Sylviebead Journal

Thursday!!! We're almost there folks!!!!

And what am I talking about today?? retreat, retreats, retreats...

I received an email yesterday from one of the women who is coming from Florida to the New Year's Bead Retreat. She's super excited (and so am I!!) and took the info to her bead society meeting. While she was there THREE people told her they want to ride up with her for the retreat. At the time I received that e-mail, I only had 4 spots open, so if they really DO register then I'll be down to ONE spot. I'm totally amazed. I officially announced it on November 3rd, sent out an email to my customer list on November 5th and here we are on November 12th with it 70% officially booked in 7 days and these 3 others would put me at 90%! WOWZA.

What I've learned from this... I'm on the right track. We love going away for a weekend and really getting to concentrate on a workshop. We love the camaraderie of being with a group of people who love what we love... and we're all still teenage girls at heart who love a good slumber party! (and cake... my son keeps saying that cake is what sold it... the fact that I mentioned we'd be having cake) :)

So, having learned that I'm on the right track, I'm researching places QUICKLY because the venues that work best for this book FAST. None of them are beady places, but they work for our purpose... problem is the scrap-booky/quilty people who they are also perfect for already KNOW these secrets and book them a year in advance. I've got feelers out and I'm scouting places, but I'm going to have to act pretty fast and get a calendar firmed up for 2010 in the next few weeks or I'll lose my possible venues.

Currently I'm looking at.... Michigan (small town outside of Detroit OR Toledo Ohio...also close to Detroit), Wisconsin (for pre or post Bead and Button classes?), New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas (either Galveston OR a tiny town off the beaten path but driveable from Houston or Dallas), Oregon (south of Portland), Tennessee (East of Nashville), Colorado and Southern California. Not many choices there huh???

I wouldn't be picking all of these probably just a few. They are all just possibilities at this point....and it's a little overwhelming! I'm really going to need to hear back from prospective students to know for sure where I should aim. I WANT to find a venue in New England and Florida and maybe central to northern CA. Who knows!!!

AND I think I might have one other trick up my sleeve for the New Year's retreat. I'm not making it any larger, but I might have one fun surprise to talk about in a future blog entry (and newsletter).

ok... time to get moving on getting non-bloggy stuff done! Have a great weekend ya'll. I'm not blogging again till Monday. Too much to do!

tiny blah blah blah...

no coffee - Dr. Pepper instead.

music - I've got Pearl Jam's "The Fixer" stuck in my head... need to play some other music fast or that's going to be "playing" all day long!!!!