Road Trip!

Travis, Steven's brother, visited over Memorial Day weekend. We hung out in Ephrata, Washington, visited the Grand Coulee Dam (a so-called technological wonder of the world), hiked a canyon and caught a day at the annual Sasquatch Music Festival at the beautiful Gorge amphitheater.

Weekend of World Domination

We had an extended stay in the mountains near Crystal Mt. in the Cascades of Washington State.  Just a couple of hours away from Seattle!

The weekend was full of snow, dear friends, good food, wonderful wine and a (sometimes) friendly game of Risk. 

Here are a few photos from the weekend...

Would-be Conquer of the World (guy in the red shirt)

Our dear friends Bonnie & Richard

Mt. Rainier

New York International Gift Fair

What a week! New York was great! The energy was completely different than San Fran. Tons more people and great feedback! I went in with a pretty high order goal and now realize that for a first time exhibitor the goal was too high. I made great contacts, meet great encouraging exhibitors and got some great leads...I never thought of approaching wineries for my kitchen collection. Could there be a business trip to Napa in my future? I will be doing the show again in August but my booth will look completely different and I will have some added product that I am getting very excited about!

The only thing I did not like about NY was my very bright booth. They put me in front of a window that for some reason received more light than any other booth in my isle. I know next time to not be in this location. The back wall was so bright I could not hang any product due to the glare. Ironic the sun beamed on a vendor from Seattle. The first day I was praying for rain...my wish came true.

Enjoy the photos!

San Francisco International Gift Fair

Carl and I arrived in San Francisco on Friday in the pouring rain. I wish I had taken pictures of us when we finally checked in. We were soaked!

It has been a long four days. The show was much slower than we expected but we meet some great exhibitors, got some great feedback on our booth and got some good orders. Here are a few photos of our booth. Next time we will paint the walls and be sure to have more merchandise so our booth is packed with stuff.

We also updated my website--thanks to my wonderful friend Josephine. The website reflects what is being presented at these shows. You can download my catalogue to see exactly what we are selling.

I am now in the San Fran airport waiting to get on my red eye to New York. I will update the blog soon with photos from NY.

Until then....

Carl setting up the booth.

Diane in the booth on the first day...

The aprons got a great responce at the show!

Below is a photo of my pillow in a display that the buyers walked past to get to the show.

More to come....

Diane Gets Ready for the Big Show!

Diane continues to be busy preparing for her shows in San Francisco and New York. She'll be out of town for two weeks spending long days selling her textiles to store owners. She is four days away from her first show. Wish her luck!

Happy New Year ~ Italiano Style!

On New Year's Eve we spent a wonderful evening with our good friends, Aniello and Antonia. Aniello made some amazing seafood dishes--mussels, lobster, shrimp, scallops. Antonia provided dessert, noisemakers and sparklers. We added a couple bottels of our favorite Italian Champagne--Banfi rose.

Hot Air Balloon Ride

We launched on September 6th from Snohomish, Washington, for an evening hot air balloon ride. Our good friends Bonnie & Richard joined us. We started out with some fear but once we reached 1000 ft (305 m) the height didn't really matter. We had great scenic views of the valleys between the Cascade Mountains and the waters of the Puget Sound. We finished by landing in a field of horses.

We started in the evening near the town’s airport. All around us were ariplanes taking off, helicopters buzzing around and parachutes landing. We all helped blow up the balloon.




The balloon itself costs about $35,000!








Look how big this balloon is compared to the guy inside!








We leaned way out to get this photo (not really).








True love!