SHOWS

My table at Bead Fest in Santa Fe.

My dear friend Gail, who I don't see nearly enough.

Karen at dinner looking either blissful or exhausted.

Stacey, trying on a $9000 dollar coat (hey, it was marked down from $18,000!)

I didn't have much time for shopping, but the booth facing me had some of my favorite kinds of things. Vintage lapis beads and a silver pendant (on the right) from Afghanistan, a vintage silver chain from Nepal and a vintage silver pendant from India. I held out until the last day. I also bought some cool lampwork by a woman named Joanne Zekowski, which I will show you as soon as I can photograph it.

Here's how I felt when I got home from Santa Fe.

I had a good show in Santa Fe. The show traffic was slower than last year, but still good. I met lots of nice folks and saw some that I met last year, like dear sweet Jane. Thank you for your wise, kind words, Jane.

I had some major drama when United Airlines once again lost one of my bags on the way to Albuquerque. It had my displays and all of my clothes and didn't show up until an hour before the show opened. I was without clean clothes for more than 24 hours and United didn't offer me so much as a tooth brush (thankfully, I always carry on in my purse). United's customer service is located in Mumbai, India (I'm not kidding.) and I had to make several calls before it finally showed up. I guess I shouldn't have said bad things about them on this blog before I flew, huh? I don't have as much choice of who I fly with because I travel out of a small, regional airport, but I think I'm going to have to make other arrangements next time I travel west. This is the 3rd time in 4 flights that they have lost my bags. American crushed some of Karen's well-packed displays, so I don't know if any of them are above the rest.

I was able to spend time with friends, which was great. I briefly saw Anne Mitchell, Terri Caspery-Schmidt and Gail Moore (I got to have dinner with Gail and Anne on my first night). They were at the convention center, while Karen and I were showing at the La Fonda Hotel. I got to spend lots of time with friends Stacey Peterson, Karen Elmquist and Gail Lannum. All three of these women make their own special variety of jewelry and I admire all three. I especially admire them though, for their friendship. I'm sure I wasn't as much fun as I normally would be, due to the recent loss of my Mom, but they all three were there to spend time with me and I really appreciate it.

I came home and had to make sure I was ready for another show right away. Bead Haven had their spring open house and trunk show last weekend. It was such a great time. Cindi always works so hard to make sure that it is as fun as possible. Thank you to all of the many folks who stopped by to shop and chat. It was great to see you all. I don't have any shows for a while now, soon new work and new classes coming soon!