Up at 6am to shower and try and get myself looking half decent to greet customers. My gorgeous husband packed the car for me while I slammed down a coffee and some raisin toast knowing it was likely that thould be the only chance I had to eat all day.
We bundled the still pj clad girls into Luke's car just after 7am and he drove them to my parents while I headed on to AAMI stadium in the pouring rain.
I pulled up at the venue just after 7.30, the rain having miraculously stopped though I still clung to my umbrella and began the process of the stair climb laiden with as much as I could carry.... thankfully I only had to do this twice because Luke showed up shortly after and continued the back and forth while I began the set up.
I am the kind of person who never bothers to pracise the market set up because I know I'd just waste hours rearranging to get the perfect "look" and then find that on the day I changed my mind and did something completely different..... so needless to say the set up is not a fast process for me.
During this time I got to have a chat with the lovely Jodie from Zahley Rose which is always a pleasure and I also met the gorgeous ladies behind Pink Poppet and Shizam Designs it's always wonderful meeting other stall holders, most people really are very friendly.... we are all in the same boat afterall.
9.30 and the coffee man finally arrives so Luke went and got me the biggest one he could... and then hugged me good luck and left to pick up the girls and take them home. This is when the nerves really start to kick in....
10am the doors open and this time the customers trickled in slowly as it was such a large space and my stall was right in the middle.... this was quite nice as other times it has been a full on assault (in the nicest possible way) and it can just add to the surreal atmosphere of it all.
By now the coffee had really kicked in and I had gotten all jittery...... and this is when it started to get busy...... busy that did not let up for the duration of the market...... The women behind the Lollipop Markets really do, do the most amazing job, the market is filled with people from start to finish, a testament to the fantastic advertising, and all round brilliant market that it is.
Any friend who came to visit was dispatched to buy me more coffee, and occassionally installed in my position so I could take a flying bathroom break, I even managed to buy cupcakes to refuel on at one stage..... I talked and talked and sold and sold.... I often think I must come across as a crazy bag of nuts, I am always so fuelled by caffine and adrenilline that I talk a mile a minute, plus I am really quite shy and my fall back when I am nervous is to make jokes at my own expense.... so I tend to laugh hysterically at myself too. Yes, I am that weirdo.
3pm.... the odd customer is still wondering the isles, so when Luke reappeared (having dropped the girls off with his parents this time) we hung out for a bit longer and then started the pack up process...... By this time I am so knackered that I tend to forget to say good bye to those around me and just leave.... realising much later how rude I must seem.
I drive home in what really can only be described as a drunken state.... I really need to learn not to drive myself to these things because I honestly feel quite impared on the drive home..... My beautiful husband then ran me a bath... and thankfully dinner was already cooked. Any noise at this point is absolutely shattering and the energy radiating from my girls is quite exhausting..... but being a mum, I hold it together until their bed time and Then put my feet up with a glass of wine and basically crash.
So that's the day..... the crazy manic day..... but guess what, I LOVE every minute of it, the euphoric feeling a sucessful day can give you is so very hard to describe, in fact I just don't think I can.... the recovery takes days after a BIG market day, but the experience of it is just amazing, so many lovely people to meet and talk to.... putting faces to names you know from on line, chatting to customers like they are old friends..... absolutely fantastic, I hope to do it again and again.
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