All about Albuquerque
I'm home and what a trip!!! Let's see....where to begin....

Friday
After driving 30 miles per hour through the icy/snow-covered roads, I arrived at the airport and found lots of long lines. But, I wasn't worried. I was flying First Class which got me in the shorter lines and I had plenty of time to spare. The flight out was uneventful. Since I was up front, it was comfortable. The in-flight entertainment was The Guardian. Very good movie. I cried. And I hate crying on an airplane. But, I do recommend it to everyone.

It was strange flying into Phoenix and not staying. I love Phoenix and somehow always pictured myself living there again sometime. Who knows. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I have no current plans to move. Then after another hour-long flight, I was in New Mexico. There was snow everywhere! The woman sitting next to me told me that Albuquerque has already gotten 20 inches of snow this year! Since I've driven from Texas, through Albuquerque, and into Phoenix all in one day, I expected the climates to be closer. I think it's only about a 7-hour drive. Granted, Flagstaff is even closer to Phoenix and they have a ski resort!

Next was my favorite part - the rental car. I'm always anxious to see what they give me. My "preferred" car in my profile is an SUV. And, many times when I rent a mid-size car, they still give me an SUV. Not this time. I walked out and found that I had been given a Toyota Matrix. I don't think so!!!! That did not look like a fun car to me. Was it a joke? Is a Toyota Matrix even a mid-sized car??? Looked like a compact car to me. I wasn't in the mood for a compact. Last March I had visited Stefanie and in Cleveland and had regretted not inquiring about the Hummer parked next to the Infiniti I rented. I'd always wondered what it would have cost. I wasn't about to make that mistake again. There were at least four Hummers parked in the lot. So, you guessed it, I drove out in a bright yellow Hummer H3!

My Hummer Experience
So, I almost hit a pole on my way out of the lot. I was sitting high, but that stupid beast was so square and bulky. The windows are short, so it's like driving a car with no windows because it's so hard to see out. It's awful. Never tailgate a Hummer, it's pointless. Trust me, they can't see you out the back window! I never did figure out how to gracefully get into the thing. I had to use the side step bar things and hoist myself into the thing. It wasn't that comfortable. I managed to turn on the heated seats and my butt was on fire. I couldn't figure out how to turn them off! Luckily, it didn't take too long and I drove in comfort the rest of the weekend. The inside was really small considering the bulk of the vehicle. There was about half of the cargo room compared to my Murano. I think it averaged about 15 miles per gallon. I panicked every time I had to park it. Then I remembered the convetion center had a parking garage. What if it didn't fit??? After about an hour, I was questioning my decision. But, I looked good all weekend and it was surprisingly reasonable - $114 total for the entire weekend. I had a free day coupon and got 20% off because of my corporate discount.

Friday in Albuquerque
Anyway....I had been reading my Creating Keepsakes magazine on the flight. I remembered that the back contained a directory of scrapbook stores around the country. I looked, and there was one listed for Albuquerque. During my layover in Phoenix, I called and learned that they were open until 6pm. I landed in NM at 2:30, so Scraps Galore was my first stop. It was a nice store and had a 50% off table!!! I decided I wanted to be crafty Friday night, so I bought supplies to make a 4x4 accordion album. The woman working there told me that I would love Rhonda's, if I was into stamping. So, I set out looking for Rhonda's. The store had lots of stamping supplies. But, I had sticker shock. There were small stamps starting around $9. An entire set through Stampin' Up is only a few dollars more. I bought a couple of things because I felt guilty walking out empty-handed. I did find some really cool embossing powder.

I then set out to find my hotel and then some dinner. I only stayed at a Fairfield Inn so there's not much to report. But, I am glad that they are upgrading their bedding. I had seven pillows and a fluffy down comforter. They also had one of the nicest continental breakfasts I've seen in a long time at a Fairfield Inn. They actually had breakfast sandwiches. Anyway...back to Friday night. I had dinner at Landry's Seafood. Anthony's not a fan of seafood, so I took the opportunity to go. I had an awesome meal of Chilean Sea Bass. Sea Bass is easy to find, but Chilean Sea Bass can be hard to find. It's been over-fished, so it's rarely on menus any longer. I had only had it once before down in Naples, FL at one of my favorite restaurants - Zoe's Wine Bar. I then retired to the hotel where I started building my 4x4 album while watching a show all about Camden.

Saturday
Okay, and now for the main event - the reason I was in New Mexico. I got up early. Registration started at 8am and I needed to find a parking spot that wasn't covered, wasn't parallel, and I was comfortable getting in and out of, and that was legal! I drove around the downtown area (which isn't too big) for about 15 minutes before I figured out which building was the convention center. The girl at the hotel said it was the "Big Building". I should have known better. There were a lot of big buildings! The public parking garage was closed and only had a clearance of 6 and a half feet. I didn't think I'd make it. So, I kept searching. I finally found the convention center and realized that the Doubletree Hotel next to the convention center had an uncovered parking lot. I didn't know what it would cost, but after trying to park in three spots, I found one where the Hummer actually fit between the lines! I didn't care what it cost!

I found my fellow stampers and everyone was busy cutting apart their free stamp set. At first I was not excited about it, but after using it, I started to warm up to it. You'll see samples a bit later. I chatted with some folks who were surprised no one was running around swapping yet. So, we started swapping. We were so busy swapping cards that we didn't even realize they had opened the doors! Unfortunately, I only had 18 cards to swap. Two of my twenty were going to Stampin' Up in hopes that they will be published on their web site. Some women made 50 or even 100. I better start NOW if I want to be able to swap at the National Convention in Denver this summer! I'll need hundreds!

During the convention or conference or whatever the event was officially called, we learned lots of fun, new techniques. A couple were ones I had been wanting to learn, so I was thrilled. I learned how to make faux metal! I also learned how to make markers out of the "In Color" inks. They showed us how to make several projects which I'm sure I'll be using at future events. Some of them were really cool. I want to be the person who sits around all day learning to turn a piece of paper into a "Tag Wallet". We had the opportunity to make six projects as Make and Takes with our new stamp set. One of them isn't finished yet, and probably will never be, but here are the pictures. I talked with some of the girls at my table and told them I wanted some good, authentic, Mexican food. I also mentioned that I thought about making the 1-hour drive up to Santa Fe that night. Two of the three girls quickly said that I should check out the Blue Corn Cafe. They also told me I should try the Sopaipillas. They are fried tortillas that are served for dessert with honey. So, I had my plan for the night!

The drive up to Santa Fe was uneventful, but I did enjoy the 75 mph speed limit! I found the restaurant pretty easily. But, I'm afraid to say, it didn't compare to Border Cafe just across the river in DE. I ordered the chips and salsa (yes, I had to pay) and the Fajitas - my two favorites. The salsa wasn't hot and the fajitas were dry and flavor-less. It was a disappointment. But, I decided that I still had to try the Sopaipillas. I'm glad I did. I loved it! It tasted a lot like funnel cake. Picture a flour tortilla, blown up like a balloon with powdered sugar and honey! Yum. So, if you're ever in Santa Fe and want dessert, you know where to go!

I stayed in Santa Fe just about as long as I stayed in Italy the night I went there for dinner! After dinner, I headed back. I had to get up at 3am for my flight this morning! I was in bed by 9.

Sunday
Somehow it wasn't difficult to wake up this morning. I did get 6 hours of sleep and technically it was 5am my time. But, why on earth did I think I needed to be at the ticket counter at 4am? When will I learn that there's never a line at 4am! Although, someone else on my flight had been there since 3!!! TSA didn't even opened security until 4:30. But, I wasn't in the mood to miss my first of three legs of my trip. My first flight was back to Phoenix. It was uneventful. But, we did get de-iced. I didn't expect to be de-iced in Albuquerque. Anyway, Again, I was sad that I was only going to be in Phoenix for an hour and a half. I wanted to go and get a pizza cookie at Oreganos. Trust me, if you're ever in Phoenix, you need to go to this place. Just ask Melissa!

I found my gate and was really bummed to see that there was a direct flight boarding to Philly. I wasn't lucky enough to go straight to Philly. I had to go by way of North Carolina. I don't remember much about the flight to North Carolina - I slept the entire flight which was a very good thing since there wasn't a free seat on the plane! I would have probably been miserable if I was awake the entire flight. I had a short layover in North Carolina then I was on to Philly. Or at least that's what I thought! When will I learn that North Carolina in January is a MISTAKE. I was snowed in there back in 2000 for a week at Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Ray's house. The problem wasn't in NC. So...here's what happened....we all boarded just fine. We backed away from the gate just fine. We taxied out to the runway just fine. We were next in line for departure and got on the runway. We started accelerating, but I quickly realized we weren't going nearly fast enough to take off. That's when the pilot turned OFF of the runway. What was happening? When the plane turned, I saw another plane approaching to land. I wondered if air traffic control had screwed up. That happened to me once in Austria. But, the pilot got on the intercom and announced that the Philly airport had JUST been closed due to snow and heavy wind. WHAT?!?!?!?! Why me? Why hadn't I gotten on that Philly flight in Phoenix? Why was I in NC? I was quickly thinking through my options. I figured I could rent a car and drive up. But, the pilot explained that we might only be delayed for 30 or 45 minutes. Apparently the airport wasn't really closed. There was just a lot of traffic in the area and departures to Philly were being held back. So, about a half hour later, we were on our way, again. However, just outside of Philly, they put us in a holding pattern because of fog. I didn't think I'd ever get on the ground! But, we did land, and only an hour late!

The flight into Philly was really cool. My favorite thing to fly over in an airplane is a thunderstorm. But, I think I saw the next best thing tonight. I'm sure I've flown in snow before, but maybe never at night, and maybe never over the wing where the lights illuminated the flakes. But it looked like we were flying through one of thos dark, starry tunnels you see on tv. It was SO cool.

Anyway, I'm home now. I hope I haven't bored you too much. I've been working on this posting for about an hour and a half now. Whew.....hope you all had a fabulous weekend too!