One Night in San Francisco.....

I spent one quick night in San Francisco 2 weeks ago for meetings with a couple of my customers.

This was the view out of the window where my first meeting was held. Are you kidding me?  How would you get any work done if you got to look at this everyday? 

This was the view outside my hotel window. I think this was the best "room with a view" that I have ever had in San Francisco....looking right out to Union Square.

"Lunch with a view" - The view as I sat and ate my lunch of sour dough bread and a crab cocktail on Fisherman's Warf...Yumm

Gnocchi Night

A few weeks ago I invited a few friends over and had sweet Aunt Glenda and Shauna teach us to make Gnocchi. We also learned to make fresh mozzarella, french bread and everyone brought their favorite Italian inspired food. There was tons of great food.






Thanks to Lindsey for the iphone video.

Doggy School Graduate

Ruby Foo graduated from puppy school last night.  I have discovered being a dog owner is hard work and expensive. 

Cons of Ruby Foo ownership- 

My house is always a mess-dog toys and shredded paper everywhere.

My carpet will need to be replaced enough said about that.

Chewed up leg on my Pottery Barn bed.

Chewed up antique suitcase.

Chewed the embellishments off of 2 pairs of shoes.

Feeling guilt when she is at home alone all day while I am at work.

Tons of money spent-vet bills to rid her of an unmentionable problem she had early on and tests and x-rays to discover she had a teeny tiny trachea which was causing her to choke and vomit whenever she drank water.  Then there is the growing collection of dog collars, treats and toys.

Pros of Ruby Foo ownership 

So far she is super sweet. 

She forces me to get up early in the AM and take her for a long walk and get to work on time.....well maybe not on time.

She is super snugly and sleeps with her head resting on my neck...I love it

Spending the last 8 weeks going to dog school with Jake and his dog Scout.  

Traveling Greeks in Spain

Girl greek recently went on holiday with my English friend Lucy and her family.

Here she is in a sweet little village.

Hanging out by the pool at the resort.

Chicago Candy Show

I made a super quick trip to Chicago for the candy show......which is now called the Snack and Sweets expo. I found some fun new candies and lots of great new packaging options. I spent most of my time looking for Mexican Candies for a Mexican candy line and European Candies for a really fun line I am working on for a customer.
I have also discovered my new favorite candy

Skittles Fizzled Fruits- Yumm

I went to the candy show alone so there were not any fabulous meals....I just had room service and sat in my lovely room with the most fantastic view of Michigan Ave.

So, after 3 months my doglette finally has a name. She lived for a few
weeks as Betsy Ross but my family could not grasp my vision of having
pets with the names of strong women from US history. I had dreams of a
Brussels Griffon named Abigail Adams, a giant Schnauzer named Harriet
Tubman, and perhaps a teacup potbellied pig named Eleanor Roosevelt.
On a recent trip to NYC I went to a cute little cookie shop, where I
had a delightful caramel popcorn cookie that was amazing.
As I walked
back to my hotel, on the most beautiful NYC night ever, I was thinking about the cute name of the shop, Ruby et Violette, and decided then and there that she would be named Ruby
Foo.
Unless you are Riley you call her Peach, or my mom who calls her
brownie (don't worry she mostly black) or my dad who calls her coyote or Jake who just makes some clicking noise to get her attention. Poor thing is going to be so confused!

Brithday Goal #38

One of my birthday goals was to buy a dog and now I can check that off the list. Sorry my iphone pictures are not great.

Now I need a little help picking a name. Here are the options-

1-Varuka 2-Betsy Ross 3- Capri or Florence (following in the tradition of naming dogs after cities in Italy) 4- Willamina 5-Lola 6-Drusilla

Please let me know what you think.

Don't tell Riley but I don't think her name is going to be Princess Peach I think he might cry. Don't tell Jake I am not naming her after his favorite baseball player....I think he might cry too.