Last week, I hopped on a plane and flew to San Francisco, to meet, and spend quality time with all of my fellow Rising Tide Society Leaders at the Honeybook offices downtown. Fun fact, these offices used to be Twitter’s second office, and it was like walking into a Restoration Hardware catalogue. Be sure to soak up all of its awesomeness in the images below, and there is a CUTE SURPRISE all the way at the bottom that you won’t want to miss.
What is Rising Tide Society you wonder, it is a beautiful organization that promotes community over competition among creatives and entrepreneurs all over the world. I lead our Halifax chapter here in Nova Scotia, and our wonderfully supportive group gathers on the second Tuesday every month to discuss our businesses, and share stories and tips that help us all grow as a unified group.
I am so in love with this idea, and have always been a connector, and over-sharer of information. So leading our Halifax chapter has been everything and more. Learn more about the Rising Tide Society, and the amazing things that community is doing for our creative industry.
“a rising tide lifts all boats” – John F. Kennedy
The trip started with very comfortable flights with United Airlines, listening to podcasts (Serial Season 2 to be specific), flying over the very vast and breathtaking Colorado Rockies, I couldn’t stop photographing all the fluffy clouds. I arrived at the San Francisco International Airport, it was raining, but I didn’t care, I was in California, and the air was already different. I saw this fun installation in the airport. The San Francisco Airport always has great art installations every time I travel through there, it makes the airport much more interesting.
I took an Uber (which I really wish we had, so safe, easy and convenient) to the Clift Hotel downtown, it was so stunning. It used to be part of the Morgans Hotel Group, which I first discovered last year when my girlfriends and I travelled to Los Angeles for a weekend getaway, read about that adventure HERE.
The room was so inviting, and the toiletries in the bathroom are one of my favourite products ever, (MALIN + GOETZ), and of course it wouldn’t be a trip unless I brought along a handful of Foxhound Collection candles to leave behind in my travels, I left this one in the room. I ate in the hotel restaurant that night, and turned in early knowing that the next day would be filled with overwhelming joy and excitement.
I arrived at the Honeybook offices and instantly fell in love… I was greeted with a warm, hug, a tote bag full of goodies, a hand written note, prints by Love Offering, and a hand lettered box with my name on it and had a bottle of champagne inside, YES! I walked around the corner to mimosas and a lovely array of food, it was heavenly. Things got underway, and we listened to so many uplifting talks, then we had a delicious catered lunch, a super fun group photo, and a community building brainstorming session. Then it was off to have dinner, and get ready for the 80’s party, but I will spare you of those mental pictures…
The next day was action packed and empowering as well. We met that day at the Westin downtown, and listening to more inspirational friends, then we all got to attend mini workshops, I attended the styling one and the hand lettering one, so good! The afternoon ended with a really great talk by JENNA KUTCHER, creator of the GOAL DIGGER podcast, and she got pretty real, which was very heartwarming. She literally got dressed into her comfy clothes and wiped off all of her make up, and threw her hair into a top knot in front of all of us, just to show that things aren’t always rainbows and unicorns, and that social media can often make us feel inadequate.
I met some pretty lovely souls over those two days, in particular a beautiful woman, with the BIGGEST heart! Her name is Mariana, and she is also a photographer and entrepreneur, her Kismis Ink Photography. After everything was over for the day, her and I hopped into an Uber and made our way down to the Golden Gate Bridge, neither one of us had seen it up close so we went together, it was such a fun time watching the surfers and the sunset.
We both ran out of battery while down there, and spent about an hour walking around in the dark looking for a place to charge our phones so that we could call an Uber to come get us! HILARIOUS! We tried under the sink of a man’s washroom at the beach, gross, but the outlet didn’t seem to work, so we found a gym, perched ourselves behind an elliptical machine and plugged in long enough to call a n Uber.
We finally got a car to come for us, and it was the best one ever, he toured us all around downtown San Francisco and talked our faces off, he was so great. We got dropped off at an Italian restaurant and stuffed our faces, drank wine, and laughed for hours, it was perfect. We bid our farewells, and promised to keep in touch, and if you know me, you know that I will. It was the perfect day.
Stay tuned for my adventure through the Golden Gate Park, where I stumbled upon the cutest Japanese Tea Garden and the Conservatory of Flowers, heart explosion! I will be posting that portion next week. Thank you for following along friends, it means the world to me xo
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