A Week in the Life of an SUU Recruiter On the Road

After the fantastic Disney adventure, I sent my family home on a plane & stayed an extra week to spread the good word of SUU in Southern California. This recruiting trip had been in the works for months. I received some great support from my trusty colleague & road warrior friend, Liz.

SUNDAY:

*Check into my lovely Marriott Residence Inn in Ontario, CA. Notice there is a Mary Kay Convention going on across the street & A LOT of overmade Latina MK sales specialists are roaming my hotel.

*See my 1st Mary Kay Pink Cadillac. See my 1st Mary Kay Pink Escalade.

MONDAY:

*Hotel breakfast is a bit crowded. We share a table with 2 motorcycle mechanics from Colorado. This brute, tattooed, leather-wearing gentleman shares that he missed his sleep number bed from home.

*BIG College Fair @ Ontairo Convention Center. Beg Hernando from the set-up crew & the College Fair Coordinator to please make my booth just 18 inches bigger to fit my GIGANTIC SUU display in my booth. I plead. I talk other options. I won't let it go. 2 T-shirts & a lot of begging later -- I get my way. Liz said I just schooled her on being a 'bad ass'.

*Talk to lots of excellent students who have no clue where CC, UT is located.

*The Mary Kay Convention gets out for lunch the same time we do. Saw several of these beautiful pink wigs at In-N-Out.

*Back to the Ontario Convention Center for round two in the evening.

TUESDAY:

*We wake up & head separate ways. Liz heads to Ventura, CA & experiences real L.A. traffic. I head down to Southern Orange County.

*We see our motorcycle mechanic again at breakfast. Today he is wearing a pin-up girl on his shirt & a Harley Davidson logo earring.

*I hit 5 schools in the A.M. dropping off SUU information & meeting counselors. I find a gem of one of our SUU brochures from a few years back in the Career Center. Glad to know my hubby has made a surprise appearance. It's a pic circa 2004 of him on the cover. He looks young & dashing!

*I might or might not get to eat my lunch as I sit on the beach. I might or might not be LOVING my job.

*I get to meet up with a great friend later in the evening for an early dinner & great conversation. Great to see you Ash!

WEDNESDAY:

*Great appointment in Southern Orange County at Aliso Niguel High School. Head back to L.A. to meet Liz. I experience real L.A. traffic. Liz has hit 2 high schools in the A.M. We have a great lunch at Oinkster [a great Triple D location] & have a few minutes to check out the Hollywood sign:

*We thought we had experienced real L.A. traffic. It was nothing like this afternoon's troubles. We did make it back to the Pasadena Convention Center in time to get all set for tonight's national college fair.

*After the fair, we pick up Kate [USU] & Kurt [Weber] & head down to the Nickel Diner in downtown L.A. The Nickel Diner was another Triple D location -- maybe not the best decision this late at night. We see lots of the inner city folk & even a movie being filmed across the street. Food was delicious. I had this chocolate, cream, peanut butter cake that had potato chips in the peanut butter layer. It was to die for!

*Get back to the hotel around 11PM. We are beat.

THURSDAY:

*We feel as if a Mac truck has run us over for our 7AM wake up call. We head back to the Pasadena Convention Center for round two. This was brutal. 6,000 students are 'bus'ed into the college fair. I turned my back & lost some decor on my table. Students just grabbed material & weren't that polite. They were way too interested in the Snack Bar & not their college career.

*We have some time off this afternoon. We head down to Hollywood. We eat at the famous Pink's hotdogs. Delicious! We walk a block of Hollywood Blvd. & see the sights.

*We were set to spend another night in Pasadena. We are feeling a little beat by the city. We pack our bags & head north to Thousand Oaks. Beautiful country & we feel like we can breathe again. We found a wonderful Courtyard by Marriott hotel & feel fancy again! We head to Moorpark High School & have the best college fair of the entire trip.

FRIDAY

*A day of professional development. We take a tour of Pepperdine University. Amazing campus!

*We continue our trek down the Pacific Coast Highway.

*We check into our last hotel of the trip. I've spent 10 nights in various hotel rooms. I've had to keep the key envelope with me this last week because I can never remember which room is mine.

*We have eaten SO MUCH good food -- but -- we are tired of eating out. When we settle into our room @ 10PM, we can't fathom another burger or taco. Instead, we opt for the best we can find: oatmeal [Liz] & a package of chocolate chip cookies [Dana] from the hotel shop. We are slap-happy & think we are hilarious.

SATURDAY

*Enjoy a bit of sleeping in.

*Load into our last college fair @ the Anaheim Convention Center. Slow crowd. We are counting the minutes.

*We are locked & loaded & on our way to Las Vegas. Liz is being the official best road buddy ever -- driving back to Vegas with me & catching a flight to SLC in the A.M.

*Arrive back home to a Monster in a fort & a smile on my face!