Heather Haddad

I’m back from New Orleans, and I had so much fun! Anthony and I drove there where we met up with my dad to go to the IPCPR cigar trade show. As usual, it was four days of drinking, smoking, eating, staying up late and not sleeping much. Very fun, very tiring. I got a lot of work done, smoked lots of new product, yadda yadda, but the best part was the after hours stuff. For starters, we had a magnificent dinner at Tony Moran’s where the owner created a special dish for me since I’m a veggi, and I had the best caprese salad I’ve ever had. I never knew caprese salad could taste different from one place to the next, but this one had amazing mozzerella cheese on it. I mean, A-MAZE-ING, and this is coming from a woman who has made her own mozzerella cheese from scratch at home.

I also enjoyed many nights at the Don Leoncio Cigar Lounge were I danced meringue with Joey from Padilla, spoke Spanish 101 with Don Pepin Garcia, drank Chimay with the Stogie Review guys, chatted up Carlito Fuente and more. As much fun as our many nights there were, I have to say the highlight was happening upon a Karaoke lounge where Rocky Patel was dancing. I decided to dance with him, however as soon as I walked up to him and started dancing, he turned heel and walked away. I WAS DISSED BY ROCKY PATEL! Priceless. Best part of the trip, hands down!

Anyways, after four days of smoking, I left feeling like I had a cigar lodged in my lung. I took two days off and have commenced my normal smoking schedule since. If fact, I will sign off and go smoke one of the many sample sticks from the show. Salut!

It’s been bit. Sorry. I’ve been up to my eyeballs. Let me explain.

First there was the cigar convention in Vegas. It was the usual- lots of fun yet extremely tiring. We got free food, drinks and parties. Got to see Lynard Skinnard live. Got hundreds of free cigars. What I didn’t get was sleep. Or a moment to rest. I also got to spend A LOT of money.

However, we did go see Phantom of the Opera while I was there. I have wanted to see the Phantom since I was about 8 years old, when I would ride my bike down the street in California, listening to the original cast recording on a walkman. For years I wanted to see it. It came to Tucson one year, but I was studying abroad in German. I almost saw it in London once, but I couldn’t afford it. So finally, after 20 years of waiting, I got to see the Phantom (or at least the Vegas version, which is 30 minutes shorter than the Broadway version). Honestly, I was a little underwhelmed by it all (although how can anything live up to 20 years of expectations?). The acting was a bit sub-par, at least on the part of the girl playing Christine. I’m not even convinced she was really singing the high parts, if she was, then her singing was excellent. But I kind of suspect she didn’t have the pipes to pull that off. The guy playing the Phantom was good, though. The set though, was the real star of the show. It was just amazing. So many set changes, beautiful costumes, and the chandelier was as amazing as you’ve heard. All in all, I enjoyed it. I wish they hadn’t cut out so much of the play, I could tell in certain parts where lyrics had been changed or a chunk of a song was missing. Anyways, I still think I need to see it on Broadway, but at least now I can say I’ve completed a life dream of mine.

We got back from Vegas last Thursday, but ever since we’ve been back I’ve been running around like crazy. I have to move into our new retail location August 1st, and our new duplex August 8th, so as you can imagine I have a ton of details running through my head. My contractor on the retail space told me I need to apply for my permits NOW, so I have to have blueprints drawn up this week and I have to pick out every material I want to use in the store and come up with dimensions so the contractor can give me a bid. As a result I’ve spent every day since I’ve been back going to tile stores, cabinet stores, restaurant supply stores, etc… I’ve been searching the net for the best prices and materials to use, and for pictures to inspire me. I’ve been to Home Depot more this week then I ever have before in my life. I have no idea what I’m doing! And of course, our lease isn’t even signed yet. I’m supposed to have it today, tomorrow, some time soon, but I’m getting really anxious to lock this baby up so I can relax a bit and take a moment to celebrate before I dive back into the details. Speaking of details, did you know there are different kinds of ice machines that you can buy that give you different shapes of ice that are designed to fill up the cup more? For example, there is a certain kind that Wendy’s, Taco Bell and other fast food restaurants use that basically ensures that you get less actual soda. Man, that’s tricky! Also, you’d probably be amazed to learn than an ice machine costs between $800- $6000, depending on the size you want. It’s just a freezer for heaven’s sake!

Anyways, I have to get back to the grindstone. I’m taking a little break from my tasks until I have some more free time, I just can’t do it right now. I think I’ll be back with those next week. Oh, and for those of you wondering how my Olympic training is going, the answer is not well. I’m at about a 1:24 for a 100 backstroke, and the world record is 0:59, which was set this year. So I really have to shave about 30 seconds of my time. That’s a lot!