Headed Home From Tucson

Well I'm headed home from Tucson.

I'm sooooo tired but I had such a nice time. It's hard when you are so tired too. I'm glad to have such good friends who understand the achey body you end up with standing and walking for hours a day. I worked the Bead Ren show for 8 days and then Aleta walked my butt all over the Tucson Electric Park, Gem Mall, Hollidome and the shows on Freeway near Congress. I got to see friends I had not seen in a year and I had such a good time shopping with a bead shop. Just watching the quantities of beads bought at one vendor only further convinces me that they need 2 levels of wholesale: Designer and real wholesale to brick and morter businesses only. The latter having large minimums and refusing to sell a single strand to anyone. If you are a real business a single strand would more likely be a sample given to an already established customer. It was fun to see the vendor's faces light up when they saw the number of strands being sold in one sale. They did not seem to have had a good show. The economy sucks and there were just too many crowds of people that I would be willing to bet all were just friends who got a resale permit just to be able to buy at the same price as the local bead shop. It's not fair to the shops or the vendors. As a designer, I would not mind a show where they were willing to sell me at a better price than retail and not as good as the local bead shop. Because, after all, where would we be without the local bead shop. Whether it's a great one like we have in Redding, CA, or a mediocre one like I hear are out there. It was just so much fun, I am looking forward to a nice rest to catch up and let my body get back to normal.