Bella’s Trip to California

You have heard a little about my brother, now it’s time to hear my story. As I mentioned earlier, I am not your typical dog. I am quite sophisticated.  I speak four languages and I am the brains behind Puppy Kisses, an on-line dog boutique.  I decided to expand the Puppy Kisses horizons and head out west to exhibit at Barkleigh’s Groom and Kennel Expo in California. Puppy Kisses creates a line of designer dog hair bows that is quite famous with dog groomers and sold in boutiques all over the country. I, of course, developed the line and have been instrumental in launching the brand nationally. Anyway, we flew out to the “City of Angels” last week and arrived just as one of our favorite boutiques was opening, Modern Dog in Venice, CA.  Guy and Lance were there to greet me. They have a beautiful boutique, a must see if you are in the area. Lance offered me a delicious biscuit to snack on while my mom handled the business. They selected a wonderful selection of our bows to carry in their store and then it was off to the next boutique to do more of the same.

As the busy day progressed, I couldn’t help but think of my brother Magic. While I am usually plotting ways to torture him, I must admit I could not help but to feel badly that we left him behind in two feet of snow while I was driving around in a convertible and in sunny weather. After all it was Valentine’s Day.  So I picked up the phone and called our local florist and had flowers sent to him. It was the least I could do…now back to my trip.  After a series of sales calls it was time to set up for our trade show.  I had three grueling days ahead of me where I was the going to be the token model. For those of you who have worked a trade show before I’m sure you can relate.  I modeled my bow to each person who walked in the booth. My aunt and mother handled the paperwork and worked the sale.  I mean who better to sell a dog bow than a dog. After the second day of the show had ended we need to attend a sales dinner. I called down to our concierge and had her make reservations for us at a lovely Italian restaurant a few miles away. I thought it would take minutes to get there, however this is LA the city of traffic!! While I didn’t need to pull out my pistol, I can definitely see why there might be a need to on occasion. We arrived at dinner a few minutes late which left me doing some ass-kissing to smooth it over with the boutique owner we were trying to sell to. We ended up doing tequila shots and closing the deal with a sizable order for bows from the Spring 2010 line.

Only one more day left of the trade show and as soon as it is over we need to break down quickly and head straight to the airport for the red-eye back to New York. I have to tell you 6 days, 10 sales calls, 3 hotels and a trade show later I was ready to get back to the big apple.  We returned the rental car and took the shuttle bus to LAX where I had to check two bags. I have to vent here for a moment, who’s bright idea was it to start charging for baggage and how did they come with their math? It was one bag for $20 two for $50. It is the only place I have ever heard of where it costs more for two! I buy tee-shirts on the street, one for $5 two for $7. Now that’s a bargain. But not with the airlines, they are ready to start charging for toilet paper! (Needless to say I was a tad cranky by this point of the trip.)

We arrived in JFK at 6AM and took a taxi back home where is was greeted by my stupid brother. Wagging his tail and jumping around like an idiot. I bit him on the nose and headed straight to bed for a nap.  I’ll like to see him close as many sales in one week!

Woofcerely,
Bella

Tags: Dog, Dog stories, Dogs, Puppy, puppy kisses