Saturday, February 2, 2008

Home, Sweet Home


Here’s how we started our last day in Vegas. We had a 6 a.m. wakeup call because we had an early flight back to Hawaii. Our cabbie was very chatty. He got us lost getting to the terminal and told us about six times it was only his fifth day on the job! Once we got to the airport, Kara started complaining that we had spent the entire trip non-stop shopping and it was her first trip back in 11 years and she hadn’t even put a nickel into a slot machine. I told her hurry up, this is your last chance, so she put a few dollars in the Wheel of Fortune slot machine and I snapped a quick picture. I saw what she was going for—the $1.7 million jackpot—so before she started I made her promise that if she hit the big one, she still comes to work Monday morning!

We rushed off to the gift shop to get some magazines and chewing gum, and I saw some cute chocolate gambling chips. Lissa, my business partner, is an absolute chocoholic. I knew that if there was any way to put a smile on Lissa’s face it was chocolate. While Kara and I have been here, Lissa has been killing herself keeping all the plates spinning at the office. We just wrapped up the huge BIA Home Show and things are BUSY with our Invitation to Design workshop coming up in three weeks. She is doing a phenomenal job. Although our desks are just a few feet apart and we see each other more than we see our husbands and daughters because we’ve worked every day and into the night for over a year now, I can’t believe I actually miss her! If there’s anyone I would have wanted to go through this whole process with, it’s Lissa.

By the time Kara and I got on the plane we were exhausted. I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss the girls back at the office. My mind was already thinking about the million and one things that have to be done. I just can’t wait to get back to prepare for this workshop, because it’s going to be fabulous. Not to mention I can’t stand this weather, it’s way too cold for me!

Overall, Las Vegas was eye-opening and reaffirming. The first thing people asked when they saw our nametag was, what is RSVPstyle? Our opening line to that was always, we teach people how to shop! And that caught people’s attention. What do you mean? Well, we have a website, workshops and a brand new Style Kit, and we teach people how to train their design eye so they can make their homes reflect their own style, and part of that is how to shop with focus. They totally got our concept. We heard over and over again how great it was, and two different people even said bring your workshop to Las Vegas, and we’ll help you set it up right here in the Design Center! These are businesspeople in the industry, and they love that we’re educating, empowering and motivating the average consumer. They said customers come in to their stores and they want to do something with their homes but they can’t make decisions. If they had someone inspiring and guiding them, that would be of value to their customers. It really made us feel good to get that kind of response, being so new.

I just walked in the door and Nicki’s waiting for me. Daddy bought her roller skates while I was away and she wants me to teach her to roller skate. I told her I have to work for about 30 minutes first and she said 30 minutes! That’s forever!

Now I’ve got to go find Nicki. Thanks for checking in and keeping up with our trip. I’ll see you all later!

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