Welcome to my birthday month!
July was quite busy and exciting but essentially a preparation for my annual birthday month, because this Leo is going to celebrate every day!
I already spent lots of time with friends and enjoying my Florida neighbors, who were here all of July. We have a wonderful tradition of playing Mexican Train (using dominoes with a point count to 15) at least once a week and enjoying frozen margaritas to keep with the theme. They are now back in Florida but will return in time for our big neighborhood Halloween party.
My musical friends and I celebrated another of our Fabulous Four ladies with a lovely boat tour on Lake Lure and lunch at one of the lakefront Restaurants. This has become a tradition for our little group; we love the Lakehouse Restaurant, Bar and Grill and never hesitate to return there for a special meal. Lake Lure is located less than 1 hour’s drive from Asheville and the scenic drive and surrounding views transport you to another, peaceful era.
Lake Lure is where Dirty Dancing was filmed, and I love to visit the Old Lake Lure Inn. Several years ago Dave took me there for Sunday Brunch to celebrate my birthday. We were able to see not only the rooms Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze used while filming, but also the suite where John and Zelda Fitzgerald stayed for a while a long time ago. The antiques, clocks and player pianos take you back in time; this is a real gem close to home.
My musical friends and I have been to the annual Brevard Summer Festival several times as well, and my birthday celebration will be at the Gershwin Concert next week, preceded by an early dinner at another favorite, the Love Eat Thai Kitchen. I can go for red curry with crispy duck anytime!
I also took some time for myself in July to watch the coverage of the Special Olympics in Berlin. My very first job in this country was teaching special education through a grant from the Kennedy Foundation and I had the pleasure to meet Eunice Shriver. Her son is doing a marvelous job with the organization, and it is heartwarming to see how far the events have come since they started in the sixties. Their opening and closing ceremonies rival any regular Olympics.
I am also watching some of the FIFA Women’s World Cup games; soccer brings back some childhood memories of growing up in Germany. Occasionally I went to a game with my father and always enjoyed tagging along.
Early in July I received a phone call from the editor of Bold Life magazine, a Hendersonville/Asheville publication covering the local theme. The editor, who loves to crochet, saw my Granny Squares and Geometric Shapes workshops on the SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair) line-up and sent me an email asking for an interview and photos for their fall issue. Both the interview and the images were done in July and are ready for the article in the September issue. Granny Squares are so popular now and I am grateful for the exposure.
SAFF registrations are now open; so please take a look at my Events page to see my workshop offerings for this fall. There are some new classes, like the Granny Squares, Geometric Shapes and Crochet Miniatures workshops. There is also a link to the SAFF workshops page where you can register. For more information on all events and workshops go to www.saffsite.org
In the middle of all this my PC tower decided it was time to give up the ghost. It has been getting slower and slower and finally had a hard time connecting to my password vault. Some diagnostics gave me the bad news that it was time to let it go. Thank God for Best Buy Geek Squad! A quick visit to my store found a replacement for my Lenovo tower and scheduled the files transfer from the old to the new tower. I was so lucky to have a laptop that works perfectly; it is small and travels well, it is just fine for email. For work and to evaluate damages for restoration requests I need the large monitor and prefer the PC.
Speaking of computers, I finally found a wonderful lady to take Kaitlin’s place to help me with my websites and marketing efforts. I believe we are a good fit; she loves what I do and that was most important to me. I am forever grateful to Kaitlin and we will always be friends; in fact, we are celebrating our birthdays together!
And yes, I did some work as well; I restored a twin-size diamond pattern bedspread and created several broomstick, hairpin and thread lace scarves to replace the pieces I sold at my last demo in June.
I am ready for my birthday month! Several celebrations are planned, and I am looking forward to a visit from an old friend in Florida, we will spend some quality time together. I have already made a list of fun things to do!
Celebrate whatever makes you happy this month, mostly take time out to celebrate yourself!
“I do what I love and I love what I do”
New in the Studio:
Diamond clusters bedspread restoration
New fingerless gloves designs
New broomstick and hairpin lace designs
New thread lace designs.