Sal's Dad -- update

Hi everyone and thank you for all of your wishes for Sal's Dad, we appreciate your thoughts.

We spent most of Tuesday visiting him in the hospital. He is stable, but suffered a major stroke. The neurologist said he'll be in the hospital for at least 5 days. We'll keep you posted.....

Sal's Dad

Sad news.....Sal's Dad had a stroke on Monday night, he's in the hospital. We're heading over to be with family. I'll keep everyone posted...

chick flick

Hi everyone & happy Friday!

A new movie that I've been wanting to see hit theaters today, so I caught a matinee show. I'm thinking that I'll need to be home tonight to catch the presidential debate.....or not??? After all the political drama this week, late word is that John M. will now participate. It'll be interesting.

Anyway, I saw Nights in Rodanthe, starring Diane Lane (great actor!) and Richard Gere. It's a love story that's set, and filmed, at a beach house in The Outer Banks, North Carolina (gorgeous scenery --- Claudia, you'll love it!). It looked like a good story and hey, if there's a beach house involved, count me in! **wink** It was a pretty good movie, but very sentimental (think The Bridges of Madison County), and most reviewers concur on that. Except one, who wrote that it was like a Viagra commercial put to film. That's too funny!

And to my fellow crafters.....did you see that QVC now carries Martha Stewart Crafts? They aired a debut show this morning (thanks for watching with me, Mom!) and had some of her neat stuff. I already have some of the MS glitters, they're amazing, the colors are SO yummy (and they're also sold at Michael's)! And she names them after gems and minerals, that's so cool to me.....fire opal, amethyst, tourmaline, onyx, peridot, smoky quartz, malachite, etc. Love it!

Enjoy the weekend! :-)

i've been tagged!

How great is it that my Creative Escape pal Shannon C. tagged me?!?! {feeling special here in SoFl} Thanks a bunch, Shannon, I love your blog too!

Now it's my turn to tag 7 others, and here are the "rules":
1. If you've been tagged, you can put the logo on your blog.
2. Link the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.

So now to tag my 7.....here are seven blogs (in no particular order) that I love visiting routinely:

Donna ~~ Celita ~~ Annie (Scrapbook Your Art Out) ~~ Whim-So-Doodle ~~ Heidi ~~ World Hum ~~ Janet

Tag, you're it! :-)

Utah, here we come!

So I finally booked our flights to Utah yesterday. I've been tracking the airfares, but they just keep skyrocketing {$600...$700...some are $900?!?!?.....yes, those fares are per person for domestic coach seats booked 6 months in advance, yikes!} Gone are the days of airline steals and deals, my friends. I took a gamble that the prices won't come back down, assumed that they'll only continue to go up at this point, and just went for it to make sure that we get the itinerary we prefer.

We're going in March; Sal will be presenting his research at a national chemistry conference in Salt Lake City. So, as it is my M.O., I'm turning his business trip into our chance to explore Utah! Sal has also been invited to give a seminar at the Brigham Young University Chemistry Dept. The campus is in Provo, which is only an hour's drive from SLC and -- get this! -- that city is a scrapbooking mecca (translation: stores galore, woo hoo!). How fortuitous!

I'm still planning the other aspects of our trip.....but during our stay in SLC, we plan to take a daytrip to go snow skiing among the sheer, granite walls of Little Cottonwood Canyon. After all, we'll be there during the season of pristine powder! It'll be the first time that either of us has skied, so that'll be a cool new experience.

Then we'll visit the 5 fabulous national parks in southern Utah.....Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Arches. And there's also Monument Valley. So much to see! I really appreciate our country's national parks, and my guidebook describes the Utah parks as a "geologic fairyland". So they will no doubt be absolute heaven for me. VERY excited, can't wait!

If anyone knows of any other not-to-be-missed sights or experiences in Utah, please do share!

the (elusive) pursuit of happiness

"You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy."
--- Eric Hoffer, American philosopher & writer


Wow, that's a profound quote, huh? It fits with an enlightened article that I recently stumbled across about "happiness". Thought I'd share it:
The Science of Happiness

And speaking of happiness.....here's some for my scrapbooking pals: QVC's Scrapbooking Fair airs on Tuesday, Sept 23! And Tim Holtz will make his debut appearance on QVC with a cool "Fragments Memory Kit" (picture below). Have fun!

Smile. And have a HAPPY Sunday!

i heart manatees!

Hey everyone, happy Friday!

I did a happy dance today because the Save The Manatee Club contacted me to ask if they could use my photo and quote me on their website and October e-newsletter! They're referring to photos and comments that I sent them after Sal and I went on a kayaking eco-tour in Crystal River, a manatee habitat, last December. We enjoyed it so much that I e-mailed them to say so, and now we'll be part of the tour's promotion! Another great way to help manatees. Our kayak tour was also one of the topics on the first day that I posted to my blog, way back on January 13.

And here's some more happy news, especially if you're a Disney fan.....you'll love this!.....Disneyland (California) and Walt Disney World (Florida) are offering FREE admission on your birthday in 2009! Check out this website for all the fine print and to find out how you can spend your birthday at The Happiest Place On Earth, on their nickel.

Today I took a really cool and fun class at one of my local scrapbooking stores. We used lots of Glimmer Mist, a sparkly spray as the name implies, to embellish all kinds of things --- paper, chipboard, lace, ribbon --- and it was really neat! It comes in a rainbow of gorgeous (and addictive!) colors. We put all of the pieces that we altered together onto a clipboard to make a mini-album/photo display combo. Here's a photo of the finished project, as provided by the teacher, showing the mini-album attached to the base of the clipboard with ribbon:


We used papers from a new My Mind's Eye collection, Laundry Line (the Sundress theme). Really pretty hues of pink, peach, coral, yellow and a touch of brown, and with lots of sparkly glitter. So. Much. Fun.

Enjoy the weekend! :-)

when will this stop?

CNN has released an article and a PETA undercover video of horrific abuse of pigs and piglets at a farm in Iowa, a supplier for Hormel Foods. My heart is so heavy. Although an investigation is already underway, please take a moment to contact Hormel to denounce this animal abuse, and boycott their products. I contacted PETA to let them know that Hormel is blocking e-mails (yeah, no kidding!), so this webform is the best way to contact them at this time.

While I worked in Indiana, I had the terrible misfortune of visiting a pork processing plant. So although what happened at the Hormel farm is appalling, it unfortunately doesn't surprise me. The plants have tight security so that the public remains unaware of what is happening in these facilities. My truck, my attache, everything I had with me was searched as I entered and before I left the plant. Obviously, no cameras were allowed and would have been confiscated. I was already a vegetarian at that time, but that day is still with me --- especially the haunting memory of seeing pigs being hit with 20-foot whips --- and it reinforced my life decision.

Animals have no voice, but I will help them be heard. Thank you for joining me to stop their silent suffering.

hmm...a mystery trip?!?!

So yesterday Sal asked me to keep certain days open in my calendar next month, that he's planning a getaway for us! [insert ooohhs! & aaahhs! here] How exciting! This must have to do with my upcoming (ahem) 40th birthday, but I thought that we already celebrated in Alaska this summer??? So, this came as a total surprise and I have no idea what he has planned, but he apparently "has it all taken care of". As someone who always does all of her own travel planning down to the most minuscule detail, this is one of those "I need to let go and trust" moments. I'm SO curious!.....and if you are too, you'll have to tune back in here in about a month and I'll be able to reveal Where In The World? he took me.

More from the travel news front.....the Creative Escape folks have already opened up the lottery registration for 2009! They were originally scheduled to start it on February 1. So, I've thrown my name in the hat and will wait until they begin randomly drawing names on March 15 to see if I'm one of the lucky ones. To my fellow CE gals, if you also want to get your name in, sign up here.

OK, let's try this again.....

My astute blog readers have brought to my attention (thank you!) that NBC has disabled all the online Tina/Sarah SNL video clips earlier today, including the You Tube one that I embedded in my blog on 9/14, due to copyright issues. So instead, go here to watch the clip on NBC's own website. The skit is so good that it's worth sitting through the 15-second Crest commercial that plays before it starts.....enjoy!

for my Mom

Happy

Birthday

MOM !!!!

Enjoy your special day!

Love,
Susan, Sal, Buddy & Aruba

live from New York, it's....Sarah's twin!

Hey everyone.....hope you enjoyed the weekend.

Did you happen to catch Saturday Night Live? It was the season premiere and Michael Phelps was hosting. Yikes, he didn't exactly give a gold medal performance! I wasn't expecting him to be hilarious, after all he's not a comedic actor, but a little enthusiasm, a smile even, would've gone a long way. He didn't seem happy about the gig at all. What gives? Tina Fey, on the other hand, did a spot-on imitation of Sarah Palin, the GOP's VP pick, for the show's opening skit. It was a funny parody! (".....and I can see Russia from my house!.....") Good stuff, LOL! Tina obviously studied Sarah's mannerisms, voice, etc. and got it all so right. The physical resemblance between Tina and Sarah is striking, too. If you missed it, here's a video clip of the skit (note that it's not Rated G, just in case you have young ears in the vicinity of your computer):



On Sunday, Sal and I discovered another local gem of nature. We went to Green Cay Nature Center, a wetlands & nature preserve just north of us, in Boynton Beach. I happened to see it while I was out running errands the other day. It's a boardwalk through a created wetlands, full of natural beauty and wildlife. It's a serene place, much like the Wakodahatchee Wetlands here in Delray Beach that we love so much.

Enjoy the week ahead.....

(more) CE fun

I can't help myself, I want to share just a couple more fun pics from Creative Escape 2008. Here's a shot of all 640 of us waiting for the Welcome Ceremony to begin on the first night (you can see me [albeit barely] in the second row, 4th seat from the left, wearing a green shirt):

Quite a crowd, isn't it?!?!?

And this photo is of my CE apron & buttons! Heidi Swapp's mom, who was volunteering at the event, asked if she could snap this shot and it made its way onto Heidi's blog, how fun:

And according to FedEx tracking, my CE boxes are scheduled for delivery today.....yippee!

Sending thoughts to those in Texas who are in Hurricane Ike's path. Stay safe.

Enjoy the weekend everyone.....

remembering 9/11

Remembering all those affected by the tragedy of 9/11 on that terrible day seven years ago.....the injured, the terrified, and those who died.....and the families and friends they left behind.

CE slideshow fun

To see the CE08 slideshow that the Creative Escape photographer has posted, GO HERE.....we watched it during dinner on Saturday night. You'll get a glimpse of why CE has been dubbed "the ultimate scrapbooking indulgence". Be sure to turn up the volume, the fun music really kicks it up a notch! And if you're looking for me in the slides, unfortunately I'm not too visible in any of them.....I'm either off in the distance, my back is turned, etc. etc. With 640 attendees, the slideshow would take forever if they included everyone!

Enjoy! :-)

can I keep him?

I saw this cute story on the Internet.....not sure where this happened, but a moose calf in distress was rescued from a creek. His mother was not around, so the baby moose followed the man home. The moose was later taken to a place that cares for rescued wild animals. Take a look at these incredible (and absolutely adorable!) photos:

(I would love to have a moose standing in my kitchen!)

back home again

Ah, it's good to be home. My plane (and my luggage!) landed in Fort Lauderdale just before midnight Sunday. As much as I like to travel, and as much as I loved attending Creative Escape, I love coming home. To Sal. To Buddy. To Aruba. To my own bed. To an Internet connection that doesn't cost $13 a day. And to my fave Florida orange juice with lots of pulp. Sal and the dogs were so glad to see me, which made it such a sweet homecoming. Aruba even kissed me 4 times (and she's not a kisser!) Sal told me "...it's good to have you home...". Awww.....

But before I left Arizona on Sunday morning, I had one more bit of fun planned. I joined a group of about 25 gals from CE for an early morning horseback ride. The Native American guides at the Koli Equestrian Center, which is on the resort property, led us on a 1.5-mile trail ride through the desert. We meandered through dessicated soil and sparse vegetation. It was peaceful, and a lovely way to wrap up my trip. My horse was so sweet and gentle, but so LARGE! She was a beautiful dark brown, almost black. And her name was Oprah, HUH??? It's not everyday that I hear myself saying "giddyup, Oprah". And since I'm a novice rider (this is only my third time on a horse), I opted to wear one of their helmets (hence my dorky look).

I couldn't help hugging her!

CE bliss is still with me. I can't quite bring myself to remove the cute countdown clock from my blog's sidebar. I've already marked my calendar for the lottery sign-up in February and the day that they'll begin randomly drawing names in March. And penciled in the 09 event in late August.

To all the great gals I met at CE and to all the new friends I made (too many to mention!), it was a pleasure and let's stay in touch! Hope you all had a smooth trip back home. A special shout-out to Kyoko --- I will definitely let you know whenever Sal and I plan to come to Japan, and we can get together. And I'd love to go to a scrapbook store in Tokyo with you! Call me crazy.

Now we can all look forward to when the boxes we shipped home arrive on our doorstep. Yes, for most of us, it's box(es), plural. Wee!

Gotta unpack. It typically takes me at least 3 weeks. I don't like to do it.

Enjoy the week ahead.....

eat dessert first

Wow, Friday & Saturday were SO busy here at Creative Escape that I'm just now getting around to blogging about all the exciting things that happened. It was non-stop fun, fun, fun!

On Friday, we attended the first 4 workshops, an album by Laurie Stamas, a frame project by Tim Holtz, an album by Janet Hopkins (featuring Heidi Swapp's new "Dream Dining Room" collection, I loved the gorgeous grays and blues!), and a mini-album by Jenni Bowlin. The projects were all very creative, although I'm not really a fan of the vintage-inspired products of Jenni's line. But the workshops are more about learning new techniques, not focusing on the artistic tastes and choices of the teachers. Then came the "Friday Night Extravaganza", where we all stayed up late making some beautiful greeting cards. They sent us off to bed with a "sweet dreams" giveaway of goodies from Luxe Designs, a company that makes some very chic scrapbooking products! Another special CE touch!

Have I mentioned CE's "RAK Attacks"?.....a "RAK" is a Random Act of Kindness, and during workshops, CE staff will suddenly enter a classroom, rolling in a big cart of scrapbooking goodies (wrapped in pretty Creative Escape ribbon, a nice touch). They start calling names, and hand out packages --- WOO HOO, that was so much fun! Mine contained some glue (you'd have to be a scrapbooker to understand why that's actually exciting) and some giant jeweled brads from Heidi Swapp's line. Gotta love bling!

And Saturday's workshops were even more fabulous! We did several page layouts with Kelly Goree (love her style and sense of color!), an acrylic album with Jessica Guthrie, a mini-album with Kolette Hall, and my favorite workshop of all.....with Heidi Swapp, my absolute favorite scrapbook designer and founder of the CE event. Her project concept was an interactive calendar/wall hanging/photo display/inspiration board, and geez it was so clever & creative! That workshop alone was worth the price of admission.

Tonight at dinner, I was introduced to the CE tradition of eating dessert first. How fun is that? Yes, they really bring dessert out first, and it had a twist. Since the theme of CE this year had to do with "treasuring" people and things, there was a mini treasure chest and key on our plates. They told us that someone's treasure chest contained a prize --- 2 tickets to CE '09 (WOW!). Needless to say, the winner was ecstatic! They also did 60+ raffles during the evening with some great prizes, including 2 tickets for a scrapbooking cruise (WOW again!)........I didn't win anything, but it sure was fun to watch the excitement of it all!

Since we received so much great stuff during the event, not to mention some of us did just a little shopping {wink}, we all have way too much to bring home in our suitcases. So, CE set up a shipping station right here at the hotel, where we could FedEx our stuff home. They provided the boxes, tape, etc., and we paid only their discounted corporate shipping rate. Perfect! It'll be nice to get my CE goodies (all over again) at my doorstep soon. Because Sal reads my blog, I won't say here how many boxes I shipped home. {chuckle}

Another CE tradition is to collect pins and attach them all over your tote bag, craft apron, etc. I now have about 16 of them, and they say fun and funny things like "i got in" (referring to being chosen in the CE registration lottery), "it's a dry heat: escape", "relax", "enjoy the escape", "eat dessert first", "creative bliss", etc. Mine are attached all over the front of my new CE craft apron (see either pic, above or below), which I loved wearing while I scrapped! And I had all the CE teachers sign it, and now it looks so stinkin' cute!

One of the event staff told me that CE '09 will be held here at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa again, which is fine with me because it's a gorgeous property! The '09 event will be a little earlier, in August, and lottery entries will begin in February. They'll begin drawing names in March. Wish me luck !!!

On Sunday morning, I have one more fun (non-CE) activity planned here at the resort before I leave (hint: I'll be horsing around). I'll let it be a surprise and will have it on my blog early next week.

CE has been a great escape, a really fun and memorable time. It's a super event! I loved making so many new friends, and I send out a special thanks again to all the gals who brought RAKs for me! Please keep in touch and let me know if you're ever coming to south Florida. (Barbara --- it was so great to share CE with you! I'm glad you contacted me when you found me on the CE message board!)

So thanks everyone for sharing in the fun with me here! I hope you've enjoyed hearing and seeing some of the details of CE. Stay tuned to see Where In The World? I'm off to next.

Time to get back to reality, which hopefully doesn't include Hurricane Ike. It makes me sick to think that Haiti, Cuba, and/or the northern Gulf Coast will get hit again. Some gals from New Orleans had to miss CE because of Hurricane Gustav. {sad} Take a hike, Ike!

I'll be so glad to get home to Sal, Buddy & Aruba. I miss you guys! XOXOXO

Signing off now. Time to finish packing.

this is one sweet escape

Thursday at Creative Escape. First official day of the event. Incredible. Awesome. Everything I was hoping it would be! SO glad to be here!

But before the event began this afternoon, my friend Barbara and I decided, on a whim, to go to a local store, Ruffler's Roost, where all they sell is.....ribbon! Aisle after aisle, floor to ceiling. Nothing but ribbon! I had heard about it during the bus tour yesterday. Barb and I are both ribbon junkies, it's one of our favorite embellishments for scrapbooking projects. So, we rented a car (yes, just to go to a ribbon store, gasp!) and drove to Mesa to visit the store. And it didn't disappoint! We both left with a bag full of fabulous, fun, unique ribbons. I found some that are completely glittered, I couldn't resist the sparkly rainbow of colors.....two of my favorite scrapbooking supplies --- ribbon and glitter --- together in one spectacular embellishment!

We had to hurry back to the resort to pick up our registration materials and participate in the afternoon's events. The fun of checking-in is getting your tote bag and Project Portfolio & Inspiration Guide. The tote is filled with goodies, starting with your nametag.....but this is no "Hello, my name is _____" adhesive nametag! No way, this is Creative Escape! You get a fancy printed nametag hung on a pretty beaded lanyard. It's like wearing jewelry! And the guidebook is full of color photos and details of the projects that we'll be completing in our 8 workshops over the next two days. Although I didn't attend CE '06 or '07, I bought the Inspiration Guidebooks for them afterwards.....oh yeah, they're that good.

We also found out what workshop Group we're in, each has a flower name, like Sunflower, Daisy, etc. (so much nicer than 1, 2, 3 or something boring like that) I'm in the Hydrangea Group. Attendees rotate through the workshops with the same group of scrapbookers for the entire event.

I spent the afternoon at the Technique Boutique and the teachers' Trunk Show. The Boutique is a series of 12 "work stations" that you rotate through, learning new techniques and gathering products that we'll need for the workshops. The Trunk Show was wonderful, a room of tables displaying projects created by the CE teachers. Lots of inspiration and fun!

To wrap up the day, all 640 of us attended the CE Welcome Ceremony in the hotel ballroom, complete with a colorful balloon arch to greet us. They played upbeat music (think Gwen Stefani's song, "Sweet Escape", how perfect!) before Heidi Swapp and "Mr. Bazzill" took the stage to introduce the teachers,

and explain details of what to expect during the weekend. They told us that they will "wear us out", guaranteed..... BRING. IT. ON.

Oh, and there was another party tonight too. The 300 of us who were on the CE message board all these many months got together again, and this time we took over the hotel lobby with our festivities. If I'm not mistaken, the entire resort is rented out by CE'ers, but if not, the other guests must think we're crazy! Anyway, I won a door prize at the party, a gift bag full of cute mini acrylic stamps and rhinestones. Fun! And thanks to Ann K. for supplying the prize!

I was told by CE alumni to expect CE to be full of fun surprises and special touches! Sure enough, tonight while we were all out at dinner, the staff delivered goodies to our hotel rooms. So nice to walk in and find a scrapbooking treat on the bed! It was a bag tied with Creative Escape ribbon, containing a fun ruffled apron (see left), with a note saying "Just for you, lucky girl". The fabrics are just too pretty to wear for messy crafting though!

Speaking of aprons, tonight I received my craft apron. Several of us placed a bulk order to have them made. It's pink fabric with the CE '08 logo embroidered in green. Love it!

It probably goes without saying, but there's an on-site scrapbooking store set up here in the hotel. Duh, right? So that must-have scrapbooking item is never very far away!

OK, so early Friday AM I begin attending the workshops, and they'll continue all day long. I'll be doing projects taught by Laurie Stamas, Tim Holtz, Janet Hopkins and Jenni Bowlin.

Did I mention that the weather here in Phoenix has been gorgeous? Sunny and not a cloud in the sky. I hope it stays the same back in Florida, we're watching Hurricane Ike closely. Geez!

Catchya back here on Friday night with more fun details and pics!

let the fun begin!

Skek thash! (that's "good day" in the Pima Indian language, pronounced skook thash)

Wow, another whirlwind day of fun on Wednesday here at CE.....and the event hasn't even officially started yet (it gets underway tomorrow)! So many of us arrived early to participate in all the fun stuff going on, to meet each other and enjoy this beautiful resort. I've already met so many sweet gals! Thanks to so many of you.....Teri, Cindy, Barbara, Kyoko, among others.....for the RAKs (Random Acts of Kindness) that you brought for me:

Here's me and Teri, who's from Boston:

My day started bright and early on Wednesday with a "bus tour" that only a scrapbooker could love! CE staff took us first to Scrapbooks, Etc. in Mesa; it's the largest scrapbooking store in Arizona!

It was extra fun because we arrived before the store opened to the public, so we had the (huge) place to ourselves!

I especially enjoyed the "wall of ribbon"!

Woo hoo, we all had a blast there!.....here I am with my new goodies and my receipt (Sal, cover your eyes!), and of course I was wearing my now-famous (and totally apropos) T-shirt.....don't I look happy?

Then the bus continued on to the Bazzill Basics Paper warehouse. Bazzill's textured cardstock is a staple among scrapbookers, a component of every project and page. So it was cool to go there for a tour to see how it's cut and packaged (it's made elsewhere). And, of course, there was more shopping to do.....they give everyone a "pizza box" and you can fill it to the rim with cardstock in the colors of your choice for a flat, discounted price.

Afterwards, I relaxed back at the resort. And to get into the CE spirit even more, I painted my toenails pink to go with my green sandals.....the official CE colors are pink, green, black & white. Everyone here is decked out in that color combo, from clothing, to shoes and jewelry, and some even with pink dye in their hair! Now that's scrapworthy!

I had a poolside dinner Wed night with Barbara, a friend who lives near me but whom I hadn't met until I joined the CE message board. We watched the sun set over the mountains and saw 2 wild horses galloping in the distance -- spectacular! Then we found the first of 6 treasure chests that have been hidden around the hotel grounds by CE. Our CE Welcome Boxes included a treasure map and clues, and each chest holds a surprise that we have to document. We found the first chest in the lobby and it contained tiaras and a message that reminded us that "Everyone wants to be a princess, especially on vacation."

We'll have to finish finding the other 5 treasure chests on Thursday because prizes will be awarded soon!

The fun continued Wednesday night with a party for those of us on the message board, kind of a meet-and-greet type thing. It was so great to finally be with everyone in person; I've been chatting with them online all of these months! And all of the Susans from the group got together for a photo op; we've been distinguished up til now only by our home state. From left, Susan from North Carolina, Susan from Atlanta, Susan from New York (my CE "twin"), Susan from California (??? not sure of your state, so sorry ???), and me from Florida:

And here's me & Kyoko, who's from Japan (gosh, I'm starting to look pretty tired by this time!):

Lots more fun is in store for Thursday, as the event gets underway. I'll be back Thursday PM to share the surprises and smiles that the day had in store. CE is full of neat twists.....even our hotel room keys don't have the standard Sheraton logo on them, instead they're printed with "Creative Escape, enjoy" in -- what else? -- pink, black & white. Nice touch and something great to include in the scrapbook!

Good night!

but it's a dry heat

Q: Where In The World?

A: Phoenix, Arizona!

My luggage and I have arrived safe and sound, no delays, no glitches.......but it was a long trip from Florida. I originally had booked a nice non-stop flight from Fort Lauderdale to Phoenix, but the airline changed my itinerary to include a stop (with a very short {panic} 50-minute layover in Charlotte, North Carolina......so glad I was able to catch my connecting flight). The nice thing about this long-haul flight, though, was that I flew First Class......for the first time ever! I managed to use frequent flier miles to pull it off and, wow, it was nice to have some extra leg room and a big comfy seat.

I'm SO EXCITED to be here! I'm attending the annual Creative Escape event; it's a retreat of 600 attendees enjoying the combination of scrapbooking workshops and relaxation (does it really get any better than that???). There's already lots of excitement in the air! If you're a scrapbooker, you'll recognize the event's founder --- Heidi Swapp, scrapbook designer extraordinaire. I first found out that I was able to attend way back in November 2007, so the anticipation has been building for many months. And, yes, I said "able" to attend because attendance is on a lottery basis only, your name has to be drawn randomly from a pool of nearly 2,000 eager scrapbookers! I was stunned when I found out that I had been chosen, the odds were against me. My name was in the final batch drawn. Total luck!

There are scrapbookers here from all over the world, it's so exciting!!! Japan, New Zealand, Australia, China, Canada, France, United Kingdom, Norway, and from all over the US, from Hawaii to Maine and everywhere in-between. There are several of us here from Florida, too. I love making new friends around the globe.

We're at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa in Chandler, about 10 miles south of Phoenix. This is a gorgeous resort, what a perfect venue for the event.

The resort is on an Indian reservation within the Gila River Indian Community, so unique. The authentic and beautiful southwestern decor is in keeping with the traditions of the Pima Indians that reside here. I love the Native American flute music that plays throughout the property, so soothing. I fell in love with that genre of music way back in 1997 when Sal and I visited the Grand Canyon, and bought a CD called Canyon Spirit to take home with me. I still play it often.

I've arrived a couple days early (look right --- my CE countdown clock is still ticking!). I wanted to enjoy the amenities here, and to have a chance to unwind so that I can relax {wink}. When I arrived this afternoon, I went straight to the resort's Aji Spa (aptly, "Aji" is the Pima Indian word for "sanctuary")......I had an appointment for their Mo'otk massage, which is specifically for jet lag and travel fatigue, complete with citrus aromatherapy. Ahhhh......it was heavenly! I feel rejuvenated. I've always wanted to do that --- get some pampering after a long day of travel --- and I finally had the opportunity.

Today one of the CE'ers made a run to Sprinkles, a famous and insanely popular cupcake bakery, and there happens to be one here in Phoenix. She was so kind to pick one up for me and.....it was YUMMY! The flavors change daily, and today's was lemon coconut, a great combination. (Thanks again, Teri!)

On Wednesday morning those of us who've arrived early (and there are many of us!) are going on a "bus tour" put together by the event staff. So I'll be back online tomorrow with all the details of the exciting stops that we make......

It sure is hot here, around 100 degrees. True, it's not humid like Florida, but HOT is still HOT. It's not easy to forget that we're in the desert.

Stay tuned for all the exciting details (and photos) of the event throughout the weekend! I'm all set up here in my hotel room with a great Internet connection and my laptop, and will be blogging daily. Thanks for sharing in the fun with me!

XOXOXO to Sal, Buddy & Aruba.....I miss you SO much already!!! Sal told me that B&A are sad, that they're looking for me. That broke my heart! (I tried to console them by speaker phone)

And, of course, I'm still watching Tropical Storms Hanna, Ike, and Josephine from afar on The Weather Channel.....oh please, I hope they just fizzle out. In the interim, let my ESCAPE begin!

greetings from Gate E3 at FLL

Woo Hoo, this day has finally arrived! I'm sitting here at Fort Lauderdale airport waiting for my flight [insert excitement here] to attend Creative Escape in Phoenix! (Loving the free WiFi they have here, wish more airports had it.)

I was up early today.....my flight departs at 6:40 AM {yawn}. You know you're up early when you leave home before your newspaper is delivered! Sal was so nice to get up [very] early for an airport run, even though he has a cold and doesn't feel his best. Thanks, sweetheart!

I'm just so relieved to be able to fly out today; for days I've been worried about potential hiccups in my itinerary due to the storms, Gustav and/or Hanna. I was packed and completely prepared to call the airline and leave a day or two early if I had to, just to get out before the airport closed. I'm thinking of my CE sisters on the Gulf Coast who are still dealing with the effects of Gustav. Hang in there!

OK, more from Arizona when I arrive and get my laptop/WiFi set up in my hotel room.

.....leavin' on a jet plane.....

Bye for now!

T minus 6 hours

I should be going to sleep now since I'm leaving for the airport at 4:00 AM.

Can't sleep. Too excited about attending Creative Escape!

Like a kid going to Disney World. :-)

my boarding pass is in hand!

Hello, happy Labor Day and happy September (already)! Hope you have the day off. Actually, Labor Day has an interesting history and meaning. More about that here (better yet, read it while you're at work on Tuesday, ha ha!).

It's still not beach weather here in south Florida, we're feeling the fringe effects of both Gustav and Hanna. We live in The Sunshine State? Not this weekend! We're still watching Hanna closely, not sure what to make of her path. It changed course 180 degrees overnight on Saturday! I think it's the fickle, unpredictable nature of these storms that causes 90% of the anxiety. My heart goes out to those in Haiti, Jamaica, the Caymans, Cuba, and the northern Gulf Coast for the suffering Gustav is causing.

On a lighter note, I printed my boarding pass this morning. Hurrah! I leave for Creative Escape on Tuesday early AM, barring any weather delays (hope not!). I can finally say that I'm just about packed and ready to go, including all my essential scrapbooking gear. I can remember when my countdown clock had triple digits in the "days" category, so it's super-exciting that the time has finally arrived!

I'll be back to blog sometime on Tuesday, probably from Phoenix....catchya then!