Saturday, October 29, 2005

It really is a small world!!!

Most of you who read this know that I grew up in a teeny tiny town about 50 miles north of New York City. Orange County New York is a very rural community with many farms still active. Over the last 20 years the population has grown a bit as some NYC commuters, but for the most part this area is still small town living. As a kid, we lived in a couple different towns within the area and my mom moved to her current house in Montgomery (population ~3,000) when I was a junior in high school. When I left for college they has just built a McDonalds in the town (you would have thought I won the lottery with how happy I was at that) and a few years later they build a grocery store both of these saved my mom the 20 minute drive to Middletown.

During a visit to see me out here in California in late 2001 I introduced my mom to scrapbooking and cardmaking. She instantly picked up the hobby and became just about as obsessed as me. The problem for her is that the closest craft store is a 20 minute drive and there were no LSS at all. About a year later I was going through the store listings in CK and saw a new store listed **creative gatherings in Goshen, NY** Woo Hoo, that is only a 25 minute drive from my mom's house. I am amazed at how good this little store is for having no competition (other than the big craft stores) not to mention the owner and staff are really nice, helpful, and friendly. My mom makes a lot of trips out that way and I go at least once everytime I visit.

Just this past Thursday I was lurking at 2peas pub and saw a thread titled "Fairyscrapmother I am taking your classes in Goshen, NY". I had to read it 20 times to believe that I was reading a thread about this tiny little town. You know how quickly topics drop off the main page over there so it is just amazing to me that I just happen to be lurking when this was posted.

No back to my small world theme. Fairyscrapmother is Suzy West from Fremont CA and runs a kick ass store out of her garage. She is the lead designer for canvas concepts and has been published all over. Danea and I went to the store a few months ago and I am hoping to go back today. So not only did I see a post on 2peas about my moms LSS, I actually know the person giving the classes.

I sent Suzy an email and asked when she was going to be out there and what she would be teaching. She prompltly sent back a "no-way" message and some details about the 3 classes she is teaching at creative gatherings next Saturday. So I decided to surprise my mom with a full day of scrapping on canvas. After checking with my stepdad that nothing was planned for the weekend I called the owner of the LSS and booked my mom for all 3 classes. I did tell my mom that I had a surprise for her and she needed to plan to be away all day. She is so excited now. I will call her later next week and tell her what is going on so that she can gather pictures and the supplies she will need for the class.

I just can't believe that Suzy West from Fremont CA is going to be teaching a scrapbook class in Goshen NY.....it really is a small world!!!!

2 comments:

Paula - Buenos Aires said...

Cool! That is such a nice thing to do for your mom!!!

Danea Burleson said...

Very cool!! Your mom will have a blast with Suzy! What a sweet daughter you are too...lol.