Naps are overrated - just kidding! We all need them!

A long title in honor of the long absence from this blog. I almost forgot about you! There is so much to talk about I don't know where to begin but I will probably end up not telling you anything of consequence. Sorry/not sorry for your wasted time but if you were looking to pass the time somewhere, thank you for choosing to spend it here. You will never get that time back. Ha!

The past two weeks have been so incredibly hectic and busy that I could not imagine getting to today. I'm feeling only slightly guilty for not taking my parents and kids out today and take advantage of a relatively responsibility-free day. I feel the guilt, but I am allowing it to wash over and pass me as I know that I really need this time to do "nothing." And it's not even a nothing-free day, just not the amount of busy-ness that I have been accustomed to in the weeks pass.

Our time at Toy Fair was so much fun. It was so freaking tiring, but in such a different way that we almost didn't mind it. The days leading up to Toy Fair were so hectic that I didn't even feel prepared enough to represent that "third hat" I carry. I'm proud to share that I didn't embarrass our young company, and in fact(humble-bragging be gone, damn proud of this discovery hehehe) found that at times I was pretty good at talking up our toys. I had been struggling and was so nervous about the language I needed to really represent our take on the toys we make and why they were good and important and brilliant, but I didn't know how to articulate it. I had been having imaginary scenarios and conversations in my mind to try to work out how I was going to talk about our stuff. I didn't have the actual words, that perfect "elevator pitch" until literally the moment we started speaking to the first potential buyer of the day. We both found the words, were able to articulate and promote our toys in the way we wanted and it felt amazing. It helped that people that came by seemed to really like our stuff and were impressed by our presentation. I supposed we just didn't know how they would be received. So the encouragement the first few folks gave us helped so much.

By the 2nd and 3rd day, we were either repeating the perfected pitches or testing out ways to make it sound better. By the last day, we felt comfortable enough to add a silly word to throw into our pitch. It was like "Shark Tank" about 100+ times over the course of 4 days to an international audience but maybe to a kinder audience. We took in the compliments in as much as the concrete suggestions. We were confident in our product but smart enough to know we were total rookies at this. We shared tips and asked questions to our fellow exhibitors. We didn't know what to expect our first time, but we certainly didn't anticipate how much of an education it would be.

So, I guess the lesson here is, the best way to learn something new is to dive right in. I cannot wait to see where this takes us. If all goes well, my friends, you will soon see our toys on your local toy store shelves! I still can't believe it!