High on Life!

I know, I know. It has been awhile!

The picture to the left is of me, Donna Sozio and Pete at the WSA trade show in Las Vegas this past weekend.


Where do I start? It has been a crazy couple of weeks for me and I cannot believe that Saturday is already March!!

Well, A couple weeks ago I got to head down to Long Beach for a lil' getaway. There had been some built up tension at the condo and my roommates and I decided to get away and relax. We headed down to Long Beach early on a Saturday morning and headed straight to the beach, even though it was only 65 degrees - I still got some sun!

Of all the beaches we have been to, Long Beach (the picture to the right is actually Seal Beach) was my least favorite. This is Abbi watching her/our friend Ryan "Skim Board" ? It is kind of like surfing, except with a smaller board. I am planning on trying it out. But, not until the water gets warmer.

We spent most of the day at the beach and then headed to our hotel room to get in some good TV time. We don't have TV at the condo, so now when we see a TV, we aren't quite sure what to do with it! ha. But, it was really nice to relax and watch TV for awhile - I am actually happy that we don't have it at the condo because it makes me do other things, like READ.


We all really enjoyed getting away for a night - and the next day we spent most of our day at the pool, getting some sun even though it was in the low 60s. I then went to church with Abbi, Ryan, Garett and Paul. We work with Garett and through him we met Ryan and Ryan has pretty much introduced us to all of his friends - It is fun to know people outside of the TOMS condo and be with people who know the area well. After church, we drove around Santa Monica and Venice to find a place to eat, then got ice cream at Pinkberry which is sooo goood.

This past week/weekend I was in Vegas for the WSA trade show. It was seriously awesome! A lot of what I have been doing at work before the trade show, was getting stuff ready. Last Wednesday we (Me, Dave - another intern and Hajime - TOMS full timer) packed up a U-Haul with our trade show booth and headed to Vegas.

Poor Hajime and Dave got stuck riding with me and my 3 Red Bulls for 5 hours. It was a fun trip that actually went a lot faster than I thought. The roads from LA to Vegas are pretty desolate, but have a lot of fun rocky mountains and deserts to look at. I brought my camera of course, but really didn't get any really good pictures from sitting in the U-Haul. But, I tried to be creative.

When we got to Vegas, we had to bring all of our stuff into the convention center at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. We then built the booth and got everything set up for the next couple of days.

Wednesday evening we went to dinner with Pete Ferrer, who is TOMS VP of Sales. He is absolutely amazing and I swear he has had 15 lives! He used to worked for Reebok and Nike and I've gotta mention that he played baseball and football for the University of Alabama, then later played baseball for the Mets. I now know that if I am ever going to dinner with Pete, I need to bring a piece of paper and a pen, to write down EVERYTHING that he says. He has had so much experience in everything that he is always bound to say something brilliant.

I spent my days at the trade show. helping Pete, Liza and Hajime take orders from buyers and even talked to some buyers myself. I was also designated the 'foot model' for the weekend.

I learned SO much from Pete and Liza while at the trade show. I think I wrote down 6 pages of notes! But, probably the best part about the show was people's reactions to TOMS. There were a lot of people who already knew about us and those who didn't know about us, LOVED what we stand for. It is so exciting to get other people excited about TOMS.

The picture above is of Me, Dave, Liza and Hajime at the Billy Joel concert that we got to go to as part of the trade show. It was really fun to get to work hard and play hard. The 4 days I was gone, I got about 4 hours of sleep a night - along with being up for 23 hours straight Saturday, after packing up and heading back to LA. We got back into LA early Sunday morning, around 5am. But, I was there to take advantage of the situation; learn as much as I can and get to know the awesome TOMS crew. I didn't mind the lack of sleep - I was in Vegas, with TOMS!!

Sunday, I woke up on my own after only 4 hours of sleep. Weird. But, we all had an event to go to at a store in Westwood. It was a HUGE success, thanks to Garett and everyone else's hard work.

There were two separate events at a store called Active - The day event had a couple bands play and 5 different artists to decorate your TOMS. I believe we sold over 150 pairs of shoes in 3 or 4 hours - which is awesome.

The night event featured 4 graffiti artists who signed TOMS and shirts and posters. It was an awesome turn out for both events and it definitely got us in front of two different groups of people. I wish I could have enjoyed myself a little more - due to the fact that I was exhausted!! (I still am!)


I have much more to talk about, but gotta go for now!!!!

:) February has been an amazing month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Kirsten

Still On My Hanson High!

Happy Wednesday everyone! The picture above is of all of us Spring interns - I'm third from the back :) This picture may possibly be placed in INC magazine.

As you can imagine, I have continued to be on my Hanson high. It has honestly been a great week - and will continue to be Great for the next couple of weeks. This past weekend we went to Manhattan Beach because it was 75 degrees, while it was -30 in Minnesota! I could definitely get used to laying on the beach every weekend! It was beautiful!

Saturday night, most of us interns met up with some of the full-timers out at a dance club? There is lack of a better word for where we went - but it was a lot of fun to be able to hang out with them outside of TOMS. We all were dancing, having a great time!

Sunday night, I went to church with Abbi and her friend Ryan at Mosaic. The service was actually in an old theater - it was a very different atmosphere that I am used to, but it was a great worship service. For the past couple of weeks, the sermons were formed around advertisements that you can see in LA. It was a great sermon about judgment and misinterpretation.

Although I would say that God has been apart of my life, I know that I have not fully accepted him as I should have. It is amazing what he has done to my heart in the past few weeks - I'm excited to feel and accept his presence in my life. I have already learned so much about myself, who I am, who I can be - what I want with the life God has given me. I still have a lot of questions about my faith, but I'm finally at the point to address these questions and let him overflow my life... :) And that is where I'm at today.

Monday at work, I had to get stuff ready for a trade show that we are at this week in Vegas. I have to put together our spring/summer/fall samples, press kits and other stuff that we give out to buyers at trade shows. After I got a lot of samples together, I decided that I should organize all of our samples and ended up staying at the office until 8:00 to do so. I'm really glad I did though, because it will make future trade shows easier to get ready for!

Tuesday, I was at work early, then I brought one of the full-timers Garett, to the airport. Garett was heading to Vegas to meet up with some other TOMS people for the trade show that I was helping get ready for. This was my first time driving in LA. I got to drive on the infamous 405! Poor Garett. I was driving Abbi's car, which is not a stick shift. But, I think I've got the hang of it now. In LA, you have to be an aggressive driver. AH!

After the airport, I headed to a book signing in Santa Monica. The book is called "Never trust a man in alligator loafers" by Donna Sozio. She wrote the book about how you can tell a guy's love potential by the shoes that he wears - and at her book signings, she does a 'shoe reading' on your significant other's shoes. Well - I went there to get Blake's shoes read... which said he was creative, outgoing, likes to have fun, but is still very structured. Which is very TRUE. It was very interesting. The shoe reading was being taped, so ME and TOMS might actually be on her website!

Yesterday, I also found out that next week I get to go to Vegas for another trade show, WSA. WSA stands for World Shoe Association and the trade show is and the international shoe market. I am SO excited!! I'm the only intern that gets to go, so I am very lucky to get this opportunity. I will get to see how a big trade show like that works and see Blake in action -- I am going to soak in as much as possible!! I will be driving in a U-haul with one of the other TOMS people to Vegas next Wednesday and leaving sometime Saturday night - just in time to make it back for TOMS big event with Red Bull and a local board shop Active here in LA.

So, as you can see I have had a pretty awesome week! PLUS - this Friday is when I get to meet Brett Dennen! I have been in contact with his manager and me and the intern director Mike will be meeting him to give him a pair of TOMS. We are hoping that after we meet him and tell him more about TOMS in person, Brett will become interested and want to be involved! I am SO excited for the show too!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone tomorrow! I will obviously have more pictures up after this weekend - It will be another nice and sunny weekend here in California and I am planning on spending it at the beach :)


PEACE & LOVE & TOMS :)


-KJ

Yes, I Met Hanson Today.

And this is me with Taylor Hanson. If you refer back to my first post on my blog, you will read about how I learned about TOMS from Hanson... Well, they were in the office today for a meeting with Blake and I got to introduce myself, shake their hands and as you can see, take a picture. 10 years ago when Mmmbop came out, I never actually thought I would get to meet them. But, thanks to TOMS, I got to meet them today! And not only just meet, but actually talk to them. Wow !!

Yesterday Blake's assistant Jake called me over to his desk and said, "Kirsten, there is a band comprised of three brothers, that started around 10 years ago from Tulsa, Oklahoma that will be in the office tomorrow..."
At first I thought he was pullin my chain - I looked around to see if people were watching to see how I would react and I kept saying "Are you serious? Are you serious? No, Really? Hanson? Will be here. In the office. Like physically here? Tomorrow? Are you kidding?"

And as you now know. It was true. They came to the office today. Everyone here is pretty aware of my appreciation for Hanson. Thanks to Jake, when they first arrived and started saying Hi to everyone, Jake called me over and introduced me to Zac (Who is in the picture to the left with Tyler Mycoskie) and Taylor. I got to tell them that I heard about TOMS through them, that I am from Minnesota and asked them about their next tour. Everyone was pretty much watching me when I was talking to them... They all said I kept my cool and was very normal. So, thats good!

Taylor was exactly what I thought he would be; very engaging, approachable and genuine. He definitely made me feel important and was engaged in our conversation. It was amazing that the person who I built him up to be, was exactly who he was. Yet, he was still just a regular person like everyone else. I have so much respect for them - that I could go on and on and on. But, I won't here. If you ever want to hear my thoughts on Hanson and my respect for them -- call me -- But, considering that after going to their concert, hearing about TOMS, getting inspired by them and that I actually took action, applied for an internship in California and moved within the span of 4 weeks -- I think you can understand what Hanson means to me. :)

This picture is of the 3 Hanson brothers & Blake:

This past week, all of us interns got to have lunch with Blake. And of course - he is always amazing to listen to. We asked him questions about where he was in his life when he started TOMS, his different business ventures, the lessons he learned along the way, advice he has for us, etc. One of Blake's favorite quotes is below:

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

Right now, I feel like that quote really speaks to me and where I find myself today. I completely agree that everything that people do to make themselves feel secure in life, really only limits opportunities for self improvement and growth.

The picture to the left is me and 3 of the other interns with Mr. Blake himself. Don't you just love his hair?

This upcoming week will be even more exciting for me because I get to meet Brett Dennen as well! I have been in contact with his manager and I got put on the guest list for his show next Friday. Our intern director Mike will be coming with me since I only have a +1 and he is also a big fan of Brett, it only seems appropriate. But, we will get to meet him and personally bring him shoes. Mike and I have both applied for TOMS to be apart of Brett's program "Love Speaks" which would allow us to speak at one of his concerts about TOMS and our Cause. Hopefully after giving Brett a pair of TOMS, he will be interested in letting us present at one of his shows. Yay! I'm so excited!

Tomorrow we are all planning on going to the beach -- It is supposed to be a beautiful day!

More later!

PEACE & TOMS & HANSON :)

-KJ