An Aha Moment

A couple days ago I received an email from a representative of Mutual of Omaha's Aha Moments. Apparently they are touring the country in an airstream and were stopping in Eugene today and tomorrow. She asked if I would be interested in coming down and telling them about my dolls/plush, emphasizing how making them has changed my life. Well I have seen the Aha Moment commercials and I totally thought it was about people who overcame an enormous obstacle or have donated their time to the community. I really had no idea it was just about normal people doing something interesting (or uninteresting as I found out by watching some of the Aha Moments videos on the website haha). I had no visions of grander or being in a commercial but I thought hey why not, maybe I would get some publicity out of it.

All weekend I debated if I should write something out or come up with what to say and I thought about it but never did write anything down. As the day and time approached I guess I decided to wing it, and I did. I was really nervous this morning while I was getting ready. Even though people think I speak well and always say I look relaxed I still am always a bundle of nerves inside. I have never been on any sort of film before and I was afraid I might choke and say nothing.

Me ready to go haha!

The rep. suggested I bring along some plush to show and tell and I spent some time thinking about what I should take. They had contacted me through my BeBe Babies shop but I have really been working on Boom!Plush much more so I decided to bring something representative of both shops. I decided to bring the large plush turntables and two Sweetie BeBes. It took some creative maneuvering to carry the turntables since I was riding my bike down to the airstream. I ended up shoving it through my backpack straps haha.

The airstream was in the parking lot of the 5th street market and when I arrived I was greeted by some very pleasant young people. They got me all signed in and hustled into the interview room. I felt like such a dork. Luckily the girl interviewing me was adorable and super nice. I had to repeat myself several times, in several ways because she said that helps the editors get what they need. She also instructed me to speak in complete sentences that flow nicely. All I can say is I did my best and I hope I didn't sound and look like a moron. I don't feel like my story is all that impressive but I told them about how I quit work nearly a year ago to go back to school. I talked about how my work has evolved into what I feel is art. I was able to throw in a shout out to the Plush Team and talk about what it means to me to be apart of such a creative plush community. She asked me what advice I would have for other people and what has changed in my life due to my work. I shared how I would never have met one of my bestest friends and how my biggest advice is to always keep trying to make something because I feel like everyone should make art or crafts, and everyone can. I hope out of everything I said they can make it come together in an interesting way. My video should be posted in 2-3 weeks and they said they would let me know when it is.

They let me keep my "clap board" which is kinda cool.

When it came time at the end to show them my work I began unwrapping the turntables and I thought the guy working with me was going to explode. It turns out he is/used to be a dj and he was beyond excited to see the turntables. He was so excited in fact that after he took my pictures with it he had to jump in and get a bunch of his own pictures with it. The turntables were so exciting to them that they decided not even to get pictures of the BeBes which was fine with me. Luckily I had just got my Boom!Plush buttons in the mail today so I gave them a handful and I told them about the mini turntables and he took a card because he wanted to check them out.

Here are my new buttons I ordered from kittycrossbones on etsy.

Overall it was fun and I am excited to see the video of me. I am a little nervous about how I look in the video so I may or may not share it once it is posted haha.