MegaMeet time and Mother's Day

MegaMeet time finally arrived! I left early Friday morning. It was raining and ugly, not the kind of weather I really enjoy driving myself in. Thank goodness for satellite radio! You can find anything or anyone on there to distract you and keep you company! The drive there was hellish! For those of you that don’t know, I live on the Eastern border of Ohio and MegaMeet was in Novi, Michigan, near Detroit. So I was expecting a long, 3 ¾ hour drive. Well, it turned into a 6 hour drive! It was raining so hard and there were so many trucks that it was difficult to see, so had to slow down under my usual 70 mph. I stopped once for breakfast and since I got an extra coffee, I of course had to make several other pit stops. Finally exited the turnpike, only to find out that 280 was closed. It’s been closed for several years! Why isn’t that included in the Map Quest database!? So I had to follow detour signs which took me through some little town. I finally got on 75 and got into Michigan. The on to 275. I was at exit 8 when I realized that the next exit I needed was 126! There couldn’t be another 100+ miles! So, trying not to cry (I was really fried by then!) I stopped at a BP station and asked for directions. Well, the exit number was different because it was a left exit and had the exit number of route 96. Only another 20 minutes! Yeah! Right! Did I mention that the speed limit in Michigan is 70 (my usual freeway driving speed), which means everyone else goes 80-85! Wholly splashing speedsters! Of course there were accidents all over the place! Well, there were 2; one of which caused me to go 10 mph for 45 minutes! But, 6 hours later, I finally arrived at the convention center!

Arrived just in time to get to my Rusty Pickle class with Sarah Ackerman-Hale. What a sweet girl she is! As soon as I walked in, I recognized Carolyn from WT. So a friendly face and an easy but so cool project tended to calm me down. We made a 2-page layout with pockets, a cool folder, and great little embellishments. I didn’t finish mine. I have yet to decide what I’m going to put on it.

Then off to find Kara at the Deluxe Designs booth (she was wearing the cutest altered jeans!) and Kelly, Mark, Becky, & Angel at Our Scrapbook Treasures. And the Rusty Pickle booth! After doing $77 damage there, I decided to go find my hotel, shower and relax before dinner.

Met Sandy in the lobby of the hotel and we picked up Kara, then off to meet Caroline at Macaroni Grill. What a fun evening of talking and eating! It’s always so great to meet people I’ve “talked” to via a message board for so long! And they are all dolls! I must admit, I was pretty comfortable most of the time, but at times I did feel a bit old and frumpy!

The next day I was up bright and early for free breakfast, check-out and another wonderful Rusty Pickle class. This time we made a very cute accordion album. Again, I didn’t complete it, but will soon!

And finally the shopping! There were so many people and such a big crowd, that I just started on one side and went up and down all the aisles. I was looking at ribbon and a kind person directed me to another booth where they had ribbon for $1 yard, 20 yards for $15! Needless to say, I have 20 more yards of ribbon. Well, actually 23…and a bunch of RP ribbon! Watched a Design Runner, Wishblade, Cricut, and Pazzle demo. The only one I really, really want is a Wishblade. It’s on my list hopefully for end of summer. I didn’t stop at every booth. Just the ones with things I couldn’t buy at home or where they had well advertised sales. The Advantus booth had the Cropper Hopper organizer stuff and I needed some little embellishment boxes. This was also where the Heidi Swapp stuff was, so I found a mask I wanted. As I was standing in line, people were grabbing up all the HS spiral cloth albums. They were selling them half off the sale price. Needless to say, at $4.50, I couldn’t pass up a nice natural color 12x12 one. I resisted more. My bag was getting too heavy! And I hit the Rusty Pickle booth…again. Another $68!

I was actually done by 12:30 so decided to just leave. I was down to $30, so I decided I should get out while the getting was good! I had lunch money, toll money, and a little left over! Found a Mexican restaurant where I had a wonderful fresh veggie black bean burrito, then headed home. Although it was raining, the traffic wasn’t nearly as bad so the drive wasn’t as awful. Except for the part where I started to nod off. It’s scary how you can just fall asleep for a second without even realizing it! So I pulled into a service area and took a power nap. Made it home by 6, so with lunch, the naps, and a few other pit stops, it only took 4 hours to get home! Oh, and by getting on the turnpike in a different place, I didn’t have a detour!

All in all, it was a great experience. I intend to go back next year, a better education MegaMeeter. I will:
Drive up the day before.
Spend the first day shopping.
Spend the 2nd day in classing. Well, maybe I’ll do these 2 days half and half.
And perhaps drive home another day.
And I’ll take more money!

Sunday – Mother’s Day -

What a wonderful family I have!

There was this beautiful PINK gift bag on the table. When Karen got up, I found out it was a gift…from JOSH! He got me 2 huge packs of HP 4x6 photo paper! Talk about a perfect and practical gift! And he sent me the cutest card! Karen works at Yankee Candle, so I got a tart burner I've been wanting (it’s this adorable really detailed garden bench), tarts, and a Stargazer Lily House Warmer.
From Gary I got a GC from Petitti’s Garden Center and a really cool gardening hat. It was such a sweet gift. He knows I think I look awful in hats, but always wear one gardening so as not to burn. We were shopping one day and he had me try on this hat. He loved it on me, but I put it back. I did like it, but didn’t have the $$ at the time. So he snagged one for me when he got the gift card. It has a SPF of 50 and the back comes down over your neck so you don't burn. And it has a strap so it doesn't fly off in the wind (which is a reason I don't wear a hat sometimes!)

Then we went out for a dinner. They wouldn't tell me where we were going till we got there. Our local symphony center opened a restaurant and they were having a buffet, featuring a local chef, Jeff Crystal, who is one of my favorites. Powers auditorium is beautiful and that’s where they had the majority of the buffet set up. Some of it was in the new theatre complex, also. Wonderful food but bad wait staff. She ended up being so snippy Gary was nasty back to her! You know if he gets gruff, things are bad! But we still had a wonderful time! It was just a lovely day!

So now, I’m home, still in my jammies at 2:30. Here are pictures to go along with all the stories!

MEGA MEET PICTURES:


Kara, Caroline, & Sandy at Macaroni Grill




23 yards of Ribbon!

36 sheets of yummy Rusty Pickle paper

And Rusty Pickle goodies to go with the paper. You HAVE to check out the giant chipboard letters!

And the rest of the stuff. Heidi Swapp album & mask, a Fiskars craft drill, botanical rub-ons, Technique Tuesday stamps and chipboard, doo-dads and organizers.

MOTHERS' DAY

The stuff.

The Hat