July 23, 2025 • 19 mins
Episode 27: Mo Tais in Maui – Hosting the 2025 WTLA Reception
What happens when Karen offers up her Hawaiian home for a trial lawyer party... and forgets she did it? In this episode, Karen and Mo break down the chaos, comedy, and creativity behind hosting 80 trial attorneys in her backyard during the Western Trial Lawyers Association Conference.
From last-minute Costco runs and signature cocktail prep (yes, Mo bartended) to windstorms knocking over tables and the President of WSAJ stepping in as the official Jell-O shot girl, this episode is sure to make you laugh.
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Hosted by Karen Koehler and Mo Hamoudi, trial lawyers at Stritmatter Law, a nationally recognized plaintiff personal injury and civil rights law firm based in Washington State.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mo Hamoudi (00:01):
So we just came back from a conference Western Trial
Lawyers Association in Maui andwhere lawyers from across the
country gathered together.
Karen Koehler (00:11):
Mainly California.
Mo Hamoudi (00:12):
Mainly California, but there was lawyers from
everywhere, from the east andthe south, and share information
.
Karen Koehler (00:21):
We went last year because it's in Maui.
Mo Hamoudi (00:24):
It's in Maui.
It's a wonderful space to hangout, so it happened probably
half a year ago.
Karen Koehler (00:31):
I knew that they had these big parties
afterwards and they had beenhaving them at one of the
California attorney's houses, avery big house I bet that thing
is like 4,000 square feet.
But it's layered, it's manyfloors on a golf course.
It doesn't really have a yard,it has more like a deck, a very
small kind of dipping pool, butthen there's a hillside and it
(00:52):
goes down to the golf course inWailea, which is about 45
minutes away.
And I said, hey, if you guyswant, you can have one of the
events at my house.
And then I didn't hear back andI just completely forgot about
it until about two months agoand I went and I looked at their
brochure and it had my house onthere.
The problem was last Monday wewere supposed to be in this
(01:14):
trial against Amazon.
Yeah, but it settled, but Ididn't know that at the time.
Yeah, so when I realized thatit was at my house, I don't want
to tell them it can't bebecause it was in the program.
So I was arranging for Loris togo over there, my property
manager, somebody else otherthan me, well, case settles.
(01:34):
So it turns out at the lastminute, like the next week, that
I can go and Mo was planning ongoing.
He was going to also try thatcase with me, so we both go.
Mo Hamoudi (01:45):
Okay, well, let's talk logistics, because let's
only talk about logistics,Because I really want to talk
about logistics.
Karen Koehler (01:50):
This is about how to put on a party for 80
trial lawyers in your backyardin Hawaii.
Mo Hamoudi (01:55):
You land in Maui, first thing you do is you get a
big car, you rent a big car andthen go to Costco.
Now, costco is like this, islike the place right.
Karen Koehler (02:04):
It is.
It's hugely.
It's like not even five minutesaway from the airport in Maui.
Mo Hamoudi (02:09):
Everybody goes there first, and we spent about two
hours there.
Karen Koehler (02:13):
We had two shopping carts Mo had one and
Laura's had.
We did not spend two hoursthere.
We were there for like 45minutes.
I felt like it was two hours.
It was 45 minutes, but okay andwe bought, so Mo as we all know
, Mo was a bartender and to savemoney, I said hey, Mo, why
don't you be the bartender andLoris will be your second?
And it actually worked outperfectly Because, as people
(02:36):
walked up the entrance, thefirst people that they got to
was the bartender area.
So so, I had no idea what to buy, because I just look for the
pretty bottles pretty cans butyou don't drink.
Mo Hamoudi (02:52):
I don't drink, okay, but Mo did.
So what I did was like allright, I got to make two
signature drinks.
If you're a bartender, you justdo two, you don't complicate
things.
I did a Collins and I did a MaiTai, but then I renamed them.
I called them the Mo Tai andthen I called them the Mo
Collins.
All right, so the Mo Taibasically is coconut rum, right,
you use a pineapple juice andyou use guava juice and then,
(03:15):
with a little bit of pomegranateto color it Make sense Splash
of lime juice.
The Mo Collins is vodka and youput a little bit of orange
juice and then you put a littlebit of lemon aid and you colored
with a little bit ofpomegranate.
And how were the drinks?
(03:36):
Did people like drinks?
Karen Koehler (03:38):
Wait, we can't fast forward.
This is a logistics okay,logistics, so we go to costco
and we have primarily all we gotwas drinks from costco.
Do we get anything else?
Maybe a little bit of, becausewe were only going to be there
for four days.
Anyway, almost a thousanddollars it was.
It was a lot it was, it was theliquor, it was the wine.
(04:00):
They told us to get way toomuch wine we got way too much
and they told us to get too muchbeer.
Mo Hamoudi (04:05):
And we got way too much beer and soft drinks.
Yeah, we got too much and water.
Karen Koehler (04:08):
Yeah, but it was all like liquids.
Mo Hamoudi (04:10):
Yeah, yeah.
Karen Koehler (04:10):
So we showed that into the.
He had to get a bigger car sohe had rented a car.
We threw that in, drove toHawaii.
Yeah, so fast forward.
He's got it all figured out.
We had ordered some stuff byAmazon.
The cups never showed upGlitter cups, I got ugly cups
from Costco.
So the day of the event yeah,it's our attorney meeting day,
(04:37):
so I'm on the phone from 5.30 am.
Mo Hamoudi (04:41):
Okay, she's on the phone.
At 5.30 am I am at theconference and then I told her
so.
Karen Koehler (04:47):
No wait, you did not go to the conference, you
were on the phone too.
You didn't get to conferencetill like eight.
Mo Hamoudi (04:52):
Okay, I got to conference at eight, but I was
there.
Karen Koehler (04:55):
Don't defend yourself yet.
Mo Hamoudi (04:56):
Okay, gonna tell you what happened.
Just hear me out, okay.
So I run into elizabeth hanley,who is the wsaj president.
She's a sgb lawyer.
I go have, I go, I text her, Igo I'm gonna go have lunch with
elizabeth and then she's likeyou have to come here and set
this up.
And I was like I'll be there.
And then so elizabeth and I sostop.
Karen Koehler (05:16):
So meanwhile I'm on this, I have to not only do
the attorney meeting, but heleft midway.
I then have to do the partnermeeting and it has been four
hours of meetings.
Meanwhile the director for thisorganization texts me and says
they're dropping off all therental stuff.
I'm like what are you talkingabout?
(05:36):
They're dropping off rentalstuff.
They're supposed to do it atlike four in the afternoon.
Yes, so they had to just dropit off because I was on the
conference calls.
There's no one to set anythingup.
I couldn't tell them where togo, so I said just drop it there
.
We'll have to do it later.
And the night before my propertymanager had brought over some
neighborhood tables and stuff.
(05:56):
So there's quite, you know, 80people outside.
So they've we'd already set upsome of the stuff around the
pool, but these are likestand-up tables and stuff for
the band and stuff.
So I have all this stuffdropped off.
I'm on the phone.
I get off the phone finally andI start setting up these tables
, these high top tables yes, andthey have, they have little
(06:17):
skirts skirts and you knoweverything and I oh, this is
looking good.
I take a picture.
The wind gusts.
Mo Hamoudi (06:24):
And everything starts falling over.
Karen Koehler (06:27):
Everything.
I was like, oh my God.
And so then I'm running aroundundoing everything, Because when
the wind comes, they're tradewinds and everything started
shifting off.
Mo Hamoudi (06:38):
Like, the candles are getting ready to break.
Karen Koehler (06:39):
Freaking.
There's getting ready to breakFreaking.
There's no one to help.
You know, I'm just.
Loris is there and he's helping.
He might have gone on a bikeride first, but he's helping me
and freaking.
Where is Mo?
Mo Hamoudi (06:53):
Where is Mo?
And then I get one of thesetexts I get from her that are
like what time was that?
Karen Koehler (07:00):
That was like 1.30.
I'm like where are you?
He goes, I'm at lunch.
I'm thinking, okay, he's donewith lunch.
Now it's like 2 or 2.30.
I'm like, where are you?
And he's like well, I waseating lunch and I haven't come
here yet and I'm with Elizabeth.
I'm like I don't care whoyou're with.
Get over here.
(07:20):
I was so mad.
The tone of her voice was notthat it was like a where are you
?
Mo Hamoudi (07:28):
that's what it was.
I pick up the phone and she'scalling and she's like where are
you?
And I was like, oh, I'm at thehotel.
Do you understand that?
We're throwing a party here inthree hours?
Do you understand how manypeople are coming here?
We committed to entertainingthese people and you're not here
.
And I was like I'm on my way.
Karen Koehler (07:47):
He can get there fast enough and he gets there
with Elizabeth, elizabeth, bynow.
I'm cutting, I'm cutting.
We have made finger, you know,knotty finger, amaretto, orange
finger, jello.
We've made jello shots so I'mcutting the jello.
We had extra gelatin in it, sothey're like.
You know you can just yeah,they're firm cubes and they walk
(08:08):
in the door and I just give himlike the stink eye it was like
I had never.
Mo Hamoudi (08:14):
It was as if I just like tanked a case.
It was a statute.
I blew a statute of limitations.
The way she looked at me likeit was like a catastrophe.
Karen Koehler (08:22):
I'm like, and Loris had picked a hundred limes
from the garden.
He's like squeezing, becauseone of these recipes called for
some kind of lime juice.
Mo Hamoudi (08:30):
Yeah.
Karen Koehler (08:30):
He's like squeezing them like a hundred
limes and he's cut them up.
He's cut the pineapple garnish.
He's doing all this stuff andMo is not even there.
And Mo walks in.
Mo Hamoudi (08:40):
I wanted to just leap over and just grab him by
the neck and shake him, Okay,but I gotta tell you Hanley
saved my ass.
Karen Koehler (08:47):
She runs up to me and hugs me and stuff,
Because I told Hanley I was like.
Mo Hamoudi (08:51):
She's fired up, she's gonna like, and Hanley's
like, oh, don't worry.
Karen Koehler (08:54):
I got this.
I'll create a diversion.
Mo Hamoudi (08:56):
I'll create a diversion so she's like I'm here
to help and I'm like hi, andI'm like you, better get moving.
Karen Koehler (09:04):
And she looks at me she goes, you get moving.
Mo Hamoudi (09:06):
Elizabeth, come sit down, let's catch up.
It's been a minute.
You go do that and helplaurence now, and I was like I'm
off and about it.
Karen Koehler (09:15):
About an hour later I said yeah, you know, it
was some transference going on,the wind was up.
I was really freaking out, um,but anyway.
So at four o'clock the band isthere on the dot.
There's, there's a, a guy.
I wish I knew his name.
I forgot his name.
They were so good.
The band was so good they wereso good that when they took a
(09:36):
break, my neighbor from up thestreet texted us and said what
happened to the band.
Yeah, the whole neighborhoodwas listening to the band.
They took a break.
Mo Hamoudi (09:40):
My neighbor from up the street texted us and said
what happened to the band?
Yeah, what happened to themusic.
The whole neighborhood waslistening to the band.
Karen Koehler (09:43):
It was a saxophone, a guitar and a
drummer who apparently sang onthe voice, mm-hmm, and they were
really good and they set up inone of the little huts.
But there was one guy.
How many Jell-O pieces did hehave?
Mo Hamoudi (10:01):
one guy had five jello pieces.
Now these are.
But he we made two kinds, wemade an amaretto one, a little
sweeter, and we made a tequilaone.
This guy was popping thetequila ones.
I was like, hey man, I was likethese are kind of, you know,
the Jell-O takes the sting away,but these are like each a shot.
And he was like, oh yeah, it'sgood.
And he was just hopping them.
(10:24):
Man, trial lawyers, I meantrial lawyers right, I was like
man, get down with yourselfLawyers on vacation, that's
right, so Mo and Loris werewearing matching shirts.
Yeah, yeah.
Karen Koehler (10:39):
One of them was Paul's, because we had commented
on Paul's shirt and MayorElizabeth and Paul got Loris a
shirt, so we got one of.
Mo Hamoudi (10:44):
Paul's shirts, so you borrowed Paul's, so they
were wearing the same shirt andpeople would come up.
Karen Koehler (10:49):
And here's the back story.
So we had gone to this otherparty at this California law
firm's house and we had gonethere specifically to survey the
scene and figure out how wecould do ours better, because we
were so freaking competitive.
So we're like, oh yeah, I thinkwe can do this better.
And then we actually godownstairs to the bar, which was
(11:11):
kind of out of the way, andwe're like, oh, our setup is
better, more accessible.
This is so mean.
And we're like, oh, our setupis better.
Mo Hamoudi (11:14):
More accessible.
This is so mean.
Karen Koehler (11:15):
And then he goes and starts talking to the
bartender.
We're like what is this?
First he drinks and he goesyeah, this is really not good at
all.
Then he goes down and he sayswell, what do you put in it?
Mo Hamoudi (11:25):
Yeah, I did reconnaissance.
I collected intelligence, Igathered intelligence and then I
formulated a plan as to mydrinks and I realized, like now
this drink is not gonna.
I was like I gotta knock it outof the park.
Karen Koehler (11:35):
Then he comes up , he goes yeah, I got this, I
got this, no problem.
Then he goes we're gonna killit on the bar.
You know why I said?
Why he says because we'rebetter looking.
I said I cannot a funny, sweetway you said it at least 10
(11:55):
times later.
Mo Hamoudi (11:56):
No, no, no, but it was me and Loris.
We had the better shirts.
Stop denying it.
Own it Okay.
Karen Koehler (12:00):
I won't deny it?
Mo Hamoudi (12:00):
Okay, I said it All right.
Okay, can I say something?
All right, the one thing I willacknowledge that I'll be
arrogant about is bartending.
Well, I was going to say In InNew.
York City.
I was the best bartender inthat town.
I was the show.
People came and saw me.
People came and spent hourswith me Because it was just like
(12:21):
that's my cake, man.
Karen Koehler (12:24):
So the whole bar was set up in my foyer, Well
before your foyer, but in theportico.
Mo Hamoudi (12:30):
Yeah.
Karen Koehler (12:32):
Before you get to the house like the entrance,
so they walk through my gardento the front entrance and
there's the bar.
First of all, elizabeth Hanley,who is the president of
Trialers, became our Jell-O shotgirl.
Mo Hamoudi (12:44):
She was the Jell-O girl.
Karen Koehler (12:45):
We called her the Jell-O girl.
She had a giant bowl of Jell-O,but it was great because she's
super bubbly and she greetedeveryone lovely.
And then we had thegood-looking bartenders.
Mo Hamoudi (12:59):
And then we were doing the Moe Ties and the Moe
Collins and man, did they likethe drinks they did.
What were they saying?
Karen Koehler (13:05):
Go ahead, and a lot of these didn't have alcohol
in them.
Some of them did.
They made special ones forother people.
Mo Hamoudi (13:10):
But tell me what did they say about the drinks?
Look, tell me what did they sayabout the drinks.
Look it.
He wants to say Look it, he'slike a little kid, go ahead, go
ahead.
Karen Koehler (13:16):
They said these are the best drinks, these are
delicious.
I want another one.
It was pretty much like that.
Mo Hamoudi (13:23):
Music to my ears.
Yeah, I mean, they wereoutstanding.
Karen Koehler (13:27):
So fun.
Mo Hamoudi (13:28):
Oh, so much fun.
Karen Koehler (13:29):
And then here's what else happened.
Mo Hamoudi (13:31):
What happened?
Karen Koehler (13:31):
So I created a PowerPoint for this party.
As you know, they have neverseen as much organization as I
had in my thing and I hadeverything that they had
promised me and everything thatwas done, and I was marking off
stuff as it was happening andone of the promises on there was
that one to two helpers wouldbe provided.
Mo Hamoudi (13:50):
Oh, they weren't.
Karen Koehler (13:52):
No, they were not.
They had one helper who wasreally there to help her.
Yeah, the director not to helpme, and she helped light.
She helped light.
She helped put water in thechafing dishes and light the
fuses and put the first rack onbecause the food was delivered,
and then she disappeared so Ihad to monitor the food.
(14:14):
They had arranged big garbagecans.
I mean, the director was reallygood, she knew exactly what to
order, everything was the rightthing, but there was just no
help.
Mo Hamoudi (14:25):
Yeah.
Karen Koehler (14:26):
And then when they left, they left no cleanup
help either there was no cleanup.
Loris was like man.
Mo Hamoudi (14:33):
I mean, we had to clean up a lot.
Karen Koehler (14:36):
Wait, where's the?
Mo Hamoudi (14:36):
we?
No, I cleaned the bar, okay.
Well, that's Okay, I cleaned mybar.
Karen Koehler (14:43):
I don't leave my bar for other people to clean
At least you were precise.
Mo Hamoudi (14:45):
Yeah, I'm very.
I cleaned the bar, but you know, I think we should do it again
next year.
Karen Koehler (14:53):
Okay, wait you, I think we should do it again
next year.
Okay, wait, you've got to hearabout what happened.
So just overall, okay.
So everybody was justdelightful.
Mo Hamoudi (15:02):
Yeah, yeah.
Karen Koehler (15:03):
It was not the experience that we thought
because we'd been in the otherparties before which was really
held primarily inside, becausethere was only a smaller deck,
only so many people could fitoutside.
Most people were inside thegolf course house, yeah, but in
my house opposite, like,everybody had to be pretty much
outside because my house is, youknow, a boutique small house
(15:23):
but you've got, you know, anacre of manicured grounds and
people were just so chill andlovely, slightly intoxicated,
but they came on buses.
That's why we weren't worriedabout it, so nobody drove home.
Yeah, they either came on anuber or a bus.
Yeah, and it was just.
We just did a great job andloris was great help.
Mo Hamoudi (15:43):
He was fantastic help behind the bar.
Karen Koehler (15:45):
He was just very good and afterwards we still
had a lot of leftover food.
Well, they took all the thefood back to the hotel to give
to the staff.
We did, and so I had two milkcrates and filled them, and the
last two members of the bandcleaning up got a little care
(16:05):
package to take home.
Mo Hamoudi (16:07):
They basically got a bar.
Yeah, I was going to say that'sgoing to be pretty good.
They did pretty good.
They were happy, they were likeoh, we're going to be good for
a while, yeah, yeah.
Karen Koehler (16:13):
They did pretty good, they were happy.
They were like, oh, we're goingto be good for a while, yeah,
yeah, yeah.
So we were very good partyplanners, we were very good and
party experts Well you plannedand I was part of it, lately
part of it.
Mo Hamoudi (16:23):
I was late part of it.
Where are you?
It was so funny, like for me.
I'm like oh boy, you knew youwere in trouble I was.
She was like.
She was like how long Don'tdrive like the slow person that
you are.
Karen Koehler (16:38):
I said don't drive like you're 80.
Yeah.
Mo Hamoudi (16:40):
Don't drive like you're 80.
You need to put your pedal tothe metal and I was like I will
drive Because I drive slow.
She's like don't drive likeyou're 80.
Get here no.
Karen Koehler (16:53):
He was so scared of me when he walked up he did
the whole.
Mo Hamoudi (16:56):
I did the whole, like you know, like I do the
puppy dog eyes he thought andElizabeth's like this.
Karen Koehler (17:07):
I'm like, I am not even remotely, remotely
affected by this orchestratedplay.
I will give her a hug and Iwill go after.
Mo Hamoudi (17:10):
Mom.
Karen Koehler (17:10):
She was hugging her and looking at me Glaring at
you on the other side.
Mo Hamoudi (17:15):
That's what you were doing.
You were giving me the stinkeye.
It was great, it was awonderful night and I think we
should do it again.
I really do.
Karen Koehler (17:24):
It's a reminder for all of us how important it
is to have fun together yeah wework so hard, um, and when you
work hard, get really kind ofintense and focused and you
think that you're not I like, Idon't really realize that I am,
but outwardly to other people,but people stay away from me and
(17:45):
I'm a very social person, sojust being in that environment
reminds me oh, you got to do itagain.
We got to do this again.
We got to do this more.
We got to do these things moreoften.
We got to remember to celebratewith other people, because it's
so fun to have fun together.
Mo Hamoudi (18:03):
Yeah, what you did was create an experience.
Karen Koehler (18:05):
It wasn't a party.
Mo Hamoudi (18:06):
It was an experience People will remember what we
what we did.
But you know, I mean I've got togive you kudos because you
designed the architecture of theparty.
You were like we're going toput this here, we're going to
put this here, so like that wasyour design mind.
But you know, you put thepieces in the right place and we
really did create an experiencethat people the next day were
(18:28):
talking about.
It did create an experiencethat people the next day were
talking about it.
And we're still talking about,even afterwards and sending me
texts and saying we had a reallygood time, good job, good party
why don't we do a party for thefirm at my house?
well, you're leaving me hanging.
Don't leave me hanging, okay,why don't we do?
We should do one for that, forthe firm okay at my house.
Yeah, but we should, and I'llbartend it.
Karen Koehler (18:50):
Well, wait, they're going to have to still
get home.
Okay, well, we can monitor.
That way, you can monitor howmuch.
Mo Hamoudi (18:56):
What do you mean?
How much?
Karen Koehler (18:57):
Look, he just wants to be a bartender.
I just want to be a bartender.
Mo Hamoudi (19:02):
Oh my God, I'm the best Okay that's it.
Karen Koehler (19:04):
Thanks, man.
So we just came back from a conference Western Trial
Lawyers Association in Maui andwhere lawyers from across the
country gathered together.
Karen Koehler (00:11):
Mainly California.
Mo Hamoudi (00:12):
Mainly California, but there was lawyers from
everywhere, from the east andthe south, and share information
.
Karen Koehler (00:21):
We went last year because it's in Maui.
Mo Hamoudi (00:24):
It's in Maui.
It's a wonderful space to hangout, so it happened probably
half a year ago.
Karen Koehler (00:31):
I knew that they had these big parties
afterwards and they had beenhaving them at one of the
California attorney's houses, avery big house I bet that thing
is like 4,000 square feet.
But it's layered, it's manyfloors on a golf course.
It doesn't really have a yard,it has more like a deck, a very
small kind of dipping pool, butthen there's a hillside and it
(00:52):
goes down to the golf course inWailea, which is about 45
minutes away.
And I said, hey, if you guyswant, you can have one of the
events at my house.
And then I didn't hear back andI just completely forgot about
it until about two months agoand I went and I looked at their
brochure and it had my house onthere.
The problem was last Monday wewere supposed to be in this
(01:14):
trial against Amazon.
Yeah, but it settled, but Ididn't know that at the time.
Yeah, so when I realized thatit was at my house, I don't want
to tell them it can't bebecause it was in the program.
So I was arranging for Loris togo over there, my property
manager, somebody else otherthan me, well, case settles.
(01:34):
So it turns out at the lastminute, like the next week, that
I can go and Mo was planning ongoing.
He was going to also try thatcase with me, so we both go.
Mo Hamoudi (01:45):
Okay, well, let's talk logistics, because let's
only talk about logistics,Because I really want to talk
about logistics.
Karen Koehler (01:50):
This is about how to put on a party for 80
trial lawyers in your backyardin Hawaii.
Mo Hamoudi (01:55):
You land in Maui, first thing you do is you get a
big car, you rent a big car andthen go to Costco.
Now, costco is like this, islike the place right.
Karen Koehler (02:04):
It is.
It's hugely.
It's like not even five minutesaway from the airport in Maui.
Mo Hamoudi (02:09):
Everybody goes there first, and we spent about two
hours there.
Karen Koehler (02:13):
We had two shopping carts Mo had one and
Laura's had.
We did not spend two hoursthere.
We were there for like 45minutes.
I felt like it was two hours.
It was 45 minutes, but okay andwe bought, so Mo as we all know
, Mo was a bartender and to savemoney, I said hey, Mo, why
don't you be the bartender andLoris will be your second?
And it actually worked outperfectly Because, as people
(02:36):
walked up the entrance, thefirst people that they got to
was the bartender area.
So so, I had no idea what to buy, because I just look for the
pretty bottles pretty cans butyou don't drink.
Mo Hamoudi (02:52):
I don't drink, okay, but Mo did.
So what I did was like allright, I got to make two
signature drinks.
If you're a bartender, you justdo two, you don't complicate
things.
I did a Collins and I did a MaiTai, but then I renamed them.
I called them the Mo Tai andthen I called them the Mo
Collins.
All right, so the Mo Taibasically is coconut rum, right,
you use a pineapple juice andyou use guava juice and then,
(03:15):
with a little bit of pomegranateto color it Make sense Splash
of lime juice.
The Mo Collins is vodka and youput a little bit of orange
juice and then you put a littlebit of lemon aid and you colored
with a little bit ofpomegranate.
And how were the drinks?
(03:36):
Did people like drinks?
Karen Koehler (03:38):
Wait, we can't fast forward.
This is a logistics okay,logistics, so we go to costco
and we have primarily all we gotwas drinks from costco.
Do we get anything else?
Maybe a little bit of, becausewe were only going to be there
for four days.
Anyway, almost a thousanddollars it was.
It was a lot it was, it was theliquor, it was the wine.
(04:00):
They told us to get way toomuch wine we got way too much
and they told us to get too muchbeer.
Mo Hamoudi (04:05):
And we got way too much beer and soft drinks.
Yeah, we got too much and water.
Karen Koehler (04:08):
Yeah, but it was all like liquids.
Mo Hamoudi (04:10):
Yeah, yeah.
Karen Koehler (04:10):
So we showed that into the.
He had to get a bigger car sohe had rented a car.
We threw that in, drove toHawaii.
Yeah, so fast forward.
He's got it all figured out.
We had ordered some stuff byAmazon.
The cups never showed upGlitter cups, I got ugly cups
from Costco.
So the day of the event yeah,it's our attorney meeting day,
(04:37):
so I'm on the phone from 5.30 am.
Mo Hamoudi (04:41):
Okay, she's on the phone.
At 5.30 am I am at theconference and then I told her
so.
Karen Koehler (04:47):
No wait, you did not go to the conference, you
were on the phone too.
You didn't get to conferencetill like eight.
Mo Hamoudi (04:52):
Okay, I got to conference at eight, but I was
there.
Karen Koehler (04:55):
Don't defend yourself yet.
Mo Hamoudi (04:56):
Okay, gonna tell you what happened.
Just hear me out, okay.
So I run into elizabeth hanley,who is the wsaj president.
She's a sgb lawyer.
I go have, I go, I text her, Igo I'm gonna go have lunch with
elizabeth and then she's likeyou have to come here and set
this up.
And I was like I'll be there.
And then so elizabeth and I sostop.
Karen Koehler (05:16):
So meanwhile I'm on this, I have to not only do
the attorney meeting, but heleft midway.
I then have to do the partnermeeting and it has been four
hours of meetings.
Meanwhile the director for thisorganization texts me and says
they're dropping off all therental stuff.
I'm like what are you talkingabout?
(05:36):
They're dropping off rentalstuff.
They're supposed to do it atlike four in the afternoon.
Yes, so they had to just dropit off because I was on the
conference calls.
There's no one to set anythingup.
I couldn't tell them where togo, so I said just drop it there
.
We'll have to do it later.
And the night before my propertymanager had brought over some
neighborhood tables and stuff.
(05:56):
So there's quite, you know, 80people outside.
So they've we'd already set upsome of the stuff around the
pool, but these are likestand-up tables and stuff for
the band and stuff.
So I have all this stuffdropped off.
I'm on the phone.
I get off the phone finally andI start setting up these tables
, these high top tables yes, andthey have, they have little
(06:17):
skirts skirts and you knoweverything and I oh, this is
looking good.
I take a picture.
The wind gusts.
Mo Hamoudi (06:24):
And everything starts falling over.
Karen Koehler (06:27):
Everything.
I was like, oh my God.
And so then I'm running aroundundoing everything, Because when
the wind comes, they're tradewinds and everything started
shifting off.
Mo Hamoudi (06:38):
Like, the candles are getting ready to break.
Karen Koehler (06:39):
Freaking.
There's getting ready to breakFreaking.
There's no one to help.
You know, I'm just.
Loris is there and he's helping.
He might have gone on a bikeride first, but he's helping me
and freaking.
Where is Mo?
Mo Hamoudi (06:53):
Where is Mo?
And then I get one of thesetexts I get from her that are
like what time was that?
Karen Koehler (07:00):
That was like 1.30.
I'm like where are you?
He goes, I'm at lunch.
I'm thinking, okay, he's donewith lunch.
Now it's like 2 or 2.30.
I'm like, where are you?
And he's like well, I waseating lunch and I haven't come
here yet and I'm with Elizabeth.
I'm like I don't care whoyou're with.
Get over here.
(07:20):
I was so mad.
The tone of her voice was notthat it was like a where are you
?
Mo Hamoudi (07:28):
that's what it was.
I pick up the phone and she'scalling and she's like where are
you?
And I was like, oh, I'm at thehotel.
Do you understand that?
We're throwing a party here inthree hours?
Do you understand how manypeople are coming here?
We committed to entertainingthese people and you're not here
.
And I was like I'm on my way.
Karen Koehler (07:47):
He can get there fast enough and he gets there
with Elizabeth, elizabeth, bynow.
I'm cutting, I'm cutting.
We have made finger, you know,knotty finger, amaretto, orange
finger, jello.
We've made jello shots so I'mcutting the jello.
We had extra gelatin in it, sothey're like.
You know you can just yeah,they're firm cubes and they walk
(08:08):
in the door and I just give himlike the stink eye it was like
I had never.
Mo Hamoudi (08:14):
It was as if I just like tanked a case.
It was a statute.
I blew a statute of limitations.
The way she looked at me likeit was like a catastrophe.
Karen Koehler (08:22):
I'm like, and Loris had picked a hundred limes
from the garden.
He's like squeezing, becauseone of these recipes called for
some kind of lime juice.
Mo Hamoudi (08:30):
Yeah.
Karen Koehler (08:30):
He's like squeezing them like a hundred
limes and he's cut them up.
He's cut the pineapple garnish.
He's doing all this stuff andMo is not even there.
And Mo walks in.
Mo Hamoudi (08:40):
I wanted to just leap over and just grab him by
the neck and shake him, Okay,but I gotta tell you Hanley
saved my ass.
Karen Koehler (08:47):
She runs up to me and hugs me and stuff,
Because I told Hanley I was like.
Mo Hamoudi (08:51):
She's fired up, she's gonna like, and Hanley's
like, oh, don't worry.
Karen Koehler (08:54):
I got this.
I'll create a diversion.
Mo Hamoudi (08:56):
I'll create a diversion so she's like I'm here
to help and I'm like hi, andI'm like you, better get moving.
Karen Koehler (09:04):
And she looks at me she goes, you get moving.
Mo Hamoudi (09:06):
Elizabeth, come sit down, let's catch up.
It's been a minute.
You go do that and helplaurence now, and I was like I'm
off and about it.
Karen Koehler (09:15):
About an hour later I said yeah, you know, it
was some transference going on,the wind was up.
I was really freaking out, um,but anyway.
So at four o'clock the band isthere on the dot.
There's, there's a, a guy.
I wish I knew his name.
I forgot his name.
They were so good.
The band was so good they wereso good that when they took a
(09:36):
break, my neighbor from up thestreet texted us and said what
happened to the band.
Yeah, the whole neighborhoodwas listening to the band.
They took a break.
Mo Hamoudi (09:40):
My neighbor from up the street texted us and said
what happened to the band?
Yeah, what happened to themusic.
The whole neighborhood waslistening to the band.
Karen Koehler (09:43):
It was a saxophone, a guitar and a
drummer who apparently sang onthe voice, mm-hmm, and they were
really good and they set up inone of the little huts.
But there was one guy.
How many Jell-O pieces did hehave?
Mo Hamoudi (10:01):
one guy had five jello pieces.
Now these are.
But he we made two kinds, wemade an amaretto one, a little
sweeter, and we made a tequilaone.
This guy was popping thetequila ones.
I was like, hey man, I was likethese are kind of, you know,
the Jell-O takes the sting away,but these are like each a shot.
And he was like, oh yeah, it'sgood.
And he was just hopping them.
(10:24):
Man, trial lawyers, I meantrial lawyers right, I was like
man, get down with yourselfLawyers on vacation, that's
right, so Mo and Loris werewearing matching shirts.
Yeah, yeah.
Karen Koehler (10:39):
One of them was Paul's, because we had commented
on Paul's shirt and MayorElizabeth and Paul got Loris a
shirt, so we got one of.
Mo Hamoudi (10:44):
Paul's shirts, so you borrowed Paul's, so they
were wearing the same shirt andpeople would come up.
Karen Koehler (10:49):
And here's the back story.
So we had gone to this otherparty at this California law
firm's house and we had gonethere specifically to survey the
scene and figure out how wecould do ours better, because we
were so freaking competitive.
So we're like, oh yeah, I thinkwe can do this better.
And then we actually godownstairs to the bar, which was
(11:11):
kind of out of the way, andwe're like, oh, our setup is
better, more accessible.
This is so mean.
And we're like, oh, our setupis better.
Mo Hamoudi (11:14):
More accessible.
This is so mean.
Karen Koehler (11:15):
And then he goes and starts talking to the
bartender.
We're like what is this?
First he drinks and he goesyeah, this is really not good at
all.
Then he goes down and he sayswell, what do you put in it?
Mo Hamoudi (11:25):
Yeah, I did reconnaissance.
I collected intelligence, Igathered intelligence and then I
formulated a plan as to mydrinks and I realized, like now
this drink is not gonna.
I was like I gotta knock it outof the park.
Karen Koehler (11:35):
Then he comes up , he goes yeah, I got this, I
got this, no problem.
Then he goes we're gonna killit on the bar.
You know why I said?
Why he says because we'rebetter looking.
I said I cannot a funny, sweetway you said it at least 10
(11:55):
times later.
Mo Hamoudi (11:56):
No, no, no, but it was me and Loris.
We had the better shirts.
Stop denying it.
Own it Okay.
Karen Koehler (12:00):
I won't deny it?
Mo Hamoudi (12:00):
Okay, I said it All right.
Okay, can I say something?
All right, the one thing I willacknowledge that I'll be
arrogant about is bartending.
Well, I was going to say In InNew.
York City.
I was the best bartender inthat town.
I was the show.
People came and saw me.
People came and spent hourswith me Because it was just like
(12:21):
that's my cake, man.
Karen Koehler (12:24):
So the whole bar was set up in my foyer, Well
before your foyer, but in theportico.
Mo Hamoudi (12:30):
Yeah.
Karen Koehler (12:32):
Before you get to the house like the entrance,
so they walk through my gardento the front entrance and
there's the bar.
First of all, elizabeth Hanley,who is the president of
Trialers, became our Jell-O shotgirl.
Mo Hamoudi (12:44):
She was the Jell-O girl.
Karen Koehler (12:45):
We called her the Jell-O girl.
She had a giant bowl of Jell-O,but it was great because she's
super bubbly and she greetedeveryone lovely.
And then we had thegood-looking bartenders.
Mo Hamoudi (12:59):
And then we were doing the Moe Ties and the Moe
Collins and man, did they likethe drinks they did.
What were they saying?
Karen Koehler (13:05):
Go ahead, and a lot of these didn't have alcohol
in them.
Some of them did.
They made special ones forother people.
Mo Hamoudi (13:10):
But tell me what did they say about the drinks?
Look, tell me what did they sayabout the drinks.
Look it.
He wants to say Look it, he'slike a little kid, go ahead, go
ahead.
Karen Koehler (13:16):
They said these are the best drinks, these are
delicious.
I want another one.
It was pretty much like that.
Mo Hamoudi (13:23):
Music to my ears.
Yeah, I mean, they wereoutstanding.
Karen Koehler (13:27):
So fun.
Mo Hamoudi (13:28):
Oh, so much fun.
Karen Koehler (13:29):
And then here's what else happened.
Mo Hamoudi (13:31):
What happened?
Karen Koehler (13:31):
So I created a PowerPoint for this party.
As you know, they have neverseen as much organization as I
had in my thing and I hadeverything that they had
promised me and everything thatwas done, and I was marking off
stuff as it was happening andone of the promises on there was
that one to two helpers wouldbe provided.
Mo Hamoudi (13:50):
Oh, they weren't.
Karen Koehler (13:52):
No, they were not.
They had one helper who wasreally there to help her.
Yeah, the director not to helpme, and she helped light.
She helped light.
She helped put water in thechafing dishes and light the
fuses and put the first rack onbecause the food was delivered,
and then she disappeared so Ihad to monitor the food.
(14:14):
They had arranged big garbagecans.
I mean, the director was reallygood, she knew exactly what to
order, everything was the rightthing, but there was just no
help.
Mo Hamoudi (14:25):
Yeah.
Karen Koehler (14:26):
And then when they left, they left no cleanup
help either there was no cleanup.
Loris was like man.
Mo Hamoudi (14:33):
I mean, we had to clean up a lot.
Karen Koehler (14:36):
Wait, where's the?
Mo Hamoudi (14:36):
we?
No, I cleaned the bar, okay.
Well, that's Okay, I cleaned mybar.
Karen Koehler (14:43):
I don't leave my bar for other people to clean
At least you were precise.
Mo Hamoudi (14:45):
Yeah, I'm very.
I cleaned the bar, but you know, I think we should do it again
next year.
Karen Koehler (14:53):
Okay, wait you, I think we should do it again
next year.
Okay, wait, you've got to hearabout what happened.
So just overall, okay.
So everybody was justdelightful.
Mo Hamoudi (15:02):
Yeah, yeah.
Karen Koehler (15:03):
It was not the experience that we thought
because we'd been in the otherparties before which was really
held primarily inside, becausethere was only a smaller deck,
only so many people could fitoutside.
Most people were inside thegolf course house, yeah, but in
my house opposite, like,everybody had to be pretty much
outside because my house is, youknow, a boutique small house
(15:23):
but you've got, you know, anacre of manicured grounds and
people were just so chill andlovely, slightly intoxicated,
but they came on buses.
That's why we weren't worriedabout it, so nobody drove home.
Yeah, they either came on anuber or a bus.
Yeah, and it was just.
We just did a great job andloris was great help.
Mo Hamoudi (15:43):
He was fantastic help behind the bar.
Karen Koehler (15:45):
He was just very good and afterwards we still
had a lot of leftover food.
Well, they took all the thefood back to the hotel to give
to the staff.
We did, and so I had two milkcrates and filled them, and the
last two members of the bandcleaning up got a little care
(16:05):
package to take home.
Mo Hamoudi (16:07):
They basically got a bar.
Yeah, I was going to say that'sgoing to be pretty good.
They did pretty good.
They were happy, they were likeoh, we're going to be good for
a while, yeah, yeah.
Karen Koehler (16:13):
They did pretty good, they were happy.
They were like, oh, we're goingto be good for a while, yeah,
yeah, yeah.
So we were very good partyplanners, we were very good and
party experts Well you plannedand I was part of it, lately
part of it.
Mo Hamoudi (16:23):
I was late part of it.
Where are you?
It was so funny, like for me.
I'm like oh boy, you knew youwere in trouble I was.
She was like.
She was like how long Don'tdrive like the slow person that
you are.
Karen Koehler (16:38):
I said don't drive like you're 80.
Yeah.
Mo Hamoudi (16:40):
Don't drive like you're 80.
You need to put your pedal tothe metal and I was like I will
drive Because I drive slow.
She's like don't drive likeyou're 80.
Get here no.
Karen Koehler (16:53):
He was so scared of me when he walked up he did
the whole.
Mo Hamoudi (16:56):
I did the whole, like you know, like I do the
puppy dog eyes he thought andElizabeth's like this.
Karen Koehler (17:07):
I'm like, I am not even remotely, remotely
affected by this orchestratedplay.
I will give her a hug and Iwill go after.
Mo Hamoudi (17:10):
Mom.
Karen Koehler (17:10):
She was hugging her and looking at me Glaring at
you on the other side.
Mo Hamoudi (17:15):
That's what you were doing.
You were giving me the stinkeye.
It was great, it was awonderful night and I think we
should do it again.
I really do.
Karen Koehler (17:24):
It's a reminder for all of us how important it
is to have fun together yeah wework so hard, um, and when you
work hard, get really kind ofintense and focused and you
think that you're not I like, Idon't really realize that I am,
but outwardly to other people,but people stay away from me and
(17:45):
I'm a very social person, sojust being in that environment
reminds me oh, you got to do itagain.
We got to do this again.
We got to do this more.
We got to do these things moreoften.
We got to remember to celebratewith other people, because it's
so fun to have fun together.
Mo Hamoudi (18:03):
Yeah, what you did was create an experience.
Karen Koehler (18:05):
It wasn't a party.
Mo Hamoudi (18:06):
It was an experience People will remember what we
what we did.
But you know, I mean I've got togive you kudos because you
designed the architecture of theparty.
You were like we're going toput this here, we're going to
put this here, so like that wasyour design mind.
But you know, you put thepieces in the right place and we
really did create an experiencethat people the next day were
(18:28):
talking about.
It did create an experiencethat people the next day were
talking about it.
And we're still talking about,even afterwards and sending me
texts and saying we had a reallygood time, good job, good party
why don't we do a party for thefirm at my house?
well, you're leaving me hanging.
Don't leave me hanging, okay,why don't we do?
We should do one for that, forthe firm okay at my house.
Yeah, but we should, and I'llbartend it.
Karen Koehler (18:50):
Well, wait, they're going to have to still
get home.
Okay, well, we can monitor.
That way, you can monitor howmuch.
Mo Hamoudi (18:56):
What do you mean?
How much?
Karen Koehler (18:57):
Look, he just wants to be a bartender.
I just want to be a bartender.
Mo Hamoudi (19:02):
Oh my God, I'm the best Okay that's it.
Karen Koehler (19:04):
Thanks, man.
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