This past week, I went back out to Santa Barbara for a planning meeting for work. We stayed at this cute historic hotel in the heart of downtown called the Upham. So there is the main hotel and then there is an 8-bedroom house converted into a Bed & Breakfast right across the street. Our team was staying in the B&B so we would have meeting space and also so we could all hang out more and get to know each other. Gross side story now:
We got to the hotel and the innkeeper said that a few of the rooms had a "fly issue" and that those people would have to wait a couple of hours to check in while the problem was being fixed. Of course, my room was one of the infested ones. Around 1:30, she announces that my room is good to go and I head up there to find 4 or 5 dead/struggling flies on my bathroom and bedroom floor. I feel a little sick about it, but I pick them up with a tissue and flush them. Then I head back downstairs for meetings. 4 hours later, it was time to go back upstairs to get ready for dinner. Oh the horror! I walk in and see more than 20 flies scattered around the room - dead or dying on their backs. I grabbed my stuff and booked it over to Kristina's room before the carnage made me throw up. Needless to say, I ended up staying in the main hotel property across the street. Because I doubt General Mills wanted to pay for my therapy bills when I started having nightmares about flies touching me. On to the real story now...
Like most General Mills trips, this one was filled with great food and fun times. We ate at this cute restaurant called Downey's, where I had the most amazing sea bass of my life! And the desserts here were killer too - nobody could stop talking about the sorbet and the homemade peach ice cream. The next day, we went on a vineyard tour of Santa Barbara where we learned how wine is grown, processed and bottled. It was very interesting and I learned a ton about wine that I never knew before. It was also great to learn the correct pronunciations for different wines and how to pair it with foods - something that comes in handy in the world of business and sales. That night we had an awesome time bonding as a team over pizza and Taboo. For what I lack in sports skills, I make up for in board games and trivia knowledge, so I pretty much rocked that game :)
The next morning, I earned my fitness points for the day by attending an impromptu boot camp put on by my co-worker's husband. Holy moly was it intense! My abs and legs still hurt 2 days later. And a word to the wise: apparently if you eat before a hard workout, your body doesn't have time to focus on digestion so your stomach will try to send that banana back up the way it came... Yikes. Before we headed back to Phoenix, we made a stop at CrushCakes - a famous cupcake shop featured on Cupcake Wars. Strawberry Lemonade cupcake = very tasty. Vanilla Bean cupcake = perfection. Another great trip, but now I am glad to just be home with Matt for a few weeks.
CrushCakes... as close to heaven as Santa Barbara can get!
My emu call was apparently spot-on, since I got these guys to come right over...
One of the many gorgeous vineyards we toured
Man, General Mills really treats their employees well! At IBM, I have to create my own morale and team bonding events for my department. :\ Glad to hear you're going on so many vacations/trips this year Pamela! Make it happen!!!
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