In the spirit of Core Value #7, Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit, Casual Lifestyle Content Team invited the Size and Width Merch Team for breakfast and conversation. We had yogurt & granola, pastries, and mini-frittatas. We cleared tables and ate family-style. Here's a pic of Sam H., Rudy R. and Latrira S from the breakfast feast:

We went around the room and talked about one thing in our lives that's new or interesting outside of work. Graham M.'s wife is about to have a baby girl any day, Rudy R. is excited to see Madonna in concert, Nicole S. is picking up the keys to her new house today, and Anji C. is attending a dream analysis lecture on Thursday. Exciting stuff! Yours truly is super-pumped about the upcoming NKOTB concert on October 11th.

I made a batch of mini-frittatas for breakfast that everyone enjoyed. They're a great breakfast to make on the weekend, throw in the fridge, and heat up on your way out the door during the week. Here's the recipe:

Mini-Frittatas

• Ingredients:
• 5 eggs
• shredded cheddar cheese (any cheese will work)
• black pepper
• onion (yellow or red)
• chopped bacon (or turkey bacon)
• canned diced tomatoes

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Whisk 5 eggs, a handful of shredded cheese and diced onion, 4 slices of chopped, cooked bacon, about 1/4 of a can of drained diced tomatoes, and a few dashes of black pepper together in a bowl. Pour the mixture among 12 greased (cooking spray is fine) muffin cups. Bake for 11 minutes or until golden brown. If you choose to remove the bacon, add more onion and tomato to compensate. Enjoy!

At Zappos, we sure do like to decorate conference rooms here in Vegas...to my count, I think we have 91,000 conference rooms, all with a different theme. (Editor's note, that number is greatly exagerrated. That's why we don't let Brett near accounting) The rooms are all decorated by employees with little money put towards them. So, creativity is the name of thy game, my friends. And we are chalked full of that, man.

In the original 2280 building, all conference rooms were named after Vegas casinos, but we then decorated each to represent the different departments of our Merchandising team.

At the new 2290 upstairs locations, which is filled with Customer Loyalty Reps banging away at the phones with some members of Help Desk and a few more departments soon thrown in the mix, there are multiple conference rooms with one big theme: Vegas Icons!

Each room is named after a show, a personality or infamous character from Vegas past and present. This includes Cher, Elton John, Hunter S. Thompson, Oscar Goodman, Penn and Teller, Wayne Newton, Liberace to mobsters like Lucky Luciano and Bugsy Siegel. There are even rooms dedicated to Vegas entertainment phenomenons The Killers and the television show, CSI.

They did an excellent job in true, do more with less attitude, one of our Core Values. Good job!!!

The Zappos.com content team is usually a peaceful, loving group, but during the “Murder at the Salty Sea Dog” pirate murder-mystery party, chaos and distrust filled the air! The shocking “murder” of the Jaded Jewel’s first mate, “Merciless Morgan” (AKA Jay from the Performance Team), created turbulence and disorder among the group.

Actually, this was the backdrop for the Fashion and Performance content teams’ recent outing. The drama unfolded at the old pirate watering hole called the Salty Sea Dog, or Nick P.’s house to be exact, although there isn’t much of a difference!

Being that this was the first murder mystery party I had ever attended, I was surprised to see how committed and in-character some of my colleagues were. In the photos below, you’ll see Jennifer, AKA “JB”, AKA “Butterfingers Bailey”, take on her pirate persona with full-on commitment. Jay, who played the unfortunate “victim”, took on the role of “Merciless Morgan” eagerly, only to be killed off in the first half hour. Needless to say, he wasn’t too happy about that!



In the end, all the evidence led to the conviction of “Sealegs Sam”, AKA Bob A. (pictured above with a big evil smile on his face!) , as the conniving murderer. He was promptly made to “walk the plank” for his vicious crime. Pirates are a ruthless breed!

Overall, the party was filled with shady, suspicious characters, eye patches, “Captain Morgan” poses, and of course, lots of booty…pirate booty that is. The Best Costume award went to Performance Team’s Jeff B., who played the part of “Governor Napier”, and the Best Performance award went to none other than the Jaded Jewel’s captain, “Cap’n Redbeard”, played by Jason Lee of “Getting Down and Dirty with Jason Lee” fame.