(I mean shut up in a you-are-so-fab-stacey-london kind of way)
Going to CHA was like walking into the best ever store....where you can't buy anything.
Well, you can.
But
not
if
you
are
me.
It was similar to my first experience walking into a Pottery Barn store.
That was like swimming through the catalog.
Ya want to just keep swimming around until your fingers get all prunie and you are gasping for breath.
Here is what I saw/learned/can almost remember in a list:
1. When Ali, Cathy Z and Donna Downey walked by together, I swear there was a moment of that cool music (that they play on Boston Legal when Denny Crane walks down the hall) and a slight pause in the time space continuum.
2. The girls at Fontwerks were soooooo nice that I would have bought all their stuff even if it were crap. BUT it isn't crap - it is way way cool stamps and some papers I would like very much to get my hands on. Really, meeting these ladies was like one of the highlights of my trip.
3. In my brain - you ARE your screen name and avatar picture. Charmer. It is there forever.
4. There is SO much talent there. Just to see all the lo's in each booth was worth my travel.
5. Stacey Kingman rocks the house...even when she isn't there. Her lo's are even better in person to see and touch. Wait...we were allowed to touch...right?
6. Jenni Bowlin is just as beautiful and classy as you think she is. And nice. Dude. Very nice.
7. There is something about Heidi Swapp's booth that just is sooo her. I felt like I had been to the beach for some reason when I left there.
8. The Scrapworks people changed their albums...but just a little...by going with a a higher quality leather and contrast stitching. Dude. Whew! I have like 8 or 10 of them and I HAVE to have them match.
HAVE
TO.
9. Ki....YUM. They did ask me not to actually taste the papers. But real polite like;)
10. Expectations are something I need to learn to tone down.
11. The Pub dinner was nice...but I really only talked to the folks I came with. There were some ladies who went around and introduced themselves to everyone...I so wish I had thought of that.
12. Tia Bennett is just like I thought she'd be. Kinda like the super fun friend you really miss from High School who wrote BFF in like 50 year books and really meant it.
13. Tiffany Smith is just as sweet as can be. And she looks 12 in person as well as on the computer screen.
15. Kelli Darr Superstar knows me veeeeeeeeerrrrry well. Thanks Super;)
16. Jeanette is from henceforth known as kellijeanette.
kellicrowe, kellidarr, kellijeanette.
17. Seeing Anne and Tracie C. from Scrap It! in Hermitage TN (my fave store ever) was another total highlight. They are so fun. I am SO sure they are really thinking about opening a second store just down the street from me.
SO
sure.
18. Autumn Leaves....I saved my fave for last.
Ok...So it was so super great fantastic and groovy cool to meet everyone at that booth.
(Does it sound like I should have a pony tail on the side of my head and pop gum when I say that?)
And when I say booth - I mean show room.
I tried real hard not to blurt out dumb things. (Which someone who was there might think...she was trying??)
They had a lot of the Freestyle lo's up from the book that releases at the end of Feb:)!
There was a blow up of the cover for the DW Type that comes out in April. Kelli Darr pointed out my name was on it. If I were a puppy - this would have been the moment where I wet the carpet.
When that side of the booth was cleared...I went over for KelliDarr to take a picture of me beside the Type book cover. I get over next to it and she pulls out her camera, Tiffany and her roomie also pulled out their cameras and started just snapping pictures. 3 flashes going off over and over and over.
I was like
NOT
COOL!
RUN
AWAY!
FLEE!
I could feel the heat of the blush rising up from my toe nails and engulfing my whole body. Ya know, the kind of blush that feels a little hot flashish and takes a good 15 minutes for my pastie white self to emerge from. I am feeling it again just typing it.
And then
around the corner
Renee Camacho comes.
Busted.
But busted by one of the nicest people ever.
Her style is so wonderfully warm to me.
I am pretty sure I drooled on her at some point.
Tracy Kyle.
Dude.
Speaking of me blubbering nice, random things.
I can link all the nice things that have happened to me in scrap booking to a few key, generous people.
She is at the top of that list.
So I am sure I babbled like and idiot to her too.
You'd never know I used to compete in public speaking by the way I communicated with the people I really wanted to meet.
Ahh, well.
I am a dork.
Better for people to know that up front.
There you go.
I have very few pictures.
It seems like forever ago.
I can tell ya this: I am so glad I went.
And I am so inspired.
Not just by the new products, but by all the talented people I met and the LO's and products they produced. Dude. This is one cool hobby.
kellicrowe
p.s. I spell checked and ya know the word that comes closest to matching kellicrowe? velcro. That cracks me up. I don't really know why.