Memorial Day weekend is thought by many to be the unofficial start of summer, and if the weather cooperates common celebrations include hitting the beach or hosting a barbeque.  Three friends and I took a different approach to the long weekend, however, by embarking on a road trip that took us from Seattle to Los Angeles over the course of two weeks.

Some noteworthy stops along the way included:

- Seattle’s Pike Place, known to many as the home of the original Starbucks and site of the famous public market

- The Gorge in George, WA for the Sasquatch Festival, which is definitely the most beautiful concert venue I’ve ever been to

- Portland, OR, where we fell in love with the Ace Hotel (which became our home away from home) and took a side trip to Astoria where The Goonies was filmed 25 years ago

- Traversing the Redwood Forest, where we almost took off a side mirror in our attempt to take a Chevy Tahoe through the famous drive-through tree

- Wine tasting in Sonoma Valley, complete with a picnic lunch

- San Francisco, where we successfully fit a week’s worth of activity into two days thanks to our dedicated host/tour guide, Brant

- Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur along Route 1, which featured breathtaking scenery for miles

- Los Angeles, where we managed to visit Hollywood, Venice Beach, Santa Monica and Hermosa Beach when not sitting in traffic

We also used our trip as an exercise in social media by group tweeting along the way (check out our feed at http://www.twitter.com/thebrodyjenner - our account name is a long story!).  Our friends and families were able to view photos and read trip commentary instantaneously while we created a digital journal that we can return to for years to come. 

We came to a realization during our trip that eventually became our unofficial motto: it wasn’t a vacation, it was an adventure.

Kaitlin

One of New York City’s biggest concerts takes place each December to kick off the holiday season – Z100’s Jingle Ball.  The concert regularly sells out Madison Square Garden in hours and attracts some of the country’s hottest artists.  This year’s roster certainly didn’t disappoint – the lineup included Taylor Swift, John Mayer, Justin Bieber, Jordin Sparks, Kris Allen, The Fray, Jay Sean, Boys Like Girls, Pitbull, Owl City and Ke$ha.

While music rang through Madison Square Garden on Friday, December 11th, several of my coworkers and I were backstage in the gifting lounge on behalf of our clients, 5 Gum and Hasbro.  The lounge served as the behind-the-scenes destination for celebs and VIPs where they could pick up goodies as an added bonus for performing.  At the 5 Gum table, guests participated in a guessing game where they estimated the number of sticks of gum held in a cookie jar.  The prize at stake was a donation made on the winner’s behalf to the Food Bank for New York City, so everyone took the game very seriously!  Isaac Slade (lead singer of The Fray) opened the calculator app on his phone to work out formulas, The Twilight Saga’s Peter Facinelli stacked packs of gum on top of each other to eyeball his estimate, and Connor Paolo of Gossip Girl inquired whether the rules of the game were like those of The Price Is Right (the closest without going over wins).  In the end, Jordin Sparks was the victor with the closest guess, beating out others such as 30 Rock’s Judah Friedlander, Dancing With the Stars champ Kym Johnson and American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert.  It was definitely a fun-filled day for everyone in the lounge – Hunter PR employees included!

Kaitlin

  Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images North America

Many events that Hunter PR hosts on behalf of our clients are for media, whether to introduce a new product or to make a big splash about a new program.  Every once in a while, however, the opportunity arises to leverage our clients’ celebrity fans or to work with stars as spokespeople for various brands.  One such celeb-oriented occasion came about recently when a client served as one of the main bar sponsors at P. Diddy’s 40^th birthday party at the Plaza Hotel, and much to my delight, my colleague Annette and I were added to the guest list.

After passing through several security points, we entered the lavishly decorated ballroom filled with extravagant greenery that created an enchanted forest-like ambiance.  The décor wasn’t the main attraction, however – within minutes of arriving we spotted A-listers such as Jay-Z (sans wife Beyoncé), Bono, Martha Stewart, Denzel Washington and Jimmy Fallon.  The stars had come out in droves to celebrate P. Diddy’s milestone birthday!  Tequila Don Julio, my client, was featured in the Pom Blanco cocktail that was served throughout the evening and proved to be a hit with celebs such as Avril Lavigne, who sipped the drink while relaxing in the lounge area with a friend.

Soul legend Al Green served as the surprise musical guest of the evening, and after performing hits such as “Let’s Stay Together” (during which designer Zac Posen climbed up on a couch to get a better view and sing along), the crowd joined Green in singing “Happy Birthday” to the guest of honor.  Glittering confetti rained from the ceiling when the final note was uttered and bite-sized pieces of birthday cake were passed around the room. P. Diddy then took the stage to thank everyone for attending – I’m sure that most guests (like me) wouldn’t have missed it for the world!  All in all, P. Diddy’s party was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will not soon be forgotten.

Kaitlin