Best Kind of Work Meeting Ever

Pictures of the Day for 1/14/2010.

I was in Beverly Hills, California for a semi-annual client meeting. The day of the meeting follows a very specific pattern. I get ready early, head into Beverly Hills, and stop at Sprinkles Cupcakes. These cupcakes are literally the best cupcakes on the planet. I'm not the only one who thinks so. There's usually a long line of people waiting to get inside the shop at any given time of the day. After purchasing my cupcakes, I'll walk down Rodeo Drive (see picture below) if I have some time to kill. This still makes me laugh to casually mention how I go shopping on Rodeo Drive since I never thought I would be someone who would be very familiar with Beverly Hills, much less spend a lot of time there.

OK, here's how the rest of a typical "client meeting in Beverly Hills" day goes. I pick up the client, Ana, at her apartment and we meet my work colleagues, Jessica and Jamil, at whatever restaurant we've chosen, eat lunch, and then discuss the client's health plan renewal results. Lately, its been taking longer and longer to get to the actual "work" part of the meeting since in addition to being colleagues, we're all very good friends and have a lot to talk about. It's too bad all work meetings can't follow this pattern.

After the meeting, I picked up my friend Al who had flown out from Florida to California for two reasons- to see me and to do some research on an aviation article he is writing. We ate dinner at the Proud Bird restaurant next to LAX. The restaurant is surrounded by vintage airplanes and the walls are covered with photo displays of famous aviators, planes, and aircraft manufacturers. I like the picture below of Charles and Anne Lindberg. They look sooooo young.