It's now officially college football season. Mr. Higgins loves college football, specifically Auburn football. All the men in his family watch the games and only a crisis can prevent them from being parted from their TVs on fall Saturdays. Ha!
In honor of the season, I made the card above to send to Mr. Higgins' grandfather, an Auburn alumnus. I made this during a tough week at work so I fell back on a scrapbook design I love - patch-working a page with paper. The card is simple but, hopefully, masculine.
War Eagle!
Last weekend my sister and our moms had our scrapbooking retreat in East Texas at a B&B called Memory Lane Inn. It was a lot of fun!
The inn was gorgeous! The house and grounds were beautiful, clean, and charming! Two huge rooms were filled with craft tables, lamps, and power outlets. Each room had it's own entertainment system, complete with a wide selection of DVDs and a huge flatscreen TV. There was also a computer, printer, and Cricut available for use. And in case you run out of supplies, a small store operates on the honor system - just pay the kitty for what you take. The fridge was stocked with every soft drink imaginable and loads of bottled water. There was also a wide selection of snacks and candy. A meal option is also available but there were not enough guests for us to participate.
We stayed in a room with four twin beds. Only three of us stayed overnight.....so I can't quite imagine six ladies staying in one room....and there are two rooms that accommodate six! How can six ladies share one bathroom?! Earplugs were provided, under the assumption that everyone would have different working schedules.
I got a lot of work done. I finally finished the album of my first trip with Mr. Higgins. (How many trips have we taken together, now?!) I also got a lot of knitting done...so, success!
One minor hiccup in the weekend was a storm on Thursday night that knocked out our power for the majority of Friday. It was definitely frustrating to have no light by which to work...but several of us were still able to be productive in the afternoon.
The inn is unique...there are no owners present 24/7. In fact, the owner is in another town! Her parents, however, live behind the inn and keep up with the maintenance. They also cook if you buy the meal option. It's good to not have the owner looking over your shoulder....but when the power goes out, it presents annoying problems.
We're already planning another stay at Memory Lane as it seems a retreat is the only way some of us can get work done on our albums! Ha!
My days at work have been spent getting my new boss settled in. There are tons of boxes to unpack, files to sort, and periodicals to organize. Academics have way too many books - ha!
With this new boss, I've had no idea what my new and different responsibilities will be. That's a scary thing! But he gave me some great news the other day. I will be managing editor of a series he's in charge of. To make his life easier, I'll take over all the day-to-day stuff in regards to that series. I'll talk to authors, send submissions out for review, and copyedit.
Six years ago, I almost took a publishing job in Michigan, right after I finished my master's degree. That job did not pay enough to live on. Now, I'll be doing something similar and gain tons of experience that could translate into a job for an academic publishing house. It's ironic how life comes full circle sometimes!
So, despite it being a crazy hectic week, that news has buoyed my spirits. Hopefully there are good things coming up in the future (at work!).
On a side note, the scrapbooking retreat is going to happen. Next weekend! I'm so excited!
Did you know that there are bed and breakfasts that specialize in scrapbook retreats? I'm amazed! My sister found a few that are extremely reasonable. They offer huge craft tables for you to set up your spread and work for days and days. They have machines you can use and printers where you can print off photos.... And snacks! It's a crafters paradise.
The only drawback is that the rooms are set up for 2, 4, and 6 people. But to make up for having to share a room with so many girls, the rate is extremely reasonable. However, finding enough people to go on a specific weekend is turning out to be near impossible.
As more and more of my friends get married and have kids, there are fewer and fewer people who have free time. That means I see them less and less.
All of you who do not have kids understand, I'm sure. You have friends for life but then, suddenly, those friends "settle down" and become too busy for anything other than family. I don't plan on having kids, so I guess I better get used to this....at least for the next twenty years until those kids go off to college. I've "settled down," but with no plans for kids, I'd like to still have friends.
And I'd like to be able to scrapbook with them. Hopefully at some point, we can get a group together.
