Tiger Blood, Warlocks, the Wild Thing and Winning!

In my year and a half of working on the planning team for Axe Body Spray, this was one of my favorite things I was able to participate in as an advertiser.  This past weekend, Axe was a presenting sponsor of the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen!  And with Mike starting his new job, he was given tickets to the event from his clients who do the digital planning for Comedy Central.  So we both packed our bags and headed west to LA for a fun filled weekend of comedy.

While we both were traveling out to the west coast together, we were both on separate trips that were work related.  In fact, we hardly saw each other until Saturday after our Friday work functions were complete.  I suggested BOA as our client/Comedy Central dinner with our hosts.  For those of you who don't know....BOA is the site of Mike and my first date (back when it was a tiny little restaurant in the Grafton hotel).  So we've developed quite a friendship with the clientele there after years of dating and client dinners in LA.  It was like seeing old friends during my client dinner.  Always such a pleasure to visit our favorite restaurant even though I wasn't with Mike.  But nevertheless, dinner was amazing as always and was a hit with the crew at Unilever and Comedy Central. 

So the first time I got to spend time with Mike was Saturday morning when we were up early enough to take a trip up to our old neighborhood in West Hollywood for a quick detox hike at Runyon Canyon.  As I mentioned in my previous entry, I like to take in any opportunity I can get for some exercise in the outdoors.  So while it may have been pretty ambitious after a long night of entertaining clients and having cocktails, it was nice to take some time to wake up and smell the roses!  AND, since she lives in the neighborhood, we got to enjoy the company of our cousin Julie for our hike and a quick breakfast (at Cheebo, another Mobley favorite from our days of living in LA).   Saturday quickly got away from us so it was nice to take the morning to enjoy all the things we loved about living in Los Angeles.

Comedy Central was fabulous and gracious hosts for both Mindshare representatives and our Unilever clients.  They were extremely generous in putting us up at the beautiful Four Seasons resort in Beverly Hills for the weekend.  Not only did they host us, but they treated us to a cabana during the day on Saturday for the entire day.  The day was perfect for some Comedy

Central/Unilever/Mindshare relaxation time, not to mention that it was a beautiful, sunny day in Southern California.  The day quickly turned into an eventful evening as we left the hotel to head out to the Sony Pictures studio lot where the Roast was being taped.  We've been building this program with CC for a few months, so it was so fun to see the whole program come to life.  We are so thrilled about how Comedy Central was able to customize a program for Axe.  And we got to watch it all unfold from the star-studded red carpet. B and C list celebrity appearances included: Ron Jeremy, Kristin Cavelleri, Slash, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Kate Walsh, Kristy Swanson, Mike Tyson, Maria Menudos, William Shatner, Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad, Seth McFarlane, Charlie Sheen, and my personal favorite of the evening...the Tick himself...Patrick Warburton (LOVE!).

This was my first time going to the Roast, but it was SO much fun.  The actual Roast was hilarious (I'm a little interested to see what exactly they will be able to clear for TV!).  As you can imagine, with Charlie Sheen being the Roast subject, all of the jokes were about drugs and hookers.  But it was the hardest I've laughed in a long time.So I'm looking forward to seeing how much Comedy Central can actually air from the event. And we got HOOKED UP with our tickets to the Roast as we got front row seats at table #1.  Mike wasn't as lucky, but at least we kept tabs on each other before the after party.  

The after party was fabulous.  It was less about mingling among the celebs, and more about the fun we had with the clients and with Comedy Central.  Mike's CC clients got him tickets to the after party as well so we finally got to enjoy the fun of the weekend together.  After a few cocktails, I was a bit more brave later in the night, and felt confident enough to take a picture with Patrick Warburton.  He's so random and awesome, and was very friendly and may or may not have tried to pinch my hiney.  Chatting with him was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend.  Everyone else at the event made fun of me for my random obsession with someone who played a tick on a quickly cancelled cartoon...and who is most famous for his high-fives..and who stars on a CBS sitcom of which I think I'm the only viewer.  But it was a highlight, and he took not only one, but TWO pictures with me.  Thank you Patrick, I think I'm your biggest fan. 

It was weird being in LA this past weekend and not having time to see all my favorite people in LA, and it was strange to be in my former home for business.  However, I'm so lucky to have such wonderful colleagues and clients because it was the most fun "business trip" I think I'll ever take!!!!  Plus, I got to have my husband there too!  It was bitter sweet coming home from LA.  I'm a bit delayed in posting this week as I've had a busy week of work, but Mike and I flew back to New York on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  We were sad to leave our old home and the beautiful lifestyle we used to live out there, but we were happy and proud to be New Yorkers, and to return to the city on such a memorable day.  During our drive back from the airport, we saw two beams of light shooting up into the sky from Ground Zero where the Twin Towers used to stand, and it was a very moving sight.  And I've never been happier to call New York City my home.