Tina and I got to meet heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis at the Kodak booth today. He is a formidable figure, but so friendly and nice. We look like munchkins next to him.
I forgot to link to my pictures from my NYC trip. I have them on My
Gallery. There are some pictures of the amazing Christmas
display windows at Lord&Taylor.
I saw this pink VW Bug in NYC and got really excited. Thoughts of
trading in my 2000 green Bug raced through my mind. But when I checked
the VW site, no
pink Bugs to be had. *sigh*
I wouldn't mind one of these old school bugs either.
I just happened to be in NYC when the Muji
SoHo store opened. I had
been reading about it everywhere online, so I was thrilled to
be there the weekend it opened. I have been to the ones in London so I
knew what I was in for.
I have a sad habit, however, of purchasing items when traveling that
will be a challenge to carry home on the plane. Check out the size of
this bag.
I just had to have this recycling sorter. Fortunately it
folded flat and actually fit in the plane's overhead compartment. I
LOVE it. It holds three plastic grocery bags (which despite my numerous
reusable bags still find their way into my house). We use one for
plastic, one for glass and one for aluminum. It was so worth carrying
it home.
When I go to NYC there are certain places I just HAVE to go
to... Jamba Juice,
Pomme Frites
and Secret
Burger Joint. Thanks to some suggestions and wandering
around... I have three more.
On this trip to NYC we did something I have always wanted to
do, we went to see the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. It's the
perfect time to go because it's their 75th Anniversary
Christmas Spectacular.
The Rockettes first came out as reindeer. They had a lot of
acts and it was all amazing.
I was excited about the live camels, sheep and donkeys in the
nativity.
Radio City Music Hall is gorgeous and the show was great. I
walked around with stars in my eyes for hours afterwards. And I HAD to
have the Collectors Edition Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular
Program.
I am in NYC where I spoke on a PR panel about social media yesterday.
I don't leave until this evening and Aaron flew in last night to join me. love
NYC at the holidays!
Back from Vegas and looking at the pictures. We stayed at The
Paris Hotel and had a nice view from the room window.
I didn't take a lot of pictures, but I am getting good at the
"hold your arm out as far as it will go" self portrait technique. You can see the rest of my Vegas pictures on My Gallery.
Did I mention Maroon 5 was playing at the Palms the last night
we were there. *sigh* So close, yet so far.
Oh... and I am booking another flight to Vegas this very moment... for CES in January. That's a lot of Vegas.
Vegas sure has a lot of shows.... things like Chippendales, Thunder
from Down Under... and what do we go see? Menopause the
Musical! Bah-hah. Tina's brother got us the tickets, which
was so nice. It was cute... and funny.
We also saw $250,000
Game Show Spectacular. I went in there hoping I wouldn't get
called up on stage but by the end I was hopping up and down "Pick me!
Pick me!" I didn't get picked and I didn't win $250, 000. Jamie Farr
seems like a really nice guy.
Last month... before I went to Cleveland I put a call out for cupcake bakeries that I could check out. A couple folks emailed/commented that there weren't any there.
To the contrary, at the West Side Market I found Grandma Freda's cupcakes. There were strawberry, wedding cake vanilla, peanut butter cup and deep chocolate almond.
They were goooood. Lucky Clevelanders. Hopefully I will get a chance to see what cupcakes Las Vegasers enjoy. Or is it Las Vegasians?
I am leaving for Las Vegas today because I am speaking on two
panels at BlogWorld.
Scroll down this
page to the "C's" and there I am!
If you happen to be at BlogWorld you can find me at Corproate
& CEO Blogging and PR Do's and Don'ts. It should be fun and
Tina is going to Vegas too, to visit her brother. Watch out... Jenina
is in town!
We came to Cleveland to see Maroon5 in concert. They were
amazing! The Hives opened for them and they were really good too.
There was a lot going on at this concert. The Cleveland
Indian's just won their playoff game right next door and the crowd was
estatic. It was also James Valentine's birthday so there was a cake on
stage that turned into a food fight.
These were the best seats I think we have ever had at a
concert. Adam was so close. Here is a video of him closing the evening
with "She Will Be Loved".
I love taking pictures with statues when I find them. And I like making the people traveling with me pose with them too. Here are a few I found in Boston.
The frogs near the frog pond in Boston Commons.
Make Way for Ducklings in Boston Public Garden.
Giant Mayor Kevin White at Faneuil Hall.
Red Auerbach at Faneuil Hall, Mayor James Curley sitting and standing at Curley Mall.
When we were riding around on the duck tour, I noticed tortoise and hare statues in Copley Square. We didn't have time to walk back over there, so I missed them. Boo.
Since I was only in Boston for the weekend, most of the time was spent in the city. I will need a separate trip to explore all the great recommendations in the South End, Cambridge and Brookline.
I did make the most of the North End and one of the first places I hit was Lulu's Bake Shoppe .
The cupcakes pictured are red velvet, chocolate, smores and peanut butter. The vanilla with pink frosting didn't make it to the photo shoot intact.
I also checked out Johnny Cupcakes on Newbury Street, who, surprise, surprise... doesn't actually have cupcakes! That's okay... what I really wanted was a t-shirt.
The whole weekend I kept seeing these funny duck tour boats. I just knew I had to ride in one. So this morning we boarded a green duck called the Charlie River and waddled around Boston.
I was completely fascinated by the way we were able to slide into the Charles River, boat around and then drive right back out onto the road. The entire experience was made all the richer from our duck lip whistles... quack quack.
Today we met up with Shruti who was here for a conference. We toured the USS Constitution. Old Ironsides is actually where Aaron is working these two weeks for Naval Reserves duty. Apparently he is getting his picture taken a lot.
I got into Boston last night and already I have had lobster and the
yummiest clam chowder at the Union Oyster House
and an ice cream injected cupcake at Trani. Thank you
to everyone who has left me recommendations! You are the best! I can
tell this is going to be an awesome weekend.
We are in the North End and I love it. There is a cute
cobblestone street with pubs and cafes around every corner. Couldn't be
cuter or more charming. Heading out now to explore...
When I was in LA I got one of these Bear Paws from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.
A marshmallow coated in caramel, rolled in rice krispies, covered in
white chocolate. Be still my beating heart.
We are back from California. I didn't publish the posts I
wrote while I was there because I couldn't bear to pay the $20 a day
for hotel internet... grrrr.
A little jet lagged, but fondly remembering the trip... esp
Jamba Juice and In-n-Out Burger.
Check out 1000
Words today... I write more about the races and all. Leave me
comments there!
Aaron and I had the day before taking a red eye back to
Rochester. We strolled around a bit.
And we went to see Underdog
at the El Capitan. I really wanted to see the stunt dog. I had a
weimaraner when I was a kid so I really wanted to see this show. I'm
glad I got a chance to see it.
We were at the race at California Speedway today. The Kodak
No. 12 looked so cool... but had mechanical trouble before the end of
the race. Bummer.
Piglet was excited to check out the track.
We signed the finish line.
Can I just talk for a moment about how
hot it was out there? It was 102+ at the track. I mean, it's
already practically in the desert and then Southern California had a
heat wave.
We went to watch a little of the 30 Seconds to Mars
concert in the fan zone and I started to feel sick to my stomach. I
have no idea how they were able to perfom like that... much less pull
stunts like climbing the scaffolding (see above)
I remember saying to Aaron "I think I am going to die... of
heat" as we stumbled around. It was that bad.
One last thing. At the Busch race all the guys were snickering
at the Race Girl
car. They couldn't get over it being pink. Well, I thought it was cute.
So today, I went and found their souvenir trailer and bought a t-shirt.
They had the busiest trailer of any the drivers by the way! Hah!
Before going to LA, I am in San Diego today for a meeting.
Strange thing here... I was going to walk from my hotel, less
than a mile to the office building when the hotel staff completely
freaked out and insisted on calling the hotel shuttle. They said I
simply could not walk all that way. The whole two minute ride to the
office the driver kept saying... "Oh yeah... look at this... it's all
uphill!"
It really didn't look that far to me... sidewalks the whole
way. Kinda funny. But at least I was able to persuade the driver to
swing by Jamba Juice and In-n-Out Burger on the way back to the
hotel.
I was disapointed to discover that Jamba Juice was no longer
in Atlanta. Today on our way to the office we found a different
smoothie place called Robeks.
I was amazed at how much it looked like Jamba.
Back in the rental with our smoothies, Joel took a slurp and
announced... "It's good but it's not Jamba". I had say "Look it's all
I've got. Can you just let me pretend!?"
So sad.
We are flying back to Rochester tonight. No cupcakes. No
Jamba.
We have been working hard here in Atlanta and I don't think we
are going to get a chance to go anywhere before we leave tomorrow. I am
crushed because I found two cupcake joints in the city.
I am in Atlanta a couple days for work and we have hit the
ground running.
Joel found Varsity,
The World's Largest Drive-in Restaurant. It has been in Atlanta since
1928. The cheeseburgers were okay, the fries good and the chocolate
shake fantastic. I love the tray they hook onto your window.
I made a mess of myself eating in the car however. When
we got to our hotel I discovered I had ketchup and chocolate shake all
over the front of my shirt.
We don't have much time here... but are there any "must see's"?
Have you ever seen Giada's
Weekend Getaway? She has the sweetest set up... she gets to
travel to cool spots and eat! I have watched every episode... taking
notes as I watch.
When she traveled to Newport, Rhode Island, she
tooled around in one of these Scoot
Coupes. One of these would be great to drive to work in...
and cute.
In Chicago she went to Orange
where she had frushi.
She also ate a piece of french toast kabob from the plate of the girl
sitting next to her at the bar.
How does one go about getting job where they go somewhere
every weekend and strangers let you eat off their plate?
We are going back to Rochester this evening. I want to thank everyone so much for their great suggestions of places to visit... they made our trip very memorable. And tasty. Some of the highlights were... Japantown, Kinokuniya Bookstore, The Ferry Terminal Building, Miette Bakery, Pier 39 Sea Lions, Britex Fabric, Tartine Bakery, Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden, Jeremy's Discount Store, The Cheeseboard and Elephant Pharmacy. We didn't make it to every spot that was recommended, but they went on a list for future visits!
We happened to also stumble upon In-n-Out Burger, Teacake Bake Shop, Coco Bang Korean BBQ, The Cowgirl Cheeseshop, Ikea, Citizen Cupcake, Shabu-Sen Shabu Shabu, Charles Chocolates, Queen Wilhemina's Garden, Pancho Villa Taqueria , Love at First Bite Cupcakery and Scharffen Berger Chocolates.
Check out the 200(!) pictures from my trip to San Francisco that I uploaded to My Gallery.
OK... it's probably a good thing I am leaving San Francisco soon. The food here is too good. I have eaten my way through the entire city. My only saving grace is that we have done a lot of walking... we walk to the office instead of driving... we walk to lunch... we walk to dinner... we walk to the cupcake shop. Ohhhh dear.
I want to thank everyone that has given me such great suggestions for what to see in San Francisco.
Today was another fun day... we met Charles of Charles Chocolates and went to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park.
When one is traveling and one goes to visit an Ikea one really must remember that they flew there on a plane and really mustn't buy large items or furniture... no matter how cute it is.
After reading over some of the "must visit" recommendations, this evening we went to Japantown. Joel stopped at every sushi window to look at the fake pieces of sushi. I nearly passed out when we went to the Kinokuniya Bookstore. I had time to pick out three books before it closed. I hardly got a chance to see everything, so we will have to go back again. There were some books that were so cute my head nearly popped.
I am going to be in San Francisco the next two weeks for work. As soon as I got back from Ithaca, I packed my bags and flew out. Joel is here too and Tina joins us tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do, but we hope to get around a little too. Joel and I have already hit the In-n-Out Burger. Yummy, yummy.
I know it is almost spring when it is time for all you can eat pancakes. This past weekend and next weekend are Maple Weekends here in NY state. That is the time that the maple sap is running and is tapped.
To celebrate many maple syrup producers open their doors and demonstrate the process. Some offer all you can eat pancakes.
We went to Spragues Maple Farm. Shruti, Vishal, Tina and the champion pancake eater of all time (Lauren) went along with Aaron and I.
Check out the pictures from our little road trip on My Gallery.
Two years ago I sold all my Debbie Mumm holiday snowman dishes on eBay because I wanted something new. Since I did that I felt it was okay to get these Tord Boontje holiday dishes at Target this year.
Especially since it was after Christmas and they were on clearance!
I took the red eye home yesterday and I still feel a little off. I am even a good airplane sleeper.
If you aren't a good plane sleeper here are several products to help you sleep on a plane. You don't want to look like the woman in the first picture above. Look how comfy the guy is with his 1rst Class Sleeper sitting behind her.
I have yet to see someone pull out a Posh Air airplane sleeping bag and crawl into it.
I think the last item is pure genius. You inflate the Sky Rest Travel Pillow, place it on your lap, lean over and you are off to dream land.
Aaron got me this "Scrap, Paper, Scissors" Mini Organizer and I am enjoying it immensely. I filled it up and carry it with me throughout the house. It appeals to the super organizer side of me.
It came complete with 17 outside pockets, 9 inside pockets and one zippered compartment on bottom of tote. Heaven!
The Rochester station that played all Christmas music this year also plays the John Tesh Intelligence for your Life segments. I have heard enough of them that I have worked it into my daily conversations.
John Tesh says you can go to bed angry. John Tesh says a pizza is better for you than Chinese chicken and broccoli. John Tesh says this, John Tesh says that.
