This is going to be a long one (Layouts, cards, pictures oh, my!)

What a busy couple of weeks it has been. I've been out of town for the last couple weekends with only a couple days at home before I had to take off again. 2 weekends ago, my parents treated us to a fun weekend in Portland.

My parents are a hoot. And they know how to have a wonderful time and they definitely showed us a wonderful time. Our hotel caught on fire the 1st night. Yes, seriously. It did. We walked back to our hotel after we all had endulged in a few too many drinks only to come up on a building surrounded with fire trucks and loud alarms. So instead of crashing in our comfy tempurpedic beds upstairs we were all corralled in the lobby.

It was hilarious.

It was around 1 am and *most* hotel guests (ehem, not us) were already in bed...so the lobby was filled with grey haired men and women in black robes----and with some, they had nothing under their robs. I could only imagine their panic. Sound asleep and rudely awakened by the sound of ear peircing alarms and a voice coming on the speakers and telling you to leave your room. Imagine the scramble. Oy. That was a fun night :)

The following night we were treated to the most lovely, to-die-for room at "The Nines" My mom is the queen of getting great deals on super fancy hotels. This one was SO me. Ah, so pretty.

The Nines is a lovely boutique hotel that conveniently sits on the 8th floor above Macy's down town Portland. This hotel is posh, stylish and my beloved color everwhere..."Tiffany box blue" The decor was stunning. Did I say how much I loved it here? LOL!

This was our room (photo courtesy of the website, because I forgot the memory card to my camera. I always do this.lol)





Okay, so I am a dork. The 2nd night we decided to all turn in a bit earlier than we had the night before. Steve of course, crashes out at 10:30 and I was still awake. I sat on that little stool in the bathroom and played with my make up. It was silly, yes. But TOTALLY fun :)

I had a great time hanging out in Portland. {Thanks Mom and Dad for showing us a great time! We needed this.}

The following weekend, I attended a scrapbooking crop with my sister. I packed up my supplies and headed over the mountian to meet up with Heidi. We arrived at the crop in Yahatz, Oregon that evening SO excited! The house was cozy and cute. We had a wonderful time scrapbooking til late in the night and Maggie's amazing food each day. I really had fun playing with my paper and glue again :) If you are ever in the area during one of her crops you should definitely register. I guess they fill up fast. We have had our reservations for over a year. http://www.scrappychicks.net/

This was the house we stayed in. It has a great distant view of the ocean from the cropping room.

Heidi and I had to get out and get some fresh salt water air. The only thing I miss about living on the coast is ocean.

There was TONS of cropping space per guest. We each had our own 6 foot table and they even provided OTT lamps. --> My sis hugging her beloved stash of patterned paper. She created an album that one the "best project" for the retreat :)


This was our room. We had to share with other guests and share beds. Not my favorite part, but it was my sis and I didn't really mind. It just reminded me of being kids again ;)








Here are the layouts and projects I made while I was there. It was so fun to play again!

Well, it's back to the "real world" now and I'm busy catching up on orders and other fun stuff! Have a great weekend!