#32 - EXTREME weather

Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder - this is pretty intense for southern California! Even heard there is a tornado warning!! This pic is a view from outside my office window. Check out the run-off from the roof (pooled up on the grass - in real life it's shooting onto the grass and into the parking lot). Supposedly a few more days of this...it's reported we'll get 5" of rain on Thursday alone.

#31 - Habana in Costa Mesa

I don't know if all Cuban food is this good but MAN this is a great place to have dinner! For appetizers we shared veggie empanadas and calamari. For dinner I got plantain crusted chicken breast on garlic mashed potatoes - phenomenal! Lui and his niece, Samantha, shared paella. Sasha and Sham shared a lamb dish. But it didn't stop there...we split flan and banana fritters, too. Ambiance is fabulous - it was a super night all around! No website but you can see pics of the food and read reviews on yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/habana-costa-mesa (LOVE Lui's face in this one! If that's not convincing and indicative of the fun we were having I don't know what is!!)

#30 - Bizhub

An all-in-one machine that copies, scans, faxes - sounds like a winner, right? Not always... I have spent more time unclogging this beast than I care to think about. Seriously, I think I could be a tech for the copy machine company at this point because I know this machine and its components all too well. I have temp. help on M/W/F and guess what she spends a lot of time doing? Printing - that's right, good guess! But today is Thursday...lucky me. Feel free to share your work-day woes. I'd love to hear them!

#29 - What do you do?

Several people have asked me this but I don't know if they know or really understand (which I'm assuming they really want to know the answer to since they asked) so here it goes -

I am the Marketing Manager for the South Coast Inland Empire Division of D.R. Horton, largest national builder for the past 7 years! My actual duties include:
1.) updating our community webpage (http://www.drhorton.com/corp/DivisionSearch.do?divisionid=25)
2.) touring community sites and making recommendations to increase foot traffic (if you went to the link above you'll see my properties are spread out all over southern CA = lots of driving)
3.) working with our ad agency on campaigns - includes media schedule (radio, TV, newpaper, magazines), unique URLs, on-site promotions
4.) opening & closing new communities - includes coordination with interior designers on model interior furnishings as well as sign companies for on & off-site signage
5.) working on collateral materials for the sales offices: brochures, flyers, price sheets, special event pieces

That's just a snippet. It's a fun job - no day is ever the same. I'm in the office mostly but prefer working in the field. I occasionally work weekends (ex. Saturday public grand opening of a new community). Challenges include tracking sales from marketing efforts, dealing with sign damage/graffiti, coming up with innovative ideas to help reach sales goals, lack of communication with those working in the field (I rely on my eyes in the field!), volume of work - we have 20 actively selling communities!

#28 - PINK EYE

If you never had pink eye, I hope you never get it. I woke up with it on Christmas morning, eye crusted shut. Went to the walk-in clinic the next day and got drops but my eye continues to itch like crazy, run and is swollen; there's also a good amount of sinus pressure on my left side. The super unflatering picture below was taken just after I removed an ice cube wrapped in a paper towel from my eye - it is the only way I can keep myself from scratching it. (Sidenote: I just had to get up and grab a tissue because my eye won't stop running.) I hate being a work w/o eye make-up; a co-worker just stopped by my office to tell me I look baked. Nice. Also, I know I am overdue for some eyebrow shaping but the last time I went they got SO thin and right now I don't think anyone should get near my eye. Without medical treatment, the internet says it'll run it's course in 7-10 days. I'm at day 5 with treatment...waiting...keep washing your hands, use hand sanitzer and hope you never get this.

#27 - Merry Christmas!

Christmas greetings and good wishes from Lola and Tobey!

#26 - Christmas Pig Out

Here are the tables in just one of our office's kitchens - they are COVERED in goodies! Some of them homemade, some not. Check out the massive gold box of See's candy on the far table - it has four 1 lb. boxes of chocolates in it. The items covering the tables change many times over the course of a day. It's no wonder I feel like a blimp (or that I've swalled one), I can't walk by the tables without grabbing a little something to snack on. I could completely avoid the kitchen but curiosity of what might have landed on the table since the last time I passed by keeps me reeled in.