I Didn't Make it to the Cover of a Magazine,

however, I did, after nearly six years of entering, make it to the cover of our Orlando, 2014 Historic Preservation calendar.  As I've done in the past, I attended the first ten minutes or so of the City Council meeting for the presentation, along with a group photograph including Mayor Buddy Dyer and all the winners. Had we stayed we would have seen this big news voted on. Thinking about it later, really, once the calendar is in use, my photo will not be seen again, unlike this year when I had both the month of April and December. Remind me why it was that I wanted to make the cover?

It is nice of them to validate your parking ticket for the garage which was full to the brim, causing me to finally park the Pilot on the 9th floor. Taking a few shots of the city while up there, here is a view of Orlando Utilities on the right-- the roof on their new building is chock full of solar panels. To the left is their old headquarters, which only recently opened as a W Hotel following extensive renovations.

According to the newspaper, it is quite nice inside which comes as no surprise. Looking West, here is the Amway Arena,

where the Magic play. It is so very hard to imagine they have been playing for 25 years now. Earlier in the day Angela called, asking me where the SunTrust building was.

It is very hard for me to believe, given as smart as she is, that she did not notice the building on the right. Both Bill and Dave work for SunTrust, although not in this building, rather Bill is in the Dr. Phillips branch, while David has his office on Park Avenue in Winter Park. Eventually, after extensive instructions from me, she found it, as I learned later after stopping at the new house to drop off one more print, which I think will finish up the "Gaillery", as they call it.

Anyway, the calendar is weak this year, mostly because the neighborhood was weak. I'll try not to let that influence my happiness at finally making the cover!

The morning, or at least two hours of it, was spent in a focus group on ovens, or rather, ranges. What do I mean by that? Well, it means, I, along with 18 other people were asked questions about the design, price, burner placement, how we would put pans on the stove top, what we thought of convection ovens, as well as induction cook tops. The moderator, named Robin was from London. I'm pretty sure the company paying us was LG, although I can't be certain. There were about a dozen ranges in the room, covered at first, then, once uncovered we were to look at them, and pick our favorites, over, and over, and over again. For my trouble I was paid $75---not too shabby. Heck, some days I drive all the way out to Winter Garden, set up, take down, spend eight hours, and don't even make that much, so it seemed like a win-win situation. Bruce asked to be taken out to dinner on the easy money. :)

I hope one day they choose the neighborhood where we saw this fantastic house,

except the calendar is black and white, so this house would not be a good candidate. Isn't it brilliant?

While Bruce and I watched Antiques Roadshow Monday night, a dragonfly kept buzzing around in the lampshade. You know what that means...

Finally he got free, landing on the wall, and staying there all night long. When I got up in the morning he was gone to parts unknown.

Bruce flew to Miami on Tuesday to check on his Yard House before flying to Houston this morning. Both the Seasons 52 and Capital Grille are nearly done, which is very exciting. Usually Bruce is overwhelmed with work around the holidays--we are so excited that this year that will not be the case.

Just think--Christmas is a mere 49 days away! Let the shopping begin...