Singapore Airport
My daughter was flying home from Singapore last week and at the airport she saw these incredible life size wings.
Remember the movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life?” Well, when Clarence got his wings they must have looked like these.
Merry Christmas!
Christmas / Holiday traditions always seem to change every few years, because our family dynamics change. I was at Macy’s the other day and memories hit me when I saw Frango Mints. Suddenly, I was back in Chicago for Christmas. I felt like I was in a Hallmark movie!
When I was young, growing up in Indiana, we would take the South Shore Train from Indiana to Chicago to look at the Christmas decorations in the Marshall Field and Company department store windows on State Street.
Anyone from Chicago knows how special this was. We would trudge through the snow all bundled up, ears/nose and toes about to FALL OFF from the bitter cold, but that did not stop us. We were SO excited to see the window decorations, go up to the TOP floor to see all the children’s toys and hear the Christmas carolers singing. Marshall Field, for us, would be equivalent to going to Harrods in London — luxury shopping.
Here is a photo of the Marshall Field clock from Full Perspective Photos. Adam Dooley has taken some wonderful photos and kindly said I could share this one with you. Visit Full Perspective Photos website and read his article on “Meet Me Under the Clock!”
As you see, this beautiful clock is hard to miss, so it was often a meeting place for all of us. If you get lost, “stand under the clock.”
Photo Courtesty of www.fullperspectivephotos.com
Of course, there are other memories. My mother brought us to see “The King and I” with Yul Brynner. A snow storm prevented people from attending the show, so we sat in the front. Wow — he was fantastic.
Rebecca V. Larkin has a wonderful video on YouTube called, “Marshall Field’s Incredible Impact on Chicago.” I didn’t realize Marshall Field (a brilliant business man) also created the “L” Train.
Chicago — I am thinking of you!
So, who knows, I might just receive a box of Frango mints this year! I admit, I might get a little choked up, memories do that to us.
By the way, I hear that Santa’s cut off for presents getting on his sleigh is around December 21st… there is still time (smile)!
Here’s to wonderful memories that come to us when we “least expect it.”
BE READY, smile and pull out your hanky when that memory hits you!
Photo taken by Danny Schmalz on CP’s Facebook page
This is my first Christmas in Seattle and I am learning how they celebrate and honor this event in the Pacific Northwest. It makes me feel like a child again and reminds me of when I first moved to California. I had never been to Disney Land. Californians were in shock, because as children that’s where their parents took them on family vacations – it was tradition for them!
Setting up tradition with family and friends is wonderful. We look forward to the holidays knowing that we will do “special things” at that time of year that we do not do at any other time of year. That is why it is SPECIAL.
So, I am in that mode of finding “new” holiday traditions to celebrate with family and friends here in Seattle.
I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from a friend telling me about the Canadian Pacific’s Holiday Train that goes through different cities in Canada and the U.S. raising money and collecting food for local food banks. This is fantastic!
Have you seen the train? It’s absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Click here to see a video on their website that shows the train and talks about their food bank program, live music, and more. Notice the Canadian and American flags in front of the train!
I hope you share the video of the Canadian Pacific’s Holiday Train with others. It spreads good cheer and will encourage people to donate to food banks this year.
Amazon gift idea: Train puzzle
When I was young my father would put a small heavy metal train around the Christmas tree. We LOVED this as children, especially when he added the purple drops to the engine, so that the train would smoke and blow it’s horn as it went around the tracks.
This Canadian Pacific Hoiday Train brings back special memories to me on a larger scale, the video shows the train going through the mountains – it’s spectacular!
If you are still scouting out Christmas presents and like puzzles, here is a great gift idea from Amazon.
Here is to the start of a wonderful holiday season!
Original Bean Bag Frog
This Fall I decided I wanted to do something special for the children who are suffering illnesses at the Seattle Children’s Hospital.
I wrote to them asking if they needed donations. I could make these beanie bag frogs for them. This is a project my cousin got me into when I would visit her for Thanksigiving when I was a child. We had great fun cutting out patterns, sewing the frogs and choosing different buttons for eyes, putting bird seed in as stuffing and then playing with them.
The volunteer at the hospital wrote back that they would love to have the frogs, but they needed to be modified. No button eyes, my heart sank, because buttons could be a choking hazard — the eyes had to be flat. Hum.. flat eyes, I could not imagine this. In addition, no bean bag stuffing, I had to use white stuffing.
Modified Frog Donation
Well, I still wanted to do the frog, but felt the fun of using funny button eyes and bean bag stuffing was being taken out of the project.
STILL – I got to work. You can see my modified frog. With some help from experienced sewers I came up with the felt embroidered eyes idea. Not perfect, but cute and funny looking, like a “superman” frog.
These funny looking frogs reminded me of the movie, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” when Rudolph goes to the Island of “misfit toys!”
I worked really hard last week, so I could deliver my frogs in time for Thanksgiving. When I dropped off my frogs last weekend it was extremely nice. They were very appreciative and said the frogs could be used in the play room.
I was AWARDED this green sticker! Funny how a sticker can make even an adult feel PROUD, but that is exactly what it did!
It’s the holidays and I encourage everyone to find that special charity where they can make a donation to help others!
I promise you, your heart will grow so big!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
Photo courtesty of Maker’s Row.
Are you an apparel or home and design entrepreneur? Do you have ideas and now you need to create prototypes, find manufacturers, learn about packaging and more, but you don’t know where to go?
You’re in LUCK! Maker’s Row has all the answers and contacts you need in one website, so you can create your prodcut “right here” in the U.S.
Maker’s Row was founded by Matthew Burnett (Detroit, MI) and Tanya Menendez (Oakland, CA) to bring manufacturing back to America; they launched in November 2012.
Interesting TV shows like “Project Runway” and “Shark Tank” have shown us that there is a lot of innovation and creativity here in the U.S., but what was lacking was “how” to reach the “right resources” to produce the product.
Burnett and Menendez picked up on this need to link entrepreneurs together with manufacturers and ran with it.
They created an online database/service where you pay by the month. This gives you access to their Project Planning Software, full search of 4,000 manufacturers, ability to message factories, factory matchmaking, dedicated sourcing support, encouragement to create your brand profile to share with others and a list of special events.
Courtersy Maker’s Row website.
It gets better. They have just come out with “The Academy,” where they offer great educational online courses to help you bring your product to market.
Take a look at the factory profile videos they have online. Wonderful to read the owner’s stories and see their factory floors in process.
Their website idea is a combination of The Tech Shop (innovation) LinkedIn (monthly service fee) and Yelp (post reviews).
I am excited about Maker’s Row new manufacturing service.
Made in America — It has become a whole lot easier!
Thanks Maker’s Row!
Tune in to Season 4 of MasterChef Junior, which starts on Friday, November 6, 2015. I am super excited to say that Chef Ian Marcel, 9 years old, is from my little beach town in Beverly Shores, Indiana.
Wow — If I was at home, I am sure a group of us would be watching this together on a BIG screen TV routing him on.
Visit The Times Media Company of Northwest Indiana’s website where you can read about Chef Ian’s journey to MasterChef Junior. He comes from a family of trained Chefs, so he has been cooking/prepping food since he was 3-4 years old. This is certainly an adventure.
Congratulations Chef Marcel! We are all PROUD of you!
Courtesy of Recreational Equipment , Inc. (REI)
Finally, a store that is willing to fight back and say, “No, we don’t need to shop on Black Friday, instead let’s enjoy the outdoors with our family and friends!”
What a GREAT move by REI (outdoor retail sports store). I agree with them. I was shocked when, a few years ago, retailers started to have special promotions on Thanksgiving Day… at midnight. Such a frenzy, it was crazy.
I’m sure many of us thought when is “enough–enough?”
REI created a wonderful website (optoutside.rei.com) to promote their closing and encourage others to follow along. I think it would be a great idea for ALL of us who “believe” that a holiday should be a holiday to share an outdoor photo on REI’s website.
I’m sure there are some fantastic photos out there!
Here’s to having some fun in the outdoors this Thanksgiving!!
I‘m dedicating this post to my College roommate whose birthday is on Halloween! Yes, I am doing this to make up for the years I forgot to wish her a Happy Birthday.
How could I forget a Halloween birthday…? It happens!
But not this year! I’ve got a black cat for you.
So, Maura, if you’re reading this post, I hope you are smiling.
Thanks to YouTube for the Happy in Dublin video!
Have a FANTASTIC birthday this Saturday!! Celebrate Irish style in a Pub and start dancing the jig!
Having recently moved to Seattle I am in touring mode wanting to explore and learn all about the area.
The Pacific Northwest has a real outdoorsy feel to it. So much water… it’s no wonder that seaplanes and boats are popular for touring the area, getting to the San Juan Islands, and beyond.
I admit I did make the mistake of talking like a tourist and not knowing my information. I went on a trip to Victoria on Vancouver Island. However, I thought it was Victoria Island as part of Vancover, you see the error. The crew on the Ferry were kind enough to pull out a map and show us (different tourists) the layout of Vancouver, Vancouver Island, San Juan Islands, etc.
I came across Harbors Magazine back in January when I was job searching. I was immediately drawn to the fantastic cover and when I went to Harbors Magazine’s website, I was able to view the magazine and see what it was about.
Great articles on adventuring in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle/Alaska/British Columbia). They cover boating, fishing, water front living, art, wineries, shopping, dining, flying… this is your “go to magazine” for being in the outdoors by boat or seaplane.
In every issue they have a map of Alaska, British Columbia and Puget Sound that shows you what Ferry and Seaplane service is available to you. This is wonderful and allows for easy trip planning.
Kat McKelvey, Publisher, Harbors Magazine
Kat McKelvey, the Publisher, would love to hear from you.
Here she is with her awesome King Salmon caught this summer in Sekiu. She is a lovely lady and produces a stunning magazine.
Visit Harbors Magazine on Facebook too, you’ll be inspired by the stories.
Start planning your next adventure and then share the story for publication!
Artwork by Jim Bachor
I grew up in the Chicago / Northwest Indiana area. Winters with snow and salt were tough on the roads. If you are from Chicago you know that road construction is a way of life. We seemed to never catch up with it.
We all cringe when we hit a pothole, our car jerks, and we immediately hope our axel survives and curse ourselves for landing in the pothole — bad maneuvering, right!
Photo of Jim Bachor: Web Urbanist
As I live on the West Coast now, I am not always up on Chicago news. Thanks to Bon Appétit Magazine, I recently read a wonderful article about artist Jim Bachor who lives in Chicago and decided to add art and beauty to our city by covering potholes with mosaics that he makes. This was a brilliant idea!
Bachor has a passion for this art form, which he learned in Italy. He started out with flower mosaics for the potholes. As the cost is $70-100 per mosaic, and he wanted to do more, he raised $4,600 through a Kickstarter Campaign to create 10 more mosaics. He chose ice cream as his next pothole theme.
Certainly this is a labor of love, each piece takes 8-10 hours to make plus 2+ hours for installation. As an artist, this allows him to be creative in a positive way making a lasting impression in Chicago and hopefully the world. Finland brought him there to install some pothole art for an end of winter festival they were having.
My mother was born and raised in Florence, Italy, so for me, it is a true pleasure to see this special art form being sprinkled around Chicago!
I can hear Pavarotti in the background while Bachor installs these pieces of art. FANTASTIC!
Brilliant Viewpoint 