12/07/2008

The Season is Here - Christmas Party and Friends

Wow, Saturday sure was busy. Rick spent the day hunting at the farm, saw a doe but in the end wasn't able to get a deer. He's out again today. The freezer is no longer full, we have about 30 lbs of beef left, and he gave the two bucks he shot a few weeks ago to some very needy families. Now it's our turn to fill the freezer :) Our area has designated seasons - bow hunting, rifle/shotgun, and muzzleloading. So he does have a few more weeks of opportunity. In the meantime, I'm going to meet with my favorite local butcher and stock up on some pork and chicken - not fill the freezer, but provide us with some good variety through the winter. I do this every year and have found it to be the most economical way to keep us in meats and poultry.

So, yesterday I spent most of the day at the shop - got there at 10:30 a.m. and got home at 5:30 p.m. Okay, I squeezed in a late lunch with Katherine and Hope at Max & Erma's to talk business and shop.

Got home just two minutes before Rick and we both set out to doll ourselves up for the evening. Nothing too fancy, but we knew we were going to Saundra and Chuck's place and also knew it was going to be memorable. So, we dressed up a bit and headed out.

Got to Saundra's at 7:30 p.m. and after shedding the winter coats we toured the house. Saundra does Christmas. She has a tree in every room and every tree is themed - Train Tree, 50's movies tree, Africa tree, Sci-Fi animation tree, Santa tree, Music tree. The main tree, located in the front room, also includes the pickle ornament. The search for the pickle is a favorite game for annual attendees to the party - especially when the children get involved.

The other wonderful thing about Saundra's party is that we were assured of meeting fascinating people. This year was no exception. Though I had many conversations throughout the evening, such as the movie producer Hershel who is going to put me in his next zombie movie, Jane the admissions counselor at the local university celebrating her 20 year anniversary with the university, Julie the admin asst/scheduling expert at the local university deciding to become a Passion Party consultant, Jennifer the budding baker and mother of 4 and 6 year olds trying to 'find herself'. I finally settled in for the evening with Hattie, aunt to Saundra.

Hattie is well into her 70's and absolutely fascinating. She shared her many life experiences while making me share some of mine. She kept asking me questions about my life as if I had the most wonderful experiences to share. And I kept trying to get her to share more of her experiences with me. In the end, we thoroughly enjoyed each other.

Rick settled into conversation with Diane, cousin to Saundra. Diane is a local journalist and strong advocate of free speech and expression. Between the two of them they learned quite a bit about both sides of censorship and freedom.

We left the party at 11:30, too pooped to converse any more! But, again, the following morning (today) we found ourselves sharing our thoughts about the people we met while we enjoyed our coffee and looking forward to next year's party at Saundra and Chuck's place.

I Taught a Beading Class and it was Fun!

Saturday morning/afternoon I taught/led a two-hour Bead-A-Gift Party at Eye Candy Jewelry & Beads. Katherine, my friend, is the owner of this intriguing and wonderful shop located at Watterson Trail and Taylorsville Road in J-Town (an eastside area of Louisville, KY).

We had two women attend, a mother and daughter. Turns out that their birthdays are one week apart and when they saw the advertisement for the Bead-A-Gift Party they purchased a gift for each other!

Julie, the daughter, and Laura, the mother, were fun and creative and willing to try anything I suggested - which made the teaching experience quite wonderful.

Julie, a woman in her 20's, is getting married in June and has incredibly intense, beautiful green eyes. Laura was captivated with Julie's color choices and wanted to expand her palette, but kept going back to black and white. By the end of the party, Laura had a flower themed black and white lampwork bead bracelet, and Julie had a very organic necklace that included warm topaz/browns with bright leaf greens and a spot of yellow here and there.

I was quite impressed with the results and both were thrilled with their creations. The best part? Neither one had ever made a piece of jewelry for herself, yet both walked out of the store with a professionally completed project and were very proud of their creations. They were ready to sign up for the next party!

Such fun. I really enjoy teaching and am glad to have the opportunity to do it at Katherine's shop.

So, immediately following the Bead-A-Gift Party, I have the store manager at my back whispering "please help, please say you'll help". It seems that she had booked a beading party for a 10 year olds birthday and the party room was now filled with little princesses in the making. Now, how in the world could I turn that down?! Of course I jumped in the middle and helped each young one pick out the perfect colors for her stretchy bracelet. Then, with clip on earring parts, we made some especially notable dangling earrings for each of them (which were worn for about 4 minutes at a time because they were "pinchy"). Great fun was had by each girl - and great fun was had by me as I watched them 'glam it up' and pose for pictures :)