What a pane....window pane, that is.

A career assessment test in high school yielded unusual options for me:

1. Window Washer
2. Nun

In my mind, lack of balance and coordination immediately eliminated the first option and having received 7 years of education from a Catholic school, I never would have consider a career in a similar setting. Regardless, I'm sure my parents were simply freaking out to receive the results of this exam....might we even have had a follow-up session with one of the career counselors? I certainly didn't receive the results of this seemingly useless test without some form of repercussion.

So you can imagine my high-pitched laughter when this showed up in my email the other day:

CRAP.

Workplace Fun.

If I employed a group of my friends to work in one room together, I could see this kind of stuff happening ALL OF THE TIME:

Actually, having met some of Devon's co-workers, I could totally see them finishing off their Wednesday workday in this fashion! Consider this a call to arms, OMD Digital Analytics Team...a call to arms.

Another Birthday Picnic!

Jamie, Imran, and baby Mateen.

After Jocelyn's picnic, we headed down to San Jose. Mateen turned one this month and subsequently invited 150 of his closest family and friends to his partay. This baby is maaad pimpin'. I don't know 150 people and I've lived 28 more years than the kid.

His dad is one of our closest work friends and my old bossman...miss him, sniff. He's the easiest guy in the world to make fun of, just takes all sorts of mad insults, but is quick to dole out the quick jabs. Imran listens to fun music, eats like a 5th grader, costume changes 7times a day, and text messages like a fiend. Simple to understand why I like spending time with him, right? It's like being friends with a 7th grader. Jamie likes him because he doesn't drink so it's like having a built-in designated driver at work events; major plus. :)

Not only was it 50 degrees warmer in San Jose, but they had a bouncy house and a bday cake the size of our apartment. Chocolate and BANANA! Score. I'll signing up for kids' birthday parties all summer long.

me + the mazhar men.

Aloohaa!

Some of you may have noticed I claimed to have figured out this whole "having to go to work in Hawaii" thing a couple weeks ago. And that is to always, always have someone come with me!

Me with Prince + Molly's mom

Michele had been craving a vacation, had just received a bonus from work, and asked to join me the next time I needed to tend to that part of my territory. DONE. Monday through Thursday, I was to go work daytime, she was to relaximus maximus, and we'd hook up in time for some grubbin' dinner. Friday was a holiday for our company so we'd have a full day to hang and do our thing before having to fly back home, just in time for the 4th!

My boss was spontaneously with me for THREE days straight which was a major buzz-kill, but I tried to be positive and as enthusiastic as possible for that wrench in my plans. It's just that much more difficult to get your day accomplished the way you want to when every action item is questioned and has to be explained, you know? I'm just not a patient enough person, me thinks.

And for the record, in my line of work, I don't work, see, or even talk to my boss on a daily basis. It's a norm with field sales, particularly in my area where our territories are so large and some of us cover multiples states. We tend to see them once a month at max and I hadn't officially worked with mine in 7 months! Needless to say, her three-day-presence was a bit of a shock to the system.

Good thing I had THIS to unwind to at the end of each day.
Dude, move.
You're in my shot and you don't know the day I've had.

Each evening, I would return home to the most relaxed travel partner who wanted to make sure I was fed and could vent about work and who would make me laugh because she had been held so solitary all day long! It was terrific. It was as if she had written down all these things she'd want to say to me all day so by the time I got in front of her it was like a running sitcom! On a particularly longer day, I came back to a reservation at the resort spa for a lomilomi massage! In exchange for all of this well treatment, I took Michele to my favorite sushi place of all time: SUSHI SASABUNE.

Omg. If you're ever in Honolulu, you MUST get yourself a seat there. Seiji and his apprentice, Toshi, will be the best chefs you've ever encountered. They serve fish from all over the world, do NOT do rolls, specialize in cold fish + warm rice to enhance the flavor, and will subtley watch your reaction to each course to make adjustments accordingly. EVERY COURSE WAS AWESOME.

We got to hang with these cuties in Maui on Friday.
The gal in the middle is also a co-worker.
She's flanked by her boyfriend and her daughter.
This was just after the waves KICKED MY BUTT.

The tide was tugging on my feet and a huge one SMACKED me in the head. Tumbled ass over teakettle and may have lost my top. MAY have. I know I definitely lost my sunglasses. This local guy was so sweet and offered to go find it in the tumultuous waves and water, but came up empty handed with apologies. He then asked what kind they were and I hadn't even finished the word "Prada" when he went racing back into the water. Bro knows his brand names! They were just waiting for him on the bottom of the ocean many a yard out! My hero.

Although....it may have been in exchange for the peep show I involuntarily performed earlier. MAY have been.

Our view from our private chairs on our private cliff that Michele scored.
Pays to travel with a companion.

Final Day in NYC

Stopped @ anthropologie to look at these pots.
First Kiehl's store ever. Looks like a drugstore. Cool.

Exploring the lower east side.
Really digging wall art.
Stopped by for some breakfast here.
TO DIE FOR Bluberry Pancakes with Warm Maple Butter.
Would make the trip again JUST for this breakfast.
Apparently, shortly after our visit, Bobby Flay threwdown @ CSB.
You know I'm happy if I have me some cupcakes.

These are mini ones created by Baked by Melissa.
If you get a chance, read some of the press she's received!

Last place we thought we'd see some Lakers celebrations.

Bye for now, Big Apple! We'll be back soon.
On a completely unrelated note, check out how my people try to shave off a few minutes off of their morning routines (thanks, amy).

Just another typical work day in SF.

While the number of crazies in our city seem to be increasing regularly, I almost never grab my camera quickly enough. This guy almost escaped. He was just walking around, dropping off some mail, and grabbing a coffee + cookie at Mrs. Fields. You know, just a typical day for him. Makes my daily garb seem so mundane and redundant.

Office Day + Lunch

mmm...yummy veggie pizza.

pastry puff, humus spread, roasted brussels , crushed wasabi peas.

my fave!

--totally based on a FAVE dish @ graffiti in nyc--

Bake up some puff pastry or phyllo dough (according to directions on pkg).

Meanwhile, grill up some zucchini...or in my case, brussel sprouts.

Grab the pastry out of the oven.

Slather on some yummy hummus.

Lay out the grilled veggies.

Crush up some wasabi peas on top of it all.

And enjoy your masterpiece. 

DELISHIOUS.

Economy, Swine Flu, and Environment (a review).

I actually had a great week of work in Hawaii!  Finally, I was able to better manage work-life balance while over there, having promised myself to not overbook and drive myself crazy.  Wahoo for balance!

Sun vs. Leslie*

Sun wins...jerk!

It was a bit odd to be traveling out of state during this crazy "swine" flu pandemic, as I'm sure some of you may relate to.  Not necessarily because I'm more scared of this flu vs others...mostly because of the added anxiety it has added to crazed travelers!  MAJOR eye daggers left and right if anybody sneezed or mini-coughed into their hankies.  Accusatory glances at those who looked tired, haggard, or "sick".  The fact that I was essentially trapped in a large, tin petri dish of an airplane for over 10 hours in one week was definitely unnerving.  You know, trapped with hundreds of others who I imagined to be traveling from one vacation spot to the next.  From their vacation estate in Mexico City to their beach house in Maui.  From one unvaccinated carrier to another.  No es bueno!!

--Sigh.  Poor Mexico is getting such a bum rap and I have too much of an active imagination.--

Surfing Lesson.

View from up top.

Surfing Equipment.

View from down below.

State of Hawaii officials had not received any cases of "swine" flu as of press time and were hopeful that that travelers who were freaking out and canceling their summertime vacations in Cabo, Acapulco, etc., were instead rescheduling for this hopping island location.  Well, not grossly hopeful in a sick+distasteful way...they phrased it much more appropriately than I.  The Department of Tourism has been reporting an increase in the hotel and dining industry as of late, but the state is still very behind in annual revenue, having been terribly hit by the times.  :(

View of the Duke Lagoon from my window.

Daytime.

View of the Duke Lagoon from my window.

Nightime.  

No...dusk?  

Twilight?

What term describes this time of day/night??

omg, i am so not smarter than a 5th grader.

I'm impressed with my hotel for sticking it out and surviving the tougher times as they were only @ 30% capacity last time I was there and were operating @ 99.6% in April.  Hooray!  The personal downside of this increased population?  No alarm clock (what?), room service took over an hour, and I couldn't get a maintenance person regardless of how many times I called.  The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentists ruled the roost and kept me away from my 10pm grilled cheese, dammit!  How dare they!  :)

On total side note, I tried to limit my carbon impact (sorry, Jocelyn) by:

• Keeping the DoNotDisturb sign on my door for the week, thereby reducing the need to utilize resources to vacuum, change sheets, and do whatever else they do.
  
• Completely turning off my air conditioner every time I left the room.
• Mostly using the naturally mild weather conditions to maintain comfortable temps.
• Making sure to unplug my computer and cell phone charger when done.
• Bringing a reusable water bottle and coffee cup from home to fill up @ Starbucks each morning!  

Happy Tuesday, folks.

*not usually one for putting up boob-shots of myself on the 'net.  didn't really get sunburnt anywhere else though and HAD to share!

This little guy summarizes Wednesdays...

- - enter your own caption here - -

Lunchin' in Napa

I had a chance to meet up with a couple of Greens last week while storming around Napa! Jen and Jack drove up to meet me @ one of my fave quick-napa restaurants (my go-to for yummy chicken noodle soup). Jack was AWESOME throughout lunch, letting us sit there and gab away while only occasionally asking for a teeny bit of cracker or a sip from his bottle or a spoonful of the aforementioned soup. Such a good boy and many kudos to Jen for teaching him "uh-uh, not in your mouth." Too bad Auntie Leslie kept asking him, "what does THAT taste like?" I'm dooming the kid.

Momma + Jack (9 months!)

Storming around a toy store.
This is probably 5 seconds after I asked Jack what a plastic zebra tasted like.

Dreamy Jack-attack.
Reaching out for my face.

humuhumu nukunuku apua'a

V.hodgepodge post? Coming right up!

This 70's style shot of Maui was taken with my Verizon Blackberry.

I was back in Hawaii last week. Flew into Maui on Monday, hit up Honolulu, flew back home on Friday. Total whirlwind, even more than last time, as I had my boss with me all week and it was like 10 degrees warmer and 75% more humid than in August! I didn't know my fingernails had sweatglands, but oh, there they were. Gross, huh? Fine while rocking a tankini and sarong and flipflops, terrible when trying to business dress and non-frizzy hair.

I'm starting to feel black diamond worthy.

TSA has figured out a theoretical time saver for travelers. They've begun a pilot to create separate lines for the business/frequent travelers vs those on vacation with the family or needing special assistance. PURE BRILLIANCE. Although it leaves much room for interpretation, I am SUCH a fan of this new system that allows me to fully utilize my much practiced methods of rapidly getting through security checkpoints. Especially because I get pretty cocky about cutting it close to boarding time, tend to run late by nature, and never account for enough time to wait patiently behind someone who didn't know they had to throw away their 96oz BigGulp before getting through the scanners. I can wait, but never patiently.

do you love jonah hill as much as i do?

Randomly watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall upon return over the weekend. It was filmed on the north shore of Hawaii and reminded me of my week at work! Totally brain-pulverizingly funny stuff in this film. Just about died laughing and was the perfect way to transition back to mainland life.

that's a humuhumu nukunuku apua'a.
it's Hawaii's state fish.

90210 is rocking my world.

Should've taken a pic of my face when I opened the door to these two crazy kids!
They literally walked from their places to ours in the bright pink, Sculptra scrubs I gave them.
Might change the title of this post to "Jocelyn + Annie rock my world"

Our regular host of 90210 night in the neighborhood had to be in Arizona for a meeting last week, so Annie + Jocelyn came over last night for a rerun (thanks, tivo!). It was Monday Night Football and Jamie was more than happy to escape to the bedroom tv to watch the game. To top it off, they came over with BAGS of food to make dinner for us! The whole thing rocked and seriously might have changed the landscape of our regularly scheduled evening conversation.

I can just see it now....

Jamie: "What do you want to do for dinner tonight?"
Leslie: "Uh, I dunno. Order thai or mexican or pizza?"
Jamie: "We did thai last night."
Leslie: "Oh ya. Well, why don't I just have my friends come over to cook us dinner?"
Jamie: "Ok, that sounds like the best option."

Thanks guys!

Our local Karaoke place.

Our local Karaoke place.
Originally uploaded by lesliekeina.

Desperately need to go karaoke-ing more often.

Real celebrity spotting: Leona Lewis taking a business meeting and holding someone's baby the other day. Not in SF though, was at a meeting at the Loews hotel in Santa Monica last week. Couldn't place her AT ALL and kept trying to tell my co-workers who she was, but they just looked at me all crazy like. Then I kept singing "I keep bleeding, I keep-keep bleeding your love" and they thought I was even crazier. Ahhh...if only I worked with more of my friends, huh?

Embrace me for who I am, people!!

A week working in Hawaii - - the reality version!

drove through lots of small towns.stopped @ a random places for a quick bite between offices.

woooaaaaahhh - hilly!
am i there yet?
LOTS of parking garages...
and lots of elevators. Met a ton of new people.
Am I there yet??
Yes!! "Home"!
Phew. Long day. Long hours.
Mostly because I knew I couldn't be back for awhile.
Ahhh...this is the life.
There were two days I got to sit out in the sun from 5:30-6pm!
(that's when it tended to start a bit of a drizzle)
I took my coffee and phone calls out on the lanai (balcony) in the morning though. Awesome.

Observations around the islands.

Love the Hilton Hawaiian Village for having everything "on campus". Lots o' weddings this week. It's like Beijing in Hawaii!! Holla, Olympics! Why do the half-naked ones run so fast?