smart to boot -- a college professor!!) Like I said, I'm lucky to get to meet people like this! She sat with Alex Ann and I and kept us company while we worked at the crop. Then, she helped us with boxing stuff up and even offered to carry stuff. How sweet is she?!


I also met a new friend from Technique Tuesday...Sylvia! She was teaching the TT classes before and after my classes on Friday and Saturday (we were sharing the room!)

I wish I could have taken her class...I heard lots of good reviews! And who doesn't love Technique Tuesday?!

(and then I learned my friend Ana from TT has moved to my home state of Kansas...about an hour away! We are trying to make plans to crop together very soon! YAY!!)


One of the best things about this trip was my plan to meet up with Kim Frantz, who is a talented designer on the WorldWin Papers and The Paper Mill Store Design Teams with me.Since our team is spread all over the US and Canada...these opportunities to meet don't always present themselves. So, I was very excited to be able to hook up with Kim!

And we had a lot of fun taking this silly photo! (note to my boss, Kim H.....did you know the GGM works on leather purses and the RIA can stand in for a haircut?!)
I know...we are dorks! But, we were having FUN!!!

(and if you click on the FUN picture, you can watch a silly movie that Kim made of our short time together.....ignore me flitting around like a "Breck Girl"....nervous habit. Plus, I was checking on the booth to see if Alex Ann needed help.)


So, as much as I was looking forward to this trip already....I was OVERJOYED when out of the blue, one of my favorite scrapper idols sent me an email (yes, little ole' me) and asked if we could meet, since she was coming to the convention just for fun!!! And that was and easy answer for me....YES!

So, while I was talking to Kim...along came Emilie Ahern. (and Linda Barber was with her!) Turns out Emilie had been calling my cell phone trying to find me, but I couldn't get a signal in the convention center, so I didn't know. Bummer!
And she was looking for me!!! YAY! So, I intoduced Emilie to Kim and Emilie introduce Kim and I to Linda. (Linda works for Simple Scrapbooks and also is on the American Crafts Design Team. She's super talented, too!)

We all visited for about 10 minutes and took some quick photos. I love this one of Emilie and I.

Isn't she so cute?!?!
And she INSPIRES ME so much!
(and has two of the cutest red-head girls you've ever seen!)

And she has the same taste as me, too. She was wearing a shirt that I own, too. (It's one of my favorites...in fact, I had worn it 2 nights before while teaching my first class!)

Emilie....YOU TOTALLY ROCK!!!!!!!


Now, for the HUGE celebrity sighting story....

...so, on Thursday morning on the way to set up I passed a women on the way to the gym. She had her hair pulled back and at first it didn't compute. I smiled and said hi...like I would to anyone....and as we were equal to each other, I saw her eyes and I realized it was Stacy Julian.

Well, you know me and my mouth, and I exclaimed, "Shut Up! You're Stacy Julian!" (and I probably would have given her a playful shove when I said Shut Up...if we had been face-to-face, rather than passing each other!)

Stacy laughed.

I loved that I met her. Being real. On the way to work out.
Not in the "mode." I know "the mode." You have to get yourself there to successfully do this job.

It's hard being "on" all the time. When sometimes all you want to do is collapse. Or be alone. Don't get me wrong. I do love it. LOVE MY JOB. But, sometimes it is hard.

And I found Stacy to be very "real." Friendly. Accommodating to my Sophmoric crush on her. And she was kind.

I introduced myself. We discussed a mutual friend. (Hi Lain!)
I met her mother. (who Stacy looks like) No autograph. No photo. Just her time. And I was overjoyed!

Just that quick moment in the hallway, made me so happy! Great way to start the convention.

So, although I knew she was around...I didn't see her for a few days. She was teaching classes. I was teaching classes.

But, on Saturday morning, I was counting my class kits at a table and Stacy was at the next table over signing autographs and taking photos. So, I moved over next to her when there was a lull in the line and I was happy to learn she remembered me. (seriously, when you meet as many people as she does...I didn't think she would. But, she did.) And you know what...I found her to be funny, kind and genuine. Very Real. And that's good in my book!

I thought about getting her autograph. But, I don't have her book with me. Or a copy of Simple Scrapbooking.
So, I choose to skip that.

But, I did ask for a photo. And she was gracious and this photo makes me super happy! And reminds me of a woman who inspires me.

WANNA WIN A ZUTTER ROUND IT ALL?!?!?!

So...do you want to win a Zutter Round-It-All?!?!

This fabulous corner rounder will cut acrylic, chipboard, clipboard, leather, tin and about 6-9 sheets of cardstock at a time and round it into a perfect corner. THIS TOOL ROCKS!!!!!!

So, if ya wanna win one....go thee right now to the Scrapbooks 'n Stickers Blog and leave us a comment there on why you think you deserve to win the RIA!

But get there quick, the drawing will be on Sat., Aug. 9th!

BEST OF LUCK TO ALL OF YOU!

xoxo~
Roxann

CKC - Manchester, New Hampshire

I know, I know......

...it seems a bit silly to be blogging about my last "work trip" when I am currently gone on my next "work trip." But, since I have been so busy, that's exactly what I am doing!

To my delight, as I was flying into Manchester, I much enjoyed the scenery. It was beautiful, and to my surprise, I saw so much color. More like Fall, than like impending Summer. I snapped this at the airport while waiting for Tim to pick me up. Work was super busy, like always. Set up always takes longer than you wish it would, but it's just part of the gig. Really it's not too bad. It's kinda a challenge and sometimes like completing a giant 3-D puzzle. And it's exhausting.

So, we followed set-up with a bite to eat in the hotel bar and I calmed down w/ this.

A Stoli Vodka Martini. It was so fun. Fruity and it had a lighted ice cube in it!

Speaking of FUN....this is Kim's hubby, Tim. (Yep....Tim and Kim....aren't they just so cute!) Anyways, this is the first time I had met him and he is such a fantastic guy. The most fun about getting to know him was to see how much he loves my good friend (and boss) Kim. I have no doubt, he'd give her the moon! (and does!) He worships the ground she walks on....and it's just so sweet! I really enjoyed seeing them together and how they mesh together. They brought their cutie-pie daughter Jordan with them on this trip. She's such a sweetie. And, that girl can scrapbook!!! (more on this in a moment!)

Speaking of scrapbooking....I had my weekly WorldWin Papers deadline while I was gone, so on Thursday night....I created this beauty. It's WorldWin Cascata and Vellum and Zsiage patterned papers. I just loved the funky fold I came up with for this one!

Apparently, so did someone else.

Because I had the card in the booth to show it to Kim and someone STOLE IT!!!!
(I was kinda irritated at first, but have decided to take it as a compliment,
even though it's so frustrating!!)

Oh...and the funnest thing happened on Saturday! I was at my Bind-It-All demo table and a cute lady walked by. She looked familiar, but I don't know anyone up in NH. But, just as I was about to dismiss her as familiar...I saw her name badge.

Mary Frances F.

And then it hit me.....she's the owner of a scrapbooking message board I frequent...
www.scrapbookeronline.com !!

And sure enough, it was her!!!

I was so excited! I grabbed her and hugged her! I was so happy!

She was at the show teaching some classes using.....THE BIND-IT-ALL!!!!!
(and lucky for me her class was the "Ultimate Teachers' Gift" so I bought 2 of her
extra kits and took them home to put together for the boys' teachers! ----
look for pics of these in the next post!)

So, that was totally fun!

The rest of the week we were so busy. I didn't take a picture from Thursday night until Saturday. After breaking down the booth, we went to a fantastic Italian place down the street from our hotel. While we were waiting, we took some fun photos.

Jordan wanted to take some pics w/ my camera, so I let her. Here are Kim and I.
Thought this one was a really cute photo! Nice job, Jordan!!
Then, she wanted to take the "silly" pics! So, I played along....

...then, it was my turn to snap one of her! Then, I was telling Jordan about my boys saying "Peace Out Home Dog!" and teaching the saying and the silly motions that go with it to their little sister.

Jordan found this to be hilarious!

So...she took the pics of me doing it.


Peace.


Out. Home. Dog. And yes, I followed these pics with a fantastic dinner of Veal in a
sherry sauce with Asparagus. It was delicious!!!! (no wonder I came home 5lbs. heavier than when I left Kansas the week before!! Ha ha!)


All in all....it was a fantastic time.

And Jordan and I really bonded.
She shared so many of her purchases with me. (sweet little thing)

And best of all...she made me a scrapbook with the sweetest message ever! Jordan....you rock!!!! :D

Who wants a great deal?!?!?!

THE *ROXY* SPECIAL!!


So...as most of you know....I work for a fantastic lady, who owns an online store and travels w/ her store to the Creating Keepsakes Conventions, Scrapbook Expos and Great American Scrapbooking Conventions.
She is based in Ft. Myers, Florida and has some great products.

One of these products is the Zutter Bind-It-All!! I've posted about it before and how much I love it!!

So.....we were discussing the Bind-It-All on my WorldWin DT yahoo group and there was interest in buying one. So, I email Kim and asked her if she could make us a deal....so she did!!! ('cause she rocks!)

And then, I asked her if I could offer it to my friends...and she said yes!!!

So....here you go.......


GO TO scrapbooksnstickers.com

If you buy the Bind-It-All for $59.99

You'll get a set of 5 packages of O-Wire Binds for FREE!!!!
(these are a 3/4" bind...a middle-size bind, perfect for most projects)

These packages each have 2- 12" binds, for a total of 10 binds
and the package includes one of each of these colors:
chocolate brown, red, black, white and silver!!!!

AND THAT'S NOT ALL!!!!!

If you want any of the Bind-It-All Accessories....such as the
carry bag, the tool kit, the wire cutters, the idea book, etc......

by entering the code:

ROXY

...you will get 25% off all the accessories you need!!


Isn't she awesome to offer this deal?!?!!!!!!


Keep in mind...we have free shipping over $50, so the purchase of the Bind-It-All comes with FREE SHIPPING!!!! So, check out the other great products Kim has. She carries Fancy Pants, Prima, KaiserCraft, 7 Gypsies, Teresa Collins, Tim Holtz Grungeboard and much, much more!!!

Go here Scrapbooks'nStickers.com to get this great deal!

(offer good for 1 month from 4-08-08)

It's April, but I'm no fool!

Ok...I know that's debatable!! Ha ha!!

Seriously, can you believe it's April!?!?!? I CAN NOT!!

And it's like 40 degrees today w/ a cold North wind here in Kansas. Brrrr!!!


Well, I'm on my way out of town again. This time I'm off to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in St. Louis, Mo., by way of dropping M and G off at Gramma and Grampa's in Tulsa.
(serious detour!)
So, I'm off to drive the 4 hours to Tulsa. Then, tomorrow morning I head to the airport.

Trying to wrap up all that last minute stuff. Why is leaving so stressful?

Lots of stuff going on here.
Really a lot to tell.
But, I don't have the time to dedicate to it right now.


So....everyone have a nice week and I'll try to check in while gone!
Maybe even post to the blog if I have time!!

xoxo

Roxann

So....who wants to hear about San Francisco?!?!

So, the night before I was to leave for San Francisco, guess who got sick?! Yep, it was me! Now I know that it was food poisoning, but at the time, I didn't know what was wrong. I just knew I was severely ill.

Ike kept telling me there was no way I could go. But, I wanted to go. I had to go. I had a non-refundable plane ticket and I had 2 classes to teach. So, I took a handful of Immodium AD and one of my $39/a pill, anti-nausea drugs left over from my pregnancy with Marinne. (yes, slightly expired, but I was desperate!!) And I got on a plane to Denver.


When I made my connection in Denver, I was still ill, but feeling better.
The medicines were working. My main problem was that I had only slept a total of 50 minutes before we left at 4am for the airport. I was EXHAUSTED!!!

So, I tried to cut my layover time down and get to San Francisco a bit quicker by trying to get an earlier standby flight out of Denver. So, I sat at the gate wondering if I would make the earlier flight. I was literally the last person given a ticket. And when I went aboard, I was OVERJOYED to find out this was a HUGE airplane and they had given me a seat in
FIRST CLASS!!!! WOO HOO, BABY!!

So, as I am sitting there getting settled into my nice, cushy reclining seat. (with lumber support and a massaging feature, I might add!) I had so much room, I couldn't even touch the the seat in front of me with my feet!
It was awesome!!!!

Truly...it's the only way to fly!


And before taking off....the CAPTAIN came back to First Class to introduce himself to us. I was so impressed. So, I took a pic w/ my phone.
Here he is......the Captain of my flight!!

So, this flight was fantastic. I didn't sleep, but I did rest.
And I was super comfy! And they fed me breakfast! Yay!
(I didn't even know they fed people on planes anymore!)

So, when we got to San Fran....I had beat Amber and Aly there.
So, I sat and chilled out while I waited for Amber.

And we had made plans with Leah for My Scrapbook Nook. So, Leah picked Amber and I up and gave us a wonderful tour of the city while we waited for Aly's delayed flight. (delayed by like 4 hours!)

First, we went by the Pier. I really enjoyed the boats. I really wish some had their sails up, that would have been even more beautiful. And of course, I had to see the Golden Gate Bridge.
I know, I know.
A totally tourist-y thing to do...but I was so excited to see it!
And here are Amber and Leah......before the trip to CA, I thought they were just online friends from the Nook. Turns out, they grew up together! I just hadn't heard the story before. So, that was nice for them to get to catch up on old times and family news!
(note: isn't Amber's baby belly just the cutest?!?!)


And, here I am on the beach.....it was FREEZING!!!


And, as a shout out to my boss......an ode to Scrapbooks 'n Stickers for bringing me to CA!


And here are Amber and I sitting at the edge of the beach.
It was so beautiful there!!
The next place we went was called the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre. You can read about it there by clicking on the last tab that says PFA History. It was the most beautiful place!! So peaceful. So gorgeous. It's one of Leah's favorite places and I can see why!

• And, of course, I have to have some silly pictures, too...

In this one I was going for the girl in the dancing with the rose in her mouth.... It seemed funny at the time, but now just appears goofy!
At least it's a good picture!!

And this last picture is for my darling, Logan!
It's of the turtles on the bank. He loves turtles!!! Now after all that, Aly finally made it in and we all went to The Scrapbook Nook store!! And we were so busy drinking in all the scrappy lusciousness and SHOPPING...we didn't take one picture at The Nook! Duh!! But, Amber got some of the most yummy giant Prima's in a can and I got some Stickles (adding to my collection--I couldn't buy much, as my suitcase already weighed 50.0 lbs when I left Kansas!!) and Aly got some of the most gorgeous October Afternoon paper (which is what I would have bought if I had room to bring it home!) If you haven't seen it, go thee to the October Afternoon website and check their stuff out. I love it!! Anyway, it was so much fun to shop at the Nook! It's a big LSS and it's jam packed full of goodies! So, if you are in San Francisco....go to the Nook! You'll love it!


Then, we all went to dinner at Red Robin! It was yummy!
And we decided we should probably head to Pleasanton. (1 hour drive)

So...the Scrapbook Expo show was great!
Here are some pics of the booth!


Yummy KaiserCraft rub-ons and acrylic paints and Prima Crystals! Grungeboard and new Teresa Collins paper! Closeups of the my new friend, Teresa Collins' lines! They are Splendid! FYI Teresa.....Journal It was gone on the first day and Bella Girl and Damask were nearly gone by the 2nd day! People love it!!!! YAY!
(In fact, it sold so fast...I didn't get any!! Boo Hoo!!!)

And my favorite stuff....Bind-It-All and Glue Gun Max!!!! And then there is the story of my classes......
which will be detailed in my next post!!

It was so awesome, it deserves it's own post! :D