Saturday was the Dream Bag class at The Whole Nine Yarns in Woodstock, GA. If you haven’t been there, Debi Light, the owner, has created a beautiful shop, with an incredible selection of yarns and a warm, inviting atmosphere. There is almost always a class or two going on as well as a wonderful "living room" area where you can bring your latest project, relax and take in the soothing sounds of good conversations fringed with laughter. I just love her shop!

The class was amazing. The ladies were funny, full of great questions and ready to learn a new creative skill. I ran a little late getting there, which I never do, even though I had allowed and hour and half for a 40 minute drive. Between road construction, a wreck and a mattress in the middle of the road, it took over an hour and a half to get there. When I arrived, I was feeling a bit rushed and embarrassed and am very grateful for the women’s understanding. They helped me set up and since a few ladies hadn’t bought their yarn yet, by the time I was ready , they were as well. Things work out, if we let them.

We had an amazing day. My favorite part of teaching is learning from my students. Each person brings their own perspective and experience to the class and as we share and learn from each other, we hopefully all leave the richer for the experience. The bags made by these eight talented women were just beautiful. The questions asked have me thinking about so many new things. Thank you, Gail.

Debi had asked me to bring the other four bag kits with samples since there had been questions about what other designs I have. About halfway through the class, as the women were laying their warp, I did a little trunk show. They loved the different designs and asked lots of questions about how they are made, classes, etc. The women took a vote and decided they want a Bag Joie de Vivre class next, so we’ll be looking at the calendar to see when we can do it. As the class finished and I packed up to go, I felt full, tired, yet renewed.

This is what I want to do. This is what I’m meant to do. Thank you ladies, for a wonderful day.

It’s Tuesday, about 6:30pm and it’s been a long week. Already. This past weekend my husband was invited through his work, to Talladega and the invitation included wives. Neither of us had been to a NASCAR race, though our oldest daughter is an avid Tony Stewart fan.  When she found out we had event passes to the infield, she was, to put it mildly, a bit jealous. Not being a NASCAR fan myself, I was less than enthusiastic. I wanted to stay home, work on the web site design, and the class samples for the Dream Bag class at The Whole Nine Yarns in Woodstock, GA, May 5^th.

My husband is a terrific guy and has been a HUGE help to me whenever and however I’ve needed him. Going to race weekend at Talladega was something I could do for him, so I packed the our clothes and food so we could leave Saturday morning.  It's a good thing I also packed the weaving samples I needed for class to give me something to do "just in case."

We’ve had an RV for 8 years and love it. It’s a slide in truck camper that fits in the back of a one ton duel axle Dodge Ram pickup truck. It has a queen size bed, a small refrigerator/freezer, 3 burner gas stove with an oven, a micro wave, eating nook that will seat 4, a bathroom with a toilet and shower, generator, air conditioning, and LOTS of storage. ALL in the back of a pickup truck. We’ve been fishing in the Smokey Mountains, canoeing in the inter costal waterways and sailing in the Gulf of Mexico. All out of a slide in truck camper and a 16' canoe! And now we’ve been to Talladega.

According to the research I did before we left on this adventure, Talladega becomes the largest city in Alabama, with over a quarter of a million people, for one day, twice a year. That’s over 250,000 people living in campers, tents, and any other form of abode they can get there and let me tell you there was the really weird to the sublime. It was a sea of humanity. By day, they were nice, polite, and relatively calm. But at night, it was a whole different story. Think spring break mixed with Mardi-Gras, only most everyone is at least 20 years older, thirty pounds heavier and drunk out of their minds. Not a pretty picture.

Sunday, a couple of hours before the race, everyone from Wendell’s company plus other invited guests, gathered at the in-field location which was a beautiful 39' Airstream Sky Deck. The roof is a like a patio so it’s the perfect place to watch the race. There are 4 large flat screen TV’s in this luxury hospitality suite on wheels, one in the front, the back, in the middle and a HUGE one on the outside, so you can watch the race on TV from everywhere except the bathroom, which was the size of a postage stamp. (Can’t have everything!) The Sky Deck was located at the south turn of the track, a couple of rows in from the fence, so there was a good view of the turn from the deck and inside, from the driver and shotgun seats.  With the cars going 225+ mph unless they were under a caution flag, you saw them for about 30 seconds, maybe.

I went with Kim Dillenbeck, our hostess, about 11am that morning to help bring in the food for the ensuing party. As I was going back out for another load, the retractable steps on the front door decided they wanted to close. The step under my left foot disappeared, and the step holding my right foot caught my heel, taking a good bite before I could get free. Fortunately I was caught by Kim, so I didn’t fall, just landed hard, with my right heel feeling ... well, gone. It took everything I had not to scream or cry. So I stood there, taking deep breaths until I knew nothing was broken and I could walk. The camper next door was a group of FBI agents, one of whom offered to carry me in. It was a very sweet, noble offer, but I’m a voluptuous woman and would have probably  given the nice guy a hernia so I politely declined his offer.  However, with his assistance, I managed to hobbled into the Sky Deck, trying not to bleed on the slate floor or leather upholstery. Kim’s Mom brought me a wad of paper towels, which we used to stop the bleeding. With my husband still back in camp, I was able to call him and have hime bring the first aid kit from our camper. He helped me clean and bandage the cut, wrapped the other ankle and took really good care of me.  It was a party and I didn’t want to spoil it, so I kept the whole thing low ey, but I can tell you I could have used a really stiff margarita about then. I have a seizure disorder so drinking is not an option.  Wendell helped me into the driver’s seat which is also a recliner and that’s where I spent most of the race. Fortunately, I had packed that weaving, so I watched the race on the TV right there and through the windshield, weaving the class samples for the upcoming class at The Whole Nine Yarns.

Our host and hostess, Jeff and Kim Dillenbeck were great and Kim made sure I got out later in the day when my feet had recovered at bit. The race is 4 hours long which gave us plenty of time to go shopping and get back before the end of the race. They also had a golf cart which made geting around a lot easier.  At one of the booths, I found Wendell a really nice Talladega hat, which he likes. Jeff Gordon won the race - a disappointment to most of the party and my daughter, who are all Tony Stewart fans.  But even with all the wrecks, everyone was okay which was my main concern.

Now you would think we would all pack up and go home, only there are 250,000 people trying to do the same thing. Well not 250,000. Some folks know how bad the traffic gets so they either wait until about 10:00pm, which is what we did (race is over at 5:0pm), before trying to leave, or spend the night partying and leave the next day. We got home around 12:30 am, dog tired and glad to be home.

The yesterday morning I had to teach a class in downtown Atlanta (my day job),  which meant I was up at 6:30, taking Naproxen and wrapping my feet in Ben Gay wraps and ace bandages so I could stand for 8 hours. Today, I’ve been keeping my feet up as much as possible and am planning on going to bed early.

So now we’ve been to Talladega. Wendell got a really nice hat and I’ll have a nice scar.   He also took some fantastic shots of the race with our digital movie camera our daugther will love.