A weekend in the life of a Scrapbook Roadie

Last weekend Kevin and I were scheduled to exhibit and teach a class at the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Pasadena, CA. I bet you are dying to know what goes on "behind the scenes" right? So here it is...

Our weekends generally begin on Thursday. This week, we left our house between 4:30 - 5 AM EST to get to the airport. On this trip we had a short layover in Nashville, arriving in LAX at 11:25 AM PST.

From the airport we caught a shuttle that took us to the rental car location. We reserved a mini-van - big enough to hold all our luggage, and from there we drove straight to the convention center in Pasadena.

When we got to the convention center, our booth wasn't quite ready for set up. We took a short break to grab some lunch? dinner? (my stomach wasn't quite sure which.) When we returned to the booth we were able to finish all the "big set up tasks" before calling it a night.

Because we are away from home, and often in unfamiliar places, I generally make reservations with a hotel chain I am familiar with. I appreciate a nice place to "land" after a long day of travel and work. Some hotels are more welcoming than others.

Pasadena's Courtyard housekeeping did a great job - and they left us little mints. (I love those little mints.)

Can you believe they hung a mosaic style print in our room? That made us feel really special (wink).

We had a very comfortable place to stay, so thank you Pasadena Courtyard!

The scenery inside convention centers is pretty much the same from one location to the next. Sometimes I find myself asking, "Where are we?" or "Which state are we in?" I suppose it could all become pretty hum drum; but, even though we get tired from long days, I think it is important to find and participate in something fun at each location.

On quick trips, like this one, finding time for fun can be more of a challenge. After we work 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM, teach class from 6:30 - 8:00 PM, and clean up until about 9 PM, (it is now midnight in our home time zone) and it is time to get some dinner.

Kevin mentioned In-N-Out Burger, a favorite "out west" treat for us, but, we didn't realize what a treat we were actually going to find. When we arrived at the location (directed by our GPS) there was a huge line of cars backed into the street. The signs reading "please do not block our neighbors driveways" was a pretty big hint - long lines are not unusual.

We were driving up to the oldest standing In-N-Out burger location (one of the first 5 built according to a friendly employee.)

It was great. A bit of "burger history fun" at the end of a long day!

After the convention ended on Saturday, we tore down the booth and set out for another dinner adventure. Kevin has a fascination with stadiums; so, before dinner he insisted on driving past the Rose Bowl.

Once viewing the stadium was checked off the list, we drove around trying to decide what sounded like a good dinner. I was really hungry and running out of patience. (Thank goodness for GPS gadgets and call ahead seating!)

PF Changs has a great menu. I am a big fan of the dumplings. We ordered Mongolian Beef and Honey Chicken dishes. Can you guess which we liked the best?

We had a late flight the next day so we actually got to sleep in! The downside to sleeping in - breakfast can be a little harder to find late in the morning.

We decided to grab something on the way to the airport; however, for some reason, our route didn't seem to be taking us past anything "good."

We were almost at the rental car return. I had given up hope - and expected we would have to eat airport food again. Kevin had to stop for gas and that is when we happened to see this (like we could have missed it.)