Hey! So, I'm back from Atlanta, and it was quite the trip! It was so fun being back there after 7 months since our big move from Atlanta to Portland. It almost felt like I never really left, and I definitely felt sentimental driving past our old house, seeing my friends, going to my favorite restaurant.... and a little piece of me wondered why we ever left when I was walking around town on Saturday in the 70 degree sunny weather! A far cry from the 20s and 30s gloom of Portland lately.

Anyhoooo, one of the highlights of my trip was seeing this new line of bags and stationery that just launched with Blend -- I hadn't seen this stuff in person yet, and I was in major LOVE! The orange and pink are so bright and happy; I can't wait to get my hands on those bags so I can start using them. I'm not sure where they'll be sold yet or which stores picked them up, but I'll be sure to let you know here asap. People are already asking me where/when they can buy one! I may have to get some up for sale here on my website, too. 

You can't see it in these photos very well, but there are pencil cases and luggage tags, cards and sticky note sets, and lots of fun things!

The views of downtown Atlanta from the Gift Show are lovely-- it was kinda stormy and rainy, and I snapped the above pic. I love seeing cities from high up. 

Oh, and here I am with my Blend stuff:

So fun!

Another highlight of my trip was an impromptu walk around the show with my friend Sarah Watts and my buddy Frank Sturges. Best time ever!! When we went to visit the iPop showroom, where Sarah had some new magnets launching, we ended up chatting with the sales guys for a while. Sarah's headed to Tokyo next week, and I'm headed to Oaxaca, Mexico in a few weeks (more on that soon!), and one of the guys had been to both places and gave us tons of tips on where to go and what to do! It was so fun and serendipitous.

Here's Sarah:

Isn't she the cutest?

I also learned during a lunch meeting with Case-Mate that they've sold over $1 million worth of my cases in the last 15 months since they launched! Isn't that crazy? I can't even wrap my head around how many cell phone cases that is. There must be, like, 2 million people around the world using cases with my designs on them. That is just insane to me. I'll have 12 brand new designs coming out in March, so stay tuned for that. I'll have them available here, of course.

I had a couple other successful meetings while there, too, with a creative director of a big company I'm working on a line of products with that will launch in July, as well as the owner of a rug company I'm working with on a line of rugs. 

A successful trip indeed.

Now I'm off to the dentist. What a way to welcome myself back to Portland. (Ugh! I'm kidding. I'm terrified of the dentist....wish me luck!)