No longer in Dallas!

I'm very ashamed. I just got this email from my dear friend:

I have read about your leaving for Dallas 4000 times........yes, we need an update on Jill. Hugs, Kath

And all of a sudden I realized it's been like a WEEK since I posted. And yet it really feels more like one very (VERY VERY) long day.

So after I got back from Philly on Monday night, I faced a daunting task: getting ready to leave on Friday to teach 3 classes of 20 students each for the Dallas Bead Society. Teaching wasn't the hard part. The hard parts were:

• Knowing I was sold out of many of my best-selling kits from Philly so what would the ladies in Dallas have to buy?
• Creating new kits with multiple color options for 2 classes that had never been kitted before - which meant coming up with 8 different brand new kits. In three days.
• Did I mention the three days part??
• And my boxes shipped from Philly didn't even arrive until Thursday night, at which time I was scrambling to unpack and repack
• In three days

So in those three days (3, only 3) I labeled and weighed and printed and stuffed and panicked a few times. I barely slept, and in the end, it was only my wonderful mother coming to the rescue by leaving work early to come home and help me on Friday that allowed me to leave Austin for the drive to Dallas at 10:30pm. I got to my hotel there around 1:30am, and collapsed.

Knowing I was going to be spending the day with such a colorful and fun group of ladies helped me wake up with pep and vigor, though, and by 8am I was setting up the classroom. I took a couple of fuzzy cell phone photos, and that's about it. There was a lot going on!




The second photo is of me wearing a purloined necklace. You've got to watch me every second! Carol Anne had a question which I came by to answer, and I noticed an organza bag in front of her with beading in it. I took it upon myself to investigate, and out came this gorgeous Marcia DeCoster design in colors that just happened to match what I was wearing like it was made for me!

The following day I managed to snag Denise's Sherri Serafini choker to wear all day. I really appreciate them bringing jewelry for me to wear! Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of me wearing that one.

The Dallas ladies were excellent hostesses, and we had a lovely couple of days. It was frantic getting to that point, but once we were all gathered, the joy of being surrounded by beady folks made all the effort worth while.

I did treat myself to the luxury of staying over in Dallas Sunday night instead of coming home after class was finished around 4. I needed sleep so badly it was kind of scary. And I knew that if I came home Sunday night, I'd jump right back into work work work because I still can't take the smallest of breaks yet.

Why? Because the Austin Bead Society Show is this coming weekend...and I have no kits left! And I have a low stock of seed beads to sell! And I have four (4, yes, 4) days to prepare! So after hitting home Monday night, I made a plan of action and on Tuesday I placed scary amounts of bead orders with overnight shipping charges out the wazoo because if I don't, I won't have kits on Saturday.

AND, because I also have a substantial wholesale order to prepare to ship out. (More on that later.) AND because I have the Portland Bead Fest two weeks later. AND then the Houston International Quilt Show a few weeks after that. AND I am thrilled to announce that I got into the BABE show in Oakland, CA in Nov, which is a whole new show added to my schedule. AND I've got teaching gigs in Fort Worth for the Wild West Bead Society and in Lake Jackson in there. AND I'm supposed to be finding time to go on vacation with Mom at some point too and now I'm just laughing because we haven't even been able to pause long enough to plan the vacation let alone go on one. I'm still walking around with a temporary filling post-root canal for goodness sake because I don't have time to go to the dentist to get the crown! Although I will be making time for that next week...there's a limit to my denial. Oh, and I need to make time for an afternoon spent with an Illustrator tutor also very soon.

So. Kinda crazy, eh? I honestly don't think it will be quite this insane all the time. If it is, I'm gonna drop dead from a heart attack before long. While Mom and I were anticipating a year of having to scramble to make a living due to the economy problems, what's actually happened is a huge growth explosion that's caught me unprepared and I'm working hard to catch up. Once I do, I know I'll still be busy, but in a good way, not a frantic way.

Back to prep work for me. I'm sorry I made you wait so long for an update, Kath (& friends!)