Last night I was @.......

What a blast last night's event was!  I want to thank everyone who came and for those of you who couldn't make it, I totally understand and I will start planning next month's event.

My biggest thanks is to Bill Kaelin and the ladies at Bobby Berk Home

Someone else everyone should meet is Winston...

Bobby Berk's greatest ambassador!

Here are some other pics of last night's event.

 The Bobby Berk Showroom

 Furniture, Bedding, accessories!

 Baby furniture and accessories too!

 I would not mind a pair of these chairs!

 Duncan, my husband, Gerry Varela in the center and Mike DeCarlo on the right.

 Thomas Davis on the left and Jason Schnock on the right.

My great friends from LG Squared, Chris and Jodi, who looks good even with her eyes shut.  Sorry Jodi!

I was so pleased to meet some new people last night and as always, feel free to bring a friend to any event.

Stay tuned for the next Happy Hour.

Today I am @.......

......the voting poll!!!

Get out and vote for Bellwether Landscape Architects so they can win the Ad Space Giveaway for the Beacham Series!!!!!!

Click on the link below and vote!!!

http://www.thisphotographerslife.com/2012/09/ad-space-competition-finalists-2.html 

Also, don't forget to come to my Happy Hour at Bobby Berk Home next Thursday, September 27th!!

Today I am @......

............the perfect temperature!  Is this weather fabulous or what?

I am attaching a link to a post written by some friends of mine, Chris and Jodi Laumer-Giddens of LG Squared, who recently completed an Energy Star Certified home in Grant Park.  These guys really know their stuff.  If you or anyone you know are interested in making your current home, or a soon to be built home, more energy efficient, be sure to contact them.  All of their info can be found in their post below.

http://lgsquaredinccom.ipage.com/wordpress/www.lgsquaredinc.com/energy-star-certified-home-in-grant-park-atlanta-ga/

A more urgent matter is the Beacham Series annual ad space giveaway, sorry Chris and Jodi.  Bellwether Landscape Architects are in the running and I am asking you to click on the link below so you can vote for them to win the ad space giveaway.  Bellwether Landscape Architects are very talented and have a great portfolio of work so they definitely deserve to win.

http://www.thisphotographerslife.com/2012/09/ad-space-competition-finalists-2.html 

Once you have hired LG Squared to improve the energy efficiency of your home, you can call Todd, Missy and Sarah at Bellwether to design your dream garden.

Thanks to wireless, I was able to enjoy my day outdoors while still working.  Here are my assistants:

 Shorty

 Splash

and The Twins.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring more of the same.

Today I am @......

.....My coffee maker.

I know it is 4:25 in the afternoon but I can't wait for tomorrow morning.  Do you remember a post I did, back in February, about Matt Ludwikowski, the coffee aficionado?

Well I will jog your memory.  He had just won the Southeast Brewer's cup, coffee not beer, and had been traveling to and from El Salvador working along side the farmers there, creating his own coffee.

Matt

It has finally paid off and he has his own business, Brash Coffee, going strong.  I received mine today and it is fabulous.  Matt's goal is simple: to produce higher quality coffee, better prices for farmers, better ecological practices and happy coffee drinkers.  I am definitely one!

Order on line at www.brashcoffee.com, also be sure to follow on instagram - @brashcoffee, twitter - @brashcoffee, and facebook - http://www.facebook.com/mattlud,  to see where he will be selling his coffee. It might be at your Saturday farmers markets.

I am attaching my original post I wrote about Matt as he was just getting started.

From February 2012:

I have a story I want to tell about coffee and I am going to do it in a few segments.  I really hope you find it as interesting I do,

Coffee Talk Part I:  The Farmers

Do you know the origin of your coffee and better yet do you know who actually planted it, harvested it, roasted it and put it into your mug for you?

A few months ago I met a coffee aficianado named Matt Ludwikowski.  He has to be one of the most infectious people I have met in a really long time.  He is a Barrista at Octane Coffee and recent Champion of the 2012 Southeastern Brewers Cup, coffee not beer.  What a lot of people might not know about him is that he recently returned from El Salvador where he picked, dried and roasted his own coffee.  Those are only three of the steps a coffee cherry goes through before it enters your cup.  I will cover that in another segment of Coffee Talk.

Matt in El Salvador

A lot of us are concerned about the treatment of animals on farms where our meat or poultry come from or the use of pesticides on the vegetables we eat but there isn't a lot of emphasis on the people who actually grow these vegetables or take care of the animals on these farms.  Companies like Inteligentsia (www.intelligentsiacoffee.com) actually live and work along side their farmers 365 days a year.  Their intention is to ensure better pay for farmers, better working conditions, sustainable farming practices and a better coffee product for you and me.

Did you know that the farmers of a lot of the mass produced coffee are paid just a few cents for their labor while a single pound of coffee is sold for $12?

Clearly Matt got my attention and I have been on a coffee tasting binge.  Here are my favorites so far:  One Thousand Faces Coffee, purchased at Whole Foods, I think the name of the roast was "Aromia" my dog chewed up the bag.  Another one I have been enjoying is Batdorf and Bronson "Skye's Mountain Blend".  They have a shop in Decatur.  www.batdorfcoffee.com

I have been trying to drink more coffee at home in order to support more humane coffee companies and I am really enjoying it.  There is an occasional latte purchased from one of the chains but nobody is perfect.

Go look at the Intelligentsia Website and I really enjoyed Counter Culture's website too, www.counterculturecoffee.com.  Also be sure to go see Matt at Octane Coffee on Northside Drive but don't ask for a "Frappucino" or a "Caramel Machiato", there is no such thing there, and that's not a bad thing!  Branch out.

Stay tuned for the next segment.

Today I am @......

....College Gameday (via my TV)

As I do a little work on the side I thought I would share my invite for the upcoming networking happy hour with you.  I am attaching the invite and would love to extend an invitation to anyone interested.  Feel free to bring friend but.........let me know that you are coming!!  Shoot me an email, comment on facebook, call me or comment below.

I also have a favor.  I am attaching some links to facebook pages for people I am working with.  Would you follow the links and like their pages?

Revival Construction

Bellwether Landscape Architects

San Marco USA

Phoenix Millworks



Enjoy your Saturday!!!!!!!

Today I am @..........

.......My Desk.

It doesn't sound very exciting but it really is.  I have a lot of great things going on but I thought I would share some pics from my summer vacations.

I was in Jackson Hole for a week and this summer my niece and nephew were there with us. That made it even more fun.  Here are some of my pictures:

check out the eagle on the top branch, I didn't even see it until after I took the photo

cat tails at The Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve

Charlie and Evie

Phelps Lake

Phelps Lake, water and mountains, can it get any better?

Normally we have moose all around but this visit all I saw were deer, deer and more deer which is still great.  Duncan stayed another week and wouldn't you know........

Is that amazing or what?

I also just spent a long weekend in Santa Barbara with my friends Chris and Caroline.  What a beautiful place and the weather was wonderful.  We rode our bikes and walked everywhere.  One of my favorite things about the whole trip was their Farmer's Market.  There was an abundance of everything.  All of the flowers and produce came from from farms right around us.

I would definitely be a vegetarian again if I had access to all of this fresh produce.

The Grand Finale......

I had the best summer and I hope you did too!  Stay tuned for the next post about the upcoming happy hour.