That time I went to California for a work vacation

As promised a few pictures from my one free day in California.

The hotel where the conference was being held/where I stayed was the Fairmont San Jose. When I travel, I almost never stay in hotels. I usually stay with people I know, or in the case of Europe, hostels.

So staying at a nice hotel is quite a little treat for me.



This is my room service breakfast: oatmeal with fresh berries and a glass of grapefruit juice. Cost with tip: $30. These are the things I do when I do not have to use my own money.



Before the conference hooplah started on Sunday, I visited the Winchester Mystery House.

Upon presenting my ticket to the tour guide, she looked at me and said, "Aww are you by yourself??"

I am an independent woman, thank you very much.

Aside from the tour guide who probably thought I was a lonely, desperate woman, the house was incredible.

Apparently throughout the tour, we walked over a mile!

You betcha I counted that as my exercise for the day.



Notice the "door to nowhere" on the right.




If I were to become a crazy [insanely rich] spinster cat woman, I'd build myself a house like this. Just for funsies.




The one picture that proves I was on this trip.



 Upon finding out that Stanford was a mere 20 minutes away, I decided I had to see it.

So a $60 cab ride later...



I was drooling over how gorgeous the campus was.




Seriously? My alma mater wishes it could look like this.



I followed up my Stanford wandering with a nice lunch at the Stanford shopping center, in which I ordered not only an entree, but a glass of sangria and a giant dessert as well. Like I said, the things I do when I don't have to spend my own money.

The idea of dining at a restaurant alone used to scare the crap out of me. What if people thought I was a loser with no friends?

Now I realize how obsurd that is.

Actually, I rather enjoyed the solo eting experience.

My conference schedule looked something like this:

Sunday night: network, eat, drink

Monday: Full day of sessions [several of which I rather enjoyed], make a friend, network with someone awesome at lunch, eat Italian food and drink wine at dinner while talking about the movie industry [reference to the awesome person I also networked with at lunch]

Tuesday: Full day of sessions [less of which I enjoyed, but still got to hang out with intelligent and interesting people], get called out in a session, win a big prize, win another prize for being a top winner at casino night [craps is a lucky game], stay out until 1 am with new friends, eat a late night taco

Wednesday: Only attend two sessions because it is time to leave, spend too much time at airports, come home to kitties

As I said before, it was a great experience, and simultaneously made me feel very confident and unaccomplished at the same time.

Confident because I could hold my own around all these impressive people, and unaccomplished because I realize how far I have to go.

But it opened by eyes to all the possibilities, so I hope to start working toward some dreams of mine soon.

And needless to say, I'll miss looking out my window to this:



Sooo when can I go to my next out of state conference??