Sunday, May 17, 2009

Sleepless in Saratoga

Friday May 15
What a day Friday was! On top of getting the kids ready for the day, taking Dylan to school, and cleaning my messy house...Mikey and I were swamped with business errands and preparations for Mikey's graduation party. The day flew by errand by errand and before we knew it, we were dropping off the kids and my sister's house and then speeding our way from Herriman to the University of Utah to make it in time to the 2009 MBA Graduate Party, planned by none other than Mikey! You could say we are pretty busy, I would say you are right! We had an awesome time at the party...it was a chance for Mikey to hang with all of his school friends for the last time and we all got to enjoy good food, a video game competition and Karoke with a live band called "This is Your Band." They rocked! Mikey sang a few songs, none for me thanks, but I enjoyed watching everyone else make fools of themselves. It was a lot of fun and a final blast away from school. Mikey has worked so hard and we are so glad it is over. We now have more time to attend boutiques! And less time to sleep...

Saturday May 16
Saturday began and ended on the same note. Literally! Some song on the radio was playing when we first got into our car to leave on Saturday morning and the exact same song played again when we were on our way home Saturday evening. It's crazy how things always come around full circle. So the chorus of this song sang something about "sunrise" and it was funny at the time because we were in our car and ready to go at sunrise on Saturday morning. You know how you get really giddy when your tired, well maybe you don't, but I was really giddy and so everything was funny. Friday night, our kids slept over at my sisters, so we actually had a chance to get ready for all of the shows on Saturday. We ended up going to bed at 1:30 knowing that we would be getting up 4 hours later. We both set the alarms on our cell phones for 5am, so it was quite noisy when they both went off at the same time. The morning was beautiful...who knew that waking up so early and being so tired could make everything look so beautiful? We headed out into the lovely day with an empty back seat and a trunk full of Boutique Frenzy!

Before sunrise/Leaving our house at sunrise/After sunrise. What a great day for boutiquing!
We landed at our first show for set up at 7am in Kaysville UT at the DATC Women's Expo. The air was crisp and the set up was smooth. We set up so fast that we even had time to run to Albertson's to get some Hershey kisses for the table and make a sign for The Little Red Box.

The perfect setup...right by "The Champions of Technology" at the Davis Applied Technology College!

Our next stop was at Wheeler Farm for the MayDays Festival. There were over 100 vendors and fun for the entire family! Our display was pretty small compared to the others, but you know, it's what's in the heart that counts :) We put our Hershey Kisses here because we thought they would get eaten before the sun got hot....


Again we made good time and were able to make it to the Southtowne Expo center at 9:30am for the Tinkerbear Boutique with Jen Morton. Jen always has awesome vendors, giveaways and free gifts! The South Towne Expo Center in Sandy is an awesome place for a show. Our display was right out front along with Jen's awesome hats, jewelry and clothing line.

(Just a side note: we had already set up our display at the Sweet Tweets Boutique, organized by Andra Stoker, on Thursday evening). So, everything was looking great and we were very excited to start our first Little Red Box game. We would of loved to have been present at all of these shows to meet all of the vendors and general public interested in Boutique Frenzy, but ya know our Dyllie boy had a soccer game at 11:30, and we couldn't miss that! We picked up the kids from my sisters', surprised to hear that they were "really" good, and headed back towards Saratoga Springs for the big soccer game. Here is a shout out to my sister, Chelsea Bingham, we couldn't have done anything this weekend without your help! Thank you!!! Of course the kids were hungry and so were we, since we hadn't had time for breakfast this morning, so we made a quick stop at McDonalds for the kids and Betos for Mikey and I.

Hungry kids, McDonalds drive-thru, and Betos drive thru all on the way to the soccer game.
The day was so nice and warm, we were able to sit on the grass, eat our lunch and watch Dyllie take it to supposedly 5 year old kids that were 6 year olds at least! Unfortunetly, the Sharks (Dylan's team) didn't score a single point, but Dylan is getting better with every game and we are so proud of him!

Dylan playing his heart out and sweet Audrey so tired...she looks how I felt!

As soon as the game was over, we packed it up quick knowing that we had to drive back up to Layton to take our display down and make it back to Wheeler Farm in time to take our display down there at 3pm. We were really starting to get tired by this point, so when we got back to the DATC to find our booth looking as good as ever, The Little Red Box entry forms gone and names on our Frenzy List, we were excited! The Women's Expo was rocking with women. There was a speaker, massages, many vendors and artisans and lots of fun going on!

The DATC, a speaker, and one among many cool handmade products by Midnight Moon Soap Shoppe (Cheryl 801-941-1868). She makes the cutest soaps! Cheyrl works with Elise Allred owner of CherCher la Paix which specializes in Calyco healing sessions, phone sessions and Primavera Oils. You can contact Elise at allred.elise5@gmail.com. Great stuff!

On the road again, we headed back to Wheeler Farm. This time our display wasn't looking so great with melted Hershey kisses all over our nice red table cloth. Oh well, not everything can go perfectly. We were able to meet another awesome vendor....


This is Agi. She was awesome! She is the owner and creator of Agi's Raw Foods located at 2255 N. University Pkwy in Provo UT. Her mission statement: To provide easy to access to nutritious natural, vegan, organic RAW and LIVING snacks, crackers, cereals, granola bars, that are free of potentially harmful preservatives, hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors, colors and sweeteners. You have to go to her store to find out more and to taste her delicious flax seed crackers! Mikey and I couldn't stop eating her samples! Totally unique, totally delicious, totally healthy! It was so nice to meet you Agi, we will see you soon at your store! You can reach Agi at agisrawfoods@hotmail.com.


Time for a break! We hit the tail end of the festival, so just enough time for the kids to meet a storm trooper and go down the slide. The kids were mad that we only came to the last half hour of the May Days Festival, so we spent some time riding the ponies and looking at the many animals on the farm.


It was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to feel better about things, so we packed it up and headed to our final boutique, Sweet Tweets.

Fantastically, Sweet Tweets had an awesome couple of days! When we pulled up to the custom home in a Heriman neighborhood, the cul-de-sac was full of cars and people were still purchasing! Apparantly the show went so well that the police were called. I guess too many cars at one house sparked some concern by the neighbors. Everything checked out fine of course and all of the vendors and customers had a great time! Again, I wish I could of attended all of these shows. We weren't able to get any pictures of the vendors and products on the inside, but this house was in a great location for a boutique and Andra did a great job, as usual, at having the best vendors and putting up her fantastic signs to lead the way.


Wowee! What an awesome Saturday! Exhausted, we drove home again hearing the same song on the radio that had played when we had left in the early morning. By 6pm we were home and had already had a 13 hour day! We had a great time meeting new vendors, and new organizers.

Sunday May 17
After a good night sleep and a fabulous Sunday of rest...we packed up the whole family once again and headed back to the South Towne Expo center to see how the Tinkerbear Boutique had gone. Due to my stupidity we arrived late and the boutique was already over! Being the sweetheart that she is, Jen packed up our display for us. Jen told me how the last 2 days were for her and her vendors..

"The Show Must Go On:
I have got some of the best vendors out there! I had such amazing support and understanding from some of my vendors, that they feel like family to me. What a day, Saturday morning was!!! I show up to map out and mark booths, and my 3rd room is not available. There is a wall blocking the two rooms from the 3rd and inside the 3rd room, it is filled with conference chairs. Apparently, their was a mix up! Off to set up, and when the 3rd room was available, we got that ready, but by that time, our vendors were starting to arrive. At this point, my event manager pulls me aside to give me the bad news. Today, 4 shows were booked, today, only 2 shows came through. The 2 bigger shows had cancelled!!!!
I am okay with this, since I had just run an ad with Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News, in the Sunday paper, and also an ad re ran in Sl Trib again on Thursday. What can happen next?
I had some upset vendors, I should say. A few folded up and left, and then the rest, stayed and we rode out the storm. The hardest part about doing these shows is letting down your vendors, or at least feeling like you did.
We had 123 people walk through our show on Saturday. I think the economy is coming up on us faster than we realize. For the Sunday show, only 7 out of my 25 or so vendors, stuck it out with me.
We had a BLAST!!!!! We had two customers arrive around opening time. It was a sign of a better day!
The ad in the Trib had worked, although the customers were a bit disappointed finding 7 vendors instead of 25, but that didn't stop them from buying. Throughout the day, we encountered some wonderful people, shopping, visiting, and just out showing some support.
Us vendors got work done, we were able to give each other ideas, shows, and more. It was so worth it, and although, I was pretty bummed on the first day, I am so thankful that this happened. I was able to get to know my vendors more, and I have so much more respect for them.
You know, these shows are hit and miss, more miss than hit. You still see those of us, working together, whether it be cold, raining, busy or slow. We are out there to help each other, and that is TRULY what my job is about. Helping others succeed.
To sum it up: My show appeared a let down, but became a success in it's own way, thanks to my wonderful vendors!
This won't be the last of Tinker Bear Boutique and it's friends, so WATCH OUT~!"
I think we can all agree with Jen that it takes everyone-artisans, organizers, vendors, customers, friends, and family- to make a boutique a success!

Thank you Jen Morton, DATC, Wheeler Farm, Andra Stoker, and all of the awesome vendors and artisans for helping everyone get into the FRENZY and making our new game, The Little Red Box, a success! We couldn't do what we do without you!


Check The Little Red Box on Wednesday to see who won the customizeable photo alblum from Karie Sigua and Heritage Makers! If you didn't play this time, make sure you check back to find out where The Little Red Box will be next!

Please Please Please leave a comment....did you go to a boutique over the weekend? Where did you go? What did you buy? Did you see the Boutique Frenzy display? We are dying to know!!! Please share!

3 comments:

  1. I have had a few phone calls, giving me advice on letting my "notes" be posted, and I understand these people are looking out for me, however, I think people need to see the real side of a show. The VENDORS need to see what the PROMOTER goes through.
    A lot of vendors out there, think that putting on these shows are a piece of cake, well I am hear to tell you it is not.
    It is countless hours at the computer, running around getting proper permits, contacting Utah State Tax commissions, hidden fees, here, there, everywhere, advertising, getting ads done, and in, in time, oops another cost there, making flyers, mailing them out, handing them out, posting updates on blogs, sending out email invites, need I go on?
    I went in the hole on this show, out of my own pocket, a lot more than my vendors would have. I have a lot more riding on these shows, than just $200 booth fees.
    When things happen out of your control ( the other shows cancelling) you roll with it.
    Do you want to work with someone who packs up and takes off, or who rides out the storm?
    A lot of these show promoters don't even get to know their vendors, me, I get to know them, their spouses, their kids, they become a part of my life. Why shouldn't they?
    If some people get the wrong impression of our show, I am fine with that. We had customers Saturday and Sunday. Was there a ton? No, was it fun? YES!
    Did I learn something? Yes, did I enjoy the networking? YES, do I have some awesome vendors HELL YEAH!

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  2. I am always here to support you Jen! No matter what!

    Love Ya!
    Nay

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  3. I am hoping to do more boutiques this fall - we are always a busy household during the summer! :) Sounds like you were incredibly busy, way to go!

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