vending @ west coast craft

a couple weeks ago, my wife and i journeyed up to san francisco to participate in the iconic west coast craft market. i used to attend this show when i lived in the bay area, dreaming of the day i might have a booth of my own. this was our first time traveling for their summer show and we had quite the trip. i knew we had to start the weekend with my must-stop spot every time i’m in the city ~ souvla 😋 i always get the chicken sandwich but this time i also tried their seasonal special which was a smoked trout salad. we got their heavenly fries and frozen greek yogurt too, of course! i HIGHLY recommend this spot to any bay area folks ~ they have 6 locations around the city + north bay!!

one of the benefits of doing a weekend-long market like west coast craft is getting an extra day to set up. we arrived on friday to our cute lil 6’x10’ space, and in a few hours we transformed it into a clumsy world experience for the weekend. it’s always a fun challenge when setting up our booth in all kinds of new configurations. i tend to let my intuition lead the way, leaning into the clumsy vibe whenever i start to worry or my perfectionism starts knocking. honestly i fall back on my brand’s name quite often ~ a good reminder to myself that embracing the mess is part of the art of it all 😊

saturday morning i decided to treat myself + my wife to some fancy coffees. i stood in a long line while anxiously anticipating what the weekend would entail. the specialty coffees were great but after the first day ended i grabbed a bottle of cold brew from the safeway across the street to save us some $$ for the next few days 😅 i never wanted to be a coffee drinker but alas, here we are!!

i’d been waiting for the perfect time to try out this reusable press-on nail set handmade for me by claracore nails. because i’m a last-minute girly i decided it wasn’t too late to try applying the nails on saturday morning. after grabbing our coffees, i quickly placed the sticky tabs onto my fingers and applied this clumsy world-inspired set as customers started rolling in. i was VERY impressed with how the nails held up over the busy weekend! the design was a custom creative request that used pieces of my fused glass and different nail techniques i’ve been loving lately. i can’t wait to work with clara on a collaboration! more on that later!!!

i was so blessed to have a visit from family and some friends that i hadn’t seen in years while i was set up at fort mason. it’s always such a special experience to share my booth with people that knew me before i started clumsy world. it really helps me remember how much i’ve built in these past five years. the weekend also coincided with the 20th anniversary of my dad’s passing. i did my best to honor the emotions that came up while being as present as i could in the bustling market space. my dad was a natural performer and multidimensional soul who definitely inspired a lot of my identity and perspective, despite only getting 13 years with him on this earth. i’m proud of myself for continuing to pursue my passions and i do believe he’s cheering me on happily from somewhere in the beyond.

i recently found the brand orchard nyc and was so excited to see they’d also be at wcc. i felt so connected to this butterfly ring and i just had to grab it while we were in the same place. it has everything means so much to me engraved in the designer’s handwriting. i love the tiny details and their whole brand is such a vibe. there wasn’t enough time to take in all the amazing vendors, but i loved being near small biz friends like gentle thrills, stitch4pali, the peach fuzz, mud witch and SMO ceramics. it’s really such an honor to be vending at the same event as these absolute icons and such huge inspirations for me. i’ll continue pinching myself + feeling the joy of such alignment.

all in all, i’m so grateful we got to take part in this market. i’m always so happy to visit the bay area, and i’m looking forward to planning more events with my small biz friends in the city. as always, thank you for coming along the ride with me! to more clumsy happenings around the globe 🌎