Sal Goes to a Workshop (and Ikea)!

Today I drove for about eight hours to attend a Chord Progression Workshop at the wonderful Elderly Instruments!  This may seem a bit crazy -- and it is!  I hate to drive long distances, and usually can only go for a couple of hours before pulling into a rest area and closing my eyes for 10 minutes so I don't fall asleep at the wheel.  If I have somebody with me to talk to or to take a turn driving, it's not so bad, but when I go by myself...  (Unfortunately Sal is incapable of being a conversation partner or driving helper!)   Despite all of that, I decided that I wanted to go badly enough to tackle the one-day back and forth marathon of auto travel.  Why?  Check out this part of the event's description:  "... a workshop that will be packed with super-useful and valuable information that will open your eyes and ears IMMEDIATELY and save you many hours of frustration trying to figure out and memorize songs!" How could I resist? I really wanted to know how to do that!  (And now, thanks to Mitch Chang, I sorta do!) 

DETOUR:  Have I ever mentioned that I hate sports?  Well, I'm mentioning it now!  I left my house with plenty of time to spare, but ended up arriving just five minutes before the workshop began, because the freeway was clogged with several miles of football fans!  The game was not scheduled to begin for several hours, but there they were!  So about five miles from Elderly, I was parked on the freeway and suffering major anxiety.  I had traded my work shift and driven all that way, and now I was worried that I was going to miss the workshop!  Luckily, the extra time I had allotted paid off and I got to the store in the nick of time.  END OF DETOUR!

The workshop was totally worth the drive!  As is usual with events like this, I left with my head packed with information, and a bunch of stuff to practice.  Now the trick will be keeping these things in my head and finding time to practice!  Not sure how I'm going to do either one, but I'm going to try! 

Mitch Chang with Sal.  His workshop was super informative and fun!

 
After driving all that way, a person can't just go to a workshop and leave.  One must look around the store and see all the beautiful ukuleles!  Today I was not tempted by those four-string charmers, though, because I saw something else that called to me -- adorable wooden instruments for kids.  They are made by Green Tones and I just had to buy some.  (I probably shouldn't have -- but on the other hand they are so cute that maybe I should be proud of myself for not buying them all!)

Sal hanging out on the Green Tones display.  Who could resist these instruments!?  Certainly not a children's librarian like myself!  And Sal looks so nice with her wooden chums.

On the way home I stopped at Ikea.  Whenever I shop there I go to the cafeteria for some Swedish Meatballs and post a photo of the meal on Facebook.  This time I decided to include Sal in the picture -- and include the picture here.

I set up this picture on the counter by the window because the word Ikea is visible through the curtains.

After spending too much money at Ikea, Sal and I got in the car for the final leg of the journey.  It was dark and rainy and we just wanted to be at home.  And now we are!  :)