Let’s end the first week of the blogging challenge with a nice long read for your weekend :) Join me, will you, as I pretend I’m going on my dream scrapbook retreat? This is not, I repeat NOT, a real retreat. This is only a drill.
I Love It When the Weekend Starts Early
I have to work until noon on Thursday but the retreat is only 30 minutes from home. It’s so great to have an early check-in … so I get 4 days of scrapbooking!
Of course, I packed my crop bags perfectly, bringing enough to keep me busy but not too much to haul and unpack, with page kits containing photos and all I’ll need to scrapbook them. {Hey, it’s MY dream! If I want to pretend I’m retreat-organized for once, you can’t stop me}.
I pull up to the retreat location, a huge modern home right on the ocean. Hunky Patrick Dempsey look-alikes … erm, I mean, the nice lady retreat coordinator Lisa greets me and helps me carry my stuff into the house. We chat the entire time like old friends. She’s super nice, caring, and funny – I can tell this is going to be an amazing weekend!
A Table in Paradise
I’m the first to arrive so I get to pick my perfect crop space, my own 8-foot table at the end of the row. I like to talk with my fellow scrappies but I also like the ability to tune out and just scrap, so this is awesome. There will only be 6 of us total so it won’t get too crazy anyway. The huge living room that we’re in has windows on 3 sides. No matter where I look, I can see the beautiful ocean.
And because I’m at the end of the row closest to the front window, I can open it to create the perfect temperature {don’t you hate being too hot or too cold at a retreat?} and hear the waves pounding about 20 feet below us. I always say that the beach is My Happy Place and I can’t believe I get to combine it with scrapbooking!
Right now, the sun is starting to lower over the horizon, the sandpipers are skittering among the waves, and I can’t wait to get onto the deck and take some photos!
And the FOOD! ANd GIFTS!
Lisa has taken my suitcase to my room and, while I unpack my crop bag and start setting up my table, she brings me a cucumber mint iced tea from my favorite coffee place down the street. {She knew that I loved this tea from the guest preference sheet we submitted as part of the retreat}. She tells me the gourmet salad bar is set up in the kitchen whenever I’m hungry.
There’s also a variety of healthy – and not healthy :) – snacks set up on a table in the cropping area, along with a mini fridge full of our favorite drinks. Champagne and a yummy local white wine are chilling in ice buckets. Lisa has made extravagant goodie bags for each of us, full of the latest 12×12 papers and embellishments from the local scrapbook store. She had those preference sheets so she knew exactly what special items each of us would love!
Scrapping, Movie, Magazines, Hot Bath, Bed …
The rest of the day is taken up with completing 2 layouts, eating and drinking, greeting my 4 dear friends who are joining me, and watching “New In Town” on the big screen in the home theater. I’ve seen it several times and it always makes me laugh. Plus buttered popcorn and champagne, my favorite!
I turn in earlier than the others; it’s been a long day and I can’t wait to chill with my new scrapbooking magazines from Barnes and Noble. I’ve been holding off for a week to save them for the retreat and it’s been torture! I have the latest issues of Creating Keepsakes, Simple Scrapbooking, and Ivy Cottage. {Okay, apparently, I’m not only writing a dream story but also entering a time warp – because these magazines don’t exist any more, boo hoo!}.
My room is a master suite upstairs with another big view of the ocean, a huge soft bed with a white down comforter and fluffy pillows, and the bathroom has a sunken whirlpool tub. Ahhhh, the better to soak my tired neck and back after all that scrapping. Champagne again? Oh, well, sure, if you insist, but just 1 more teensy glass! Then it’s off to bed, lulled to sleep by the ocean sounds, and dreaming scrappy dreams.
The Rest of the Weekend
The remainder of the retreat couldn’t be more perfect. I have a blast chatting with my friends, catching up on everyone’s news (mayyyybe a little gossip thrown in for good measure), and getting 15 layouts done and several pocket pages,too. Lisa provides one amazing meal after another, all so rich and delicious but miraculously devoid of any calories or fat grams. When I get home, not only didn’t I gain weight but I LOST 5 pounds!
Throughout the weekend, we listen to all kinds of music depending on the mood we’re in – 80s, hip hop, country, spiritual, Top 40, you name it. We take walks on the beach, do a little shopping in the nearby town, watch movies, scrap late into the night, and sleep in as late as we want. No kids, no chores, nothing pulling our attention away from pure relaxation and fun.
Lisa is always there with an offer of the perfect beverage (like a breve’ latte’ just when we needed some scrapping energy), keeping the house tidy, and being such kind company. You can tell she truly loves her job and having us there is HER favorite thing in the world.
Monday, Monday :(
Although nobody wants to leave this amazing place, we all miss our families and are ready to go home. The hunky guys … shoot! I mean WE help each other pack up our cars. Then we thank Lisa for the most amazing scrapbook retreat EVAH!, say our goodbyes, and drive home, with one last glance at the beautiful sea in our rearview mirrors.
The Perfect Scrapbook Retreat
So that crazy tale was all about my dream retreat – if only it could come true! What are a few things your dream scrapbooking retreat would include? Have you ever been to one that was close to perfect? I’d love to hear about it!
PS: Save your crazy, awful, and unbelievable scrapbooking crop and retreat moments for another time. There’ll be a post soon where you can share those stories with us. Oooh, can’t wait!
21 Comments
Oh if only that dream could come true!! You certainly made me smile and genuinely Laugh out Loud!!!
Woot woot for the LOL! Glad you enjoyed it, Kim.
whatta wonderful dream retreat…I would not change very much, except I don’t drink..so instead of champagne, lots of apple juice.
maybe a kitten to cuddle with every now and then would make it perfect.
Okay, Karen, sounds good. We’ll go to the same retreat and cheers with apple juice. But I’m allergic to cats so you get the kitten to yourself, lol.
I’m not sure what my ideal retreat would be. I am going to my first one later this year. I’m excited! Flying there, so that will be interesting. I’m nervous but looking forward to it. There will be about 20ish people there.
That’s very exciting, Alyssa! I’m sure you’ll love it <3
Oh wow! I love your dream scrap retreat! Not sure what mine would be…but I am pretty sure it involves being ocean side. And margaritas. And a massage.
Mmm, I’m thinking Mexico for you, Melissa! Sounds wonderful and relaxing.
[…] to post on my blog 21 times this month. After a strong start, I am brainstorming new topics. This blog entry about scrappy retreats got me thinking about something new I am doing this year: attending a scrapbooking […]
This sounds awesome. I’ve never been on one but it’s definitely a future plan!!
Jen, retreats are so great. You get away from everyday life and get to scrapbook, eat, and chat. I hope you can attend one soon!
If I’m honest I just want time off work to craft with hubby close by, so my dream retreat is probably exactly what I have just with some extra time.
That’s so awesome, Michelle! There’s something to be said for having your own scrap space and NOT having to pack :D
What a lovely retreat you’ve planned. For me, I would want the house to myself for a week, but since I’m dreaming, it’s completely renovated and CLEAN. I like being in my home turf where I know where everything is at. I would have sushi delivered freshly made once a day. I’d have my nieces join me for a long weekend and my daughter could join us for one of those days. My hubs would make us grapefruit margaritas on one of the days when my daughter wasn’t there. Then the rest of our families would join us for the following week where we would make more memories to scrapbook.
LisaDV, I absolutely adore how your love for family shines through your dream retreat. It sounds awesome!
Sounds like heaven to me, if I could have my daughter and little dog accompany me, I know it would be heaven!!
That sounds perfect, Susan – scrapbooking, your child, and your fur-child in one place :) The best of all worlds.
Sounds like a piece of heaven to me. I’m not too picky. As long as I have some coffee and snacks and lots of room to spread my stuff on, I’m in! Of course, being by the ocean and then having a yummy dinner in a quaint town I could walk to from the beach would be a big plus!
I wish you lived nearby, Nadine. I’m hoping to plan an oceanside scrapbook retreat at some point and I would love you to be there! Oh well, while we’re dreaming …
I was hoping I would get to the end, and there would be a sign up form for this wonderful weekend. BooHoo, when it wasn’t there!
It sounds like bliss to me and I’ve never been to a scrapping retreat, although I did go to CKU once.
Aw, Cathy, I know! I wish it existed too :) I went to CKU and loved it – fun, huh?