I did it! I did it!

I met her! Yes. HER.  the QUEEN..and she was AWESOME!

We made a little family trip of the whole thing and we had a really good time =)

Here are my little ones bundled up, EAAAARLY Sunday morning as we left L.A and headed up the coast...

It took about 7 hours, and we got there just in time to go drop our stuff at the hotel and go fly some kites and do a little site seeing!

* We even tried to be ninja's and sneak in these peoples picture! but grrr we couldn't get out of the car quick enough! =(

That's ok..we had lot's of fun on our own!

 Soooo much fun in fact..I didn't realize that I must have RE activated the flu I was just getting over!

Man! Did I pay for it that night back at the hotel!!! I had fever, chills, sweats you name it! I was a hot friggin' MESS! but I would be DAMNED if I drove all the way up here and came THIS close to meeting Annie Sloan and I punk out! Aww hell no! So, I doped my self up to beyond the legal limit probably in MOST states , put on enough make up to look like I belonged among the living and took my comatose ass into that damn seminar the next morning!

The venue was gorgeous~

And the minute you checked in you saw a HUGE Annie Sloan Vision board!

It shows some of her paint inspirations and samples but can you read what those posters say?

Annie's own line of brushes! I want one!!

Annie Sloan fragrance collection? Yes Please.

and..wait for it.............................................................

Ah HELL! Great, Annie Sloans fabrics!

Now, I'm gonna be friggin' BROKE this summer! She has toile's and ticking and Belgium linens....drool..

Yeah' they look pretty flippin' comfy!

So after you wipe your chin off, grab a seat in the lecture hall to hear Annie speak about paint, color, texture, color combinations, inspirations etc...

Seriously you guys..she really is as friendly as she looks in all her photos! She is super down to earth, easy going, forgetful (Like us!) =) and just makes you feel so relaxed about painting..Don't over think it! It's only paint! If you don't like it, paint over it! So after the lecture we ate lunch and then broke out into smaller groups for our workshop! By the time lunch rolled around those pills were wearing off and I was starting to feel it..

Our instructor showed us a tip that I can't WAIT to start using! 

She explained that she doesn't really do a lot of sandpaper distressing anymore..she paints her piece in ASCP then in about an hour...come back with one of those thick blue paper towels in auto shops? Wet it with warm water, and just rub away the paint where you want to "Distress" it..no more living room full of chalk dust for meeeeeeeeee! Woohoooo...ALSO, she told us to save your arms... mix up your clear wax with some mineral spirits apply it in large figure 8 strokes with your wax brush and there you go! You save some clear wax AND it's waaaaay easier to apply! Yippee...those 2 little nuggets just made my sick little day! I was lucky to have Jessica from 

"Paint in my hair" blog as one of the instructors in my class and she was very sweet. 

After we had our workshop we were able to go have a glass of wine with Annie and get our books signed 

Here's what I felt like in line..., It was surreal..like I was in a movie!

Then you get up close and ...you forget all the eloquent things you had planned out to say!

I did tell her that my stockist (Sitting next to her) was THEE best and I REALLY LURV her paint and I thought she was an amazing artist. & Do you know what!? I'm such a douche...do you think I remembered to ask for a picture with her?...nnooooooooooooooo...Ole' over medicated molly over here forgot! =(

Oh well, The opportunity to meet her and learn from her will stick with me for a long time! 

Thank You again Debbie and Thank you Annie for coming..

If any of you guys out there still have a chance to meet Annie on her tour.I HIGHLY recommend it =}

Cheerio Dah' Lings !

~Melissa