I have so many topics to talk about! I'll start off by updating everyone on the past 2 weeks. We decided to take a last minute opportunity to exhibit at a wholesale trade show, the Living & Giving Show at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. Our team totally pulled together with some late nights and lots of Google searches! As always, all of my ideas literally start off with a napkin sketch. This particular napkin is from Subway, where I usually grab my quick lunch down the street from my office.
My good friend, Esther, who is a tremendous help always debates these drawings with me as we munch on our meal deals. Well, these sketches soon turned into this...
It really pulled together, but the entire process was HILARIOUS! BabbaMoms Christine, Nathalie, Esther, and I were 4 women literally lugging stainless steel tables out of our mini-van, figuring out all the power tools, and hooking up electrical cords. It was definitely a hoot and as I look at the pictures, I just crack up. The show was a huge success for us! The best part about it was actually meeting so many amazing boutique owners! The store names were so creative, the teams were incredibly entertaining, and the visions were inspiring. I look forward to building stronger partnerships with everyone.
Here is our first customer of the whole show! She owns a store, Sweetpea's, and it was completely obvious that she was our first order of the show! When she calmly said, "Great...I want to put in an order." I responded, "OH! Really? Awesome! Great! Ok!" I was a bit too excited, but it IS exciting! I think I'll be just as excited when I write order #2,999,348,348.
So, that was our show. It was a great success for us and we had a blast. I learned the hard way to wear FLAT shoes! My progression of shoes went from high heel boots (shown in pic above...which screams the fact that we're ROOKIES) to my favorite UGGs to completely flat slipper-like shoes. :)
Thanks to everyone who helped out, to my fellow trade show boothers, to the incredible team at the Merchandise Mart Gift Show, and to my new retailer partners!