CKU Chicago

Okay, so here are some pics from CKU in Chicago...like I said, this weekend was definately an experiance! Kim and I didn't really know what to expect since we'd never been to one before, but it was lots of fun. There were definatley more 30 and over women than there were 30 and under...but my mother-in-law pointed out that maybe lots of people more my age can't easily afford to go to this kind of thing, which I didn't even think of. But there was lots of fun energy. On our first day we registered and arrived at the hotel to this HUGE line up...we bought our CKU T-shirts instead of waiting in line and it worked out well...once registration started the line went quickly and we went into the main ballroom where there were a bunch of tables set up to make all kinds of different 6x6 pages. We did a page with Ali Edwards (she was so cool!), Heidi Swapp, Becky Higgins and a few others. I have to say, Becky Higgins was soooo sweet. Just so humble and sincere and really made an honest effort to help everyone at her table. So cool. So there are a couple pics of Becky and I. Actually it was funny, Kim and I didn't even recognize her, we were wandering around the room trying to find her table...her hair is longer now, she looks so different. And I have a cool little story...we actually skipped a few classes one afternoon to go shopping, and on our way back to the hotel we were on the same shuttle as Becky, her mom and her little baby Claire. They were so sweet...just blabbed the whole way back with us in the shuttle and asked Kim and I lots of questions...it was cool. It seems silly, but you do see these people as minor "celebrities" when you're seeing them in books and magazines constantly, so it was cool to see that they're just normal people like everyone else! So that was fun.

These pictures of Kim and I with the pom-poms were at the "Tailgate Party" on our first night there. We were pretty exhausted...we had gone into downtown Chicago with our friend Lisa that day, so once again we were just overwhelmed by all the energy in the ballroom! Everyone was given pom-poms to wave around, and some people had like, cheers all organized that they performed and stuff. So funny. Another thing about CKU that we expected, but I don't think we really GOT IT till we were there was how much STUFF they give you. Literally bags of info and products and supplies and stuff. It was cool, but we really had to go thru all of our stuff on our last night there and only take home what we really knew we would use. It was just too heavy to take it all!!

I'll talk more about my "SHE" album I did with Heidi Swapp later, but the other classes were fun, too. What I really got from all the classes was a better understanding for teaching methods and techniques. The projects I did were all pretty simple (you had to work SO FAST to get anything done, and I'm a pretty capable scrapbooker!), but they are cute and have given me some ideas. Like I said, we skipped a few classes to shop and chill out, 'cause the schedule was pretty jam-packed. It was kind of tough not staying in the hotel where the convention was being held, definatley something I would do differently next time (unless I have a car to drive around!). We just had so much STUFF to carry around that our arms and backs were so sore! Like I said...I learned alot over the weekend and I'm so glad Kim and I went together. We had some good laughs. More pics and stuff later!!