I'm back from my crafting retreat, and, as usual, it was over way too fast! I believe there were 36 (?) of us this time, so imagine a high volume of chatter pierced with frequent squeals and shrieks of hysterical laughter. We scared the local restaurants by our sheer numbers, but Archivers wept with joy every time a batch of us showed up. (You can imagine how much we all spent as we enabled one another!)
I apologize in advance for having no pictures. I decided to focus more on just BEING rather than photographing everything. And this was a good choice for me being in a room with so much talent. If a bomb had gone off, half the stars in the cardmaking world would have been history!
Here's the breakdown of who was there:
Our hostesses were Jennifer McGuire and Jana Millen. Jana is the organizer of the event and plans everything from coordinating our hotel roomies to airport shuttles to amenities to everything else you can imagine might come up when hosting such an event.
I sat across from Britta Swiderski and between Kelly Booth and Chari Moss (who makes incredible buttons, btw)! Kelly was my roommate again (as was Linda Baker aka: rcwidow on Flickr), and we had a lot of fun - especially on Saturday night when Kelly and I managed to get drunk with laughter. Seriously, I mean it - neither of us had anything to drink, but we were about as slap-happy as two schoolgirls at a frat party. I was sitting there, sweat running down my brow as I raced to meet a blog hop deadline - and there's Kelly, giggling and talking about absolutely nothing but sending us both into laughing fits til I thought my sides would split. The woman could have said, "Please pass the salt," and we'd have both been on the floor.
Friends it was great to see again included Candi Wilkerson and her daughter Christy. (Christy is an amazing baker, but this time she made caramel corn that was absolutely sinful is was so good! I brought home two bags - one each for Spouse and Gigi.)
It's a miracle those two bags made it into the house.
I had more mini-reunions with Ginger Rolfs (who is hysterically funny), Heather Ruwe, Lisa Spangler, Heidi Crowl and her business partner/BFF, Terra Cameron, Joy Ott (always the most productive of us), Kate Farricker, Kathy Racoosin, Kelly Alvarez, Kristina Werner (who did everyone's nails again!), Latrice Murphy, Sarah Moerman and her mom, Margaret Kapteyn, Sandi Neumann, Sharon Klima, Stephanie Klauck (whose laugh is worth a million dollars), and Tina Schrof (who should get a special award for always being at the ready when anyone needed anything - and who also needs a leash for her phone because that naughty machine is always sneaking away from her).
People I knew from online and finally got to meet in person were Mary Dawn Quirindongo and Laura Bassen. (Mary Dawn is as crazy in real life as she is online, and Laura's got skin I would kill for!!!)
New friends included Danielle Walls, Julie Campbell, Leslie Hanna, Teri Anderson (who has a delightfully "sneaky" laugh that is impossible to resist), Windy Robinson, and Lisa Adametz.
Although there was much shared laughter, I think the funniest moment for me was when I voiced surprise at a certain salty mama's crying at the earlier departure of some of our number, and she replied, "All the bitches be leavin'!"
That comment pretty much brought down the house.
I love these women, and I so enjoy my time with them. I wish we were all in the same place, but then I guess it wouldn't be as special.
Thank you, ladies, for bringing me so much joy!
And thank you, readers, for all the joy you bring!
Have a blessed day!
Deborah
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Sounds like you had a fabulous time! You got to spend time with my Fawnie buddies, aren't Chari, Kelly and Britta the sweetest? Thanks for the recap and the run-down of who was who at the retreat!
Posted by: nancyk | April 9, 2013 at 12:08 PM
Fabulous recap! So glad I got to meet you! Cracking up that you like my skin! I'd prefer you like my cards than my sagging, age spotted skin, LOL!
Posted by: Laura Bassen | April 9, 2013 at 12:24 PM
So glad you had a great time!! Time with women friends is priceless!! Sounds like a star studded event!!
Posted by: Judy Jung | April 9, 2013 at 12:33 PM
Deborah, you had me giggling again just reading this! It was so good to see you again!
Posted by: CandyW | April 9, 2013 at 01:20 PM
Don't you believe Laura has age-spotted and wrinkled skin - if she does, she's hiding it extremely well! (I DO like your cards, chica!)
Posted by: Deborah | April 9, 2013 at 01:56 PM
What a lovely description of retreat :) I had such a wonderful time and was so glad to meet you :)
Posted by: Danielle Walls | April 9, 2013 at 02:32 PM
It was so wonderful to meet you, Deborah. And your description of retreat is perfect. I'm already looking forward to the next one. Is that crazy? ;) Big hugs to you! xoxo
Posted by: Lisa - papergrace | April 9, 2013 at 02:49 PM
wow! sounds amazing! what an A-list of crafters!
Posted by: pai | April 9, 2013 at 03:57 PM
It was such a wonderful time! I enjoyed meeting everyone. Thanks for including me and thanks to you and Kelly for sharing your room with me. You are the best!
Posted by: Linda C Baker | April 9, 2013 at 10:23 PM
I'm so glad you had a great time, I'll miss the pics, but I'd love to see what you have created during the retreat. TFS
Posted by: Loly Borda | April 9, 2013 at 11:57 PM
Oh my goodness ~ what a weekend this would have been. What fun to spend time with some of the most incredible card makers.
Posted by: Dawn T | April 10, 2013 at 02:59 AM
Sooooooo Much Fun....I LOVED every Minute of this Retreat..it just went by too Quick!! :( xoxo
Posted by: kelly Booth | April 11, 2013 at 08:59 AM