2 Down...

...only 11 more to go! These frames just don't want to stay up! These two frames fell on a customer...oops!


After dinner tonight, everyone headed back to downtown Chicago, but I took a car back to the hotel. My trusty GPS took me a different route back to the hotel, and I started getting a little nervous that my GPS wasn't so trusty after all--I somehow ended up on a toll road and in a neighborhood that was totally unfamiliar! As I continued on my way, I saw a gold something-or-other that was glistening in the setting sun, and as I got closer, I realized that I was just down the street from the Chicago Temple! I had heard that our hotel was down the road from the temple, so it was such a relief to find it, knowing that my hotel was just a few more blocks away.

One more day of CHA and then down to St Louis! Woo hoo!

A Little Cover Up...

Oh goodness...what's a tradeshow without at least a little disaster??

Today was setup day for CHA! We got things done pretty quickly and things were going smoothly...until I pulled the pebbles sign out of its box. See the two frames in the upper right corner of the pebbles sign? They're covering up a huge crack. With so few resources and not much time on our hands, we did what we could with what we had! The rest of the booth turned out cute...more pics to follow!


We headed down to Navy Pier after setup and walked around downtown Chicago for a little while. Ate some good food at Bubba Gump's and saw a little of where Transformers 3 is being filmed. Became friends with some of the security guards who were keeping people out of the filming area.

Getting Ready For Chicago!

Clean bathroom. Check! Laundry. Check! Pay Bills. Check! Buy treats for trip. Check! New desktop background pic...no check. I thought about making a July desktop pic, but it'll be August when I get back to Utah, so I'm just going to look at these cute pics til then!

Oh yeah, it's Pioneer Day here in Utah today! Didn't really do anything to celebrate...maybe next year, right??

I don't know why I'm so nervous about the upcoming trade show. I'm usually really excited about going and meeting people, but for some reason, I'm kind of anxious about the whole thing! It's always funny hearing people talk about the products. At the show, most people assume I'm a sales rep (verses a designer), so they'll say whatever's on their mind about the products--good or bad, and it's hard to not take it personal if they don't like it. I love how the baby line turned out, so we'll see how it goes :)

Time to pack!

Pebbles Giveaways!

Like these cutesy felt embellishments?? Want some? Enter the giveaway on the Pebbles blog! (And don't forget to enter the other giveaways on the Pebbles blog!)

It's CHA trade show time of year (again!) and we've been busy at work getting everything ready to go! I designed the new baby line coming out...it's pretty traditional, but super versatile! I'm *slightly* in love with these felt embellishments! :) The papers turned out super cute, too...half of them are embossed, giving them a little extra texture--so super cute! Lots of pictures to come from the show--we leave on Sunday for Chicago, then mom (and hopefully Sarah) will come meet me up there and we'll drive back to St. Louis and spend a little time at home before heading back to Utah! I might even blog before Chicago :)




Dang it...I think almost ever sentence in this post had an explanation mark...oops

CHA = For The Birds

As I was showing a customer some products in the booth today, another customer yelled, "watch out!" I looked at her completely confused about what I'd be "watching out" for...turns out I almost stepped on this little bird that snuck into the show! I was glad I happened to have my camera with me!

Pre-CHA and Day 1

(I'm not very good at this game...all of use had our own cars on the ride (there were about 7 of us) and I definitely got the lowest score out of everyone!)
What a crazy and fun weekend! I'm in Anaheim for CHA this week and it's been pretty busy so far. We all headed over to Disneyland last night and it was the best! No lines anywhere--we practically walked on to most of the rides! It was fun to get a little break before the show started and to just have a fun night with everyone!

CHA started today and runs through Wednesday. I oversee the Pebbles Design Team and was able to meet a few of the ladies that are here at the show! Suzanne, Susan, Lynn and Samantha all stopped by to say "hi!" today...I need to remember to take my camera tomorrow. I have just email cooresponded with everyone on the design team, so it was really fun to meet these talented ladies in person!

Oh! Funny story--we were driving around looking for an In-n-Out for dinner tonight and we ended up over in Orange, so we went to one on Chapman Ave. About half way through the meal, in walked my friend, Buddy, from El Modena High! I last saw Buddy a few years ago when he was playing for a minor league baseball team and they were playing against St Louis. It was fun to see a familiar face! Random, but fun!

Time to go let my feet soak in the bathtub for a few minutes and then get some sleep!

Fact: Taxi Drivers in Anaheim are kinda weird.

We caught a taxi for our dinner appointment last night and had quite a fact-filled drive! He was kind of a weird old man who apparently has 1500 acres in Tahoe and will be retiring this year. (Where'd the money come from for that??!) He gave us the inside scoop on the best and worst conventions:

• Best Looking People: Natural Products Convention (all very health conscience people)
• Ugliest Dressers: Nurses Convention (they're all in scrubs)
• Most Uptight: Helicopter Convention (they're there to spend millions)
• Snootiest People: Doctors Convention (they don't make small talk)
• Most Alcohol Consumed/Funnest People: NAM (National Association of Music) (they let loose and can have a fun time)

He wasn't too familiar with CHA attendees, so he couldn't really fit us into a category. We told him that we were from Utah and he immediately told us that he'd never go back there again. Apparently he used to live in Salt Lake and was fired from his job because he wasn't LDS...whatev. I have a hard time believing that.

We're at LAX waiting for our flight. Be home at midnight tonight. Can't believe the show is already over! I'm ready for my own bed.

Leave it to Lindsay...

(Above: Some of our ribbon on display at the show. I love the colors and I love the cute little flower charm that they come with!)

Most Embarrassing and Awkward Moment at CHA (MEAMCHA) award goes to...me! I don't know how I manage to get into these awkward situations. I think awkward should be my middle name.

Situation # Uno: Josh, Ashlee and I were in the hallway waiting for Paris to arrive. One of our manufacturers walked by, so we started talking with them (we'll call them "Graic" and "Yann") about the madness surrounding Paris' appearance. "Yann" told us that she had a gift from one of their friends back in Canada that she needed to give to Paris, but was too embarrassed to carry it around, so she kept it in her bag until she could actually give it to Paris. Hesitantly, "Yann" let us see what the gift was: a bra bag and panty pack from The Brag Company! Curious about what the inside of these gifts looked like, I unzipped the panty pack and to my surprise found a pair of panties! Thinking that was kind of awkward, I said something stupid like, "Oh...they must include a panty to get you started!" "Yann" quickly grabbed the bag from my hands and was so embarrassed because apparently they were her panties! Because the product was manufactured across the border and to avoid any problems at customs, "Yann" had to act as though the bra bag and panty pack were her personal travel products. Imagine if Paris had gotten these "gifts" with a pair of panties in them!

Situation # Dos: At the last three shows I've been to, I always see this guy who is a retailer that looks like Tom Cruise and Clark Kent/Superman and find him to be kind of attractive, but never would do anything about it...he's kind of just my CHA "crush" if you will. Josh spotted him coming towards our booth this afternoon and decided he was going to become friends with him. Josh started talking with him and told him how I've (as he points me out) seen him at the last few shows and have my own nickname for him! Josh also found out that he's married, but doesn't wear his ring... peculiar, right? I think I turned bright red, "nervous neck" took over and I now I have to find a new CHA crush. Unfamiliar with "nervous neck?" Ask me later.

Situation # Tres: Not hugely embarrassing, but still a little. This morning at the show, the fire alarm went off, so everyone had to evacuate the building. We were only outside for about a minute or two and then we were allowed back in the building, so we assumed that maybe the alarm had just been accidentally tripped and not necessarily set off by smoke. We never found out what happened and I had kind of forgotten about the whole situation. Later in the afternoon, there were some ladies that I had made conversation with, and they asked if I had heard what caused the alarm to go off. Not knowing what set it off, I said, "I'm sure glad that it wasn't anything serious and that the sprinklers didn't turn on. That would've put a damper on the show!" The ladies thought I was so funny that I threw that pun in and I kinda felt embarrassed that they had actually caught my little "punny." But can you imagine if the sprinklers would've gone off?? Our booth would be a total loss because it's practically all paper and foam core!

Enough with the stories for now.

I was able to go over and see Chandice and Cam for a little while tonight! It's always fun to catch up with the Wingers! And to Cam, I love when you send me your jokes via text message...keep 'em coming! :)

That's Hottt.

It's really true. Paris Hilton was at CHA today debuting her new craft line! I know, I know, it's hard to believe, but it's true! Being true to her style, she showed up almost an hour after her scheduled appearance. We were out in the main hallway waiting to see if we could see her as she was walking into the show. People were everywhere and there was security all over the place! We almost gave up on her, but then the next thing we knew, she was walking by! We became 'friends' with the few people that were around us as she was walking in, and so after she was gone, we all compared the pictures that we got of her on our cameras (what would we do without digital cameras?!?!?) and one man said he'd email me his picture that turned out really well...we'll see if he sends it! This was the best picture that I was able to get...it all happened so fast! Don't believe me she has a craft line? Here's her little promo-deal-io:
That's hot.

(the whole crew at CHA!)

Oh...and ps: be sure and check out our Pebbles blog: pebblesinc.blogspot.com. We love comments!! :)

gathering life's memories moments

Booth setup day at CHA! 12 hours later and we finally left the convention center...what a day! Brenda was convinced that we'd be done with setup by 2 at the very latest, but sure enough we were there til about 7:30. I thought that things were going well, until I started putting up the vinyl that has our Pebbles 'bi-line,' which is supposed to read, "gathering life's moments" but I must've ordered, "gathering life's memories." Oops. Moments, memories...same thing, right?

I am so excited about our booth and this product release! More pictures to come.

And ps...I'm not crying! I was laughing because we just recently changed our bi-line and I could not remember it to save my life. I thought that for sure I had it right on everything, but apparently I had missed one!

So Busy!

Work is so super busy right now! Running errands, building a booth, getting a catalog put together, press checks, sending emails, taking photos...the list continues! We're getting ready to go down to CHA next week in Anaheim and have soo much to do before we go! Somehow it always comes together, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything will somehow get done. A lot of hard work has gone into this by everyone and I think it's going to pay off.

I think that I am most excited about the new product releases for this show...pictures to follow soon! Everything (so far) is turning out just perfect, so we'll see what the response is at the show! :)

Chicago Recap!!

Back from Chicago and St. Louis! It was a crazy and busy and fun break--it's not easy to come back to work after playing for a week! We had some idols on our flight over to Chicago...yes, THESE idols! 8 of the top 10 American Idols were on our flight! David A and C were MIA, but the rest were all there: Chikeze, Ramiele, Michael, Kristy, Carly, Brooke, Jason, and Syesha! At the SLC airport, everyone for the most part left them alone, but as soon as they got off the plane in Chicago, people swarmed around to get pictures and autographs! It was fun seeing them in person after being a faithful watcher this past season!
On Thursday after we got our booth all set up, Ashlee, Danielle and I headed down to Navy Pier! We had fun walking up and down the pier and tried to stay in as much shade as possible--it was so hot and humid! We had some good food from Bubba Gump...so good! After dinner, we headed towards Michigan Avenue! All the shops were closed, but it was fun to walk up and down that famous street! We caught a taxi to get back to our metro stop and passed by Millennium Park and THIS sculpture...I wish we could have spent more time downtown, but I guess I have a reason to go back!
We had fun at the show...a lot smaller than the Anaheim show, but we still had a good time!

Chicago!

We're on our way to Chicago this morning for CHA! We'll be there 'til Sunday, and then I'm headed down to St Louis Monday morning to spend time at home for the week! Yay for vacations! I should probably finish packing...

Have any suggestions on things to do in Chicago?? Lemme know! We might be able to squeeze a few fun things in!