Monday, March 2, 2009

San Antonio is Bead City

Holy cannoli - where did all those people come from?? This weekend's show in San Antonio was, quite frankly, the busiest bead show I've ever seen. On Saturday, shoppers could barely move through the aisles. And Sunday - which is traditionally a much slower day - was as busy as a normal Saturday would be! Of all shows for me to be doing without Mom. I called her briefly on Saturday afternoon and told her I was NEVER doing this show without her again!! At one point, I had a booth full of customers and had to say "Ya'll hang out for a second because I can't wait another minute to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back!" They were very sweet and understanding about it, and two ladies helpfully appointed themselves booth monitors. I appreciate it so much! And I had to laugh that I sent Kathryn, my 76 year old wonderful friend with a broken rib, to get me a Diet Coke to tide me over. Talk about elderly abuse!! But she kept me company for a while in the booth and got to sit down for a bit too. Not that we had time to talk much since I was ringing up customers like crazy.

I have to admit, it was a total surprise (and a fabulous one at that) coming after the slow Tucson experience just a few weeks ago. San Antonio has always been good to me, but this was taking it to another whole level, and I'm happy to say it was that way for all the vendors. So we love you, San Antonio!

And my last customer of the day was another nice surprise. Jamar was there from Houston, and had read about the show on the blog which influenced her to change her plans to travel to San Antonio from Friday to Sunday instead. Hi, Jamar! The funny story about Jamar is this: she's one of these rare people who will just jump right in the deep end of the pool with all her clothes on instead of checking it out by dipping her toe in first. How can I know this?? Well, last year at the May Stafford show she admitted she's been interested in seed bead weaving for a while, but hadn't tried it yet. She decided it was time. Did she buy one of my beginner kits to see if she liked it? Nope! She bought five kits, including the most difficult one I tried to tell her she should work up to learning! Love that confidence! And sure enough, she is doing great. And why was she in San Antonio? To buy a kiln, of course! She plans on learning lampworking and PMC and even though she hasn't taken classes yet, she's jumping in that deep end and getting all the tools and equipment right off the bat. I can't wait to see the results - I know they'll be fabulous and ambitious!

Getting to catch up with my beady customers and friends is such a joy at these shows. I appreciate your presence in my life more than you know! Mom was jealous that she had to stay at home this weekend, and I'm still remembering and telling her how everyone is and what they had to say.

Normally I crash for a day post-show, but there's no opportunity for that today. Mom's two-week doctor appt is this afternoon, and right after that I take her to her PT appt. Which means I'd better go unload the car so I can fit her in there!

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