Just got back from the Sacramento Nailpro show yesterday.... I have to say I had a pretty swell day, considering it was a total disaster! LOL!
First, I'm just plain poor. Septemeber slowed down so much, I just wasn't prepared for it (savings? what's THAT?!) and I haven't quite caught up yet-- so I went into this show already depressed because I knew I wouldn't be able to buy NEARLY as many toys as I'd like! Then I totally overslept on Sunday morning! Of course, you know I had every intention of dragging my butt out of bed at the crack of dawn so I could be front and center when they openned the doors and started handing out those bags full of sample goodies! Well, dawn never cracked! Even the BF was still sleeping peacefully when I jumped out of bed at 8 a.m.! We always stay at the Vagabond Inn in Old Town Sac-- because I'm a hotel cheapskate and because it's in Old Town, where we can park our car at the hotel and never need it again until we're ready to leave! The BF has yet to actually go TO a show with me, and Old Town Sac has a train museum and a river full of boats to keep my perpertually-8-years-old boyfriend entertained all day while I spend money on toys. Anyway-- so our room was on the west side of the hotel, under a tree. It was a GREAT room and possibly the quietest hotel room I have EVER been in! But that did NOT help me wake up when I had planned to. I never set an alarm because I never need one with the BF around, who is always up at dawn. Nevertheless, I managed to shower, dry my hair, pack up the room, check out of the hotel, and "enjoy" the free continental breakfast and still get to the convention center in time to stand in line before they openned the doors. Of course, I still had to purchase my ticket. Because I couldn't possibly plan even THAT much in advance, right? So I walk all the way up to the front of the line and find the registration booth, where a few folks are standing around. I ask one lady if she's in line to buy tix and she GIVES ME a VIP ticket! Just hands it over and says, "Here." WOW! (She looked very familiar to me...but I didn't ask her name. I said a very sincere "Thank you" and went back to the back of the line.) I got in, I got a bag with samples. I arranged to meet the BF for lunch. I went shopping. All was right with my life. Until I realized I was spending too much time pulling up my pants. We've discussed "business attire" for tradeshows here before. I try to make sure to dress nicely. I wore my black slacks (love em) and picked a pair of shoes that-- although they have a pretty high heel-- are comfortable and show off my toe nails. But I've lost 15 pounds... and my slacks don't have belt loops-- I spent all day yanking those things back up to my waist. (at least I didn't LOSE them! [wink to Nicole]) I spent all my money, and got half the stuff I wanted. It was almost time for the Young Nails class I wanted to sit in on, so I made my way to the classroom with all my boxes. When I got to the room, there was still a class going on, so I sat down on the floor and began pawing through my treasures...when I noticed my feet hurt. I slipped the shoes off to discover that I now have two nice blisters on the sides of my big toes. The shoes are relatively comfy, but when my feet started to get a little sweaty, they started slipping and VOILA. Not a big surprise-- I have "delicate princess syndrome" and if I'm wearing shoes, I'm getting a blister. But now I didn't want to put my shoes back on-- except the slacks are too long to wear without heels. *sigh* The class was fun. It was a speed class-- not the hands-on all day class, but a basic demo class to see the technique for doing a set in about half an hour. The program said it was taught by Greg, but turns out, Greg wasn't at the show. So the class was taught by Melissa-- who is the Young Nails distributor and educator for my own area! In Tulare, CA. Who is the sweetest person, a kick*** nail tech, and I have nothing bad to say about her-- except all the ranting I've done about her coining the term "rockstar nails" and my accusing her of stealing my career-- all with tongue firmly in cheek of course. Anything I ever say about Melissa is motivated entirely by seething jelousy. A few folks in the class got to talking and turned out they were from my area! Well... Fresno-ish anyway. I commented on something and ended up talking to one lady for awhile. She asked for my business card.... I didn't bring my %*#&!#ing business cards! Can you believe it?! So I wrote my name and number down on a piece of paper for her-- when she looks at it she says, "I know you! You're in the magazines a lot." Ok. We ALL know I love a spotlight, right? But at that moment, all I wanted was to go home. My pants are falling down, my feet hurt, I have no business cards, I overslept--so I still feel out of it-- I'm preoccupied with whether I got everything I needed vs being upset that I can't spend another $500 on things I WANT... and this lady knows who I am. I don't want to be famous today. I just want to be a nail tech sitting in a classroom. It was a long day. But if you're ever in Sacramento, I recommend a trip to Brew It Up! brewing company-- which is only a block from the convention center. Great food, great beer. Don't drink beer? They have a full bar. Don't drink booze? they have other stuff too. Brew It Up is also on what is, quite possibly, the best block in the whole world! I took pictures. There are 3 businesses on the block: a Starbucks, a salon called "Byuti" and the brew-pub. I told the BF we're moving to Sacramento so I can work at that salon! LOL! This post is way too long now-- but I have some stuff to say about the state of the tradeshow itself... guess I'll start a new post. Maggie Franklin: Attitudes Salon; Visalia, CA Now Blogging for Nails Magazine online! http://blogs.nailsmag.com/maggie/ http://www.nailsbymaggie.biz "Visionary rebel dreamer; obviously way ahead of my time." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NailTech" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/NailTech?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
