My Trip To Arlington

I want to start this out by saying that my trip to Arlington was fabulous, and NO MATTER WHAT, I don't regret going! First of all, I met some of the most amazing people and got to make some pretty awesome cards. My trip down was rather eventful so I will give you a few of the highlights! First of all, I was so frantically busy this week trying to get everything done for the trip that I almost had a melt down. On top of my swap, and my door prize, I had to work on cards for the My Favorite Things release since I am the guest designer for this month. I didn't want to drag all of my stamp stuff with me(and boy am I glad I didn't), so I had to have all of my stuff done ahead of time. Then my sister calls and wants to send out her invites for her baby shower BEFORE I left so I had to make 70 of those in two days(and of course I had to pick the most involved card ever) plus I had all my design team stuff for Paper Pretties, which I am ashamed to say may never be posted because it is just that bad!!LOL

Anyways, I was checking the weather the night before I left, something I never do, but was so proud of myself for doing, and saw that my whole entire path to Texas was in the red!! Severe thunderstorm warnings with the threat of tornadoes, YIKES! Something you need to know about me is that I hate storms, and I am the kind of person that when they hear about the storm warnings goes back inside and stays where it is relatively safe(definitely not the type to go out and drive in it). So I debated back and forth with myself and my husband and decided that I would just go and everything would be okay. I started driving at 6am and it was dreary, but I never saw any rain or anything. In fact, I got all the way to Memphis without that first raindrop and thought to myself-everything is gonna be alright. WWWWWRRRRROOONNNGGG!!! The closer I got to Little Rock, the worse the weather got. I found a radio station out of LR and started listening to their storm coverage. As they are announcing where the TORNADOES are at, I am starting to panic because I have no idea what county I am in. I am trying to drive in blinding rain, listen to the radio, and not cry. I kept thinking, I should pull over but I pushed on. As they announced that the T was by 167, I was still on I40. As I went on to 167, they said it was by I40.......I think I may have driven between two tornadoes!YIKES!! Thankfully, I wasn't hurt, and I made it to this big beautiful state of Texas, where surprisingly, the sky is bigger. I always thought people were full of it, but the sky is huge here! I did however arrive at Dallas at rush hour on a Friday night. Luckily for me, people were bumper to bumper, so it probably made it easier for me to drive through. The rest of the trip was awesome though! My roommates rocked, and the swap was AWESOME!! I even made a some new friends and actually got to meet someof my favorite stampers! I will be sharing pictures from the swap for awhile so bare with me!

While at the swap I met Becky(tggrfriend). She is super sweet and we got to stamp together a lot! She brought the most UNBELIEVABLE door prize, and guess who won it...ME!!! I had to guard it with my life, but we both made it out okay. All the little tins attached to the flowers are full of ribbon, buttons and primas! Am I not a lucky girl!!! When they went to hand it to me, Carolyn King(cammie) said that for all I went through to get there, I deserved it!! I don't know about all of that, but I certainly do appreciate it! Thanks again Becky!!

So to wrap things up, a few lessons I have learned since leaving Illinois. I am definitely tougher than I thought! When the weather is bad, stay home! SCS ROCKS( I already knew that, but I am just amazed by the people I met!!)! And last but not least, when staying with your little brother always remember to photograph any cards you want good pictures of BEFORE leaving home(what is it with men and dark rooms) and bring your own towels-enough said!!