Countdown to CHA, the WEEKEND edition!

(To follow the entire saga, view my blog archives...this is my Quest to get into the Craft and Hobby association trade show in Atlanta......and I'm going!)

Stress.  I hate it.  Although, I must say, I usually handle it pretty well.  It takes a lot for me to buckle under pressure and even then, I don't buckle.

The reason I mention it is that several things have happened, all at once.  Isn't that the way of it?  Everything in life comes in three's, it seems.  I'm juggling an unusually increased work load and trying to stay caught up in anticipation of my leave taking for CHA.  At the same time, my phone has suddenly decided to have spasms and is draining at about the same speed as my bathtub when the plug has been pulled.  And, for the icing on the cake, I have two required apps to learn which will assist my blogging prowess and photo capturing finesse, courtesy of the lovely people at CHA headquarters. 

Now before my buddy Jason up at CHA headquarters blows a gasket, he has been ever so gracious in assisting me every step of the way, including options to work around those lovely apps.  What he doesn't know, is this chic don't quit!  So I've been up late at night, creating drafts, trying to figure out the phone drain, looking up online fix it solutions.....and what have I learned?

1.  One of the apps wants to load every picture on my phone, all 800+ photos into it's little happy box.  The fix?  Turn off camera upload for now so it won't keep cycling in the background.
2.  The other app is telling me I don't have certain permissions.  Somebody, give me permission. 
3.  Remove the child's silly games and any other unnecessary programs running in the background.  Done.  Phone is already back to its normal, productive self.  Hallelujah!

With all this unexpected stress, you should know that I did have a minor meltdown that was extremely cathartic.  Now I can go back to business as usual.  

On the up side, I've got excited vendors contacting me to tell me what booth they'll be at and a stunning compliment from the hubs who has been apparently reading my blog in full, each and every day.  He said, and  I quote, (because I had to ask him to repeat himself out of stunned disbelief) that I impressed him with my literary expertise and the ability to get my point across and, at the same time, surround it with my witty humor, both captivating and informative. 

Well alrighty then.  I'll take that compliment. With a side of chocolate, please.

Quest for CHA, Part 10.

(To follow the entire saga, view my blog archives...this is my Quest to get into the Craft and Hobby association trade show in Atlanta!)

By the time I arrive at the Craft and Hobby Association's Inaugural Papercrafting Trade show (gosh, I really like how that rolls off my tongue), it will have been almost a month since my quest began.

You may not know this, but I was working angles, planning strategies and trying to  pull strings before this quest went public.  I'm still amazed how quickly everything fell into place. 

I've got about four different things I'm juggling at the moment, not including family.  Actually, I probably need to revise that number because I know it's more than four, but I dare not take the time to calculate the true number, hence becoming overwhelmed at the sheer number of tasks placed before me, which would then lead to me crawling into a dark corner somewhere, curling up into the fetal position and begin sucking my thumb!  Seriously?  It's not that bad.  Plus, I'm a really good juggler; just don't throw extra plates or balls at me.

Today I'm continuing to connect with CHA vendors.  I've looked at follow-up responses to my tweets and now I'm trying to familiarize myself with products.  Many of the vendors I know well (their products).  I know what kind of products they market, signature styles and lines,  who's vintage and who's not.  There are however, quite a few companies I'm NOT familiar with.  I'm enjoying spending time going to their websites and being introduced to new products.  I'm also discovering that there's a lot of emphasis on Christmas in July!  Wow, I never realized how much.  Hey, that's not a bad thing either.  I saw somewhere recently that Christmas is something like 23 weeks away?  Say it ain't so!  According to my CHA schedule, the holidays are a big emphasis at this event.  It's all about new products coming out and marketing strategies for Christmas...well not ALL, but I gather from my research that there will be a whole host of holiday unvealings.  Yours truly gets to be right smack in the middle of all that.  Yeah!  Don't think this is all being handed to me on a silver platter though.  I put some hard work into it, let me tell you.   It's not going to be a big party for me.  I'll be working my tush off, making sure I keep up my end of the bargain.  At the same time it WILL be fun!  Every day I do a little happy dance.  Kind of like Steve Carrell in Evan Almighty.  You need to see that movie, if only for the happy dance.  And the outtakes.  Oh my, the outtakes are hilarious!!  The hammer and the thumb??  You remember, right?! 

The Quest might take a break for the weekend and come back full throttle Monday with a weekend update.  I'm thinking...do we need to change the story from quest to countdown?  Tell me what you think?  Have a great weekend and dream a little dream.  Then go make it happen!