This has been a long time coming but with it being cold outside we thought you might need a bit of sunshine in your life so figured it was about time to share our amazing West October retreat.
It was held out in the beautiful Alberta countryside just outside of Red Deer.
Preparing the goodie bags.
Little gifts and reminders for our guests.
Some supplies just begging to be messed up and used.
The hostesses, Renee and Lauren in front of one of many inspiration banners.
The retreat could not have happened without Lauren’s mom Rosemary and aunt Bonnie. Rosemary did all of the delicious cooking for everyone over the weekend and Bonnie helped with set up and clean up. Such troopers.
So great to share all of our meals together as it gave us a chance to really get to know each other.
Plus the desserts were out of this world.
Friday night we had the pleasure of an inspirational talk from Kelly Tibbets, which made us start the weekend from a place of truth and showed up in everyone’s art.
A little stretching and pilates led by the wonderful Raena Waddell.
Lauren doing her thang.
Our mother daughter duo, Sherry and Gyle, working together.
The adorable Heidi with her pig tails (and awesome stories).
Lori hard at play. She was determined to get as much art time in as possible since she doesn’t get much at home.
The lovely Jodi who brought us some amazing chai tea she makes herself.
Renee teaching some stamp carving. Love how everyone just dug in and tried everything even if it was completely foreign to them.
Our sister duo, Heather and Stephanie who kept coming in unintentionally dressed alike, so cute!!
Bonnie, self proclaimed first timer, working on her journal.
Getting in some jewelry making on movie night while watching Mama Mia which had a bit of a cult following that we weren’t aware of, hahaha.
Our last morning. Lauren is happy here but we all quickly turned quite sad as it was all coming to an end.
It was so hard to pack up and leave this place after meeting so many outstanding women and having such a great time relaxing and getting our art on, completely uninterrupted. Such cherished memories.
Luckily in March, some of us will get to do it all again at the East Retreat outside of Ottawa.