Could I really deal with L.A. traffic?

Well, I'm back. I spent most of last week shuttling between Hollywood and Long Beach, California! I was out west to attend the WE09 Society of Women Engineers National Conference! After years of trying and subsequently giving up, I had caefully researched this year's conference and found it highly applicable to my current job. I approached my boss, made my case and wha-la...he gave permission for me to go! This has been arranged since about June.

While out west, I stayed with my old college roommate, M, and her husband N. They have an absolutely GORGEOUS condo on the outskirts of Hollywood, and they were kind enough to let me stay with them. So each day I trucked in the 45 - 60 minute drive to the Long Beach Convention Center I always left early enough that I didn't really have to deal with true L.A. rush hour in the morning. While it was definitely more traffic than I was used to, it was nothing like trying to drive home a couple of the evenings after the conference when it took me almost 2 hours! I swore up and down, I didn't think I could handle L.A. traffic. I might have changed my mind after spending most of the week in the 70s and 80s and then having to land in 35 degrees back here. :(

The conference was amazing! Worth every single cent that was paid. My schedule was absolutely packed...

Tues. - left at 5:30pm Eastern and landed at 11pm Pacific. It was 12:30am Pacific time by the time I had gotten my luggage, my rental car, and made it to M&N's.

Wed. - woke up at 5am (yup, got 4.5 hours of sleep), got ready, and was on the road by 6am. Ended up arriving in Long Beach way way too early. So I called the girls I had traveled with to see if they wanted me to pick them up at the hotel, which I did. We were registering by 7:30 and on the bus to our first Technical Tour by 8:15am. I spent from then until 1pm touring Raytheon Space & Airborne Facilities. Once we got back I went to one of the girl's hotel room (they were staying near the conference) to bum a comfy chair from her to take a nap. By 5pm I was back at the convention center to hop the bus for an evening networking tour, L.A. by Night. Which stopped at the Chinese Theater place - you know the ones with all the hand prints and such? I took pictures of a few of them: Tom Hanks, Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers. The Hollywood walk of fame was also there. I saw Michael Jackson's star with some rose petals strewn about, but to be honest I was more impressed with Mickey Mouse's! We hit up City Walk and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe too. I had been stupid enough to think I needed to dress professional all the time...and my feet were killing me! I had worn heels. So I stopped at the Sketchers store on City Walk and bought some cute, yet casual sneakers to wear. And I changed right there too! Best purchase the whole vacation...I wore them lots! We got back from the tour about 10pm, and then I drove back to L.A. getting in about 11pm.

My new shoes!

Thursday was again an early day. I slept in a bit having learned my lesson from the previous day. I still left by 7am to make sure I didn't get hung up in too much trouble. I went on another technical tour at 8am, this time to Boeing's commercial satellite assembly floor. Again, great great great tour! Back much earlier this time. So after arriving back at the convention center about 11am, and my next event not occurring until 1:30, myself and the three other girls who had come from my division/location headed off to Nordstrom's Rack to do some serious shopping! I did $235 worth of damage...but got some amazing clothes, including jeans, belt and a few Michael Kohrs shirts! I was the cheap one too...the rest of them pretty much doubled what I had spent! I actually had to leave before the rest of them, so I could have time to grab lunch at be back at the Convention Center in time. At 1:30 I attended "Supply Chain Transformation", immediately followed by a lecutre session on "The Crown Jewels of Effective Leadership". Afterwards, one of the girls, K, and I headed out for a drink and an appetizer at the Harbor House. I also got my first experience when I headed home later that day with L.A. traffic, it took a full 90 minutes to get back to M's.

Friday was even better. I got to sleep in just a few minutes more. I was back to the Convention Center by 8am. I grabbed some breakfast there, and spent some time reading up on all the day's offerings. I had my first session before lunch "Creating and Measuring a Strong Workforce". Lunch was next, followed by a brief walk about the career fair trying to gather literature (no I am not leaving mine), followed by two more sessions "Work/Life Balance Panel Discussion" and "Innovation in Manufacturing and Engineering". I met up with the girls briefly afterwards for a few minutes to hang out while they had a drink and then I headed back up to L.A.

I wanted to take N & M out to dinner as a thank you for letting me stay with them. And it was so wonderful to finally get to actually spend time time and hang out with them! We went to Gyu-Kaku in Beverly Hills. What a great, unique resturaunt. You order your food...then you grill it! Don't worry, they tell you exactly how long to put it on the grill! It comes fully seasoned and prepped of course. We had a couple different types of red meat, shrimp and lamb. There was rice, salad, and miso soup too. Best part...for dessert we roasted our own S'Mores!

After dinner N and M took me on a quick tour, through the "cheap" portion of Beverly Hills (not so cheap!), Rodeo Drive, Sunset Blvd (saw the Viper Room and such).

Saturday I was able to sleep in, as I didn't need to be at the conference until about 10am. And I knew I wouldn't have to worry about traffic on a weekend. I got in on time and went to "Starting or Improving a Women's Network", which was so valuable! After lunch I was back to attend "Systems Thinking". Then it was back to N & M's, where we hung out, and went shopping on Melrose! We hit up this great little accessories store, I think it was called So Good? I wish, wish, wish, I had had more room in my suitcase, becuase there were all these great little boutiques and vintage clothing shops, what fun I could have had. But considering I had barely been able to close my suitcase with the expander open, I knew I couldn't. :( After Melrose, N&M introduced me to In 'n Out! I had never been to one. Delicous! Simple, yet very delicious!


Off to the airport about 7:30, flight at 11pm. Landed at Dulles (DC) and then got in to NY about 9:30am, absolutely exhausted. It was, of course, so wonderful to see Todd and snuggle with him. But I ended up taking a 6 hour nap! Craziness. But then again, it was a crazy, hectic week!