I left off talking about my album class, Rusty Pickle's The Story of Us with Lance. I was a little worried going in as I had been told lots that the class moved very fast and that it was hard to keep up. It did actually move fast, but it was a really good pace and I didn't have trouble keeping up - happy about that. I was also worried as I had not done my "homework" for class. I did not bring photos or have journaling ready for the album - I'm a bad bad student. But turns out - nobody was expected to do that part of the album in class anyway - so I was good.
This is some of my Santa Clarita CKU friends at one of the evening crops. Missing Elizabeth in this photo - girl you were hard to keep track of !
This is one of the really great things about CKU - friends. For me, it's not about the classes, the celebrities, or even the shopping - it's about having such a fun time out with friends. And I keep meeting more and more of them !! Love that.
Here's a really fun memory. Read the poster on the wall, then look at Deanna & Dana. See - I hang out with a classy group of ladies.
And funny too :-)
The next day was time for more classes. I did really like most of the classes. Tim Holtz mirror was of course a hit. Everything he does seems to be interesting - and learning something new.
Mine turned out OK -- more stuff for the scrap area !
Other classes were good too - but I just wasn't very excited about the Piggy Tales slide album. It just didn't look that interesting so I only made an appearance and left to go pack since we were leaving so early the next morning. But I did take the album, and instructions, so I will try the project soon.
And then to the thing you know you all want to know -- what kind of freebies did I get ? Just look - This is all the goodie bag / class handouts, etc. I was pleased in that I think I will actually use most of the product I got this year - gotta love that !
One of the other things that was very fun about CKU this year was the Secret Sister swap. In this swap, you are assigned a "sister" to secretly spoil before CKU, and somebody is assigned you to "spoil". I was very fortunate in both my "send to" and "receive from" sisters this year. I mentioned before that my "sister" that was sending to me sent me a "countdown to CKU". This was all really cute - I am just in awe of the creativity there. Each of the 12 days before CKU there was an evelope to open, with a clever rhyme and a little goodie. This is me getting ready to open the last one, on the bus tour. My fellow bus tourists made sure I got it out and opened it before we got under way that day.
This is the really creative Ashley when I first met her. Ashley and her sister Merlin (not sure I spelled that right) were nice enough to meet me for breakfast early that first morning. Hope to stay in touch with both Ashley and my "send to" secret sister Jody.
Then it was time to come home. After the bus dropped us off in Corona, we still had to catch a shuttle back to Santa Clarita. I was worried about how we were going to fit all of our new stuff into the shuttle. We all breathed a sigh of relief when we got all the stuff, plus us, into the shuttle and we were on our way home.
Well - that sigh of relief was short-lived. It wasn't long before we heard a loud POP in the back. The back doors had come unlatched, and we could even see daylight coming through them. YIKES - we had a ton of stuff in the back ! The driver didn't believe us so he kept going. On the freeway. stress. stress. So finally he heeded our pleas and pulled over.
Yep - the doors were open. He tried to close them again and the plastic on the inside of the doors cracked and started coming off. So - I rode the rest of the way home with a box on my lap. And we were very uneasy the whole rest of the trip home. We kept looking back to make sure all was well in the back. That's when we realized we had somebody else's bag in our stuff. Then another bag was noticed. Then after we got home and unloaded we found yet a 3rd bag that wasn't ours !!
Now we're not bag thieves or anything like that. We were the last people from the bus to be picked up - it was just us left. So our shuttle driver put all the bags that were there into our shuttle. Turns out those 3 people had all left their bags behind in their excitement to get home to their families. But not to worry - all bags are already safely back in the right hands.
But that was not the end to our exciting shuttle ride - no way. After being on edge about the back coming open - our shuttle driver starts fishtailing on the freeway. Then stops. Then a while later - does it again. Then again. I'm not sure if he was falling asleep, or if we were just too heavy with all our bags & bins. I was SO glad to get back home !! Safely !! With all my stuff !!
So there you have it - my recap of CKU and the incredible Bus Tour. Had a great time, and I've even managed to put away all the goodies I got ! Yeah !