Oh, my trials and tribulations!

Yep yep! I'm sittin here in my hotel room watchin the space channel with a nice cup of green tea and decided I'm going to share the my 'ever-so-exciting' trip in Edmonton thus far...

Ok, maybe its not so exciting...but humour me here.

After a wonderous 14 hour drive though 'Mountainous Manitoba' and 'Scenic Saskatchewan', I arrived in Edmonton, Alberta at around 7pm. On my trip I've never seen so many Silver coloured Grand AMs in my life...(I'm thinkin its the prairie car of choice) and I did NOT get lost in Saskatoon this time!
I decided to stay at the Chateau Nova, my reasoning for booking this hotel is that it only opened a month ago, which means that the staff is fresh, happy and are not hating their job or humanity yet.

I arrive...and realize...oh SHIT, I'm a day early! hahahaha! Blonde! So thaaats what happens when you don't sleep for a whole bunch of days!?!

I talk to the clerk and manage to get my first nite for free (they felt sorry for my dumb blonde self...but this dumb blonde got a free nites stay!) boo-ya! yay negotiating skills!

I get into my suite and its, well...sweet! I love it! It has a kitchen! When I travel, I'm all about cooking my own meals because:
A: I love cooking for myself, that way I know what exactly what I'm putting into my system...and its cheaper than eating out.
B: I only like going out for food if its something I myself can't cook well...like Eithiopian, Thai or Japanese.

I drive to Rexall Center (home of the Oilers) so that I can set up my booth. I get there, there is NO carpet, NO draping, NOTHING! I decide to talk to the By Hand organizers (who are in charge of vendors like me) and they inform me that By Hand Edmonton is run differently than By Hand Vancouver. I argue that there is something to be said for consistency, because Vancouver gave us carpeting and draping as part of our fee and for some dumbass reason they want to rip into our pocket books here in Edmonton.

There was also NO reference to bringing your own draping/carpeting in my show guide so I managed to get free draping. The carpeting I was required to get on my own though so I inquire at the rental service...148 BUCKS!?!?! Bullshit! I'm going to Ikea.

Ah, I heart Ikea! We don't have one at home in Winnipeg cause our population is too small. I decide to buy my rug (for 50 bucks!) and some new electical stuff for my booth...the coolest thing I discovered though is that the carts move laterally (note, me pushing the cart...laterally!) I have no shame, I'm such a dork...

Alas, I'm a sushi whore! I found this really nice japanese restaurant called Mikado where they had some nice blush (which tasted like my wine box wine...so much for waiting two weeks before drinking again) and a bento box that was delicious but too big for me to finish.

Then I got to drive through Edmontons 'nitty gritty' area and saw some of Edmonton's finest nite folk!

Alrite, I'm off to watch the rest of my space channel movie...I think its Species. Stay tuned for photos of my wonderful booth...its lookin kick ass!