CHA Recap

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and saw me at the CHA Supershow last week!  I had so much fun meeting many of you in person!  I had the chance to purchase a tabletop display through the Craft Critique Handmade Pavilion.  I even made my own display!  Here is my sketch (sorry it’s a little blurry, but you get the idea):

And here is the finished display:

The top frame was made with lightweight PVC pipes from Lowe’s and then I sewed the fabric canopy and cut out my logo and letters on my Cricut out of a gorgeous aqua satin material.  It took way longer than I had planned, but I think it turned out really nice!  Thanks SO SO much to Simone, Deb, and Christy for helping me put together and take down my display!  I couldn’t have done it without you all!!!

I also had NO idea what an adventure getting to CHA would be!  It was supposed to be an easy flight from Chicago to Phoenix, a 1 hour layover, then a shorter flight from Phoenix to Long Beach, CA arriving at 4:30 PM.  Sounds reasonable, right?!?  Well, Phoenix had a crazy monsoon with lots of rain and even more wind!  Our landing was probably the most turbulence I’ve EVER felt on a flight and when we got to the terminal, we were told that our flight on to California was canceled due to high winds.  We (by we I mean Sarah, Susie, Nancy, and I) were scheduled on a flight that left a few hours later…which ended up getting canceled too.  By this time it’s 8:00 PM (we got to Phoenix at 2:00PM) and the only flight left of the night is also canceled…  Because of all the cancellations the only flight that we could get on was the next day at 2:30 PM….which meant that I would have missed half of the Supershow…which wasn’t cool with me at all!!!  We then determined that it is only a 5 ½ hour drive through the desert to get to Anaheim so we decide to drive since we needed to be there in the morning to set up everything.  (Did I mention that because of the first canceled flight we also had to go get our bags and recheck them in AND go through security again-only to have another flight canceled?)

The car rental terminal was in a different building than the main terminal, so before we took the shuttle we decided to call ALL the rental companies and see what kind of deal we could get.  This involved all 4 of us on the phone at one time, each with a different car rental agency negotiating the best possible rate for us!  Fifteen minutes later we had called all 8 (or was it 10) places and found the best possible deal.  We quickly left to go get our car and get on our merry way…  only problem is that we left so quickly I left my laptop bag in the terminal and didn’t realize it until we’d gotten to the car rental counter.  I frantically made my way back to the terminal and didn’t find my laptop bag where I knew I’d left it.  I checked with US Airways baggage claim and no one had turned it in there.  They referred me to the information desk so as I was walking out of the baggage claim area I looked over at the information desk and saw them closing the gate for the night.  I ran across the claim area and the SUPER kind lady there called security for me, although if it had ended up in Lost and Found I wouldn’t have access to it until 8:30 the next morning (by which time I HOPED I’d be in Anaheim!)  Security said that they did have a black laptop bag and they’d bring it down to see if it was mine…even though they didn’t have to!  What followed was probably the longest 4 minute wait of my entire life!!!!  Security comes around the corner and in his hand was my laptop bag!  I really had to restrain myself from hugging and kissing him!  Finally I made my way back to the rental car place again to meet up with everyone to continue on our drive to Anaheim.  While I’m dealing with my missing laptop the other ladies go through 3 different cars before they find one that will fit all of our luggage AND us!  It was pretty tight, but we fit.  Finally on the road at 9:00PM we find an In and Out burger for dinner and proceed to drive through Arizona in the middle of the night.  (So sad because that’s the only time I’ve been to Arizona and I couldn’t see a thing!)  Finally at 3:30 AM we arrive in Anaheim, just in time for a few short hours of sleep before heading up to the convention center to set up the display!  The whole thing was pretty funny…because what else can you do other than laugh in a situation like that!?!

Sorry that post was so long but I though it was a pretty funny story!

P.S.  I’ve got a great Free download Valentine’s Day project tomorrow for Tutorial Tuesday so be sure to check back!