Retreat Recap!

Okay, so since I am giving the commentary here, I might as well share with you the DAY BEFORE the retreat which was really really out of control.

You all know how excited I was for this retreat with all the events goin on in my life right now I really needed some time for Trisha. So…I had been meaning to get my car to the dealership to get my brakes checked or whatever…if they had to be replaced, I wanted them to be replaced and just to get it done. So….I drop my car off at the dealership and a coworker picked me up for work. Later in the morning I got a call indicating not only do I need rear breaks but my tire bars are showing…AKA….YOUR TIRES ARE BEYOND BALD! So….I was like crap! I know my tires had lacked some attention and of course they were the ones who reminded me it needed to get done! So….meanwhile I am on the phone with my dad and he tells me to not get it done (brakes) at the dealership because they WILL overcharge me. Well by the time I thought about it and agreed, it was too late as my car was already “taken apart” which I figured I would be told that…anyway…so I tell them just do the breaks and I will get my tires done later, since at that point I just wanted to get my car out of there. My dad does business for a tire shop (in Azusa), so he set it up for me to get that done. At this point I am getting bummed because my plan was to be at the retreat at 9:59am! I wanted to be one of the first ones there! HELLO!
So I was like dang….now not only do I need to spend money on brakes but it is probably best to get my tires done too.

Meanwhile….it is still Thursday, sitting at my desk and dealership calls. Car is ready for pick up. I go and pick it up, and pay. CRAP! I gave the cashier the wrong darn card! Meant to give her the credit card instead of the check card. I needed my check card for the weekend ahead of me! So…I kindly and politely in my sweetest and apologetic voice, “I am SO sorry, I made a mistake. Is it possible to cancel that transaction so I may use an alternate card?” She replies, “Sure!” I say, “GREAT!” So…BEFORE I give her the alternate card, I wanted to ensure that I am not charged twice….can you feel where I am going with this???? Cashier says, “Oh, no…it will be cancelled.” Okay great. (I thought). The coworker that took me to get my car, we decided to go to Bakers for lunch….about to pay for my PAPA MEAL…the cashiers at Bakers says, “Your card is declined”….I say, “You are kidding right?”, she says, “I’m afraid not…” So at this point I know exactly what has transpired. So you see why I am fuming at this point, because I asked the girl at the dealership whether or not it was going to be a problem!!!! She said NO!!!! If this was a possibility I would had just let it be! So….now, I’m pretty p&%%ed off….and I am out about $600 in total between 2 different cards! And what stinged the most was that the money I was using for the weekend retreat was no longer available to me. I get back to the office and of course call the manager….the cashier who helped me remembered me, and thought I was stupid enough to know she really hadn’t talked to her manager when she asked me to hold. So…when I asked to speak to her manager instead of her it took the manager about 7 minutes to get to the phone….(I guess so she can really tell the story). The only reason I was upset at this point in time was because I specifically asked the girl was it going to be a problem…she said, “NO.” So I explained this to the manager and I told her, I really hope my money is back into my account before this weekend…she says, “me too.” So anyway…my money finally showed up a little past midnight (was up late packing).

So anyway, since I have taken up most of your time with my dreadful night before retreat I will try and fast forward. I ended up getting tires 1st thing Friday morning and STILL managed to be the 3rd one there at the retreat, showing up maybe about 10:10am! WOOOHOOO!!!!

So….when I almost get there I already knew I was going to make an entrance so I started honking my horn like a mad woman to let everyone know TRISHA WAS IN THE BUILDING!!!! WOOOO!!!!! So, when I pull up to this really tucked away home, I see Alondra, Rochelle and Beth. The owners were there as well so I got to meet them, really nice ladies. I walk in and I am like WOWZAS BABY!!! WHERE IS MY ROOM!!! I WANT A GRAND TOUR!!! So…Alondra was kind enough to give me a tour of the spot. Your sheets and towels matched the bathroom…very cute. So I chose hot pink, my sheets were hot pink, my face, hand, and bath towel were hot pink along with some super soft fuzzy warm socks to go with it! There is also a color coordinating basket in the bathroom to keep your personals in and in the HUGE commercial type fridge. It was great. Anyway…after scoping out the sleeping quarters on to the real deal! The scrap space was AWESOME! The owners left some goodies on the tables, coupons for Pink Pineapple, Ever After and Cool Scrapbook Stuff. Speaking of goodies, there were HUGE tall canisters of goodies, one with M&M’s trail mix, assorted mini chocolate bars, gold fish, etc. It was insane how much stuff there was. There were assorted sodas, enough for the entire weekend, bottled soda, and coffee for those who needed it.

Blow by Blow…

FRIDAY...we all arrived in the AM with the exception of Janice. She had a hair appointment in LA and ran into major MAJOR traffic on the way back. I told the girls that we had a surprise guest coming by and we must be here by 2:00pm. What the girls didn’t know was Elena from Scrapbook Royalty graciously contacted me to see if we would like some goodies brought by their fly-by-fairy! I thought that was very sweet of her to think of us…..THANKS ELENA!! Unfortunately they came a little earlier and a few of us were still out at the store so we missed the little cute fairy! Heard she was really really cute! We truly appreciate your goodies that were dropped off! Thanks again!

Well…apparently while we were out…the girls who stayed behind at the house began to worry about us because apparently there was a man on the loose with only HANDCUFF! How did they know this you ask? Well, have you ever heard a helicopter make an announcement of such from the sky!? I guess that’s what they do in Escondido! LOL! It was funny because we were only up the street and totally heard the helicopter but didn’t hear the message. So the ladies in the house gave a sigh of relief when we came through the door.

Everyone gets situated and for dinner Friday night, I cooked tacos for all, Marie made the 7 layer dip and everything was just yumm-o! Janice actually got there right in time for dinner!

By this time everyone had given out all their goodie bags, treats and so forth. It was not a prerequisite, but it was nice how a few ladies brought something for each other. Marie made us our own personal pumpkin breads, and everyone got a few goodie bags. To add some excitement to the weekend, I made some acrylic “Hi My Name Is..” tags, but instead of everyone’s personal names, I made up scrap related names, Scissors, Zots, Adhesive, Buttons to name a few. So…how it worked was…just like the baby shower game. Beth was no longer Beth, her name was “Buttons.” If someone called Beth out of her scrap name whoever was caught would have to give up all their brads punched in their tag. So the one with the mist brads by the end of the weekend would get a super nice gift. That winner ended up being Melissa. I think she actually won because she wasn’t really talking too much! LOL! So that game started early Saturday morning.

It got late for me…I went ahead and turned in…not sure I if I was the first to turn in…but was rudely awakened by a monstrous snore’er. I had to leave my hot pink sheets! Thank God there were plenty of other beds to choose from! I was out! Couldn’t take it!

Saturday...we woke up and Alondra cooked us pancakes, and we had eggs and sausage to go with it. Beth made some MIMOSA for some of the girls and we dined out on the terrace overlooking the pool. The weather was perfect!!! It was so nice, just out there relaxing!
A little after breakfast we participated in a white elephant type gift exchange that Marie put together for us. Each person had to make up a page kit and wrap it up and we did an exchange. If you made a page out of it, you would get a RAK from Marie. I think everyone participated and that was a fun activity. There were a few kits going back and forth being stolen twice! We got some more scrappin in before we left the house. We decided to go to Cool Scrapbook Stuff since there was a Michaels and Joanne’s in the same shopping center. We spent too much time there we ended up eating late and we just did our own thing. Someone had a “brilliant” idea to purchase a fake mouse…MELISSA! LOL! Her and Rochelle were pretty much in Cahoots and thought it would be funny! So after Melissa agreed to go to the store with someone later that evening, she wondered if the mouse would be discovered, and YES IT WAS!!! Discovered by Marie…LOL! Rochelle, plead the 5th….and said she was against the whole thing….but come to find out, that wasn’t the case! LOL! So Melissa and Rochelle went at it for hours on who said what and whose idea it was. I swear we were laughing for hours and it gave us our 2nd and 3rd wind!!! For dinner that night Janice made us spaghetti and Beth made some BOMB garlic cheese bread and Melissa provided salad. After dinner…the party started! Who said a group of women with no rhythm could not be taught the cupid shuffle!!!!???? LOL!!! Yes…..it was hilarious! There is video floating around in someone’s house, but I better not find it on YouTube! LOL! That was BEFORE Alondra made us Pink Panties!

We had a surprise up our sleeve and celebrated Rochelle’s birthday. She had no idea and I think she almost started crying. That was nice and fun! So we had some cake and ice cream…yummy!

Saturday we got A LOT projects done! INCLUDING…these really really cute Acrylic Tissue Boxes that came from Kits2Remember. I was a little afraid of them at first but thought it would be a nice challenge for the group! So…I got one for each person and 4 out of 8 of us actually completed them. They turned out really cute! (Thanks Jessica!)

Melissa gave out prizes throughout the weekend, first to put their pajamas on, 1st to go to bed, etc. It was cool, everyone got something.

Sunday…I THOUGHT I was leaving early, so I can get back to my baby, because I missed her so much. HA! We all drove out the driveway with the exception of Beth left at 4:00pm, check out time. We allowed enough time to clean up, it was required to gather all the trash and put by the front door, and strip all sheets and place towels in the hampers. We had plenty of food left over from Friday and Saturday for lunch on Sunday so it was cool!

I asked to take pics of everyone’s projects so we can really see everything that was accomplished. Yeah, we had a lot of FUN but we still got our scrap on!!!

I am sure I am missing a lot, but that was most of everything….the house was beautiful as well…very spacious and I think it was just enough room with the 8 ladies. =) We had a very memorable time and can’t wait for next year.

Here is what I did...

***My tissue box is missing, but you can get a glimpse of it on the slide show*** Not formatting correctly. =(