Disneyland!
What CHA Winter trip would not be complete with our visits to Disneyland....it's just one of the perks of having the convention center so close to Disneyland. We actually flew in very early on Saturday morning so we had all day to visit Disneyland....me, Kevin, Jodi and Sue went to Disneyland while Becky chose to go to all of the sneak peeks that evening. Had a totally fun and exhausting day running around trying to hit all of the rides until the park closed. We also went to Disneyland Tuesday afternoon and evening...so here are some photos of our visit.
Our absolute favorite places to eat are at the Rainforest Cafe and ESPN Zone at Downtown Disney....on our last night we didn't eat until 8:30 pm and had been walking the show all day at CHA and then speed walking through California Adventure that we just crashed after we were seated, in fact we had a little scare with Jodi as we were so active that day and didn't eat regulary she almost went into diabetic shock at the restaurant. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing, but it was a very scarey time for our team as Jodi was just diagnosed with diabetes and we were all new to it. Infact, it got so bad that Sue had to take Jodi back to the kitchen at the Rain Forest Cafe and management called the Disney medic team to come and help. We are so thankful that she's okay...and we all learned a lesson that we need to take better care of her!! It was also Jodis birthday the next day and we wanted to celebrate...so we arranged with our waitress to order their big lava valcono cake thing (before we even knew anything was wrong with Jodi)...and unfortunately it arrived at the wrong time...right when she was about to go into diabetic shock! It was an eventful night!
CHA SHOW!
The actual show itself was also eventful....3 jam packed days of new scrapbook supplies and meetings with vendors! Of course, we have tons of photos....I've posted a couple here, but we took so many great photos of booths, projects and supplies that I wanted to share with everyone so I've put them in slideshows below so you can view everything! One of my favorite lines and booths was Pink Paislee....loved their new items!! Don't be surprised if you see their new items on the pages of our catalogs....I also loved the new tools from We R Memory Keepers and loved the new items from Sassafras. Other favorites were also Cosmo Cricket (I think out of all of the vendors they hit a grand slam!), BasicGrey, Pebbles, 7Gypsies, Cosmo Cricket, Fancy Pants and so much more!
It's so hard to recap everything so I'm just going to include a few highlights from the event:
1. Partnering with Pink Paislee, Crate Paper, Sassafras and Rusty Pickle as the last of the class sponsors for our retreat....you can not miss our 2009 Retreat....the projects are going to be unbeleivable!
2. Confirming our partnership/sponsorship with 7Gypsies to sponsor the Creative Studio event at the 2009 Retreat where they'll donate and demonstrate their new binderie system to retreat guests...if you come you'll get to make a very cool 7Gypsies binderie album on top of the cool 8 class projects we'll have during the event!
3. "Winning" a free Corner Chomper from Kevin B. at We R Memory Keepers.
4. Arguing with Kevin at the 7 Gypsies booth....yes we're human and we manage to get in at least one argument or disagreement during the show...our staff knows when to just walk away LOL!..Last year it was the Rusty Pickle booth and involved a chocolate fountation, a bib brown chocolate blog on the front my shirt, a tide bleach pen and being late for our appointment with American Crafts - enough said.
4. Maddisons "behind" at the Fancy Pants booth....this was a funny booth moment that you just had to be there for. Maddison is well known in the industry and has worked for other company's in the industry...one of which was My Mind's Eye where all the guys there were known for their stylish GQ looks and attire. Fancy Pants just recently hired Maddison as their new sales director so we weren't surprised to see all the men in the Fancy Pants booth decked out in matching clothes. We were laughing about this with Jared, the owner of the Fancy Pants. We just LOVE Jared and Jodi and have know them for a while...they are so down to earth, so we were just rolling laughing when he explained that before the show Maddison made him go shopping at The Buckle for their clothes...Jared just sighed and said "The Buckle? I don't shop at the buckle..." Anyways that's so Maddison ...so he posed in a photo showing off his cool jeans....enjoy ladies!
5. Steve Parkin (owner and Crate Paper) and Kevin running off from the Crate Paper booth together to see Jane Seymore at CHA.
6. Getting so many free samples and supplies from awesome vendors....it's so fun coming home with their new products!
7. Seeing good friends and associates in the industry...I just love this business and it's so awesome to see everyone again!
8. Getting so much inspiration and feeling so much creative energy in one area...there's nothing like it!!
9. Taking a 1/4th of a valium pill on the plane to survive the plane ride...I absolutely hate to fly so that's the worst part for me....so this definately helped out but made me a little loopy all day.
10. Sue finally finding the perfect Disney snowglobe for her son after 3 years of searching, only to find that she couldn't put it in her carry on luggage when flying. She had to pay another $20 to check her carry on so her snow globe would make it home safely.
11. The beautiful Fossil handbag and wallet that I absolutely fell in love with at the Fossil store at Downtown Disney...the price? $148 for the bag and $60 for the wallet...I went back to the store 3 times in one night debating if I should get it....talked to Josh, the Fossil salesman, endlessly who was rooting for me to buy it. On my way out of the store the last time - without the handbag- I said to Sue "I feel like I'm leading Josh on...."
Needless to say....we had tons of fun...made tons of memories....and came home with tons of inspiration....plus awesome ideas for our new product line and catalog! Can't wait to share everything with you very soon....
Enjoy the photos....
As soon as I saw the image Sue shouted "Isn't it so cute?" I just gulped and said "Yeah...it looks great" trying to sound convincing. After looking at a few of the photos Sue just burst out laughing and said "okay - we're totally kidding that's not the real image" I guess Kevin really did want to use it for the photo shoot but Sue steered him in a different direction (thank you Sue!) but they both agreed I would just die if that was in the photo as a prop, so they played this hilarious joke on me!! Which to be honest I was so releived becuase I was seriously dying inside wondering what I should do becuase there was NO WAY I was going to send it out to all of our consultants and customers! Yes we have lots of fun in the office and sometimes your on the receiving end of a joke now and then....so watch your backs Kevin and Sue :)