5/27/14

CreativeLive: Day 1

After all my preparations, I was ready for Day 1 of Lain Ehmann's CreativeLive class, "Scrapbook Your Story." I set my alarm for 4:30 am. No need - my allergies had kept me up most of the night. I showered and dressed, but decided against putting makeup on my itchy allergy eyes. I decided not to style my hair either. There would be plenty of time for both when we arrived at the studio, as we'd allowed nearly 2 hours to travel 32 miles. I grabbed my things and drove to Jennifer's house, 25 miles away.

Traffic was light and I got to her house early. We got on the road toward San Francisco and were making great time. And then suddenly, we weren't making any time at all. The traffic that had been light was suddenly completely stopped. No problem though - we'd allowed PLENTY of extra time. We were 8 miles from our destination with 1.5 hours until we HAD to be there. Thirty minutes later, we hadn't moved an inch and we were starting to worry. The radio announcers were saying it was the worst traffic they'd seen in awhile. We called in to CreativeLive to say that we were stuck in the MacArthur Maze making no progress. Jennifer was calm and collected, but I was freaking out. I HATE being late for anything, but there was nothing I could do about it. Finally things opened up. We got to the parking garage 20 minutes after the absolute latest time we were to be at the studio. Ugh. We parked, grabbed our stuff, and ran. We zoomed into the studio, having missed breakfast, the orientation meeting, and the audio prep. The sound guy grabbed us and put on our mics, then we had 5 minutes before we had to be on set. I ran to the bathroom, threw on mascara, and decided my hair was good enough. I stored my stuff and zipped to Studio D. Whew! Time for a quick selfie before heading in.


We had assigned seating, so I didn't end up next to Jennifer. The other audience members had met at breakfast and the orientation, but since we'd missed that, I didn't have more than a second to introduce myself to my tablemate Traci. I didn't know it at the time, but she's a big-time designer. Lain calls her "THE Traci Reed."  


Jennifer was on the far left, seated next to Denise.


A minute or so later and we were live. The hosts, Chris and Sally, introduced the workshop and then had each of us introduce ourselves.


They introduced Lain, then headed over to the host desk to my right, where they monitored the chat room and fielded questions for Lain.


One of the first things Lain had us do was think about our own definition of scrapbooking. I wrote that scrapbooking is the union of art + photos + writing. I know not everyone will agree, but for me, if one of those is missing, it isn't scrapbooking. It's still valuable and awesome, but it isn't scrapbooking.

Next, we wrote our scrapbooking mission statement. Mine is: "To me, scrapbooking means creative memory keeping. I scrapbook for myself and my family so that we can remember all the wonderful things we've done, places we've gone, and people we love." I was surprised by the variety of answers. It's fun to hear why different people scrapbook.

I wasn't sure if it was OK to take pictures during filming, but once I saw others doing so, I snapped a few. None of Lain, as I didn't want to distract her, but a few of my fellow audience members. Here is Denise sharing her mission statement. You can see the red light on the camera indicating that it is live. (There were 4 cameras.)


When the first segment ended and a 15 minute break was announced, I headed to the cafeteria in hopes of finding a snack and something to drink, since we'd arrived too late for the amazing breakfast of made-to-order crepes (one of my favorite foods). When I returned, I took this quick photo of the empty studio.


... and then one of the lobby that we'd ran through earlier that morning.


And then it was time for the second segment. I snapped this quick photo of Lain and Chris just before we went live.


When that segment ended, it was time for lunch. The food was amazing. I had a mozarella and tomato sandwich that was to die for. The salads and homemade potato chips were awesome. It's worth it to be an audience member at CreativeLive if for no other reason than the food!


Our next segment was called, "Journaling - The Key to Capturing Stories." I've never had a problem thinking of stories to scrap or what words to use. If anything, I have to edit my thoughts to fit my story on a page. That's part of what I love about blogging - no space limits!

The fourth and final segment for Day 1 was about photography. Our guest presenter was the amazing Katrina Kennedy. Here she is (on the left) with Lain and Chris, minutes before the segment went live. When I think about the components of scrapbooking (photos, design, journaling, etc), photography is my weakest by far. So this segment was especially valuable to me.  


Then, just like that, the day was over. It went so quickly! My mind was a blur - so much inspiration. Lain is an amazing teacher.


Since this was Katrina's only day with us, we wanted a group photo with her in it. From left: Jennifer, me (Cindy), Jane, Lain, Katrina, Denise, Angela, and Traci.


What an incredible day!

12 comments:

  1. Looks like a ton of fun!! Bummer about being late!! YIKES!! That would have me saying a few words not meant for kids! LOL!!!!

    PS ... I am still in the corner of the family room ... so Adam doesn't think twice about his Mom painting stuff pink ... since he grew up with a mom that ALWAYS had a pink bathroom and bedroom ... lol ... yes, I love pink that much and when you are a single mom ... you can get away with being surrounded by PINK!! HA!! :)

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  2. I totally love your recap! It's so nice to have your take on what was happening - it all went so fast!

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  3. The traffic definitely made the morning edgy! It was an overwhelming rush to get oriented on-the-fly, mic'd up and freshened up in under 20 minutes. I was ready for a break just 15 minutes into the filming. Lain is great, though. I couldn't wait to restart after we finally got that first break!

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  4. LMAO "THE" Traci Reed. It was great sharing a table with you!

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  5. What a fun day. Well except for the traffic - will be be late? - moments. I know you were dying! Great post.

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  6. OMG! I was stressed out again reading your post! LOL!
    I cannot stand to be late either! For example I have to be at the movies in my seat ready to go at least half an hour before the movie starts! If not, anxiety kicks in! No joke! And I hate talking in public...so forget being taped! Whew, no thank you!
    But I am so glad YOU enjoyed it! It sounds like a wonderful valuable experience overall!
    BTW - Great selfie! Seriously you look great...even w/out time to beauty prep! :0)

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  7. I'm enjoying reading your account of this day... so far. Traffic there: oh my gosh.. how awful for you that it was so bad that day.

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  8. I LOVE that you got to do this, Cindy, but am so sorry about the traffic. Stress!!!! (a good subject to scrap about???)

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  9. You still look good after being stuck in traffic! Gotta say you look good in blue. :) Glad everything worked out!

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  10. OMGosh, I'm like you and hate to be late for anything! So glad you guys finally made it though!! This was the day that I was able to check in a little bit right before you broke for lunch, and then when you came back. Didn't get to see a whole lot of you on the screen, but I loved the discussion! Lain made some great points with her own pages that I never really thought about. One VERY important thing I jotted down in my planner (except I didn't catch who said it) was ... if you have to EXPLAIN your page, you haven't journaled enough! I loved that bit of advice!! Sometimes my pages have tons of words, sometimes only a paragraph, sometimes bullet points, or only a date. I am definitely going to be much more aware of that going forward! :) So glad you had a great first day ... looking forward to reading about Day 2! :)

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    1. I wrote that down too - I think it was Jane who said it! Such a good reminder.

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  11. eek!! I would have been so anxious about getting stuck in traffic!! I'm glad you were able to get there just in time!! And I love that you got to do this -- how fun!! I can't wait to go back and watch the whole thing when I can spare the time!! :)

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