That last post concluded my posts from our trip to Florida. Lucky I had so many posts to share about our trip on the blog for awhile, because it wasn’t as interesting at home while we had the flu. It ended up lasting for two plus (!) weeks, dragging on and on, longer than any flu we’d ever experienced. So many of our friends who had it said the same thing. But anyway, onto other topics…

The weekend before last my dad and stepmom drove up for the day and we went to the beach. The sun was shining and there was hardly any wind, so we felt lucky (especially because it was pouring the next day.) The tide was out and we explored some caves, saw rock temples people had stacked all over (that’s what I like to call them), and most exciting of all- looked at the tide pools. We saw a sea star! (I called it a starfish, and was corrected- they are called sea stars now.) We were so delighted, it felt like such a gift to get to see it.

There was another reason for their visit besides having an enjoyable beach day together, they brought up their truck for us to borrow. You know that saying the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results? Well, we decided to make some changes this year when we go to Stitches West. The first change is driving a truck, rather than our little car, which we feel safer driving amidst the traffic. The other change is that we’ll be staying someplace close by, (not three exits away like last year.) We were so grateful to my dad and stepmom for letting us borrow their truck for our trip, and for driving it up to us.

Jeff and I have been working so incredibly hard to get ready for Stitches West, and we’re exhausted. (Getting a long lasting flu when you’re getting ready for your biggest show of the year keeps things interesting.) We needed to get all the buttons tied on cards (and Jeff made more than ever), then everything needed to be priced (still wrapping that up) and packed. (And that’s just the buttons. There’s shawl pins, shawl pin sticks, jewelry, and more that all needs to be priced and organized too.)

There are endless details and things to remember to pack when we’re leaving for a show. It’s always interesting finding space in any vehicle for all our booth and display parts and then all the things that fill up our booth too. I’m really excited about the changes we’ve made to our booth and display this year and can’t wait to see it all set up. (Somewhere other than in the middle of our living room for the practice round, that is.)

Another change we’re making this year is to give ourselves more time to get down there. That will make for more time to get our booth set up before the show begins. We don’t want to be rushed and stressed, but have plenty of time to get all the parts of our booth set up and arranged. Whatever we can do to be a bit kinder to ourselves, right?

Oh, I’ve been meaning to mention that I haven’t done a shop update post on the blog here for awhile. Lately I have been doing mini shop updates, posting a few new things in the shop at a time, rather than a bunch all at once, and have been sharing what’s new on Instagram. Follow us on Instagram if you’d like to see those (and other little updates that don’t always make it to the blog.) When our schedule gets back to normal, I’ll be doing larger shop updates again.

Okay, now checking our lists and figuring out those last minute things to pack…