Scrap-stravaganza!

So last weekend my sister and I had our annual Scrap-stravaganza! Ok, really we just get up ridiculously early for a Saturday, drive two and a half hours, and meet up with other crazy scrapbooking women to learn new techniques, buy fun paper and embellishments, and for a moment, forget the responsibilities of being a wife and mother. It's the ultimate "me" time.

This year Erin and I decided that we were going to stay overnight and attend the crop (which didn't happen--I'll get to that later). So we arrived super early, Starbucks in hand and sleep in our eyes, to attend the first class. Yes, that's right. We take classes. And we pay for them. And it's something we enjoy. Go figure, right? Our first class was called, "All Boy" and we completed an adorable layout which I ultimately used to finally finish Jacob's SECOND birthday party layout. I'm a year behind, I know, but each of these layouts takes time and lots of it. For once it would be nice to not be a perfectionist so I could actually get things done.

This is my "desk" during my "class"

After our first class we ventured onto the "floor" to check out all of the exhibitor booths. There were rows and rows this year. It seemed much more crowded than last year. So much so that Erin and I had to get out the map (yes, there was a map) and draw out our plan of attack. We figured we could wind our way up and down the aisles and cover half of the ground before lunch and our second class. We did pretty good, and I must say, we didn't break the bank either. Last year I got a little crazy, buying everything that I thought I could ever use to scrapbook. Since I still have about 88% of last year's goods still in their wrappers I came prepared with a list of the essentials and stocked up only on these. Mickey Mouse stickers for our Disneyland trip (which hasn't happened yet) and fish embellishments for Jacob's "first catch" page.

After lunch we attended our second class. Not my favorite experience. One crabby lady yelled at the woman scrapping next to her. Maybe she forgot to eat, I don't know, but whatever the excuse, it was weird. And uncomfortable. The class kind of went downhill from there and Erin and I were both a little anxious that the Angry Scrapper might lose it again, so we decided to ditch class and go back to the shopping.

We enjoyed the ultimate no kids dinner at PF Changs (we were there for an hour and a half and didn't have to leave because our kids were screaming or because someone had pooped). It was awesome and really a good time as sisters to connect, to process everything we've been through this past year, and to experience some healing. It was really good for my soul.

So after unwinding we decided that the last thing we wanted to do was join a room full of women (meaning over 200 scrappers) and scrapbook. That sounded too noisy, too cramped, and too estrogen-filled. So instead we called room service at our hotel and ordered TV trays. Yep, no food, just the tray please. We spread out all of our paper, stickers, and embellishments onto our beds and scrapped until 1:00 am, Olympics on in the background.

This was my scrapping station

The weekend really couldn't have been any better. And as awesome as it was to spend a day with just my sister and without any responsibilites, we both talked the whole way home about our kids and what they might have done with their dad's that weekend. I guess I owe my hobby to them in a way, because without them, I wouldn't have so many precious memories to fill the pages of my scrapbook.