A week of chaos

When the talks of this project first started we had a few things we knew, for a fact, that would take place. Recruiting events and Big Ideas. Big Ideas is a conference held for a 100 select city managers and directors by the Alliance for Innovation.

This years Big Ideas was held November 1-3 in both West Hollywood and Santa Monica. AFI also had their annual board meeting and dinner before the conference and Travis and I were invited to attend the entire event. 

Wednesday and Thursday, Travis and I attended two graduate fairs. Wednesday was at UCLA and Thursday (Halloween) was at UC Riverside. UC Riverside had a pretty large group of students interested in the idea of public affairs and it was a successful day. We then headed back to Los Angeles to get ready for the Board dinner and Carnaval afterwards. We got VIP passes from the WeHo city manager before heading off to the Boulevard after dinner, some decked out for the party and others in their business casual attire.

The line leaders for our group for the night. A 6'3" BatGirl and Big Boy with the 3 lb burger led the way through the crowds!

A board member and a guest speaker run into Jesus on the Boulevard.

Rebecca ended up being a hit and everyone wanted a photo with her.

Met up with some of the girls after the Board. 

Amanda Bynes.

After a walk up and down the Boulevard, I called it a night. I had to be back in WeHo bright and early the next day for the Board meeting. After a few hours of observing, we headed across the street to another hotel to set up for the conference. It was a rough day with unexpected difficulties regarding travel, but it went off swimmingly! And let me just say, we had quite the view!

DTLA from the Panorama Room at the Andaz Hotel

Rooftop views, Andaz Hotel, WeHo

California Sunset

Closing remarks at Big Ideas!

In the midst of the conference I flew home to Phoenix for my last class. Dinner with the family was certainly welcome and it's the last class in person for this semester! I'll be back home at the end of the month for Thanksgiving! Until then, oodles of more LA adventures to come, including Disneyland this weekend!