Something-Fest Season has Officially Begun!

For a very small city, Asheville throws parties like no other. From now through fall, it's festival after festival after event. On Sunday my son and FDiL and Supergirl and I attended the Just Brew It festival at the Big Love Fest downtown. It was a lot of fun, and a useful networking opportunity for me. Who says networking means going to stuffy events with stick-on nametags?

I spent the first part of the afternoon with a group of crafters I met through Meetup. I sort of felt sorry for the artists and crafters displaying their wares, because when other crafters come through, they chat, admire, discuss, and move on saying, "What a great idea! I can make that!" I don't think sales were too brisk for the vendors, though our group bought some small items. I couldn't resist a couple of cute little Boston Terrier buttons at a buck apiece. We wandered, chatted and ate some fantastic blueberry crumble pastries. Then my phone rang - my son and family were already at the Just Brew It event, so I fought my way through the throng and joined them. (Thank God for cell phones - without ours we'd never have found each other.)




To say the event was a success is an understatement - it was a mob scene, and everybody was having a good time. Later we went to dinner (which was only so-so - my favorite source for an awesome corned beef sandwich must have someone else in the kitchen, because it wasn't nearly as amazing as I remember it) - it wss a long, hot, Big Love day.

Semi-changing the subject: I'm loving my Kindle so much! Most of my reading these days is work-related, and on a whim, I downloaded what turned out to be a really fabulous book on networking:

Networking for People Who Hate Networking, by Devora Zack.

From my entirely unscientific observations of the knitting world, I think a lot of (maybe most?) knitters are introverts to some degree. If that's you, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any naturally-inclined-to-be-an-introvert types who find themselves in a job that requires networking to survive. It's extremely readable and funny, and full of genuinely useful tips on how to network as a natural introvert.

I think I'm more of what the author describes as a centrovert - I don't have a deep aversion to networking, but I do hate those stick-on nametag "official" networking events. This book has convinced me that my own ideas on how to both network for my business's sake and enjoy living in Asheville are on target, and has given me wise tips for making it work. Five Stars and Two Thumbs Up.

Another abrupt change of subject: Supergirl is now walking a bit, and talking up a storm. She still crawls when she wants to get somewhere efficiently, but takes steps on her own when it suits her. But the talking! Oh my, the talking has exploded in the last few weeks. She says grandma now. ::swoon:: She also can tell you that the doggy says ruff, the cow says moo, and asks her daddy to sing The Itsy-Bitsy Spider by doing the spider hands and asking, "It-Bit?" It is to die for. Here she is near a huge black lab that was engaged in eating peanut shells off the ground - he's not in the frame, but he was under the tent. She's getting used to dogs, too, and that's a great thing.