The Scrap Report

Scrapbooking Weekend has come and gone. Once again, I'd call it the best Scrapping weekend ever! Every one seems better than the one before. The last one I went on was just about a year ago.

We gathered at Maryann's house on Friday night to start our fun. Maryann's garage was converted into a room several years ago and it's called "The Scrap Room" although it's used for other things too. However, scrapping was one of the main uses and every now and then, we take it over for that again. Here are a couple photos of how we had it set up. I had intended to take a photo mid-scrap so you could see how messy it gets! lol But that photo never happened so all you get is the beginning photos.

Six of us (Lisa, Maryann, Darlene, Carrie, Donna, and Ann) were there to start off and a couple (Jen, Marla) more joined in that evening. Some (Marla, Donna) had to leave Saturday and we missed them terribly. One more friend (Linda) joined us for a while on Sunday. Did I miss anyone?

Maryann's daughter Erin turned 21 Saturday and she commemorated the day in the usual way. A couple of her friends came over for dinner and very tasty cake and then they went out on the town. We joined Erin in a margarita. Happy 21st, Erin!

Each of us signed up for a meal to cook up for the weekend and we had lots of snacks available all weekend. My meal was Taco Pie and salad.

I scrapped 37 pages (mostly two-page spreads) and was stymied by the poor printing job Meijer (Snapfish) did on my photos. I have to return a large stack of them. We shared ideas and Cricut cartridges and paper and stickers and quips.

Movie-watching goes hand-in-hand for my scrapping crowd. Twelve movies found their way into the DVD player this weekend. If you can't imagine scrapping while watching movies (or talking through the films), you would probably not enjoy our weekends! LOL

How do we pick what to watch? Well, anyone who wants to brings a stack of movies they think would be good and we usually take turns choosing. If someone has strong negative feelings about a movie, they get veto power (usually, lol). We often search for films featuring our favorite actors and actresses and pop those in.

These are the films we chose this weekend:
Adam (Hugh Dancy)
The Proposal (Ryan Reynolds)
Confessions of a Shopaholic (Hugh Dancy #2)
Someone Like You (Hugh Jackman)
School of Life (Ryan Reynolds #2)
Australia (Hugh Jackman #2 - notice a pattern? lol)
North and South (BBC, Richard Armitage)
Robin Hood Season 3 - episodes 4 & 5 (BBC, Richard Armitage #2)
Lars and the Real Girl (Ryan Gosling)
Juno (Ellen Page, Michael Cera)
Easy Virtue (Colin Firth, Ben Barnes)
The Hangover (Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha - rated R & not for the easily offended, or even the not-so-easily offended)

Traveling Tiara, Movies, and Friends

My weekend was AWESOME!!! I was invited to join a group of ladies for scrapbooking at my friend Maryann's house. Her husband agreed to take their kids to a hotel for the weekend so we could take over their house for the weekend.

If you've never been to a scrapping weekend, you may not get the attraction. Even if you HAVE been to an event like this, it's likely it isn't QUITE like the ones we create! This is the first time we've done a big weekend like this at Maryann's home, but we have done a few before now. Maryann has a large room (used to be a garage) that we shoved full of folding tables and chairs and a LARGE amount of scrapbooking supplies, along with up to twelve women at any one time. Throw in a TV and a DVD player and a great variety of movies and you may begin to get the idea! Laughing, giggling, and sharing lots of meaningful conversation completed the fun. I hope to have pictures for you soon.

I stayed both Friday and Saturday nights and several other women did too. A few just came for Saturday. We had one baby who was simply adorable. One woman's birthday was today, so we celebrated with cake and ice cream. Great food was in abundance, as was coffee and even a glass or two of wine. OK, several glasses. :-D

I completed eighteen pages, so I got to wear the traveling tiara quite a lot. If you know my totals in the past, this does not compare. I did not do any power layout planning ahead and I also watched all or most of NINE movies over the weekend. Several of us are movie addicts. I fit that description quite well. Some of the others are not movie-people, but we are converting them! Here's that list.

Movies I have seen before (Easiest to scrap to, since I only have to pay attention to the "good parts")
Northanger Abbey - one of my favorites, as you may well know. A Jane Austen novel film adaptation
Miss Potter - it's ok. I got a lot done during this one.
North and South - Riveting! We watched parts 1-2 on Friday night and parts 3-4 on Saturday. Then we watched part 4 AGAIN on Sunday, rewinding and repeating the last few scenes with dedication.
Mamma Mia - yes, again! This makes six viewings for me!
August Rush - Oh, wow I had forgotten that Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is in this! Woo-hoo! Loved him in The Tudors (HBO). Keri Russell is soooo pretty and that Freddie Highmore is quite an accomplished actor for one so young. Oh yeah, and a creepy Robin Williams, too. Also, some weird stuff about the power of music. But it made me cry.
X-Men - Just Dar and I watched this. I am converting her to my recently discovered love of comic book movies. She and I share similar tastes in books and movies. She says she liked it!
A Knight's Tale - as the packing up was just getting started and afterwards, we watched this. Then had dinner and went home!

Movies I hadn't seen before - watched these in comfy seating in the living room, instead of the scrap room
The Duchess - Dominic Cooper (Sky in Mamma Mia) was our impetus for renting this and he was pleasing. The story was quite poignant and none of the characters made choices I would have in most cases.
Someone Like You - with HUGH JACKMAN, Greg Kinnear and Ashley Judd - LOVED IT and am going to purchase it. Now I am thoroughly and completely a Hugh Jackman fan. I can't believe it took me SO LONG. lol

Yes, I did let other people pick the movies some of the time! LOL They also watched Baby Mama while I was doing something else. I've seen it before twice, and quite recently too.

So, now we are all back to our respective homes, our relaxing mini-vacation over. Can't wait til the next one!

I think I'm going to see Australia (hint - JACKMAN) this week. Even though I am utterly NOT a fan of Nicole Kidman. Not even a little.

It continues....

David woke up nauseous in the night, so I ended up sitting with him for a while. It all came to naught, however - the nausea persisted but no vomiting ensued. So, today he is laying around on the couch. He did eat a little and seems better. I still have a headache and some lightheadedness, and some mild nausea yet, but am feeling much improved from Friday night/Saturday morning.

We've watched three episodes this morning of the BBC Robin Hood TV series, which we have from Netflix - campy and funny and with Richard Armitage (North & South) to boot! My three healthy children are on kitchen cleanup duty and then I'm booting them outside for a few minutes. A temperature of 17 degrees means they won't be out very long.

I've been going through cookbooks - need to choose recipes for Christmas baking and make a list. Emily is hosting a table at the Christmas Tea on Tuesday night and she needs to bring a dessert, so we are thinking about that as well.

I have accomplished NO Christmas shopping yet. So, that needs to happen before too long here! My kids have made their lists.