Jun 29, 2010

Retreat - I made It!

The drive from Springfield, Illinois to St. Charles, Missouri was absolutely gorgeous!

Like Berly and Debra S, I drove right by the hotel and had to turn around. I usually take a photo of the hotels I stay at and this time was no different. I knelt down to put a knee on the parking lot to steady myself, and guess what? THAT parking lot was freakin' HOT! I ended up with a small burn mark on my knee. Ouchie. Note to self: Don't do that again!

I grabbed a luggage cart and loaded it up so I only needed to make one trip to the room. Yes, I had a TON of stuff. I knew that Debra H and Aleyna had already checked in the day before so I asked for a key at the front desk. The lobby was really nice.

My Crash Pad



I called Debra S who handed her phone off to Aleyna so I could find them down at the Historical District. I started describing things I saw and finally Aleyna says, "I think I see you!" Then I spotted her... and everyone else :)


Like the last ILCS retreat I went to, I was the last one to get there, LOL. Pullin up the rear!




During the retreat, we spent a lot of time at the Historical District. For me, it was really fun walking around and looking at the architecture.

More photos can be seen HERE.


There was even a stitching shop!

Photo courtesy of Debra S

I was good and only bought a couple buttons for a mailart exchange I'm working on.

Garden Cafe Ala Fleur had a scrumptious strawberry salad and Cuban sandwich. Mmmmm.... Mmmm... Good!

Front: Berly and Me
Back: Debra S, Vickie, Aleyna, Karin, Debra H


Later in the evening, we went back to our "stitching room". Debra S kept calling us the "Discovery Girls" because the room we were in was called the Discovery Room.


Monique from My Mark Designs joined us for some stitching time and brought a trunk show!


Monique also made each of us a commemorative thread holder:

10 comments:

Cynimin said...

Sounds like a grat time! Great pictures too. Makes me want to jump in the car and go on a little trip somewhere.

Carolyn NC said...

Looks like you all had a great time!

Debra said...

Nice pictures. Looks like you got the picture with Vickie doing the bunny ears. LOL!

Shari said...

gorgeous pictures Meari! Thanks for keeping us updated. Oh how I wish I had gone. You girls had a blast!

Rachel S-H said...

Sounds like a neat time!

Lainey said...

Great photos, sounds like you all had a wonderful time!

Ranae said...

Looks so fun

htimcj said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful time!
Heidi-ILCS

EvalinaMaria said...

Awesome! I love old buildings, thank you for sharing your photos.

Dirty Martini Queen said...

Oh I wish I could have tagged along with you. I love St Charles! I've been to the needleshop and was sorting thru patterns last weekend when I came across one I got there....must have been fate telling me I need to make a trip there again..LOL!