Knoxville Club Scrap Rolling Retreat - Pt 1 of 5

(Note to blog readers: This report was written for Club Scrap's Yahoogroup for members, so there may be some abbreviations and shorthand that non-scrappers don't understand. There are certainly references to people you don't know. Forgive me.)

I am home from the Knoxville Rolling Retreat, and -- oh, my heavens above, y'all!!!!! It was the *so* fabulous!!!! I wish all of you could have been there!!!!!

I'll try to go in order, but this is by no means a complete trip report. I just wanted y'all to know how completely fabulous the whole thing was! So this is the first installment! Day 1! Rolling Retreeeeeeeeat!!!!

Friday afternoon -- Registration and Make'n'Takes -- I was lucky enough to get to help with one of the Make'n'Takes, the Pass Portfolio. Using one of those *gorgeous* Club Scrap Colossal pieces of paper, we folded and folded and scored and bone folded and folded a little bit more to make a four-pocket folio complete with paper and mattes to match. GORGEOUS! And everyone who attended were ROCK STARS! They rocked the folios. While I was there, I Staci Brightwell re-introduced herself -- I've met her three times now, and this Retreat, I *finally* got to hang out with her as much as I wanted! I also met Dawn and Dawn and ... I need my piece of paper that I took notes on, but it's packed. Eek! And Andy and Kim! And Shona, and I ... really need that piece of paper. LOL!

I didn't have time to do the nifty other Make'n'Take, but it was notecards in a little paper envelope -- made with Painted Desert paper and embellished with my darlin' favorite little paper flowers!!! Eeeeeeeeee! I snagged a passel and the instructions, so I hope to get a little Painted Desert bling going when I have recovered from the weekend.

Which was intense. Where are my notes??? Oh, yeah, in the suitcase. Sheesh.

After all the lovely makin' and takin' and shoppin' and meetin' and greetin' -- oh, yes, there was champagne and sparkling grape juice, fruit, and lovely little spanikopitas (spelling? The little Greek spinach and cheese in phyllo dough things, yummy) -- After just a little while, we all gathered in the dining room for dinner. Except I was late. I don't know *how* I was late. All I did was run to find my room and put some luggage in it, that's all. Still, I was the last person in there, so I got the best seat at the best table.

The meal was faaaaaaaaaabulous. OMG. I have always raved about the food we get at Main Retreat. I'm *so* proud of Tennessee for putting on such great meals! Dinner was salad, and pork tenderloins with some kind of fabulous sauce, totally yummy, and garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed squash'n'zucchini. The bread was to die for. Crusty rolls! Auck!

Janet and my guest Carrie were cutting up at another table. I'm just sayin'. Is all. I'm not saying they were being *bad*, but let's just say the beer and the wine somehow mysteriously found its way to the crop room later on.

*My* well-behaved and fabulous table were sitting there talking about favorite old kits and debating which kit came out when. Dawn ... eek, I'm bad with last names, and there were two fabulous Dawns there! -- Dawn brought a guest, and she was telling on me about all my emails on the yahoogroup. Dawn! Did you get your guest signed up yet???

OMG, I almost forgot dessert -- this incredible cake! With a strawberry on the side! Staci likes strawberries. I think we need a Fruit & Vine Remix for Staci and her strawberry passion. I was so full from dinner that I couldn't even finish my cake. I would have cried, but Dinah got up to chat. And you know... when Dinah stands up to chat... someone's going to cry.

Tee hee!!!! Yes!!!! She cried! She told us about how CS was started (a story which *never* gets old), and she had people doing a show of hands, who all were members, and who all weren't. I was *really* surprised at the number of people in attendance who weren't members! I thought CS RR was just for us nutjobs! I think there must have been a third of them who weren't members already? Well, let me tell you, we tried our best to get 'em to see the light! But without twisting arms, of course.

Dinah introduced Karen and Nikki, and then she solicited a husband for Nikki, but none of us attendees had brought suitably handsome, rich young men who would dote on Nikki and give Dinah some grandkids. (Hint for future RR's: You might want to be better prepared! Nikki is absolutely gorgeous and such a sweetheart, and I think it's going to take a *very* special guy to be lucky enough to snag her!)

They also introduced those members who had brought guests, and then Dinah started passing out the presents. OMG, Dinah is such a meanie! She made us wait and open our first Official Retreat Goodie all at the same time! I was dying to see what it was, and when we finally got the greenlight to open... you could hear the ripping of gold CS seals all over the room! We all got Perpetual Calendars, and Karen let us know that all the stamps we needed would be in the crop room for the entire weekend. Woo hoo!!!!

When dinner was finally over, I think I ran back to my room to get my cropping stuff -- I brought UM's that needed trimming and I had snagged a Retro G2G in the Pro Shop (major EEEEEEEEEE!!!!!) -- and I headed down with my big red CS bag of stuff. I thought I probably brought too much, although it all fit into my CS bag. Y'know.

WOW. I was shocked. The crop room was FULL. It was bursting at the seams. I have never seen so much cropping since I joined CS! At Main Retreat, hardly anyone crops. Not so at the RR's -- that room was full of croppers! Sitting with Andy and Kim and Staci at a huuuuuuuuge table, I was more of a dropper than a cropper. I tried to trim my UM's, but they fought back (totally my fault). Then I made some Mocha Java/Retro cards. Well, I made two. Then I was toast, and I had to leave. We were allowed to leave our cropping stuff at the tables for the whole weekend, and if anyone suffered any loss, I never heard of it. What a great group of people!!!!!!

I love that. It just rocks to be able to leave hundreds of dollars worth of stuff in a room and come back two days later and it's still there.

Oh, I have to say, also, the halls were *lined* with ALSB sample pages, and it is so, so impressive to see them all in a row like that. They're just irresistible! I don't know how anyone who loves scrapping and wants to accomplish the most layouts from best products... *doesn't* start ALSB'ing!

So, anyway, around 10:00, I had to leave the cropping, but at least I got two cards made and wrestled those UM's into submission. I did have to leave the hotel for a bit -- I had been in such a huge and happy rush to get to RR earlier in the day, I forgot a lot of stuff, including hair bands and Diet Dr. Pepper. So I left for a bit, but got back to the hotel around 10:45. I washed my face, called my sister Amy (who was on her way to an Elton John concert, but I still say I had the most fun), and tried to go to sleep, but it was hard! I knew the hours were just ticking away until the first class on Saturday morning.

Quick recap of incomparable CS Retreat Goodies for Friday:
- Pass Portfolio Make'n'Take
- Painted Desert card folio Make'n'Take
- Perpetual Calendar
- Hugs from Dinah and Karen and Nikki!!!

Next ... Saturday! "Group B! B for Best!" ... "Crap!" ... "We're the *special* class." ... "Trade!" ... and "Tag!" And yes, I was late for every meal.