Laura Vegas

so, day two of our utah trip. we ended up staying up pretty late last night … even though we were so tired from getting up so early. but we were busy checking emails, and checking in on some of our favorite blogs … and just plain chatting. i think we dozed off about midnight. the beds were super comfy … down comforters and pillows. super warm. then this morning we got up about 9:00 … and got ready for our day. and once again … i appologize for my inability to give a decent smile. lol! i have no idea what my problem is … but i've been practicing in front of the mirror tonight so that maybe tomorrows pics will be better!

we drove over to the creating keepsakes office … and met up with vivian … who is the one that made all of our arrangements for the trip. such a sweet gal … we appreciate how helpful she was in all of this. while we were waiting for lisa to arrive … she found some things to keep us busy. we met up with mr dana wilson, the senior product manager. and also loni stevens and kerri bradford … who are two of the product designers. they had just gotten in a box … with their very first peek at the january KOTM. and they were more than happy to let us take a look with them. we can't tell you what it was … but it's going to be a really good one. i seriously can't wait to get one … such a great concept that i'm going to love putting together. and we also got a few sneek peeks at some upcoming issues and another future KOTM (that is going to be equally as fun).

then lisa bearnson arrived. so very cool to meet her … and she was so welcoming and sweet to us. she told us all about how she started the magazine and how it has grown to what it is today. i've followed CK from the very beginning … and know a lot about the story. but to hear lisa herself tell it … was simply amazing. you can tell how much this company means to her … and how she has put so much of herself into it.

she then gave us a tour of the offices. we met lots of people. including stacy croninger from paper crafts magazine … who signed a copy of her new book paper crafts gourmet for us. we met jennafer martin, editor in chief of simple scrapbooks magazine … who signed a copy of their new book snippets for us. we met brain tippetts, editor in chief of creating keepsakes magazine … and he signed a copy of a new book he has coming out (that i don't think anyone even knows about yet). we met lots of other people too … so many that i can't remember them all. and we got peeks at some really cool offices. a look inside the photography studio … where they shoot all the projects. that itself was quite interesting … to see the huge amount of backdrops and props … and just everything they need to take fun shots of the the projects for the books and magazines. we peeked into the warehouse … were i found wendy … a friend from back in my paperkuts magazine days. we got a look into the kitting area … where they prepare class kits and things for all the classes and events. so many looks into so many different areas … so fun to see a little of how it all works.

from left to right … vivian, kerri, loni, me, deneen, and lisa.

then after saying goodbye to everyone … we loaded all our goodies into the car. then it was off to lunch with lisa. she took us to the most charming little restaurant … that we cannot remember the name of for the life of us. and we're bummed that we didn't get a picture of it. it was the coolest little spot … with some amazingly good food. we had salads and sandwiches … and even some yummy desserts. and it was nice just hanging out. talking about our familes and exchanging fun stories. we totally appreciate lisa spending the afternoon with us … she was just so sweet.

after lunch … we made our way to the quickutz warehouse sale. we met up with shaunte … who is seriously one of the funniest people i know. we go back to our paperkuts magazine days too … and it was so fun to finally meet her after all these years. she's a designer for quickutz … so she made sure to lead us to all the good stuff. lol! we found some amazing deals … and deneen even got herself a revolution, which she has been wanting forever. and shaunte made sure we got all our free goodies … or "F R E" as she kept saying. like i said .. she's hilarious!

then we piled in her van and she drove us over to the american crafts warehouse sale. we didn't get a picture of that … they didn't really have any signs outside. but inside … that place was packed with the most amazing deals EVER! not to make you all too jealous. but a 100 sheet pack of pattern paper for $3 … thickers at 10 for $10 … 25 yard ribbon spools for $2 … 12×12 albums for $8 … and on and on. yeah … all three of us were in some AC heaven. lol! after we got done there … shaunte drove us back to our rental car to unload. and then we all said goodbye … until tomorrow when we meet up for our big lunch.

then deneen and i dropped by her cousins house for a little bit. she lives out here … and we'll be staying there on saturday night. we chatted for a bit … killing some time since there was traffic going back to the hotel. then we found a place for dinner … just grabbed some panda express. and when deneen read her fortun cookie … it said "you will find a real bargain". which we thought was hilarious … since we had found lots of real bargains. but then we decided to stop by kohls. i didn't actually bring a carry-on bag … and we decided that i'd better get one to fit all the stuff we have accumulated. lol!

and then we found this incredible deal. some of that luggage was so expensive. so i actually had an adias duffle bag in my hand … for $25. but i commented that this green carry-on was so darn cute. so glad i actually looked at the sale tags. it was originally $100 … but was on sale for 70% off … and an additional 15% off for some night sale they were having. a 3 piece set … and i walked out the door only paying $23, with tax. i've never bought a piece of luggage in my life … but that seemed like a great deal to me!

here's what i came home with today. that black gift bag is from everyone at CK … and was filled with lots of goodies that were all made in utah. salt water taffy, fudge brownie mix, truffles, caramel popcorn, jelly, honey, and some other stuff. i thought that was special that they found things unique to utah. and then all my other stuff. hard to see some of it … i wasn't very good at displaying it all. lol! and just so that my husband or my parents freak … thinking i spend a ton of money on all this. i only spent $65 today!

now … deneen did an excellent job at displaying her goodies from the day! although she does have more than me. lol! so much fun stuff. she almost had me convinced on the revolution too … but i held off until i try out her's. and she got some albums … she wanted more, but knew they wouldn't fit in our bags.

and we're not even sure we can fit all this in our bags. lol! kind of hard to totally figure it out … since we still have 2 days left. we have to check out of the hotel bright and early tomorrow morning … so we did the best we could. but once we get to deneen's cousins house tomorrow night … we'll really be able to work it all out.

and i think that's it for today. i'm going to head to bed … since it's 1:00am now. i kid you not … this blog post took me about 2 hours to type up. lol! i think it was all the linking … that's what took me forever. tomorrow morning we're meeting wendy over at starbucks to hang out … cannot wait to meet my good friend! and then after that, we're meeting up with a bunch of other girls for lunch. i can't wait … it's going to be so much fun! so … back tomorrow night with more updates!