I type this after washing my hands from the crusted layers of slobber. Clear sign of a good day boothing!!!

"Oh! Thanks for licking my knees! ... okay and my legs!"
"So sorry," said a dog mahm to me as I was drawing her pup, "she's pooping a foot away from your feet." O__O;

Set Up Recap:
I pulled out the dusty, neglected tent from the garage. Nerves were high. I am constantly texting my team pictures of the set up, looking for reassurance. They think everything is just fine while I obsess over the small insignificant details.

This year I wanted to include a monitor so that people waiting could watch the artwork being made, live! The monitor is acting finicky but works-- I'm just nervous about setting it up by myself without my hubs to troubleshoot. Once the set up looked good, I took it all down and brought the major items (tents, tables, chairs) to Liberty Station for pre-set up and to claim my booth.

My sweet husband was trying his best to assist despite me feeling short, a bit curt, and totally bottling in a lot of insecurities that I think every maker has before sharing their work with a community they don't know. Or is it just me? Things to work on: be nicer to hubs. ^_^;;

Day of the Event:
4:30am, alarm goes off.
Oh it's going to be a struggle today. Kid woke up with his sleep regression at midnight and anxiety is up as it always is for a big event! Brushed my hair, did my make up, grabbed last minute plants and flowers from my shelves and off to Starbucks I go!

Tip: Drink a ton of liquids the day before, cut off around 6pm night before, and don't drink your coffee until you are at your booth. No one wants to take a bathroom breaks while working an event!!

6:00am, set up and go time
Adrenaline rushes in as the anticipation for the day builds. I hurry to get everything working and, YES! The monitor WORKS without a hiccup :) Breath out, relief. I welcome neighbor vendors over for free pet portraits right before the attendees start piling in. (Fomo? Grab your own ink here!)

From there everything is just a blur. The first moment I looked up from my table was because my battery had died and my monitor went black ;___; I checked the time. 9:30. Where did the past 3 hours go?!?! Head back down, back to sketching furbs. It feels like a blink of an eye when it was 11:20, twenty minutes after the event was supposed to be done. I had to be told it was time to pack up. I still had a few people in line to be drawn and had to cut it off, turning away a sweet fam. :(

Once the last portrait was done, it was time to tear it all down! I finally drank my now-cold coffee, chugged a bottle of water, and headed home to mom-duties so that hubs could go to an event of his own that afternoon.

Highlights

How old is your pup? "Oh, he's 21 years old." Wait.. What? How old? "...21!" HOW OLD? "Yeah, he's still kicking" 

That time a dog licked the full length of my leg while I was sitting...

"This is my foster fail!... and here is my other foster fail!"

"Put away your rocket!!"

"Noo noo, in a Moo Moo!"

That time a dog jumped on the entire table...

Summary
10/10 would do it again. Thank you for sharing your furbs with me, San Diego! What a great way to dust off my Boothing abilities. Excited to grow from this experience and offer more art!!!