*yaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn*

Wowzas.

The past few days were a whirlwind. I blinked and it was over. The trip to Holland was grand.

I left thursday afternoon and arrived within 45 minutes. Travelling is already nerve racking, but doing it by yourself in a foreign country is overwhelming. Schipol airport is huge and my meeting point was going to be in Departures. Once I got my luggage, I speed walked through the airport for maybe 15 minutes until I found my meeting area. I wore a bright yellow shirt so I could be spotted easily.

I left the airport with Heidi Heideveld, the owner of ScrapbookMate. She was so funny, but terribly busy and stressed the whole weekend. But once it was over, she was back to her normal fun self. Anyways, we made a quick pitstop at her house, which is in the middle of Amsterdam, right on a canal. I couldn't believe the thousands and thousands of bicycles I saw on the way there! Of course, my camera was in my carry on in a different vehicle so I didn't get a photo, but here's one I found online:

Apparently there is about 20,000 bikes parked outside Amsterdam's Central Station. It's amazing to see a parking garage filled with them.

Thursday evening was spent in Heidi's warehouse, finishing up kits and drooling over the vastness of her property. I cannot even begin to describe how HUGE her warehouse is. But to give you an example:

That, Dear Friends, is floor to ceiling Bazzill and it stretched from one end of the warehouse almost to the other. O_O She has evey prima imaginable, things I've never even seen! I can't wait to visit there again. After I wiped the floor clean from my drool, I helped kit the last bit of Karen Burniston's class "Wall Toy." She used the new October Afternoon papers that are so gorgeous! After an hour or so there, we made our way to the hotel in a town called "Noordwijkerhout." The hotel was lovely...definitely a place I'd stay again.

Friday started early in the morning. After grabbing a quick breakfast, I made way to the "Teacher's Lounge" a.k.a. the "VIP Room." lol. The whole weekend was spent running around, finding missing items for teachers, putting up a shop, working in the shop, teaching make and takes, and just helping out where I could. And in my spare time, I got to have really cool conversations with some of the teachers. The first one I met was Nellie Hulsman, a Dutch scrapper that everyone thinks is British because of her accent. I LOVE Nellie!! I feel like we totally bonded this weekend. Jen Starr talked to me for probably an hour about the industry. It was quite a learning experience. I had lunch with C.D. Muckosky and her husband on Sunday. Donna Downey was HILARIOUS and I got to hear Teresa Collins talk about some of her future plans. Lance Anderson got a kick out of walking up behind me and scaring me (I looked like an idiot screaming). Vicki Boutin was so cute, especially when she got self-conscience about her accent. I met a couple of ladies from a Dutch Scrapbooking magazine and we exchanged business cards. They love the Daily Inspiration blog and I've sort of formed a new business relationship with them. Totally excited about that one. Jennifer Moody had a lot of complications this weekend, the poor thing, but once it was ironed out, she rocked. Then on Monday, after finishing up her retailer demonstration, she let me have the extra kits to divide up amongst my design team. SWEET!! Then I shared a ride with Karen Burninston and her husband. Big thanks to Michelle Grant for showing me the ropes this weekend and being my chaffeur. :D She was so fab and I can't wait to see her again.

Give me a second while I sweep up all these names I just dropped.

So am I bummed I didn't have the chance to take classes? Totally! BUT, the things I learned could not have been learned in a class, so I think I made out pretty good. Speaking of making out, check out my stash:

I can't wait to play.

I have to confess, I took about 5 photos the whole time I was there. Sheesh. next time I go to an event, I am going to be animate about shooting. Here are the shots I managed to take:

This is a photo of two gals from my team, Mireille Divjak and Emma Trout. LOOOOOOVED these ladies. I mean, it's one thing forming an online friendship with some, but it's a whole new world when you get to meet them in real life!

I taught make and takes this weekend. I was under the impression that I would just be the "manager" and making sure the teachers were where they were supposed to be. Nope. But I'm not complaining because I really do want to get into teaching. I met some wonderful scrappers and seriously can't wait for the next event (which I believe will be in November).

I was sad to leave, but anxious to see my family. I arrived at the airport a little later than I wanted. When I jumped out of the van, the wheel on my carry-on broke!! So I had to run through the airport with a heavy case stuffed with scrap stuff, in some greek style sandals. Then when I went through security check, they told me to place my ticket on the top of my belongings. Well, I nearly had a heartattack when my things came out of the xray machine and my ticket was GONE. I started to shake, because at this point, I had about 20 minutes before my flight left. They found it though, stuck inside the machine. I didn't appreciate the looks of impatience that were shot by the passengers behind me, but what can you do? Once it was found, I RAN to my gate, which felt like was on the complete opposite side of the airport security check. So today, my arms and shoulders are sore and I have blisters on the bottoms of my feet from my sandals.

It's good to be home.

And last but not least, my Mojo project I did before I left.

Sorry for the long post. Off to clean and do laundry and fix dinner. No rest for the weary.

xoxo
Jess

PS- The question of the weekend was "So is it 'Jess' or 'Jessica'?" Well, FYI, it's either or. I tend to type Jess online simply b/c it's faster. I respond to both so whatever you want to call me!