I'm Tired, Tuesday!

The picture to the left is of me and a couple of the other interns in Laguna Beach over this past weekend! It has been a crazy week! I can't believe a week has already flown by since I last wrote!

Last week we had our party in San Diego. I was planning on going early to help set up at the party and trade show, then I was told I didn't have to, then Thursday morning when I rolled into work I found out I was needed in San Diego. We had to have one of the other interns with a car, who wasn't going to be too busy that day, drive me down to San Diego. Dave, who is from San Francisco was the lucky one.

It was a really busy day for us because we had to stop a couple times a long the way to get some things for the party and trade show. We stopped in Carlsbad, California which was so BEAUTIFUL! Well, really, the whole drive down to San Diego was beautiful. It was a really nice day so I was able to get some good pictures in while Dave drove.

We were able to get the stuff we needed, get down to the trade show in downtown San Diego, walk around the show, drop stuff off at the bar where the party was and get to La Jolla, California just in time to meet the other interns. Most of the other interns came down for the party and we were able to stay at one of the TOMS full timer's house in La Jolla... again, Beautiful! This was the view from the front of her drive way! (below)

The party was good, but definitely not my crowd. There were a lot of 'surfer dude' types there and the bands we had play were very odd...

The next day we all woke up pretty early and a couple cars of us decided we would drive back to LA on the Pacific Highway --- which again, was beautiful!

We didn't stop in a lot of places, but we DID stop in Laguna. A bunch of us stopped and got lunch and did a little browsing of their shops. The town was set up in the hills and had a lot of cute restaurants and shops and of course had a great beach! (The top picture.)

It was really nice to have the Friday off and be able to take our time getting back to LA and get to see some things along the way. That night we all were pretty tired and wanted to just relax, so we did!

Saturday afternoon my room mates and I decided to do some touring around Santa Monica and LA. We went to J-Town (Japanese Town, which is just a little area that has a lot of Japanese restaurants and stores). We then decided to go to The Grove, which is a shopping area in West Hollywood that has a movie theatre, a lot of great stores and a farmer's market - where we had some onion rings, which we think are what gave Abbi food poisoning, she was sick all day Sunday :(!

Yesterday at work we got to meet Blake for the first time! It is really fun to have him around the office and it totally feels like he is a celebrity - well, at least to us interns! It was just really odd when I was going through our press clippings, with articles about him and he is standing right there! Yesterday a film crew with Current TV came in to interview him and took footage of our office/warehouse.


Today was awesome! I got to sit in on a merchandising meeting with Blake... I learned so much in just 40 minutes! I got to listen to Blake explain where he got the idea for an upcoming product for TOMS. He was incredibly inspiring - I could have listened to him talk about everything for hours! Plus, what TOMS has coming up for spring and fall is pretty amazing and I can't wait for the launch!

I am incredibly exhausted and I will write more soon! I would love to hear some of Ya'll's comments!!

-Peace & TOMS!

Kirsten

Addressing Envelopes is incredibly exciting!

Happy Tuesday Ya'll!!


The picture to the left is our condo building... Pretty amazing huh!

Today went down in history as one of my most exciting days... And my friends who read this, will totally laugh at me but I don't care! hehe

So, it wasn't until late in the afternoon today until we got our 'assignments' as in what department we would be working in over the next four months. The past two days have been filled with doing random projects around the office and doing things that everyone in the company has to do every once in awhile. The past two days I got to help make "CusTOMS" which are TOMS that are custom ordered. I got to stamp paint on shoes, which was pretty fun.

Others got to help with inventory or make point-of-purchase signs for in-store displays. Pretty much anything that needed to get done, we got to do. Which was a good way to start because it allowed us to get to know the full-time employees and get acquainted with the office.

SO - Today, I helped Blake's assistant (the Founder), send out shoes along with Blake's personal cards to Blake's important contacts. These people included: Paul Mitchell, Kenneth Cole, Ralph Lauren, fashion editors, publishers... etc. I got to address the envelopes... Which means, Paul Mitchell will some day read my hand writing (Well, it will most likely be his assistant, but STILL!) It was pretty exciting...

Guess Who's Envelopes I Got To Address??
HANSON! All three brothers... I even carefully packed Taylor's shoes with Blake's note in a box. It was pretty exciting! (3/25 - Little did I know that I would eventually MEET Hanson... Wow!)
The wide variety of connections that Blake has is crazy awesome, and I truly don't believe the company is where it would be Today without them.

Today, I truly felt blessed to be apart of TOMS (I've felt blessed everyday I've been here, but today it was extra strong). The evolution of the company over the past year and a half is so inspiring and I'm thankful I get to be apart of something from the beginning. At TOMS, the work atmosphere is so positive all day long and everyone is so unique, charming, enduring and amazing in their own ways. I will learn SO much from everyone about every aspect of TOMS.

Thursday evening we all get to attend a trade show party in San Diego! I have been assigned to assist the public relations manager at TOMS, so the trade show party preparation is in my department. I will get to head down early and help set up table toppers and get things prepared! I'm really excited! I'm not exactly sure what to expect, but either way it will be a great opportunity to spread the word about TOMS. (I will write more about my responsabilities another time)

Every Tuesday night we will be having our 'Cleaning Parties' at the condo. We split the tasks and all got done within a half hour, then we had a dance party in the living room. It was a lot of fun and we had music blaring the whole time. It was also a pretty good work out! But, with 15 people living in a small area, the once a week cleaning party is very necessary!


I have decided that I wouldill write a little note about everyone I work with here at TOMS, just because they are all amazing... So, I will start off with Meg, who you see to the left :)

She is from MINNESOTA also and went to school in San Diego. She studied abroad in Spain and is in love with Barcelona and she hopes to go back some day. Meg is also our "House Mom" as we say, because she was an intern last semester and was hired to take on the College Initiatives at TOMS and lives with us now, she is pretty much our RA, but a much cooler RA.

The greatest thing about Meg is that she is incredibly encouraging in every sense of the word and in every aspect of life. She is very spiritual and I know I can learn a lot from her. She is a person who is genuinely interested in you and your life and makes you feel wanted. I'm so excited to get to become good friends with her and join her in her many 'Dance Parties.'


I'm off to bed!!

Peace!!


-Kirsten