Really, honey, the lake did eat my camera!

After a fabulous vacation in Minnesota which included a 2 day air travel oddessey on one end and a 15+ hour one on the other, wherein I will forever boycott a certain airline which will remain nameless (but rhymes with Hair Ban), I am back and catching up on all my laundry, emails, sewing, and now blogging. For the second year in a row I took my traveling "bag show" with me and visited 7 shops along my travels, introducing each to the joys and wonders of EvaPaige Quilt Designs. I had wonderful experiences at each, but have to say my favorite was Bear Patch Quilting Company in White Bear Lake, MN, where several members of the staff suggested I should move to MN because my style fit in so well with their shop. Finally, people who understand me! LOL! I told them that every time I travel there in summertime, I almost think I could live in Minnesota, but then I go in wintertime and experience cold in the negative double digits and realize I would never survive. (My DH, the native Minnesotan, accurately states that the cold is how they "keep the riffraff out"; I happily admit to being riffraff.)

Although the family had a wonderful vacation, my camera did not fair quite as well. Within hours of our arrival, I managed to drop it off the dock into West Battle Lake, where it met its instant demise. My Brother in Law took one look at the circa 2001 antique digital and asked if it had really been an accident, leading me to realize the huge blessing this really is, and this afternoon I will be camera shopping! I think I know what I want and am very excited to have something that will photograph my quilts (oh yeah, and the kids too) in a much better, sharper, light. Stay tuned for lots more photos!

I get my own mini vacation this weekend when I head to Portsmouth NH for my annual Girls Weekend (our 16th!) with my best friends from college. We plan to stay at a spa, eat at some fabulous restaurants, shop, and give ourselves a walking tour of University of New Hampshire in Durham, where we all graduated from way back in the early 90s. Hoping to return Sunday evening refreshed like I have never been refreshed before.

Beth Helfter
EvaPaige Quilt Designs
www.evapaigequiltdesigns.com