image credited to: Atlantic Craft Trade Show


I'm excited!
This is my 2nd time at the ACTS, so I feel really ready this year. I'm going to try to do a journal post from Halifax, but will definitely recap when I get home too.

Basically, ACTS is a show open only to Retailers looking for Atlantic Canadian-made products. It's closed to the public, making it different from the other kind of show I do where people come to shop (like at Christmas time). As an exhibitor, I will be there with samples of my work, and interested buyers will (hopefully!) place orders for their store...and then you will see it on their shelves! Neat-o!

I'm still fascinated and enchanted with this world of wholesale trade show. My first time at ACTS was almost magical...like I had stepped behind a curtain of sorts. Because I dig the handmade scene, attending ACTS felt akin to having a backstage pass at a concert...I got to meet so many of the makers of goods that I had seen in stores and bought as gifts! Here they were! All in one place! And the people doing the "shopping" were the owners and managers of some of my favorite shops! Cool!

Going as an exhibitor is so much fun. It really is. Sure, all trade shows are exhausting, but it's a good kind of feeling! I feel like I learn and grow so much as a business person by doing this show...the retailers I've met have been absolutely amazing and show organizers go above and beyond "helpful".
In 2007 I made a huge leap to supplying 30 stores (up from just a handful). In 2008, I would like to continue with roughly the same number of retailers. Thirty seems to be what I can handle.

So.
Just a couple more sleeps and this country bumpkin will once again find herself in the big city of Halifax.
My list of must-visit eateries is growing, although I know from experience I'll probably wind up exhausted, eating pizza in my hotel room! Haha. Were I only joking, I would be stopping in at the Old Triangle (I ate something really tasty there once), i'd order up a bunch of maki and tempura at maybe hamachi house or some other sushi place, i'd grab a dessert from the case at The Italian Gourmet, and for something new, I would try Jane's on the Common to see about some ricotta pancakes. Oh and then there's tasty finger foods on Argyle Street, and gelato on Spring Garden. Oh Dear!

Since Christmas, I've been taking care of all things ACTS (the show in Halifax FEB.2-4).

There's been plenty of these moments:


My Don Music moments multiply with the onset of deadlines. I start to rush, I throw any sense of "flow" out the window, and a special kind of panic-adrenaline mixture fuels my actions...the more resistent the challenge, the more intense my drive to overcome it. It may seem odd to some that a person would have such "emotional" reactions to say, figuring out a new necklace design, or getting a brochure layout just right, but for me, this is where it's at. Until I get it right, I am sitting at that piano (workbench, computer desk), for as long as it takes. Consumed, you could say.

Thankfully, and with a good bit of luck, there are times in between where I also get to feel like this:


A sampling of my i-did-it phrases include
"Hallelujah",
"Eureka",
"Merci"
"Thank Goodness",
"YES!"(whilst pumping air with fist)
and sometimes, just a quiet, to-myself-ish "whew!"
I am noticing a pattern where the quieter "whew" moments are rarely ever false, whereas those times where I run around the house like a joyous fool can often be followed by the humbling, "oh. maybe I didn't get it right".

What do you utter when things finally go right?
What do you do in a Don Music moment?

Today, I woke up and decided it was the perfect day to make some graphs.
I have not made graphs since elementary school, and at first I thought I might have to draw them manually with pencils and paper.
However, upon Googling "how to make graphs", I discovered a most wonderful online resource that is designed for children so it's easy enough for even me. Seriously. I punched in some numbers and had an awesome graph ready to print in about 5 minutes. Wow. I now have all my business data from 2007 saved in graphic form, and I'm pretty sure my resulting level of happiness says volumes about my NQ (Nerd Quotient). In case any of you also find yourself with the urge to make a graph, Click here and let the games begin!

I do love a new year.
The "fresh slate/new leaf/brand new day" message beckons me to focus on some goals, try and figure out what steps I must take to try and guide my life even closer to my "DREAM" (insert the sound of tinkling magic fairy bells here.)

The two big questions are these:
1. What do I want to do more of in 2008?
2. What obstacles existed in 2007?

The answer to #1 seems to boil down to the basic (and fairly common, i'm afraid): Live More.

In 2007, I resolved to pour everything into making Lamoore Designs sustainable. It worked! Yay!!!!

However, I overshot in my efforts to grow the business and, as a result, neglected many of my other (non-work) favorite pleasures. All those vital ingredients that let me run at optimum performance levels (Nature, poetry, daydreams, play, exercise) got overlooked in the race to meet deadlines.

Now don't go feeling too sorry!! 2007 was incredibly fulfilling professionally...every day of work was a day spent doing something I absolutely love with all my heart...how many people are lucky enough to say that? I say a little thank-you every day for being in this extremely priviliged position of "overworked artist"! Imagine! Who'd a thunk it? I feel a little guilty even making such a selfish resolution..."live more"...really, who do I think I am?
Truthfully, the reason for the unbalance is this: I love my work perhaps a little *too* much...it's *easy* for me to forget about all those other things.

It's just that around about September, a peculiar feeling crept in...it was as if the effects of such an off-kilter lifestyle were catching up to me, and I knew that I would soon need to adjust the balance.

So here we are, ain't it grand? 2008 will be the year of Balance, achieved by adding in some things, and taking others out...it won't be easy because I am a creature of habit.
At first, I'll need to pencil in things like "go for a walk", "take a bath", "curl up with book", just until I can establish some kind of routine. I want to cook in the kitchen more, and generally help out, so I'll pencil that in as well. Because I demand to see way more bike-riding in summer/08, I *will* still have to work uber-hard (2007 style) in the winter months, but I have a plan for that too.

I'm hoping this journal entry will reinforce my new intentions...I'm not making any radical changes, just slight little shifts, but having a public record like this should help...just writing this post has helped, actually. Thanks, internet. *smiles*

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