work trip to san diego

i'm back from my trip to san diego for the international association of fundraising professionals conference. my company had a booth in the exhibit hall, so that's where i spent most of my time. our ceo, chris worked at the booth with me, and my co-worker mandi also came along to attend a different conference right next door. it was so fun going back to san diego, one of my favorite cities. and with the snow that has fallen here today, i'm about ready to move there! 

saturday morning we flew to san diego. we checked into our hotel (which was beautiful!) and then grabbed lunch down the street. we sat outside in the sunshine and it was wonderful! after lunch, we headed to the convention center to set up our booth for the conference that started the next day. with no obligations for the rest of the day, mandi and i decided to take a ferry to coronado island. we had an hour to kill before it left, so we walked around the gaslamp quarter and i got some pinkberry! yum! we took the ferry over to coronado and walked all the way across the island (close to 2 miles) to the beach and hotel del coronado. it was such a beautiful day. we wanted to get back to take the 5:10 ferry, so we busted our butts all the way back to make it in time. we were both wearing flats (not socks) and our feet were dying! :( we went out for dinner with chris to a mexican restaurant in the gaslamp that had delicious food (and huge margaritas!) we were so exhausted by 9pm that night...from a busy day and the time change.

sunday morning mandi and i both woke up at 6 am. thank you time zones! we went to a bagel shop down the street for breakfast, sat outside and ate at like 7 am. haha. we explored for the rest of the morning, found a cute farmers market. at noon, i had to be at the convention center for the first (half) day of the exhibit hall. we had pretty good traffic, which helped pass the time. when that was over, mandi and i grabbed dinner at an italian restaurant. after dinner, we stopped at a cute cupcake shop that we had been eyeing since we got here. it was sooo delicious! mandi had a networking event to attend for her conference, so i headed back to the hotel, changed into my pajamas and relaxed the rest of the night. 

monday i spent the whole day at the conference. i was mostly in the exhibit hall, but snuck away to attend a session in the afternoon. we had pretty good traffic again. in the evening, chris and i were treated to dinner by an advertising sales rep from a fundraising publication. i know this is common, but i've never experienced it...and it was awesome! she took us to this fancy steakhouse where we had a delicious (expensive!) meal. i almost felt guilty :)

tuesday was our last day. were were at the booth from 8:30-12:30 with hardly any traffic. typical last day! it was boring, but soon we were packing up and heading out to the airport. i got home last night after azalea was in bed. i fully intended on waking her, but she was in a deep sleep, so i just rubbed her back. this morning when i went in to get her from her crib, i fully expected her to squeal with excitement when she saw me, but she seemed completely unfazed that i was suddenly home. haha oh toddlers. i was very happy to get back to her though!