Sushi, Dancing & Fireworks

Do I have your attention yet? 

These things all made this week/weekend in Philadelphia a bit better.  To put it frankly the show sucked.  Traffic was slow, orders were small and people just are so hesitant to buy right now.  Unfortunately for me I'm not a hard sell.  I truly believe that sales is better suited by building relationships and trust rather than you need this ... and you need it now.

Friday things looked good.  Show numbers were decent for the first go round and we all felt optimistic.  So much so that we headed to dinner and had some fantastic sushi at Morimoto.  A very unexpected find (although recommended highly by the concierge) it is a modern, upscale sushi restaurant with a very simple menu.  Everything was divinely fresh, however a bit simple for my tastes.  I love when sushi chef's experiment with different flavors and textures.  Not here, everything here was crisp and basic.  Not a bad thing, just not generally what I would seek out.  www.morimotorestaurant.com  The evening was spent at a colleague's hotel having a few glasses of wine and then we headed out dancing for a bit of fun and to leave the stresses of work and shows behind for a few hours.

Saturday, not so much.  Things were fairly steady however no one wanted to write.  "I'll just take the catalog please," or "We are good for now, thanks," or my favorite (both literally and sarcastically) "My rep takes great care of me and I prefer to order through her/him."  So we wrote a few orders, caught up with a few people and then turned in for a fairly early night. 

Sunday the show was empty.  No one wanted to write orders.  Everyone wanted to watch football or sight see while they were in Philadelphia.  So we sat, we ate, we had lengthy conversations that resulted in one sale for me the entire day Sunday.  Then comes the worst.  While I generally don't mind tear down this go around I had to wait for my pallet as there was a bit of shelving I didn't use and I had stored by boxes for my brand new display.  Well the show closed at 5pm and by 9:30pm I still had no pallet.  God bless Philadelphia and union labor.  Luckily at 9pm my rep and I began building another pallet and 'making things work' so that we were not there until midnight.  Well, my pallet showed up about 10pm and we were wrapped up around 11pm.  By the time I made it to my hotel out by the airport it was 11:30pm and I was spent.

Up at 4:15am this morning as I wanted to get home half ways early to spend a few hours with Lizzy.  The first flight was on time and now as I await my second flight ... things look interesting.  Lots of storms and possible tornado's in Cincinnati.  Just praying I get out.  I need to see my baby.  I miss her tons on trips like these.  All I want is to give her a huge hug and kiss.  Especially as she now knows how to do both quite well now! 

Until next time folks ...  

The city of brotherly love ...

Well I made it, caught an earlier flight yesterday ... set-up today ... ready to go home.

The Chicago meetings' went one for two.  One was just 'peachy' (no sarcasm intended!) and the other was really great.  Got to the airport five hours early for my flight and ended up getting on an earlier flight (which was great).  Arrived at the hotel just in time to witness an SUV hit a car and then run straight into the corner of the hotel.  Major oops!  She was fine as was the driver of the other car, but wow, that was something to see. 

Set up all day today.  The booth looks good, a little full, but it looks sharp.  Not looking forward to tearing down Sunday evening.  It will probably take about three hours and not exactly fun after a long weekend at a trade show.  But such is life in a day of sales! 

Here's to spending the weekend in a city I hear is pretty cool, but have yet to really explore!  Maybe a few good spots for dinner will be in my future.  Toodles for now!  

The Windy City ...

Oh how I love Chicago. 

Smooth flight, decent Chicago pizza, and now looking forward to relaxing this evening before two meetings and another flight tomorrow.  It is the beginning of a long week.  Well more like a week on the road, which means it is a long week! 

It is getting harder and harder to leave the Lizster.  Funny as that sounds as I thought for sure as she got older I'd become more and more accustomed to leaving as would she.  But no such luck.  I think a big reason is because she is becoming a ton of fun!  She began walking, not just between daddy and I, this past weekend.  She started talking within the last week.  She is feeding herself with a spoon better and better every day.  I think the only remnant of 'baby' is the bottle she will not give up and the diapers (I think we are ways from giving that up!). 

We are saying hi, buh-bye, mama, dada, and please (sounds more like peas, but the sign language that goes with it means please)!  Well hopefully daddy, Lizzy and I will get to Skype in the next few days.  Unfortunately after tonight the days are long and the nights even longer.  I'll be heading to Philadelphia for the True Value hardware show.  First day is 7am-6pm and the second day is 7am-8pm ... there is a third day but at least that is a bit more doable at 8am-5pm ... however that is on a Sunday.

Okay time to go to sleep ... night night friends.  Kisses to my Lizbug, mommy loves you and misses you tons!!!

On the road again ...

Just a quick post tonight as it has been a long week and an extremely long day. 

After almost eight weeks at home, travel has begun again.  In a big way.  I'm in Spokane today and tomorrow assisting at one of my favorite shops, The Kitchen Engine, celebrating their 5 year anniversary.  Check them out here: www.thekitchenengine.com.  Today I spent the day demonstrating our awesome hand powered food processor and a few other nifty gadgets to make the perfect guacamole. 

This morning though and this week in general, has left something to be desired.  Why is it when work is stressful that is when home gains stress momentum as well?  Lizzy has decided she just doesn't like to sleep without us in the room, holding her.  Yikes.  We finally got her to bed around 9:30pm last night and she decided it would be a great idea to wake up at 4:14pm.  Now most people probably think, well at least you got six hours of sleep.  It is not the same as almost eight hours people.

Needless to say I'm tired, stressed and a little loopy.  Enjoying my stay here at the lovely Davenport Tower though.  The only hotel I'll stay at in Spokane now.  Best rooms ever.  Even better than the Starwoods I generally stay in.  Tonight I ate at the hotel restaurant, which is actually known around town as pretty decent, and had the best Southern Comfort Chicken and quite a tasty spinach salad with egg, bacon and sliced beets.  Delish. www.thedavenporthotel.com

Okay off to bed, another day of demonstrating tomorrow!