Medical bracelets does not have to be ugly

Many people has to wear medical bracelets for one reason or another. But they are made to be functional and not fashionable. Friend of mine, Penny, makes beautiful jewelry and she has converted plain medical bracelet into a beautiful work of art, and something one can wear everyday. Penny sells handmade earrings online at Etsy, and just posted her new earrings on her blog site, check it out, you will be glad you did. They are just beautiful!!!!

Ahhhhhh !!!!

Rick Sammon: My Top 10 Tips for Successful Social Media Marketing

Rick Sammon: My Top 10 Tips for Successful Social Media Marketing
1 Take the Time to Tweet – Spend an hour a day on twitter.com – your small investment in time will result in a wider audience for you and your services and your products.

2 Be a Good Blogger – Don’t blog about you and your coffee or dog. Blog about stuff that will help people – or that, at least, will be of interest to most folks. (See Jim Harmer's comment below. He says the same thing this way: Content is King.)

3 Get Face-time on Facebook/Have Fun on Flicker – Use Facebook and Flicker to show off your work – for free! Expand your audience – again, for free.

4 Have Fun on Forums – Participate in forums that can help others in your field and that can help you get your message across.

5 Be on Bit.ly – A must. Use this site to track the number of hits on a link. Cool!

6 You Do It On YouTube – Post videos that relate to your business. Keep them fun, entertaining and informative. And short.

7 Invest in Being Interactive – Do all of the above as often as practical to maintain your visibility.

8 You Snooze You Lose – Don’t do all of the above as often as possible, and you’ll lose out on an increased audience – and maybe even lose part of your existing audience.

9 Keep Up with Technology – Stuff like twitter and bit.ly are relatively new. Keep up with technology so you can keep up with your competition.

10 Know Your Audience – As with all marketing efforts, it’s important to know your audience. Don’t waste your time, or anyone’s time, on relatively useless information.

Enjoy the "Wow" factor of Pearl Paper

Congratulations Graduate !!!

myspace layout

Wolf Park - Howl Night

Recently I visited Wolf Park in Battle Ground Indiana . It is 2 1/2 hours drive from Chicago, and about 15 minutes from Purdue Univ. Wolf park was established as an education and research facility devoted to the conservation of wolves. This is a huge place with one large fenced in area for the pack of wolves and in the back there are areas for several retired wolves, couple of coyotes, and heard of bison. Every Sunday from 1 pm to 3 pm two or three wolves are released in a 17 acre pasture with the herd of bison. I did not get to see the demo, and was afraid to ask what happens to the bison if the wolves catches them, but when I did inquire about it the keepers just laughed.

In spring and in the fall, photographers can go into the wolves enclosure to photograph in their semi-natural habitat. There are couple of options, and both are supervised by professional photographer Monty Sloan. Personal note -- I saw with my own eyes that how tame and trained these wolves are, they liked to be petted, scratched, paid attention to by the keepers, and friends. So, I am looking forward to going back and photographing them from the inside the enclosure.

I am thinking that if you are a Purdue University football fan, go down to West Lafayette on Fri. and go to the wolf park to hear the wolves and coyote's howl @ 7:30 pm Friday night and go see the Boilermakers football game the next day. I can guarantee you it will be an exciting couple of days.

Chinese Chop Salad

I love Chinese Chop Salad from Noodles & Company. It has generous amount of fields green with Asian sprouts (bean sprouts), cabbage, red peppers, large cucumber slices, carrots and crispy wontons. The dressing used to be spicy sesame-soy dressing, but now it is just sesame-soy dressing so, I get dressing on the side and put squirts of red-pepper sauce that is provided on each table. When I inquired about the dressing the girl behind the counter told me that is what they used to do. When I feel like I need extra protein I get Organic Tofu on the top, it is seasoned and sauteed, and is perfect combination of smooth texture to the crunch of greens.

Indy 500 salute

Friday Evening Car Show

Tonight was the first night of the 2009 Friday night car show at Downers Grove downtown. I look forward to this every summer. We usually go after dinner, grab an ice cream cone and walk down the main street. It's fun to see cars we rode as a child, cars that we dreamed of as a teenagers, and of course there is the muscle cars. Dream ..........

Let's put your feet up and enjoy kind a day

photo courtesy of PIXDAUS

Yes !!!!,
Today was a perfect summer like day. With warm sun bathing everything in it's path, it just felt great to be sitting in my back yard. Family and friends are all visiting and having a great time. Lots of laughter's and "do you remember when?"'s.

Free Kibble's for pets in shelter

Many people are affected by this economy, but pets are also in trouble. More and more pets are being taken to the shelters because owners can not take care of them. Now, shelters are over crowded, and there budget are stretched to the max. One way that I help out is by playing a trivia game on Free Kibble site. Ten kibble bits are donated to shelter every time you play.

Looking cool !!!!

I did a photo shoot for senior portrait. Well, this young men helped me with test shots before the senior arrived.

"Homage" reception for fotoMuses.

Today was a reception for fotoMuses women's photography group. With many friends and supporter showing up, it was a great reception as usual. Thank you everyone.

Rue Guneriussen

Photographs of Norwegian photographer Rue Guneriussen. Beautiful evening landscape photograph with illuminated ornate lamps arranged to add unique human existences to the scenes.

Birdhouse elves would love to have

To kill two birds with one stone, well, not really but why not put up a unique and fun birdhouse in your yard to help little birds and enjoy them at the same time. I found Steve's shop at out local farmers market today. He does woodworking and makes birdhouses. This particular one caught my attention, he used the grain of the wood and carved in a way that the front of the birdhouse resembled a Santa Clause. I bet little birds will feel extra special to have a house like this. Oh, by the way, Steve used to be in construction and has a blog site www.theconcretetruth.com check it out.

Summer outdoor shirt

To be outdoors and not to worry about the UV rays these days are hard to ignore. I found a perfect solution from Eddie Bauer. They are shirts with UPF +50 protection built in. They keep you cool since it does not absorb rays from sun, and if you get wet, it dries really fast. I wore pair of pants made with same fabric to visit the niagara falls, it proved to be the perfect thing to wear. It kept me cool in the sun, and after getting drentched by the mighty niagara, it dried right away.

Katy's Dumpling House

Katy's Dumpling House in Westmont illinois is a little Chinese restaurant that specializes in noddles, and dumplings (version of pot stickers) They make their own noodles and dumpling skins from scratch everyday. They have been featured on ABC 7's "The Hungry Hound" as one of the best in the West Suburban area, and has received 3 forks from Chicago Tribune. I love their House Special Won Ton Soup, and they do have several Chinese dishes the chef creates with using just one wok. On the menu spicy, and hot is noted with red peppers and do not ignore this. I had Szechwan Noodle Soup with 2 hot peppers thinking how hot could it be? At first it was not too bad, but spicyness slowly crept in and about halfway through I could not take it any longer, and I love spicy food. Dining area reminds me of old sandwich deli that needs of a remodel, and English can be hard to communicate with but food is great, and worth the price.

Penny this is for you !!!

Thank you Penny for talking about my post on your blog "Doodles and Dreams"
This is for you. (This sign is from Small Talk by Danielson Designs)

Oak Fairy

Received Second place ribbon at Union League club of Chicago Photography contest for Color Portraiture. It is on display at the club for the month of May.

Best Sushi Restaurant

2nd oldest sushi bar in U.S.

B & W photo courtesy of the restaurant

I love Sushi. I have tried many sushi restaurants in the US and most are okay. Recently I have gone to Sushi go 55 Restaurant in LA's little Tokyo. It is on the 3 rd floor of a shopping center and little hard to find, but they claim to be the best Sushi place in the city. And you know what? I agree. The night I went it was crowded, and even with a reservation we had to wait about 20 min. and was put in the corner of the sushi counter next to the kitchen. Even with the rude waitress almost throwing tea at us, and yanking away the menu from my hand, it was worth the wait. The fishes were fresh, with hint of ocean, Nigiri rice was made just small enough for one bite, and atmosphere of the sushi chefs were professional, and even my guest who usually do not care too much for sushi loved it. So, if you are in LA try this little place Oh, yes, it is supposed to be the 2nd sushi place that opened in United States back in the 60's. Park on the 4th floor of the parking garage on Alameda- walk over the over pass it is the 2nd restaurant on the right.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day Sonata.
We never did meet but she gave us her precious kitten Karamel.

Red Rhubarb

Beautiful spring Rhubarb.

Farmers Market

I love Farmers Market, so with anticipation I headed down to my towns first Farmers Market for this summer season. I bought fresh tender asparagus, and apple tarts from the nun's. These apple tarts are not as sweet, but loaded with flavor and butter. Yum !!!

Car Shopping

BMW 300 series, one particular young men I know has the "I want this!!!" syndrome.



My dream Car, Nissan Xterra.


We desperately need a new car. So, I went out and test drove several cars today. All of the salesmen were eager, and almost obnoxiously nice to me. In the past, I could be walking in a saleroom, or a lot of any dealership and no one will bother me. But today was a different story. It made my looking around little constricted, since I had a nice salesmen keep following me, and they made sure that they got my contact information. They do have several incentives, like Toyota has 36 months 0% finace or factory rebate. Ford is little better with 60 months 0% finance, or close to $3000 factory rebate. Either way it is a good time to buy a brand new car. This got me thinking that maybe buying a brand new car might be a better deal then getting a used car. Last several cars we purchased we bought used, simply I think it is a better deal, and some of the kinks of the brand new cars has been worked out, but with these incentives buying a brand new cars might not be bad........ what do you think?

Quilt and my kitten

"Karamel" and her flannel quilt

I have this terrible habit of starting projects and never finishing them, especially quilts. I used to hand quilt but I found that if I machine piece, and machine quilt, I can make bigger quilts faster. Even then, I have several that I have started and just sits in my drawer, not finished. So I have decided that this year I will take one project at a time and completing them. Recently while I was working on a T-shirt quilt with a soft flannel backing, my cat took a liking to the fabric and started to sleep on it. So, I decided to make her a quilt with the leftover material and a fun, matching material for the reverse side.

Wild Flowers in my backyard

I found many beautiful wildflowers peeking out this morning in my back yard. I love them, because of their settle, quite loveliness.

Potted Flowers

My hubby likes beautiful flowers in our yard, but we live on a really wooded lot and most of the yard do not receive the sun it needs for flowering plants to do well, so this year I bought a potted plants that looks gorgeous and I will try to move them around to a small patch of sunny spot through out the day.

fotoMuses - HOMAGE installation

fotoMuses is a group of women photographers who support the craft and show works in Chicagoland area. Installation was today, and opening reception is May17th. For more information, visit Bloomingdale Park District Museum web-site or just click on the fotoMuses above and it will take you to the fotoMuses web-site.

Orange Chicken

I love Orange Chicken. I can eat it at least once a week and not get tired of it. I used to get it at Panda Express for lunch, but now I found a great, delicious alternative at Trader Joe's. It is their version of Mandarin Orange chicken. I have tried other brands but this is by far the best tasting. It also seems to be lot less greasy so I don't feel like I am eating tones of fat. All you do is bake it in the oven for 20 min. and add sauce that comes with it-I usually only use half the sauce. Now, it is ready to put it on bed of steaming rice, or put stir-fry vegetable on the side. We like to have Veg. Tempura on the side. We get this at Trader Joe's as well. Sauce is included. Oishidesuyo !!!

Elmhurst Art Museum's 13th Annual Art in the park

I headed out to the Art Show after the photo shoot this morning. It was a beautiful spring afternoon with many families taking in all the sun, and art. I bought a print of this piece by Kevin Lahvic. It reminded me of my cat "Karamel"

Virginia Blue Bells

l aways loved Virginia Blue Bells, and I have even bought a plant and planted in my back yard hoping that it will spread and will give me field, well, at least a patch of blue bells. But with no luck, so I have gone out in search of a field where I can enjoy them. The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Ill has a beautiful field on the west side. Yesterday, while I was Morel Mushroom hunting, well at least I was trying to, a couple showed me a field of Virginia Blue Bells, where as far as one can see was just these beautiful flowers. So, I got up early this morning to catch the warm, soft light to photograph them.

Morel Mushrooms

I went out to see if I can find Morel Mushrooms today. I had no luck since I had no idea what, or where I should look for. But I ran into a couple who found few. They had told me that it is still too early for a good crop.