Road Trip - GASP!

Last weekend, the husband and I set out for our first vacation together (without family) in about seven years. We headed to Asheville, NC, to Biltmore. I had been there as a child - I'm thinking I was probably 9 or 10 - so many years ago - and have talked over the years about going back.

It's about an 8 hour drive from Columbus OH, and all interstate, so really a pretty quick drive. We spent the first night in Bryson City NC and took the Great Smokey Mountain Rail Road trip on Sunday. The weather was pretty much as we had been having at home - warm and humid.

We spent a couple of days in Asheville, toured the Biltmore house and grounds, took a trolley around the city to see more and learn some of the history, and headed back home on Wednesday. I would attach some pictures from our trip, but we really aren't picture takers, so there were only a few.

Why GASP! in my title, you may be asking? Well, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've been anywhere that I didn't go to a fabric shop of some sort. So my fabric stash didn't grow with this trip!

Shaker Heights Arts & Music Fesitval

Despite my best efforts, there was nothing shaking and sales didn't reach new heights at the Shaker Heights Arts & Music Festival this past weekend (June 19-20, 2010) in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.

Last year was my first experience at this show, which seemed promising. Last year's event was held on the grounds of a prestigious preparatory school for girls: Hathaway Brown. But despite the pedantic setting, the show was rather pedestrian. Parking was challenging, there was an admission ($5), the weather was lousy and the economy was lousier.

Despite flat sales, I was persuaded to give the show another chance this year. The event had a new venue closer to the heart of town, admission was free, parking was plentiful, my jury fee was waived, the entry fee was lower and the economy was improving.

As it turns out, the weather was better, too. But, it was hot; so hot that an elderly woman fainted in front of the booth directly across from us. We, too, were withering.

Sales were better than last year, but not nearly enough to persuade me from returning next year.

I haven't given up on northeastern Ohio. My best show ever was in Chagrin Falls. And I have high hopes for my July 17 show in Willoughby, Ohio: the Willoughby Arts Fest, which expects more than 10,000 people. And as a fellow artists told me, these people come to shop.