Barnes and Noble Magic

I'm still smiling from an encounter that occurred yesterday afternoon. Daughter and I went to the Science Fair to retrieve her board and reports (she got second place, not bad for a district/city this size!), and she asked if we could go to Barnes and Noble so she could buy a book she wanted with one of her holiday gift cards. Friends know that twisting my arm to go to B&N is not a difficult task, so before we knew it, there we were, inhaling the Starbucks coffee aroma as we walked through the book aisles.

Our toddler is at that "change diaper, Mommy, ucky" stage, so potty-training is right around the corner. Since our other children are ages seventeen, sixteen, and thirteen, any and all potty books have gone the way of all good things, passed on to other friends and family or sold at a yard sale years ago. Consequently, I made a beeline to the childrens' book section while Daughter headed straight for young adults'. After looking through the selections available without finding what I was hoping for, I headed to magazines, Daughter on my heels (she found the last copy of Hacking Harvard), to see if the British versions of some of my favorite magazines were available.



The home decor/design/crafting magazine aisle was packed for some reason, and I found myself on the far left of the stands, just waiting for an opening. Scanning through the group of customers, searching for a way in, I saw a woman, magazines in hand, on the far right of the magazine stands, also looking for entry. After several customers looked right at me, then went back to flipping through their magazine without scooting an inch, I continued to stand my ground, as did the lady at the opposite end of the stands. Finally, people shifted and then left the area completely, so Right-Side-Lady and I made our way in. I quickly found the magazines (too many!) I was hoping to, while Right-Side-Lady replaced some of the magazines she had been looking through. She seemed worried about crossing my line of sight, so I laughed and told her "no, you're fine" and she told me she forgot where she had found one magazine in particular as she wanted to put it back in its proper place. We continued with some small conversation, finding relief in communicating with another apparently rare, polite person. She asked where I found Country Living, so I grabbed a copy for her, and we chatted on. She mentioned she was just looking for color inspiration, at which point I mentioned that I had run across a blog that had linked to Pantone, which had recently published a "fashion color report" that provided color samples for the home decor and fashion we'd be seeing this year. Right-Side-Lady introduced herself as Rosie, and told me she was a weaver and spinner- I had noticed she was wearing the most wonderful shawl/wrap- and we continued on with some chit chat, very relaxed and pleasant. Before she left she gave me her card, invited me to her workshop and made it clear that it would be for a visit, not for shopping.

Shannon is visiting at the end of the month, so I was thrilled to email her yesterday with the B&N story to ask if she'd like me to contact Rosie and set up a time we could visit. Affirmative! So this morning, I found the Pantone color reports online, and printed out the Spring 2008 and Fall 2008 color palettes to mail to Rosie (apparently she's not online) along with a card asking when a good date during Shannon's visit would be to come out to her workshop. Looms, weaving, textiles, color... it all sounds wonderful and as charming an experience as meeting Rosie was yesterday.

Rosie left B&N before we did. Even though my arms were full of magazines, Daughter and I decided to look through Valentine cards and stationery, and we eventually wandered toward the craft and hobby section. And there it was:



You *make* them! Fairy Tale Dress-Up Day will never be the same again. My poor family. My poor colleagues. My students are going to LOVE this (and my friends are laughing their tushes off, I'm sure!).