speaking of bites...

Hands down...the best cupcake place in NYC is Babycakes - vegan, healthy, deliciousness.

Bite of the Big Apple

Ahh. Florent. I am happy I was able to experience this place before the end. I suppose the gentrification of the Meat Packing District has gone a little too far and is causing the end of Restaurant Florent.

It is hard to pick favorites when one small area can offer so much good food, but I am going to have to go with Extra Virgin as my favorite meal this trip. The service was friendly, the atmosphere was european, quaint and happening. And the food of course was mmmm mmmm good. May I suggest the pistachio crusted goat cheese salad?

Don't know why I was surprised to see kumamoto oysters on the menu at Soho House, but I had to get some.

And last, but certainly not least, I must mention Zampa. A great little spot with great service and tapas size smaller plates for sharing the fabulous flavors. A great selection of wines as well. A perfect end to a great day.

Spaces and Places

With so many wonderful things to see in Manhattan, it is hard to know where to begin. Luckily, we didn't have to go far for the most part – our fabulous host lives a stone's throw from the now hotspot – the Meat Packing District, both charming and HIP! The view from his office is quite the sight. Skyscrapers a plenty with amazing patches of green. They look like little oompa loompa gardens amongst the concrete.

I can't even begin to describe how amazing this little spot in Brooklyn is ... our friends in Crown Heights had a dream and made it come true. We were fortunate enough to venture out of Manhattan for dinner one night and it truly felt like we were walking around in a live Dwell Magazine ... you can read more about it here or here

Another out of the ordinary experience, this great restaurant back in the Meat Packing District called Spice Market instantly transports you to another continent all together. And they have kumquat mojitos - yum!

I had to make a little jaunt to my very favorite store while visiting New York. It is such an inspiring place to shop, you could never see it all or see the same thing twice when you go. I absolutely LOVE ABC Carpet & Home.

Left Brain : Be Organized : LobotoME

Here's the Left Side of the Brain...er, I mean...Booth.

Let me tell you that the LobotoME products did help keep us organized leading up to the show - Alli & I both used the packME list; the list ME/doodle ME list & the momME planner leading up to the show. Everyone that came into the booth said, "Oh, I needed this packME list before I came to NY!" Seriously, the only thing that is better than making lists is crossing things off of them!

Speaking of LobotoME...we did have some characters that came into our booth during the show. Some of which included a man who told ME that I spelled LobotoME wrong on everything - that it is spelled with a 'y' and not a 'ME." uh, duh. When we proceeded to attempt to explain to him the reason for the spelling {goods to keep ME sane} - he told us "that our generation were all spoiled, text messenging kids who wanted nothing more than attention." lol just remembering it :-) Then another woman who told us that the booth was "too cheerful." And then there were the people who despite the BRAIN on the banner next to LobotoME {goods to keep ME sane}, could not for the life of them, figure out how to pronounce LobotoME. hmmm...

Speaking of characters, did I mention how Alli & I accidentally got on the subway to Queens instead of Brooklyn and the 13 year olds that helped us figure it out thought we had a lobotomy? Well, until I explained that Alli is from a town of 1700 people. Then they expressed a small dose of sympathy...with a smirk of course.

Right Brain : Be Creative : BirdDog Press

The right side of our booth was made almost entirely from the 100% recycled corrugated cardboard the booth contents were shipped in. The BirdDog banner was hand-painted on organic cotton canvas. The table was made from mailing tubes and three layers of corrugated cardboard and the Flor tiles were made from 80% post-consumer materials.
All of the BirdDog press product line is printed on either post-consumer recycled paper or tree-free paper and most of the materials are produced with alternative energy, such as hydro or wind power right here in the good ol' US of A.

Buyers, Buyers, Everywhere

We had many buyers visit our booth. The press was represented in large numbers and of course, Pigeons!!

booth construction

three people and nineteen boxes all in one yellow cab!

we started with three walls of "pipe and drape"

putting it all together slowly but surely

armed and ready for day one!

{ look at US }

NSS 2008 - it's on! Sorry for the lack of updates/photos/show gossip/etc. In all of the 19 boxes of stuff we had to ship back to NYC, we both overlooked packing a card reader - oops - but it should arrive tomorrow and when it does we will post rockin' pictures of our booth, set up day, our midnight jaunt to Magnolia Bakery (seriously, I should live here - NYC is a city that not only has tons of great cupcakes stores but ones that are open til 2am!!! - what more could I ask for?); and the YUMMY food we've been eating in NYC.

xo, Jenny & Alli

{ and this is what is waiting for us back in NYC }

Lord help us. :-)

creme de la creme

I've just discovered kirtsy from one of my fave blogs, Design Mom. It is a spot where everything cool and neato has been found for you and you can just dive in. Or, when you find something to share, you can post it there for others to love. Apparently, kirtsy used to be called sk*rt ... so I'm helping get the word out. Just like that friend who always finds the best stuff. Only Better.
Boy, I sure hope someone posts BirdDog Press or LobotoME there someday.

Making Our Mark

So we got everything shipped off to NYC last week and .... well .... now what? I've been so unbelievably consumed with that project that I had forgotten how much can be accomplished now that the one big thing is off my plate. Since the weight has been lifted, I finished up a fabulous wedding invitation ensemble, spent Mother's Day with my family – (no work!), finally launched an overdue web project for a new book – Dear American Airlines, inspired myself a little design session for Splashes & Splurges (to be revealed at a hopefully sooner than later date), and knocked out a long list for my favorite non-profit – Leave No Trace. And while I completely agree with their message as far as getting outside goes ... I still hope to leave a big trace in New York ... we leave on Friday!!!! Looking forward to all the activity, excitement and continuation of the greatest learning experience in the stationery business that National Stationery Show booth #3867 has to offer.

{ i need a lobotomy, otherwise known as the evolution of booth #3867 }

So you know how many booth ideas/drafts/plans/drawings, etc. that we came up with before finalizing our booth design? It must have been over 100. I started off wanting to buy this old fashioned hospital gurney and going with the whole brain surgeon/medical theme thing until my dear husband (smart one that he is)...told me that it would cost MORE to ship it to NYC from Colorado than the gurney, plane ticket and other items combined. Hmm...back to square one. Then, Alli & I designed a rockin' modern booth with cool Ikea stuff like this and this...well then that got shot down because we didn't want to have to pay to ship all of that heavy metal stuff back & forth or the union labor to put it together... Anyway, to make a long story short we have designed a simple, modern, eco-friendly booth space that we can't wait to show the world (or at least all of the stationary buyers!) later this week...

{ tips for taking product photos with props }

Here.

ps. this is the NSS postcard mailer we sent out to lots & lots of cool shops across the country! come visit us at booth #3867 ~ we'll have special treats for you & cool show specials!

{ life on hold }

This is my darling husband (aka shipper boy) shipping out BOXES of my stuff to NYC for the National Stationery Show that is less than 2 weeks away! So far we've shipped over 347 lbs of STUFF back to NYC. That's like 3 of ME...

Anyway, while I've been getting ready for LobotoME's NSS debut, I feel like I've put a lot of my LIFE on hold (I think Alli would agree). I go to bed about 3 hours after my husband and he & I trade off care of Sam all day long, so we haven't really seen each other, or talked about anything other than shipping logistics (and certainly have not had sex - OMG, can I say that on a blog?!?!?) in ages. My house hasn't been cleaned in weeks. I spend more time talking to my printing company than I do any of my friends or family (with the exception of Alli - my partner in crime & design - she & I skype each other everyday asking each other misc. tradeshow questions, like, "How exactly do they expect us to FIRE PROOF a booth made out of paper at a PAPER show!?!?" and "What shoes are you wearing, are flip flops a no-no?" (We live in Colorado - our mountain casual attire of Patagonia tank tops, shorts & flip flops, doesn't quite cut it in the fashion capital of the US.) Anyway, I am finally feeling like there is a light at the end of the NSS tunnel. Having said all that, and knowing what a LIST maker I am, I have now started my list of Post-NSS things to do...it includes such things as work on garden, send thank you notes from Sam's bday (yes, that was in March, I'm a slacker), do about 27 loads of laundry, lots more YOGA, clean our house, take a really long shower & really shave my legs, clean the garage, get patio furniture out of shed, hire window cleaner, catch up on accounting, making summer travel plans, etc. And of course dreaming of getting enough sales that I can send my tired body here for a few days of R&R.