Candy Shop in Vegas

Can't remember which mall in Vegas this candy store was in. Lots of
people taking photos.

O.N.E. Oasis at Mandalay Bay

Coconut water marketer O.N.E. appears to have licensed its brand to
Mandalay Bay for a pool bar concept.

At StyleChicago Modern Beauty

My mother-in-law Jan and I attended StyleChicago.com's Modern Beauty
Girls Night. We feasted on delicious hors d'oeuvres from The Ambrosia
Experience (www.ambrosiaexpwrience.com) and W Chicago - City Center.

The Ambrosia Experience offered up delicious shrimp on skewers,
guacamole and salsa on some type of pastry she'll, chicken on skewers,
and a chocolate ginger cake that people were raving about. The chef/
owner was saying that his establishment located somewhere around 3000
W Chicago gets men out of trouble (eg, the man who gets a flat screen
TV for his wife's birthday) because it offers an intimate romantic
experience.

The W provided shredded pork on a thin slice of bread, beef
tenderloin, and a unique goat cheese appetizer. It consisted of goat
cheese that looked like tofu squares, drizzled with an orange soy
sauce, and topped with one piece of granola served once in a small
white porcelain spoon and the other times on a flatbread.

Two UV cocktails (sweet green tea?), wine (don't remember the brand),
Smartwater, and Fuze beverages were served at the event. Because the
event wasn't sold out (at 12pm yesterday), Jan and I were able to fill
up on hors d'oeuvres and skip dinner. I've been to a number of similar
events, and they run out of food after 30 minutes - not the case here.

StyleChicago's Modern Beauty

Here is the goody bag from last night's StyleChicago.com's Modern
Beauty: Girls Night Out held at the W Chicago City Center at 172 W
Adams. The bag was heavy! The photo shows slightly more stuff than
what was in one goody bag. I combined contents of two bags (excluding
duplicates - the contents are slightly different from bag to bag), and
we also got lots of extra goodies from the Lumene booth including body
lotion, foundation, night serum, and eyeshadow base (items not sold in
the US).

Cosmoprof Beauty Samples

Here are the other samples I got at the show.

Cosmoprof Press Bag

Here's the bag with lots of beauty products given out to press at
Cosmoprof North America.

Prettiest Bag at Cosmoprof

Anika had a range of salon hair care products containing Obliphica
( sea buckthorn berry oil) "to enrich and replenish dull tired hair".

Alaskan Halibut

With sweet peas, sauteed pea tendrils and basil broth was yummy. Now
leaving Rick Mooonen's rm seafood.

Rick Moonen's Restaurant

I'm having dinner at rm Seafood - a restaurant from "Top Chef Masters"
Rick Moonen - located at the Mandalay Bay. I had two bites of the
shrimp corn dog which Rick cooked on the tv show. It was delicious
but I'm not supposed to eat fried food for a few days. Neither of my
seatmates at the bar area wanted it so one whole corn had to go to
waste.

I had some appetizers (guacamole and chips, plantain empanada, and
chicken sope) and a margarita at Borders Grill at the GCI magazine
cocktail party.

Bag Lady at Cosmoprof

I'm carrying a really BIG bag!

Z.one at Cosmoprof

A woman who is one of their distributors raved about the performance
of their line.

Bling Strand at Cosmoprof

I was tempted to get these metallic Bling Strands inserted into my hair.

Booth at Cosmoprof

Charging Station at Mandalay Bay

I think this machine gives an emergency 15 minute charge to cell
phones (about 10 different tips including for the iPhone) for about $5.

Items from Discover Beauty

This is the display case of items at Discover Beauty in the Cosmoprof
North America pressroom.

More Discovery at Cosmoprof

Another photo of the Discover Beauty area.

Discover Beauty at Cosmoprof

Here's the Discover Beauty section of Cosmoprof North America where
new and foreign brands are exhibiting.

Shoppes at The Palazzo

Barneys New York is here. Flowers smell wonderful. Lots of people
taking photos.

Sony 3D World

Pretty cool watching 3D TV at MGM.

Best Buy Vending

I'm on my way to shop as a reward for giving my US beauty
opportunities presentation at Cosmoprof North America. It went well
despite technical difficulties. But the audience of 120 had a lot of
quex and was very engaged. This vending machine is at entrance of tram
station at Mandalay Bay. Just took tram from MB to Excalibur.

Barista Line at Cosmoprof

The body and hair line contains coffee.

Belvada Mascara at Cosmoprof

Unique brush stays inside tube so it never dries up or clump.

From Cosmoprof Lobby

At Cosmoprof

Here's me in front of the conference sign.

Mandalay Bay Aquarium

Here I am in front of the lobby aquarium. Huge crowds - about 80
people waiting to checking. No business center here - just self-serve
kiosks where you can print. Didn't see memory stick slot so used YouSendIt.com
so I could print my speaker notes. Go on stage in less than 4 hours!

In Vegas for Cosmoprof

I've landed in Las Vegas airport - you can see the slot machines in
the photo. Kind of nervous because I'm speaking tomorrow at Cosmoprof
and haven't given a presentation in about two years.

Lunch at Todai

Finally had sushi at Todai at Woodfield Mall today after a near two
year absence (pregnancy and breastfeeding). I stuffed myself silly.
Todai has gotten some bad reviews on Yelp but I think it's good if you
know why you're going there - to fill up on rolls, sushi, tempura
udon, fruit, and all those mini desserts. It does the job if you want
quantity and variety. But it's not the place for super fresh fish or
artistry.

Staying up late doing work - will need to work tomorrow as well so I
can meet a work deadline before our London office opens on Monday.

McDonalds's New Smoothie

Just saw the new McDonald's smoothie for the first time today. Ordered
strawberry banana - wild berry is other flavor. $2.79 for medium size