growing.

I spent last week in Chicago at the Craft and Hobby Association trade show for work.  It was another successful show for us as we launched the new Silhouette CAMEO, a new electronic cutting tool.  Pretty much the same tool as our old Silhouette only BIGGER!  Finally we have a 12" cutting tool to compete with the rest of the industry.  It still comes with free (and awesome I might add) design software, still accesses all the fonts on your computer, and still cuts everything from vinyl to fabric.  Still awesome, is what I'm saying... and I'm not even getting paid to slap on a fake smile and be BFF with every woman that walks into our booth... well, not right now is what I mean.  Actually, CHA can be a lot of fun.  I kind of love it when people have that "where have you been all my life" moment of realization or when they bring samples of what they cut with their Cricut and what they cut with their Silhouette and show us why they'll never go back. It's easy to sell a product you really believe in.

Along with our new bigger machine, we got a bigger booth.  Our first show with Silhouette was a 10x20 spot with a table and a cardboard back drop.  Next show we invested in one of these towers below and then added its twin just last winter.  This year we jumped to a 30'x30' from our previous 20'x20' spots and got fancy white carpet.  I designed a 20' back wall/storage room and a 12'x11' demo table with three CAMEO stations.  This job has definitely stretched me.  I have certainly never designed a trade show booth before, but when Jake gave me the assignment, I actually enjoyed learning some simple 3D rendering software and designing this display.   I like working for Silhouette.  It's fun to see it gaining so much momentum.  

Isn't that a luxurious demo table?  We've come a long way from our banquet tables and table clothes.  It was fun to see it all come together.

We didn't do much for sight-seeing in Chicago this year.  We were so tired every night that we mostly went home and crashed.  However since we had purchased our Cubs tickets in advance, we pushed through the fatigue forced ourselves to Wrigley Field.  I'm so glad we went because once we got there, it was great to just sit and enjoy a ball game and a lemon chill.  Mmmm.  Wrigley field is tiny, old and full of character.  It was so cool to see the stadium seating on top of the surrounding buildings.