Sunny California!
February 15, 2008 in TravelI just returned from a visit to sunny Anaheim,California where the afternoon temperatures were in the upper 70's!! It was heaven, shear heaven! And I couldn't have been more thrilled to get a break from our piles and piles of snow. I went down for CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) Convention.
I was invited by the convention to do an interview and demo at the show.
Renee Sparks (an industry regular) was my interviewer. She was a real sweetie and there was enough ease between us that it almost felt like two friends having a conversation. One thing that made it feel just a little different from that was when I was surprised by much of the JoAnn's upper management (including the company's CEO!) sat in for my interview. So, I felt the pressure! I demoed a few projects that we made from our New and upcoming (oh, and very cute!) scrapbooking products. (Setting in store - mid April) These will show up on our website soon as a preview (hopefully next month).
It worked out well that many people and companies that we work with were also at the show - so we did lunches, breakfasts, dinners and coffee with several business associates. In between all that, we walked the show. More than half the exhibits were Scrapbooking and Papercrafts. There were lots of demo's and "make it & ta
ke it's" where ever you looked. We did a few of them along the way and saw lots of wonderful product and inspiration.
The last night we got Room Service and in our "jammies" we watched the movie, "Dan in Real Life" while we packed our suitcase. Easy flight home - but unfortunately, all the snow in Spokane hadn't melted while we were gone - but at least the thaw is well underway. Aside from that, I'm always happy to return home from any trip.
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Playing Hookey in Santa Fe
February 20, 2007 in Travel
I just snuck away for a few days to visit my good friends Bob and Gail who live in Santa Fe. As far as places to sneak away to, Santa Fe is not bad.... and I had FUN!!
We met several years ago when Bob photographed me for a magazine and for several years he did the photography for my quilt books. Gail ran the photo studio and we all became good friends. Sadly, (for me) they moved from Spokane to Mexico for a few years, but then eventually landed in Santa Fe. We get together whenever we can and have remained good friends even though miles separate us.
We're the kind of friends that when we get together we have lots of great talks. We cover all the big topics like love, family, spirituality, relationships, career.....you know - the good, the bad, the ugly.
As I mentioned, we were having fun - so I made an unprecedented move and extended my trip by an extra day. I turned my three-day weekend into a four-day weekend. I felt so powerful to have made such a bold move. Can you blame me? - We just didn't have enough time to do it all. Visiting, snacking, eating, drinking, gallery (and clothes too!) shopping, going to the spa, exercising and the most important of all - sleeping in!
There is something to be said for getting together for a few concentrated days at time because you have a whole years worth of topics to catch up on. Naturally, the easiest situation is friends who live in town and they are part of your daily life. But there is really something to be said for long-distance friendship too. It's such a focused visit with lots of sharing and no time to waste.
Next time, they're due back in Spokane. They call it "Mumm Resort." They love hanging out on my patio and around the pool.
Either way now....(I have a day to make up) so, it's right back to work for me.
Debbie
