I'm here

I made it to East Lansing. The directions I had had me turning right instead of turning left so I was twisted around for awhile, finally found the nice Welcome to MSU drive thru directions thing and got a nice girl to give me a map and directions. Then I found out that there are 2 skyways from the parking garage to the hotel/conference center. I went to the other one first. I felt like I was in that Seinfeld episode where they can't find the car in the parking garage and are wandering around aimlessly. I was wandering around with my CM cart hoping someone would recognize me or the cart and steer me. I finally decided to get back in the car and drive around the garage some more and then got to the other skyway. Success!

I'm having a great time meeting everyone and getting to know them. Funny thing is that most of us have laptops and are checking in on the board!

I got one of my swaps done tonight, amazing how much faster and less stressful it is with a Sizzix! and am starting to get sleepy and think it's time for me to call it a night.

Scrapshare Michigan Winter Retreat

One more sleep!

It seems like it's been in the plans forever and now that it's here and I'm not ready! I have been incredibly busy at work this week and will be doing some work from the retreat this weekend also, as we have a release going in Sunday morning that I am taking the lead on. Yikes!

I'm like 1/4 packed, my scrapbook stuff is pretty organized, I printed my directions, I just need to throw some clothes in the dryer and see how much I can consolidate.

I have some borders to make for swaps to do this weekend so with those plus work stuff and socializing I don't see getting alot of scrappin' done so I think I can take some of the stuff out of my cart! It's a pain to carry down the stairs and try and launch it up into the trunk of the car.

I work a half day at work tomorrow and then I'm racing home to get the kitties and Sushi set up for the weekend, Jim said he'd come check up on em for me, and pack up and load the car. Quick stop at Meijer for film, cherry coke, oreo's, Salt and Vinegar chips, and Sour Patch Kids and any other candy that can be sorted by color and I will be hitting the road! I'm one of the lucky ones that only has about a 50 minute drive to the retreat but we've got ladies coming from all over Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Canada! Rumor has it I'll be getting some Kinderchocolate and Dressy Chips =)

Hope everyone has a great Friday! I'll try and update ya'll about the retreat this weekend!

ET

I got the rest of my zoo pictures back from Snapfish, including from when I went home and drug Mom and Dad to Pt. Defiance Zoo. One of my favorite pictures that I took was of this cute guy, ET.



It was funny that the day we were there ET had his fan club there, some little kids had ET shirts and signs they made for ET. I had thought he was a new addition to the zoo and when I did some research I realized I have grown up with this cute dude!

This is what I found:

One of the star attractions in this exhibit is "ET." In 1982, oil workers in Alaska found a starving orphan walrus pup and gave him his "movie star" name (he certainly bears a resemblance). He was raised right here at the zoo and now weighs over 3,400 pounds.

So I've seen this guy many times growing up! The picture just cracks me up, he's cute in a different way and looks like he has so much personality! And to think this guy is about 24 years old.

You eat those with a fork?!?

This is what I heard at lunch with Dawnn on Saturday and Red Robin. I sometimes eat my french fries with a fork, this was no exception.

I never gave it much thought, but when I am out at a restaurant and have something that requires eating with a fork, this time it was Clucks -n- Fries, and I have french fries with it, I eat them with a fork. I guess I just figured most people did this.

So she got a kick out of this and immediately grabbed her camera



So ... do you eat your fries with a fork?

The adventures of Flat Lauren

I think I have touched on it in the past but I am proudly hosting Flat Lauren here in Michigan.

For those that don't know about this, this is a spin off of the Flat Stanley project. Click here: Flat Stanley it's based on a children's book about this boy that flattened himself to mail himself around the world on different adventures. One of the ladies on Scrapshare has a daughter that was doing this project and she was looking for host families. I volunteered and it turned into a Flat Lauren project also, Lauren is her daughter. Thought it would be neat to take a picture of her daughter and then send her around to host families on Scrapshare in hopes of going to all 50 states and countless countries in the world.

Flat Lauren and I went out this weekend with Dawnn. We started at lunch at Red Robin:







After lunch we were heading to Grand Haven State Park to take Flat Lauren to Lake Michigan and to the lighthouse at Grand Haven. Well all 3 of us were chatting so much we got on the intersection going the wrong direction! *sheepish grin*

We got halfway to Chicago when we realized we were going the wrong direction and took the next exit, stopped to get gas and continued on.
I think Flat Lauren missed her Mom and had wanted to stop at home and check in.



Got back on the interstate and headed back the right direction. On our way we went to Holland! (Michigan that is) and made a stop at the Dutch Village to get Flat Lauren a pair of flat shoes and stopped to document our trip to Holland.



We finally get to Grand Haven and get out to walk on the beach a bit and walk along the pier to get some pictures.

Setting up the timer... since I'm a blonde and couldn't get my tripod to work right.
FYI, the Creative Memories camera bag also works great as a tripod *wink*



Success! A group shot



We then headed back for home, tired and cold from a fun day exploring.

To everyone that reads this (or just the 2 that read it lol) I'm sending you some love. Hope ya'll had a good weekend too!