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Good Morning from Seattle! #CoffeeTalk

Well, I’m here and feeling chipper and well-rested this morning, despite the fact that I was up from 4AM ET till 10PM PT yesterday without much of a nap — does 30 min on the plane count?

As much as I hate the stress of air travel, I love waking up in a posh hotel room in a new city and lounging in a cozy bed with my laptop and coffee. Ahhhhh… bliss.

Yesterday was a bit of a scramble, but I got here alright. I had a minor scare when my plane had to taxi back to the gate in Philly after already being in line for takeoff for a maintenance issue. I had visions of my two horrible flights last  year when my plane flights were cancelled and I was horribly delayed getting across the country — not once, but TWICE.

But all’s well that ends well, and somehow they managed to fix the issue and still get me to Chicago in time for my connecting flight and I arrived in Seattle pretty much on time. I even had time to sit down and have a salad and a glass of wine in the airport before boarding. I thought this was a fun shot. I grabbed this from my Instagram feed. (Are you following me there?? You should be. Just sayin’.)

wine

It was hard leaving my kids, though. It’s funny, as they get older you’d think it would be easier to get away on these trips. And it is in that I don’t have to worry about babysitters because they’re in school. But on the other hand, they are more aware of mommy being away, and they have a better concept of time, so to them 4 or 5 days sounds like an eternity.

My littlest cried when I left and it about broke my heart clean in two. But my husband said she was fine after I was gone and I’m sure they will be. It’s just hard to leave. I always promise that I’ll be back, of course, but there’s that nagging feeling inside… that “what if…” that makes it really hard to walk out the door.

But now that I’m here, I’m enjoying myself, and I know the kids are just fine.

So I’m here for two reasons, first it’s a press trip with Krusteaz, the brand of baking mixes that I’m working within on a 9-month partnership. I’m excited to tour their HQ this morning and visit their test kitchen. This is a small family-owned company and I always enjoy getting the back story on a brand. Then tonight, the International Food Bloggers Conference gets underway, and I will be attending that for the rest of the weekend. I’m super appreciative of this opportunity. Conferences are expensive, so for Krusteaz to treat us all to this conference is a great perk to this partnership.

Seattle is such a cool city. I visited here once before with my husband when he was on a biz trip, and I explored the city on my own and worked from various coffee shops. SO fun. We have been given some free time this afternoon to explore if we want, but with my foot issues, I’m not sure I can do much. But I’m so thankful for the organizers who allowed us some down time. Often these trips are so packed, it’s hard to have time to breathe, much less explore the city we’re visiting. I love that they worked that in. (Side note: brands should really consult a blogger when planning these trips! Wanna hire me? LOL!!)

Last night we had dinner at a great little Italian restaurant called Cuoco with the other members of the team. I felt a bit over-dressed. One NEVER knows how to dress for these things. You’d think it would be old hat by now, but it’s never exactly the same twice. Anyway, we had a great time. The food and wine was fantastic, and everyone was super friendly. I came on this trip not knowing a soul (usually I do know a few of the bloggers on these press trips) but we were all soon chatting like old friends. It’s a really nice and friendly group of people. I’m looking forward to the rest of the trip!

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6 Responses

  1. Oh, what a fun trip!! Love the shot through the wine glass.

    As for overdressed, meh. I think there’s no such thing. Dressing up shows that you took care with your appearance. Underdressing, on the other hand, I think shows disrespect, both for yourself and for your host. (And yes, I realize that I have southern viewpoints LOL!)

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