Inside the Studio

New York, New York

Greetings from NYC!
We arrived today to set up for the National Stationery Show at the Jacob Javits Convention Center... Whew, what a long day!  And what a long (and exciting) week ahead!  As we continue to set up for the show, we'll be giving you guys a SNEAK PEEK at some of our new products, so definitely stay tuned... 
Arriving in the Big Apple is such a change from what we're used to in Dallas, Texas.  Yes, we've been busy for the past few weeks getting ready for the show, but it's nothing compared to the hustle and bustle of city life in New York!  Everything here is so fast-paced!  It's like "warp-speed ahead"...  There's just so much color and sound and movement going on in the city- I love it.  It's a sensory overload...  There's people to watch, street food vendors to smell, honking of taxi cabs... Ah.  Nothing like it... 
After we got settled at the hotel this evening, Tarrah and I decided that we needed to squeeze in a good, hearty New York pizza meal... so we headed a few blocks over from the hotel to John's Pizzaria.  The pizza was AMAZING...  What a great way to start off the week!  Stay tuned, because you'll definitely  want to  see  photos of all of the new goodies that are brand new for the show!!! 

New York, New York

Well, we're back from the National Stationery Show!  Here's the rundown:

Below are pics of a few of my favorite products from this release:  the 6 x 6 squares ("Kandy Squares"), the birthday flats, the sleeves w/dot inserts (totally cool with a "window"), and a really fun, colorful  2008 calendar.

 

We never have much time to do anything besides set up, work the booth, and eat (and that's always fun in the Big Apple!).

This year we made the trek to Greenwich Village (in the rain, no less) to visit John's Pizzaria on Bleeker Street.  It was FANTASTIC!  Our table tried three different kinds of pie, but surprisingly, the crowd pleaser was the PLAIN pizza- go figure.  Without any other toppings, the sauce really came through, and it was terrific. Wow.  Totally worth the effort getting there, and when we left, the rain had let up, so there was a line 20 feet long to get in!  So our perseverance in the rain paid off...

We also got to go to the Rainbow Room for a function on Sunday night of the show with Mario & Associates (one of our rep groups).  The view was pretty spectacular!

We also got to go to Gramercy Tavern, which was just amazing.  The decor was beautiful and the service was impeccable.  The servers would swarm the table (unnoticed of course) and then swoop in to clear our plates.  Most of the time we would just look up and realize that the table was completely clear.  It was crazy-cool.  {Plus, I had the best crab ravioli ever!}

On the last day we were in the City, we took a stroll through Central Park and ate lunch at Tavern on the Green.  I've always heard about it, and it wasn't what I was expecting at all, but it was really interesting.  Nice, but seriously outdated decor.  Sort of reminded me of an English tea room in the early 90s, but whatever.  It's a classic, so I guess I can't knock it too much.  It was definitely nice to sit out on the patio with the beautiful weather, and the great food was a bonus!

So there you go.  You're caught up on the trip.  Enjoy the photos!