Picture Perfect Goes to Hollywood

Happy New Year!
Okay, I am a little late, but I have a really good excuse! LOL

Right after New Years, Jayneoni Moore, a celebrity stylist, invited us to gift our products to celebrities with children at the first ever "Hollywood Baby Boom Boom Room" gifting suite! At first, I thought it was a joke! LOL Why in the world would anybody be contacting ME for something as cool as this? Well, after a lot of research and talking to other vendors I realized it was real and flew into panic mode!

We made plane reservations, hotel reservations, put our gift bags into production, put together a media kit, packed our bags and took off for Hollywood on January 13, 2006!

I had not flown since 9/11 and was a little concerned about what to expect as far as how long the security check lines would be, etc. It was, afterall, Friday the 13th and I had visions of being strip searched in front of strangers or being pulled from the plane because a thousand metal hair bow clips were causing sirens to go off when my luggage was loaded!
Though it was a VERY turbulent flight(during which I insisted I was DRIVING home), we landed at LAX almost 5 hours after leaving Atlanta. It was a beautiful day, the rental car people at Hertz were friendly and helpful. We found our hotel without a hitch,unless you count the standstill traffic on 405, and life was GOOD!

I thought that I would be awake all night in anticipation of the event, but instead, I fell asleep putting bows on cards . Pat claims that she pushed me over with one finger and I slept until morning! Thank goodness I had taken her as my assistant. She finished putting everything together for me and I felt like I had a fairy god mother. Everything she had done was perfect and we headed out to the Roosevelt Hotel !

As we arrived at the Roosevelt, it began to rain. Bad news for an event that had big plans for the North Gardens! Thankfully it was short lived and we were able to get the car unloaded and get everything safely inside our room for set up. We put everything out and headed out to change our clothes. When we went to get in the car again to go back to the Roosevelt, I discovered that I had locked the keys in the TRUNK !

There is no way that I can adequately describe how I felt at that moment! LOL We could NOT find a trunk release anywhere inside this rental car. I called a friend in Augusta and asked her to call a local dealership. They told her that on the 2006 model that the trunk release was on ...where else???...the key fob!!!! By the time she called back, we had the situation under control..sort of... the car alarm was still blaring (magnified by being in a parking gargage) but we had managed to pull the back seat down and Pat had half of her body inside the trunk and STILL couldn't reach the keys! LOL I raced to borrow a broom from one of the housekeepers and viola she was able to snag the keys and we were on our way again with the memory of the alarm still ringing in our ears!

I should take the time to explain that my family would tell you that it was a "typical Carla move". I have a real issue with keys and actually enjoy sending AAA a check each year because I know that they will come to my rescue. They have proven themselves repeatedly over the last 10 years! hee hee
The only reason I didn't call them this time was that I didn't have time to wait on them to get there!!
Every member of my family within a 10 mile radius has duplicate keys to both my house and my car. What can I say?

Meanwhile back at the hoteeellll....(only those of you who are as old as I am will appreciate that!)....everyone was racing around putting last minute touches on their displays and the anticipation could be felt in the air. The turn out of vendors was amazing and there was everything you can think of from baby blankets to build a bear and electric cars! I have read on someone elses blog that the estimated value of the gifts that were given out totaled $11,000 per guest. I have nothing to substantiate that claim but I would not doubt it. There were some awesome vendors there including Simply Tiffany Taite , Baby Cappelli, My First Shades, Tee Pee for Me and of course, yours truly...Picture Perfect Hair Bows !

The first celebrity on the scene was Angela Bassett. She is expecting twins soon, a boy and a girl.
Other celebrities that followed included Harry Hamlin, Corbin Burnson (both from LA Law), the twins from desperate housewives, Tricia Simmons(desperate housewives), Ty Treadway (Soaptalk), Niecy Nash (Reno 911 & Clean House), Vanessa Williams (Soul Food), and so many more!
Holly Robinson Peete was there. She is one of the nicest people that I have ever met. Her little boy was a riot! He had his face painted and kept coming back into our room to "scare" us!

Kym Whitley was a hoot, she has to be the most outgoing and friendliest person EVER! She posed for a picture holding our press kit and I didn't realize until I actually saw the picture later that she was making the same "kissy face" that our sweet Sophie is becoming known for! LOL

Of course everyone wanted to know who Sophie was and a few people were already familiar with her! That was so neat!

The evening progressed in kind of a blur. There was a steady stream of Celebrities, their children, children who are celebrities, media, guests and publicists. Time flew! The event lasted from 12 pm until 7 pm and by the end of the evening we had given away everything including our samples so packing up was a breeze!
Every single person that visited our booth was so nice and so appreciative that I am still kind of reeling from the experience. It was nothing like I had expected and I could not be more pleased at how it turned out!

I have additional pictures posted on the website. You can click here to view those. Our press release is also located on that page :}
I am told that in a couple of weeks I will be sent all of the pictures from the event. These are just a few that I was able to get my hands on right now! When I get additional pictures I will be happy to share them with you.

Have to run...life is back to normal again and I am off to get my kiddo ready for bed!

Til next time...
Carla
Picture Perfect Hair Bows