Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

This is a long post. And I’m gonna gush about the past several days I spent in Orlando.  If you don’t want to see pictures or read a whoooole lotta blahblah, you might want to leave now. 🙂

I started writing this post three hours before my flight was to leave Orlando on Sunday. We’d dropped Beate off at the airport, and then Lori, Daven, and I headed out to Epcot for some theme park fun.  They dropped me off at the airport later, and we had every intention of saying goodbye once we cleared security, but it just didn’t happen.  So there I was, hanging out at the Orlando airport, munching on Twizzlers, drinking bottled water, leaning on a column in terminal A, gate 4 (and let me tell you. . . the column was the only thing holding me up at that point), looking at pictures . . . and I got a little teary-eyed. Then, full on ugly crying. We’re talking going through a travel pack of Kleenex in a few minutes tears. I missed my friends, wished that I’d had a chance to say a real goodbye and get hugs, and in general (though I’d felt ready to come home just that morning) didn’t want to leave anymore.  My flight ended up getting delayed which would have made me miss my connection in Houston and the lovely people of Continental offered to put me up in a hotel in Orlando and on a flight out on Monday morning. I got to have another evening in Orlando after all! Anyway, that’s the ending. I guess I should rewind a little, huh?

As I’ve mentioned before, I traveled to Orlando for the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA)’s tradeshow and the SuperShow afterwards.  Check this amazing action!  Notice who’s at top center? Pretty cool! This trip to Orlando was phenomenal, and we just could not have asked for a better first time at the show.

Thursday was booth setup day, and while Lori & Daven walked the floor, I went to the grocery store, picked up last minute stuff, got Beate from the airport, and then headed back to get our very first booth set up.  Here’s Daven hanging the cute polkadotted topper Lori’s mom whipped up for us.

Ready to hang the Splitcoast banner up

Make & take tables all skirted and ready to go.

just a quick team picture before the show started on Friday morning – Our Creative Director Beate, Advertising Manager Lori, Daven, and me.

and breakfast for 150

You can see many more pics from the first day here on Facebook. There were so many opportunities to take pictures, hugs, and catch up with friends from the site.  And, from the little I *heart* Splitcoast paper pin we blinged up at the main table to the company make & takes happening in the booth, there was a lot of crafting going on!

Introducing people to Splitcoast was so much fun!

After the show, we piled into the car (literally)

and headed out for food and fellowship with friends. Say that five times fast!  Because we do all of our work together over the internet and phone and videochat, we make every minute together count. That pretty much means we go to bed at 2 am or later and wake up at 6:30 or so to start it all over again the next day.  Good times!

The next day was Green Day at the booth – here’s another team shot

and some favorites of us

and a great shot that shows just how busy we were most all day long

If you’d like, you can find some more pics in a Facebook album here.

I could post pictures and tell little stories about every person I had the pleasure of talking to this week, but I’d be here all year and would end up all weepy again (like I did when I finally got on the plane to Houston and tried to write my blog post again). . .. so instead, I’ll just tell you that while I’m glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed, I still miss my friends.

Seeing all the facebook uploads, and getting little notes from people and videochatting with friends and talking on the phone and laughing about things that happened. . . well, it just makes me a mixed-up ball of emotions. My kids know that it takes a day or so for me to be back to “me” and I’m grateful for that. It gives me a little time to look at my pictures, think about all the things that I experienced while I was away, and to make me even more grateful for the people my little hobby has brought into my life. If I hadn’t gone to a stamping party, I wouldn’t have been a demo, wouldn’t have met Beate, wouldn’t have been introduced to this littlebitty website called Splitcoaststampers.com, wouldn’t have met Daven, wouldn’t have gone on a girls trip to Oklahoma and met Lisa, the Original Control Freak, wouldn’t have started swapping with (and later working with) Lori. . . and wouldn’t have the best job a girl could ever ask for, and the best friends I could ever dream of.  I am blessed.