Miss.Shellie

"Odd Ball Out" 30" x 40" collage drawing on canvas

I’m very excited for tonight’s fundraiser at Chicago Art Department - CAD turns 5 years old tonight!  From 6PM-10PM at 1837 S. Halsted, Chicago, IL (google map) - there will be a live auction of 35 artist’s work (including mine), door prizes, a live band, food and drinks.  It’s going to be a blast and I’m glad some peeps from Orbit will be able to make it. :)  I donated a large collage/drawing to help raise money for their cause.  The ultimate goal of CAD is to foster careers of blossoming artists and cultivate a welcome and unpretentious atmosphere to work and interact in.  I love the people there and I hope we’re always friends.  Come join me tonight and get inspired and have some fun. :)

So Bobby and I got home from work today to the house smelling amazing!  Walked in the kitchen and Kurt was like, “just in time!” and took the foil off of the dish he had just prepared - homeade enchiladas!  Oh my goodness they were so good too. MMMMmmmmm.  And on top of that he fed the kitties and bought them more food (that I forgot to get at the grocery two nights ago.) AND he did the dishes.  AND he burnt me the new Q-Tip CD! Woo hoo!  I win!

I’m chilly.  My toes and hands are cold and I’m inside the house! Boo to the newly cold and crappy weather season. Especially since I’ve decided running in 30 degrees or below weather is not an option for me - I don’t have the right clothing for it and no money to buy it right now. :(   I think I might have to get back on the eliptical but I’m really not looking forward to it - I’ve decided its too boring to work out at the house…  I do like the eliptical but its not like being in a gym - there’s nothing going on and less motivation to stay on it.  As we speak I’m watching my favorite show The Biggest Loser and sitting on my butt…I think the cold weather is really messing with my attitude. I just want to be warm and cozy.  Help!

You heard it here folks…I’m still running.  2 days til I can say it’s been 2 months! ;) It’s October and I’m sick and it’s 36 degrees out and I am still running (big thank you to Melissa G’s playlist because this morning it got me through the cold without giving up.)  Today was unusually hard…so I bet I’ll have to take the next couple of days off and drink lots of tea and eat lots of soup. Everybody send me your healthy good energy…send me the good vibes. haha.

Let see, what’s new? It’s winter, I’m running, oh and p.s. Kurt Cruse moved into our basement! Justin flew down to Tampa on Friday and drove back with him and Chloey the cat (who was very unhappy to meet us at first, but I think she might be getting used to us now. ) Kurt and Bobby have both been sick since the beginning of the weekend so I assume that’s where I got it…although it could be my co-workers…everyone is coughing and sneezing around here too.  Bring on the Halls and Dayquil…maybe I can wipe this thing out before it gets too much worse.

This weekend - well, actually Thursday - the Halloween parties begin…and I’m not really a costume-dresser-upper…so hopefully I don’t bum people out at these parties. haha.  My cousin’s wife Jen is having a costume party for her 30th birthday at Brownstone and then Friday I’m having dinner at Bridget’s place since Linnea is in town, but I’m stopping by another costume party at Chicago Art Department at some point that evening…so I can see the closing show for Night of the Living Artist - Halloween/Closing Party and drop of a piece of art that I’m donating to their annual fund raiser: Growing Up CAD.  Should be fun and exhausting weekend!

What’s everybody else doing for Halloween?

So this weekend Bobby, Jess Large, and I got up on Saturday morning and did the Orbitz Go Go Green 5K at the Peggy Notebaert Museum in the freezing cold and rain! It was fun though and I’m glad we went…good cause and some exercise to start the weekend off right.  We just got the times back and they were:

68 ROBERT ARGEANTON   337   24:36 7:55
224 JESSICA LARGE           377   31:52 10:16
225 MICHELLE FIOCCA       336   31:52 10:16

This is actually 2 minutes slower than I did the last one but lets face it - it was freezing and raining in our faces! haha.  I logged my time on my Nike+ widget though and it showed that Large and I were very consistent throughout the race so I’m glad we stayed at a good pace and didn’t walk at all.  Go us!  (I did forget to turn off my Nike+ so the down hill spiral at the end is me walking and waiting for the lady to take my chip off and walking to the snack table. haha) Anyway - good times had by all!  Next Sunday is the Hot Chocolate 5K/15K that I’m running with Large.  Lets see if we can beat our time!  I think we might run the 5K and walk the rest. :)

Hey look! It’s me and Jason Santa Maria!  AND Eric Meyer! AND look it’s Robert Hoekman, Jr! Sadly I didn’t get a picture with Andy Clarke, but he did give me a sweet pin from Stuff and Nonsense at lunch one day as we chatted about politics and other things…:) It’s crazy because I go to these sites all the the time and read about design things and new projects and I guess I never thought I’d actually meet the people behind them.  These are some of the great web standards-designers-css writers-usability experts of their kind!

My friend Cheryl that I met at the conference has been telling me to get these pictures up for like 2 weeks so here they are! Finally!

ALL of the speakers were fantastic and really opened my eyes to a lot of things that I didn’t know and also reaffirmed some things I’d been thinking all along.  It was nice to just get inspired and be in my design element agian.

Sometimes an experience like this is just the thing you need to get back in that zone.  Not that I’ve lost interest in design at all - its just tough to be excited every day when you hardly have time to think, when you are just doing doing doing.  I hope I can use lots of the things I learned at Orbit and also educate my co-workers that were unable to attend.  I took soooo many notes my arm was about to fall off - so I’m covered in terms of information! :)

Tonight we went to pick up my packet for “An Event Apart” Web Design Conference tomorrow!  I’m so excited I cannot even express my emotions in word format.  *jumps for joy*

Check out the picture to the right - this is the stuff that came in my packet a sweet mini laptop bag(too bad my comp doesn’t fit), memo pad, and a quite nice journal/notebook, and of course my personalized ID badge. :) I’m happy, can you tell?

This is going to be such an inspiration and so eye-opening and refreshing.  Starts at 7AM tomorrow at the Sheraton Hotel downtown Chicago and the end of the day there will be a sweet party sponsored by Media Temple.  All the people I love in web design are gonna be there: Jeffery Zeldman, Eric Meyer, Jason Santa Maria (who designed the ID badges), Jason Fried, Cameron Moll…the list goes on.  I really wish someone was going with me (Kurt would be my first choice since we are literally like web design buddies every day at work.)  I’m gonna do my best to relay all this stuff back to you dude!  Seriously its not gonna be the same by myself…hopefully I’m not a total loner hanging out in the corner being bashful. Haha!  Lets pray I make some friends. LOL.

Ok well I’m gonna go get my bag together and charge all my electronics to take with me: laptop, camera, phone, ipod nano.  :)

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination along are omnipotent.”

This is a quote from my boss’s office - embroidered in a little frame. I’ve loved it since the day I started here…just wanted to share.