road report: part I

It’s day four of our road trip, and what a wonderful time we are having! Friday we arrived in St. Petersburg, FL in time to join Kip, Woody, Kath and Bob for dinner. We had a great evening together, and continued the fun and conversation far past my bedtime!

Saturday morning Kip picked up Kath and me and we headed to Ruban Rouge, a scrapping store where scrapping product diva Heidi Swapp was leading a workshop that featured some of her new products. We rendezvoused there with Jules, Janet and Teri. Heidi’s trademark color is pink, so we all decked ourselves suitably (which seemed to please her), and after arriving at the store settled into the back row where we could cause as little distraction as possible to others when we got carried away amongst ourselves. It was a good class, and what a fabulous store! I exercised great restraint and bought only a handful of things, along with—brace yourselves—only one sheet of paper! From there we went to lunch at a great place in Dunedin, where we enjoyed more laughs, a funky waiter, and very good food. We returned to our respective hostels late in the afternoon with some breathing room before gathering at Kip’s for a little winethirty celebration, then swung by a local hotel to fetch Janet’s husband, Bob, before all going to dinner. We enjoyed more good food at a Spanish/Cuban restaurant out at the end of the St. Petersburg Pier. Though too dark to enjoy much of a view, it was still a treat to be out by the water, and to walk out on the fifth floor deck afterward and enjoy the view of the city (there's a photo for next time--blogger and dial-up aren't good friends and I'm having trouble loading this last picture). Best of all, however, was the company, and it was a wonderful celebration of friendship.

I’ll save further reporting for the next blog entry so that I can spread out the inclusion of pictures. Next stop, Ft. Myers, our visit with Jules and Gene, and more food!