ART and SOUL 2007, Virginia - DAY ONE, Wednesday, May 2

WooHoo - Art and Soul is FINALLY here! Maggi and I sent some packages of supplies directly to the hotel. (See we did learn something from our trip to Art and Soul 2006, Asimolar, California!) This proved to be the smartest thing we did! 1 suitecase, 1 carry-on, and my purse and I am ready to roll. Craig and I left for the airport at 4:45 am, met Maggi and we were on our way! One stop in Atlanta with a 3 hour layover gave us plenty of time to get some breakfast. Next stop . . . . VIRGINIA! My luggage was the 2nd last off the conveyer belt, right as they shut it down . . . . PHEW . . . . !! We did have one small moment of panic when we realized there were no shuttle buses to the hotel, which we thought there were! No problem, we took a taxi :) It was only about a 12 minute drive and came to $22.00 . . . . not too bad divided by the two of us. It was very warm when we arrived, high 80's and gorgeous. We were staying at an Embassy Suites Hotel - and it was wonderful! We checked into the hotel, went to our rooms and unpacked quickly . . . it was after 3:00 pm and we wanted to get over to the convention center. The Bellman brought my two boxes up, and Maggi's came just a short time later. It was a huge relief to realize that they arrived safely, as ALL of our supplies were in them.

All of the rooms are suites, all have a refrigerator, microwave, and coffee maker . . . . BONUS!

living area



bed room

another view of living room



another shot of bedroom

Next we walked over to the convention center where Glenny quickly and efficiently checked us in and gave us our wonderful Goodie Bag! These are SO much fun!

We also were given the classroom listings so we would know were to go. Next we hit the Art and Soul store, just to see what they carried in case we found that we forgot anything. The store was perfect with a very nice selection of everything you could need! Some of the Doo-Dad houses were already in place to be voted on. I had forgotten to bring mine to the center, but would do so tomorrow.

Next we walked over to Target to get some basic supplies, water, Diet Coke, a lighter, some granola bars, bagels and peanut butter :) (I had brought along a large bag of pretzels from home that lasted the entire week!) It was close to 5:30, so we headed down to the FREE cocktail hour, had a drink, some snacks, and met Nancy and her husband, Jim from Lubbock, Texas. Had a wonderful time with them all week. We all headed over to the Opening Night Party together.

Melissa, Margaret and Maggi

Margaret!

WOW - what a spread. The room was gorgeous, with old, beautiful tablecloths on all the tables, along with a great cookie jar centerpiece, complete with chocolate cookies inside!! The food was fantastic; beef sandwiches, artichoke & cheese appetizers, bacon wrapped scallops, fresh fruit, chocolates, and much more that I can't even remember any more. We all ate and got to know those at our tables. Lots of trading going on. One of the highlights was meeting Cindy Trobaugh, who was in our 5 book swap a few years ago. It is so much fun to meet people whom you have interacted with in all of our groups!

Very friendly chef!

Maggi sampling some wine

our table at the reception - lots of trading going on.

Here are the trades I have found so far that I received, just awesome!

On to the class. Ranger sponsored this evening with a Recipe box! We all made 60 recipes cards to share with each other - and left with a full recipe box! They gave us EVERY supply needed - it was fantastic. The instructors were GREAT - and they stayed the rest of the week and took classes themselves! Maggi and I sat with Margaret R and Nancy and had a blast, drinking wine, creating and talking. The evening ended about 10:00pm and Maggi and I headed back to our room to check out all the trades and get ready for classes tomorrow.

Maggi, Margaret and Nancy.

Nancy offering a helping hand to Margaret.

My box - still needs some finishing touches . . . . . . . .