The Show Goes On . . .

I am simply amazed by modern technology – when I write a blog piece, it goes out to most of you by e-mail about 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.  So even though I wrote the piece about our tomcat on Friday evening, it went out on Saturday while I was running my cash register at the Lawrenceville show.  And 20 minutes later, a customer walked up and told me how sorry she was – she had read it on her phone.  On Monday, I got a call from our vet – who told me that Karen Seitz had read my story and forwarded it to her.  And of course, my inbox was flooded with the most tender e-mails – I talked with Mom on Tuesday evening and told her that Tom was almost as popular as she is!

But the show goes on – and there were a few images from the weekend that were worth sharing . . .

The first was the hair.  I hadn’t seen Sue Rothamel since the Birch Run show in November – but apparently she dipped her locks into her Perfect Pigments (not really) about a month ago.  It does seem to add a certain pizzazz to her performance – and from the size of the crowd that surrounded her on Saturday, I suspect the customers agree.

Another view captured by Pat Larson from Heirloom Productions.  I appreciate Pat’s efforts – he catches images that I miss, like Sue’s husband Dave in the background helping a customer.

Two more shots courtesy of Pat – the nice lady in the lower left is Melinda Sutton, who called early last week to see if by chance we might need a little help in our booth on Saturday.  She used my “newspaper buddy” Darlene Clark as a reference, which was good enough for me – we put her to work doing a make and take with USAQ stuff and she ended up working almost the entire show.  And here’s another rare image of me at a show that Pat took during the giveaway on Saturday.

This was the hot item in our booth – We R Memory Makers overnighted a sample Envelope Punch Board to my hotel so our customers could actually play with it before placing advance orders.  And they did – it got a workout all weekend.  It was a blast to see someone sit down to try it and then call all of her friends over to check it out.

After the show on Saturday, I went out to eat with Pat Larson and Dave Carlson from Heirloom – they took me to a barbeque joint called Shane’s Rib Shack that they had discovered between the fairgrounds and our hotels.  Good friends, good food, and good atmosphere – and I got a kick out of this sign above the front counter.

This was one of the highlights of my weekend – longtime friend Alan Scott (his dad was my Little League coach when I was nine) is the lead pastor at Cumberland Community Church in Smyrna – this is the church that got me back on the road after our truck broke down in their parking lot a couple of years ago.  Last February (a week after the Lawrenceville show) they added an 8:30 a.m. service on Sunday – so this year I was able to attend before I went to work.  Alan was fantastic as always – but this time I got an added bonus.  Alan’s three daughters are part of a Christian band called Wire Method, and they played the praise music during the service – it’s a lousy picture, but they are playing the bass violin, drums, and keyboard.  Good stuff . . .

The final image from the weekend came after I got home – I was recovering in a corner of the couch on Monday, watching the Super Bowl on the DVR (all I got to see at the airport on Sunday night was the blackout).  And I heard this rustling sound below me – Nala had wrapped herself up in Zoe’s rug and was looking up at me with an expression that just screamed “Look at me – I’m cuuuuuuuute!”

So I did . . .