Friday, December 5, 2008

Muggin' for the Camera

This is a mug I received as a gift - does the giver recall? Anyway, I pull it out as soon as Thanksgiving is safely over and the turkey isn't around to be offended.

It's great to fill with steaming coffee and bring to my desk to read my bloggy friend's postings. Or sit in my favorite chair and read. It's just so bright and festive, it makes me smile.

And at my house a morning smile is rare as hen's teeth.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

New "Lab Rat" Feature

This is my new "lab rat" feature - I'll be trying new things--restaurants, food, stores, dog chews, ATMs and more--and reporting here...today's feature is Trader Joe's seasonal Candy Cane Joe Joe's.


Nice packaging. Father Christmas thinks they're quite festive.
They are an Oreo style cookie, with two nice crispy cookie wafers sandwiching the white cream center. But not just any cream center - one with slivers of candy canes in it. The peppermint flavor goes nicely with the chocolate crispy cookie wafer, neither overwhelming the other.
Rating: 2 thumbs up
Another winner from Trader Joe's - but only here for a limited time!


Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Focus!

See the Shades of Inspiration button on the side of the blog? I signed up thinking it would be good practice. There's a different assignment each week...this week is bling. Only getting home after dark, I've been limited in my options and imagination.

But I pulled out the trusty Father Christmas, he of the coat with the glass glitter and tinsel trim and posed him on the mantel.

f 1.8/ ISO 400/1/500 sec


f 1.8/ISO 400/ 1/200sec


f 1.8/ ISO 400/ 1/200sec

Looks like my lens and I have some communing to do - in every picture, the beard is in focus--not the eyes. (The eyes were what I was intending to focus on :) )

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Kitchen Sink

Hello, reader? readers? You there? tap. tap-tap. Anybody?


I've been surfing around looking at the news, other blogs and reading email for an idea, a spark, a germ of something interesting to blog about.




I don't have a new hamster like my nephew, or hot new neighbor like SSG, a ranch to use for photo fodder, didn't win the lottery ticket, didn't defy a deathbed like Patrick Swayze, didn't get revenge on a hunter like that deer, do not want to know what Gary Coleman did to get fined for disorderly conduct, can't bring myself to read about a chained teen showing up at a gym or discuss the stock market.



I voted today, have two dogs that I think are endlessly adorable and cute but needed Benadryl so that they are comatose and not up to playing. I am perplexed that Britney Spears is "most searched for" ahead of World Wrestling Entertainment and Barack Obama. Can anyone think what that says?




Oh, I've got it. In the real estate world, when a building owner has a new restaurant open, the restaurant has a week or so of soft opening, right? It's about the staff getting the feel of working together, working out the kinks, getting the timing down and putting into practice their training. Well, we've got such a restaurant sitch in our building. It's a NY restaurant which is opening in our building in downtown Atlanta, and I got invited under the friends and family plan. So four of us went to lunch there today and let me just say right now I was transported back to Tuscany without the confining and expensive 9 hour plane ride.



We shared antipasti. I had cream of tomato soup. They had salads, one house and one ceasar. I had the mushroom ravioli (with truffles), they had chicken parmigian, sliced steak and salmon with a mushroom saute. It was divine. AND, we shared a dessert: cheesecake with sabayon.

And paid nothing. Just filled out a comment card.



It was enough to make you clean your plate. The only thing missing was the chianti, but unlike Italy, drinking at lunch is frowned upon in Atlanta at lunchtime. Sort of.



Glad you stopped by, aren't you? Just never know what you're going to get do you?

Monday, December 1, 2008

The Bucket List







I recently rented this movie and watched it. I didn't enjoy it so much for the plot or the actors or the dialogue. But I did like the idea.




The idea that you really shouldn't wait to do/try/go/see/live/love/say whatever it is. You should do it now. Because you never know when that opportunity will be forever past.




So I started thinking about what I would put on my bucket list.

But I'm stumped.

Typical.

What would you put on your Bucket List?

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