First Street Fair Booth - What I learned...

Just realized I never posted this, after the Encinitas Street Fair in April! haha...(it's 7/12/13...but I'm post-dating!)

Wow.

Cannot believe it's over... kinda like a wedding... months & months of planning all for one day. One day that goes by in a blink of an eye. One day....and it's over. The day/night before, I literally was on ZERO amount of sleep, and an entirely too much caffeine - my heart was racing & I was going about 1500 miles a minute finishing last minute things!

I would've hoped to start this post with something more along the lines of "holy crap I just made 5 billion dollars!!!" - sadly, I did not.

BUT - it was an AHmazing experience, learned a lot of what I would do again...and what I would NOT do again. And it was definitely fun! I had sooooo many people come by my booth & express there well-wishes and/or how proud they were of me...so that felt tremendous and really lifted me up. So much love from so many...I just feel so blessed to have people (family, friends, co-workers) around me that support my love of sewing/crafting! I remember I kept thinking, "wow...I'm a VENDOR - finally....at the same street fair I grew up going to every year, I'm actually on the other side of it now!" I felt really grown up...which sounds odd saying, considering I'm 30 years old, haha!

So - first things first... Our BOOTH!

First apron I've made entirely from scratch...love how it turned out!

Though it was primarily "Custom from Calista" goodies, a portion of it was stocked full of gorgeous hair accessories from my friend Danielle, who owns "Poisies Handmade" - adorbs!

I was so overwhelmed that morning from a combo of annoyances... didn't get into bed until around midnight... missed my alarm by 45 min... then my (& James') bathroom outlets mysteriously decided to NOT work - causing my already panicked mind to freak out. And guess what? The outlets worked just fine the next day...how does that happen?!

We arrived around 6:15am & set up pretty quickly, having 4 people there made that part easy. But then once James left, I felt like my mind was shutting down on me and I couldn't think. I didn't know where I wanted things or how to place different items. I was a silent MESS! Then my friend/co-worker Melissa showed up in the nick of time...She took charge of product placement & made everything look so brilliantly organized....talk about a LIFESAVER!! I could never thank her enough!!

The weather was nice for set up, overcast & cool...and we had a spot just outside a Whole Foods and a brand new restaurant/bar...so I thought for sure that would bring a ton of people our way. Around mid-morning...I started wondering where the HECK everyone was at! I've been to this street fair I don't know how many times in my life (being an Encinitas native), and I know how packed it normally is. You can hardly walk since it's usually so congested with people strolling along, stopping to check out booths. So I knew something was off.

Turns out there was some other events happening that weekend, and maybe the weather turned everyone away. Our booth neighbor told us he's been doing street fairs since the 70's, and this was the first time he'd seen this particular fair so low in attendance. Lovely. So that explains why I didn't walk away with 5 billion dollars, haha!

Anyway, onto 'what I learned' from this whole street fair thing...here's my TOP 10:

1. Get enough SLEEP. I cannot stress this enough. I was so tired, running on fumes the days leading up to the street fair. By the time it was all over, I literally felt like all my life force had been sucked out of me.

2. Make a LIST - a really super detailed one. I'm talking, down to "pens, tape, products, cash, etc". Check off everything the night before. And pack your car(s) up the night before as well. Here's MY LIST.

3. Have proper SIGNAGE. For everything... your biz name on a large & visible banner, product names/prices, etc. Super important. People want to be able to see things, and find info themselves, rather than asking "how much is this??".

4. Bring FOOD! I remember looking at other lists online, and thinking..."nah, there's tons of food at the street fair, I'll grab some yummy grub while I'm there". Nope. I only left my booth maybe 3 times to use the restroom at Whole Foods (& one time I bought a banana on my way out). And luckily, a sweet friend of mine brought me a sandwich, which I almost denied. So that was about the extent of my food intake for the entire day. Oh, and a butt load of coffee, yet again.

5. Enlist HELPERS! Super critical. You cannot do it all, seriously. One or 2 is good, depending on the size of your booth. I had one, and the girl I shared a booth with had one - space was a little tight!

6. SIT - at least a few times throughout the day. I did not. (except to pee! haha) Baaaaaaaad idea. I don't think I've ever been so exhausted (besides giving birth) in my life...and have NEVER felt the pain in my feet, as I did at the end of the day. Like I said earlier, I was running around like a mad woman the entire week prior, and the day before was on my feet crafting ALL day long. Then standing at the booth from 6:15am until 5pm... that'll do you in.

7. TALK to everyone that comes in your booth. Smile. Be personable. I had some great conversations & met so many nice people - I think that goes a long way when you're a vendor. No one wants to buy something from a grouchy person that barely speaks. Engage with them. Compliment something they're wearing. Show them around - they may see obvious items, but you may want to point out the less obvious as well.

8. Take CREDIT CARDS! I used the PayPal Here card reader & iPhone app. Both worked great! I loved that I could pre-load all of my products, along with photos & prices (either with or without tax included...I recommend adding tax into your costs so you don't have to fiddle with calculating tax on everything...especially for those paying with cash. Total life saver!

9. Do a detailed TRIAL RUN set up a week before. If I could do it over again I would've been more detailed in my trial set up. We set up the canopy & tables out on our cul-de-sac, just to get an idea of how long it'd take to put them all together - but I did NOT figure out where I wanted all my products to go and do a complete set up...that was a fail.

10. And finally...Don't Worry, be HAPPY!...just try not to stress yourself out  :-)

Here's a few other photos of our booth set up:

Splish Splashing at Sea World

I haven't been to Sea World in...I'm not sure how many years...James as well. So when I got a free ticket after doing the Rock 'n Roll 1/2 Marathon (which we HAD to use in June before it expired) - I knew it'd be so fun to take Kapri & explore sea life. Luckily I was able to track down another free ticket from a fellow runner for James...and my work offers discounted tickets, so I got one for Kapri.

NOTE - prior to going, you MUST download the Sea World iPhone app - it's pretty much the most awesome thing! I like it more than the Disneyland app, just seemed more user-friendly & easy to navigate through. There's even a cam with a few fun frames:

Anyway... we got up early so we could get ahead start before the Sunday crowds. As we entered, we started to map out our day & figuring out which shows would be worth seeing. SO much easier than navigating Disneyland, LOL!

Then a bunch of characters strolled through the front courtyard area...and Kapri was so excited to go meet them, give them hugs & take pics...I was shocked! I thought she'd be a little more wary of them, but I was wrong... each time she saw a new one around, she'd say "I wanna hug the puppet"...loved that she called em that!

Our first show was "Blue Horizons" - which had lots of tricks by dolphins, so acrobatic stuff and some birds. It was so cool... I mean, how amazing would it be to say: "oh, I just swim with dolphins all day for my job"?!! So glad we got there early & saw the first show... because a few hours later when we passed by it again, there was a HUGE line to see it!!


Then we walked in for the last part of the Shamu show...though Shamu himself must've been taking a breather, because we got to walk up to his tank & say HI. Those whales can SPLASH! You might as well not even shower the day of, and just go to that show instead! People (not us!) were literally sopping wet... and they even have these little 'dryer' stations, that you can pay to go in and it dries you off - how cool?!!
Then we went & saw starfishies...then had lunch. For some reason after, all K wanted to see was the flamingos...so we journeyed on...though they are a bit boring after seeing crazy tricks & flips from dolphins & killer whales!

Next up were the "Happy Feet", as K called them...cute little guys...she even got her very own penguin baby to call her own! After that..."Shark Encounter"...she was spooked a majority of the time from the darkness... but once we got to the tunnel and they were swimming all around you (while firmly planted in daddy's arms), she thought that was pretty neat. Beluga whales & polar bears were next...eh...not much excitement there (compared to everything else!) but still cool to see.

Finally we got to a little kiddie area ("Bay of Play") where she got to take pics with some Sesame Street characters "puppets" - she was in heaven. My fav is this pic of her & Elmo... I just loved how much she adored them. She'd always give each one a hug, smile for a pic, then show them her "pitty baid" (pretty braid - as in 'her hair).

Then we changed her clothes (totally spaced on the bathing suit) and let her run around in the water park. A few rides in the distance caught her eye and we were off again. We had fun in "Abby's Sea Star Spin"...she could've rode that ride forever! What is it with kids and spinning around and around and AROUND?!!

All in all, it was a much-needed fun day out with my loves - and that equals one happy mamma...and one tired kiddo:

Running Playlist: a 'must-have'!

I'm feeling a bit down & discouraged right now because I'm out of commish at the moment...no running for a week (maybe 2)...I felt GREAT on Saturday, hitting just about 10 miles during a 2hr run...then on Monday I  did 5 miles in an hour...but now I think I have the beginnings of 'posterior shin splints'...since we just up'd our intervals to 1/4's, thus increasing our mileage/time.

I saw my doc on Tuesday after work and am waiting for a referral to see a PT that can help me get through this so I can continue training properly for our race, which is just 7 short weeks away. I'm actually jealous when I'm driving and see other runner's hitting the pavement  :'-(

So with this extra downtime, I thought I'd share my running music selection. I use MOG for my playlist...it's a pretty awesome app, recommended by my sis. It contains 46 songs, equaling about 3 hours.... I hope I can finish the race in much less time! We will see...

Anyway...I keep it on shuffle so I don't hear the same songs over & over...and I think this list kicks "A"!! It definitely helps push me through my runs. Any other recommendations I should I before race day??

1st Week of Training + Schedule

Well it's here - our first official week of marathon training...which will be 18 weeks in all. Oh boy. Our first meeting/group run this past Tuesday night went great...although I had a crazy pounding headache allll day long (thinking a sinus-related thing)... but for the first 3 weeks or so, we're doing 4/1 intervals...walk for 4 min and jog for 1 min...for 40-60 min. throughout the early weeks.

A perk of joining our fab group, is a fully laid out schedule...which I took, broke down and compiled it across the next 4 months. My sisters & I needed something we could print out and easily look at each day to know exactly what we need to do.

Another perk - receiving detailed, informative emails that we receive each week from our coach...being newbies to this whole thing, these are life-saving!!

2 apps that I'm going to rely on heavily are the Nike+ GPS app and the SIT app {Simple Interval Timer}. The Nike one is great for tracking your distance by GPS, tracking each & every run, tracking your pace, and even stops your music briefly to tell you which mile you've hit, your pace, and how much longer you have (if timing your run). Love. And the SIT app is is pretty self-explanatory...a basic, easy to use timer....if you are a beginner/interval runner, like moi!

Also - I washed & hung up my Rock 'n Roll Marathon t-shirt the other day....it's staying on this wall between my closet & bathroom until the race!!

K, I'm off for my walk/jog during my lunch break now!! Which reminds me....I need a good iPhone armband...think I'll head over to O.CO!!

TaDAA...another new FAV!

Cannot. Get. Enough. Am loving this new iPhone app that my youngest sister introduced me to...simple UI, simple photo editing options, simple way to share your cool photos across the world...love love LOVE! I have had Instagram for a bit, but don't like it nearly as much as Tadaa!

It was just released in June 2011, by a small company based in Germany:

"Cool thing about tadaa is that people get immediate feedback on their photos, no matter whether it's a gorgeous arty photograph or just a snapshot of something that matters to them and that only friends & family would care about.

Users can like, dislike, reply with a photo, engage in threaded conversations. Every user gets a browsable photo blog (like the one below) so friends that are not on the service or don't have an iPhone can stay in touch. Photos on tadaa are super high res, which can be really appreciated on a large screen when browsing the site. Differently to other services, Users keep the rights to their own photos on tadaa."


Check out my online album of fun iPhone pics, enhanced with the fabulous Tadaa app!

Before & Afters: