Remember when I got to the airport at 3 am?.... .

and I was the only person there- My last work trip was a long one 9 days in Toronto, Boston and NYC. The first time I flew to Toronto I arrived at the airport 60 min before my flight and they were not going to let me on the flight because it was an international flight and I should have been there 2 hours before the flight. So that only added to my complete nurotic getting the the airport issues. So the flight left at 6:00 am so I decided to get to the airprt at 3:30 am - this is what the airport looks like at 3:30 am - I was the only person there - it was so strange. So for future travel I need to remember the Delta ticketing gate does not evn open until 4:30.

On The Road

I spent 4 hours in Sacramento today. It was a super fast trip. The weather was yucky so it was nice to get home.

Carzy week of Travel

The week of October 10th was one of the craziest weeks of work travel yet. It started Monday with a flight into Boston, a flight to NYC on Tuesday and then a flight to Toronto on Wednesday night.

Purpose of Trip: Visit 3 customers.

What I read: Vanity Fair and people magazines.
I also picked up what might be my favorite book of the year - You Had Me at Woof. I purchased it in the Boston Airport and could not put it down until I finished reading it late that night in my NYC hotel room. Totally inspired me to work in animal rescue someday.

Favorite Purchase: A few new fun dresses during a fast and furious pop into the new, huge Forever 21 at Times Square. A fantastic coat and a skirt at a store in Toronto that my super cool friend Susan G told me about called Joe Fresh - located in a big grocery chain. Loved it. Other than that not much time for shopping.


Best Thing I ate: Sad but true story - I did not eat anything great - most of my meals were at airport restaurants - yuck..

Inspiration - As always, any trip to Toronto would not be complete without visiting a Chapters or Indigo bookstore. They are one of the customers I usually visit in Toronto. They are basically a Barnes and Noble but with a much larger gift section. I usually spend hours there looking at all of the amazing products and the European magazines. They do such a great job merchandising our products.

Remember for the next trip: Element Hotel is awesome - even though it is next to Port Authority bus terminal. You may walk out onto 8th ave looking for a place to eat and get to watch a girl sitting on the street curb vomiting into the gutter - but I guess that is just part of the charm of staying near Port Authority. They have a roof top terrace that is fantastic.

Freak of the day: Hands down I had the strangest cab drivers on both the way in and the way out of the city. The driver on the way in really wanted to be facebook friends and hang out together in the city. The driver on the way out hated all forms of the US governement, big corporations, the war and on and on - not really sure of 85% of what he said or what I was agreeing with. I am just hoping I did not join some radical extremist group.

Loving life today!

I am in San Francisco looking at the ocean eatting an apple danish
waiting for a meeting to start....awesome day so far.

Atlanta - Giveawy

I am in Atlanta at the Gift Show with Sarah. We are having a great time. We are getting a lot of samples from vendors and we thought it would be fun to share the wealth. So if you go to the Kara Chocolates facebook page and answer the question - what is your favorite Southern food in the comment section you could win a bag full of goodies from the the Atlanta gift show. We will pick a winner when we return to the office on Wednesday.

Los Angeles June 2011

Purpose of Visit: quick fly out in the am return in the afternoon trip for Halloween and Christmas with one customer.

Best Thing I ate: Heirloom tomato and watermelon salad. The eggplant was also semi amazing!.

Favorite Purchase: happy to say I did not purchase anything, however, I did spend a couple of hours at the airport looking at the Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma web sites in preparation for my big purchasing extravaganza.

Freak of the day: the couple sitting next to me on the plane coming home - fighting, making up, then making out - uncomfortable to say the least.

Row of Macaroons in Los Ageles

Yellow!

This year at the candy show in Chicago the marshmallow peeps company brought in this yellow bug with a giant peeps chick on the top. When we were traveling through Hawaii Kaycie was always playing the slug bug game....and she is really good at it. So I took this photo so I can always have a reason to shout out yellow and slug her.

San Francisco June 2011

Purpose of Visit: Visit 3 customers - 1 at a food vendor summit and 2 other customers. One will be talking about Halloween and Christmas the other will be Easter and Valentine's Day -can you see why I never know what the next holiday is?

Best Thing I Ate- Mama Chia drink I purchased at Whole Foods. Cherry Lime juice with whole Chia seeds in it. It is pretty good.

Favorite Purchase: Shoulder and Neck massage at Bliss Spa. Wow I totally needed that after all the crazy plane rides I have been on the last week.

Something to remember for my next visit: Remember the Mark Twain quote about summers in San Francisco and bring an umbrella and a jacket. I am soaking wet, freezing and the proud owner of another $5 umbrella.. Also, establish a budget before I leave. I have spent a boatload of money.

Creative Inspiration: The Ferry Building - from baking, gardening and beekeeping I was inspired by everything and can not wait to get home and work on some fun new projects.

Freak of the Day: Not so much freak of the day but heartbreak of the day - I hate seeing the homeless with their dogs.....breaks my heart. More for the dogs than the people....maybe that makes me freak of the day.

Books Read during this trip-
Rachel Ray Magazine- Not a huge Rachel Ray fan but I am now in love with this magazine.
Vaniety Fair - Great as always -my favorite travel magazine
Kipplingers Guide to Retirement - Boring but necessary
Live it, Love it, Earn it,- Not sure how much I like this one yet.

Special Note: I missed the Pride parade by about 40 minutes- I would have loved to see it. The streets were totally decked out this rainbow flags. A lot of the retail shops had changed out their displays to rainbow colors. Tons of people on the streets in rainbow clothing. I think they go all out here. I have been in NYC a couple of times for the parade and it never seemed like as big a deal as it does here.

Toronto June 2011

Purpose of Visit: Customer visit - one current and one hopefully new
customer.

Best thing I ate: cherry tomato focaccia from SOMA chocolate maker.

Somehing to remember when I come back: i went to the dufflet bakery on
east queens street and found lots of lovely little shops I need to
explore next time.

Favorite Purchase: the greatest gardening boots ever - in red gingham
pattern.

Creative Inspiration: Chapters bookstore near Sherway Gardens. I love
this store I could spend hours here. Their product mix, european
magazines and merchandise displays get me everytime.

Books read during this trip: there have been a number them of because
of my stupid itenerary (SLC, Las Vegas, Toronto - and back again) I
have lots of time for reading -
Thirteen Reasons Why -Liked it
The Everygirls Guide to Life - Maria Menous-Really liked it even though I am not much of a Maria Menous fan.
People Magazine