Long Island Bead Festival...

It's been a busy past couple of days! All day Saturday I did some last minute errands in preparation for the show. I had forgotten the bead bowls back in Asheville, so I used this as an excuse to splurge on some glassware that I've been eyeing for a while now. West Elm has a beautiful line of tortoise shell glassware. I picked up a few for my table.

I also worked hurriedly to finish up some necklaces that incorporated the PMC that I freshly pressed out and fired for the show. I wanted make some pieces that really spotlighted the various virtues of PMC.

Even though I had a massive load of packing to do, I took a break for an hour or so and met up with my friend Tommy for a beer. I haven't seen him in ages and we desperately needed to catch up. I haven't nearly made my rounds seeing friends before I leave tomorrow.

I told my friend Jenny who was going to drive out with me to the show that I would make lunch. I stopped by the farmer's market and got everything I needed for gazpacho. I didn't look closely enough at the portion sizes and ended up making a HUGE vat of cold soup which needed to be thinned out a bit. (Which reminds me! I need to get some freezer bags.) At the last minute, I decided against trying to bring the soup, in fear that it might slosh around and spill everywhere.

Our morning started off EARLY. I didn't get much sleep because of a wedding that was happening in my neighbor's backyard. During the reception they turned up the volume on their congratulation speeches en español and their salsa music so loud the glass rattled in my windows and kept setting off the car alarms on the street. No bueno.

After getting lost a couple of times, Jenny and I finally made it to the show with enough time to set everything up. The Marriott of Islandia is such a great venue for a bead show! Perfect layout with tons of parking. I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy doing the bead shows. It's an amazing opportunity to meet new friends who are passionate about beading. I always look forward to seeing what will be popular at the show, what people have been making, and what the other vendors have been up to!

The show was a lot of fun! It was a relaxed pace and everyone was so friendly. Joan Miller and her beautiful raised slip ceramic pieces was right across from us, Maureen Henriques of Pumpkin Hill Beads was down the aisle with some lovely new lampwork beads and some goodies from Lea Anne Hartman, and Naomi Belkin and her company Talisman Associates was across the ballroom, as well as many other friends and vendors! I wish I brought my camera to capture a couple pictures from the show. I also hope that we do this show again in the spring. I can't wait to see what people will make with their Green Girl Studio pieces.

It has been a long day and I've got lots of packing to do before my flight tomorrow. I wanted to drop by The Whitney to see the Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era, but I'm fairly sure that they'll be closed tomorrow in the morning and the show will be down by the time I get back. Oh well. It has been a long day and I've got to catch a couple winks of sleep before tomorrow's adventures.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the show today!