Salem Days Retreat: AN UPDATE!!!

Have you met the fabulous ladies from Izzy n Ivy Designs?  They are so much fun, and so fun to be around! Plus, they're all uber-creative and make the cutest things!!  Their newest notion is called Sprinkles, and they are the sweetest little tags to finish off your handmade item.  They are so darling!!

 (photo from Izzy n Ivy Designs)

Well, we are happy to announce that these fabulous ladies have agreed to come to our retreat to do a little Show n Tell.  

And by Show n Tell, I mean a FASHION SHOW!   We can't wait to see all of the cute things they've done, and hear any tips or tricks that they've discovered to help you make their fun creations.

Salem Days Pageant and Fireworks

The pageant this year was the BEST it has been in YEARS. It was awesome! They did Salem's Got Talent. On Friday, they had 36 contestants. The top 10 got to move on to the actual pageant Saturday night. The 10 acts were really great. Brother-in-law was the MC, and he did an awesome job. I think the favorite was when he dressed up as Nacho Libre. My favorite act of the night was a 4-year-old little boy who sang a Jonas Brothers song. It was awesome! He even danced. So CUTE!!!!

After the pageant portion, they had some lady who lives in the city come and sing. It was kind of a downer. She sang her own songs, none of which were really upbeat and a little too country for my liking. At one point, she said she still had a couple more songs and half the crowd groaned! Then she sang one more song and one of the city council members gave her the cut-off signal. She talked him into letting them do one more song, and when it was over everyone cheered.

Fireworks were AWESOME!!! Marshy has never seen fireworks like those before, and was a little concerned at first, then he warmed up to them.


Giving mommy some cheese. He loves fireworks now! :)

Overall, it was a really good night. The only way it could've been better was if the 2nd act had kept the feel and the energy level up. Everyone was so pumped about the Salem's Got Talent, they needed someone who could keep it going. Maybe next year they can get a cover band or someone really cool.

A moment

Today I had one of those moments....

You know, the ones where I wonder what would've happened if I hadn't dropped out of college to work full-time.

What would I have majored in?

Would I have stuck with nursing? Or switched back to Education? Or gone to English? Business? History? Accounting? Political Science? Economics? What?

Then I wonder what would have happened if I had finished my medical transcription class. Would I be doing that? Would I even be able to do that with my laptop speakers blown (courtesy of the course, thank you very much!)

Then I thought about what I want to be "when I grow up." I say "when I grow up" because technically I am grown up. I have a family and I own my own business. That means I'm a grown up, right?

I love what I do, don't get me wrong, but there are so many "what ifs" that it bugs me sometimes.

What if I went back to school? Would I be able to stick with it and finish and get a degree? Would I even use the degree? What would I go back for? Business? Nursing? Respiratory Therapy? Accounting? Law School?

You know, when I was little, and thought I could actually get into Yale (hahahahahaha as if that ever would have happened) I thought I would become a lawyer. Never mind that there are a gazillion and a half years of schooling involved with that!

I seriously thought I could do it. Now, though, as I approach my court date at the end of the month, I realize there is no way in Hades that I ever would have been a good lawyer. I hate confrontation. (Some of you are snickering...but really, I am all talk and no fight) I am terrified of meeting this woman in court asking for my money back. I know I'm in the right, but it still scares the **** (insert expletive of your choice) out of me.

Anyway, isn't it funny to look back on your "dreams" and realize how silly they were? Okay, so most of you have accomplished your childhood dreams, but seriously, I have no idea how a teenage girl thought that there was any way she was getting into Yale (or Harvard was the back-up) with no money, no connections, and a B+ average (courtesy of the math and science department. I am definitely not analytically inclined. Math, especially Calculus, makes absolutely NO sense to me, as does physics. Or chemistry.)

Okay, so now that I've wondered that out loud, I am going to get on with my night. It's nearly midnight and I still have a ton of work to do: a quilt to bind, a quiet book page to finish. Yeah, I think I'm screwed. All nighter? Yeah, sounds good to me. Who needs to actually watch the parade at Salem Days? And I don't have to be awake the whole time I'm sitting at the quilt show booth, do I? haha. Yeah, I guess I'd better get working so I can squeeze in a few hours of sleep, right?

Meeting

Went to my first Salem Days meeting tonight. It was really good. Of course, I now realize that most of the volunteers participating in Salem Days events have done this before. I am still a little scared, but really excited. I think I'm mainly worried that, not having done this before, it's going to end up sucking. I have a lot of good ideas, here's hoping that I can get a great committe to help me execute them, and that the Quilt Show turns out AWESOME!

Anyone been to a great quilt show, or a horrible one? I would love to hear more ideas if you've got them!

I've gone and done it!

So, I did a crazy and wild thing yesterday. My in-laws are in charge of our town celebration this year, and they needed people to head up several events. I volunteered to head up our town's quilt show this year. What the? I never volunteer to do anything! I am 50% excited, 25 %nervous, and 25% scared at what I got myself into.

The crazy thing is that I have only ever been to previous year's quilt shows. That is it. I have never been to any other shows, so I am in major need of some ideas! I have a few good ideas for things that we are working on. Fortunately it isn't until August, so I have plenty of time to plan and get organized.