Finally! We finally got to do it. The last time we got together was 2019. Then COVID. Ugh.
This trip came together pretty quickly. My two scrap pals, Anandi and France started the conversation one night in a group text and by the end of that night we had hotel and flights booked for our next scrap weekend.
The destination was Phoenix. Specifically the JW Marriott Desert Resort and Spa. Anandi has a membership to Marriott and between that and Phoenix in August, we got a great deal. Each one of us had a room to ourselves.
My goal before I left was to take as little scrap supplies as possible. It's a lot to pack up and take with you. This time I wanted to plan and plan well. I spent a good part of June and all of July staging and setting up work to be done.
I could go into great detail about my process for bringing a page together, but let's just say I have a very specific process and it's worked for me for years. It changes a little every now and then, but mostly I do the same thing. I find the photos I want to us. I either create a sketch or find a page from another scrapbooker and copy it. Then I gather my paper and my ephemera (the doo dads that go on the page). All that goes into a single small 9X6 paper bag. I write on the outside what the page is. Then all those paper bags go into a zip log bag to keep them together. Each zip loc bag represents one full Traveler's Notebook.
I took three books to work on with me. All ready to go. The only other items I needed to pack was basic scrapping utensils (Scissors, adhesive, glue, pen, extra doo dads that may or may not get used). This plan worked like a charm. I got all three books done.
The hotel we stay in was the
JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa. Super swanky and super nice. It was a huge resort. They had several restaurantes, a botanical garden and a Starbucks in the hotel. Which was one of the draws for me. I kinda figured we wouldn't leave the hotel too much so having coffee available to me ensured I wouldn't be cranky without it.
They upgraded one of our rooms to a suite, thankfully. We were having a difficult time trying to figure out how we were going to actually scrap. We had intended on reserving a meeting room but they were all booked. So we figured we could find a table out and about in the hotel and just take it over every day. That meant we'd have to clean up our stuff every night.
Alas, when we got there they had a suite for us. I took the suite since the other two ladies like to nap during the day, and I do not. That meant I could continue to scrap while they napped. And napped they did.
The hotel brought in a table and chairs for us and that worked perfectly. I sat at the desk in the room and they used the table. It worked perfectly.
We ate well while we were there too. The Hotel had several restaurants inside (besides Starbucks). We had a couple of meals at The Stone Grill. Dinners and a breakfast mostly. Then lunches we ate at Meritage Tavern because it was only opened for lunch. Then the last night we decided to treat ourselves and ate at Roy's.
I first experienced Roy's in Hawaii. It's fantastically fancy and delicious food. This Roy's was exactly the same. Aside from making us wait 45 minutes AFTER our reservation (don't even get me started on that) the meal was spectacular. I had Filet Mignon that I could cut with my fork. I finished the meal with a Key Lime Tart that was to die for...and oh so tart.
We flew in and out of Paine Field in Everette. I had some extra points so I upgraded France and I to first class. First, flying out of Paine field was so easy and so wonderful that I do not want to fly out of SeaTac any more. It's small. It's clean. And it wasn't as crowded as SeaTac usually is.
Flying into Phoenix without mom (or Mom and Dad) picking me up was a little bittersweet. The desert will always remind me of them. The hot, dry weather was there to stay. Though, thankfully it wasn't hot as Hades. In fact, it was just slightly hotter than Seattle. Though dry. We had a storm roll in on Friday night. A monsoon for sure. We saw the lightning flashing miles away, though heard no thunder. Then it slowly made its way to us. I love those storms and it was so nice to watch one and smell the wet rain hit the dry land.
So that's the weekend. I got all my books done - as I knew I would. Anandi got her planned project done. France, got some things done, but really focused on relaxing. I figure it's each our adventure. So whatever happens happen for each of us.
We decided after that it's a perfect place for place for these little get aways. Anandi lives in Phoenix so its super easy for her. Getting to Phoenix from Seattle is inexpensive and easy. So we split the hotel and airfare three ways and it works out nicely. Hoping we can do this again next year.
