... I can't wait to be OFF the road again.
Okay so I'm not in an awful mood as of yet, but I am ready to be home long enough to spend some quality time with my daughter. Elizabeth was out like a light when I got home around midnight on Wednesday and so I rubbed her cute little back and kissed her goodnight. She didn't even flinch.
We spent the weekend being busy little bees and visiting friends and family. But now, it is Monday and I am on the road (or rather on a plane) headed to Dallas and Austin this week. I'll be back Thursday evening, before midnight but after Elizabeth's bedtime. Sad face. I love my nightly ritual of putting her to bed. It is our special time although lately she doesn't like to rock with me. We read and she has a bottle and then she looks at me and says 'nigh nigh' and makes the sign for bed. We rock a little more and then she is insisting on her crib. While any parent would probably love this ... this time at night is the only time that this little gal sits contently!
The good news is though that I'll be able to Skype with the Lizster both tomorrow and Wednesday evening! She is growing like a weed but sick as can be. Her cough has gotten worse poor thing and she has a mad case of diaper rash (TMI?). So we baby her a little more than what she is already ...
Off to work a little on the plane and then maybe catch some zzzz's. I think I'm going to need it considering I get in to Dallas at midnight. Until later folks...
Monday, October 24, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Mile High to Miles of Rain.
So I thought I'd have time to catch up with everyone on Friday evening. That obviously did not happen. After arriving in Denver around 9am I went straight to the hotel in order to grab a few boxes and then headed to the hotel. Denver was gorgeous, even if I only got to spend about five hours total in the sunshine. Colorado is definitely one of only a few states that I could see us ever moving to. Sunshine 320 days a year. Wakeboarding and skiing all within an hour or two. Amazing outdoor activities. It would be a blast.
But I digress. Friday set-up went pretty well. After having gone through it once I had an idea of how things needed to be set-up. Friday evening I headed out to Euclid Hall with my rep and another manufacturer for a quick bite (at 9pm that is). Mind you after my 3am wake-up call I was exhausted but the bar was very cool and the food was delish. If you ever get a chance be sure to check out the roasted cauliflower appetizer and the sausage sampler was amazing. We even splurged and shared the S'more dessert complete with homemade graham cracker and marshmallow. www.euclidhall.com
Saturday was the first day of the show and it went well. A little slow to start (it always is) but things picked up around lunch and didn't stop until 7pm when the show closed. I love this show as I always get a chance to catch up with some of my favorite store owners. And it is finally to the point where my stores come prepared and simply hand me their replenishment purchase orders ... some of which are topping over a few thousand dollars! We headed to the Hyatt immediately following the show for a quick drink and then out to Osteria Marco.
Oh my word was this Italian amazing! We ended up with six in our party hanging out with two others at a communal dinner table. Such fun! We started with the meatball sliders and bruschetta, along with a chef's selection of meats and cheeses. I have to say though the most amazing was the Burrata and the Capra Ricotta (homemade in the restaurant). We then ordered a few pizzas to split, but all in all it was delicious. www.osteriamarco.com What was not delicious was that by the end of this dinner I was in a full on fight with a brutal cold. You see I left a petri dish of an office and therefore was hoping I would escape it but I think my lack of sleep did the opposite. It hit me like a ton of bricks.
Sunday was equally as busy and I enjoyed seeing many of my international customers. I'm thinking a trip to Costa Rica may be in my future in order to visit and thank my best international customer! Hmmm that may be wishful thinking. I was feeling pretty miserable but I was able to chat it up with my little princess Sunday evening and what a joy. These long trips make it really hard to not be with her but to hear her say 'hi mama' and 'nigh nigh' or 'buh bye' before we hang up is priceless. I know it will not be long before she is talking up a storm in 'good English'. That evening we met up with a few other manufacturers as well as stores and tailgated outside the convention center. We grubbed on some delicious drinks and jambalaya (and I may have had a DayQuil so I wouldn't feel miserable for the evening). After tailgating we headed to the Ace sponsored Miranda Lambert concert. Although she wasn't amazing she definitely can sing and it was a blast.
Monday was the final day of the show and actually wasn't too painfully slow. We wrote a few orders, caught up with a few additional friends and then waiting until 6pm to tear down. After almost three hours of tear down and pallet loading, I wrapped up and headed back to my hotel. Tuesday was spent visiting two accounts in Colorado Springs. Seeing as I was already in Colorado it just made sense. Good trips and a chance to enjoy the beautiful Colorado weather. I left Tuesday evening to head to Grand Rapids MI. Oooh what a night. Although I had a direct I did not get in to my hotel until a bit past midnight.
Today I was very glad that I didn't have to be ready until 9am. The sleep was much needed. Today was one of those days that you just aren't sure what to expect being in sales. There were two meetings both of which went much smoother than what I had expected. Not great, but not horrible. However to be honest it was more of me pushing through to make it home to see my little one. I wasn't able to talk to her or my husband today due to meetings and flights so I'll be very glad to head home and crawl into bed with my hubby and kiss my baby girl goodnight.
Until next time ... I'll leave you with this. Try and try again, nothing is impossible. A great piece of advice I received this trip and I'm going to try and live a little more to that mantra. Here's to hoping I'm home before midnight tonight. From 35,000 feet ... aloha.
But I digress. Friday set-up went pretty well. After having gone through it once I had an idea of how things needed to be set-up. Friday evening I headed out to Euclid Hall with my rep and another manufacturer for a quick bite (at 9pm that is). Mind you after my 3am wake-up call I was exhausted but the bar was very cool and the food was delish. If you ever get a chance be sure to check out the roasted cauliflower appetizer and the sausage sampler was amazing. We even splurged and shared the S'more dessert complete with homemade graham cracker and marshmallow. www.euclidhall.com
Saturday was the first day of the show and it went well. A little slow to start (it always is) but things picked up around lunch and didn't stop until 7pm when the show closed. I love this show as I always get a chance to catch up with some of my favorite store owners. And it is finally to the point where my stores come prepared and simply hand me their replenishment purchase orders ... some of which are topping over a few thousand dollars! We headed to the Hyatt immediately following the show for a quick drink and then out to Osteria Marco.
Oh my word was this Italian amazing! We ended up with six in our party hanging out with two others at a communal dinner table. Such fun! We started with the meatball sliders and bruschetta, along with a chef's selection of meats and cheeses. I have to say though the most amazing was the Burrata and the Capra Ricotta (homemade in the restaurant). We then ordered a few pizzas to split, but all in all it was delicious. www.osteriamarco.com What was not delicious was that by the end of this dinner I was in a full on fight with a brutal cold. You see I left a petri dish of an office and therefore was hoping I would escape it but I think my lack of sleep did the opposite. It hit me like a ton of bricks.
Sunday was equally as busy and I enjoyed seeing many of my international customers. I'm thinking a trip to Costa Rica may be in my future in order to visit and thank my best international customer! Hmmm that may be wishful thinking. I was feeling pretty miserable but I was able to chat it up with my little princess Sunday evening and what a joy. These long trips make it really hard to not be with her but to hear her say 'hi mama' and 'nigh nigh' or 'buh bye' before we hang up is priceless. I know it will not be long before she is talking up a storm in 'good English'. That evening we met up with a few other manufacturers as well as stores and tailgated outside the convention center. We grubbed on some delicious drinks and jambalaya (and I may have had a DayQuil so I wouldn't feel miserable for the evening). After tailgating we headed to the Ace sponsored Miranda Lambert concert. Although she wasn't amazing she definitely can sing and it was a blast.
Monday was the final day of the show and actually wasn't too painfully slow. We wrote a few orders, caught up with a few additional friends and then waiting until 6pm to tear down. After almost three hours of tear down and pallet loading, I wrapped up and headed back to my hotel. Tuesday was spent visiting two accounts in Colorado Springs. Seeing as I was already in Colorado it just made sense. Good trips and a chance to enjoy the beautiful Colorado weather. I left Tuesday evening to head to Grand Rapids MI. Oooh what a night. Although I had a direct I did not get in to my hotel until a bit past midnight.
Today I was very glad that I didn't have to be ready until 9am. The sleep was much needed. Today was one of those days that you just aren't sure what to expect being in sales. There were two meetings both of which went much smoother than what I had expected. Not great, but not horrible. However to be honest it was more of me pushing through to make it home to see my little one. I wasn't able to talk to her or my husband today due to meetings and flights so I'll be very glad to head home and crawl into bed with my hubby and kiss my baby girl goodnight.
Until next time ... I'll leave you with this. Try and try again, nothing is impossible. A great piece of advice I received this trip and I'm going to try and live a little more to that mantra. Here's to hoping I'm home before midnight tonight. From 35,000 feet ... aloha.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Detour
I expect to be able to write more tonight but gee whiz if this trip goes anything like this morning, I'm screwed. At least I woke up on time. On time being 2:45am, yuck. Out the door by 3:30am, only to have my exit to I-5 south closed this morning. So I took the 'long' way around through Bellevue and down into Tukwila only for my exit to the airport to be closed. Thus another detour.
The only positives this morning were that the premium lane for security opened right as I walked up to it and that the Starbucks line was only about 25 deep (yes this is a surprisingly short line). In two and a half hours I will be in Denver, setting up yet anther trade show booth and hoping upon hopes that the show this weekend is decent.
More soon ... aloha for now!
The only positives this morning were that the premium lane for security opened right as I walked up to it and that the Starbucks line was only about 25 deep (yes this is a surprisingly short line). In two and a half hours I will be in Denver, setting up yet anther trade show booth and hoping upon hopes that the show this weekend is decent.
More soon ... aloha for now!
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