Whim So Doodle

I found something good....

My hubby has been bugging me to go to this new "dessert" place for over a week now.  He wanted it to be a surprise, so he would never tell me where we were supposed to go.  So a couple of days ago I asked Sisterdear if she and her hubby wanted to go to dinner and then to Charles' new dessert place.  Of course, when you say "dessert" to most sane people they would be all for that!  So, tonight after a yummy dinner at Macaroni Grill on my side of the bridge in Carrollwood (corner of N. Dale Mabry and Bearss) we headed across the street to Choxotica.  The sign over the door only says "chocolate" and that is all it needed to say!  Chocoholics beware...you may not want to read on because I met a woman in there who had been there earlier in the day and when I saw her leave she had a cup holder thingey with 4 cups in it!!  Inside we were greeted with a CHOCOLATE BAR-literally!  A wall of different kinds of chocolates and tables with bowls of tiny samples to taste.  (No chewing...you have to let it melt in your mouth!!)  What they sell is mainly two things-chocolate bars and hot chocolate drinks.  These drinks are not at all like the hot chocolate you may be used to.  These are mostly made with dark, exotic chocolate and have spices or natural flavors added.  They are served in small or large sizes and if you get the large sized you get a chocolate stir stick too!  Heaven!  Cacao-heaven!!  I had something called "mud" and it was like drinking a liquid dark chocolate bar.  Charles had two!  His first one was dark chocolate and sweet curry and his second was dark chocolate with hot chilies.  Both were out of this world delicious!  Sisterdear bought a bar of chocolate that was made with bits of bacon in it!  Weird, yes, but they all sampled it and said it was great-in fact I think I read something about it in Rachel Rey's magazine.  Needless to say, I am a bit excited about my new find!  Since they promote chocolate (dark) as "healthy" I think Stacey and I can add it to our YMCA exercise routine!  What do you think?  If you are on my side of the bridge and want a super-special treat, I would highly recommend you stop in! 

Enjoy!

Jen

Treasure Hunt Totes are here!

Good morning!  Well, at least it's morning when I'm writing this.

I picked up our totes from The Scrapbook Shoppe on Wednesday and we all stayed late to make sure the totes were packed and ready for you to pick up today!  We have taken quite a few orders for the totes, so if your name is on our list, come on down and get your tote!  There were so many cool things inside you are going to just love it all!  Remember you get a 6x6 album to fill with all the make-n-takes (done in a totally "topical" theme this year) you will do at each store.  Then there are the beads.  This was so fun to watch you ladies-and few men-work on your collection of tags to hang proudly from your beads!  You start off with one Treasure Hunt tag already done for you!  At each store you will get another tag that you can add to your beads to remind you of which stores you have visited.  Our tags are almost all done!  Yippee!!  There are more goodies in the bag, but I'll just let you be surprised when you pick yours up. 

It takes a lot of snacks to keep up tote-packing energy!  Thank goodness that it is Girl Scout cookie time and Margot brought in my first box of Thin Mints!  So the bags are official in and you can come and pick them up now!  Since we only have a few leftover from our pre-sale if you are on the pre-order list you MUST come in and get your tote or call to pay for it.  Most stores have run out and they may come begging some of our available totes, so make sure you lay claim to your booty soon!!

See you all at tomorrows GARAGE SALE!

Jen 

CONGRATULATIONS STACEY!!

Our Stacey...Stacey from our Design Team...Stacey who teaches classes...Stacey from the Saturday crops...the uber-talented Stacey...has just been picked by an on line monthly kit club as not only their "pick of the week" but she is going to be one of their Design Team Members for next month's club kit!!  How exciting is that?  Her "Boots" page was chosen as the "Pick of the Week" and you can view it on the Moments To Remember website.  It looks like the March kit is shipping soon, and I cannot remember if she said she was asked to DT for March or another month. 

To see more of her stuff, check out the link to the left.

Finally her stuff is getting wider recognition!  I have been encouraging her to submit her projects for such a long time...  Maybe this will spur her on! 

Congratulations again!

Stacey's ever-lovin' friend and the first one who'll say "I knew her when...",

Jen

Reminder Fairy has something to say!

Hello y'all!

There is lots going on around the store that Jen, the Reminder Fairy, had to come out and tell you about!

-Tomorrow is the last One Hit Wonder of the month.  It is a very (VERY!) cute page all about "love".  The class time is from 12-1pm and I'm gonna be fixin' you a yummy lunch too.  Cost is only $10!!

 

-Thursday is a PRIVATE PARTY!  The Reminder Fairy only tells y'all about this to let you know that The Doodle (classroom) is available for Baby Showers, Bridal Showers, Team Building parties, private crops, extra large meetings, Scouting events, etc.  All you have to do is call a Diva to book the space!!  The space seats between 36-40 people and has some kitchen facilities.

-Saturday is our GARAGE SALE!!  Let's hear a big "whoo-hoo" for Saturday!  If you have been to any one of our past Garage Sales then you know about all the great deals that you can get.  Our customers have tables set up in our classroom and in our back courtyard area filled up with gently used scrapbooking and rubber stamping supplies.  The sale starts at 9:30 am and ends at 2 pm.  On Saturday you can enter the store through the front or the back courtyard area which is easy to get to from 1st Avenue South, same street as Midtown Restaurant. 

-Treasure Hunt begins on March 7th.  Bags will be here by the 29th, so if your name is on one and you still have to pay, call soon 'cause your bag will be here FRIDAY!  We are actually VERY CLOSE to being sold out of our totes, so if you were thinking about going and were gonna wait 'til the totes got here to get yours, I would NOT advise that you do that!!  Oh!  And I just got in ONE of the cool things that will go into the WHIM SO DOODLE prize basket (that will go directly to a WSD filled-passport participant).  It is from one of our very favorite places-All Seasons Scrapbook Resort.  I really wanted to keep it for myself...'nuf said!  The hunt is going to be tons of fun this year and we will have more participants than last year!  Yiippee!!

See you soon,

That is all that the Reminder Fairy has to say!   

I am in love....

...with a 20 year old guy!

Yep!  That's right!  American Idol has started again and I just adore Jason Castro!  His face and mannerisms remind me of a young John Travolta and he is just so cute!!  The boys sing again on Tuesday, and I'll be glued to my set!

Waiting for Tuesday,

Jen

CHA Day 4 and beyond!

It has been a few days now since we've been back from our CHA adventure and it has taken almost that amount of time to recuperate!  I didn't get a chance to post about our last days of fun, but since I am late (and my memory goes in and out) I will just give you a recap and tell you "what I learned at CHA Winter"!  This is NOT in any specific order!!

1.  Kristen is afraid of flying.  Actually, just take-off, landing and crashing.  Other than that she is fine!

2.  You could not know a better group than those folks at QuicKutz!  We love them all, but personally I have made a true friend in Spencer and I feel so lucky to get to spend time catching up with him.  Now I just have to work on getting Charles to take a trip to Utah for more fun times!  (Spencer?  Are you sure that you and your sweetie are ready for us?!)

3.  Most of our customers know that I am messy.  Not sure what that says about me, but oh well...

4.  Classes at the show are great and Kristen and I really learned tons and are excited to be able to apply what we took away from these seminars to The Doodle.

5.  I LOVE the beds at The Sheraton!  I LOVE the sheets at The Sheraton!  I LOVE the pillows at The Sheraton! 

6.  Shopping with someone else's  money is always the most fun!

7.  Whim So Doodle is well known!  We kept getting stopped by people who looked at our name badges and saying, "I know your store" or "I read your blog last night".  How cool is that?!!

8.  EK Success is out to take over the world!  They have acquired Wilton, Inkadinkado, Dimensions and who knows how many other!! 

9.  We appreciate it when vendors create lines that are exclusive to the LSSes!  A big shout-out here to Deja Views and the Yellow Bicycle line!

10.  Crocs are  your feet's and back's best friends on the show floor!

11.  They remove all flavor from foods that they sell inside convention centers.  Oh!  And triple the price!!

12.  California either has great water or air that makes for good hair days!

13.  It is very hard to say "no" when cute paper is involved!

14.  We love our reps!  They get us goodies from vendors, get us into parties, give us treats and walk us around the show floor giving great advice and insight!  Thanks Phyllis, Paul, Pat, Scarlett and Gary!  You guys rock!!

15.  If your Super Shuttle doesn't arrive on-time, call right away...they are waiting for you at the wrong hotel!

16.  No other airport compares to TIA!  Tampa's airport is clean, organized, easy to navigate and they have more than 2 lines open for security! 

17.  Airlines are really trying to squeeze every dime they can from passengers!  No more meals included for long flights-you can BUY one though!  No more free movies-you can BUY one though ($8 for 2nd run movie and $2 for headset)!  (Stepping off my soap box now!)

18.  There is never enough time in the day to recreate all the cool samples we saw at show!

19.  You need a full day to catch up on sleep when you get back home!

20.  Scrapbooking is still a very popular hobby and we love that we are a part of all the fun!

If you want to see any or all of the photos we took, we will have a CHA album in the crop room.  Kristen took over 900 photos and I took around 200!  These are photos of all the great projects we saw in all the different booths (including the ones on the *gulp* green carpet).  The photos are great inspiration and you can use the photos to totally copy!  We are gonna try to have them out by this weekends crop, so make sure you check them out the next time you are in the store!

Thanks to everyone for keeping up on our adventures and to tell you who won our CHA prize packs!

For the "Guess Who is Messier" contest-CONGRATULATIONS JUSTY!!

For the "Guess What Chris Has" contest-no one (not at show!!) guessed it correctly, but we are gonna give a just-for-playing prize anyway so...CONGRATULATIONS MARIA C.

Your prizes will be ready to pick up anytime after tomorrow.  If I'm not here tell them they are in the "hold" bin!

Later,

Jen

CHA Day 3

Hey y'all!

This morning we started bright and early and with a mapped out floor plan! We had goals...there were booths we had to visit...more importantly there was stuff to order!! We started off in the 7 Gypsies booth and had the cutest guy write our order. He really helped us pick out lots and lots of great products. We all love their products and cannot wait to get it all in the store to play with. If you liked the ATC holders then you will love the new goodies!

Kristen, Maria and I worked the show floor hard today. We followed the map and made sure to hit all the booths we had circled. We visited the Chatterbox booth and besides getting to touch and feel the new, exquisite paper they had I also got to see Melody Ross, the creator of Chatterbox. Now, I remember seeing Melody and her sweet husband a million years ago when they first brought Journal Genies to show. Anyone remember those?! Her stuff is sooo fantastic and I am always surprised how these people can keep recreating their product lines. We also keep passing Elsie Flannigan and since Kristen loves her stuff, I have been trying to convincer here to go over and have her photo taken with her.  Now Kristen always had some excuse to not go.  Like "I don't have any make-up on" or "My hair is gross."  Huh?  Anyone seen Kristen?  She is a cutie and never takes goofy pictures-even when I force her to!

Oh! I bet you are also wondering about the moving, shiny object? Sadly it is not an electronic cutting machine like many of you guessed! In fact, they already HAVE a machine that fits that bill-The Silhouette! Kristen has been learning more and more and will love to share what she learned when we are back home! But I digress...back to the contest. Chris was wearing a BELT BUCKLE that had moving letters (neon-like) that spelled out "I (heart) QuicKutz". It was really funny taking a photo of Chris'...er...belt buckle!

So in all the crazy ordering we went to Hampton Arts, MAMBI, My Mind's Eye, Provo Craft, Daisy D's, Melissa France, Making Memories and oh so much more! We saw fantastic stuff, we saw some not-so-fantastic stuff. There were make-n-takes where we saw fun products demonstrated like the Score-It and some make-n-takes of some not so fun things like...hey...I cannot put in print what I didn't like 'cause I heard from a few vendors that they read the blog and I don't want to get my legs broken in th parking lot tomorrow!!

At the booths, they have these set times that they do drawings for prizes. They will tell us things like, "Make sure you are back here at 4pm" and we say, "Oh sure! We'll be here!" Next thing we know we are on the other side of the show world and we hear people whooping and hollering and there is no way we are gonna get ourselves back over there in time to try to win something. So, sadly, we are big losers, and we don't have any great "prizes" to take home! Little sad here....

Our appointment to order KI Memories is tomorrow, but we have passed it so many times and we are getting excited to actually order it!

After our feet were ready to leave the show we still had more to do! There was an EK cocktail party that we had to go to. I say "had", but since they had "cocktail" in the invitation, it didn't take much to get us there. We met up with the girls from The Scrapbook Shoppe (Julie and Lexi) and from Violette's (Diana only since Sandy was sleeping!) We bid on silent auction pieces and Diana won one! Again...we are a bit of a couple of losers! We had fun schmoozing, but were hungry so we decided to go out to dinner. We had such a good time talking and enjoying each others company that I felt sorry for the stores who live in areas that they do not get along with their neighbor stores. I think we are lucky to have such great working relationships! Kristen didn't go to dinner with us...the bed was calling! I told you we are obsessed with our Sheraton beds!! LOL

Tomorrow is more shopping and a class! So I had better get some sleep!

Lastly I want to leave you with a funny story!  I have to start this story by saying-I don't understand "green" people!  Let's see how to explain...the show floor is divided up by what kind of stuff the vendor sells and each section has it's own distinct carpet color.  Orange is scrapbooking, blue is floral, green is general crafts, etc.  We spend most of our time on the orange carpet but sometimes we venture out into other areas.  Today we visited the Darice booth and while looking at some cute stuff we decided to take a  photo of it-like we do at every other booth!  The guys in the booth came over and really fussed at us for taking a photo!  We said that we were sorry, but they kept telling us that we shouldn't take photos.  I said, "We are from the "orange carpet" area and they allow us to take photos all show!" to which one guys said, "Well, you are on the green carpet now!"  After that there were about three other employees there kind of watching what was going on.  Kristen and I started to feel weird.  They ask us if we want a catalog and once we got it and kept browsing around the booth, they followed us!!!  Never did they ask is we wanted any help or if we wanted to place an order!  We felt like we were being ushered out of the booth!  Can you imagine!  This is just more proof that scrapbookers are just the nicest people around. 
So I have to ask you...are you on the green side or the orange side?

See you back in Florida soon!

Jen

CHA Show Day 2!

Here we are once again in our cozy hotel room, with a fun chick flick on the TV, catalogs spread out on both beds and Kristen and I are rummaging through them picking out the ones we want to write orders with.  We are exhausted from walking around the show floor.  Stacey and I have been hitting they gym over the last few weeks and I was hoping that I was building up my butt muscles to handle all this walking, but NO!!  My butt hurts from all the walking!!  (OK, Maria reminds me that it is my hips, not by butt, but "butt" sounds funnier!) 

Let's see... our first stop was Basic Grey since we have to literally run to the booth to get our place in the shipping line.  OK, Kristen runs and I meet her at the booth but we got a low number!  LOL  Here is a photo of a sample from the Basic Grey booth.  They introduced 5 new lines and they were all so cool!! 

Sultry, Boxer, (birthday), (dinosaur) and (?).  We can only remember two names, two themes and the colors of the last one-blue and green.  They were all so beautiful and it was easy to say "we'll take it all" to our rep, Gary!  There were so many beautiful samples in the booth and we took tons of photos so that we can come home and try to recreate them for y'all. 

Right after BG we went over to the QuiKutz booth.  We had to see our favorite guys right away!  What a great way to start the day!  We saw all the new dies (2x2, 4x4, Cookie Cutter, and MORE!!)  and boy are they cute!  There are pirate dies (2x2 and 4x4), seasonal Cookie Cutter shapes, sports, new alphabets, new digital portfolios and brand new 12" border dies.  Yes, you heard me right!  12" borders.  Next you are gonna ask, "Jen, if they are 12" what machine are they gonna fit in?  Are they gonna make us buy yet another machine!?"  I am super-happy to tell you NO!  They created a 12" platform that goes right into your Revolution that cuts the borders!  Now how great is that?  We got to spin a big wheel to see if we got a fun prize or nice discount.  Some of the items to win on the wheel were, "5 minute back massage from your rep", "have your photo taken with Eric Adams, the Sexiest Man in Scrapbooking" or "a $20 AmEx card".  I won a free 12" platform!  It will go right into the crop room for y'all to play with.

This is Chris, our QK rep.  Isn't he just the cutest thing?   He had on the white shoes again this year.  Read at the end of this blog for yet another contest involving Chris.

After that it was just a crazy whirlwind of ordering!  Here are just a few things we saw, ordered or plan to order after we write it up tonight!

Fancy Pants-great new lines that include pretty mylar overlays in original 12x12 and new die cut shape mylar accents with glitter! 

Yellow Bicycle-fantastic boy lines.  All you who have been crying that companies don't offer enough boy themes you owe YB a big "thanks".  These are too cool!

KI Memories-fun new Elsie (of course!) and new papers and embellishments in fun colors.   

Autumn Leaves-Too much to say about everything they had to offer, but we loved all the new stamps!  In fact AL is now under the Westrim company and WT had some really cool stuff too!  You should see the new Paper Bliss selections they have.

SEI-So far my favorite!!  Papers, embellishments and really cool flocked embellishments.  Kristen and I saw classes, classes, classes with the flocked stuff!

Just look at these scissors from Fiskars!     

There were lots of companies that we collected catalogs from and we are going back to order, but you will never believe who's stuff I want to bring back into the store-Mrs. Grossman's!  She had some very cool, new stickers in baby, wedding, birthday, kids and more.  Now all I have to do is convince Jill that we need a small amount of themed stickers!!  Anyone want to help me convincer her?!!

There is so much more that we saw, but it is late and we have another long day tomorrow so I've got to climb into the covers of my dream bed.

We met up with Suze Weinberg for a bit and she is such a hoot!  I am trying to pin her down for dinner out tomorrow or Tuesday but she is too tired at the end of all her demos she runs for Ranger.  If you are reading this Suze, we need to go out to dinner!  Heck!  We can even come to your hotel!  I promise there will be cocktails involved!!  LOL

Tonight we ended our fun first day at Downtown Disney having dinner with our the Boyz of They picked us up for dinner and the crazy night began with a truly insane taxi driver!  I think Kyle and I saw our lives flash before our eyes at one point!  We ate a great meal at and went shopping.  Now, Kristen is a good shopper, but she couldn't keep up with the Boyz!  They sure can shop!!  Here is Eric modeling his new man-purse.  Believe it or not, I talked him into getting this.  I thought he looked way-cool!  Doesn't he look like a GQ model? 

Now onto the contest stuff...

First I want to thank everyone for making a guess at yesterday's contest.  It is funny to see who really knows our personalities!  The left side of the sink (the neat side) had a Vera Bradley tote-that should have been clue 1.  The messy side had a glass of Airborne-that should have been clue 2.  I do not know a Vera Bradley from a Vera Wang and I always take Airborne when I travel!  So, Kristen was the left/neat side and I was the right/messy side!  Congrats to all who guessed right and THANKS to all who thought I was the neat one!  LOL

Now I want to do another BLOG CONTEST.  This one may be harder...but the prize will be the same-if you guess iit correctly, then your name will go into a drawing for a CHA prize pack!  Tonight Chris (our QK rep) said that we have to visit their booth again tomorrow 'cause he had a surprise for everyone.  He said it was "bright, shiny, needs batteries and it moves."  I have no clue, but make a guess...see what happens!   

Later y'all,

Jen

CHA Day One

Howdy!

I really wish we could have taken y'all with us to California with us, but since we couldn't, I'm gonna bolg about what we are doing and seeing.  It is not quite as good, but I hope you enjoy our trip vicariously. 

Kristen and I got here yesterday.  Our flight was fine, but I learned that Kirsten is afraid of flying.  It was so cute to see her fingers wiggle in the air when we went through some turbulence!  After our scary Super Shuttle ride, we checked into our hotel.  I have stayed at many different hotels around the Convention Center and let me tell you, the Sheraton wins hands down!!  The service at the front desk was amazing!  One thing I have learned in life is that "nice" works.  The guy who checked us in must have like us (we were very nice and fun with him) and he gave us a GREAT room.  Our balcony faces Disneyland and he told us we would be able to see the fireworks from our balcony at night.  Yippee!  Guess what?  They just ended and they were so cool! 

Yesterday we were tired after our flight and the time change so all we were able to do was hit Target  and grab some essentials, get dinner at one of my favorite diners,Tiffy's and then go to bed!  Some of you may know that for the past 2 weeks I've been sleeping on my couch at home keeping an eye on my dog, Ginger, while she was going through a very long seizure episode.  The thought of sleeping in a bed was very exciting to me.  The Sheraton is known for it's beds and bedding and let me tell you, it lives up to the hype.  I can describe the beds as heavenly!  The pillows are firm but fluffy the comforter is thick and when you crawl into bed, you just sink into the mattress.  Oh, but I love these beds!  One day when I am wealthy, I'm gonna buy a mattress just like this!  I kept telling Kristen how much she was gonna love them and I know she believes me, 'cause I heard her telling Maria all about how comfortable the bed was! 

Today we took a fantastic class taught by a small business consultant.  He was fantastic and turns out he lives just minutes from The Doodle!  After class we introduced ourselves and he knew about our store!  He even gave us a grand compliment-he said that our store was so nice looking that he thought we were a chain!  Too cool or what?!  Oh!  Guess what else?  He was the grandson of (the) Buster Brown!  Of course, I felt really old when Kristen had no idea who that was!  After that we got to go to a sneak-peek party with Creative Imaginations.  They invite their top stores and I guess we fill that bill since we got an invite!  Oh there is some great stuff coming from CI...especially in the Creative Cafe area!  There is one concept that I fell in love with called...oops...I cannot remember the name!  Bits and Pieces or something like that.  It is a double 12x12 frame that has a foam frame with holes cut out of it and you make mini albums to nestle inside.  It is hard to explain without seeing it, but I promise you will love it!  Needless to say we ordered it!!    Kristen was able to do a couple of the make-n-takes with Creative Imaginations so we will have some samples to show you right away when we get home.  These events are fun because the pressure of the big convention floor is gone.  There are only a few stores there and you can browse through all the new stuff without bumping into tons of people.  The other fun thing is that you never know who will be shopping there too.  We were looking at new pirate paper (very cool!!) and we turned around to see Ali Edwards looking at it too!  Too cool! 

We are getting around by a trolley system and that in itself is an adventure!  We had to wait tonight at the Disneyland turn-around spot for over a half hour.  But the benefit of that is that you get to do some serious people watching!  There sure are some weird-o's out there!  After a yummy carbo-loaded dinner we are now all snuggled up in our primo beds plotting our routes for the show opening tomorrow and dreaming about all the new stuff we get to see.  I cannot wait!!!

Now for something fun...I am going to do a BLOG CONTEST!  Here is a photo of our dressing room sink.  Kristen has one side and I have the other.  To participate you have to guess who's side is who's.  Make a comment here with your guess and if you are right we will put your name into a drawing to win a CHA prize packet!  Good luck!

Check back tomorrow (night) for DAY TWO UPDATES!

See 'ya!

Jen (and Kristen snoring from one bed over!!) 

ALL ABOARD The Doodle Caboose Railway!

Is work stressing you out too much?

Is your sweetie working on your last nerve?

Kids driving you up a wall?

Just need to get away from it all and enjoy a weekend away?  Then how 'bout a girls-only retreat where you can spend your time working on scrapbooking projects and enjoying the company of fellow crafters!  Sound great?  Well, read on!

Who:  Join six of your favorite Doodle Divas and other enthusiastic scrappers as we travel to North Florida.

What:  An old-fashioned train trip from Tampa to beautiful and historic St. Augustine.

Where:  We will be staying at the very pretty Holiday Inn in the Historic District. 

When:  Thursday, April 17 through Sunday, April 20

Why:  Why?  Really?  You need to ask "why"?  Because this will be a fun weekend away with the girls-no kids, no hubbies, no worries....hosted by Whim So Doodle, your favorite LSS and the girls who really know how to throw a fun event!

The train departs from Tampa on Thursday evening at 5:17pm.  We arrive in Palatka at 9:15 pm (just south of St. Augustine) and travel by a private coach bus to St. Augustine. 

We will be staying at the Holiday Inn Historic District.     

Each room features two queen-sized beds and besides the normal features the rooms also have a refrigerator and microwave.  This hotel is located in the heart of the historic area and is within walking or trolley distance to many major attractions. 

Our croppers will enjoy our very own private crop room.  We will have access to the room from Friday morning until we leave on Sunday morning!  You are able to set up your spot and leave it there for the our entire stay! 

We will return to Tampa on Sunday via Palatka at 12:34 pm.  Our train departs from the station at 8:18am.  Since there will be many of us, we will practically have our own private car on the train!  Amtrak also features a dining car for meal service and a lounge car for chilling out! 

Of course that is not all you will be getting!  Your Doodle Divas have so much fun stuff planned!!  If you went on the Shop Hop with us awhile back you know how much fun we can be when we are trapped in a moving vehicle!  So, on our train and bus trips we will have make-n-takes and games to keep everyone entertained.  Heck!  Leisa and I might even bring back our comedy routine!! 

Friday morning we will have a kick-off breakfast!  We will munch on breakfast treats from a local French pastry shop.  We will feast al fresco enjoying the beautiful scenery of historic St. Augustine at Davenport Park.  Then on Friday evening we will enjoy a dinner out at OC Whites, a fun, local favorite! 

You can choose your meal from a very yummy, selected menu which will include salad, homemade bread, dinner, beverages (tea, soda & coffee) and dessert!  Besides being known for is spectacular seafood creations like Maryland Blue Crab Cakes and Kauai Mahi, OC Whites is known for it's spirits, so if you feel the need- you can purchase your own libations!!

In the crop room we will have a spot set up to have drinks and snacks available throughout the day and you are more than welcome to bring some of your own favorites!!  Also in the crop room on Friday evening and Saturday we will have a masseuse on hand to keep us all limber and stress-free with $1 a-minute chair massages!

Included in the package will also be a train-shaped chipboard album class and designed by our very own and very talented Leisa.  This cute Maya Road album will be the perfect spot to keep photos and memorabilia from our excursion!  Class time will be posted at the crop, but if you are otherwise engaged, then we will leave the supplies and instructions out so you can work on the project at your own pace.

Whim So Doodle will also include a 3-day Old Towne Trolley pass that will grant you unlimited access to the trolley line that runs through most of St. Augustine.  If you want to take some time away from cropping to see the sights of our nation's oldest city then you can use your trolley pass. 

If sightseeing is your thing then St. Augustine has a lot to offer!  There is the Old Wooden Schoolhouse, Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum, Fort Matanzas National Monument, the St. Augustine Lighthouse (which I have climbed!), Cathedral Basilica, the Spanish Quarter Village, Old Florida Museum, Flagler College, San Sebestian Winery, nighttime ghost walk tours, and much much more!!  It is a very pretty city with lots of old Florida charm!

Sound great?  The cost for the weekend is $425 and (to recap) it includes:

-Round trip travel from Tampa to St. Augustine via train/bus combo.

-3-night accommodations at the Holiday Inn Historic District, with two queen-beds.

(Each room sleeps 2-4 people-you decide!  You can put just you and one buddy in a room or load it up with all your friends.  If you need a roomie, we can make the arrangements, too!)

-3-day on/off Old Towne Trolley pass.

-Private crop room access from Friday at 10am to Sunday at 6am.

-Breakfast on Friday morning.

-Dinner at OC Whites on Friday evening.

-Snacks and drinks throughout the weekend.

-An train-themed album class designed by Leisa

-Make-n-takes.

-Goodies for all!

-A pre-trip informational evening at The Doodle to give you trip instructions and tips for packing for an away crop.

-Six Doodle Divas on hand for entertainment and inspiration!

Are you ready to join the fun? 

Since this is our first big "away" weekend crop we have decided to start small, so space is limited!  I have been dropping hints at classes and crops for the last two weeks and there is a number of you out there who have been waiting anxiously for details and to sign up!  Now is the time...don't put it off too long!  Call your cropping buddies and work out all the arrangements-you do not want to miss our first away cropping trip!!

If you are ready to sign up all you have to do is call the store...no passport needed!!  You can pay the total amount now or pay half now and the balance on or before Saturday, March 15th.  That would be $212.50 now (or very soon) and $212.50 on or before Friday, March 15th.

Who's coming along for our ride?  We are gonna have a "hoot-hoot"!  (Very mild train reference there!)

Jen