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Yesterday I had a good day at work. We had a suprise "off-site meeting," which turned out to be a wine tasting tour.

Wasting no time, we got on the Party Bus and started drinking.

We started at the classy Chateau Ste Michelle. Then we went to Columbia. We made our final stop at Silver Lake. After all that drinking, this group of innocent PR professionals got back on the Party Bus... to continue drinking and head back to the office. With 8 or 9 glasses of Washington's finest wines in our systems, we decided it was best to afterparty at The Elysian.Hooray for photo essays! More pictures are here.

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Huge news for local music: The Blue Scholars are releasing their highly anticpated new album "Bayani" June 12 under the Rawkus label. Rawkus is best known for putting out albums by Talib Kweli, Mos Def and the two rapper's duo effort as Blackstar.

Rawkus gave Blue Scholars mucho props in its press release:

Rawkus sees Seattle group Blue Scholars (MC Geologic and DJ/ Producer Sabzi) and their label MASSLINE being a huge part of this new movement. The momentum behind this group and the scene they come out of in Seattle is undeniable. Armed with a purpose beyond creating music for music's sake, Blue Scholars take the classic form of the emcee/DJ duo perfected by groups such as Gangstarr, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Eric B. & Rakim while carrying the essence of militant, yet personal struggle shown by hip-hop luminaries such as Public Enemy and KRS-One.

This "Bayani" album is going to put Seattle back on the hip hop map. Sergio and I got to preview the record and it is cooler than a polar bear's toenails.

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I just received an email from Carol Brach, WWU journalism department manager. It reads:

Something funny happened here last week -- I would have taken a picture if I'd had a camera. The walls of Wright's Triangle, the sculpture just south of the art building were covered in snow. On each of the three outside faces, someone had traced the name PAOLO in the snow in letters five feet high. I thought of you and wished you could have seen it.

Well, well, well... It seems I still have some secret admirers on my old stomping grounds. Coincidentally, the wives are spending today in Bellingham.

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Because, as a public relations professional, I know how difficult it is to get placement in major, national publications, I need to give big kudos to Courtney for landing herself in the New York Daily News yesterday.

The front page article chronicled Filene's Basement's legendary, annual "running of the brides" event that took place on Saturday, when the store unveiled heavily marked-down wedding dresses. Courtney flew out on Friday night, arrived at the store at midnight, and stood in line with approximately 2,000 other brides-to-be waiting for the store to open at 8 a.m.

According to the report, "The doors at the Union Square store opened, and chaos ensued." Courtney was in the middle of it and became the centerpiece of the Daily News article, which read:

Among the throng was Courtney Creighton, 24, a flight attendant who flew in from Seattle. Her team of four bolted from the pack and grabbed all the dresses they could carry, regardless of size or designer. They built a bunker of gowns around her, a 4-foot pile of silk and tulle.

"I'm sweating," she complained, tossing rejects over her wall of white.

After more than an hour she found it -- a strapless, beaded Kenneth Cole princess gown at 80% off. She'll have to have it altered, but the steep discount makes up for the seamstress fee.

That Kenneth Cole dress she bought was $8,000 marked down to $699, by the way. Way to go Bridezilla -- I mean, Coutney! You'll forever be known by New Yorkers for saying, "I'm sweating."