Cutest Pregnant Gal EVER!!!

This is my friend Breann (with my favorite TCBS Teaching Director, Julie) ...

Is Breann not the cutest pregnant gal you have ever seen in your life??!!?!! I mean...seriously. She is so adorable. I think I should make her a sash and give her a tiara because she wins hands down!! :)

Such a joy to be able to see her all happy and glowing awaiting the arrival of little Annika Rose (not sure how to spell it...). David and Breann both look soooo happy.

AND I get to take their pregnancy photos for them next month...how totally fun is that?!? Can't wait! :)

I can't wait to meet little Annika in November!! :)

Indescribable...

Really. I can't even put into words how I felt being surrounded by 500+ women who love scrapbooking as much as I do. It was unreal. I have never been around that many scrappers in my life.

Women came from all over the globe to go to CKU-Houston. There were ladies from Virginia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, etc. Totally insane. Julie and I were just glad that we didn't have to fly...between the two of us we filled up half of a luggage cart (for 4 nights).

The hotel was really wonderful...we stayed at the Westin (in the Galleria). The bed was really comfy and the showerhead rocked. I want to buy the double showerhead and shower rod (it extends...it would be great for our teeny tiny master bath shower!).

The ladies from my dorm met up on Wednesday evening before all the festivities began. We "fancied up" Bone-ita before she was displayed as our table decoration. She got her "scrapping ailments" tags (like paper cut, design dementia, scrapper's elbow, etc.), got some negative filmstrip hair, and was crowned with a mortarboard. How cute is she, really? We had a blast taking all the photos of her and even more fun getting to show her off at the Tailgate party on Thursday night!!

I didn't know what to expect on Thursday morning when we went to registration. All I knew was there would be a lot of women in that line. I was pretty close to the front of the line and was able to get a head start on all the make 'n' takes (otherwise known as "product demonstrations" to some ladies).

When we picked up our registration packet they whisked us away to get our first batch of free goodies...boy, do I love free goodies. We got a black & ivory CKU Houston bag to haul all our stuff in (made me wish I hadn't brought like 4 bags to haul stuff in that I never used!). We got some free items like glue and stuff and another bag to carry 12x12 paper in. After all that excitement, we headed into the make 'n' take area and got started. Along with our free bags we got a little album to put all of our make 'n' take pages in...super fun.

I got to take a picture with the famous Elsie Flannigan (but it is on Julie's camera so I don't have it). That was really exciting. She is 22, married, and loves scrapping like me. I love to read her blog :) Lucky me, her room was right across the hallway so Julie and I ran into her (and Candice Stringham) a lot on the elevators. How cool is it to ride on elevators with scrapping icons?!

(I realize non-scrappers think I am totally strange for being excited about this...but I watch for their work and admire what they are doing in the scrapbooking industry.).

I wouldn't mind getting paid to go to CKUs but I definitely would not want to do all of the traveling. I missed Brad like crazy while I was gone. That is the longest we have been apart since we got married...and almost all the years we dated except for his trip to Seattle for work that was like a week (I thought I was going to die without him back then, too!!!!).

Back to the make 'n' takes...I loved most of the pages and my book is almost full. I need to add pictures and journaling for all of them, though. We had a really cool Junkitz class where we got the most neato little bag (the natural "junk bag" if you search the website under products) to haul scrapping stuff in (it is also very convenient when you need to scrap at school to get a design team layout done!) :)

I need to go...I have been on here way too long and I can't get more pics to upload. On the next installment of CKU Tales...fun times with Donna Downey, classes galore, Scrapbook Village, and dancing on the stage in front of hundreds of women (p.s. I can't dance at all)...

Had a B L A S T at CKU...

Truly.
Met some of my favorite fancy scrapbookers.
(I talked to them in the elevators!)
(and even stayed across the hall from some of them!)
Lots to share.
Fun pics.
Good stories.
Tons of free stuff.
Cool projects.
Happy to be home.
Missed my Bradley terribly.
Longest time without him since we've been married. :(
Failed a test today.
Got made fun of by one of my teachers for going to a scrapbooking convention.
Not enough time in the day.
No time to share yet (sorry, Mel!).

Stay tuned, though...one of these days I will be writing a long post about CKU! :)

P.S. I GRADUATED WITH A BACHELOR OF SCRAPBOOKING ARTS...(Really!! I have the diploma to prove it!!)...

Running Around...

like a chicken with my head cut off. Seriously. Too many things to do and not enough time to do them.

I am getting ready to leave for CKU this afternoon. I have not packed yet, haven't completed my CKU homework, don't have my pictures organized, haven't mailed the invitations for Perez's shower, and haven't sent out the parent's newsletter for CBS. Bummer, man. Wish there was more time between now and 4:00!!

I probably won't get to update for a days so if you are noticing me missing from my blog...I will be in Houston till Sunday. It's going to be TONS OF FUN!! :) I just hope I don't forget anything important!!! Have a wonderful week/end!! :)

10 Factual Statements...

1. I like to leg wrestle with skeletons at scrapping parties...

2. The Jeep is already broken...we have had it less than a month and the back seat (driver's side) window will not roll up...Brad keeps pulling it up and it keeps falling down. It has been raining quite a bit here, too. They are special ordering a part and will fix it when it comes in.

3. I still have not received two of my textbooks for school! (Don't ever buy books and have them shipped "media mail" if you need them quickly...apparently it is so "low priority" that they could care less if it gets to its destination...I could only expedite two out of five books). Hopefully I will get the Marketing Research book soon or I will have to bite the bullet and buy the book from the stinky, overpriced bookstore for $160...the half.com price was less than $100! I emailed the seller last week but they have not responded...it is super frustrating! Luckily a really nice gal in my class brought her CD that comes with the book so that I could do my homework for the class this morning.

4. Photography class rocks (except that I tried to develop a roll today and I ruined the entire roll because I didn't load the film right on the winder!)...hopefully that will not happen again!! I am not going to fail the assigment or anything...I do have some photos that will work for my first assignment. I successfully developed a roll on Thursday so I find a little solace in that. I took two rolls even though I only needed to take one. Now I know why very few people develop their own film these days. Who has 40+ minutes to develop a roll?!?!?

5. I truly have the best husband in the world. He is really and truly the sweetest boy I have ever met. He is always there for me when I need him. He even takes me to Hobby Lobby with a smile on his face :) I am so blessed to have him in my life!! Who knew marriage could be this wonderful?!??!

6. I am really missing my Fridays off from work and school!! Now I go to both from 8:00 (even though I don't have an 8:00 class, I am @ school) to 6:00 (when work ends). It is really rather sad.

7. I am trying to prepare for CKU (Creating Keepsakes University). I am leaving next Wednesday! That is SOON!! I have to sort through a lot of photos, print them, gather supplies, make a couple of layouts (my design team layout is due soon and I need to finish it before we leave for Houston!...I also need to make a few layouts for CKU), and do some journaling! I feel a little stressed...but I am SO TOTALLY EXCITED about going to CKU!!

8. In case you are wondering why there is a picture of a skeleton on a toliet, eating brownies while scrapping, and leg wrestling with me ...it is all part of our dorm (just a group of people attending CKU that make costumes, nametags, decorate a table, etc.) preparations for CKU. We met last Saturday and we had a BLAST! I have not laughed that hard in a long time! (Some of the ladies were crying they were laughing so hard!). I especially love the photo of the skeleton (affectionately called "Bone-ita Scraps-a-Lot") on the toliet...totally cracks me up when I look at it.

9. There is a millionaire+ in my Marketing Research class (and I am in a group with him). Kinda crazy, huh?! He used to be the president of Curves. I am really excited because we get to do our project over one of his franchises...facelogic spa. We get free facials (since the group is made of four girls and him we jumped at the chance!) :) YAY!! Plus, we have access to a lot of marketing research they have already done so we are ahead on our project. An added bonus is that he can't do the presentation on December 11th (when the whole class is supposed to present their projects) so we get to do ours early on December 6th. It will be really nice to get it over with since December gets so busy!! I hate having all the big projects/presentations due at the very end of the semester!!

10. I am waiting for Bradley to get home (with some Sonic and DP because it is a DP day!). I am watching 13 Going on 30 and it has the words on the bottom of the screen...I hate that but I don't know how to change it!! It is such a wonderful movie, though! I am off to find photos for CKU!! :)

No More Patriotism...

in cars for us (see 8.10.06 post)...we sold the blue truck yesterday. (Now we have Zion school spirit...two red and two white!). We got less than we wanted for it but it is nice to be down one vehicle. Two per person is plenty, really.

Now if we could just sell the red/orange Thunderbird (that has no seats) life would be even better! Maybe we could actually park a vehicle that we drive in our garage (a strange concept, I know)...