More is More

We were happy to get home last night and very exhausted.  I just had to share a little more about Portland before moving on.  I must say that my friend Bev (TexasGrammy) expressed so beautifully so much of how I feel about the trip – please check out the post on her blog Savor the Journey.

Our friends Jess (newtnewt) and Lisa (onestampinmama) went above and beyond picking us all up at the airport and coming to our hotel from their homes (30-50 minutes away) to be sure we had transportation everywhere!  *Smooches* girls!  You’re the BEST!  A bunch of us came in within about 2 hours of each other and there were plenty of screams and hugs to go around.

Upon checking in at the hotel we were each given a treat bag by the desk clerk.  I thought I would die laughing when I opened mine to find the goodies in this picture along with an actual Depends!  Talk about rolling on the floor with laughter!

How sweet!  I could hardly believe the time and thoughfulness that went into making our arrival so special!  That is a decorated tin (Paper Trey Ink) filled with nuggets (too pretty to eat!) and an incredible squash book to fill with photos.  Oh and shoot – I just realized my name tag isn’t in the photo.  They made each of us a name tag to wear to Regionals and to the SCS Dinner.

After the SCS Dinner it was pajama time as we all gathered in one laughter filled room.  I promised not to share any of those pictures, but I do have one I think I can get away with…

This is Taylor with her Appletini (made by the one and only Queen of Appletini’s JulieHRR).  Unfortunately Taylor wasn’t with us on this trip so we called her on speaker phone to share a pretty green drink with us.  *wink*

Here I am with my Royal friend!  *grin*

Leslie Miller (leslierich) and I go way back on SCS.  Back in the old days of less than 10,000 members we used to crusie the gallery just about every night around 10pm and we developed a friendship through PMs.  I have been a huge fan of hers from the very beginning.  It was so great to hook up with her again on this trip!

     Beate was the one person in the group I had not yet met IRL.  She is SO much fun and it was such a treat to finally meet and spend time with her!  For quite some time I have been involved in an on-going chat thread on SCS and have developed friendships with many wonderful women – there were four of us from that chat thread in the group this weekend.

Lisa, Emily, Jess (my goodness – somebody tell Jess to update her blog!) and me.

It was such an honor to get to have dinner Saturday night with Daven and Tracy and the SCS technical team.  And oh my!  Tracy even made us each a little paint can filled with goodies.  How awesome is that?  Each one was different and so cute!

I had the hardest time picking out a few (ok maybe more than a few) pictures to share tonight.  I just have to add a couple more…

Here’s one of Jess and Lori  (click on all the smaller photos to see a bigger version).

  And here’s Sharon, Joy and Tex.

And here’s one of all the Dirty Dozen Alumni in the group.

Back row:  Jenn, Beate, Leslie, me

Front row:  Cambria, Julie, Sharon

 I’m starting to feel like a name dropper – how the heck did I fall into such an incredible group?  They are gems – all of them!

Ok Ok…I’ll stop with the pictures already!  Thanks for indulging me.  I should really spend some time trying to wrap text, etc. but to be honest I’m not very good at that and Curt is already in bed.  It’s also past my bedtime.  Back to work tomorrow.

I tried to make a card this morning to post, but it’s ugly.  Portland hangover is not good for stamping aparantly!  LOL!  I’ll try to have something to share with you tomorrow night.  Thanks for stopping by and may you have friends who make you smile till your face hurts!  🙂