i'm in the o.c. but where's seth cohen?

so, i've arrived at cha all safe and sound! man is that 6 hour flight more than a little boring! i got into the hotel around 9ish and unpacked right away, i totally have to like move in to a hotel room, i hate that living out of a suitcase feeling! the "closet" is full, the bathroom counter is covered and my work station is all good to go. and yes, i am a total nerd. i had a killer quesadilla, a sierra nevada and went to bed early, well early for west coast time, and had an odd time with the feeling of this huge king size bed. at one point i woke up sleeping on it sideways, there's something really disconcerting about sleeping on a perfect square!

my slow morning consisted of  watching "jumper", doing a little preemptive class planning so that i know what to order extras of and going over my notes for the show via text message with dawn. then i headed over to the convention center, making a quick stop at the starbucks in the hilton on my way. much to my excitement they had the hot cup sleeves i need for my class next month, and the barista was nice enough to give me a bunch of them! anyway, i got my pass printed, it's best to beat the rush there will be tomorrow morning, grabbed some of the catalogs that were out on the literature spinny thing and then sat outside enjoying the palm trees for a little while. you just can't beat some palm tree shade in january, it does my state of mind good!

so, right now i'm trying to decide where to have dinner before i head over to the s.e.i. presentation party and then it's time for some more notes and resting up for the first day of the show tomorrow! i should have some way more exciting posts after tomorrow! 

i'm good, i'm (almost) gone

so i've been running around like crazy getting ready to leave for cha tomorrow (well i guess today, legally, eek!). some of you may know this about me, but i love to have things perfectly set up when it comes to stuff like this and pretty much love any excuse to label, make lists & create organizational systems. so, before every show i make myself a little notebook to keep all my notes, booth listings (alphabetical & by booth #)  and any items i need to remember to re-order at the show all in one place. anyway, here's my little notebook for this years winter show, gotta love that bind-it-all!

ooh! i also wanted to share my most recent workout mix for all you peeps with the wii fit, or any sort of workout plan, i guess. this is the latest draft of what i listen to when i'm doing the "30 minute free step". it's just over 30 minutes, and it starts slow, gets more upbeat and then winds back down so you aren't dieing by the end. i usually do nerdy little moves like changing my lead foot & knee lifts during the faster parts of the upbeat songs so that i get the most out of it.  just make sure you are listening to the bass beat on a lot of the tracks or you'll end up going too fast for the balance board to properly read your steps. for the most part though i don't really worry about going to fast for it because it's about the workout you're getting, not the end "score" or whatevs. anyway, here it is;

01. "walking" by the dodos

02. "i'm good, i'm gone" by lykke li

03. "sunrise" by yeasayer

04. "i don't wanna be in love" by good charlotte (yeah, i said good charlotte.)

05. "get myself into it" by the rapture

06. "shut up and let me go" by the ting tings

07. "pot kettle black" by tilly and the wall

08. "electric feel" by mgmt

09. "for emma" by bon iver

a little random, but it totally works. i'm sure i'll need a brand new one in a couple of weeks, but for the time being, this is one is totally doing it for me.

anyway, i'm off to finish up the packing i can do tonight, dvr all my shows for the week, and then it's off to sleep, if i can stop making lists in my head that is! my flight leaves at 5:30 tomorrow evening so i still have time! i'm not sure what form it will be in yet, but i'll definitely be blogging from the show, promise!

the new little miss in my life.

that little lady over there is little miss emma burd! marykate and i have been friends for so long that we're pretty much sisters, and we defenitly act like it, so we've decided that emma is my pretty much niece, haha. 

it's been so fun spoiling her with adorable outfits, little boots and her very first hoodie. she's over 2 months old now and marykate & i were hanging out at my house finishing her announcements the day this photo was taken, hence the sweatpants and bad hair, oops. 

yes, 2 months post-birth is probs a little late, but it was worth the wait because the announcements turned out really cute, if i do say so myself.

marykate's married name is burd, which makes my creative life very easy when it comes to making things for her, cori and now miss emma. i.e. "the burds have a new nest" "love burds" and most importantly, "there's a new burd in the nest!" i know, i know! supreme cheese, but it is supreme cheese that is supremely necessary!  

so for emma's birth announcements i used the adorable bird paper from basic grey's "urban prairie" collection with a little touch of pink patterned matting. the little egg shaped photo of emma tucked into the nest is actually a magnet when you pull it out. squee! (sorry!) anyway, of course they needed the embellished envelope touch, so i used my favorite memory box stamp  (the branch with nest is mounted regularly & the bird is mounted on the side of the woodmount, genius!) for the fronts of the envelopes. 

marykate sent them out this past week so hopefully we'll hear some feedback about them pretty soon, but in the mean time i'll share them here! what do you think?

oh yeah... i blog.

so, to sum up the past few months, i've been working, movie-going, rocking, shopping, creating, reading & a bunch of other things, but i was definitely not blogging, or even keeping up with people's blogs for that matter. sorry guys! (if anyone still reads this.)

anyway, this is what my table at home looked like on sunday. i have a new work form home day that i'm totally loving. and since i'm heading into philly tommorow, which would be my normal work from home day, i switched it to sunday. at this point i was taking a little break from class prep to check on the status of some orders and search for more cha release sneak peeks (has anyone else noticed that there really haven't been many this show?)  

ooh! and that's my brandy-new macbook aluminum in the photo, which i am on as we speak and still totally adjusting too! there are a few things i miss from my pc days (y'know like last week) like cutting and pasting and ms paint, which although a little ghetto, got me where i needed to go, haha. i'm really excited that's it's nice and light and it will be so much easier to travel with than the 20 pound dell.

speaking of travel, i leave for the winter cha show in anaheim friday evening and i'm kind of nowhere near ready. eek! or at least i don't feel ready. i'm probably closer than i think. i'm definitely curious about a lot of the manufacturers that haven't given any sort of peaks. i was thinking about doing a little video blogging from cha, but i'm not quite sure about that yet. i did a little test "filming" today and i'm a little spazzy and not very articulate, haha. but maybe i'll get used to it. who knows if anyone would even watch, haha.

well, i'm off to have my lean cuisine before the my class starts. i'm teaching the first of two sessions of "maximizing your 6 x 6 paper pads" heavy stuff, i know, haha. you can kind of peak the samples in that photo up there. : ) 

i promise to be a better blogger!