Sunday, November 18, 2012

Mega Kudo #1 - we kept calm & carried on!!!


The 2012 Bryn Athyn Craft Show was an unabashed 5-star experience for both John & yours truly!  Most amazing part was how it turned into a clear expression of ALL that I am looking to in  my 3rd act of living (including the glitchy "wake-up call" moment).

Our experience started months ago, deciding to keep things simple, each doing something  we enjoy & excel at, something likely to be embraced by the buying public.  And I wanted to  use materials we had on hand.  Hence, John's array of 5x7" and 8x10" prints were set off  in just-right frames I picked up last year on mega sale at A.C. Moore (plus employee discount!).  For my part, I stuck to tried & true whoopie pie recipes – pumpkin with maple cream & classic deep chocolate with fluff; no experimenting with gingerbread & lemon cream (tempted, but sounder thinking prevailed). 

The MEGA mega challenge was that I somehow committed myself to taking two grannie clients to Cape May for an overnight on THURSDAY, which meant we’d get back on the same day the Craft Sale opened for a home town preview.  

Knew I could do it!!!  

A couple days before the bop,  gathered together the white storage boxes we use as additional table space,  hauled out the pedestal "footed" with four elves slippers; made sure the black & holiday print drape cloths were clean & ironed;  wrapped up all the whoopie pies with their wrap-around labels printed & cut out;  got all print materials sent to & picked up from Copy Max (home printer temporarily disconnected);  wrote out instructions for John on what needed doing by mid-afternoon Friday; made sure that everything was in a logical place - - only then did I head out for of 36 hours of being by the sea side.

Good thing I was so thorough!  Our merry quartet got snagged on I-95 by early rush hour traffic, so we slogged through Philadelphia (this after I took the wrong exit off the Walt Whitman Bridge & ended up heading south over the I-95 bridge instead north to hearth, home & Craft Sale.  At 4:00 p.m., I called John from the road (we were at a stand still) & walked him through what needed to be done – your craft table HAS to be set up by 5:30 p.m., no exceptions. 

Of course, as soon as I called & made sure John had everything (knew he could ace the set up if he had the materials), traffic lightened up! 

Was totally delighted when the fourth jolly traveler – a wonderful navigator who knows Phila traffic patterns better than I do – made it possible for them to drop me off at the Craft Sale BEFORE John got there, then she got the others back to their own hearths & homes. 

Mega Kudo #1:  we were both prepared enough that my questionable arrival didn’t spin either of us into a panic.  We kept calm & carried on.   BRAVO! 

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