Paydirt!

I must confess that the past several months have been a bit slow for this fashion consultant.  I depend on the availability of others for my income, meaning that women need to be available to sponsor a home show in order for me to showcase my clothing line and make a sale.  In Hermiston, well, May and June women are caught up in family time ~ baseball, soccer, graduation, vacation ~ all those wonderful things that the family thrives on.

So, I've been enjoying my time, watching the river flow by my window, sipping wine, catching up on a few good reads until this past weekend when I hit the skies and flew to SoCalifUSA for the CAbi scoop.  Oh my goodness ~ talk about a wake-up call!  There were 2,900 women there, so lots and lots of energy flowing through the Long Beach convention center.  Most of it was focused on Friday afternoon when the new Fall collection was unveiled. If you've never been to a fashion show with the runway and all, then you've missed a rare treat.  It was simply amazing and to use a much used phrase, "The crowd went wild!"  Every new grouping brought new rounds of shrieks of delight from the crowd and you can only begin to imagine what 2,900 shrieking women sound like.  There was confetti littering the air, balloons floating everywhere and being batted about and streamers draping themselves around heads and shoulders ~ all CAbi pink, of course.

We all tried to absorb as much as we could, went to our product training classes and buried ourselves in our MP3 players with the collection notes on our flights home in hopes of learning every minute detail, not to mention the names of the nearly 100 pieces.  Now today, I lie in wait of the UPS man, my new best friend.  He's due with my boxes of CAbi clothes.  YAY!  Then it becomes a mad scramble to unpack, tag, steam/iron every garment, organize the rack into groupings and memorize each piece ~ all in an attempt to be prepared to present it next week to an excited group of women, eagerly awaiting the new collection.

Two preview shows next week.  It's so exciting to see the enthusiasm of the women at the shows.  Such a great time with them as they play "dress up" and try things on.  (of course, the margaritas at the one show and wine at the other help to loosen things up :-) !)  And such a great way to begin a new season of encouraging women to gather, to get away from their every day routines and have some fun!  It's not necessarily about spending money on clothes.  It's just a fantastic way to get out of the house and meet new friends or spend time with old ones.  And CAbi is such an awesome company, not just in the way they treat their customers and consultants.  They are truly a company that gives back!  So far, that means donating 1.4 million garments to women in need in 40 countries, 15 U.S. communities and also making 400 microloans.  It has been a privilege to be a part of this great company!   christinahoell.cabionline.com