My first Carpet Party

      Last night I went to a carpet party. A what? A party held at a carpet store during which you eat a delicious Turkish meal, learn about carpet types and quality, and then mingle with the carpets. At this point it becomes a bit like clubbing. You are encouraged to take off your shoes, walk around on the carpets, touch them, examine them from different angles to see the colors change. And if one of them really strikes your fancy you can take it home for the night. Or a few days. This practice is called 'dating' a carpet. You can see how things work out before making a more permanent commitment. Of course, this lead to several funny comments about maintaining your standards while dating- not getting horizontal,  staying out of bedrooms, etc.

This is Lisa and Michael - our hosts for the carpet party. Michael is somewhat of an expert on carpets. They have a collection of 30. They have a rotation schedule of sorts to give them all some floor time. Its like he's a carpet polygamist!

        Near the end of the evening the power went out. We wondered if it was a deliberate move on the part of the shop owners to really lower inhibitions and get the carpet chemistry going. But as the whole block was without power, we reconsidered. In any case, it did create a romantic ambiance that my friend Melissa couldn't resist. This carpet was the softest one we had feet-felt and with the lights off she gave in to temptation and rolled around on it. I caught her with my flash camera. The owner saw the picture and asked if he could have a copy. He's thinking of producing a 'Carpets Gone Wild' DVD.

        The floor roll must not have been as great as she was hoping however, because although I gave her first dibs, Melissa decided NOT to take this lovely thing home. So I did.  It is truly so soft and has a gorgeous tree motif on it. And because I know you are wondering - its price (discounted just for the party) is $750.  It fits perfectly at the end of my bed.  I haven't rolled around on it. Yet.

      I also took home this one - which is much bigger and has a striking color combination of navy and aqua that doesn't really show up well here. Its price tag is $1750. I probably won't buy either of them. I have a rule about never owning anything whose value would force me to do bodily harm to my children when they damage it.  So this will be just a one night stand sort of thing.
      Geoffrey was not able to attend the party. He was on call, had spent all day at the clinic working and seeing patients. So I wanted to take home a carpet or two to show him.  I'm sorry he couldn't go as he would've really enjoyed learning about all the different types of carpets and the regions they come from.
     There will be more carpet parties and I'm hopeful he will make it to the next one.  I'd like to go to one held by a merchant who sells the less expensive machine made carpets. I hear that those guys play fast, loose and cheap. Yee haw!

Startling update:  Geoffrey loved the carpets I brought home!! We invited Lisa and Michael over this evening to tell us more about them and about carpets in general. And we are considering keeping BOTH the carpets.  I'm not sure which is more shocking - the fact that we are considering buying two carpets that together cost more than my first car or that my husband actually liked the two that I picked out and wants to commit to them without going to check out every other carpet in the store himself first!