On April 6th 2005, seventeen San Francisco women traveled to Hong Kong, Macau and ShenZhen, China for a weeklong "Mom's Five Nights Out" adventure.

Eight of the seventeen women on our journey included:

Our co-hosts Carolyn Dilena and Evie Buckley (about whom I wrote last week);

Cheryl Lund and Brenda Alessandria, co-owners of San Francisco's Designer Consigner on Sacramento Street in Presidio Heights and now on Sutter, near Powell in Union Square;

Rosemarie MacGuinness, a retired attorney and mother of four boys;

Katy Polvorosa, Anne Ryan and Kathy Smythe, three real estate developers;

Anne, Elizabeth Shaw and yours truly, three "green blooded" women who married Dartmouth men.

In fact, the night I told my family about this connection they ended the call by shouting in unison, "WE LOVE YOU MOMMY. WAH-HOO-WAH."

Telling my new Big D "sisters" Anne and Elizabeth about the Dartmouth cheer I received the night before only strengthened our personal camaraderie.

On this trip, the seventeen of us identified a number of other points of connection.

One woman has created her own jewelry line. Sixteen women are now aspiring customers.

Two women are Irish.

Seven women, including the three into real estate, would call themselves entrepreneurs. Two of them have been successful in the ceramic tile import business.

Our co-host, Carolyn Dilena helps manage one of the Dilena family businesses, BlueRibbon Supply Company, which supplies detergents to Bay Area businesses and hotels around the world.

Our other co-host, Evie Buckley runs her own mortgage brokerage operation.

One woman, Diana has built a successful tile import business in the San Francisco Design center called Galleria Tile.

Eight women are stay-at-home moms.

Seventeen Savvy San Francisco Shoppers Arrive in Hong Kong

Throughout the week, as a way of managing whether all were present and accounted for, each of us called out our assigned number during our trip. I was #9. Before each daily adventure, we would meet in the lobby of our hotel. Before we left we would call out #1 - 17.

It sounds campy, but it worked.

To give you a taste of the eclectic group with whom I traveled to follow are a few of the books and magazines we brought with us for the fifteen-hour journey from San Francisco to Hong Kong.

Anne Ryan

There is good reason Anne Ryan was "#1" in our group. This accomplished entrepreneur turned real estate developer has Number One written all over her.

Next to our co-hosts, she has to be the Number One buffed female of all. I am certain I am not the only one who was inspired to get ripped (or re-ripped) after seeing the results of Anne's efforts using free weights.

Anne was also the #1 Hong Kong Museum of Art aficionado. She and I had a fabulous morning and early afternoon on our fourth day exploring the ancient gold and jade on exhibit.

Anne has a sophistication and class about her that surpasses most, although, I have to say that all of the women in our group could have won that contest, if ever a contest were to occur.

Not only are Anne and Carolyn's 8th grade sons in the same class at a private boy's school in San Francisco, their husbands were also in the same class together at the same school ... a few years ago.

For the long journey from San Francisco to Hong Kong, Anne Ryan brought The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

Her in-flight magazines were: Lucky, Marie Claire and Town and Country.

Brenda Alessandria

#2, Brenda Alessandria is the mother of three and the co-owner/partner of The Designer Consigner, San Francisco.

Going to Hong Kong represented Brenda and her business partner, Cheryl Lund's first trip together. They have been business partners for eight years.

Surely after this trip, it will not be their last.

Brenda brought along Sleeping Over by Stacey Ballis, the author of Inappropriate Men.

Brenda was looking for an easy read. She said, "And the print was big enough. I bought that and People Magazine at the airport."

Brenda's connection to our host, Carolyn, is their Kindergarten sons.

For Brenda, this trip was not only a bonding experience with other moms, but also a first, business-wise.

She said about their dream vacation together:

Cheryl and I could never really leave the stores at the same time. We discovered that not only are we great partners in business, great friends, in fact, practically sisters...but also great travel buddies.

Brenda Alessandria & Cheryl Lund

Cheryl Lund

#4, Cheryl Lund brought a British book with her for the journey.

When she asked her aunt for a fictional story about China, The Reading Group was the recommendation her aunt made.

Cheryl also brought along Vogue Magazine and InStyle.

Elizabeth Shaw in front of the Quintessential GA / LV Backdrop

Elizabeth Shaw

In many cultures the #7 is a lucky number. Elizabeth Shaw was our Lucky Number Seven. Looking at this brunette beauty you would never know she was an attorney-by-trade and the mother-of-three.

Three women on the trip were given the nickname "Charlie's Angels." Elizabeth Shaw was Kate in the group (far right, below).

She brought spunk, pizzazz and lots of pink.

Charlie's Angels Disguised

She also brought along Pasadena, a novel by David Ebershoff.

Elizabeth chose this book because her husband, John Shaw of the investment firm Thomas Weisel Partners, grew up in this part of Southern California.

For lighter reading and shopping ideas, Elizabeth brought along Town & Country and Harper's Bazaar.

Kamilla Hurley

#10, Kamilla Hurley also had an appropriate number. Kamilla received a "10" from all of us for her hospitality before our departure at her fabulous home in San Francisco, as well as in Hong Kong.

Kamilla was responsible for hosting an evening at the renowned China Club the last night of our stay in China.

Thanks to a friend of hers who is a member of the club the seventeen of us were treated like royalty from the moment we sat down and were served champagne, through the noodle-making entertainment and Big Band Beat going on in the background, to the fabulous dinner, dessert, and view from above after our exquisite dining experience.

For the few and far between moments we had to read, Kamilla chose Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie. She said, "I always choose Christie books to read on planes because I can leave them behind when I'm done."

Kamilla expected Cards on the Table to be a fast read, so she also brought At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances by Alexander McCall Smith.

In addition, she bought a People Magazine at the airport.

Our CFO, Dr. Kathleen Smythe

Kathy Smythe

#12, Kathy Smythe served as our CFO on the trip. Throughout the week, she managed our spreadsheet of meal and taxi spends.

Rather than asking everyone to pull out her pocket book every time a meal or taxi driver needed to be paid, Kathy kept tabs on the one person who picked up one particular tab in its entirety.

At the end of the trip, everything was added up and then divided by seventeen. Those who paid more than their seventeenth share were reimbursed.

And those who paid less, like me, or none at all added their fair share to the kitty.

The best part of all was the final split at the end of the trip.

I asked my husband when I got home what would have been an expected amount to budget and he responded "$100 - $150 per day."

For five days and nights, my total cost: $176 U.S.

It was a brilliant approach - devised by our host, Carolyn - to make the management of our lives simpler. That said, the two Kathys on our trip did a magnificent job managing the whole process.

As a retired Montgomery Securities partner, Dr. Kathleen Smythe was certainly qualified to serve as our CFO, and then some.

On the flight to Hong Kong Kathy read The News From Paraguay by Lily Tuck.

Kathy said, "The novel is based on a real love affair between an Irish woman and a horrific Paraguayan dictator in the 1800's. The main character is a very strong Irish woman."

You can guess to whom she gave the book when she finished.

Katy Polvorosa

#13, Katy Polvorosa had the other lucky number of the bunch. We were lucky to have her.

Where Elizabeth brought pizzazz, spunk and the color pink, Katy -- one of the other Charlie's Angels -- brought pizzazz, spunk and the color orange. In each case, she wore bright orange to go with her personality.

Katy is currently a stay-at-home mom. Her six and nine year-old sons keep her extremely busy.

She is also a semi-retired designer by trade who is using her skills and knowledge buying and fixing up homes with her husband.

This business is separate from his design business called REDD -- which is located in the San Francisco Design Center.

To learn more about the Polvorosa's business, go to:

For the long trip to Hong Kong, Katy read Little Children by Tom Perrotta.

Katy said:

It is about a stay-at-home dad and his trials and tribulations with his young son, and a wife that brings home the bacon.

I am reading it for my book club.

Needless to say, I did not read very much on our trip.

Laurie Bruschera

The 14th beautiful gal on our trip was #14, Laurie Bruschera.

Laurie was invited to Hong Kong by her friend Kathie, one of the 8th Grade moms connected with our host, Carolyn Dilena. Laurie fit right in with the rest of the group from the very start.

A stay-at-home mother of three children, ages 12, 15 and 16 1/2, she left superb instructions for her kids before her departure. Meanwhile, her daughter encouraged her to take along the book, The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger.

The magazine she added to her bag and shared with anyone interested was Real Simple.

Rosemarie MacGuiness

Rosemarie MacGuinness

#17, Rosemarie MacGuiness was one of my favorite moms on the trip.

Her Irish wit, humble spirit and tenacity as an ex-attorney turned mother-of-four boys gave us lots to talk about from the bus ride to our hotel in Kowloon, to shopping eleven hours in ShenZhen, to reconnecting shortly after the trip in San Francisco.

To read on the trip, Rosemarie chose The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Kidd and Empire of the Ants by Bernard Werber and Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn by Kris Radish.

In addition, she brought Scientific American with her for further intellectual stimulation; a nice addition to the sixteen other voices surrounding her throughout the week.

Our Leaders Transcend Numbers

Evelyn Buckley

Co-host, Evie Buckley needed no number to be identified - although she did have one.

Evie loves Stuart Woods' books.

His latest is called The Prince of Beverly Hills.

This was Evie's choice for the trip.

She chose to not bring along any magazines.

With all of the coordination she did for us in preparation and during the trip, it is a wonder she was able to get through one single page of her book.

Throughout the five day adventure, Evie and Carolyn shared a room. This offered little "down-time" to read or sleep.

Fortunately, Evie did not have to brush up on her Cantonese. In her office in San Francisco, they speak the language more often than English.

Carolyn Dilena

Carolyn Dilena, are other host and the main instigator in making the trip happen, brought Nikki Gemmell's book published this past February called The Bride Stripped Bare.

The book was a gift from one of Carolyn's friends who said she "HAD" to read it!

That she did, and this is what Carolyn had to say about it:

I found The Bride Stripped Bare highly entertaining, dripping with eroticism, and enough titillating tidbits to keep me awake longer on the flight than I had intended.

I also had some of the other moms read some of the especially entertaining passages...which woke them up too!

Carolyn also brought along a collection of mail order catalogs for fashion and home furnishing ideas.

As for me, I may be the only person in the Western Hemisphere who has yet to read The Da Vinci Code. The good news: I cracked open the book and read 37 pages, but I'm a long way from cracking the code.

Click on the names of the books or magazines above to learn more about each of them.

Fortunately, we were neither on this China Airlines flight nor this runway arriving into Hong Kong.

However, once upon a time, before the new airport was built, this could have been us. Thank God it wasn't!

Next up ... Tailors, Temples and Rickshaws in Macau.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "reading that goes the distance" living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegance, LLC

P.S. The author of this story has 100% faith in the women she has profiled above. However, Rugged Elegance has not read all of the books which were selected by these gals for their trip to Hong Kong. Read at your own risk.

Seventeen Adventuresome San Francisco Women Travel to Hong Kong -- Day One of 'Mom's Night Out' in Asia