So Much for Planning Ahead

So our day didn't go quite as we had planned it to go.

We arrived at the CHA at 10 o'clock... right when they opened.  We had our handy-dandy shopping cart.  We had on comfortable shoes.  We had eaten a yummy breakfast.  We were ready to rock!

Then we saw the sign that said "Tuesday, open 10:00am to 2:00pm".  2:00pm!!!  I thought they were open until 6:00pm!!!  Needless to say, I was a little frantic.  We decided that there was going to be no time for a lunch break {thank goodness we ate breakfast}, so we quickly called the restaurant where we had dinner reservations for 6:30pm and changed it to a late lunch reservation at 2:30pm. 

The good news is that we got some excellent things accomplished in our very short five hours {which seemed like one... I'm not kidding}. 

We met our friends at My Mind's Eye, my favorite paper company, whose new line I am so extremely excited about.

We told Basic Grey that we heart them... but we hate how their paper snags so much in the Cricut.  {Actually, what really happened is that we walked in the booth and were greeted by Joey, a very nice Rep for Basic Grey, and Jennifer barked "We hate your paper!"  We had to do a little damage control after that... but I think we got the point across.}

We met Suede, the fabulous designer from season 5 of Project Runway.  He was awesome, and told us lots of fun Project Runway secrets.

 

{Apparently Jen was so excited, she couldn't even keep the camera still.}

We ran into Jo Packham of The Creative Connection, and I got to hear about some great changes they are making to this year's event after last years not-so-successful Handmade Market.

The girls very proudly wore their badges that said "Professional Crafter".

And... we found our new machine. 

Many of you had suggested the Silhouette, and that was the direction that I was leaning in.  However, our biggest problem with the Cricut is the mats.  We hate the mats.  We go through probably 10 to 15 mats a week... in a really busy week, more.  They are killing us!  Someone at the show yesterday told us that according to Cricut, their mats get an average of 67 uses and we cracked up!  Not even close Provo Craft.  Not even close.  But despite the fact that it also uses mats, we decided to give the Silhouette a try. 

About 30 seconds into the demo, we all knew that this was not the machine for us. 

The guy demoing the product couldn't even remember how to get through the umpteen steps it took to get to the cut.  The mats seemed just as bad, if not worse that the Cricut mats.  And seriously... how many cords does it take to use one machine???  We just don't think it's the machine for us.

Then we found the eCraft machine.

We saw this machine last year, but it was brand new to the market, and I am just not a big fan of buying first generation electronics.  Plus there were a few features that seemed like they would be limitations for our needs.

This year, they have totally revamped the machine.  They said they really listened to the customer feedback and made some big improvements. 

But the best thing of all... it doesn't use a mat!!!  {Plus, it is bright pink... bonus!}

I can't wait to get our machine and start testing it out.  Hopefully, there will be great blog entries to come about how super fantastic this machine is.  Hopefully.

All in all, even in the very short four hours, we had a very productive time at the CHA.

But now it was 2 o'clock, and none of us were expected home for hours.  Why on earth would we go home when the men were all set to handle dinner and bedtime???  So on a whim, while walking to the restaurant for our late lunch, we decided that we were going to stay for the Laker game. 

After sticker shock at the box office and a run-in with some very pushy scalpers, we ended up finding tickets on Stubhub.com.  Second row from the top... but tickets none-the-less.

We arrived at the restaurant, famished and excited for our evening's adventure. 

We walked into Magnolia, and were greeted by the darling preggers manager, who for some reason was whispering to us.  As we looked around the room, it was clear that something was happening... there were several people with earpieces, no customers, and some very grumpy looking people staring at their laptops.  Either Obama was there, or we had just walking into a reality TV filming.  Happily, it was the latter.  Unhappily, it was a taping for Audrina Patridge's new Reality Show.

So we were banished to the patio, and not allowed to use the bathroom.  Well, we were allowed to use the bathroom, but we had to stand around like idiots waiting for them to cut tape so that we could sneak by.  Then we got stuck in the bathroom, because they were in the middle of a scene, and the cameras were pointed right at the bathroom door!

And even though we were out on the patio... behind closed doors... the producers were still giving us stink eye every time we laughed.

 {Those are the mean Producers.}

It was an interesting day. 

We had a blast and stayed until the end of the third quarter of the Laker game, that then ended up going into overtime. 

{I love what happens when you let other people use your camera.  It's better to focus on the people, random photo taker!}

Today we are exhausted.  Too much CHA/Reality Show/LA/Lakers Game fun.