Natural Products ExpoWest 2008

This is how I spent my Sunday: wandering up and down aisle after aisle lined with zillions of exhibitors. The Natural Products Expo West claims to be the largest (and I believe it!) natural and organic trade show with over 2,800 exhibitors. I don't think I even saw one-tenth of what was there--and that's with almost three hours of trekking through the health and beauty section!

Even if I had managed to get there at 10:30 am as I planned, I don't think I would have had enough time to see everything that I wanted to see. It didn't help that I got a bit lost on the way to the Convention Center, or that the line to get into the satellite parking lot took FOREVER or that I had to hike about a mile from where I parked to get to the Convention Center (for this I had to pay $12 to park! Can you believe? For $12, I should have been able to park right outside the door!). And when I got to the Convention Center I had to hike another half mile to the registration entrance (Note to future convention planners: put the registration entrance nearer to the FRONT). Fortunately, my friend Stevie who had clued me in to the Expo had greased the skids with the press office, so getting a press pass went smoothly.

Then I met up with Stevie at the Dr. Hauschka booth. They were by far the nicest and most generous exhibitors. I have a slew of stuff from them--including their new holistic home remedy line--to test out. Check back later for that review! We also visited with the people at derma e. Matt was telling us how he's in charge of their blog to which I replied, "I know about your blog! You link to me on it!"

We stopped by and said "Hi!" to the Earth Science people and checked in with Mychelle, Giovanni, Weleda, Lavera, Pharmacopia--just to name a few! There was also plenty of food there--and not just soy, gluten-free, vegan stuff. They had organic chocolate! Dairy-free ice cream and frozen yogurt. Popcorn. Seriously, if the tons of samples aren't enough to weigh you down, you could eat yourself into a bigger jeans size before you are done testing all the goodies out!

Speaking of jeans, Stevie and I both wore skinny jeans which we both tucked into black boots and topped with a red sweater. And no, we didn't call each other to plan matching outfits! All in all it was an interesting experience. Next year I'll make sure to get there early, spend more time and bring a cart to wheel out all my loot. I saw people loaded down with 2, 3, even 4 bags of stuff! I only got one--but there's still plenty of stuff to keep me busy for a while!