Say Hello to Vegas, Baby!

le•top's booth in Las Vegas. L-R: Paul, Sarah Kaufman (San Francisco sales rep), Renee Navarre (Los Angeles sales rep) and me!

One of the venues we use for presenting our collections to the store buyers is at trade shows, and one of the first shows of the fall season happens in Las Vegas. We set up our booths – for le•top and for rabbitmoon – and registered buyers from retail stores come to see what we have created for the new season. We present all the samples to them, and they write up orders to be shipped starting in June – just in time for the new fall and winter seasons.

Of course, one of the ‘perks’ of working hard in Las Vegas by day is that, by night, we are able to have dinner at some really great restaurants once the show closes down for the day. We visited some great ones this time around – one, an old favorite from previous visits and one, a new “find!”

We went to dinner the first night of the show at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino: Nob Hill Tavern. The executive ‘celebrity’ chef there is Michael Mina – a star here in the San Francisco Bay Area and a James Beard award winner. The food is divine – we tried (and shared) great short ribs of beef, wonderful sea bass, and I can’t even tell you how great the Truffle Mac and Cheese can be! Plus, we did a great cheese fondue as a shared appetizer for all. On a previous visit we’d tried their ‘Seafood Tower’ appetizer – but had trouble finishing our dinner, since it was a very generous portion. The great thing about Nob Hill Tavern, for me, is that it somehow evokes a nice, calm atmosphere – a relaxing change from the frenzy of Las Vegas.

The second night (what? you thought I was going to write about clothes? Food and martinis, baby! Food and martinis!!)), we tried a new restaurant at Caesars Palace – Rao’s. Karen (our CEO – “Chief Everything Officer”, National Sales Manager, and mother of the “grandsons of my heart – Nicholas and Dylan) was chatting with a guy on the airplane on the way to Las Vegas, and he recommended the restaurant – and even arranged a reservation for us! (I guess it is difficult to secure a reservation – and almost IMPOSSIBLE at their original New York location. This is a very ‘authentic’ kind of New York vibe – complete with the big, scary-looking Italian guy yelling at a busboy as we came in! The décor is casual and takes you on a trip to Sicily – complete with the gaudy Christmas wreaths and lights, in place all year long. The service was great. Extending the feeling of a family style Italian experience, the waitress pulled up a chair and ‘discussed’ what would be good for us to order. The portions are huge. On her recommendation we did family style – appetizers, pastas and entrées. Great food – and we were absolutely stuffed! By the way, they make a great martini!

The Las Vegas KidShow was a great success – the buyers loved the new fall collections – and we enjoyed some great food along the way. The next show was in the Big Apple – question is, will I write about our fabulous clothes or the food (and martinis)!?

Editor’s Note: Sorry for the delay in publishing Chris’ post (Vegas was a couple weeks ago)…I kept getting hungry and had to go eat something every time I tried to edit it…

Read Full Post »

Baby Books

There are so many baby reference books out there, it’s hard to pick which ones to read. And with a newborn, who has time to browse through all the books out there? A lot of it has to do with your parenting style. My personal favorite is “The Baby Book” by William Sears, MD, and Martha Sears, RN. I found that their philosophy matched mine, and it has become my Bible.

With my first born, I had a very difficult time getting her to sleep in her crib. She would cry the moment she was placed in it. It didn’t matter how long I let her cry it out (which was so painful for me to bear), she would only scream and cry louder. I tried all the tricks, such as making the bed warm, or adding an article of my clothing to make her more comfortable. Nothing worked, and NO ONE got any sleep. Then I stumbled on this book.

I like how the Sears authors approve of co-sleeping. Their argument is, “Why should the entire family be sleep-deprived, when you can all sleep soundly in one bed and wake up refreshed?” So true! Of course, they also recognize that each baby is different and that each baby has different needs. One might love to sleep in his own crib because they are sensitive to the movement and sounds of others, while another baby might feel secure being near her parents. Either way, this book doesn’t condemn any method. The authors just make you feel comfortable in the choices you make as parents. (Note: I’ve heard the disadvantages of co-sleeping, and that my daughter will never sleep in her own bed ever. I’m happy to say that was never a problem. She slept in her own bed when she was about a year old, and she still sleeps in her own bed.)

What baby books do you use? We’d love to hear what you recommend.

Read Full Post »