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[Dec. 8th, 2008|10:05 am] |
  
hi! yesterday was fun! exhausting! freezing! hilarious! amazing! ridiculous! awesome!
i woke up around 5:15, and was at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sarahcoyne 's by 6:15. said mornin' and see-ya to maisonwares and ben. then we zip-carred over to the castle around 6:45 and ate some grapes and split a pb&j in the car waiting for alison to come with the keys to the castle. at 7AM on the dot we went in and got to work. we set up table and chairs the night before, which was the best thing, realizing at 7AM there was no manual labor to perform. vendors started coming and it went very smoothly! the line started soooo early, and it was between 20-45 minutes wait time to get in until about 5:15PM or so. the day went by so fast, and thank god i was standing near the water, because although i did not drink nearly enough, if it hadnt been right there i probably would have keeled over around noon without the little sips i managed to remember. here are 2 lists because that is all i ever do anymore, is make bulleted lists.
things to be thankful for: - HELPERS!!!!!!! the kids who help every year are so cute. i know they arent children, but they are teenagers of some sort, and they are all so TINY. not one of them is more than 5'2". they are the best volunteers and are brutes with hauling around rubbermaid bins of artwork for vendors.
- strangers stephanie (i think?) and heather came to help for no reason other than that they like that the bazaar bizarre exists, and they stood in the howling gale of cold air by the door, or outside for HOURS helping with admission and the line. who are these nice people?!
- coworker nancy who came and helped and was so sweet and awesome, and was so PSYCHED to help.
- sarah's amazing family and friends! her cousins zaiga, maija, and silvja did the same, standing and hollering and smiling and being so pleasant and helpful. her friend tanya from the coolidge was also SO helpful at bossing the line in a serious way. just like it was her job, cause, uhh, that is her job at the coolidge.
- wonderlandq and jerry! for taking over and insisting i leave the door for a while. even though alison was also standing right next to the open door all day too. also jerry for letting me wear his jacket over my jacket for half the day! also also to alison for actually knowing what was going on most of the time and answering all my questions!
- last but not least edward!!! he came around 3 PM, with a turkey burger and baked sweet potato fries, which i ate without chewing more or less, in about 5 minutes. it was AWESOME. while i ate it he stood in front of my seat and warmed me up, then we got to walk around for a bit and he rubbed my shoulders and bought me a coke. thennnn he stood at the door for the rest of the day with me, shouting out when we were ready for more people, taking tickets and counting dollar bills. then he also ran around like a crazy man cleaning and stacking tables and chair and taking out the trash. perfect dude.
things that did not go perfectly, but we managed pretty well i think:- the fact that i quickly realized i have, umm, ZERO experience being bossy towards large groups of people, or being in charge of 'the door' anywhere was very quickly very obvious. i think if i end up helping run the door next year, i will be WAY BETTER at it, and have a better plan in place from the beginning, instead of figuring out what to do halfway through the day. OOPS.
- having better communication with the castle staff, or just knowing a little better how they operate. getting certain things up and running, or problems squared away took far longer than i think it should have. aka wireless access, people sneaking in through other doors, and the horrible bottleneck at the front door for people coming and going.
- if we have been able to block the wind somehow for the vendors just inside the door. THANKS FOR BEING SO NICE ABOUT IT EVERYONE!
other than those couple things, i think it went really well, especially considering it was the first year in the castle! it was pretty awesome. there were so many good vendors and i loved seeing everyones stuff when i wandered around for a bit saying hello and checking in with people. im a little sad that i was so boggled that i barely shopped. BUT i plan on doing some serious etsy purchases while i am laid up next week. i am glad all my crafty friends seemed to have done well and enjoyed themselves. i saw tons of friendly faces from my work, massart, the internet, other craft fairs, and even my highschool! it was kind of startling at times, but really awesome too.
after breaking down and stacking up the 200 tables and zillion chairs, and waiting around for everyone to pack up and clean, edward and i got a ride home from sarah with stacie. it was soooo nice getting in the house! i immediately got in a super hot bubble bath while edward ordered pizza. i ate pizza with REAL CHEESE, and it was SO GOOD. oh man, SO GOOD. i am not yet quite regretting it, but will surely be later. then we went to bed. sweet blissful sleeeeep!
today, it was obviously really hard to get up, but sarah and i met up at 8 instead of 7, and stopped to get tea, so im not in terrible shape. im mostly just physically sore and exhausted from the day. i squatted approximately 1 MILLION TIMES. seriously. now i need to get some work done. enough lollygagging while my reports download! |
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