Getaway Crop Weekend

My pick of the week today is a little different. It’s not the newest product, or even a product at all. I’m going on a weekend crop retreat with my “peeps” and realized that this is a perfect ‘Pick of the Week’! If you have never done this, I HIGHLY recommend it.  Our group actually gets together about every 3 months. We’ve been doing this for so long that we have it down to a science. We don’t always go to the same location, but the truly important things are always the same….Jen brings the sausage dip, Karla brings the red pepper dip and her glorious bars, Ang brings her fabulous salsa and chips, Lindsey brings the pickle roll ups, and Sara brings an old family recipe….not really sure what’s in it, but it’s slushy, you drink it through a straw and it’s heavenly. Abby and I are the health conscious ones (wink, wink)–I bring the spinach dip and Abby brings the strawberry daiquiris! I think that about covers the 4 food groups. Don’t forget the movies….we have several movies that we watch at each and every crop–“27 Dresses”, “The Holiday”, and “The Proposal”, and then we mix it up with some newer releases. This weekend we will be croppin’ to “The Blind Side” and the entire season of “Glee” (it starts up again on Tuesday….WOOHOO).

These crop weekends have become a part of our lives. Even though everyone is busy working and taking care of families, we have learned that it’s equally important to make time for these weekends. After all, our ultimate purpose for these crops is to get a “boat load” of scrapping done…..and that we do! It’s awesome spending quality time with great friends who are all doing basically doing the some thing…..preserving the memories of their families. We live in different parts of Minnesota, we are not the same ages (we range in age from 25 to 40-something ) and we seldom have the time to meet socially outside of work. At these crops we laugh, we cry, we share stories and more stories about our kids, pets, jobs, and vacations. We eat, we drink, we eat some more….  we ask and give advice and opinions, we critique and admire each others work, and totally “scraplift” from each other. At the end of the weekend we are overflowing with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction having documented yet another chapter in our lives. Sunday always seems to come too fast and we are all sad to go yet we know that the next crop is just around the corner.

Because these crops are such a big deal to us, we think they will be a big deal to you too. Archiver’s now hosts weekend crop packages right in the store! Coming up on April 23-24 is our second “Getaway Weekend Crop”.  I have to admit, it’s a bit more convenient than our crop tradition. You don’t have to bring food, they give away great prizes, and you get a really cool value pack of clear stamps from Autumn Leaves. Plus, everything you need (or don’t need) is right at your fingertips.  Although you can’t spend the night in the store (beds would just take up precious scrapping space), you can leave all of your stuff right where it is and resume your creativity in the morning! The response to our first weekend crop back in January was huge….I’m just sayin…

For those of you who go on weekend crop getaways you know what I’m talking about. For those of you that have never been….give it a try. Start your own tradition. You won’t be disappointed.