Los Angeles 31.1.12

Up with the alarm clock again this morning. 2 classes and 1 seminar on today.

I had an 8 o'clock class to which I was about 10 mins late for  :(.   I had a lovely lady from Canada sitting next to me that fast tracked me up to speed. This was a stamping class with products from Spirit Stamps and Ranger. We made 5 cards to try different stamping techniques. This class finished at just before 10 o'clock, which gave me time to head up the stairs to get a shot of the crowd waiting for the 10am opening of the doors onto the exhibition floor.

 I had to laugh to myself a bit. I had noticed a lady that had put herself first in line when I headed upstairs at 8.10am. When I took the shot at 9.50ish she was still at the head of the line. By the time 10.10am came round everyone was in and there was no queue at all and I walked straight in. Silly woman :-/

I wandered past the Northridge Publishing booth and had a yarn to the people there. (they publish Scrapbook Trends). I noticed a special edition of Scrapbook Trends with Teresa Collins on the front. They kindly said I could keep it, so I strolled around to Teresa's booth. What a pleasure it was to talk to her. Not at all like I expected. She, her staff, and I talked about how American's say a-sum and we say awesome and by the time I left, they had our way of saying it down pat. We talked about her time at the Grand Canyon, her time in Australia, her scrapbooking, my scrapbooking, our kids and just chit chatted. She signed my magazine and had a photo with my iphone. It's a crap shot, so I'll think I'll head back there tomorrow with the Canon and ask again. As it turned out the Sharpie pen etched off the magazine which is unfortunate so I'll ask nicely with a packet of Tim Tams if she'd mind signing it again.

12pm was a class with Little Yellow Bicycle in which we made a 12x12 LO and a book. Nice product lines, but not one I would run out for. I was a bit disappointed with this class. There wasn't actually any techniques to learn other than speed scrapping. In their kits was the precut and scored paper to make the rosette flowers, but  that as a possible new technique was ignored. I had to ask someone at the end how to make them so I could finish the book.

That class finished at 2pm and I had an hour before my seminar on Blog Management - tips and tools to streamline and maximise, so I wandered around to the October Afternoon booth for a make and take. Got talking there to two of the staff (guy and girl) about their times in Australia.

Met the lovely Dyan Reaverey who has her own line with Ranger. She's a very freestyle user of mists, stamps and embellies. Her style is whimsy spooky, not dark spooky, if that makes sense. She kindly signed a tag and I had a shot with her.

I also found the Creating Keepsake's booth and had an 'a-sum' yarn with Megan Hoeppner. She totally flattered me by saying she knew my name from my Layouts in the Aussie Section. (she seemed really genuine about that) and how 'a-sum' it is to put a name together with a face. She further amazed me by asking to take a pic of us on her phone after having a pic done on mine. How cool is that.

It seems that being Australian is still the flavour of the month. And saying the word "g'day" is a passport that opens up a conversation so easily. It seemed like so many Americans have been, about to go, or want to go to Australia. It's the desirable destination of choice.

Another thing that really surprised me is how many men are in the booths, either as demonstrating the make and takes, or as the sales personal. Some in suits, some in jeans. And the women loved them. They flock around Tim Holtz like seagulls around a chip. (Yes, I'm just as guilty, but I didn't hang watching him for hours or go back to visit his booth.)

After the Blog Seminar I had 2 hours to fill in so I wandered around taking photos of differnet products that attracted me, different LO's that I liked and dropped a business card into different product draws here and there. I was back at the Cricut booth in time for their 5.30pm draw and was lucky enough to have my name drawn out the barrel for a Cricut Cartridge.

Just as I was about to wander out the hall, when Lou snuck up on me. We got chatting away as we headed out to find her people and me to find mine. From all of the people pouring out of the hall at 6pm we found Danny and Lee-anne and Louise found her contact. Introductions were done all round. I've mentioned Lou's name  to Danny and Lee-Anne enough times over the last year or so that I've known them, so it was nice to be able to introduce them irl.

Lee-Anne managed to snag the entire team of G45 for a shot. Scrap Therapy will be importing direct from them as of this year and everyone seems pretty happy about that.

Us three (D,L and me) wandered up the road in search of tea. It's dark by 6pm to people tend to eat earlier than we do. We made our way into Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. What an amazing concept. Based on the movie of Forrest Gump, its full of memorabilia, nostalgia and top food. It was delish. The staff are so upbeat and the place was packed out and rocking. There's even a Souvenir shop attached that was doing a roaring trade. I'm really keen to watch that movie again.  :O)

Discovered that Yank beer is crap. Tastes watery and its flat. Not a bubble to be seen. Same with their soft drinks. No bubbles at all. But their lemonade is delish. Tastes like fresh squeezed lemons in cold water, (too much sugar tho).

We walked back the 1km or so back to the Ramada, spread out the products from the day and talked about stuff for their shop, what's hot down our way, what's not and what seemed to be the in things at the CHA.

Tried for about 10 mins to Skype home. I've got it set up at home to answer my video call automatically so the kids /Kym don't need to do anything to have a conversation. This also means I can call and I see the office chair when no one is there. I can hear them in the kitchen, and in other rooms of the house. It seems a bit voyeuristic listening in to the sounds of the kids and Kym without their knowing. I call out their name until one of them hears me and rushes in front of the computer. Sean tends to jump around and be a bit of a pain when Annie's wanting to talk. The Wifi here is really crap so often the video feed jams and the conversation is delayed. But I can see them and them me and that's so cool.

Time to get to bed.

nite nite.