Dirty little secrets: AKA trade show prep makes your life hell

**Disclaimer: This is a bit of a rant about how trying it can be to prep for a trade show. Read at your own risk and try not to judge me :)

Most of the time (design) blogs are escapist for me. They're beautiful and everything is "just so", but I can't believe anyone can live in those spaces. Not because I wouldn't love to live in a space like that, but because I can't image having enough time to actually keep a room that neat for more than five minutes. Let me give you a few examples. We haven't been able to do the laundry in weeks. Last time I did I sorted it into piles, did one load and then Dolly started using the other piles to sleep in. So I left them on the floor and now we have a carpet of laundry. And now I'm stuck wearing all of my t-shirts from undergrad.

Over the course of the past two weeks we have printed fourteen new cards designs, reprinted at least six old designs, printed and shipped business card, custom orders and nine weddings (most of which were rush jobs).  My awesome interns have scored and folded thousands of cards and will have to package them when we return from the trade show. We've answered hundreds of emails and sent contracts and proofs to our new clients.

I almost went all Office Space on three different printers while trying to print on some envelopes. I probably spent five hours trying to print 90 envelopes. Now I know why I don't offer this service. I will add this to the many lessons I have learned over the past few years of Pistachio Press.

Yesterday, Time Machine popped up an accusatory little note letting me know that I haven't backed up in 40 days. "Oh yeah, Time Machine?! Really?! Like I didn't know that already." Ok, so I didn't really know it and now I'm backing up my files.

My laptop battery is just about shot. During the course of writing this post it said it was at 18% and then immediately shut down.  Once again, I thought of Office Space. I opted for yelling instead, which brought three dogs running to check out the commotion. Now I have to make a trip to the Apple store to get a new one. Upsaide: I can check out Anthro and see if anything sweet is on sale.

I turn 30 on Thursday and we have to pack up the car and drive partway to NYC for the show. Upside, I get to have dinner with my parents on the way down and stay overnight with Miss Aesthetic Outburst. Oh, and I scheduled a facial for that morning. I'll probably feel behind because of it, but I need one hour of uninterrupted time to do nothing.

I've successfully procrastinated long enough by writing this post that now I don't have time to make lunch before my faculty meeting and I'll be forced to get pizza. But by now you know me well enough to realize that this was my plan all along. Pizza and Mountain Dew. Maybe two Dews. Shit, I need to get going!