Charlotte NC - Bistro Operations Class (BOPS) - Its growing on me

Anybody that talked to me while I was interviewing for this job or after I got it knows that the Courtyard Bistro was the one piece of this puzzle that freaked me out.  I hadn't every stayed at a Courtyard, had walked in one maybe once or twice and all in all knew nothing about it.  I could facilitate front office, housekeeping and leadership as it is pretty much the same across brands, however the Bistro is a chain restaurant inside these hotels and we have to teach the culinary piece, yikes! 
I had the opportunity to observe partial Bistro Trainings in Holland with Tricia and Akron with Emma and Shannon, then got the opportunity to see the entire training process in Dallas with Maj.  After Dallas I was assigned to go to Jupiter to observe Bistro Ops (you can read about the sun and sand here) it was an amazing class and I learned so much from Vanessa, Tricia, Justin and Shannon.  After I got home from Jupiter I got a travel release to go to Charlotte, however this time I wasn't observing I would be facilitating! 
Vanessa sent out the agenda and I would be facilitating front desk, onboarding/hiring, micros and then facilitating the kitchen culinary piece with Shannon.  I was super excited to spend another few days with Shannon and Tricia (they really make this job easier, I always learn something from them and laugh a lot as well) however was super nervous to be facilitating information that I am not 100% on everything.  Shannon and I arrived on Monday to walk the property with Vanessa and go through our agenda for the next 2 days to make sure that we were comfortable with everything.  Tuesday the class started off and Tricia joined us at noon that day.  Shannon had her culinary piece, she did so good and I was SOOOO glad that she had that part of the training and not me!  I talked about sales and service and then demonstrated how to conduct a wine tasting.  We went to dinner that night and then had a great night of laughs and chatter, always a good time when I get to hang out with these ladies!  Wednesday is a crazy busy day in the training world as we have 2 rotating stations, a tight timing schedule in order to get everyone to their flights on time and also lots of information which leads to lots of questions.
It was a great training class and again I learned so much from listening to the other trainers.  They were supportive when I answered a few questions incorrectly and gave great feedback about my facilitating style.  I had such a great time in the kitchen during the culinary piece of the class co-facilitating with Shannon, we balance each other well when we are working together. 
Something must have gone right as we got great feedback from Vanessa, a thank you note from her as we all landed at home and are already tentative on the schedule for the next BOPS in Atlanta in two weeks! 

Headed home after another amazing BOPS class!

 

Thank you Tricia for keeping us safe and explaining the safety features to us!

While at BOPS this pretty lady face timed me from Hawaii...what a waste for her to be there!!  She did go to the beach and took a 7 min video!!

 

Our names are on the flip chart....things are getting real!!! 

Best Friends pick you up from the airport at midnight so you don't have to take a scary uber ride....I gave her 5 Stars!!

Partners in crime....a selfie while in Charlotte!

Jupiter FL - Sunshine, Friends and Bistro Operations Class

From Dallas to Jupiter FL.....I can't complain about that assignment!  It was SOOOO beautiful, made m miss the heck out of living in FL with the palm trees, salt water air, amazing fish to eat at every restaurant and the warm sunshine on my face.  After my assignment in Dallas I was on the schedule to go to Jupiter FL to observe a Courtyard Bistro Operations Class, as class that is provided for property leadership to learn more about the Courtyard Bistro in a 2 day class.  Some leaders are required to attend if they have Bistro's that are struggling and then their are leaders there who just want to learn tips and tricks about the Bistro and its operation.  During this class I was going to be observing, Shannon, Justin and Tricia would be facilitating class along with Vanessa whom is in charge of Bistro Operations class.  Since Shannon lives in Jupiter it was a chance to go and visit her and get to see the beach.  I left Dallas on Saturday and Bistro class started on Tuesday, so we had a few great days of laughter, sun, amazing food and of course the beach!  Tuesday came and we had day one of Bistro Operations training, along with Vanessa being there we also had the pleasure of seeing ALL of our bosses Joe, Rachida and Susan.  I had the easy job of just observing, however Shannon also a newb had to get up and facilitate with them in the room and she killed it!  So proud as a fellow newb to watch her do such a great job during her in kitchen culinary demonstration and during her class room presentation.  I learned so much during this this week and my love for the Bistro is starting to grow. 
Got to spend this week with some of my favorite people!  Here is a true run down of the week followed by some great pictures that highlight the week:

Saturday - landed, changed clothes and we headed to Brew Fest at the local Jupiter AA baseball stadium, the same stadium were the St. Louis Cardinals do their spring training.  It was such a nice night out and provided some great people watching!

Sunday - THE BEACH!  We went to the beach with one of Shannon's friends and then met up with her for an awesome dinner at this amazing restaurant that was right on the water and covered in tons of trees, so pretty.

Monday - We popped in Shannon's old hotel (where the class was going to be held) and walked the space to help them out and give some suggestions.  We had a nice lunch and then picked up some face masks and drinks.  It was a fun night as we watched The Emperors New Groove, did face masks and a couple of drinks

Tuesday - Bistro Ops begins!  It was a good day and I learned so much!  It was my first time meeting Vanessa and she was nice, patient with all my questions and very informative.  We had a great group dinner at a restaurant on the beach, and Tricia couldn't stop talking about the fish the next day!  After dinner Shannon, Tricia and I headed to a near by bar in downtown Jupiter for trivia, what a great night!  We would have won trivia except we questioned Tricia (we know better for next time)...the question "how many times would Rhode Island fit into the state of Alaska?"  Shannon said 17, I said 37 and Tricia said 375.....WHAT 375 your crazy...so we decided on 115....drum roll please....it will fit into Alaska 425 times!  #newbswerewrong

Wednesday - We finished up Bistro Ops, this is the busiest day of the training and another day that I learned so much!  After the day was over Vanessa had to hop a plane, but everyone one else was staying in town.  Tricia packed up and came to Shannon's for the slumber party and then we loaded up and met Susan, Rachida, Joe and Justin for dinner at the same fish restaurant from Tuesday night as we all LOVED it.  It was a great family dinner full of laughs and great conversation, always so blessed to get to see and hang out with these amazing people.  We then stopped by the store on the way home and picked up some wine and went to Shannon's and stayed up chatting about anything and everything.

Thursday - One last trip to the beach and breakfast with Tricia before she hit the road back to Tampa! 

Such a great week full of such amazing people.  If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times I am so thankful for the friendship that has grown between Shannon and I, it is so nice to have another newb to go through all this with.  She makes me laugh, is my moral compass, thinks I am nuts most of the time and is an amazing facilitator that I learn something from every time I get the pleasure of listening to her.  Thanks for letting me crash at your house and taking me to the beach!!!!

Our tiny beer mugs at beer fest!

We had a buddy make his self right at home during our beach visit on Sunday!

Beautiful

Beach day on Sunday with these amazing ladies! 

Cheers!!!  A cocktail at dinner after an amazing day at the beach.

Shannon was feeling under the weather....so a good friend took an blue green algae and ginger root shot with her at the health food restaurant were we ate lunch! 

Got to see the one and only Brandon while in Jupiter....he is the GM at the Jupiter Fairfield Inn and Suites.

We are such a wild bunch! 

Llama face, llama face, llama face!!!!  Such a great movie!!!

Trivia night!  Check out our team name "Trish and the Newbs!"

Trivia Night with Shannon and Tricia. 

 

Family photo at dinner on Wednesday night with Tricia, Susan, Rachida, Shannon, Joe, myself and Justin....it was such a good restaurant and such great company! 

Dallas - Plano Courtyard - Trying to Find Me a Cowboy! :)

Well this is my 3rd trip to Dallas since I joined the team!!  My first was a Franchise to Franchise with the talented Tricia we were actually in Waco but close enough (click here, lets go Baylor!) and the second was with Queen Zirkle (click here to relive that experience!), both of these experiences where awesome so I was hopeful for another great trip to Dallas.  This trip was again with a lot of firsts, I would be observing all of a Courtyard Bistro without having to do FOSSE or housekeeping and the first time I would be meeting Maj, Pearline and Ben (and come to find out the first time they had all worked together!)
I landed in Dallas after traveling to St. Louis to catch my flight after wine weekend...I was tired and a bit wine logged!  Maj and Ben arrived ahead to conduct the Leadership meeting, I had the pleasure of meeting Pearline at the airport and riding with her to the hotel in an Uber.  I knew within about 5 mins that she was awesome and that all I had heard about her was totally true and that we were all going to have a great week!  We got to the hotel and met up with the gentleman, both super nice and excited to all be working together.  They filled us in on leadership meeting and we got a game plan together for the week, had our first "family" dinner and hit up the grocery store!
Kick off day was great I volunteered to do the opening kick off presentation, I was a bit nervous as I didn't know any of them and they were all in the room while I facilitated.  They provided good feedback and were all very nice to help jump in if I forgot something or to help during the group activities, if this was any indication of the remainder of the week it was going to be a great week! 
Besides learning a lot of the rest of the trainers this week was also filled with lots of "family" dinners and the chance to see Joe and meet Mary and Casey who were also in Dallas at another opening across town.  Joe arrived on Tuesday to hang out with us at the CY opening and then went across town on Thursday for the SHS opening with Mary and Casey.  Wednesday night we ALL met up at a middle meeting spot where Casey found an awesome restaurant and we sat around a huge round table very mob style eat, drank and laughed a lot...the only picture we got was a panoramic picture that Maj took and its jacked up to say the least!!!  Thursday Maj's sister was kind enough to invite us over to her house for a home cooked meal of Pakistan food, we of course couldn't say no as we don't get home cooking on the road very often.  It was another amazing time and AMAZING food, although the spices were too much for this girl and I had some serious indigestion!  We celebrated Mary's birthday with a cake and of course their was singing!  Then it was off to top golf for a fun night of laughter and competition!  Side note: When I saw Joe the next week at Bistro Ops in Jupiter he was still sore!! 
It was a great week that I had a real chance to bond with new team members and got to spend some quality time with the one and only Pearline!  She was everything I had heard and more....very motherly, great at explaining things and so funny!!  We learned lots about each other, mostly due to Pearline's line of questioning!  We also taught her so much about googling, U-Turns and sooooo so much more that just isn't blog appropriate! Thanks Ben, Maj and Pearline for another great week in Dallas, until we meet again friends....safe travels!

Making a little Pear Muslie....One Team One Dream!

 

The Adorable Pearline and I

Joe joined us for some chef coat days!

Maj's beautiful sister, what an amazing family and so kind to open their house to us.

Family picture at Top Golf!

Friday 2pm Ab Crunch Session

Exhausted after all that hard workout!

A pit of meat at our Friday Night Dinner

Maj and I selfie with the Meat Pit

Ben and I selfie with the meat pit

Ben and Maj have the meat sweats!  Pearline is tackling the corn on the cob!

Wine Weekend #squad #mysquadisbetterthanyours #blessed

OMG!!!  Where to even start about this weekend!  First off I was super lucky not to have to travel until Sunday (thanks Dorna for the ride to the STL airport so I could make it to Dallas), so got to spend a fantastic weekend with some pretty amazing ladies!!!  We left on the Amtrak train on Friday morning heading towards Hermann....who knew that you could drink on the train!  We had such a great time with Darthy (it was her birthday weekend), Liz, Sally, Loudean, Casebolt, Cashman and myself all on the train....Dorna came from St. Louis and met us at the house.  As soon as she arrived we of course jumped on the trolley and headed to the first winery on the list!  Back to the house for a home cooked dinner by the one and only Sally and then off to the best bars in Hermann, there are only 3 in the entire town.  We played a few bar shenanigan games, I'm not sure who the officially declared winner was, but this is my blog and I racked up 275 points...so it was me!  After the bar it was back to the house for singing and laughter around the kitchen table, then moved to the backyard around the fire pit (Dorna was the pit master all weekend and built us some Amazing fires). 
Day 2 brought the rest of the trolley wine tour and our day of the matching girls in the red pants, red lips and laughing the entire way!  We danced at any winery that had music, we danced on the trolley, we had a squad photo shoot, and pretty much drew a crowd anywhere we went because we are awesome and always having a good time.  There was one winery in Hermann that wasn't on the trolley list so our good driver Dorna (with her sweet mini van) offered to drive us all out there so that we could see it as they said it had some of the best views.  Well as most of my friends know, I am not the most emotional person, however write it down....on this day I cried (I'm blaming it on the wine)!  As I sat in van with the #squad I looked around and reflected on the last couple of years as these ladies have come in my lift one at a time.  I am so thankful for a group of amazing ladies that are supportive of my new work adventure, whom I can see after 2 or 3 weeks and its like we never skipped a beat, who Facetime me when I need a pick me up, who embrace my crazy and don't try to change it or bottle it, who are fiercely independent and who make me feel lucky every day to be able to call them #squad members....so that is why (and the wine) that I got a little teary on the journey....thanks Darthy for being the only one that called me out!!!!
Our 2nd day wrapped up with dinner at the Brewery downtown that has an underground room that has the washers game and the best pizza that we had the entire time...it also made for a great midnight snack after a great game of Cards Against Humanity (what a fun group to play this with).  Then as everyone settled into bed Loudean, Sally and I sat in the living room and laughed and laughed about nothing....poor Cashman was in the bedroom next to us and I am sure didn't get any sleep.
Sunday morning Sally made the MOST amazing French toast I have ever eaten, we packed all of our wine purchases and put some of the squad on to the trolley to get to the train and Darthy and I got in the van with Dorna and headed toward the STL airport to catch our flights to work! 
It was a great weekend that I can't wait to repeat again soon!  So thankful for these ladies, their laughter, wisdom, craziness, dance moves, dish washing skills and everything in between.  Blessed beyond measure and thankful everyday!

Train ride from KC to Hermann!!!

First family lunch when we arrived in Hermann!

Trolley ride day 2..."Red Pant Ladies"

Hermannhof Winery....this selfie stick was useful!

Adorable ladies!

Welcome to our Mob Family Photo...snack table at the winery! 

Flipping the table!

This picture sums up our friendship!!  Cashman ready to duck lip at any given time, Loudean wondering what we are doing and me laughing at how we look in the camera trying to take a selfie.

Billy Goats on the table dancing...because we MUST be higher than everything else!

First official weekend photo before we boarded the train in KC for the weekend!

Dance party!!!

Trolley that was our lifesaver during the week!

#squad photo (minus Casebolt who was taking a disco nap)

The entire #squad....beautiful picture at the hill top winery that Dorna was nice enough to drive us too

 

 

Let Freedom Ring in Philly! Philadelphia Airport Residence Inn, LPP Season and Home!

Last week brought the opportunity to make my first appearance as a trainer at a Residence Inn in Philly near the airport.  WHAT an amazing property, the Residence Inn brand has come so far with their amazing lobby spaces for breakfast and The Mix (evening social), local art work and rooms that are pretty amazing!  This trip brought a lot of firsts...my first Residence Inn brand, my first solo in the food and beverage department and my first time working with Justin L. from our team.  Justin is newer to the team as well, he will have been on the team a year in May.  He could not have been more supportive and helpful throughout the week while we were there.  It was really nice to work with him! 

The week went by really quickly as when you are the food and beverage trainer you are only there for 5 days and leave before opening day, so I felt like it was in and out in a very short time!  We had the pleasure of Rachida joining us Monday thru Wednesday, that was nice to be able to chat with her and discuss outstanding questions that I might have had.  Our LPP (Leadership Performance) time is upon us so we are setting goals for 2016, picking special projects and personal development plans.  One of our goals this year is to partner up with a Mentor, as soon as it was announced I knew that Queen Zirkle was meant to be mine...she agreed and we put together a plan of action for some quality topics to cover over the next year!

I can't believe it but I didn't take one picture while in Philly it was a crazy busy time with trying to soak up as much knowledge from Justin and also spending time with Rachida during the day when I had a second and dinner at night with her and Justin.  It was a great training and the team was amazing, I couldn't have asked for a better staff in the kitchen for my first go around! 

I flew home on Thursday and arrived in town at 2pm!  Picked up a car load of friends and went to the 13th Annual Hotel and Lodging Association Trivia Night.....what a great day...it was the first night in forever that the entire #squad had been together!  It was a fun night.....we needless to say didn't win trivia night...but if you asked anyone our team FOR SURE had the most fun!!!  Then fingers crossed that I wouldn't be traveling on Sunday and would get to go to the Royals Opening Day!  My mom didn't have her fingers crossed as she would have taken my ticket with the girls if I wouldn't have been able to make it, but she was a good sport when I didn't travel out and got to go.  I promised I will take her to a game soon while I am home!  It was a great day full of lots of laughs, amazing BBQ and a Royals Opening day win!  Its been a great time at home and I'm now just at home working on projects around the house, some work projects and a few other things...waiting for my next travel release!  If it doesn't come before the weekend I'll get the pleasure of going to Hermann MO for Darthy's Birthday Month Wine Weekend Trip.....9 girls on the train to Hermann from Kansas City for a weekend of Wine Tasting and fun!  Sounds like something I don't want to miss!!!  

#squad....not sure what I would do without these ladies!!!

Queen Zirkle...Training Mentor 2016!!

KC Royals tailgating!!!!!

Bob!!!  Our favorite Facebook personality and Gate A ticket agent!  Not baseball season until we see him!!!!!

Group selfie!!!

Anther group selfie!!!!

If I don't make it to wine weekend...don't worry I made you a Kandi on a stick!!!!