It was love at first sight.

While in Grand Rapids I went to see a store called Pages In Time.  I have to admit to dragging my feet a bit about going to a scrapbook store while at a scrapbook convention but almost had a heart attack when I walked in.  I mean, seriously.  I have never, ever, ever in my life seen a store this big with so much scrappy goodness crammed in there.  I never even knew stores this big existed!  The above photo is just one - yes one! - aisle of paper.  There were about 5 more like this not to mention all the embellishments, albums and other yummy scrappy goodness.

Now you have to keep in mind that my local store is small.  I love them but their total paper including cardstock isn't even this much as seen above.  So as you can imagine I was not prepared.

But the story gets better.  I went with Staci Etheridge who was there teaching at the GASC also.  Want to see her reaction????

There "might" have been some skipping up and down the aisles.  You see, she was not prepared either.  I am not sure anyone really could be.  They should probably hang a warning sign outside the store for out-of-towners!

So there was Staci and I acting like total idiots running all over and shouting back and forth to each other about the yumminess we were both finding. 

Seriously.  Total idiots.

Want to know the ridiculous part of the whole story?  We only had 15 minutes.  We were due back at the hotel for dinner and people were waiting on us. 

15 minutes!!!!!

I am pretty sure I could have spent a week there. 

The locals and the staff just giggled at us and hopefully enjoyed the show we were putting on.  They were seriously friendly in there so I am sure they laughed and later that night repeated the story of the two crazies who were in the store earlier that day.

Want to know something even more ridiculous?  Apparently we went to the "small" store!  There are two of these stores and we went to the SMALL one.  I am pretty sure my heart couldn't have taken it if we had gone to the big one.

Both Staci and I left with head aches from the sheer joy of it and we were only about 15 minutes late for dinner!

Wow!  Did I ever have a blast this past weekend in Grand Rapids for the GASC.  I cannot get over how stunning the city of GR is!  The convention center was right downtown and there was so much to do with the kidlets, all within a few blocks.  I took a lot of photos while there so be prepared for lots of images today. :)

Here is the convention center... it was so gorgeous!

Look at that roof!

This is what I did all day. :)

I was teaching and scrapping with some really wonderful woman (and a few men).  Have I ever mentioned how much I love meeting fellow scrappers?

And want to see who attended a class? 

My mom and Harper both attended my clock class.  Look at how hard they are working!  My mom is not a scrapper and I love that she just dove right in and started playing.  Must be where I get it from!

And this lovely woman totally made Harper's day by asking for her autograph.  She is still talking about it! (thanks!) 

And my sister also took one my classes as well as a Mom-to-be class with another instructor.  She also is not a scrapper so I really admire the fact that she got into the spirit of things!

And some more random scrappiness. (scrap + happiness = scrappiness - hee hee, is that a word??)

In the above photo that is Harper being my helper.  She was a great teacher's assistant!

And I realized that there is someone who I consistently forget to photograph - my volunteers!  These woman who I affectionately dub my "Vanna's" help me in class and are amazing, beautiful woman who give up some of their scrappy time to help me.  I want them to know that I really appreciate their helping hands even if I do forget to photograph them!  Thanks ladies!!

I have tons of fun stories from the show but they will have to wait as I hear the hammock calling me.  It is saying I need a nap! :) 

More later.

(If you see a photo of yourself here on the blog feel free to email me for a copy.  I know hardly any of us scrappers have action shots of us at work and I happily will share them.  Just let me know which photo you are in and I will email you a full version that you can print.)

First, I have recovered from this.

My loooong day/night at the airport and the tiredness.  I think I probably waited all of 5 minutes (out of politeness of course) after my husband got home from work yesterday before I went for a nap.  I told Austin to wake me in an hour and well, he tried but apparently I wouldn't wake.  3 hours later I finally dragged myself from bed.  Slept through dinner, slept through everything.  2 hours later I was back in bed after tucking in the kidlets and slept for another 12 hours. Definitely feeling better this morning!

So back to the GASC.

On Saturday my schedule was this...

Book signing in the middle of all that.  All the advance copies of Cut Loose sold out but will be available soon online and at local stores soon. 

But this schedule might also account for some of the tiredness!  I had a crazy schedule but it was my own choice.  I love to teach scrapbooking so I jam my days with as many classes as possible.  I never feel the tiredness until after the show.  Looking at this photo I realize I was listed as a 2008 MMM on my class sign - guess I must have graduated ;) a year later, lol.

So the day was great.  Lots of really full classes, full of really wonderful scrappers.

A few highlights...

There were these three....

Trouble, with a capitol "T" I tell ya!  Trouble!  These lovelies were in a few of my classes and were having a great time and I loved laughing with them.  I was pretty sure I was going to have to call security ;) to kick them out they were having "too much" fun, lol.  Just kidding of course.  I love to seeing people at these events just really enjoying themselves with friends and enjoying the hobby they love.  Plus the woman on the left...she was being converted to scrapping by the other two.  Being brought over to the scrappy side!  And she rocked the craft knife like a pro I tell ya.  I would have never know she was a "newbie".

And of course on Saturday I had my Cut Loose class which is modelled after my new book.  There were lots of ladies cutting loose that day!  Might have frightened a few ;) but we took a deep breath and dove right in. :)

The above two ladies were the sweetest things.  And when they asked to take a photo of us all together this is what they got....

Yup, had a really great time!

Oh and I did get to do about 5 seconds of shopping on the show floor.  Bought some amazing deals but of course they are in my missing luggage. :(  Good thing I didn't have lots of time to shop cause I might have had to buy a second suitcase (which I am sure would have gone missing too...!) 

Hopefully it will arrive today and I can start getting scrappy with them.  Of course my paper cutter and all my basic tools are in the missing luggage so kind of hard to scrap without them. :)

Hope everyone is having a great day out there, where ever you are!

It was so NOT my day yesterday!  What was supposed to be a quick 1.5 hour commuter flight home from the GASC turned into over a 13 hour travel nightmare.  See all the yellow on the above sign?  Those were delayed flights.  (I was not the ONLY one have a bad travel day!)  Storms elsewhere in the country caused airplanes to be late arriving to get us weary travellers and take us to our destinations. 

Let's just say I know the inside of that airport like the back of my hand now!

OH and I must mention that apparently I have invisible metal somewhere on my body that set off the metal detectors when I went through security. Who knew? Apparently it was so invisible that I didn't even know it existed, lol. Lets just say I had to let a security officer get mightly personal with me!  That was a first.  Apparently this invisible metal has never decided to make trouble for me before and if I ever find it on me I am going to give it some trouble, lol! 

OH and the lighting storm we flew through made me fear flying just a little - had a bit of a queasy stomach after all the air "bumps". 

And to top it all off after I finally was on my home turf - no luggage.  Yup, in the very wee hours of last night (or technically very early this morning)  I had the wonderful surpise of having no luggage arrive.  To be honest, at that point I didn't care and just wanted to be home and snoring away! :) 

So I am zonked today and doing my best to stay slightly moving around so as to not fall asleep.  I don't think Magnus would care for a snoring Momma today as he is full of his usual spunk and energy.

No worries though, I don't feel sorry for myself.  You sometimes got to just roll with life and take what comes and try to smile. :) :) :)  Afterall it makes a great travel story. ;)

Will try to answer all the emails you have been sending but might be a bit slow getting caught up with those.  You know I love y'all but sleep might win out right now. :)

This is the reason for being tired...

Lots and lots of classes I am teaching but I am having so much FUN because of this...

...the PEOPLE!  I love getting a chance to connect with fellow scrapbookers and seeing them learning and trying new things.  Classes have been great and I am loving it all. 

AND if I could have an award for student of the day it would be this woman...

She had never attended a class before and she signed up for three of my classes yesterday - all in a row!  I mean she was a trooper!  She was willing to try and experiment and learn and dive right in.  She is fairly new to scrapbooking but she got loads of inspiration at this show.  I've got to love this. 

This is why I love to teach. The people.

Now I am off again for another full day of teaching and hopefully (fingers crossed) some shopping on the show floor!  I mean, I know I don't NEED any scrap supplies but who can resist a floor full of goodies just waiting there calling my name.... :)