Office Mystery . . .

Like AT&T, Isle Concierge is raising the bar.

Generally, usually, mostly . . . we like to keep our office in good standing order. Sitting in the office late last week Friday though, I finally noticed that all our staplers in the office had been sitting on our counter all nicely together for pretty much the entire week… a week that was anything but orderly. Now there are several things that are pre-determined or planned in our office, but then there are moments like these… completely random moments of order amongst the insanity. It’s a mystery.

We learned a lot this week… not fun learnings… it was the growing kind. It was pandemonium, a madhouse, re-donk-ulous or that’s how I felt it was. When I revisit this week, I think of explosions and headaches… but amongst that, our three little staplers ended up in complete order? What does it mean? Perhaps it is a reminder that though we may think everything is in disarray, it’s not so…. there were no explosions, no riots, and certainly no wounds. Or are these three little staplers a reference to AT&T’s ever so famous slogan “Raising the bar” and in that sense, this week we have raised the bar through the different experiences and craziness? This could be a possibility too because all this learning has led to upgrades in our system… hmmmmm…

Blame it on one of our OCD staff members (which one? we don’t know… we’re all a little OCD) or on coincidence or on the fact that I am truly exhausted, but these little staplers have led me to realize something about us this week.  Our team has somehow established control and focus amongst our chaos… maybe it was always there and we never paid attention to it, but now it has my full attention. We are also raising the bar everyday through the many random things we help people do. Today it was tying bows on boxes (which is not as easy as you think) that were much too small. Next week it could be folding 1,000 origami cranes for a wedding. Whatever it may be, we will learn to do it and perfect it… that’s how we’re raising the bar.

You marinade on that… and if it doesn’t make any sense don’t worry, you’re not alone.

. . . burning the midnight oil, after hours.

November Nom Noms

Oh November… I’m so excited you’re here. Though Hawaii locals don’t feel the seasons, I always know when the Holidays are nearing. It’s not the overcast skies or the sun setting sooner, it’s food. For some reason, once Halloween is over I feel like I start to consume more food… Maybe it’s just me?

I think it’s because we know the biggest food fare of all is upon us this month… yes, Thanksgiving.

*happy dance*

In honor of November and the feasts to come, let me get your appetites going with my 2 favorite foodie sites…. WARNING: proceeding past this point will make you hungry. If you are on a diet, please close your window. Thank you.

Tastespotting.com & Foodgawker.com

I discovered Tastespotting.com in the Fall of 2007 while I was hungry 🙂 The site was stunning. Beautifully composed pictures of culinary treats that made me wish I could 1) cook something so delicious and 2) take such beautiful photos. This is one of those great accomplishments of the social media! It has brought together people from all over the world who love food and photography and given them a platform to display their works of art. The even better part is Tastespotting.com’s tagline… “A Community Driven Visual Potluck”. Snaps to you Tastespotting…. that was a good one.

Tastespotting is addicting… Thus, in June of 2008 when a note was put up on their site saying it would be shut down, the online foodie community died a little inside. People were shocked, others were extremely sad… I personally was going through withdrawals. Where were we going to get our fix?

A day later Foodgawker.com was born. Foodgawker is an almost exact replica of Tastespotting… delicious looking food photographed like supermodels (or as other bloggers have put it “Food Porn”). Our foodie lives were saved and the community returned to its contributions of foodie pics, and people like me visually feasted. Everything started to feel normal again, but then another surprise!! Tastespotting was resurrected a few weeks later! *sigh* Long story short, we now have two equally fabulous foodie sites allowing everyday people to share their beautiful food with fans of all culinary creations. Do I have a favorite? Not really. I don’t discriminate when it comes to food 🙂

So if you feel yourself having a case of the Mondays, don’t fret… stroll on over to Tastespotting or Foodgawker and take a visual bite. You’re bound to stumble across something that will lift your spirits and get you through the work week. Something like this…

Have a great week!

Join Team Isle for Pet Walk 2009!!!

Pet Walk 2009 is coming up, and guess whos going to be there?

That’s right, yours truly: Isle Concierge!

The Hawaiian Humane Society hosts an annual Pet Walk to celebrate and show thanks to all of the supporters of the non-profit organization.  This year, the Pet Walk will be held on October 4th at 8am at Magic Island.  Feel free to join Team Isle by bringing your pets and supporting the Hawaiian Humane Society.  You’ll probably be able to spot us in our Pet Walk 2009/Team Isle t-shirts!  Also, come to enjoy the festivities which include pet games, a costume contest, entertainment and refreshments!

If you are unable to walk with us, don’t be discouraged!  You can also donate and sponsor our team mascot, Aja!  Please visit firstgiving.com/IsleConcierge to help us reach our donation goal of $1,000!  While you’re there, please feel free to learn more about our mascot Aja, leave a comment or learn more about the cause.

We truly appreciate all of your support and look forward to seeing you at Pet Walk 2009!

Raise The Woof

Today was a day of naming things, which is always difficult. Trying to be witty, clever, professional, and have it all make sense with the event you’re putting on is just downright ridiculous.

One of the many events we named today was for our upcoming pet fair that we’re hosting at one of our corporate properties. After an hour on the phone we settled on ‘Pets at the Plaza’. Simple, classy, & appropriate… unlike ‘Raise the woof’. All the talking about names and dogs makes me want to talk about my dog… Aja 🙂

Aja (pronounced like Asia), was technically named after me. That was supposed to be my name because my Dad loved the song by the group Steely Dan. For about 15 min she was named Lola, but in the end Aja was probably the best name for her 🙂

She’s a sassy Tibetan Spaniel/Daschund mix that loves to look out windows, eat vegetables, act like she’s digging, & thinks she should shower every night. When we bought Aja, she was the last puppy on sale. No one wanted her so they put her on sale. My Dad didn’t want me to get her at first, claiming she didn’t have “personality”. When I picked her up to hold her and tried to look her in the eye to see if she would respond, she’d move her face away from me and she even sighed… like “ugh… don’t bother me. I’m tired.” I walked out of the puppy swap meet only thinking about that snobby little puppy. I was almost offended that she snobbed me. But, after 20 min I found myself running back into petland kahala hoping no one took her home! To my relief, she was still there, lying on her paws…. & then the adventure began. After 2 days at home she had already begun destroying toys, stealing socks and hiding them, and also got stuck under a night stand. My Dad and brothers were quickly won over by her… so much for no personality.

I think the best part of my day is coming home… the second I walk through the door, Aja’s there jumping on my leg, trying to tell me about her day. She truly is like my own kid that I’ve raised. It’s just funny how emotionally attached we get to our pets.

I’ll leave you with a cute puppy video of Aja on her second day at home… hope it brightens your day 🙂