the locals sure know their sizzling prawns -

first night in town, we hit a local sichuan hot spot for food.


my favorite part was when they dumped the prawns on the cast iron skillet, but first pantomimed holding up our napkins to shield us from the steam and splatter effect.


at first i thought we were in for some no theatre, but no, just food.

which was sooooo good.


here's the obligatory tourista shot. see, mom? we ate foreign food!
just like they do in the movies, or on jewish holidays.

then wandered the streets and took in the night.

reasons i'm staying in hong kong forever: #2

the chocolate tower of confectionary insanity, and hence, delight:



this was in our room when we walked in.

the more you dig into it,
the more you decide it might be worth eventually having to be on celebrity fit club.


they give you a gold dusted chocolate hammer to break it open.
with vanilla jelly.
resting on a truffle.
no, seriously.


who comes up with mango honey juice to dip chocolate in? who?

reasons i'm staying in hong kong forever: #1

the suite life:

upon arriving after a 14 hour flight (thank you ambien) and an interminably long shuttle ride into the city (i had booked a car, but hmmmm. . . no car), we stumbled into the mandarin oriental slightly groggy and more than a little uncertain.

no one, however, warned us about the level of service here. they meet you at the curb, take everything out of your hands, and virtually levitate you from thereon in. it was like the clampetts had rolled in and they were all mildly amused as tim kept trying to take his bags. jennifer at the front desk took our card, welcomed us, then told us she would be checking us in IN our room. after all, checking in in the lobby is so. . . american. apparently.

they had upgraded us to something like the grand high ambassador ruler of the world suite.
at least it sure felt like that. the place just keeps going and going and going. . .

then they sweep in with your luggage, a chocolate confection from the manager to welcome you, a bundle of flowers from chandelier (our agency) that looks like the rain forest decided to decamp on the desk. . .


i'm still wandering around this place. i may just import the dogs and never leave. the room.

old navy runway - black and white december

from vegas to your old navy, sometime around december. . .

viva las "last random moments" -

a few closing thoughts:

1) anyone who tries to tell you that vegas is crass and has no taste, tell them "pish tosh. i personally stood beside the "exotic limousines 702 837 2666" cadmium yellow stretch hummer":


2) anyone who tries to tell you that vegas has no subtlety, tell them "fiddlesticks. i have walked through the hush that is the venetian lobby. i have posed beside it's minimalistic tribute fountains":


3) if these same people persist with their whining, simply slip them a picture of you in your new fendi patent peep-toe booties standing on the replica roman mosaic floor. and then see who's all smug about their "taste level":



7) (where am i? oh yeah, 4.) learn that you can discover new things about your friends anywhere you go. like evelyn's part-time job:

5) be prepared to be overwhelmed by the wonder that is las vegas. like when you are walking to dinner and just stumble across the laminated gold-like visages of siegfried and that one that got mauled. and their tiger. perhaps even the one that mauled:


(asian tourist mauled in vegas. film at eleven.)



9) remember that saying "what happens in vegas, stays in vegas"? yeah, not so much. there's all kinds of digital cameras and blogs to prevent that shit from really happening. . .

and god, it can wear a boy out!

viva la bouchon -

so what's a group to do after staging a two day conference, a fashion show, and answering countless questions from complete strangers? yessiree, head to thomas keller's new restaurant, bouchon. a short (ok, incredibly long) walk down the strip from caesar's to the venetian, and you end up in an incredibly chic (though still oddly fake, not at all like the eerie reality of balthazar in nyc) french bistro.

the food was insane, there was a boudin blanc (a white french sausage that cuts like butter and probably carries nothing but, you know, butter) that i swear called out my name in dulcet tones at one point in the meal, an insane brined chicken with lavender honey, a brown butter apple galette with cardamom ice cream. . . drool. here was where vegas came to life for me. fabulous foods, all within walking distance of each other.

proving that great minds (an appetites) think alike, much of the rest of marketing creative team showed up as well, completely by coincidence. witness the bar scene, replete with ann, brandy, and hoa:

rachel and angela:

shane, nancy and jennifer:


when we finally sat at our table, it didn't take long for the J to start pouring.




it being evelyn's birthday, there was a little celebration layered onto the evening:

viva las fashionistas -

on the last night of the convention, marketing was asked to stage a fashion show of all our holiday merchandise. fun, right? so after sorting through all the details, agreeing to the categories matching up with the holiday television campaign (hence all the marketing, hence the point of the whole thing . . . see? integration. amazing.), we (meaning my design director, todd barket) worked with daniel (caudill, our stylist) on taking it all to a whole new place for old navy. so, we took over the forum plaza:


invited the entire conference, meaning every field employee and every hq employee:


threw a coctail party before. because. we had never done this and a little alcohol goes a long way. and yes. that IS a blue champers kind of thing i'm drinking. and yes. it tasted about as good as it sounds. but after two of them, who cared? not I.


this is just a really cute shot of evie and I. it was before everything went crazy. obviously.


me, some model who took his shirt off as soon as daniel said "take your shirt off for the picture", todd, and daniel. did i mention how much i luv daniel?


todd again, suzanne greening summers (real name. head of visual merchandising. good jewelry on that one.), and the devastatingly handsome timmer:


tim in the plaza under that insanely airbrushed/creepy/it's following me make it stop aaaaaaaa picture of toni braxton:


and as a bonus, we were able to sneak in a preview of the spring line to finish the show. urban safari and desert escape, anyone?



to say the crowd went wild . . . well you know me and understatement. SO good at it.

if you all are really nice, i'll even post some videos of the show.
for now, click below for the full album:

vegas fashion show

viva la pure -

so the first night we hit vegas, the company took over PURE nightclub. you know pure. the place where brit brit has done some classically random shit. where lindsay was supposed to have her 21st blowout bash before that whole drug "mix-up" thing where she was wearing someone else's pants. perfect venue for the "new" old navy. i actually give them credit for the choice. and there was entertainment:


not that i don't loves me some burlesque pop, but i kind of avoided this room. there was much "dude!" and "DUDE!" going on when i walked through. apparently lingerie and lip synching don't make it out beyond this venue much. ok, who am i kidding? if it were chippendale's i'd have been there in the front row going "BITCH. check out the guns."

i digress.

so we lounged and drank. see tim and todd, lounging:


this was pretty much my reaction to all of vegas:


and this was pretty much how evelyn and james reacted to vegas. they are both in some form of disbelief/denial/glee:


then most of marketing ended up on the roof in the cabanas:



things got blurry later:



you can see it all by clicking here:

vegas pure