Oh So Plush

It's been nearly a month since my last post and that is due entirely to the end of the semester (which means having no requirement to look at, let alone use, a laptop). This was the first semester I've been back at school full-time and I feel relief and a sense of accomplishment that neither my relationships with Parker and Miles nor my grades suffered with the amount of schoolwork I signed up for. Summer term starts on Monday and I am looking forward to it.

With my three weeks of freedom between school terms, I've been making myself luxuriate in the lack of things to do. Sometimes I feel like I almost need the pressure and to-do lists and timelines and deadlines because that is when I feel at my best. However, everyone needs a break and I've been soaking in the calm so I can be recharged for the next six months. My grandparents are visiting from Nashville right now so we've all been loving these days of just hanging out at home and watching Miles with all his adorable antics. He is such a goober- he totally hams it up in front of the camera when my grandma takes his picture (I wonder where he gets that from) and I love it.

This last weekend I took the opportunity to drive down to LA for Plush- a trade show that was open to consumers on its final day to showcase some of the best new maternity and baby-related products and services available. I was so excited when Parker said he would watch Miles so I could go uninterrupted (best husband ever!) and fully drool over all the cool things I knew would be there. I bookmarked a few brands I knew I wanted to visit- Sakura Bloom, Rosie Pope, and Clek to start- and then planned to just sort of wander around and see if anything caught my eye.

The show was on Sunday, so I decided to spend the night at my grandparents' house in Santa Clarita on Saturday night and enjoy some time with my family there. I stopped in at Shine Blow Dry Bar in Montecito on my way out of town for a quick blowout (is it the mom in me or am I the only one who immediately thinks of poop whenever someone mentions the word "blowout" now?) and I loved it. For some reason I always get the male stylist who wants to backcomb my hair into Toddlers & Tiaras-sized proportions so I mentioned something about not wanting to look like Honey Boo Boo and the stylist looked up at me in the mirror and said (I kid you not), "No promises." I think it was a joke. Off to shampoo we went, where I had the best scalp massage ever. I was a little sad when it was time to go back to the chair for the blow dry but I suppose it had to end sometime (sniff). When my hair was dry and it was time for the dreaded backcombing, he smiled and said, "Honey Boo Boo coming your way!" and I mildly panicked but thankfully he was joking after all and my hair looked great.

Sunday morning I woke up, got ready, and headed down to Beverly Hills for breakfast and coffee before the show started. I decided to try The Farm because it looked decidedly country (well, as country as it gets that close to Rodeo Drive) in the middle of a whole lotta bling. I was seated and finished ordering before I realized that David Spade was sitting immediately to my right! I can't help but be starstruck sometimes and when that happens I have to remind myself to get a grip (and sometimes that doesn't really work out either- like the time I met Sigourney Weaver in Williams Sonoma and I started gushing about how Dave is one of my favorite movies. Embarassing!) Anywho, it was fun.

I made my way over to the hotel where the show was being held and eventually made my way downstairs to start walking around all the different vendors. I wanted to visit Sakura Bloom first, but I had to bust out my map because the vendors were separated into two different rooms- one was like a ball room, and the other was like a really big conference room. Sakura Bloom was in the smaller room, which was a bummer because the energy wasn't as high and there were definitely less people coming through (I'm actually fairly certain there were people who came to the show and never even knew there were more vendors in that room!). Anyway, I finally found their booth and introduced myself to Lynne and her husband Eric. They were so great and I basically wound up sitting and talking with them for the majority of the day. Lynne and I walked around the bigger room a couple of times, too, so we could visit some of the other vendors and talk with them a little bit. I really enjoyed meeting Elle from Solly Baby and the ladies behind NüRoo- they were all incredibly nice and shared their stories about how they noticed a need for a certain kind of product and then went about filling that need. It was amazing to hear their journeys and even more amazing to see the success that has come from all their hard work. 

It was really interesting for me to spend the day with Lynne and talk with her about where Sakura Bloom started, how it has grown, and a lot of the behind-the-scenes details that go into growing a brand from the ground up. I even had some customer service work flashbacks when a really rude woman came up, asked for a demonstration, interrupted midway through with a "This is not gonna work!" and then just walked away! I was shocked! That incident was all but forgotten, though, when a mom came up with her fifteen-week old baby boy who was really wailing and upset in his car seat. Lynne showed her how to put him in the sling and within seconds he was asleep on his mama's chest. I almost cried, that's how sweet it was... it may have also been because that mom's face showed such relief and I remember that feeling when Miles fell asleep in a sling for the first time. Needless to say, Sakura Bloom has two new fans!

Lynne was so fun to get to know. She's a little bit OCD (a good thing when you're running a business!), super easy to talk to, and can pull off the jumpsuit look no problem. Oh! And she was in almost as much disbelief as I was when I won the Sakura Bloom raffle at the show! I won a Luxe sling in Jade and I love love love it. There were other things in my prize (an iPod and a collection of Rockabye Baby CDs) but I had my eye on that sling and I could not believe when Lisa Rinna called out my name as the winner. So exciting...I really treasure being able to wear Miles in something so gorgeous.

So, that's my weekend! I had an amazing time and I am so glad I was able to go (thanks again, babe!). I'm going to do another post soon about my favorite products from the show- stay tuned!

I hope you're all having a great week.