Hi! I’ve recently returned from Providence, Rhode Island. I know, pretty amazing for me! Those who know me, know that sometimes I can’t even get out of my house 🙂 It happened very suddenly when I got a newsletter from zentangle.com that there were 4 open seminar spaces available…first come, first served! This was my dream, to go to seminar to become a Certified Zentangle® Teacher but I figured I would have to wait until 2015 (it’s very hard to get in!). I would be trained by the founders of Zentangle®, Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts. Well a long story shortened…I emailed but the 4 spaces were already filled and I was #15 on a waiting list. I was so disappointed to think I almost had a shot of getting in!
About two days later I get another email and I GOT IN!! That is, if I could fly to Providence, RI, and find a hotel in less than a week! The seminar is at the Providence Hotel but they were booked solid. Before I knew it I was on a plane and off to become a Certified Zentangle® Teacher! No time to think how terrified I was to fly and fly so far from home for 6 days. I’m talking about Alaska to Rhode Island! It took me all day to get there, starting at 3:30am (Sat)and finally got to bed at 4:00am the next day (Sun).
But I did it! I made it to Providence only to find out they did not have a room for me! Yes, NO ROOM!! I had a total meltdown (and I mean it was bad!) and was driven across town to another hotel. I had absolutely no idea where I was or who I was with. They fortunately came back to get me the next day (I was crossing my fingers that they would!). I emailed Martha (Maria’s daughter) to let her know what happened and checked into the seminar that evening. I stayed at Biltmore that night, alone and scared.
The next morning (Mon) after the morning class, Martha took me aside and said there was a vacancy at Providence Hotel and they were working on getting me over there with everyone else. OMG! I was soooooo excited, so relieved, so grateful, so exhausted! From then on I had the most FANTASTIC and AMAZING time! It was like I was living in a magical dream-world filled with beautiful tangles and warm and wonderful people. Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts and their entire Zentangle® family were unbelievably so kind and giving.
Me, Maria Thomas, and Rick Roberts
I met so many people from around the world. We had 13 countries and 22 students from Taiwan who became my friends (kneehow). I had so much fun and learned sooooo much!
When I got back, Blaines Art Store asked me to teach Zentangle® classes and I start in January 2015 (another dream come true!). I can hardly wait!!!! I am now a Certified Zentangle® Teacher!
CZT
See you in class 🙂
♥ Donna
Dream catchers are arts and crafts of the Native American people. Traditionally dream catchers were made from willow branches bent into rings or oval shapes and sinew for the web. Feathers decorate infants and children’s dream catchers, but all dream catchers are embellished with totem animals, beads, and small stones. (I love to embellish!) The ring is believed to represent wisdom, strength, and unity.
One legend tells of an elderly spiritual leader who had a vision of Iktomi, the great trickster and searcher of wisdom. He appeared in the form of a spider and spoke to him. As he spoke, the spider picked up the elder’s willow ring and began to spin a web. He spoke about the cycle of life and and many lessons. The ring represents the cycle of life, for as we come into life as infants and grow into adults, as elderly adults we must be taken care of as infants, thus completing the cycle of life.
When the spider finished, he had spun a web inside the ring and told him that when the dream catcher is hung above ones bed, good dreams will float through the web’s holes and down the strings of beads and feathers, placing good dreams into your head while one sleeps. Bad dreams are caught in the web and tangle up in the web & beads and stones and with the first rays of daylight, they evaporate and disappear. Pretty awesome don’t you think!
Wishing you good dreams and peaceful sleep.
Tangle Alaska Blog 