Lesson #1: Check your booth signs before you leave your studio.
We are maybe the slowest booth putter-uppers at Surtex, and it has really been cutting into our shopping hours. So this year, with our two college daughter helpers, as well as Jim, my really tall husband who can reach the top of the booth without a stool, we designed our booth to go up faster than ever, with hopes of a Chelsea shopping trip to follow. But, alas, we had a tiny little set-up snaffoo:
During Booth Set-up on Friday:
Cathy: Wow, we are working so fast. I bet we will be out of here by 4.
Jules: Okay, Mom, what next?
Cathy: Aisle Signs. Here they are.
Jules: Um, Mom, these say Booth #550. We are #640.
Cathy: Uh-oh.
I had used the same files from years past to print our signs–when we were always #550–not #640. So with supplies from our handy dandy emergency tool kit, we hand-cut our new numbers … 2 per sign x 3 numerals = 12 cut-outs = more time than one might think. But, we powered through and finished our booth set-up … albeit not in time for shopping, but in time for a fun dinner.
Above: the traveling studio. I’m a bit of a perfectionist (as you might have guessed) so Jules had to talk me into believing that the juvenile hand-made aesthetic of our new lettering actually coordinated with the look of our booth. We even decided it looked better than before. So, we set off to reward ourselves with a piece of Crack Pie, which was sold at the Milk Bar, located just around the corner from our hotel, which was handy and dangerous, as we felt we deserved a reward every single night. (And yes, we are still walking off our Surtex rewards!)
