On the Road Again

I'm leaving for Road to California tonight... tomorrow will be 8 hours of classes on using longarm machines... maybe I will not only be inspired, but empowered, to use my own.  I've had it almost a year and only done 3 quilts on it.  I'm so intimidated by it still.  I'll be spending the night at a hotel near the venue, with a friend who's taking the classes with me - so she can use my machine too!  yay!

Tonight should be fun!... I think I'll bring a bottle of wine and my mah jong set - maybe we'll play a few two-handed games... it's not such a challenge to play two-handed, but it gives us a chance to learn the hands better for when we play 'for real' on Mondays and Thursdays.

Then, we'll go back to the show on Thursday to see the quilts and the vendors (not SO much interested in the vendors myself - I have enough fabric to last me a lifetime or two or three, and I don't need to spend money on toys either).  Still, I'm looking forward to the show itself.

Originally our plans were to stay at the show from Tuesday through Sunday, take other classes and see the show leisurely, but plans change yanno?  Still it will be fun.

My husband and I leave on our Caribbean cruise on 1/27, so that's looking good too.  I am not looking forward to the flight (terrifies me), but my doctor prescribed some Xanax to calm me down and help me sleep during the nights before the flight, and to take for the flight as well.  Haven't taken any yet, as I've been sleeping ok mostly, but I know that will change as flight day gets closer.  I am looking forward to the cruise.  It's an EQ7 & photography cruise, so there will be classes for both me and my husband to take.. he's the photog in the family - I just take the occasional snapshot.  These are plans that better NOT change!  I'm going on this cruise come hell or high water!

At the end of February, I'll be going to a Machine Quilter's Getaway in Trinidad, CA... that should be fun too - learning how to use my domestic machine better for quilting.  I will probably always do smaller quilts on the domestic machine, even tho I have the longarm.   Last year the Getaway was lots of fun and I learned a lot.  This year I'll be going up with four friends - it should be a lot of fun!

Lastly, I'll be doing another Ramona retreat in April this year (usually we go in October, but we couldn't finalize a date everyone could make last year, so we turned it into an April retreat for this year).  I'm so looking ahead to this for some time to finish my BOM blocks and just relax with the gals... give my husband the house for a week to play with his radio and his aquaponics project which should be back in swing by spring.

OMG, I sound so busy!  I'm tired just typing about all these trips and projects... In actuality, with all the new things I've been doing and new friends I've discovered in the past year or two, I've really become quite busy!  I'm exercising at the Y, taking classes, going out for weekly breakfasts, playing mah jong twice a week, playing D&D 3x a week... I am starting to have a real life instead of glued to the tv and the sofa daily... yay for me!