This past Wednesday, I had the great pleasure of attending the annual Google National Sales Conference held in San Francisco at the Hilton Hotel.  My former CEO, Susan Lyne and I were the Google Guests of Honor.  The theme of this year’s conference was ‘The Edge.’  Google considers my company as being a ‘leading edge’ organization, a world-class brand, and a valuable partner.  Also in attendance were approximately 1500 of Google’s best and brightest sales force.  The grand ballroom was filled with high energy and it was a really fun experience.  Of course, we managed to squeeze in a little shopping and a little fine nibbling before returning home.   

Here I am at Macy's! We had a bit of time to explore the wonderful
Union Square Macy's store where the Martha Stewart Collection was
displayed so wonderfully and beautifully. Here I am with some of the
MSC soaps and kitchen items.

The Fourth of July items looked great - the merchandising was so
clever and well-presented. The cupcake papers and the red, white, and
blue party goods are must-haves!

It's so much fun to meet with Macy's staff and executives. This is
Kia Panah, Laura Herbert, me, Elizabeth Canady - she heads our ad sales
team on the west coast - and Susan Berlesman.

I have never, ever seen a prettier weddings registry department.
This is Susan Berlesman, Karen Birch, Joan Schweizer - a 20 year
veteran, me, and Sigrid Sanborn. For some tips for brides on their registries please visit the  Brides Guide

The way brides can register and choose items is very cleverly designed and executed.

more of the registry department

This is a display of our beautiful transfer-ware patterned china.

One can walk around the store, choose an item, and scan it right into the store's registry.

our beautiful wedgwood

Lily of the Valley is one of my favorites.

Because my impromtu store visit coincided with the monthly
president's 'shop talk' taping, I was asked to sit in for an interview.

Susan Berlesman - SVP of Bridal & Gift registry, me, and vice chairman of Macy's West - Rudy Borneo - a 43 year veteran.

After the interview, we visited Boulettes Larder for lunch.  Located
in the ferry terminal, this is a wonderful place to shop for
ingredients as well as to dine - what delicious food!

mint infused chicken salad

a wonderful cheese plate

mixed fresh greens with herb flowers

lentils with grilled sardines and vegetables

A really scrumptious lemon merigue tart!

My favorite tiny shop for creative things in San Francisco is Bell'occhio. 

the exterior of Bell'occhio

These are spools of fabulous antique ribbons.

The workshop at the store - this is where special orders, shipping, and party design happens.

Here I am posing with Claudia, the shop's owner and creative force.

Another must-stop-by is Zuni Cafe, where we had delicious cappuccino.

This is Gilbert Pilgram - the co-owner along with Judy Rogers.  He
was very helpful with all sorts of suggestions for other places to
visit in San Francisco.

the pristine kitchens at Zuni

On stage at the Google Sales Conference - this is my assistant Liesl with Debbie Olson, who provided the beautiful and delicious cherries from Sunnyvale for my demo. 

This is an assortment of old and new cherry pitting tools.

And, of course, 1-800 FLOWERS provided Martha Stewart flower arrangements for all the tables - 150 of them!

Debbie Olson and me - the Olson family has been growing cherries since 1899.

Susan Lyne and I were interviewed by Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google.

The stage was beautifully designed by Google using all things Martha!

After the interview, I showed the audience and Tim Armstrong, Google's chief marketing officer, how to make cherry mojitos.

Two surprise 'helpers' showed up - the brilliant engineers and
co-founders of Google (which, by the way, means 10 to the 100th power)
- Larry Page and Sergey Brin - they were so helpful!

Sergey and me - he and his partner Larry created the world's largest
search engine when still students in college - I thought he would be
the best cherry pitter.

He showed some interest in the various pitters.

He was not too interested in the Imperia vodka
- only in the fact that Russian words were on the bottle.  Sergey, by
the way, has plans to travel into outer space aboard a Russian
spacecraft, like my friend, Charles Simonyi.

Larry was the lime squeezer.  He had never once used a hand squeezer or a reamer!

All three guys loved the final mojitos - thank heavens!  The audience was also served the same drink.

our toast to a successful demo

There was a raffle of Martha Stewart Collection items - the lucky winner was beaming!

The raffle - notice Sergey drinking his mojito - he really liked the flavor.