Majorly Behind...

The past week has gone by in a blur 

and my good buddy, Mr. Z Do Da 

has gone to the way side. Woops!

SOO many great pix and posts to share... 

Hoping to get back above water after work tomorrow :)

     

In the meantime, 
hope all's going great on your end!

   

Way to go, Nick Howard!

It's Great. To Be. A MICHIGAN WOLVERINE!

AH-MAIZE-ING

  

One Unbelievable Birthday Week :)

Whatever I did right in my last life, 

I sure am thankful for now...

My 30th birth"week" was everything and more!

Calls, texts, loads of pix of my bestie's adorable children, 

emails, Facebook posts, snail-mail cards...

and the absolutely unnecessary 

(but entirely appreciated!) 

gesture of gifts...

Talk about the best birthday ever!!

Can't say THANKS enough to my friends & family

(and to the Michigan football team for the cherry on top ;)

WHAT A WONDERFUL WEEK

        

Apparently I'm the new LOL ;)

   

Brilliant 

  

Bits of Truth

   

      

Sometimes this city just gets ya...

Tonight I went for a run along the lake and 
had to stop to snap this pick en route home.
  
The temp has dropped 30 degrees over the past 3 days 
so I fully plan to enjoy every ounce of Fall 
before the inevitable arrives...
{insert head shaking here}
    

The Circus Meets the Zoo

Recipe for a perfect day: 

Fam
Friends

Fall weather

Some sunny sun sun

and of course, the Lincoln Park Zoo :)

 

I loved meeting baby Colleen and spending time with my cousins, Timmy & Shannon this weekend. And I couldn't have said "YES!" faster when Maggie needed a friend to watch Soren.
Was truly an awesome afternoon spending time 
with people I simply adore.

Fissssssh!

FUN

Aaaand that's a wrap ;)

I'd repeat today one hundred times over :)

  

Obsessed

    

Now I know what to do on Monday :)

   

HAPPY FRIDAY FRIENDS!

      

DA BEARS DA BEARS DA BEARS

   

Thank you, Spy for the field passes!!

Thank you, Rebekah for the birthday tickets :)

HO.LY AWESOMENESS

DA BEARS

Excelerate Labs Demo Day

Yesterday I had the absolute privilege to attend
the Excelerate Labs Demo Day at the House of Blues.
   
I just wish I could put into words how inspiring it was
to listen to the INCREDIBLE pitches of the
10 selected Excelerate start-ups for 2011.
    

Sandbox works hand-in-hand with this phenomenal brainchild so we got to sit alongside 300+ investors, 
Chicago community leaders, mentors, family & friends
to support their awesomeness in all it's glory :)
        
Even the Mayor (Rahm Emanuel) was there to celebrate!

I couldn't contain my laughter when opened up with, 

"So you think you all have 'funding' problems, eh?" 
Hahahahaha
LOVE
   

If/when you have the time, 

be sure to check out these rising stars:

Cookitfor.us: The FTD of Food. Cookitforus.com will make, and deliver, your favorite recipe. Hungry? Crave your favorite recipe today.

Power2Switch: Compare electricity providers and save money on your next electric bill. It is a painless solution to a very painful problem.

Goshi: Re-inventing the window shopping experience. An app which allows you to experience the store front shopping experience in a virtual, and social, marketplace.  

Shortlist (formerly A Space Apart): The best solution for attendees, exhibitors and conference planners to gain the most value from each conference. Now, all the vendors who pay $$$$ for booths can derive serious value from their investment. 

FoodGenius: Yelp, look out.  FoodGenius is driving individuals to their favorite restaurant based on the dish they wish to consume, not the restaurant.  Common sense, right?

BabbaCo: Announced the launch of the first "Babba Box" for parents, nannies and grandparents to provide creative, stimulating and age-appropriate activities to children on a monthly basis.  Sign up today for a monthly subscription.  Working parents, the perfect solution for spending quality time with your kids after a long day.

Joystickers: Joystickers' accessories will soon be sold at Target, BestBuy, Walmart and other stores. The next time you jump rope, skateboard or play baseball you may be purchasing a Joysticker infused model which is linked to an app allowing you to count jumps, measure the speed of your pitch, compete w/friends, exercise to your favorite tunes, etc.

Exchangery: A unique approach to starting a commodities exchange.  What's next? Organic corn exchange?

Introfly: Helping passionate individuals find their passion in life. Stuck in a corporate job with a hidden passion? Not sure how/where to pursue the right contacts? Introfly to the rescue.

BuzzReferrals: Can help you turn "ordinary customers into extraordinary promoters". Identify, engage and reward your best customers. Your value will only increase with buzzzzz...contact them today.
  

Shot to the heart :(

Last night I got the news that a month at the museum is unfortunately not in my future. But thankfully my sister-in-law invited me to crash her dinner plans so I had great peeps to dine with and to raise a glass for at least trying :)

Onward and upward to figure out my next adventure!

In the meantime, 

my brother's note of "condolence" still has me cracking up ;)

      

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"