Monsters!

Daniel loves to decorate pumpkins. This year we decided to paint faces on instead of carving.























Daniel had decided that he was too old to trick-or-treat --- that was until his sister said she wanted to go (19)! Then he was all ready to go. Maegan even painted his face and her and her friend, Deidra, got all dressed up too. It's all in fun, right?

A few pics from our trip to Sea World last weekend. It was Daniel's first time to Sea World and he LOVED it!!! It really is awesome being able to interact with the animals.

Scrappy Me!

I've been in a scrappy mood lately. Here are a couple of layouts. I've made more but I'm keeping a couple in hiding in case a certain manufacturer ever has a DT call. Sheesh! Do the call already! (hee hee!)

New Round Acrylic Albums

My friend Dionne designed these new round acrylic albums. These are REAL acrylic ... not that bendable plastic that you see out there. Check it out ...

Of course, when you pair a terrific album with GORGEOUS Tinkering Ink paper, you can't go wrong!

If you are interested in the acrylic albums (they come in square and round), go to www.scrapbookvacationclub.com and click on the new store. TFL!

Party On!

Another pic from the retreat. This is Tessa Ann and I having a little libation at the bar.

RETREAT!

So, my dh packed the SUV Tuesday night and I was ready to depart bright and early on Wednesday.

I headed over to Mandarin and D and I grabbed some breakfast and then we were Daytona bound.

We enjoyed a full day at the spa ... UTOPIA! and then spent the remainder of the evening and well into the wee hours of the morning setting up the rooms, stuffing gift bags and doing last minute class preparation.

Thursday afternoon came quickly and we were ready to get our party on!

We tripled in size for this retreat and thankfully we had great staff members and volunteers who we could rely on to run the crop room drawings and man the store while we did all the behind the scenes and taught classes. I want to say a HUGE special thanks to Jenny, Cheryl, Jean, Jacqui, Terry, Claudine, and Debs who went ABOVE AND BEYOND!!! You ladies ROCK!

I thought I was prepared for all the extra work that tripling in size would entail ... NOT! OMG! From the time we got up until we literally passed out at night, it was non-stop running here and there. I've never been so exhausted! I managed to sit and scrap for 2 hours ONE night! That's it! If it weren't for classes, I would have gotten nothing done.

The classes were AWESOME! I took 4 and taught 2. The classes I taught were so well organized and the directions were flawless. The two I taught were filled with old and new friends ... what more could I ask for.

The highlight for me was meeting my idol ... Tessa Ann Watte'. Let me just say, I've idolized her work from afar for years, but meeting her in person and seeing her work and teach in person makes me more in awe of her. She is simply the sweetest, most kind, funny lady I have ever met! She's so awesome and I would love for her to come visit again.

I also got to hang with my pal, Karen Spears from Rusty Pickle. If you've never met Karen, you are missing out! This lady makes me laugh til it hurts!!!! And generous! OMG! Karen is so generous and super sweet! Can't beat that combination! Karen ... me, you and the Discovery Channel (rrrrr!) LOL! Love ya girl!

Time to go and try to recoop some of that lost sleep from the past 5 days. Ta ta!

This is it! This is what it looks like right before SVC at my house. CHAOS!!!! Not one clean surface in the entire scraproom! Boxes of class kits, signs, badges, programs, store stuff, gift bags, oh and few of my favorite scrappy things for me to take. Can't forget the camera! Hmmm ... is all his going to fit in my car along with the 3 boxes and all the racks for the store? Sounds like a job for Charlie! Oh honey .... (have I got a job for you! :) )

On the other hand, I'm so excited about SVC. I'm starting it off with a spa day ... just me, Dionne and Tessa. Ahhh ... mani/pedi, facial and a massage (a/k/a Heaven). Looking forward to finally meeting Tessa in person. She's so my idol! I hope we don't scare her with our insane amounts of hoopla! (hee hee hee!) Also looking forward to just spending some QT with my pals.

I wish the weather were better. Looks like Daytona will be in the midst of a Noreaster all week. Makes for good scrapping weather but hard to take advantage of the beach with all that rain. Sorry for the bad weather Tessa -- not the sunny Florida we were hoping for.

Better go make another list or I'll forget something!