The last weekend in March, our pal Elizabeth traveled from Cheyenne, Wyo., to spend a few days in the scrapbooking capital of the world. Shenanigans ensued. Here are the highlights:
Wendy and I arranged an elaborate custody arrangement so we both had equal access to our shared house guest.
Elizabeth and I discovered the joy of harmonizing to "Falling Slowly" from the movie Once. But we didn't have time to play any piano duets, which was disappointing.
I learned that Wendy is a domestic hummer and that it's quite charming.
I took hardly any pictures. For shame! (Perhaps I was intimidated by Elizabeth's mastery of her camera, while I'm definitely still figuring ours out?)
We had six teenage boys absolutely stunned at the idea of three 30s-ish women having a sleepover. I told them we had pillow fights, hid each others' bras in the freezer, and went out toilet-papering. Little did they know all we really did was watch Julie & Julia
We decided the world needs more Julias and far fewer Julies.
We learned that none of us have ever made a proper omelet. We speculated about origins of Julia Child's peculiar manner of speaking and found ourselves imitating her at odd times.
We ate at Trio (where only attractive men in tight, black t-shirts are
hired as waiters) and at Blue Plate Diner (where apparently you have to be
both stunningly beautiful and heavily tattooed to be hired).
We ran into my adorable college pal Brandy Oliver at a local restaurant, and she directed us to Salt Lake's best dessert hot spots. We chose Hatch Family Chocolates in the Avenues and an international bakery that's open late. (Yes, two dessert places after dinner. We were on vacation!)
We drove to the TOP of the Avenues and saw the entire Salt Lake Valley stretching out before us in its twinkling, nighttime glory. And Elizabeth probably got a great picture of it, but I didn't.
We drank from a well.
We attended the last 30 minutes of the Scrapbook Expo, sweet-talking the doorman into letting us in without the $10 entrance fee.
I did a faceplant on my front walkway without making a sound. Elizabeth and Wendy looked over to see me peering up at them through the bushes in the front yard. "I just fell," I said, stupidly.
We discussed the incontrovertible fact that faceplanting hurts a lot more (and a lot longer) when you're 30 or older.
We agreed that we are all slightly afraid of Maggie Gyllenhall, and we can't say exactly why.
It took all three of us two days to get a first-generation QuicKutz Silhouette machine—inherited from the Simple Scrapbooks offices—to work. But work it did.
Using said Silhouette machine, we created cool decor projects (vinyl letters on painted canvas) that were inspired by a project Wendy found out on the Interweb, which we combined with a fun saying Wendy had hanging in her home. See the original on Wendy's blog today (happy birthday, Wendy!), and visit Elizabeth's blog as well for a peek at her project!
p.s. A couple of my layouts were featured at the Jenni Bowlin Studios blog today. (And you'll find a little Ella coupon code over there too, if you check it out. Give it a tumble.)
