Texas Tenors

On the NIGHT BEFORE I LEFT TOWN -- for my "really big show" -- Sew Expo -- there was a local event I just could not resist.

And, of course, I decided to turn it into an "Aunt Rita Adventure". With two of my favorite nieces -- Ronda's girls -- Amy and Nicole. They are the mothers of Parker, Landon, Memphis, Cale, Garrett and Cash. And it's a rare thing for me to have a bit of time with these busy young Moms...

My bags were all packed and ready to go to Puyallup -- so on this night -- we started off with dinner at Granite City...

THEN -- the surprise was a concert at the Waterfront convention center. The TEXAS TENORS were back in town...and I knew they put on a wonderful show...

Sitting a few rows in front of us -- we ran into Aunt Ada!! IT IS SUCH A SMALL WORLD...

I also invited my sister Deborah to join us. She was in town for a family emergency...and it was a quick Iowa trip for her -- because she had to get back to Nashville to finish up her work so that she could fly to Puyallup at the end of the week...

But WE ALL ENJOYED THE EVENING. I'm a very big fan of living in the moment. Which sometimes means planning things well in advance, and enjoying the anticipation of a big event. At other times, it means doing things at the spur of the moment, with very little planning...

This night was definitely the latter. Amy and Nicole didn't have much notice -- and Deborah had no idea when she drove through the night to get to Iowa that the Texas Tenors were in her future.

But they were amazing. It was a wonderful concert and I treasure these women...I am so glad they're part of my life...and willing to play my "adventure" game...

BEST SISTERS' TRIP EVER

Here's the thing -- prepare yourself. You are going to get SICK TO DEATH of hearing about our Sew Expo sisters trip. I guarantee it. We had the best time EVER -- and I'm pretty sure I could write about it for days...or weeks...or months...

AND I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!!

Sunday night -- after the show was over -- we went out for our first nice dinner. This is us at Harbor Lights restaurant with Joanne Ross -- a lifetime member of our honorary Sewing Sister Society. She's the Director of Sew Expo and I always stay at her house BEFORE the show. She was probably relieved when I moved my big mess to a hotel room (after my sisters arrived). Deb and Ronda can hardly wipe the smile off their faces...they had SUCH A GREAT TIME at the show...

This is a big building in Tacoma. We didn't actually go in...we just took pictures...

Monday was our Seattle day. OMG. Pike Place Market fish guy, me, Barb, Deb and Ronda...

You can't see it in this picture -- but there is a big brass pig right in front of us. Don't worry -- you'll see the pig. Plenty.

I just want to say there is NO TIME LIKE girlfriend time. We laughed, we cried...okay -- mostly we laughed. As a matter of fact -- we laughed hysterically -- like we'd been let out of a cage.

No -- wait -- mostly that was Barb...

That girl is OFF THE CHAIN...

You'll hear more about the mysterious-fake-sister-Barb in future posts. I mean -- really -- you can't stop me!!

Signs of a Stroke

I'm so happy to get back into the swing of my daily blogging....and I have so much I want to tell you about.

Sew Expo -- my big SISTERS TRIP, Lillian's birthday, how my sewing projects turned out...(or not...) But I'm having a big problem with my PICTURES...

Today -- I want to share this. Please take a minute to read to the end.

It's from a woman I love...my sister Deborah....and I hope you will forward it to the women YOU love...

She ALMOST NEVER sends email (she's too busy embroidering). Here we are, attending a rare Iowa concert....


It's excellent information....told in a way I hope you will remember...

**********

During a BBQ, a woman stumbled and took a little fall. She assured everyone that she was fine ...she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

While she appeared shaken, Jane went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Six hours later -- Jane's husband took her to the hospital. She died that night -- because of the undiagnosed stroke she suffered at the BBQ.

If somebody at that BBQ had known how to identify the signs of a stroke, Jane might be alive today.

The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage if bystanders cannot recognize the symptoms of a stroke. However -- if a neurologist can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... But somebody must recognize the symptoms of a stroke --

YOU COULD BE THE ONE TO DO THAT...

Remember the first three letters in the word STROKE... STR -- then ask these three simple questions:

S Ask the individual to SMILE.

T Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)

R Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911.

NOTE: Another NEW 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to ' stick' out his tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.

If you give this information to 10 people -- at least one life will be saved.

Thanks, Deborah...

Sew Expo Diet

I'd like to recommend the "Sew Expo Diet". Even though I was eating candy bars every hour on the hour -- along with snacking on peanuts and cheetos -- consuming thousands of calories of fattening foods for ten straight days -- I LOST FIVE POUNDS.

Amazing.

The key, of course, is that I walked every minute of every day for seven straight days.

On Wednesday night -- after spending the day in the cold rain with Ann getting people to and from the Poulhamous building -- I woke up at Joanne's house with terrible cramps in my upper thigh. That had never happened to me before -- and the pain dropped me to the floor.

I'm such a wimp -- I wanted to call #911. Then, I remembered to get in the shower...

Because of his diabetes, John gets muscle cramps all the time...and cramps often send him into the shower in the middle of the night.

I have not been nearly as sympathetic as I should have been.

Anyway -- if I can quit talking about the horrible thigh cramps -- this might be a whole new way to market Sew Expo...come to Puyallup and RUN YOUR A-- OFF..!!

Next time, I'm going to wear a pedometer....maybe I'll have a "pool" to guess how many miles Rita can walk in a day?? We could make it a competition...

Okay -- I'm trying to get back into the swing of things here in Iowa. And the FIRST order of business is to work on the 1600 pictures I have on my camera. I put them all onto my laptop. The problem is that when I see one of those "thumb prints" on the screen -- and I select it to upload onto this blog -- a completely different picture appears.

DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHY THIS IS HAPPENING??

It just could be the goofiest thing my computer ever did to me...

My intention was to write about my "Sew Expo DIET". So I was looking for pictures of candy bars..bags of chips....and other high calorie junk food.

This picture came out fine -- it's the DONUT GUY at Pike Place Market. (After the show -- my sisters forced me to go on food tasting tours and eat delicious meals every single night at wonderful waterfront seafood restaurants...)

This was supposed to be a picture of me, working on my computer, surrounded by a big bag of chocolate bars, and salty snacks...instead, I got this lovely woman...and I do think the jacket is beautiful...but after three attempts at uploading my computer-surrounded-by-chocolate-bars pics -- I finally just gave up....


THIS was a picture of a pan of noodles they were serving for lunch. Instead, I got this picture of an embroidered totebag...WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THESE DARNED PICTURES??
WAIT -- THIS ONE CAME OUT RIGHT. Me, eating a delicious Fisher scone with raspberry preserves...good job, Canon Super shot...

And Kathy gave me a box of delicious cake balls. THESE WERE SO AMAZING...

In the past, I've always known what I was blogging about -- and I picked the pictures to go with the topic. However -- with this latest development -- maybe my NEW blogging game will be to upload three RANDOM pictures -- and then see if I can write something pertinent!

Humm....that could be an interesting way to do things. Kinda like a "mystery quilt"...??

I'm starting to like the idea...

If you have any idea what's going on with my pictures, or how I can fix it -- please email me...ritafar@aol.com

I'M BAAAACK

HOLY BEE-GEEZUS...I cannot believe what a wonderful time we had in Puyallup -- at the 2012 Sew Expo. IT WAS AMAZING...and I have sooo much to blog about -- I don't know where to start.

But I wanted to put up a short blog post to let you know that I am back in Iowa, safe and sound. After the show, I spent three days with my sisters touristing.

We got up at 6:00 every morning -- one day we "did" Seattle -- and one day we "did" Olympia. We ate at Anthony's and Harbor Lights -- thanks to Gail Brown, we stayed at the beautiful Silver Cloud RIGHT ON THE WATER. And I can hardly wait to blog about all of it....

Thursday night, I got home late -- and the E team was here. Friday was Lilly's 3rd birthday -- so we started off at 5:00 AM -- making a special b'day breakfast of pancakes then had a Princess party at the house...it was a whole day of celebrating -- OF COURSE...

But, honestly, I feel like I've been going FULL TILT for a month...and the minute I actually get to sit down and put my feet up -- I could very well lapse into a coma.

My 1600 pictures are such a mess -- I decided to pick THREE RANDOM PHOTOS from the show.

This one is on the set-up day. Wednesday we have pre-show hands-on classes. The day was cold and wet...this is a picture of Ann and Karen -- trying to direct traffic for the 200 people who came in the wrong gate, or didn't know which building they were in. We were all SOAKED TO THE BONE...

In Peggy Sager's class -- this friendly girl was waving at me...

because I wanted a picture of her fab MOOD bag...

THAT's how I found out that she emailed me last year about New York City -- and OF COURSE I wrote back and told her exactly what to do and where to go for her first trip to NYC.

AND she had a fabulous time...which she is going to WRITE TO ME ABOUT...

They loved their time in New York -- but the line at Ellen's Stardust Diner was just too long. Apparently, I need to QUIT recommending that place. I am such a fan -- I'm sure it's my fault they got so busy!!

Friday -- Expo Day Two

If things go as planned, today my SISTERS ARRIVE in Seattle. We won't be hooking up until after Friday Night LIVE...

This is a picture of me, in my basement, trying to decide what to do with this FABULOUS designer jacket. If I cut off about 6" of the bottom -- I think it would fit me. Because my hips are so WIDE -- if I leave it long, it opens in the front, making me look fat...

God knows that would be a terrible thing...
Tomorrow -- Ronda will be wearing the great green jeans jacket Deb embroidered with a sewing machine motif...

OF COURSE, there had to be a new t-shirt project for me. This one says, "there's nothing wrong with your eyes...I'm just that FAST."

If you are AT THE SHOW -- in Puyallup -- you will see me wearing this new creation...

Of course, it does involve two of my most important design elements. Zebra stripes AND t-shirt fringe...

I am in heaven. As you can imagine.


AND I get to spend the day with 10,000 of my favorite SEWING SISTERS!!

Yes. This is heaven...

First Day of Sew Expo

TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE SHOW!!

After all the weeks and months of work -- it all ramps up to this...

DAY ONE of the biggest sewing party in America! The Sewing & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, Washington....

Unless I can figure out how to do "remote posting" -- I may not be posting on this blog until I get back to Iowa.

So -- to all my family and friends who come here to read some Rita News -- I AM HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME. Deb and Ronda are coming to the show this year -- they get here on Friday. I promise MANY PICTURES AND REPORTS after the show...

Right now, I'm busy doing my job -- WHICH I LOVE -- in Puyallup!!