Here is my field report from the Cavallini sale yesterday:
My friend Nancy came to my house at 6:50 sharp. I’d just seen an email from Barb and Bob that they were leaving from up north at 5:45 am.
We made our coffee and got in the car and headed from Half Moon Bay to SSF. I know exactly how long this takes (25 min) because I drive it every day. So we got to Cavallini’s right at 7:30 am. Already, there were about 80 people in line. It was cold and blustery, but not raining. We parked next door in the Genentech gym parking log (Building 75!) and walked a very short distance through the landscaping to get in line.
The Cavallini’s staff had a big tank of coffee with half/half and all the accoutrements, plus donuts on a cart that they brought down the line. Just as umbrellas started to pop up the large warehouse door on the left opened and the crowd literally ran in. Being short, I couldn’t see what was on many of the tables that were swarmed. I later learned those were small “gift bags” like kids get at birthday parties. Then, there were tables of paper – oodles of them, calendars old and new, sets of cards in boxes and in tins, blank paper from the ends of card runs. Tip: look on the bottom of the tables – good stuff there for us short folks! I just grabbed everything that appealed to me and it was very soon too much to carry. Luckily I’d thought ahead to bring a shopping bag or two. I checked out really quickly – no line at all – and took this stuff to the car. Seriously, I could barely carry it. The plastic wrapping combined with the rain didn’t help – everything was getting really slippery. (My arms ache a little today; note to self – work out more. I kept thinking of that cute blonde woman in the red track suit and high heels on the Target ads!)
Then, I came back for Round #2 – ding ding. I loaded up again with smaller stuff and had more time to look at the papers. I ended up getting about 100 sheets of paper total. They are quite heavy, but by the second round, one of their staff had brought out a box of rubber bands so we could roll the paper.
At this point, due to the heavy rain outside, the line inside Cavallinis was wrapping in a spiral inside the warehouse. It was comical to see the end of the line keep moving around poles, behind stacks of boxes. Everyone was very cheerful and nice. Many temporary friendships were made in the lines. One guy, smartie, had about four large boxes of things pushed to a little corner. Rather than waiting in the line, which in round two took about 45 minutes, I think he just waited until the madness subsided and checked out restfully.
Barb was shopping quite leisurely because smiling Bob was there in line. She was cute – kept taking more things back. He was cute – smiling and holding down the fort. Then, Anna and Bill showed up and had some sensible shopping where most of the people were in line. My friend Nancy kept texting me wondering where I was because it was so packed we couldn’t see one another. The beginning did have a bit of a “feeding frenzy” atmosphere to it, but we were home by 10:40, and that included the drive and a short stop at the market.
Would I do it again? Absolutely! Though I have enough stuff to last a lifetime, it seems.
Afterwards, Nancy and I scooted home to get some things at the market, including the last croissant (one!) in Half Moon Bay and Barb/Bob/Anna/Bill joined us for a lovely brunch. Cream cheese and chive eggs, bacon, a selection of pastries, one croissant, good hot coffee, strawberries and raspberries with yogurt and granola, and some sourdough toast with Bon Maman jam I’d bought at the market in Revelle with Anna and Bill the first Monday. We hashed over the good times at La Cascade and caught up on what everyone’s been doing. We missed you Toni, Doria, Sue, Valerie and Leslie, but you were truly all there in spirit, especially those of you who had sent me a shopping list!
Here are the only two photos I had the time to take.
Waiting to get in: open, open, open!
Polite mayhem at the paper table:
The eggs and strawberries, waiting for company to arrive. (Photo credit to Nancy West.)
