More Fun with Friends

I just spent three days milling about the Great American Scrapbook Convention with Jennifer and Marion.  I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned them before, but they are sometimes volunteer “helpers” for various projects I’m working on, particularly my scrapbooking cruises.  This week they were helping me promote the cruises at the convention, which basically consists of a lot of shopping and a little bit of time passing out postcards and goodie bags.  I’m very grateful to have the help.  I could go pass out the cards on my own, but I hate to do things like that by myself.  It just seems to be easier when I have company.

I’m that way about a lot of things.  Just last night, we were discussing movies with friends and they were surprised when I mentioned that I won’t go to a movie by myself.  Apparently, a lot of people do, and they tell me they like it because they can really focus on the movie, but for me, a night at the movies is a social activity.  If I wanted to watch it by myself, I could just wait for it to come out on DVD.  I also don’t often drink alone or swim alone or eat in restaurants by myself.  I prefer to take a companion with me for business trips, to dinner seminars, and even to church.  I especially like to have friends with me when I crop.

Yes, I can sometimes get more done when I’m home alone working on an important project, but nine times out of ten, I forget to make the time to crop if I don’t have someone else here to make it a priority.  It’s just one of those indulgences that I find hard to justify when I have a lot of work to get done.   So yes, I prefer to have friends with me to crop, in many cases just so that I will be forced to sit down and craft.

What about you?  Do you do certain things with friends that you won’t do alone?  Do you prefer to crop with friends?  Let us know in the comments.

Watch Out for Convention “Deals”

I just wanted to keep this short and sweet to tell you about a little discovery I’ve made.  You see, I’ve learned that you can’t always trust the pricing at conventions.  I know…I know…we all go there expecting to lots of swag for very less than we would pay in a store or online.  But I’m here to tell you, that’s not always the case.  Take for instance these Craft Décor brand Chalk Writer pens. 

I first discovered these pens at Scrapbook Expo in February.  They were included in a Make-n-take kit from Scrap That!  They were so popular after everyone used them in the make-n-take that they sold out of several colors.  I had planned to stock up on them, but kept talking myself out of it until it was too late.  So this year, I resolved to go buy at least a few.

Fast forward to Great American Scrapbook Convention this past weekend here in Arlington…. Scrap That! had the markers again, so I talked myself into buying a few. The only thing stopping me was that I didn’t know what color marker I had in my Scrapbook Expo kit, so I decided to wait until I could check for sure.  In the mean time, Jennifer wanted to stop at the Daiso store here in Carrollton to have a look around.  Lo and behold, what did I see?

Yep, you guessed it, a whole rack of the VERY SAME pens!  Only these were marked $1.50 instead of $3 each!  I bought up every color they had, spending $15 instead of twice that at the convention.  I saw several other items priced higher at the convention than online or in local stores, so it wasn’t just a one-time thing.  Now, I will grant you, not every item you find at convention is priced that way; you can get some really good deals.  Just be sure to check the pricing elsewhere before you commit or you might be spending more than you intended!