S/O retreat thread

I love retreats and I have one friend I share a room with. I have been to retreats on my own and one time I offered to share with a stranger. I will not do it again. She was perfectly nice but there were things I didn't like; for example when she checked in the lock got changed so when I went to the room the key didn't work, and when I went to bed for the night she had the dead bolt on so I couldn't get in. Then she had the light on to read and I like it dark. Also at that retreat I didn't have anyone to go get meals with and there was no restaurant at the hotel.

Anyway, I would pay the extra to be by myself in a room almost always. There is a place in PA called Cozy Crop House and they have like 3 beds in a room and then bathrooms to share and I don't think I would like it with strangers but maybe I could tolerate it since there are living areas to relax in as well as the crop room. Heck I might even crash on a sofa instead.

Even with my close friend who sleeps like the dead I am so worried about snoring and thrashing around. She has never ever said anything but I know how I sleep so I am always worried about it even after all these years.

OK, why I love retreats. I am immersed in 24 hour scrapping. Everyone around me is potentially scrapping. There are no chores calling to me, no family members wanting this or that, no TV shows to suck me in. I sit down on Friday and don't have to clean up or move anything until Sunday afternoon. I have a full table just for me. One retreat gave 3 feet of table space - that was a one time deal for me. I'm not paying for 3 feet of table space.

I have been to retreats where we were all crammed in a house and we had to take turns making meals or cleaning up. Nope. I don't do it at home I'm not going to pay to do it someplace else. People say, "Just order pizza." No, I don't want to pay for pizza for 15 other people. I'll bring my own meals. So I don't go to that type anymore either.

I sound fussy but I have found retreats that meet my needs. The only problem is paying for your own room if you don't have anyone else to share with. If you want to give a try to sharing with one other person then do it once and see if you can tolerate it. You could always break for a nap during the day and go to bed very late so you are really only sharing the room half the night.

I do not go to socialize. I always ask for a table against the wall so no one is behind me and in the corner. I even brought shelves this time to set up to have my little wall of supplies. People have been doing that for years and I just decided to do it as well. I liked it because I focused on my own stuff.

There are ALWAYS a few people who put their phones on speaker, I have no idea why, people who bring their families who come in and out of the crop room, people who want to have music without headphones. I would ask the crop organizer if they told people to have headphones and keep phones off speaker. You would not believe the number of people who think their conversation is so witty or cute with whoever that we all have to 'enjoy it' with them.

I am an introvert but I love having that multiday crop time to just do what I love - scrapping!

I am an introvert.  I don't like 'socializing' (as in small-talk-with-strangers-at-a-party type of socializing) at ALL. 


BUT, that said, these are my reasons for going to SB events:

-- I have found that the 'shared interest in crafting' kind of bridges the 'stranger' gap, if you know what I mean.  It's something everyone there has in common, no matter how different the rest of our lives are from each other.

-- You don't have to socialize with people if you don't want to; a lot of people go to those events to socialize with each other as well as craft, but there are always people who are there to focus and get stuff done, too. You shouldn't feel 'obligated' to socialize if you really don't want to.

--  I like the 'creative energy' of a space filled with creative people.  Even if I'm not interacting with them- which I don't do much of, really- the fact that everyone there is creating things is energizing to me.

--  I don't have large blocks of uninterrupted time to craft- which is what I really need to get anything done- working at home in my craft room.  So for me, attending weekend retreats or the 12-hour crops at the SB store are a way to be more productive.  (heck, let's face it-  I pretty much ONLY scrapbook away from home now. I do other crafting at home, but scrapbooking takes a lot of space and spreading my stuff out all over.)

--  The weekend retreat I attend has a LOT of space; we each get a 6-foot table to ourselves.  If it was a tiny space, I probably wouldn't attend. (maybe not, anyway-- I still might.)  I do scrapbook in my PJ pants and slippers at night; I'm usually one of the last people in the conference room, and I last until about 2 am.  

--  my supplies are already stored in 12x12 Iris boxes, because that's what works for me.  So packing to go to a crop isn't that bad, for me-- it's mainly just loading the boxes up in the back of my car.  

--  I mainly scrapook now using a pre-designed page layout / page kit approach.  If I had to design each layout from scratch, I'd sit around thinking about it all weekend and not get anything actually accomplished.

--  I go twice a year to one 3-day weekend retreat at a hotel where I share a room with one person, a woman who's a sort of casual scrapbooking friend.  (I met her at a retreat a few years ago when we got seated next to each other.)  Before that, I roomed at the hotel by myself.  We share a room now because it makes it cheaper (her husband belongs to the executive thing for that hotel chain), but we don't, like, spend all our time together during that weekend, or anything.  She goes to bed early, I stay up and work half the night... we might talk a few minutes here and there, but that's really it. We're not joined at the hip, or anything like that.  

Those are all reasons why I now go to SB store crops and retreats when I can.  I had all your sort of feelings about them, too, before I started going-- I really did-- but scrapbookers are mostly a friendly bunch.  (but not overly-friendly, if you know what I mean-  you don't have to socialize.  We all recognize that we're also all there to get things done.)  


You could always just 'try' it out by attending and only take the supplies for one specific project to work on; that might make it easier to for you to organize and pack.  The social thing I can't help you with, except to say you might be pleasantly surprised if you do go to one.



 

I am an introvert. I am going to a 3 day event in May and am really looking forward to it (not sharing a room! I will either book my own or commute from home, it's an hour away). Here's what i like about retreats:

1 non stop crafting, cardmaking, scrapbooking. So often i have "just an hour" or have to rush, and I hate that. I love having unlimited amount of time to work on whatever i want.
2. no chores calling my name, no dinner to cook, no homeschooling, no school pick up (one goes to school, one is homeschooled), no drivng around.
3. being alone. i love being alone. yes there are people around but you don't HAVE to talk unles you want. You can put on headphones and just do your thing.
4. the whole set up is geared towards crafting--love that.
5. getting SO MUCH DONE!!!

^^^ I also like the 'being alone' part of it. Even though there are other people around, I have headphones and can / will use them to 'introvert' and focus if I don't want the stuff around me to take over inside my head.

It also depends on the number of people, and how large the space is- like I said, the one I go to is a 6 ft. table per person, and I think the max # of attendees is either 50 or 75. It's held in the ballroom of the hotel, so the tables are pretty spread out. Some retreats pack women in like sardines, with no aisle space, tiny table space, etc. and I would NOT LIKE one like that.

When we were going to scrapbook events, a lot of my "group" were involved with teaching for K&Co. So going away meant they got to play instead of instruct. We also didn't travel to "crop" - we traveled for "events" and pretty high-end classes (no one was interested in beginner level classes.)
We never slept 4 to a room -- we'd try to book rooms close together - sometimes adjoining - but everyone had their own bed and space! We would also try to book our classes together or all take the same "track" -- but sometimes not even that. We would always have a rental car so we were mobile.
We'd usually plan a huge shopping day where we would hit as many stores as possible -- usually scrappy stores -- but we were open to clothes and shoes also!
It was just a fun time away from any other responsibility doing something fun!

Well, I only got 2.5 hours of crop time. I don't know what I did but my blood sugar was so low that i was sick as a dog. Didn't realize that was it since i was also running a fever. Came home, crawled in bed and suffered. Finally checked my number, duh! Toast and tea with sugar and i'm right as rain. I was high at work before i left for my crop so didn't figure it out soon enough. Fucking diabetes!

I love retreats and multi day crops. The ones I usually go to are put on by friends of mine that I don't live close to so it's the only chance I get to see them. I almost always go with other friends which helps keep the cost down because we split the hotel and gas expenses. We've gone literally from coast to coast on our adventures over the years and we all get along very well so I don't worry about rooming with someone who snores too loud or does other annoying things.

As for the crops themselves, it's really the only way I can get a good amount of scrapping done because I have set aside the time to work uninterrupted. There is no laundry, dishes or housekeeping chores staring me down, no kid pulling on my shirt sleeve saying "Mama. Mama. MAMA!!!!" Every. Ten. Minutes. No dogs wanting in or out all day long. No one to cook for or clean up after (although I haven't minded the crops where you team up with another person on one meal). It's fun to be in a room full of people who all love the same things you do and are all working on crafty stuff.

I'm another that stores my stuff in Iris bins so packing and unpacking my stuff isn't a big deal. I just grab the ones I need, load them up in the car and go.

I liked your post because there is no "that stinks" button. Sorry you didn't get your crop time

Oh, darn! That's too bad.

  I go to scrap retreats with a friend now, but I used to go alone. I always got a room to myself and enjoyed it immensely. This was at a time when my son was younger and I liked having the time to myself. The unlimited scrap time was what I needed at that time in my life. 

  

If you have a chance to go to a crop, I would say, DO IT! I was talked into going to my first one, even though I was sure I wouldn't like it. But after attending one, I found out this is something I enjoy. If it had been a terrible experience, I would never have gone again. But you won't know unless you try it.

I have space and time at home to scrap. I hate the packing up and putting back of supplies. And I am distracted by sounds, so the fact that there are 30 or 40 other people in the room talking and laughing, dropping things and playing music can drain on my energy after awhile.

But the creative energy in the room tops all that. I don't go to socialize: I go to just scrap. I don't need to be entertained with games or flash classes. I like crops where there is lots of space to spread out all the STUFF I feel I have to bring. And I like crops sponsored by or attended by stores, so I can buy even MORE stuff! Between projects of my own, I love to walk around and see what others are doing. It's refreshing to hold conversations with people who love this craft as much as I do. I always pick up some ideas, and definitely the mojo rubs off on me: for the week after a crop I create a ton of stuff!

I usually stay at a friend's home, or she stays here. And we attend the crops together. Scrapping with someone else provides great conversation and a chance to get ideas for what should go into a particular project or to witness cool techniques in action. ( and the chance to "borrow" just the perfect element to go onto a page)

Only once did we go to a crop where we shared a large room with other people. But that was not terrible. If I decided to attend a crop on my own, I think I would book a room to myself rather than with a stranger. Having some space to myself at the end of a day filled with audio and visual stimulation helps me to unwind, just breathe, and get the rest I need for the next day.

No retreats on offer here as far as I know, and it's not the sort of thing that appeals. I have my own 'retreats' at home with all my tools and supplies