Weekend Glimpse

Oh goodness, I need another weekend.

This past Saturday was the jurying for Indie Craft Parade. It was a very long and mentally exhausting process, with much discussion of the merits of one application over another. I am so glad the difficult task of choosing the exhibitors was up to our wonderful jury and not me! It was very exciting to see all the fabulous submissions, and I really respect all the artists who applied, they put so much effort into their craft.

Before Lib and I prepared all the application data and finalized the exact number of artists we had room for, Cory whisked me off to a fabulous fancy dinner to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. I love that man. We had a wonderful relaxing meal and then it was back to work for me.

Sunday was more ICP work, and a little birthday party for dear Heather. I made a strawberry tart and soft pretzels, mmm! Such a fun evening with the girls.

Not pictured:
- chocolate milk
- frozen bananas
- not enough sleep
- cuddling with my kitties
- valet parking
- funny comments by the jury I wish I could repeat
- dreading Monday

I was dreading today because I had to send out all the notifications to the people who didn't make it in Indie Craft Parade. I really hate letting people down and making them sad, it's no fun at all. Every year there are a few people who are extremely angry they didn't make it in and they make sure to let us know how upset they are. Last year, we didn't give people a reason when their application was declined, and everyone was demanding to know why. This year, even though it was a ton more work, we recorded why each application was declined and let the applicants know... of course, now people are extremely offended and astounded the jury actually judged their work (um, that's their job). Also, due to a few technical hang-ups, the whole email notification process took much longer than expected... I just finished sending out the last of them about 11:00 pm (I feel terrible it took so long!) and some people can't believe we didn't notify everyone all at the exact same moment (kind of impossible to do personal emails like that unless I have a huge army working for me). Basically, it's not been the best day.

Though I must say, for every snarky email or comment we got, there were several more very kind and gracious ones with actually helpful feedback. Thank you to all those who were able to receive the bad news with maturity and humility, you saved our sanity.

I know the reality is that no matter how we handle the rejection notifications in the future, we'll never be able to make everyone happy, and I guess that's ok. If I can just get through the next few days, I can begin to enjoy the phenomenal exhibitors we have lined up for this year, and I'm really looking forward to focusing on them.

For now, I'm going to eat some ice cream and schedule a massage.