My last post dealt with the fun events we encountered while attending a quilt show at the IX Center in Cleveland, Ohio. It turns out that show was so eventful, I couldn't fit it all the excitement in one issue.
The booth located right next to ours at the show was the Vivilux booth manned by the owner Dave Riba and his wife Abby. (In order to avoid confusion, I will call my husband Dave, and I will call Dave Riba, "Riba"). We were fairly new to the show circuit and had never had the pleasure of meeting Riba or Abby prior to this show.
On the first day of the show, Riba's computer at home had crashed and he was having a minor meltdown trying to get it up and running. His credit card system was not working due to lousy cell signal and he was manning the booth by himself until Abby arrived a day or two later. To say this was not he best show for Mr. Riba is a gross understatement. But, even with all that he had going on, the last night of the show he was kind enough to invite us to join them for dinner.
The shows usually close an hour or two earlier on the last day, giving the vendors time to dismantle their booths and get their stuff out of the building. It takes Riba anywhere between 1/2 hour and 45 minutes to dismantle his booth. For us, a two hour breakdown is on the low end. (Basically we are the slowest people on earth when it comes to, well just about anything.) If I remember correctly, the show closed at 4:00 and Riba had 6 o'clock reservations at Balaton, a Hungarian restaurant about a half hour drive from the venue. We explained that we may be a little late arriving but Riba said that was fine they would go ahead to the restaurant and have a glass of wine while they wait for us to arrive. At 6:30 we leave the convention center and are driving frantically towards the restaurant. I guess I should mention that we failed to exchange contact information with the Riba's so they have no idea how late we are and we have no way to inform them. By the time we arrive at the restaurant, it's 7:00 and we are hoping Dave and Abby are still there.
Parking seemed to be a bit of an issue, so as not to appear any later than we already were, Dave dropped me off in front so I could let our hosts know we had arrived. I quickly located the Riba's and rushed over to their table. (Since I have a habit of talking with my hands, they were moving expressively as I reached the table). I accidentally knocked Riba's glass of ice water, spilling it's contents all over his lap. (Another confession, when I do something stupid and embarrassing, I have a tendency to resemble a deer in the headlights. And then out of nowhere I'll blurt out the most inappropriate thing or laugh hysterically.) On the night in question, my addled brain opted for the former and I blurted out, "Is that cold"? What was I thinking? Obviously I wasn't thinking. Not, I'm sorry or can I get you a napkin or even would you like more water? I have to ask the stupidest question my muddled brain could manage...but wait, there's more, the floor show is about to begin. Check out our next issue to see what happened next...