Hubbard Street Public Art

I adore walking past this mural project everyday 

when we grab lunch at Bari or Vinnie's sub shop.
  

Thought I'd pass along the eye candy :)

  

          

Book Reco

For work book club this month we're reading

and I very much love it. 

Seth Godin keeps it simple, 

as teaching-literature should be,

and along the way he makes ya laugh...

Check out Seth's blog by clicking on his mind :)

   

Pint Sized Gesture

Today I went over to RUSH to donate blood and
to score myself some Keebler cookies, obvs ;)

After passing the iron test on the first prick,
I had to LOL remembering the
"best" advice I've EVER received :)

Then after it was all said and done 

and I'd loaded up on sugar and juice,
the nurse gave me the "ok" to go home

(as it was clear I wouldn't pass out).

Problem being, 

I proceeded to use the restroom

and walked straight into the MENS!

The doctor I walked in on was so nice about it 

but I couldn't have been more flustered :S
  

Thankfully the juvenile in me had oh-so-maturely 
collected a ~half dozen Red Cross stickers so he was all, 

"Don't worry -- I see you just gave blood!"

And I was all, 

"Yeeeaah - and I now apparently 

can't read stick figure symbols..."

Next time I'm bringing a chaperon. 

Seriously
      

Thoughts on "Enough"

I'll be the first to admit that I'm my own worst critic. 

But with just 10 days to the big 3-0, 

I've decided to cut myself a little slack this week 

(so not to jump off a bridge ;)

As prepared as I was for a big meeting this afternoon, 

I unfortunately entirely botched it :( 

But instead of leaving work after 

(to dig myself a hole to China) 

I decided to take the high road.

Ya see the thing is, 

I'm fully aware that if you can't hang with the big dogs,
you gotta stay on the porch.

But as I sit here all curled up with Chinese take-out,
a Coastal Living mag and a pay-per-view movie --
I gotta admit that even my "porch" these days,
really isn't such a bad place :)

I find myself in these "twits" a lot lately but
have come to realize that it's not that I'm failing by any means,
it's just that I've created a life, both personally and professionally,
where I'm so fortunate to be surrounded by incredibly smart,
talented, hard-working, and therefore successful people.

So on this upward journey,
I've decided to stop being so hard on myself, 
under a few conditions:
So long as I know that I'm always playing to my highest intelligence and that while I'm in this world to do well, that I continue to remember that I'm truly in this world to do good. 

    

And with that,
the new almost 30 year old version of me
has decided that at the end of the day,
I'm fortunate for every experience I have to fail --
and these "off nights" will end tomorrow so I should just enjoy the Pad Thai and a Jennifer Aniston flick in the meantime, because every now and again, 

it's ok for this very moment to simply be "enough" :)

    

       

Time Flies...

and apparently, so do my besties ;)

Was such a fun weekend in Cleveland 

visiting these two fabulous friends

and this was the only picture I took...
  

Sunday came too soon :(

      

Excerpts Me Likey from "Bits O' Truth"

    

Happy Big 3-0, Dustin :)

Can't wait to see the final video project --

what an absolute BLAST of a night!

Dustin 30th Birthday Party Invite

  

For all the digital awesomeness, click here
   

Happy Birthday, KP!

Was so fun to celebrate with you :)

   Counting down the days to your wedding!

   

LOVE

Over the weekend I had the absolute pleasure 

to see Peter Pan at the 360 Theater :)

Oh me oh my oh me, 

I truly cannot say enough wonderful things 

about this production!

If/when this traveling awesomeness 
tours in your city, do yourself a favor 
and go! I might fly in to join you ;)

In the meantime, just thought I'd share 
a few of my favorite "Pan-isms"...

   

"Typical Friday"

Never a dull moment...

       
SHUDDER ;)
      

WOOOHOOOO... There's Still Hope!

  

Lost Crates - Take Two

Similar to the last shipment, 

my crate arrived to Sandbox 

and the scavenger hunt ensued :)

Clue #1

   

Clue 2

Outside we go, for Clue 3...

Teeheee, getting closer!!

JACKPOT :)

Now it's simply time to...

HAPPY FRIDAY FRIENDS!

  

     

A Watched Pot Never Boils

I've always been the type of person that has a lot of "pots" going at once. That way I know in life that when one door closes, 

I can at least crack a window ;)

  

But not gonna lie, I've never had so much hopeful-slash-nervous anxiety as I do now wondering and actively waiting to see which element of my life is about to go from a simmer to a boil!

Today we had a great meeting at work so I was certain that my "career pot" was about to move in to a burnin' ring of fire (said in the voice of Johnny Cash, obvs). And just then, a friend texted to ask if I've heard back from the Museum yet. My heart physically sank... it's somehow "mid August" and I not-so-secretly SO hope to be picked as a top 20 finalist. Eeeeeek! Fingers remain crossed. 

Saturday was Stephen & Kendra's Chicago wedding reception and like five sets of mothers said that I should meet their sons... Normally I'd brush this off (because let's be real, it's kinda weird), but with the 30th birthday looming, I feel like I kinda do need to start igniting my "love" life (or lack thereof).  

Which brings me to the 30th birthday countdown 

(t-minus 3 weeks, ufffff!) and Kate and I literally haven't planned a single thing for our Ireland trip yet. HA! Guess we'll just be letting the Guinness guide us to the goodness ;)

But these are the times that I honestly love the most. 

When life is so full of curve balls that the only constant is 

waking up in my own bed and the rest of the day is, 

well the rest of the day is just a whole lotta 

Zippidy Do Da :)

  

Stephen & Kendra's Wedding -- Part Deux

Boat Party and Kendras Belated Bday Dinner

   

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

For our work book club this month we read

and invited the ever talented, Chicago based author 

to join us for lunch during our discussions...

And she said YESSS!

I loved every second of meeting Amy KR  and very much hope to do so again in the future. She's been a literary idol of mine for several years now and I definitely geeked out a little when asking her questions about her writing process. Woops! 

Such an inspiring hour :)