Standing up, that's how.

You see, my company joined our first ever franchise exhibit show. Together with our VP Logistics, VP Operations, one guy who worked for our sister company and who's had experience with franchise shows and 2 models I hired to act as consultants, we gave out fliers and ('expensive looking') brochures (but only to those who are really interested) and answered inquires of potential franchisees. Standing from 10am to 7pm for 3 days was no joke. Now I know how the SM Sales ladies feel.

It was a great experience. You meet different people and get excited over people who are soooo interested in buying a franchise from you. You could practically see the peso signs in their eyes! We won the best booth design for a 12- 18 sqm booth space, food category. The honor was a tie between us and Max's restaurant where both groups mocked up their restaurant instead of using the ordinary booth space. Here's a snap shot of our booth. Note that I cropped our logo to preserve my identity:





The exhibit organizer claimed that for a first time exhibitor, we did very well. Lastly, our competitor asked us for a copy of our 'elegant' brochure. I think it was because our VP Operations who is friends with someone who works for the competitor, gave a copy of our brochure to them. His friend found our brochure so beautiful and elegant (after all, my uncle says that if you're selling a million peso business, your brochure shouldn't look like crap!) that he probably told someone in their mother company about it. A representative from the mother company of the competitor came to our booth and introduced himself and asked for a brochure. The VP Logistics and I looked at each other, silently questioning each other if we should give him a copy. I decided to give one because if we didn't, he could have just asked someone to pretend he's interested in our franchise just to get a brochure, right?

Ahhh, but the part that really sucked was standing the entire day. Sure, we can sit down but the longer we sat, the more we were missing opportunities to entice potential franchisees. But my God, my feet and legs ached sooo much to the point that the soles of my feet felt raw!

So this is how I spent the end of each day de-stressing.

On the first day, Friday night, while waiting for A to get out of work and meet me at Mall of Asia (Thank God, it's near A's house and the World Trade Center. Another thank God to St. Anthony for helping me find good parking spots in the 3 days I was there), I went book shopping at Powerbooks and Fullybooked (Can you imagine?!? Both bookstores in one mall! Yippee!). Who cares if I had about 10 books at home still waiting to be read? Who cares if I just bought 3 books (Dying to Please by Linda Howard, The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry and Sleeping Arrangements by Madeleine Wickham) the weekend before? Who cares if the books were beyond my budget? That's what credit cards are for. I was stressed and tired and therefore, a moment of weakness was unto me because I couldn't find these books in the other Powerbooks and Fullybooked branches. I bought a total of 5 books:

Killing Time by Linda Howard
The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four- Inch High Heels and Faux Pas by Melissa De La Cruz and Karen Robinovitz
Fresh Off The Boat by Melissa De La Cruz
Life Swap by Jane Green
Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner

(Side note: Melissa De La Cruz is a Filipina. I immediately bought her books after reading her new series, The Au Pair. It's liked Gossip Girls set in the Hamptons except that the main characters have diverse personalities: one is a rich girl turned poor, another is a Plain Jane turned It girl, while the last girl is a beautiful Latina, who is often chased by rich men, who is now chasing the elusive love of her life.

Madeleine Wickham, on the other hand, is the other pen name of Sophie Kinsella, author of the Shopaholic series. I have been looking for her books and finally found them in Fully Booked in Rockwell. Much as I was tempted to buy all her books in one go, I fought temptation, thinking that I might regret it if the books aren't as good as the Shopaholic Series. After all, with a different pen name, her writing style might be different, right? Yup, I was right. Madeleine Wickham uses a more serious tone.)

Anyway, after book shopping, A and I met up and bought tickets to Pirates of The Carribean. I would have liked the movie a lot if I wasn't sleepy. After all, just for the exhibit, I woke up at 7am so I could be out of the house by 8am. Everybody and their mother knows that I am soooo not a morning person.

On Day 2, after the exhibit, I once again met up with A at Mall of Asia. This time, I was determined to go clothes shopping. Unlike the rest of female-dom, I only go shopping when I need something. Lately, I feel that I need to update my closet yet I am very picky with clothes. It has to be something I like, not something that "will do" plus, the price has to be right. Needless to say, my shopping spree was an almost failure. I only bought one top from Folded and Hung that was on sale and a belly ring from Silverworks.

At around 915pm, A and I decided to have dinner. He suggested Tokyo Cafe. A cafe serving Japanese food: pastas, pizzas and sandwiches infused with Japanese cuisine. I tried their Kani Salad Sandwich. It's a must try! While eating, I realized how tired I was. The spa treatment I was planning for Sunday night simply couldn't wait. If I didn't get a foot massage, my legs might collapse under me on our last day. Good thing A remembered that a Creative Director in his company owns a foot massage place called Foot For The Gods. We trekked there right after dinner. The foot massage was only P180 for 30 minutes but they also offered a foot and back massage for P340! That was what I needed as the stress points behind my neck and shoulder were also screaming in pain. Unfortunately, it was already 1015 and they only had enough time to accommodate one more massage. Nevertheless, the foot massage took away the pain and I felt soooo much better. We also passed by Aruba, where Kat was meeting up with some friends, to chat with her for like 5 minutes. After that, A and I headed to Power Station where we passed the time while waiting for my friends to come out of the Imax theater. We scored a free game in one of the machines because the technicians were testing them out. It was a racing game and I totally sucked at it. I still preferred driving fast down Edsa because it's more thrilling. (What did I expect?! It was a computer game, after all!) Half of the time while playing, I was absentmindedly grabbing the gear shifts on my right side and I always end up grabbing nothing. I kept forgetting it was only a game. We, then, moved on to that hockey game where you slide a puck across the table and try to score goals. A won 10 to 9. After playing, we went back to the bar to meet up with my friends. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay long because A wanted to go to this last minute poker game and I had to go home.

On the last night, Sunday, A and I met up again at Mall of Asia. This time, we had dinner at Gram's Diner. Much as I wanted to have dessert too, I decided that the foot and back massage was more a priority for both A and me. My feet were aching from another day of standing, my back needed relieving. A, on the other hand, was having stress and anxiety related headaches due to the fact, I guess, that his boss is back in town. I tell you, foot reflexology is amazing! The therapist pressed her knuckle LIGHTLY on a certain part of my foot and it hurt like hell! (And to think I have high tolerance for pain!) I asked her what part of the body that certain spot was connected to and she said it was connected to my back! Amazing! My back was aching, wasn't it?! After the massage, A and I felt so much better, we went back to Gram's Diner to grab milkshakes for dessert.

And that was the end of my weekend, which I extended till today. I stayed at home because my back was still aching despite my back massage. I needed the day to recuperate. Thank God my boss wasn't looking for me!