Hopefully I can catch up...

Alright let's try to catch up on the last month worth of craziness in my life. Once I'm caught up hopefully I can go back to updating more often.

Ok, so I left off on my last post about my trip to France. I returned Tuesday, April 8. On April 12th, I have my first of two "Dear Mother" classes. They went great. I had 17 people in class and it was a handful to make sure everyone was able to get enough guidance so that they didn't feel left out. I have so many friends taking this class it was wonderful seeing everyone. My highlight of this class was the two grandsons of a lady and she paid for them to make the book for her daughter. I had a poem printed out that said "when I was a little GIRL" they laughed at that one and said their mother would find it so entertaining as she only has boys. They wouldn't stop laughing at that. I guess I need to be more careful and make them more generic next time.

By next Tuesday, tax day, I was on another plane, this time only to Nashville, TN, only 4.5 hours long.


I flew with Laurie G. and we met up with Veronica L. at the hotel. Which BTW was gorgeous, we stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort. We had dinner and off to bed as we had an exhausting day.

The next day we got up and headed to do some LSS shopping.


We ended up at 4 different LSS. All very different and unique. I think my favorite was the one in Clarksville, TN, I think it was called Memories in Bloom. While at the store, Veronica mentioned the song "Last Train to Clarksville" by the Monkees. The lady at the store says that the Clarksville in the song is the same town we were in. So it was a great trip to memory lane, given that I love the Monkees, only because my mom used to listen to them.


We had a portable GPS and noticed that Kentucky was really close we decided to cross the border and just hit another state. That was fun, we totally missed the KY border sign, so we turned back but I ended up in a road to Fort Campbell Army Base. It took me forever to get out. But we headed back and we got the picture.


After that we headed back to Nashville. We met up with Erin and Deb
at the hotel. We had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. For the first 2 days I ate at 4 different places that I had never been to. It was a great experience.

On Thursday, we got our stuff for Scrap ETC and we went again on another shopping spree. We visited another 4 stores, including the Scrap ETC on-site store at the hotel. It was a busy day. We returned to the hotel and the Scrap ETC event began. We also took our first class. By the time we finished we were exhausted.

On Friday we took more classes and Erin and I stayed up and cropped at our hotel room. We finished some of the classes we had done in the day.

Saturday was another busy day with classes. And continued shopping. I was a bad girl on shopping. I needed a whole suitcase for all my shopping. Overall the event was just ok. I think it was their first time with this large amount of people and so it was a little disorganized. Also, they are in the process of switching owners so hopefully next year it will be a better event for them. My favorite class was Heidi Swapp's Class. Which I haven't photographed it, as it's all still packed in my suitcase because I have been too busy.

On Sunday April 20, I went and took a class at Scrappuccino from Debby Schuh. She is one of "Celebrity Teachers" that I stalk her blog constantly.



That class alone was so worth the trip. She is wonderful. I love her techniques. I love the store too. Lola one of the co-owners was also so wonderful and had that "Southern hospitality"

I also visited the Belle Meade Plantation on Sunday.


It's been restored to the 1890's era when it was at it's height of purebreed horse breeding. One of it's premium horses from that era is the great-great-grandfather to Seabiscuit. It was great to relive that era. Although I must say how sadden I am at the horrible housing and treatment of slaves.

On Monday, I headed down to Memphis. On the way I stopped at the LSS it was great. My all time favorite store in TN has to be Eclectica Scrapbooks in Memphis. It was a wonderful variety, with the latest and greatest. Oh I could had done so much more damage, but by then I had put myself on a budget and did good there. I also went to an Archiver's, and it was ok for me. I think I need to go to one that is huge so I get that feeling that everyone is talking about.

While in Memphis I cross the border to Mississippi and Arkansas. I visited 4 states in one week. AWESOME! I also got to see Beale St. But it's not the same being in that area alone. But I'm glad I got to do that drive.

On Tuesday I got to do one of the highlights of that trip. I went to GRACELAND! Wow that is just amazing. I have never been a crazy fan of Elvis, OK I know his famous songs but not much more, he died when I was 2 months old. But since I was there I needed to go. I am now an Elvis crazy fan. It was a lot of fun. My favorite place in Graceland is the Racquetball room, it's where they display his gold and now platinum records. Wow, it is amazing, those 4 walls are so tall and so many records to count. I learn a fact that he one of the greatest recording artist in the world without having ever performed outside the United States. Here are some pics from my fave places in Graceland.



Check out that date, June 21, 1977, I was only 6 days old. Born on June 15.









On Wednesday, 4/23, I had to drive back to Nashville to catch a 230pm flight. Got home safe and sound. But work has been super busy and I have had to work Mids (12am-10am) shifts since I was attending meetings with the French on their regular work hours. So for the last 2 weeks I haven't really been in the office during the day.

I have also been very busy outside of work. We had NSD events at PMP the first weekend in May. I even had to work at my regular job after the all day crop at the store. I was up for more than 28 hours that day. I was exhausted. Then I had to teach my 2nd "Dear Mother" class, oh yeah, and somewhere I had to kit this class too. I have been kitting my next class which will be on June 7th.

For Mother's Day we took my mom to Napa Valley, we went to see the Old Faithful Geyser in Calistoga. We also went to the Petrified Forrest and Lake Berryessa. She had tons of fun. We had a wonderful day as a family. I will post pics later as those are at home.

Last Sunday my cousin, Gabriel and I got to go to a Giants game. They lost, but it was a great day of fun at the park.

Which brings me to yesterday, as you all know we have zoo at the house, one dog, two cats and 4 parakeets. Well one parakeet, the gray one died back in January 9, 2008. We took her to the vet and got meds for her but still only survived a few more weeks. Birds at too small of creatures to figure out what is wrong with them. Yesterday, I found the green one dead on the bottom of the cage. He had never been the same since his partner died 4 months ago. We are not sure if he was sick, he didn't seem so, or if he died of old age. But I'm really sad to see them go, they are a big part of our family. Here is an old pic of the 4 of them together.


Now we are down to 2 birds, 2 cats and one old dog (who is in excellent health, took him to the vet and got a whole workup and he is in great shape).

Well if you have survived this motherload of update, one whole month worth of info. You are a trooper. Thanks for reading my crazy life. Now I promise to give more updates more often.

TTYL.