Day Three

My BFF is a wonderful person. She is taking me to one of her all time favorite spots for eating. It is in Stillwater Minnesota. It is right by the water. It is kind of cold and rainy today. We are going with her friend Jeri. the restuarant is in an old Freight building. We have pizza (yum!). There are lots of nifty interesting stores. We only have time to look in a few. You could spend all day here looking at art galleries and antiques and yarn stoes and kitchen stores. But we have to go to the Retreat which begins at three. The Retreat is being held at Oak Ridge Hotel and Convention Center. It is out in the country with rolling hills and a lake. I love my room - it has a window seat. There are caramels, a candle and candle holder and little decorative flower ina nest as welcome gifts in our rooms. At the registration desk we get a goodie bag of scissors, needle and magnetic needle holder, pen and several other things. The room we meet in has such good lighting that I don't need to use my Ott light. We are all visiting for a while and Thea Dueck of The Victorian Sampler arrives and is introduced. She looks just like the picture on her website but is a bit shorter than I expected. Then it is time to go to dinner. My BFF told me the food was good. But that is a gross understatement as the food is fabulous. I rarely have lamb but that was one of the choices. It is a treat. There are so many things to choose from. The desserts are to die for. They offer at least six different options but they are tiny - mini cupcake sized cheesecake, banana cake, mousses in various shapes, tiny apple pies, peach cobbler and frozen yogurt with four different toppings is always available. I love this place we are staying at. After dinner we go back to the meeting room and Thea has a small project for us. It is a name tag. It isn't very useful except here at the retreat I was hoping for a matching thimble holder. We are encouraged to stitch it in our own way as there are no directions or color key to follow. I use some of my own threads and put a button on instead of a flower. Without even realizing it I work until midnight (my time). I fall into bed exhausted. Another fun day. A