Ahhhh! Don't tell me summer is ending, becuase I don't want to hear it. Summers go way too fast here and that is my only complaint about the Pacific Northwest. I was born and raised in Nebraska, where summers start early May and end late August. That is four full months of glorious summer. Here summers start early July if we're lucky and at nearly the end of August I'm already hearing murmurs of the leaves changing, or comments of chilly mornings. Stop! I don't want to hear it! Oh summer, if you would just stay for one month longer, what a joy to my heart you would bring. Please??????? Well, maybe my summer seems to be going so fast because I've been jamming it packed full with lots of fun and busy-ness. It started off with a spontaneous road trip with my dear friend Becky to Montana. What a beautiful place and I thank her for introducing it to me.
Shortly after that if was off to a weekend kayaking/camping trip around the San Juan Islands, near Seattle. Wow, another beautiful trip. We saw Orca whales (!!!!), eagles, seals, and jelly fish. We paddled 12 miles a day and feasted on gourmet meals at each stop.....I could get used to that! You may be wondering, where does the work part come in? Well, not to worry, its crammed in between adventures and then enters the story at full throttle pretty soon here.
The weekend after kayaking was my 31st birthday! Jeeze, they come fast, but I had an excellent time with some of my closest friends at a beach house we rented on the Oregon Coast. Ahhhhh, beach front house and crab dinner.....that's the way to go.
Ok, here comes the work part.....as I said there was a bunch squished in in between the long weekend adventures, and the brunt of is just started last week with the 1st of 2 trade shows. Only being one week apart, I have my work cut out for me. Lots of planning goes on behind the scenes to make these things fly and 2 back to back took a lot of juggling. The first show (New York International Gift Fair) went really well. We were happy with the results and look forward to working with all our new East Coast clients. East side!
Now back in Portland, I'm sittin' tight for a bit and will head off to trade show #2 on Saturday. This show is called POOL, and its held in conjunction with MAGIC in Las Vegas. We've done MAGIC before, liked it, and now we're trying something new. We'll let you know how it goes and what celebrites we see, if any. Last year I saw Mike Tyson (yep!) and a contestant from the reality show Apprentice.
And then.....as if this weren't enough summer time adventure, I'm going to Burning Man!! Woo hoo! So yeah....I'm kind of an experience junkie, and I'm coming to terms with it. But I'm just so excited I can barely contain myself. Brain exploding art and creativity???? Yes, please!!
During all this hub-bub we tackled new branding, a new website, put together a new catalog, got our Holiday order together and sent off, and then we will wrap it up with our yearly Design a Sock Contest. A contest that is open year round but we do a special version of it for our Portlanders. This year to be held from Sept. 15-Sept 25. More details coming soon.
Shew! What a summer! Couldn't have done it without the help of Amber, Kisa, and all the awesome freelancers we use, far and near. A busy summer, but I would most certainly take another month of it if I could. We love you summer!
