Saturday September 26th

Ah, Portland! & BeadFest...

I know that I promised pictures but I have not even had the 20 minutes to download them from my camera yet. They are forthcoming...

I left Tucson on Wednesday morning at 10am. Can you believe that I did not start driving at 4am like I normally do? I wanted to meet with my friends for our Wednesday morning get together. I had not seen them for a few weeks and I knew that I wanted to at least see them for 45 minutes before I started the 20 plus hour drive up to Portland. I got past Sacramento Wednesday night, found a hotel and slept for 6 hours and was on the road again Thursday morning by 6am.

I have to keep asking myself the same travel question over and over. Why is it, when I see a hotel and I decide that it is a good price & then I start driving the next morning, I find a hotel for 1/2 the price one exit away. It is those kind of small things that while they make me smile at the irony of the situation also make me very irritated as well. All I could say to myself was, "Damn..there went 30 bucks."

I had to cut this trip down to the wire, I needed to cut back on the car rental and the hotel stays. I timed my arrival in Portland down to the hour. Got in at 3pm, got over to the convention center at 4:15 to set up my classroom, and got that done 20 minutes before the Meet the Teachers gathering from 6pm to 8pm.. I crashed SO hard on Thursday night that getting up on Friday to teach was a little hard.

Classes yesterday, while small, were fun and everyone did a fantastic job. I went to an early dinner with my friend Charlene Abrahms and we spent almost 2 hours just talking and getting caught up and sharing stories. I came back to my hotel and sort of vegged out for the evening. I am tired and I needed to relax before I passed out for the night.

I have a class this afternoon and I am looking forward to that.

I am constantly surprised by how changes can sneak up on you. I am finding the shifts in my life over the past 10 months have been eye opening and revealing about my character. What is it that makes a life happy? What choices do we make both professionally as well as personally that fulfill us, make us whole and content in lives and in our own skins? Finding that balance…finding the time to remain creative and productive as well as being contented personally is my new path. I am like everyone else, I want it all and I am trying to find that balance in my world. I know what I want and I am focused on that goal.

There is much that I need to do, much that I need to finish and much that I need to learn how. I am, as always, eternally hopeful that I can discovery and accomplish these goals because I feel that the happiness that I have experienced these past months is all part of the path that I am on.