National Women's Show

I am exhausted! The National Women's Show was a great success. Women are crazy when it comes to shopping and entering into all the contests there is. We gave out too many flyers to be counted.

Once again, when I thought I was not going to be able to pull through with it, God did the work. First off, we rented a 10x10 feet booth to display our oil portraits. The van we rented on Wednesday to go to Ottawa with killed two birds in one shot, I used it to transport everything to the Women's Show on Thursday. I thought I might as well set up a table with some CLP Invitations products. After dropping everything off, I quickly went to my wholesaler and ordered some more cute little nick-nacks to be picked up on Friday morning, just in time for the show.

I had everything all planned out, Friday morning was going to be a "rest" morning since I've been running around and was getting really tired, I wanted to take it easy before I've to stand the entire weekend at the show. I got a call Friday morning from the Women's Show saying that it is mandatory to have a carpet or some sort of coverings for our 10x10 feet of space. Sheesh! Last time I spoke with them, they said it's not mandatory... where in the world am I going to get cheap carpet?! Renting a 10x10 carpet from the show would cost $159 + tax???? But there was good news, the other reason for their call was that the company who paid for their booth next door canceled at the last minute, so we had the chance to expand to a 10x20 feet space.

I was very thankful when she told me on the phone, but once I got off the phone, I realized it might not be a good thing after all, it'd make my life more difficult! $269 to rent a 10x20 feet carpet for 3 days???? I also had to rush to my office to grab some more easels and paintings to display and to fill up the extra space we had. Rushed to Palais des Congres to drop off everything. The loading dock closed earlier than they said it would, I had to carry everything from my car into Palais des Congres and up to the 2nd floor all the way into the exhibition hall. I must have made 10 trips back and forth, what a waste of time and energy. Then I rushed to Reno Depot to pick up some sort of floor covering, drove super fast to the wholesaler in Laval to pick up the products and on my way back to the Palais des Congres, I made a wrong turn and ended up taking the long way to Chinatown from Laval. I was about to cry while driving 'cause I was all by myself thinking I would never be able to set up in time for 4pm. Kept praying and praying for God to give me peace and not to worry too much.

Finally got to Palais des Congres at 2pm and thought I'd set up whatever I can before 4pm and whatever else I can't set up, then that's it, can't do anything about it. God was good, I was able to set up most of the things I wanted to set up. Just left a couple of boxes in the car, that didn't really matter, as long as the over all look of the booth was good. I wouldn't want to be still setting up after the show starts, our company would look pretty bad. This is what it looked like 2 minutes before 4pm Friday.

What did I say? God is good! Everything worked out to our advantage. The 10x20 feet of space provided us with more visibility and exposure. Some people of course weren't interested in oil paintings and they didnt' realize we specialize in oil portraits from photos, CLP Invitations nick-nacks also made people stop at our booth, while they were checking out, Gloria (my little labourer for the weekend) and I bombarded them with our flyers and information. We also had a raffle for a beautiful 24"x36" oil painting. At times our booth would be flooded with people who wanted to fill out the ballot for the draw, you know when a crowd gathers on the street, that attracts even more people! That was really good, also our chance to give out flyers and info. When they realize when we can do with their photos, they were amazed. The booth next door, Restylane, gave free Botox demonstrations throughout the day (DISGUSTING!), people crowded around their booth to see what was going on and that was also our chance to give out flyers since the crowd spilled into our "territory".


For some samples of oil portraits and how amazing they are, you can check out our website. Honestly, the photos on the website does not do the portrait any justice. You should see the real thing! People continued to be amazed at how talented our artists are, I am amazed too! Ask Gloria!

Speaking of Gloria, this time, instead of stealing pens from the booth next door (like she did at the Wedding Show back in January), she kept stealing BAGS from Restylane!

Today is finally my slack off day, YAY!!!