I'll Be Having Nightmares for the Next 10 Years...

We're in Tucson right now for the gem shows, doing some buying for BeadAddict and of course, just a little light browsing and purchasing for lovely things for SLC Designs whilst I'm at it...the shows are great fun and you get to meet all sorts of people and see the kind of stuff you never see anywhere else (but of course by then, all your pennies are spent...) though I have to tell you, the shows are E-X-H-A-U-S-T-I-N-G - now I know you don't believe me, because how hard can it be, browsing beads and buying stuff but I tell you, this stuff seriously, seriously frazzles your brain - I guess its making all the decisions and trying to get them right, negotiating with vendors, and all that walking, walking, walking...I tell you, it feels like I have flippers now, not feet - and we get to do it all again tomorrow - yayyyy!   Every time I am at these shows, I start off with tons of energy and by the end of the day, I tell you, I just could not care less if I never saw another bead or finding ever again; the stuff you walk by at this stage in the day, I tell you, your hair would stand on end. 

What I love particularly about the Tucson shows is the sense of community - you'll be buying something and some random stranger will lean over and have a conversation with you - this doesn't happen often enough in day to day life, and to be honest, when I've tried it in the States in the past (at appropriate times of course), you tend to get blanked - I don't think its something they do much over here. 

In the UK of course, we have the perfect conversation opener of the weather, the state of the roads or some other thing we can have a collective gripe about before exchanging pleasantries with a stranger, often never to see them again - but in the States, they sort of look at you funny when you do that - often when you're in a foreign country, its something you do out of total isolation - you're a long way from home and you just want a normal conversation for a few minutes, however mundane; but hey, I guess that's the way it is here.  The shows though are a great leveller, and I find people are willing to chat about nothing or anything, and even to open conversations themselves on the same lines - that sense of community is what makes these shows so special.

Anyway, the thing that will cause me to have nightmares for the next ten years - well, its not to do with beads or people, its this piece of cake (and the hand isn't there because I can't stop myself, its so you can see how big the cake is)!  It might not seem so in the photo, but this was at least 4 inches high and 8 inches long.

Can you believe this piece of cake is meant for ONE person?   I tell you, I took this photo the first night I was here, then over the next few nights I got six portions out of it, and even then had half of it left over when I left the hotel.  
I just don't know anywhere in the UK you'd get a portion like this - interestingly, I heard a few days ago that there is this big hoo-ha in the news because the US health department has just come out and said that people should try to control their portion sizes - apparently they've never considered this advice worth giving out, because the food lobbies here are so powerful that they were terrified of them.  I love visiting the US, but I tell you, if I lived here I would so be reaching for those fat pants within a couple of months... no offence intended to anyone.  

I felt so guilty as I left the hotel, leaving half of this tiramisu behind...but at least its not actually ON my behind...