Saturday, September 15, 2007

Escaping with an Arizona Vacation

Yeah, I know, I've been gone but its for all good stuff. I had to cross the FIFTY finish line which involved lots of lunches and partys and gifts. I had to stretch it out the week before and full 10 days or so after... I'm here to tell you that fifty is indeed Fabulous. There is a calm and ease that doesn't arrive until you cross the threshold. I am absolutely loving it. A stillness and a peace. And thanks to Creative Escape and this great addiction called scrapbooking, a pure joy has been with me for the past two weeks. Pure. Joy.
It was a weeks vacation and I originally regretted scheduling so much time but now I'm so grateful. It was the best thing to do. Hooked up with my peeps, Jeanne and Tanya on Tuesday and we started The AZ Shop dance. We ran into Megan and her luxury tour at Happy Sisters and then stopped at the best box scrapbook store ever, Recollections. Man, I just don't get why Tom Bazzone won't put one of these in Houston. I am back on my letter writing campaign. That store was packed full of scrapbooking ecoutremonts - just the best. I loved the Go West etched acrylic albums, both compass and Christmas themes.
On Wednesday we completed an assignment by my brilliant roomie, Jeanne: photography session with the awesome and fabulous Allison Tyler Jones. In.Her.Very.Own.Studio. We were ROCKSTARS - with a wind machine and lighting and music. It was so amazing. We did combo shots with all 3 of us and then individually. I can't wait to see the proofs - we should be able to view them in a week. It was one of the best things I've ever done - getting good photos at 50 was a brilliant idea. We went onto shop at the Bazzill warehouse, Scrapbooks etc., Mystic Paper, Devine Memories and Melrose Vintage. And yes, all of those were great, each and of themselves but the high from Allisons prevailed. Melrose was an amazing store with a complete line of Anna Griffin merchandise. Oh my. Afterwards we had our circle journal dinner which was great. I miss my Favorite Canadians - all of them. Charleen and Heather each brought a friend, who turned out to be great just like them. We make a good group.
Everyone else has reviewed CE but here are my thoughts (after all it is my blog here). I admire Heidi Swapp for being so open and real. For all the negativity and hype about her, she is one very talented woman who opens her heart to us. I remain a big fan - she has great ideas and I will continue to take classes, even if it is in Chinese, i.e. Scrap etc 2008.
PS - I learned that my friend, Tanya is really a rocket scientist with a Phd and so now we have to call her Doctor Princess. :)
I was in awe of Tracy Niehaus' project - the see-through folder and I want tomake more. My goal is to complete all circle journals next 2 weeks and then all projects in the next 60 days. I'm happy to be home with no commitments this weekend. Lots of free scrapping time.
During Allison's keynote address, she showed one of our session photos and it was if time stood still when I watched the photo. She had us stand up in front of the crowd of 600. Way cool.
Sunday we drove up to Sedona for the day and looked around. Very cool. Heather finished her Carol Wingert journal from last year for her Sedona trip and did an amazing job. Canadians are very creative and resourceful.
PB delivered the replacement armoire and its now packed full of PTD (albums and projects to do). That'll keep me out of the stores for a while plus the bill from Arizona Vacation. And I'm going to have a root canal sometime soon.
And I'll close on a solemn note. My sister, Judi's father-in-law, Rudi Roemlein passed away on Thursday after battling prostate cancer. He was a good man and father and will be missed deeply by his family. I am sad for his wife, Kathleen who is an amazing Irish grandmother and my brother in law, Dennis. My sister and kids are on their way to NY for the funeral on Monday. I hope my Dad was at the gate to meet him. Den is now in The Club.

1 comment:

Pamela Jane said...

Know what you mean -- so many temptations, never enough time to finish. Have finally unpacked my boxes (yes, shipped) from CE, but have yet to re-organize the parts and finish the projects. Shall we form a CE-help group so we can push each other to the finish line?