Ok - I'm back

Phew! Man that last trip seemed to take FOREVER! Had a blast with Brooke (see blog on kickboxing...) and a good time with Denise and Janet - except that those 2 are older than me and decided this trip to continually point it out at every opportunity. However, I did go shopping with Janet one night (AND I survived!!) She is on a leopard print kick lately. She had it in her head that she was going to buy a pair of leopard print shoes. Ok - I know what you're thinking and it's not the shoes you're probably envisioning... She's looking for a pair of flat loafers, probably black with a splash of print on the top part. We found everything BUT that.

SIDE NOTE - I don't hate shopping for other people - I only hate shopping for me... Leopard print scavenger hunt - very fun!

For kicks we took this pic and told Denise that Janet actually bought them. However the joke bombed because it's hard to see what it is you're looking at on the small screen of a cell phone....
In case you're having a hard time too those are skanky high heels in leopard print. Can't tell how trashy they are until you saw their profile. Trust me - very very hoochie-momma. Very funny. As you can see from the picture - Janet, NOT the hoochie-mooma type...

Have you ever been to a tradeshow for your industry?? Well mine are interesting because we are in the medical sector so we get all the pharma comapnies - they have $$$$ Every booth usually has some type of give-away. We're small so we just keep a basket of chocolates. People do seem to really love this because they always light up when they see it. And instead of taking a piece or two I have seen many a respiraoty therapist and DOCTORS (as if they couldn't afford to buy their own) take HANDFULS of the stuff. But Pharma companies usually give away GOOD stuff. We have some ladies here in the office that do all the work to get everything we need for the tradeshows but rarely, if ever, get to actually go. So - I tracked a trunk full of crap back for them. Take a look at the loot!!

There are bags, mint tins, golf balls, the round blue thing is a travel frisbee. There's a CD case (from the Dairy Counsel), a box of Splenda, hand sanitizers and yes, ladies and gentlemen - that is an umbrella on the far right side. I carried that thing home on the plane with me. One of the ladies BETTER take it since I went to such an effort!!

And of course Connie already picked out her loot - she got a great bag (I already have the same one from a previous show), a water bottle and a coffee mug. All three of these things are from pharma groups. Cool stuff.

In the past I have hoarded the loot for myself. Let's see - what do I alrady have a home??? I have a nasal saline rinse kit - complete with reusable plastic bottle with lovely shaped head to fit nicely inside the nose - complete with 100 packets of saline mix (just add water). I have a million travel kleenexes and hand sanitizer out the wazoo. I have pens and post-it notes and highlighters too. The list of things I have is too long and embarassing to continue. I swear - I'm surprised I never tried to shoplift as a kid. If it's there for the taking I can't resist. I have that bizarre problem of taking all the travel size things from the bathrooms of hotels. I was so proud - I tought I had finally kicked that habit. Truth is I just replcaed with with taking thigns from the tradeshows instead. Don't be surprised if you see my mug on a :Wanted" flier one day because I grabbed one too many things....