After a few well meaning nudges from friends wondering when I was going to update my blog, I'm back and have so much to share from my trip.
The past few weeks have been incredibly hectic and I'm just finally beginning to feel back to normal after my travels. For those of you wondering what I've been up to, here's a recap:
On Sept 30, my mom and I flew out to Toronto. I was going to the Melissa Frances head office for work and my mom was visiting with her family. It was nice to be able to fly out with her as normally I head out by myself. I was with my mom and her extended family for Sat and Sunday before my mom and aunt drove me to the gotrain (a transit system) Sunday night and I caught the train into Pickering where Melissa picked me up.
Here's a picture of me, my mom and my grandma. Grandma lives in a retirement home, but wishes she was still on her own, so mom took her out a lot while in town.
The week of October 2-6, I worked in head office. We were wrapping up product development, talking about where we wanted to take the line and all that yummy kind of stuff. I feel so blessed to work for a company who respects and listens to my ideas and allow me creative freedom. I don't think I've ever shared this story on my blog before, but Melissa and I often get asked at trade shows how we enjoy working together, as the MF line is truly a mesh of our creative ideas coming together. As you know, I live in Vancouver and Melissa is in Toronto. So between product development meetings, we both keep a binder full of things we've torn from magazines, items from books and other kinds of ephemera that inspires us. At one such meeting, I bring out a book whose cover is just pure eye candy and very inspiring to me, and Melissa grabs her binder and...you guessed it, she's torn the photo that was used on the cover of the book out of a home decor magazine. We really do have almost identical taste. This makes product design very seamless, inspiring and fun!
On Oct 7, Melissa, Brian (her partner and our VP of Sales) and I fly from Toronto to Los Angeles to Las Vegas. After a pretty full travel day, we check into our hotel.
October 8-9 we set up our Melissa Frances booth for Memory Trends. Set up is never exactly fun, but it's not bad either. We were excited to have our team of booth workers join us on the evening of the 9th. Starting about one year ago, we began inviting some of the Melissa Frances DT members to join us in working the trade shows. We love having team members at the show because they are often the most knowledgeable about the product and can give our customers great ideas on marketing our line to their customers. Joining us this show was Robin Middendorf, Rachel Killpack, and Heather Thompson. We seriously had so much fun. I don't think I've laughed so hard in a loooong time. These gals know how to be professional, yet also be fun, often a difficult balance and we treasure them so much for it!
Oct. 10-12: Memory Trends The show is on! Personally, I really enjoy trade shows. I love catching up with customers who have been with us over the past few years. Whether sharing their excitement over new product, hearing how their families have grown or hearing the struggles their store is going through, I cherish the time to visit and feel that they are a part of the Melissa Frances family. I also enjoy meeting the store owners who decide to add the Melissa Frances product line to their stores for the very first time, meeting magazine editors who we work with, saying hi to designers who do such creative things with our product lines and at this show, I was able to meet many lurkers who visit my blog which was fun!
While the show was very small (from what we heard, there were 300 registered buyers, whereas there were 800 last year) we were very happy with how we did.
Oct.13: On Freaky Friday the 13th, I flew from Vegas to Phoenix to visit my bud Kim Kwan. Kim and I met a little over 2 years ago when I was in town for a CK convention. We quickly became friends and I value her advice so much. She is beautiful inside and out. Not to mention extremely generous with her time and talent. One of the primary purposes for my visit was to purchase some ribbon for class kits, I thought my camera was broken (long story short, it wasn't...but I thought it was...i know...I'm a dork!) so I don't have any cool pictures, but the fabulous Kim has an awesome post about our shopping trip here.
I can't say enough about how wonderful Kim was. I was feeling under the weather when I arrived at her house on Friday and by Sunday I was a big baby. I swear, I would be up for an hour and then take a nap for 2...or 4 :-) Kim was so sweet and insisted that I rest. I know that it disappointed her daughters as they were looking forward to spending the day with me, but Kim didn't guilt trip me at all. Nope, she was one cool hostess and made me feel that it was OK to take care of myself. Thanks girl!
In addition to the sleeping and shopping, Kim (who did my previous head shot) emailed me before I left and told me that because I'd chopped 8 inches off my hair, we would do another photo shoot too. Yep, it was my lucky day! Here are two of my favorites. (And hey, Phoenix readers, if you need photos. Definitely look up Kim as she is one of the best! Check out her photography site here.)
On the Monday night before I left for home, I was pleased to have dinner and finally meet face to face with Holly Brimhall. Holly has been my go-to gal for pictures for the past 6 months or so. Whenever I have a project due or need some adorable children photos for assignments, Holly has been generous and shared her families photos with me. She has a gift and I love that our strengths play off each other. I love to scrapbook and she takes killer pictures. Put us together and layouts happen!
After being away for 18 days, I finally came home last Tuesday and have been trying to organize my life and get back into the swing of things. More on that in a post tomorrow!
