Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving! The holiday to give thanks for all you have and eat a lot of food.  For me, this year has provided plenty of reasons to be thankful.  Those reasons include...

• Family...  Mum and Dawn are a great source of fun, comfort, and inspiration.  They're always game for an adventure, and I love adventures.
• Health...  I've been healthier this year than in many years, and I am hoping to carry that over into 2015.  But in 2014 I've managed to dodge flu and cold seasons, and I've had any major injuries.  The family's health has also been relatively positive.  Rock on, Health!
• Work...  Work has been good.  Clients have been calling, and I had many opportunities at the universities I teach at.  I'm actually looking at cutting back on work, so I can focus on other things in 2015.
• Travel... We had some travel opportunities this year.  I love travel, especially road trips.  We took two major road trips and several little road trips this year, and we had a blast on the road.  There were a few hiccups on our last road trip, but nothing that we couldn't work around.

 How about you? What are your reasons to be thankful?

Still Alive and Kicking...

My apologies for my absence.  I've been distracted by travels and work.  However, I wanted to post this quick message to let you know I'm still alive and kicking... Just trying to play catch up on everything.  I promise to post more on Monday, but I need to get cracking on processing all the photographs I plan on sharing with you.

Until then... Happy Thursdsay!

Home Office Ideas...

I am at it again.  I want to gut my office and redo it.  It just doesn't function like it should, and the clutter is growing because I do not have a place for everything.  I plan to take the month of June to do a major purging and re-decorating of my office - especially since I am now sharing my office with Mum.

The image above is what I'm looking for but to put this together would cost a lot more money than my budget allows and a lot more space than my home affords.  So, I've been searching for ideas.  So far, my attention have been caught by a few images.

I do like this desk set up.  It would be easy to purchase two of these and put the desks back-to-back.  However, I do not like the white finish.  While it is bright and would add additional brightness to a potentially dark room, I'm not a fan of the color.

I also like this set up.  I have a lot of office machines such as a big copy machine, several printers, a couple of scanners, blah, blah, blah... And all these items are necessary for my work and need a place in the office.  This set up would allow for that.

So, I'm searching for ideas.  Anyone got any? I'll keep all of you posted on my home office redo - including posting photos.  Fingers crossed it will be a success!

Hello Monday... Questing

WI have a big conference coming up in April.  It's a conference for women, specifically Native American women, and the purpose of this conference is to help them find their voice and begin their legacy.  One of the things I wanted to do for this conference was to provide gift bags full of fabulous-ness, but I'm on a tight budget.

However, while picking up a few things as a certain office supply store that is a national chain, I stumbled across a fabulous item that would not only be a great addition to the gift bag but was on clearance.  The only problem? I need 110 of them.  I only managed to get 43 between this chain and another location about 20 minutes from my home.  This meant I needed to go on a quest...

Hello Interstate... We hit the road early.  The hope was the earlier we get to the stores, the more likely we would be able to get the items before others scooped them up.

Hello Rain, Fog, and general Gloominess... We had a lot of rain (as you can tell from the flood fields) but we've had even more fog. 

Hello Swans... While driving down the Interstate, I noticed these swans making themselves at home in a giant mud puddle in the middle of a field.  Since it was time for me to get out and stretch my legs, I decided to take a little detour.

 

 

What I really love about swans, besides their gracefulness, is they mate for life. And in this little group, there were plenty of mated pairs and their younglings.

Hello GPS... I am in love with the GPS.  This one isn't mine.  A friend of mine let me borrow her Garmin, but I've decided to purchase one for myself - especially since I'm going to be spending a significant amount of time overseas later this year and will need this to find my way around.  This little baby managed to save me time and frustration as it lead me through the six different cities we visited in an attempt to reach that 110 mark.

Hello goody bag treasures... I didn't reach my 110 mark.  We visited 6 stores, and while 3 three stores had our target purchase - the other 3 came up empty.  Our grand total is 60.  We're 50 short, but I'm not giving up.  I've hit the internet, to no avail, but I'm willing to go even further and hit a few other locations to get the numbers I need. I won't rest until every woman gets a goody bag with one of these treasures inside.

Happy Monday!

Milwaukee Public Museum

Last week I flew to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for business.  It was definitely a rude awakening for me when I stepped off the plane.  Going from 40+ degrees outside to -11 degrees outside within a time span of a few hours was not my idea of a good time, and it definitely put a damper on my willingness to go out and explore the city on foot.  However, one place that I really wanted to visit was the Milwaukee Public Museum.

Unfortunately, the only day I could visit was a public holiday - when every parent within a 100 mile radius and brought their kids.  Even worse? It was a day when residence of Milwaukee County could go to the museum for free.  Actually, I thought that was pretty cool but I wish the day didn't happen to coincide with the day I was visiting.  It made for very crowded conditions.

Here a Bird... There a Bird... Everywhere a Bird-Bird

For the past few days, I've been house-bound and it hasn't been by choice.  I have had so much work to do, that I would wake up when it was still dark outside, and I wouldn't look up from my computer until the day had come and gone, and it was dark outside once again.  Luckily for me, I work at home and was able to do all that brain-cell crunching in my comfy flannel pajamas but I still wasn't about to get outside and get some fresh out.  Until yesterday.

Yesterday air was so cold it was crispy.  The sun was shining bright, and there was even snow in some areas (though not enough).  So, I decided to grab my camera bag, throw a coat on me and my little family, and we went for a drive.  Luckily for me, I wasn't the only one out enjoying the fresh air.  A few of birds were too.

There were all sorts... bald eagles (and a lot of them), hawks, heron, and falcons.  Speaking of falcons, dig the fantastic light in the photograph above.  It's golden hour light, and it cast a massively glow on the falcon.

But then the sun disappeared behind a wall of clouds and the darkness that followed made it difficult to shoot in.  In fact, the melted snow I drove over or walked on had already grown crunchy under the dropping temperatures and it was a clear indicator that it was time to go home.  So I did.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is another one of those work-from dark to dark days.  Though, luckily, I will get a break when I have to go for a client meeting.  I just wish I could wear those comfy flannel pajamas, but I don't think my client would appreciate those pink polar bear pajamas I love to wear while working.

Disappointment in Writing

I've mentioned in previous posts how I'm working on my first non-fiction book.  It is supposed to be released to the general public in September, but unfortunately it isn't going to happen.  Well, I should clarify that.  The book is going to happen, it just isn't getting released in September.  Because I've been so busy with another project that I committed myself to (in supreme arrogance), I was unable to spend the time and attention on the book project.  While I managed to finish the other project (and ahead of schedule), my deadlines for the book project are pretty much not going to happen.

This is a complete bummer.  It's a bummer on many levels, but the ultimate translation is the book release is being pushed back - possibly to early 2013.  Blast!  I know... I know... Deep breaths.

It is amazing to me how one minute I can feel totally victorious and on top of the world because I managed to do something that all the odds makers said was impossible, but then turn around and be smacked upside the head by reality.  Oh, well, I suppose that just means more time for chocolate and taking photographs with Dawn.

On a positive note, I'm thinking about taking Mum and Dawn camping in August.  Yep, camping.  No RV or trailer, or even a camper.  Just a tent, sleeping bags, and a little propane stove for cooking.  That's going to be interesting.  I cannot wait for their reactions, when I tell them.  Dawn will be excited, but Mum will definitely need a Valium.