We started the day with a cruise on the harbour past the statue and all around us were dogs sending their love. Next stop Central Park which is dog heaven and to Strawberry Fields and the Imagine tribute closed my eyes and spoke to Miss Teddy very poignant.  Then popped into the Met and once again lots of very cool dog exhibits.  After a cultural dose, a cruise to the top of the rock to check out the view of Manhatten.  The day ended on a tuk tuk doing the very touristy cruise through Time Square and Theatre District tuk tuk is definitely the best way to experience what is a sensory overload.  Teddy, Lisa and I had a great day together.  Her body which was only her house maybe gone but her soul was definitely in the city with us and she loved it.  Teddy was just like her mumma a little bit of “shit and sparkle” she loved the city and the country and sparkle and mud in equal doses so a mix of galleries and parks was so her.  Lisa’s birthday tomorrow and Teddy and I planning some great surprises. Sorry for the formatting I know a little crazy which is apt as so is NYC and so am I.

A great first day ended with a dreaded call in the middle of the night at 3:30am.   As I was sharing a room with Fiona and didn’t want to wake her, I took the call in the hallway.  I collapsed with grief and was lucky enough to have a lovely man take me to his room where he made me tea and sat with me while I sobbed my heart out.  The kindness of strangers hey.  There are wonderful people in this world.

The next few days I spent in a darkened room, I was unable to function, so I didn’t.  Thankfully I had some sleeping pills with me so I got some short respite from the nightmare.

On the last night before I flew out at midnight I made myself watch the Bellagio fountains in memory of Teddy.   They were just like her breathtaking, magical and over too soon.

Getting very excited to see Kathy Ireland speak at the Las Vegas licensing fair as the keynote speaker.

Her presentation titled from the beach to the boardroom will share her story of how she put away her bikini when her body was considered too old and put her brain to work instead creating a billion dollar licensing business which sees her name on more than 250,000 products sold worldwide.  She started out with a range of socks she figured if she could sell those she could probably sell a lot of other stuff.

Unlike Elle MacPherson who Ireland considers has pigeon-holded herself into lingere, Ireland was deliberately smart from the outset and chose products that were mass market, consumable and covered the whole spectrum to show how far her brand could stretch.  Any product that Ireland considers “helps makes women’s lives easier”  is up for grabs.

Licensing at the end of the day is a volume business and depends on mass markets to survive, so Ms Ireland has been very smart and successful to take mass products and market them to middle America. While being a little cagey about the figures it is public knowledge that Kathy outsells and earns more than her nearest competitor Martha Stewart .  Beauty and Brains and not a jailbird.

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