Well, it's not the Ritz now. It's the Langham hotel in Pasadena. But it was the Ritz before, apparently, because the woman behind the desk said brightly "Welcome to the Ritz!" when we walked in. And then covered her mouth and said, "oops! I mean the Langham!" Some of the silverware also said "the Ritz" on it. I've never been tempted to steal a piece of silverware before but I really was (I didn't). I'm not sure why staying at a hotel that used to be the Ritz is such a big deal to me, but it is. My co-worker Christine said that it was fitting that my last business trip at ZAAZ was to the Ritz. My first, years ago, was to a crappy hotel outside of Milwaukie.
I flew down Thursday afternoon to Burbank for a big client presentation we had in Pasadena early Friday morning. I really didn't want to travel, because I have so much to do here (and was hoping to get a lot of cleaning done while Dave is in Japan), but it was to Pasadena, for crying out loud, and though times were super tight, I was able to squeeze in seeing a few loved ones who haven't been able to get to Portland to see me (and I'm sorry I couldn't see everyone, but times were *very* tight). So I agreed.
We were working almost up to the wire. The client is the Landmind Survivors Network (soon to be Survivor Corps), a non-profit I am extremely proud to be working with. They are very effective, and do a lot of really good work all over the world. One of the founders, Jerry White, has recently written a book about the steps everyone goes through to go from trauma to a satisfying life, and I think it's great. This was the presentation of design comps that, if they approved them, meant we could start building the site, if not, bad things would happen to budget and schedule. Since it was design it meant I had to present, which I don't like, but which I've had to get used to doing over the years (I have terrible stage fright). It went pretty well, thank goodness! They liked what we did, we can move forward. But you never know, which is why it's such an enormous relief afterwards!
The pleasure one feels at staying at a fancy, I might say SUPER-fancy, hotel can be dulled by anxiety. I tried not to have that be the case, but I have enough of the type A over-achiever that I sort of hold my breathe until the client says "yes!" I am getting better at enjoying the now, though, and I tried to absorb the lustrousness that must, I felt, be part of any hotel that was at any time called "the Ritz".
The staff was very gracious, which is always nice, and I almost got lost on the way to my room, which is sort of cool (such long corridors). The room was an odd shape but the bed was enormous and the bathroom was at least twice the size of ours. It's funny what impresses you. I really liked the hardware on the bathtub--beautiful design. Elegant circles of metal on marble slabs. And the sheets. Man, those were some sheets! The pillows were a bit...er...well we all felt the pillows lacked a certain...substance. There were about twenty on the bed, and I crashed my head down, apparently straight through them, as though they were clouds. Woof! I finally managed to stack enough to prop myself up to read some comic books, but it took about four. Well, one hears that folks have a wide variety of tastes with pillows, so I will not complain. Not with those sheets!
And now I'm home, and it's 45 degrees and raining instead of 75 degrees and sunny but even lolling in the fancy bath and in the fancy bed I missed my kitty and my messy house. But still--the Ritz!
Labels: la, molly, travel, work
