Share a Stitch First Day

I discovered yet again that my GPS will sometimes only get me in the "general area" I need to be and not to the exact destination. But a very nice gentleman carrying an umbrella (no it wasn't raining) told me how to find the hotel and that I had to be careful because it was hiding. He was right. It was on the other side of a hill but the very LARGE sign was right there by the road.
I live in a small town where people will stare at you if you do anything that resembles weird. Not in a large city. Karen, Becky and I were singing along with We Are Family to the jukebox in the Waffle House. The only people who stared at us like we were idiots were our children. Mostly though they just sat there at the next table and pretended like they weren't really with us at all.
The hotel is extremely nice with an indoor and outdoor pool, hair salon, restaurant and lounge with piano playing entertainment. Not bad for a Thursday night.
The Bookstore for SAS isn't very large, though. They didn't have a large selection of books and only two or three copies of each book. I was one of the first in because I really thought I would buy a lot of books to replace the ones I lost in the fire. I bought two. I only put tickets in two of the Teacup Auction bags because there were only about 7 or 8 displayed. I think there will more today because our group and the Charleston group will put ours there.
Nick is having a blast. We have fast internet in the room (faster than ours but $10.00/day) and he has Mathew and Kathryn to hang out with. He's having fun with Mathew because they are close to the same age and like the same stuff. He's having fun hanging out with Kathryn, too. He hasn't said anything but let's face it, she's a gorgeous teenage girl. I don't think he wants to tell me what he's really think and I know that I really don't want to know. lol
Two ladies gave a talk about stitching tools, where they found them, what they are, or were used for. I enjoyed it very much. Partly because it was about stitching items but also because they had the most lovely southern accents. They started giving out door prizes and it didn't take long to realize that everyone in the room would get one but when they had called all of the names that had several items that they didn't want to have to pack up and take home so they called names again. Everyone got another one. At the third calling not everyone got something but most of the ladies at our table did. Some of the packages contained more than one item so we started handing things to the people we knew likes certain things. I got two blackwork items. I gave Vera a book about quilting, and so on.
Nick and I fell asleep (or passed out) by 11:30. We didn't close the drapes all the way so I was awake with the sun. Not bad though, I've already gotten a shower, surfed the web and written here. Classes start at 1:30 today and merchandise night is tonight. I love merchandise night like all of the other ladies here. They open the doors at 7:30 and close them at 9:30. Have you ever seen a herd of cattle as they open the gate to let them go through. Yes, it's the same concept and I can say that because I'm one of them.
I miss the ladies that couldn't be here this weekend for various reasons. I miss Lanna the most I think because she loves SAS and traveling because she doesn't get to do it as much as she used to. I miss Jill and we are all keeping her and Larry in our prayers. And, I miss Marnie. She's my "roomie" and a great gal pal.
Well, I guess I will get dressed and go look for some of the ladies. I promise that I'm not going to look for any of the 50 or so Marines that were here last night for a Recruiting Dinner Party. They were here from different parts of Tennessee and having a celebration for their jobs at recruiting. How would I know all that? There were 50 or so Marines in their dress blues. Need I say more? At least I didn't tell one of them on the elevator that I would like to take him home...you'll have to find out for yourself who that was!