Reflections on a great day....

Normally there is nothing in the world that makes me happy to be awake for 20 hours straight. Yesterday, however, was an exception. I had the opportunity to attend the CK Convention in Portland, and I'll spare you the blow-by-blow, but there were a few highlights that I'm still smiling about today...

• Taking scrapbooking classes isn't really my thing, but as a new teacher I thought it would be really helpful to participate in at least one and watch an experienced teacher work. The class I took, taught by my friend Courtney, was very well done! I picked up a few teaching tricks and now have a beautiful Christmas present for my sister!
• Winning 2nd place in the Simple Scrapbooks page accent layout contest!! SO FUN!! Here is a picture of the winning layout (I'm hoping it's ok to post it!!). It really does look much better IRL--the ribbons and stuff don't look so, well, FLAT.
• Even better than that, though, was getting together with the other Pubsters. It was a truly amazing thing to be congratulated so warmly by other people who get it, some of whom had entered the contest themselves. The way people cheer each other on, celebrate each other's victories, and support each other in the hard times is really, really cool, and I'm blessed to be a part of it.
• Got to have dinner with these ladies, and it was like being with old friends, even though some I'd met for the first time that day. It was great to be able to put a face, a voice, and to some degree a personality with the names and thoughts I'm so familiar with.
• Seeing Gina deserves it's own bullet point!! I've so enjoyed getting to know her better through planning the dinner together, and had a great time hanging out beforehand (win both of our wins were announced!).

Anyway, I'm feeling the aftereffects of the missed sleep, so I'll be on my way!