Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong

What a great weekend

But not such a great blog day. My freaking browser froze and I've lost most of the long post that I started. I'm annoyed but I'll try to recreate what I can.

What a great weekend. We had a fabulous time and it was really nice to get away for a weekend. We started off on Thursday with our, what a surprise, delayed flight on Southwest. Paula handled the flying pretty well all things considered. We got to teh hotel, had a beer and went to sleep to get ready for our big day on Friday.

We got up on Friday morning and head to the Bazzill Warehouse. It was FABULOUS! Mr. Bazzill himself explained how the company came to be, and then let us loose in the warehouse. They have, as you can imagine, rows and rows of their amazing product and one large section where they have their discontinued and odd color cardstock. We were given 12x12 (or 8.5x11) pizza boxes and we could fill them up with whatever we wanted. I filled up one pizza box although many other girls did multiple. I have storage problems so one worked for me. They also had other products for us to grab - brads and eyelets, envelopes, fibers, Bazzinks, etc. I got 2 packs of brads and a few of the different envelope packets. Mr. Bazzill even called me out saying "Juls, I thought you weren't supposed to buy any brads." Not sure who sold me out or he just overheard everyone giving me shit for my considerable collection of crap but I was so embarrassed. Everyone there was so nice and they gave each of us a brand new, not yet released, scalloped heart shaped piece of cardstock, our color choice. Very nice. That place was so darn cool. Here are a few photos.









After we left Bazzill, we started on the LSS tour of the greater Phoenix area. The person who was leading our little caravan didn't really have good "people are following you" skills as she drove in and out of traffic not really caring that there were 2-3 cars trying to keep up with her. Still, we somehow managed to catch up and get to each and every store. We went to Scrapbook Barn, Annalise Scrapbooking (that's the wrong name I know), Lucky 15, Melrose Ave. (something like that), Ink it!, Scrapbook Creations and Scrapbooks Etc. I did spend some money but I did keep it quite under control, especially for me. Thanks to Lisa and Kari and the great purge of my scrapbook room, at least I know what I have so I didn't have to buy randomly and stuff I already had or didn't need. I was proud of myself. After a full 12 hours of shopping, we went to Chevys where 12 of us met up with Candice and her sister and had dinner. It was nice to get to know her a little bit socially before our big class the next day.

Saturday, we got up bright and early for Candice Cook class. I have to give Stacy Panassidi lots of credit. She's put together an amazing group of women for her design team who are not only beyond creative but beyond nice as well. I've spent a lot of time with the ladies from Junkitz this year and they're all some of the nicest women I've ever met. We made three great projects. One "Elements of Me" layout that was designed by Janna Wilson. A Halloween envelope mini-album and an address book designed by Candice. All the projects were terrific and it's always good to have a day of creativity. Here's a shot of me and Candice. Can't wait to do my "My Year with Junkitz" LO.



After our day, me, Lisa, Paula and Melissa drove to Recollections in Scottsdale with Lisa A. and Sonia. Another fun store. We went out to dinner and had some yummy margaritas. We all went back to the condo where Lisa A. and Sonia were staying. Melissa and Paula wanted to do some scrapping. The rest of us just chatted and drank wine. We sat around listening to 80's music and listened to Sonia pipe in "I was in xth grade" when that song came out. It was like "Name That Tune". It was hilarious. I'm so glad that our Iowa girls came out to play with us on this trip. This is the 3rd time I've hung out with Lisa and she's wonderful. And she brought Sonia to come play with us on this trip and she was hilarious. I felt like I've known her for years which was a lot of fun. I'm glad they both made the trip and I hope we can work out another scrapping getaway again next year so we can all get together again.

Sunday, we packed up. That was chore and boy were our suitcases ALOT heavier than when we staarted. We his one more LSS - Mystic Paper which was a really cute store. Lots of altered stuff, amazing ideas and good products. Spent a little bit more but still, overall, I kept the spending under control. Paid all cash so I wouldn't have to live it again in a month when the credit cards bill came in. And all the stuff I bought fit into one 12x12 carrying case. Okay, and the Bazzill pizza box. Anyway, after that last swan song of shopping, we went to lunch and then to the airport for our quick flight home.

Had a great time. GREAT friends!!! Great projects. Alcohol. Had a blast and can't wait to do it again. I think Ginger is already working on a date for next year.

Moving on. Went and checked out the new Topanga Mall with Lisa and Kari today. We didn't ever cover teh whole thing. The new Target is great. Two stories, nice clean and seems pretty upscale, for a Target. And the mall has 3 of my favorite kids stores. Naartjie, Pumpkin Patch and Hanna Andersson. I'm so happy. I spent a bundle at Naartjie as usual and it was all 25% off. Bought a playdress Carly wanted at Hanna Andersson which she was happy about. Bought a couple of things at Pumpkin Patch which Carly wasn't as impressed as I was so I'll be returning probably tomorrow. I'll convert her over to PP soon enough. And the mall has a new Apple store. As Kari points out, we *never* have to drive past DeSoto again. Every store we could possibly need is now in that mall. Caz and Chapin will be happy on their next trip out here.

If I don't post again, good thoughts for Friday.

posted by Juls @ 11:50 PM