11 10 11 :: 10 on 10 challenge

Oh let me tell you it was not a good day for me to participate in the photo challenge... walking a job site with clients and then in meetings the rest of the day! It was grueling and my presentations were met with only mild enthusiasm. I want my client to be 'wowed' and when they are not... it's sort of deflating. But... such is life and I will just have to come up with something even better So, without further ado, here are the shots from my day.

So yeah... up freakish early and it was a whopping 37 degrees! I am just not ready for winter. Nope... not ready.

Had to make a quick pit stop by the office and thought it would be more than appropriate to take a photo of the sign in our entry - left over letters from a job - pardon the bad language. :)

The company whose facility I am working on right now is super safety conscious. So to add to the normal construction site garb (safety glasses, fluorescent vest, hard hat) I now get gloves. Every guy on the job has to wear gloves ... I cannot imagine how this must make normal tasks more difficult.

Tools of the trade ... certainly don't need that fan when it's cold outside!

Bucket of threaded rod ... or art. Ha!

The group gathers to chat over details of the elevator lobby ...

Now is when the day took a turn ... presentations and lots and lots and lots of notes about how we can change our concepts. Joy!

Had to make a pit stop at the Apple store - iPhone problem - and ran across this fellow. One of Santa's helpers perhaps?

Dropped all fo the drawings back at the office and headed home... finally a night that I do not have to work!!

Current status ... sitting on the sofa with the Phoebs catching up on the DVR. Ahhhhhh.

Hopefully I can deliver a more interesting set in December! Till then. Ciao!

10 10 11 :: twenty nine of thirty

So this is going to be a combo post ... This is my #29 photo from the 30 cay challenge (black and white) that I am participating in with some other amazing photographers! (links below)

And my 10 on 10 on 10/10! Sadly I was not feeling inspired today and thus, boring photos. But, it's true to my Monday. Now off to pack for a quick work trip...

breakfast

beautify

watching the leaves dance along the road on my way to the office

working on numbering a corporate office ... and not coming up with anything I think will work just yet.

Halloween candy in the office ... desert before lunch??

Portillos for lunch. Yum!

walking off my not-so-health lunch

checking things off the teuxdeux list { love that app!! }

fighting with Illustrator all afternoon - there are supposed to be maps on those artboards. *humph*

the drive home

Check out the other 30 day challenge folks here!
1~ Mel W. 2~Nicole 3~Beth 4~Lisa 5~Allison 6~Angela 7~Jessica 8~Mr. Fun

9~Marisa 10~Tree 11~AmyK 12~ShannonJoy
13~Kimberly 14~Michelle 15~Jen 16~Shannon 17~Jodi

twenty eight of thirty :: flowers

(28) flowers :: Soon these beauties will be gone. But, for now, they are soaking up the warmth of late summer sun.

P.S. For all of my beautiful photography friends... I participate in the 10 on 10 Challenge by Rebekah over on her blog. It's a fun challenge about finding the beauty in your everyday. On the tenth day of every month, take ten photos in ten consecutive hours. She usually has about 100 or so participants. I think you should give it a try and up the ante as we near the end of the 30 day challenge. I will be posting my 10 on 10 tomorrow. Hopefully my typical work day will not be so boring. :)

twenty six of thirty

(26) up close :: almost time to hula... and I cannot wait! Work has been nothing short of horrible the last few weeks. I am so glad I planned a second trip to Hawaii this year! It is time for me to go spend time with friends and soak up some sun. Pray I do not get a week full of rain again.

twenty four of thirty :: so long steve

(24) animal :: I could have taken a photo of the cats, but... in light of the sad news from Apple, I decided to go with a "mouse."

It's unbelievably sad to see a designer like Steve Jobs pass at such a young age. Only 56 and look at the product he's delivered to consumers worldwide. Imagine what more he could have done... For now, I will simply say thank you. Thank you for your passion. Thank you for your creative solutions. Thank you for your attention to detail. Thank you for thinking outside the box. Thank you for the iPod. Thank you for the iPad. Thank you for the iPhone. Thank you Steve Jobs for enriching my life.

See the full gallery on Posterous

P.S. What was your first Apple product? Mine was a PowerPC 5100 in 1992 and I think it cost somewhere around $6000 for the computer, monitor and printer. Yikes! We sure have come a long way!!!

nineteen of thirty

(19) something orange :: For one, maybe two months out of the year I get to partake in one of my favorite Halloween candies - the mallow pumpkin. It's full of sugar and all sorts of manufactured crap and I love it. Candy corn is fun too, but for some reason I just love these little guys ...

twelve of thirty

(12) sunset :: The weather didn't really cooperate with me today and was all cloudy and merk. I was lucky to get any peeks at the sky because most of the day was cloudy! Since we're on the west side of the lake, we only get sunrises over the water ... Gotta be in a boat to see the sun set behind the city.

It was pretty cold by the lake, so it was just me and this little guy .... he was checkin' me out.

IMG_4258a_-_Computer.m4v
Watch on Posterous

chocolate chip goodness

Found a recipe via Pinterest titled "The only chocolate chip cookie I will ever need to know how to make for the rest of my life" and thought, well I will have to make those! Apparently an adaptation of a recipe posted in the NY Times a while back ... I have to say they are pretty good. The recipe says to let the dough sit for 36 hours - man that's tough - to get the full flavor. I have no idea why it would deepen in flavor, but trust me it really does!! I made one quick batch after 24hrs and then another at 36 and they did have a completely different flavor.

What I like most about these cookies is that they are a great combination of chewy and crunchy - an using the 60% or better cocoa chips is key! My boss' daughter (11) had them and loved them... so basically, if you don't tell the kiddos they are dark chocolate, they will never know the difference! Give them a go and let me know if you think they live up to the hype!!

four of thirty

(4) something green :: The temperature has dropped a whopping 50 degrees in the last week! Technically Summer is not over, but the warm light brushing over our green landscape got me thinking that it won't be long till all that green is gone. :( But on the positive ... I love Fall and all of those colors it brings!!

things on tuesday :: scramble

Tuesday just got away from me ... work has been a big 'ol mess lately, all sorts of shenanigans! So let's just get the negatives out of the way...

loathes

clients who are not on the 'same page' among their own staff
when things don't go according to plan
inefficiency
inconsistency
that the insurance company for the girl who hit me in the parking lot thinks I am 100% at fault - after the two companies came to a 50/50 decision... explain that! glad my company is saying f that and now it's off to subrogation
scrambling for tickets to stuff
that I tire of things
that I'm a little more glass half empty :(

loves

travel plans - for fun, not work!
finding the perfect bag
plans that have an element of surprise - will tell you more about that after this Saturday
quaker vanilla creme brule rice cakes - soooo good
this chocolate chip cookie recipe - and they are right that the longer you wait, the deeper the flavor
that the weather in Chicago has been excellent
that new glasses are being made and they are light as a feather - maybe I will actually wear them now!