annual retreat

San Simeon
Originally uploaded by Heather's Shot.

This weekend I am heading to my one of my favorite places; my annual scrapbooking retreat in San Simeon. People make the funniest faces when I tell them this. "Scrapbooking retreat"?? How weird is that? I tell you here and now; it is not weird at all!!

First of all, the key word is RETREAT. 8 women gather at a lovely house on the beach in San Simeon. We are pampered and loved on for 3 days, by the homeowner and her neice. We are fed the most yummy homecooked meals. There are mints on our pillow each night and the most crafty handmade gifts laid out for us each morning.

We have our own spot at a big ole table for scrapbooking, where we spread out our scrapbooks and pictures and stickers and pretty papers. We all bring CD's and share our various musical favorites. And then of course, we TALK and LAUGH, uninterrupted by the daily grind of life. There are women I only see once a year so there is much to catch up on. The passage of time is noted. (My first retreat was in the spring of 2000. I had never been away from my son (he was just 2 yrs old); oh the preparations that I made for his first weekend away from mommy.)

THEN there is the massuese who comes on Saturday, who "works me" like no other. There is shopping in the massive inventory of scrapbooking goodies (I can always find a sticker for absolutely every occasion). There are the walks on the beach (the same beaches my mother hand picked rock after rock for her crafty projects) and sunsets to enjoy. There are naps to take and pictures to take (oh yes..........we take pictures). And before you know it, it's Sunday afternoon and it's time for goodbye hugs. I am rested AND I have pages and pages of scrapbooking done. My son awaits my arrival to check out each page I have completed. There are occasions to remember and stories to tell. That's the magic of pictures.