michelle my belle

Fun in the Sun

A few more pictures from our vacay in North County, San Diego a couple of weeks ago.

We swam.
And were silly.

We visited old stomping grounds.

This was the closest we got to the beach if you can believe that!

We walked around with no agenda.

We took in the amazing flowers and plants that they have and we don't.

l to r: Pete, Steve (our gracious-bet he's never been called that before-host for the week), Jess, Gary and Richard

We visited old friends from the Bike Shop days!
Checked out Richard's company 2XU USA. Our oldest has bad circulation in her hands in the cold so we got her one of their compression shirts to see if it helps. Here's an article I found that gives more info. on 2XU and compression wear. Pretty cool stuff.

left to right: me, gary, steve, jess and buster(dog), courtney (alexis' friend that we took with us to SD) and alexis

We drove up to Auto Club Speedway to watch our friend Steve ride his motorcycle at crazy speeds while brushing his knee on the ground.
I secretly wished I had the ability and the guts to do something like this.

We got invited to fun and delicious bbq's.

And, we made new friends.

It was truly. a fun-filled. somewhat relaxing vacation.

Thank you Steve for having us!!!

Las Vegas and Running

 

 

A few days ago I went to Las Vegas to walk the mainly furniture show at the World Market Center. They've been trying to grow the gift portion of the show over the past few years. I'm glad I spent a few hundred $$ and flew down before deciding to commit to a booth, shipping product, a week of boredom and that rigmarole. I felt that this show is a ways off from being a good gift show. Maybe when some of the larger gift companies move in...

Running wise I've been doing okay. No injuries so far, thank you Lord!

2/11 - 7 mls. 8:30 average

2/13 - 6 miles easy

2/15 - 15 miles easy

and today ran 6 miles averaging 9:00 min. miles. 

This weeks goal is to run between 35-40 miles. We'll see.

Hope you're doing well. :)

God Bless

Home from New York!

Finally done with the show season. I guess I've been a bit lazy lately with the computer hence the lack of blogging. I didn't pull it out a single time while in NY. Partially cause it would have cost me $14.95 per day for Internet and partly cause I think I needed a break. I've been paying for it the past few days trying to catch up on all the emails!

I'm lovin' this mermaid sculpture that a jeweler used in her display. I didn't get the name of the jeweler or the artist that created this masterpiece. 

Another picture of our display. This display can take us anywhere from 8 hours to set up or like in NY 4.5 hours. Just depending on how much new stuff we're adding or taking away. 

It was very cold, we didn't spend a whole lot of time taking pictures or checking out the scenery on this trip. We did go see "In The Heights" on Broadway. It was fabulous. Got our tickets at the tkts booth for $65 or so!

 

Glad to be home. Enjoying my family, my own coffee, Internet and running without stoplights!

MTU - Jan. 24, ran 16 miles in Central Park with Katy, didn't run the rest of the week! ugh. bad girl!

Feb. 1, ran 13.25 miles and today ran 3 mls. 

I'm on week 4 of a 16 week training program. No more slacking from this point on.

Oh, and I started a 14 Day Challenge yesterday with Katy (my graphics/show/running gal). We're going to track everything we eat for the 14 days. My stomach is growling as I type! The first few days always seem to be the hardest.

Hope you are doing well. I know these are some tough times for many.

Home from the CA Gift Show!

Done with 2 out of 3 gift shows! This is a picture of me next to the ginormis chair outside the L.A. Mart. I'm sure glad to be home other than the 84º weather they were having in S.Cal! 

We are officially able to scratch one more gift show off our bi-yearly regimen. This show has been going down for the past 9 years but this was a record breaking BAD show! So, we're down to doing the Atlanta and New York Gift Shows. I won't miss the extra travel and work but I'm not quite sure what we're going to do to reach those new customers in those areas. hmmm? 

A few Allen Designs booth shots to give you an idea of our display.

The show had this display set up at the entrance to our floor. I loved the branches with simple leaves cut out of fabric or paper. Simple, cheap but fun. 

I'll be back later to post on some creative peeps I met. I've missed you! Sorry to leave for so long without letting you know when I'd be back.

Getting in the Groove again!

Three out of four shows done! hip hoo-ya! I'm sure glad we sent out our new Allen Designs catalogs right before the show season since overall shows seem to be down as far as attendance goes. We'll see, maybe all the buyers are going to show up at the NY Gift Show here in a few weeks!?

The new additions to Allen Designs were received well, this cow clock being one of them. You can't tell by this picture but he has a long red tongue as his pendulum... all for licking the sweet ice cream cone : )

My daughter and I had a great time in SF together.

Her grandma and grandpa, uncle and cousin live in the Bay Area and came up and took her to the Chihuly Exhibit at thede Young Museum. What a treat for her. I had the pleasure of attending one of his exhibits in Boise, ID several years ago and it was amazing.

If you've commented or emailed and I haven't gotten back to you yet... I will.... soon I promise! Just tryin to get back in the groove of things! : )

SF Gift Show

And tada here we are in SF. Took the BART for the first time from the airport into the city. I usually do the Super Shuttle. I LOVE mass transit! Not to mention it saved me about $25 for the two of us.

We went to the Paul Frank store as you can see from the above pic.

Hit Anthropologie to check out their amazing displays which my friend April turned me onto in NY a few years ago! Thank you April! I just can't get enough of their creativity.

Also from Anthroplogie. I think this is from a company called Millenium. Cute birdy!

On our walk back to our hotel from the show. Alexis pointed it out. It warms my heart having my daughter notice something like this.

We also got to witness Critical Mass which was quite entertaining!

Honey, I think I found the tattoo I want.

A day of set up and a day of actual show finished! Only 3 more to go. Hope you're all doing well and enjoying your summer. May your day be filled with smiles!

I'm still Alive!

I'm still alive, just traveling like a maniac! For some reason I've had a much harder time blogging through this set of shows. I'm about to board the plane with my 13 year old daughter here in the Portland Airport we're heading to the SF Gift Show! I will try to post when we get there... but until then, thank you for your comments and I miss you my blogging buddies!

San Diego Reunion

Steve, Gary and Greg

Remy McManus, Chris Horner, Kiyomi Waller, (steve's sis's hubby in the back), Gary, Greg, Steve and Dan Rock

The very generous and kind host and hostess of our get together, Steve and Caprice. Thank you!

Right after I got back from the shows, my family ventured off to San Diego for some fun and time together with old friends from our cycling days. (Steve & Greg even managed to get Gary on a bike again!)

It was a short, adventure packed weekend. Full of GoKarting, horseback riding, time in the pool (or for me, by the pool) and reuniting with cherished friends.

NYC

I've been home for a few days but having a hard time plunging back into blogging. I think I'm overwhelmed, not knowing where to start, which pictures to use and as always... not knowing what to write. So I figure I'll throw a few out there and try again tomorrow!

This is on the shoreline of Manhattan. Katy and I flew straight from SF to NY and set up quickly (5 hours ending at 9pm) so that we'd have the entire next day to meander through NY. And what an amazingly beautiful day it was! Thanks God!

We finished the day off with a Broadway show. Legally Blonde! It was light, funny and we both walked out smiling. I just sit in awe at the sheer talent, I've always wished I could sing, act or play an instrument. I guess having a hard time carrying a beat, tone deaf and bashful in front of a group of 3 or more has always stopped me from pursuing that dream! lol!

Traveling with Katy was full of laughs and messing around. These will be some good memories.

ps... if you have an email in with me, I'm planning on getting to the last 63 of them tomorrow! : )

San Francisco to New York

I have many pictures and lots of catch up for the past few weeks. We'll see if I get to it or not. But for starters...

We made some new wonderful friends. This is Brian and Christa from the Green Glass Co. We're looking at their work displayed and for sale here in the SF Barney's.

It made the show so much more fun having them as neighbors! Their glasses are amazing and all made from recycled wine bottles that they have shipped in from all over the country.

Miss Katy hammin' it up with one of the Barney's displays!

Another cool creator that we met was Kate from Kate Grenier Designs. She has a collection of magnets, clocks and other wonderful creations and she's from Portland!

I'm sorry for the lack of excitement. Long days in convention centers doing shows... I'm so thankful to be nearing the end!