Vegas Shmegas...

For those of you who are wondering, Elvis is alive.

He wears a macrame belt and no underwear, but he's alive.

And he's creepy.

Las Vegas was overwhelming and exhausting and exciting.

Did I mention overwhelming?

First of all - let's talk about sensory overload.

Never before in my life have I seen so many lights, smelled so much smoke and wonderful food, observed so much activity, experienced so many things trying to get my attention or been around so many breast implants. What a completely unique place Las Vegas is.

But then, add to that the fact that I was at a HU-FREAKING-MUNGOUS trade show with more scrapbooking supplies than I've ever imagined and you can maybe begin to understand the brain overload I'm trying to recover from this morning. I'm still in my jammies, slowly trying to re-acclimate myself to the blissful peace and quiet of my home.

Second, I have to mention the thrill of the free stuff. I have this weird hoarding mentality - if I see a basket full of free pens, I want to take three. Well, CHA is this mecca of free trinkets and goodies. Candy, pens, wrist bands, rulers, aprons, pins, mints, charms, hats, tools - you name it - if you can fit a company logo on it, it's there. I came home with a bevy of goodies to give the kids and a pocket full of candy wrappers. So fun.

And then there's the supplies. Paper. Stamps. Ribbons. I went absolutely ga-ga over it all. Touching, fondling, feeling faint over design and color and texture. There was SO much to see - and unfortunately, not nearly enough time or money to get everything we wanted for the store. I have some must-have items that we couldn't order that I'm going to have to go looking online for, and some stuff we managed to get that is so fabulous I can hardly wait to see the boxes coming in. Things I'm most excited about? Paper from Basic Grey. Stamps from Limited Edition and Savvy. Books and stickers from 7 Gypsies. It's all TO DIE FOR, folks.

Did I gamble? Yes. Did I win anything? No. Gambling is stupid. Stupid, I tell you. I only lost about $20, but it just chaps my you-know-what to throw money away like that.

I met some great on-line friends in person at the show, had some great laughs with my boss, had dinner with my brother and sister-in-law (who were there at the same time for a furniture trade show) and walked miles and miles and miles. My shoes kept my feet comfy. Now if I could just do something about that nagging backache at the end of each day...

All in all it was a great trip.

And it's great to be home.

My kids all smelled so good and felt so soft and squishy and wonderful last night. And the dog? She was beside herself with excitement over my return. It's good to be loved and have such a wonderful place to come home to. I imagine Asia was happy to see me too, but to be honest, I was too tired to find out how happy...

I've got a crop at the store tonight and a birthday party for K. tomorrow. We always have his party either late or on his half birthday because of his Christmas Eve birthday. Fortunately, I won a "Bootcamp Birthday Party" at an auction from one of the teachers at school - he is a National Guard sergeant and is running the whole party, complete with gas masks and camo paint... it should be an easy party for me. All I have to do is buy some pizza and make a cake.

I'm off to the bathtub... after four days of showers in the hotel, I'm ready for a nice long soak in my own jetted tub.

It's good to be home.