Back in KC

We arrived back in Kansas City saturday afternoon. Actually wasn't sure I'd get on the plane in NY. Something in the back pocket of my jeans kept setting of the sensors and if I wasn't cleared 100% I wasn't going to be allowed to fly. It was a bit scary because I hadn't packed any other clothing items in my carry-on due to all the jewelry supplies(above) I had packed into it instead. Bryan did however have a pair of jeans in his so if all else failed I would've left mine there and put his extra pair on. Fortunately after quite some time(in a secure room) the two security ladies and myself discovered a tiny nailhead buried in the seam of the back pocket,whew!

It felt strange driving into the downtown area of KC,seemed so small now having been in NY for 10 days. When we pulled up to our house we could hardly believe our eyes. My mom had done so much yard work during our time away, it was beautiful. These flower pots were empty(actually they probably still had some dead plants in them)when we left.

While we were at NYIGF Jasmin from Treehugger.com stopped by our booth. Today she wrote up this great article about us, you can check it out here. We had a great time at the show and can't wait to implement some new ideas for the next one!

last day in NY....for now

the handmade section of the gift fair ended wednesday. It's amazing how quickly we can all dismantle our booths! The rest of the show ran until noon on thursday so we went back and walked through to check out who else was there. I placed a couple of orders from some great ribbon vendors, can't wait to use them in our CityBird necklaces.

We did some more supply shopping and boy are we ready to get into the studio!!

After working up an appetite we got on the subway and hit the lower east side and shared a reuben at Katz deli. Then, to work that off we walked back up to the garment district stopping at lots of neat shops along the way. It started to rain a bit on the way back so we stopped at a park and took a rest on a bench under some trees. I could've taken a nice nap there. The rain felt good as it was so sticky and I hadn't stopped sweating all day! When we got back to the hotel we took a quick snooze then went to dinner at our favorite place Pizza Suprema then walked around times square and stopped at an ice cream truck for a chocolate cone.

New York part2...

walking up to the Javits center. Today was day three for us, two more to go. We've met lots of people and gotten some great leads. The other vendors on our aisle in Handmade are just awesome and we hope to stay in contact with them. I think the artists that we meet by doing shows at all levels has been the greatest reward. It's been very much a learning experience, we've already been making notes of the things we want to do for the next show here.

look at this pizza!! we have eaten some wonderful slices so far. NY Pizza Suprema (shown here) was so good that we went two nights in a row.

NYIGF starts tomorrow

We made it to NY on time and on a very smooth flight with Midwest. We'd never flown with them before and were very happy with the flight, although we were too early in the morning for the famous chocolate chip cookies. I don't see anything wrong with serving cookies at 7 am do you? This is the view from our hotel room. There are some great buildings on this street, and the Dunkin Donuts is just around the corner!! I get to enjoy a great cup of their coffee every morning as I walk to the Javits Center each day for the show.

Here Iam setting up the jewelry this morning, wanted to make sure I knew where I wanted everything to go for tomorrow morning. We got the booth set up within a couple hours of being in the city yesterday.

We spent the rest of the day shopping and passed this window and had to stop. This big guy was guarding the store, so beautiful!

Then we had to go to Metalliferous and stock up on some supplies. Look at all these bins of beads and charms. I went crazy in the chain aisle.

After a cool down back at the hotel we decided to jump on the subway and go to the lower east side to check out the brand new Self Edge store. Bryan is very much into denim so that was a must and they also happen to be testing out a new credit card swiper that plugs into the headphone jack of an I phone, very cool! We can't wait for this to be available to the public, wish it would be ready by the time Plaza Art fair comes around but don't think so, darn it!

After another cool down at the hotel we decided to find some food. We pulled out the i phone and searched for places nearby. A mexican restaurant came up that was just around the corner that had a VERY high rating and was inexpensive so we hit the street. It had also mentioned that very little english was spoken in there and boy were they right. There was also something else going on in the back room, not sure but I think that may have more to do with the high rating! The food was excellent though. It reminded us of the taco truck that we used to follow around kck with the neighbors.

Well, tomorrow is the first day of the show. The Handmade section is the first area to open so it should be really busy, had better get to bed now.