Merry Christmas!

 I have been so busy preparing for Christmas that I hardly had time to stop and enjoy it, much less take photos of myself enjoying the holiday.

I hosted a Christmas party and I made all of these goodies. I baked, cooked, and put out a variety of treats and snacks.

 This salad was a hit - people liked the large bell peppers on top.

 I baked all of these cookies for my friends to enjoy. And they did just that.

I think I like doing appetizer spreads the most. I made my ever popular deviled eggs, and had a shrimp platter. Those seemed to be the favorite.

At the end of the day, Mr Duffy and I were so exhausted. We just put on our pajamas and passed out.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Scrapbook U!

This was one of my favorite events of the year. Scrapbooking in Carmel! I started my weekend by checking in on Thursday. I was greeted with a cheese and cracker platter. Some of my favorite foods!

 The pepperjack cheese wasn't too spicy, and I liked the brie. The sourdough was also tangy. Yum!

 I got to work on my album. I did some pages of when Mr Duffy and I went to San Jose Pride. I love the rainbow paper and washi tape.

 The best thing about having the crop at the Carmel Mission Inn is that there is a Starbucks right across the street! While I am there, I go at least once a day. Ah, if only I had a Starbucks across the street from my home. I would probably get into a bit of trouble!

 They do feed us well at these events. They did a fresh fruit plate and I made sure to get myself some pineapple.

 On Saturday night, they passed out small cupcakes. They had chocolate, red velvet, and lemonade. I went with the red velvet as I had never tasted it before. It was pretty good.

 On Sunday morning, I took a walk around the hotel property and went to the Barnyard, the shopping and restaurant center adjacent to the hotel. It is still fairly empty with many abandoned businesses. They really need to get things going to bring it back to life.

 They started decorating for Christmas! Yay!!!

 I always stop in the chocolate shop to say hi to my bear friend who works there.

 This is one of the little water fountains they have there. This would be a nice place to read.

The weekend was lovely if a bit quiet. I got a lot of scrapbooking done and enjoyed a lot of good food. I will definitely be going to more of these scrapbooking weekends again.

Happy Halloween!

 I hosted my annual Halloween party. Everyone who knows me knows exactly when it is going to be because it has never changed. Friends, family, and neighbors all want to attend because my parties are actual celebrations. We interact with each other rather than stare at our phones in silence. That is great! And no one wants to miss out on the five pound bowl of candy corn that is the centerpiece of my table!

 This mix had a whole lotta stuff in it. It had pretzel sticks, rice check cereal, cheese it's, M&Ms, candy corn, candy pumpkins, and cinnamon cereal squares. It might seem like too much random stuff, but it tastes good and is addictive.

 I love putting up my Halloween tree. People are amused that I actually have enough Halloween ornaments to load up a six foot tree!

 Jack Skellington is one of the main attractions of my tree.

 Mr Duffy looked good in his skeleton costume.

 I was a pumpkin fairy.

On the actual day of Halloween when I passed out candy, I dressed as Cruella de Vil. People were very amused with my costume.

I do love Halloween and I know how to do it. And my celebrations get bigger every year. What will the next one be like?

Cropping in Milpitas

 This was a last-minute crop for me. A spot opened up and the organizer asked me if I wanted to take her place. I said that sure I would! So I gathered my supplies, put them in my car, stuck them on this luggage rack, and set up for the weekend.

 I thought it was kind of funny that I took a picture of myself, scrapbooking a picture of myself, while I was scrapbooking.

 Scrap-ception!

 The first day went by quickly. I went to bed late and got up early. I munched on a few donuts then got ready for the day.

 This goodie bag was left at my chair. There were some tasty treats in it.

 I wanted to explore the hotel. Sometimes I get so involved in the creative process that I don't stop and explore where I am and actually build memories from the event - which is why I am even scrapbooking at all!

 This chair was near an elevator bank. It was very wide, even for a teddy.

 Ah, this is a welcome sight any place.

 Nice relaxing soft chairs to kick back in.

 I went for a brief ride on the luggage rack in front of the hotel.

 There was a little pond out front. I love water features.

 Sadly, no koi lived there.

 There was a cute little waterfall.

 There were some pretty flowers on the property.

 This was my hotel, the Beverly Heritage.

There is a lot of nice landscaping at this hotel.

 I checked out the pool area but I had no plans of going in.

 They have nice lounge chairs on their pool deck.

 This was my bed. Simple but welcoming.

 There was this giant TV but I rarely have time to watch TV when I'm on these retreats. I spend most of my time in the crop room.

 These rooms do not have mini fridges or microwaves. I had to keep my food on ice all weekend.

 After another long day of crafting, I was ready to pass out.

 More donuts!

I don't know if I can get out of bed! But this is my last day so I have to pack and check out. I have another crop coming up next month. My favorite one, in Carmel!