10 on 10 { aug 2013 }

It's the tenth of the month and that means ten photos in ten hours!!  I love this challenge - gets me out and about with the camera to find beauty in my day.  And I really love it when the tenth falls on a weekend!  Woot!  Visited the hair salon this morning - aren't these foils just the most attractive thing?  I wanted to get a better photo, but the salon was busy and people were looking at me strange trying to take a photo with my iPhone of my foils.  I'm sure they were like wtf?  :)Ran a bunch of errands - picking up the necessary supplies for my last Ravinia show tomorrow. Whipped up a batch of my famous roasted almonds.  They are the easiest things to make and a huge hit!  If you like almonds, you need this recipe!

2 c. sliced almonds 1/4 c. sugar 1/16 c. water salt (I use pink himalayan)

Combine sugar and water - basically making a simple syrup - in a microwave save bowl or cup.  Microwave for 1 minute or until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Pour over almonds and quickly stir.  (The syrup should be just enough to coat the almonds - you do not want any liquid standing the bottom of the bowl).  Evenly spread on non-stick cookie sheet and generously sprinkle salt across top.  Bake at 325 stirring every 10 minutes until golden.  (30-40 min depending on your oven).  Enjoy!

And then decided to whip up French Macarons too! I'm just a domestic diva today!!  I found a new recipe (here) that worked beautifully should you wish to give them a try.  They are the fussiest cookies I've ever made, but SO worth it!  I'll whip up some salted caramel and chocolate ganache to fill these babies in the morning!

Hope you had a beautiful day! Thanks for stopping by.

10 on 10 { july 2013 }

Hello!  Happy Hump Day!  I actually remembered the 10 on 10 challenge today, and was able to be out of the office for part of the day - that means only a couple of photos of my desk!  *wink* I shot everything from within the VSCOCam app and edited in the app as well.  I find it very hard to get a good focus out of this app.  Anyone else have this problem?  And I find the images very 'noisy' compared to ones I take with other apps...  I think I am going to have to go back to the SmugMug Camera Awesome for taking photos and use VSCO for processing ... again.

Anyway ... here's my day.

[ shower ]  [ tea ]  [ kitty ]  [ jobiste ]  [ roadside weeds flowers ]  [ work ]  [ workplace humor ]  [ gelato for the co-workers ]     [ walk through the park ]  [ and a stop at the beach ]

Go check out everyone else's day over on Rebekah's blog at a little bit of sunshine!

10 on 10 { mar 2013 }

Ten on Ten Challenge : Dose MarketSo I know I am supposed to take a photo per hour, but I thought it would be much more interesting to capture the market.  I did throw in one photo of this dreary Chicago day ... rain + snow = beautiful fog!

Finally made it to Dose Market!!  It's a great selection of local vendors - food, fashion and artists of all types.  I bought a bunch of yummy food (mostly chocolate - oops) from Artisan Alfajores, Uptown Brownie, and Little Goat.  Had a brown butter sage gnocchi sample that was delicious from a tavola - they are starting to package their gnocchi to take home and cook - can't wait for that!!

Two completely awesome vendors we found were Field & Florist - she makes the most beautiful arrangements (can't really tell from my crap iPhone photo - but trust me!) you can buy single or do one per month deal.  I think it's just genius to sign up for a fresh arrangement to arrive at your front door each month!  And it's all locally grown too!

And the perfect Ravinia companion - wine in a bag from winestyr.com.  They partner with US wineries to get wine that is then packaged in a little bag with a spout (think boxed wine).  Each bag holds two bottles of wine and shipped to your door.  Perfect for wine on the go!

We loved the market.  Will be back again for sure!  Next time I will stay long enough to get a doodle from doodlebooth!

10 on 10 { feb 2013 }

I remembered!  I remembered!  Today I snapped a LOT of photos, but made sure to grab one per hour so I could be true to the 10 on 10 challenge!  Spent the day at the Museum of Science and Industry, my favorite Chicago museum, with the Pittman's!  I wanted to go to catch the Peanuts exhibit - and crazy -Holly, Jeff and Bella had never been before... what!?!  They totally loved it.  YaYa always knows the best places to go!

breakfast and facebook

selfie after getting ready for the day

allergy shot - four years of these and still counting - damn cats!

Peanuts exhibit was really great

I have always wanted an original Peanuts cel

Sloane LOVED that piano.

We watched the movie Born to be Free in the Omnimax Theater - it was fabulous!

Went on the U505 tour - the claustrophobic in me did not enjoy this much

'twas a dreary day here in Chicago, but I really cannot complain ... rain in February is not normal

target

finalizing plans for birthday trip

10 on 10 { nov 2012 }

Ahhhh finally the tenth lands on a weekend!  So happy to be able to photograph something other than work!  Sadly, the day was filled with repair men, errands and furniture moving to prepare for painters tomorrow.  I am so happy to finally be getting a fresh coat of paint, but I have waaaaay too much furniture to move around!  Maybe it's time to donate some stuff!!  A huge thanks to my awesome friends, the Robinson's, for lending me some muscle!  I could not have done it without you!  Hoping the painters can finish in a day so I can get everything put back together!  Happy Saturday peeps! 

tea ... always tea

phoebe hiding under the furniture

the awesome Robinson's

all of my belongings piled in the middle of my living room

I saved one tiny spot in front of the TV so I had somewhere to sit

spotted on my neighbor's door - cute

just some ivy - don't you jut love ivy?

Two trips to Lowe's and one to Home Depot to fix the flush handle on my toilet - ridiculous! Do not buy a tank that has the handle on a 45 degree angle.  Just don't!

hate that it is completely dark by 5 pm  * frown *

Lucy looking at me like ... what the heck are you doing to our home?  Huh?

all photos processed with VSCO LR4 presets

10 on 10 on 10.10 { oct 2012 }

I really like the 10/10 challenge, but when it happens on a weekday it's super hard for me to find photo worthy moments!!  That said ... here's my Wednesday!

I found this cute little pouch at The Paper Source - it holds all of my lip gloss in the car.  I am a little crazy about pouches.  And lip gloss, for that matter.  

Tea in my Starbucks cup from Hawaii.  Would love to be spending Halloween in Hawaii again this year, but sadly that is not in the cards for me this year. 

Carolina's Buddah is kind of freaking us out in the office.  She sat him on top of her computer a few days ago and he keeps moving.  She pushes him back and he ends up about to fall off the front edge of the monitor.  Spooky! 

My work ... I have to move so fast I can't even take time to focus the photo... ridiculous! 

Mrs. D's for lunch - it's a local dive, with lots of fun wall art! 

Then we popped into a new specialty gorcery store in Wilmette called Artisanal - they've got super fabulous stuff!  Who doesn't love a "happy room" full of craft beer, wine and liquor?  Mmmm! They have an on site butcher and offer fresh meats from local farmers that they cut on site.  

It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny, but 50 degrees!  So not ready for puffy coats, hats and scarves. 

Off to the spa for a much needed massage!  Finally think I found a therapist that I want to go back to.  She did a great job on my neck and back tonight!

Dark by the time I was out ... when is daylight savings time? 

Ahh blurry traffic.  Love my iPhone in motion! 

Hope you had a fabulous 10 on 10!  

10 on 10 { sept 2012 }

It’s the tenth of the month and that means it’s time for the 10 on 10 challenge!  I have been absent the last couple of months, but finally back on track!  It was quite the eventful Monday too!

On a side note … My Posterous blog is officially broken (boo!) and Blogger is frustrating the heck out of me.  I need some serious advice from you Blogger folks about how to get photos to post at a specific size!!!  Anyhoo...

{1} Made a quick stop along the river in Wilmette on the way back from the dentist – everything checked out OK, thank goodness!  We think I may have bruised a tooth.  Did you even know that was possible?  I had no idea!
{2} It was such a beautiful day today I had to duck out for a photo op of the sun among the grasses.
{3} Then a visit to the rheumatologist – still trying to figure out how to get rid of my right side pain.  Ugh! More exercises and if that doesn’t work, a shot in the buttock.  Sound fun or what?
{4} Meanwhile we had to rush one of my coworkers to the urgent clinic after she had a crazy allergic reaction to something.  We have no idea what, but hives, chills, feeling like she was on fire, itchy and throwing up.  What a mess!  She’s fine – all doped up now, but boy that was kind of scary.
{5} A little view – I kind of like the lack of focus here.  Sometimes my iPhone does fun things in error.
{6} Finally grabbed lunch around 3 – as you can see the place was pretty empty.
{7} Back to the grindstone – sadly I was not at all productive today with all the chaos.  I am not fond of days when I feel like I got nothing done.
{8} The sun is going down earlier – this was my view upon leaving the office.  Kind of makes me sad to see Summer go.  But I do love Fall!
{9} Took a quick walk along the lakefront after work – all the lifeguards have gone home and we’re on our own now. I had broken down and bought a beach token this year and sadly used it only once.  Must do better at taking advantage of the beach next summer.
{10} Home to happy endings.

10 on 10 { june 2012 }

Ten photos (plus one) in ten hours on the tenth of the month ... and again I get a weekend, woot!  But sadly, it was a pretty darn boring day.  Eat.  Process photos.  Eat.  Drink.  Process photos. Pet cats.   Eat.  Process photos - with a change of venue to the balcony!  Watch the sunset.  Laundry.  Eat homemade brown butter salted rice krispy treats!  Happy Sunday folks!  My life is so glamorous, no?  (ha!)

 

10 on 10 { may 2012 }

Hey!  Guess what?  It's the tenth of the month!  You know what that means, right?  Yep.... ten photos in ten hours!  

I worked from home this morning because I had repairmen scheduled to fix the toilet (that had been running non-stop) and the other to fix the dryer (that had developed a squeak!) so I thought maybe I would be better equipped to take photos of something different than the usual workday.  Sadly, that was not the case.  But ... for better or worse, here is my day.  

Started my day having tea with Nelson (ha)

Then the repair guys showed up .. both within 10 minutes of each other.  And thank goodness the toilet guy had a quick fix.  The dryer guy was here for a while and had the whole thing torn apart.  I thought about photographing that mess, but I don't think the repair guy would have appreciated that much. 

Finally wrote up a little card for Mom for Mother's Day.  Had to pop it in the mail in order for it to get there by Saturday!  Hope you enjoy what's inside mom!

Phoebe was in rare form today.  She was all over me, super lovey dovey.  Too much travel I suppose.  She misses her mommy.  

Still working from the home office - bookended by kitties. 

Finally made it into the office just after lunchtime.  The cute little desk ornament I ordered on fab.com arrived.  I'm starting a little "shit" desk collection.  I took a little break from photos for the next couple of hours .. spent in a chair on conference calls.  There is nothing to photograph there.  Nope.  Boring!

After work I headed to a new tanning salon. (for spray tanning!) I have been so fed up with the problems at my salon, and their super old equipment, that I decided it was time for a change.  I googled the VersaSpa and found there was a salon not too far!  I have to say, it's a much more pleasant experience.  The girls were super nice and happy to be helping me.  The salon was big and bright and clean!  The VersaSpa machine is super cool - love that it's a light mist and not dripping down my body when I'm done.  Heck, the machine even dries me off!  Will have to see how the color works out, but so far I think I may be onto something! 

Stopped at a RedBox on the way home to pick up a couple of movies.  I have completely switched from Netflix to RedBox.  I didn't think I would like having to pick up and drop off, but the boxes are everywhere making it totally convenient.  

Just a quick photo of my new "gratitude" bracelet from Bali. I picked it up at a cute little shop/yoga studio in Charleston.  The woman who owned the place was fabulous and had such good energy... I had to see if I could get a little bit of that to rub off on me!  

Now I'm off to watch my movies.  Night! 

10 on 10 { march 2012 }

It's ten photos on the tenth day of March!  I love this challenge that Rebekah put together and love seeing how everyone interprets their day.  I decided to do an additional "from where I stand" to go with the main photo.  I started out good and then petered out toward the end of the day ... oh well. So here's my tenth day.