I survived...

It's true.. I survived the planning stages for the Workshop I am leading in January... I survived Formal Dress shopping with my girlie... I survived a Thanksgiving Hike in the pouring rain... I survived Thanksgiving dinner... I survived Black Friday shopping - and left overs... & so far, I have survived this holiday weekend with no one asking WHEN I am going to decorate for Christmas? LOL!

Normally it is the day after Thanksgiving - but with all we had going on this weekend, I had quietly decided I would do it slowly through out the week next week... I need to really clean up my scrap/family room in order to prepare the area for the tree - so that means I need to get busy with that because I am still needing to START the crafting process for the remaining gifts I have to do. I have purchased (nearly) everything on my list that I am purchasing. Now all that is left is the handmade gifts... so hopefully I will begin tackling that this week or next weekend! I am confident that I will meet my deadline of Dec 10th!

Last weekend I worked on a few samples for the Workshop I am leading in January at a Scrapbook Retreat... I am pretty happy with what I came up with... now to pick Valentines papers and price it all out to make sure I am making a profit... Here is what I came up with. I call it a Trio of Love... It's a three piece Kit that will include supplies to make a Valentine card, a Coaster Squash Mini, and a Treat Basket... so fun!

So - on Tuesday one of my 'skinny' friends gave me a pair of her jeans that didn't fit her. I seriously doubted that they would fit me - but I loved her for even thinking it... after she left I cautiously tried them on... Levi's - I haven't worn those since high school I think? While they are a bit long... they fit GREAT - and they are a size 12! Nice!
Then again - I haven't tried them on since Thursday!? It's been great incentive to stay on track this weekend!

Wednesday I took my dd out to shop for a Formal dress - she has the Ninth Grade Formal in a few weeks and decided to go with a group of girlfriends... so we met up with one of her friends and her Mom and had a great time trying on dresses at SEVERAL stores. We narrowed it down to two... actually bought one - brought it home - then wasn't so sure about it... here are the choices:

On Thursday I had the bright idea of making that Canyon Loop hike an annual Turkey Day event - so we went out in the pouring rain to attempt it! Of course - when we started it was barely misting... we went about 45 minutes in and we were nearly halfway... so the decision to either go all the way or turn around seemed hard... but knowing that the climbing part was on the other side and it was muddy and raining harder, my hubby and I chose to turn around and jog back, while my sis, my nephew, and my Dad all braved the full loop (and took about another 1-1/2 hours in deciding that?!) So - we were WET when we made it back to the car... didn't take many pictures as it was cold and foggy and - well - wet... but here are a few:

We had a great low key relaxing Thanksgiving at my Mom's... we all pitch in with the food and that meant that it was almost all Spark Friendly... which is nice! We ate and visited and just hung out! I - of course - made them all write on our placecards... and yes, endured the mocking! One day they will remember it all fondly! LOL! I did not, however, bring games over... I usually get mocked for wanting to do that as well - but it turns out - without them - everyone seemed a little bored and the evening broke up much earlier than usual?! (No one would admit to missing the games though! LOL!)

For some INSANE reason - after all the questioning-the-dress-decision from the day before, I mentioned the POSSIBILITY of going out on Black Friday to try on the other dress. You see, the "other" dress was the one my dd fell in love with... and I vetoed... let's just say that with her undergarments that day - her - uh - cup runneth over. So we agreed to get up STINKIN' EARLY and go back to try it on and see if they had a different size. There were only one or two of that particular dress - so we didn't want to risk it being gone AFTER the mad rush in the morning! So - at 4am we were up and getting ready... headed off to Macy's and waited in line (in the rain) for a few minutes. It wasn't too bad... the line was not crazy long and the people were nice enough. We knew what we wanted so we went directly there - grabbed the ONE dress and asked if they had it in back in other sizes. We find out that this particular dress was a special order and so they only ordered that one dress in that one color in that one size... the same dress/size obviously that she tried on two days before that I had said an enthusiastic NO WAY to!? Still - we decide to try it on sans undergarments and - wow! That made all the difference! It looks GREAT and she is one happy happy girl! She loves it... I am praying it is not really $80 and we head to check out - where there are NO LINES?! It rings up $36 - Score! So - in heading back to the car, I say yet another INSANE statement: "Hey - that was fast, and we're up - why don't we just run to Target to get the boys toys that are on sale there and then head home?" She's happy - she has 'the' dress - so she is game! We pass Starbucks - because the plan is to go in, go out, and go back to bed while it is still dark! Yeah - you can guess... we barely got IN to Target because the check out line had already wound around the store twice and was almost blocking the entryway... we went right to what we wanted - and found a shorter line near Electronics and got right in line... it was 6:04am. We wait... and we wait... and we inch forward a tiny bit... and we wait some more! Many people bailed our line - only to return and say the OTHER line is just as crazy - it is moving but it is still slow - and people are more irritated over there... they actually NEEDED the Security Guards in that line. So we stay... and wait! Turns out the registers keep breaking... the scanners are not working... everything has to be input by hand.. and suddenly - there is ANOTHER line that is trying to merge in with ours from a different aisle?! It was crazy... we kept wondering if it was worth it for the six items in our hands... we kept looking longingly at all the pretty holidays Starbucks cups walking past us... TWO HOURS LATER we left the Target building!? Crazy!? My girlie is SO DONE with Black Friday shopping! Her first and last experience with it! LOL!

We came home in time to NOT go back to bed - but to get ready for company coming over... but at least that would mean COFFEE! After that - we headed out to see Blind Side... I cannot more HIGHLY RECOMMEND this movie! It is a MUST SEE and it is SO GOOD! We all three loved it! We actually attempted to go with my whole family - but they have no concept of time and thought we were crazy to go so early!? They didn't make it in - so they had to go to the next showing - which simply meant that while they were watching the movie - I was GLORIOUSLY napping! In the evening, we headed over to our friends' house and played RockStar and Wii games all night - it was fun!

Today - well - this morning is slow and lazy - as it should be! Then we'll head over to my in-laws for the Apple Cup game and our own belated Thanksgiving get together with them! I WAS going to try to take Family Portraits today too - but I am hoping to do that NEXT weekend and take some other shots for other fams as well - just make it a huge photo shoot day!? Still trying to plan out some outfits for us and think of some fun 'unexpected' poses/places to shoot!

So - how are you all doing? Did you survive the crazy weekend as well? Did you score on any great deals on Friday? Did you remember to take photo's at Thanksgiving? (I forgot again?)

Hope all is well...Scrap Happy and Be Blessed!
~Karrilee~

PS - Here is my Happy Girl in her Winning Dress:
Now to buy shoes... and decide on hair and makeup... oh the fun!