Ode to My Other Life: Construction Management and Estimating

This is a departure from the crafting, the cooking, the child-rearing, the housekeeping… and maybe I’ve mentioned it only a few times. My background is in civil engineering (some may not believe this) and after college, I worked for only one company for eleven years (rarity nowadays) but was fortunate to wear many hats. I’ve been a field/project  engineer, assistant project manager, and at the time I opted out, I was an estimator. Actually, my business card read: Senior Cost Analyst.

Reviewing blueprints, meeting with developers, trying to figure out how to get their projects within a reasonable budget, meeting with manufacturer representatives, architects and contractors to orchestrate a project – I loved it, loved the people I worked with (most of them, hehe) and for. What I loved most was walking through a building as it was being built and seeing the 3-D version of what I’d been studying and budgeting. Sounds idealistic, doesn’t it? The stress, I could leave behind, and I did – just traded it for other stress. Seems like many years ago, but it’s only been a little over 3 years. My notes from a project meeting looks so foreign to me right now…

Every once in a blue moon, I make a night out by attending a dinner meeting with a professional organization I used to belong to, National Assocation of Women in Construction, NAWIC (pronounced NAY-WICK). There are chapters all over the nation – two in the Chicago area and two in the far north and northwest regions of llinois. I coordinate meetings for one of the chapters and seemingly, it’s working out well. I’m a bit removed from the construction industry but have been pretty successful with keeping in touch with colleagues from my other life and some of them have become good friends.

The beauty of dining with these women and sitting in on the meetings is inspiration for me. Most evenings there is a guest speaker, someone from the industry, who might talk about a current project, hot topic in construction, or sometimes new construction materials. Recently, the dinner topic was to showcase your company, your role in the company and how it relates to NAWIC. These women meet every month and people know what firms they work for, but sometimes, you forget what people do on a daily basis.

It was completely refreshing to hear stories from the trenches. There were fun ones: I met a woman who managed projects at O’Hare Airport and whose voice is used in a few public announcements (think: Thank you for not smoking)! And, some stories not so fun… in 2010, there is still a sense of “the old boys club”. I recall going to a few meetings myself where there might have been 50-75 people and 2 women. Personally, I almost always used those circumstances as my opportunity to be memorable, but you have to be able to roll with the punches and maintain a sense of decorum amidst alcoholic-influenced people.

In NAWIC you see the encouragement and support for those struggling with difficult personalities or just the rough economy, and yes, people are trying to get work anywhere. People are losing jobs or getting hours cut and there’s little building to go around right now. Interestingly enough, there’s been some buzz in the insurance world regarding project inquiry in Chicago and apparently the same thing happened in Texas when George W. took office back in early 00′s. Perhaps there’s hope for the 10′s.

Sure, listening to these women showcasing their employers or their own companies made me miss the “ol’ days”, but really, I appreciate my former employers and the opportunities I had even more and I have a great deal of admiration for my talented, goal-oriented, multi-tasking, feisty, business-savvy “construction sisters”.

Tags: construction, Friends and Family, jobs, NAWIC, work

Cookie Exchange

Another year of over indulging. Another year of amazing cookies, and a little, just a little, unspoken competition. More cameraderie, I’d like to think. Another year of seeing our friend’s children grow a few more inches. Another year of welcoming new friends into our lives. Another year of opening our home to loved ones, another year of laughing and catching up on all that has happened.

We paid tribute to John Hughes, writer, director of movies that define moments of high school in the 80s: Ferris Buehler’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, Planes, Trains and Automobiles. He holds a special place with some of us because we graduated from the same high school he attended, Glenbrook North High School.

So, our friends brought their best cookies. We tried to name them accordingly, too, (i.e. Cookies-when-you’re-”Home Alone”, or “Ferris’s thumbprint cookies”, Sloane’s Sugar Cookies, Blaine’s Butterscotch shortbread, Abe Froman cookie) Still, it was a Christmas cookie swap, so if the creative mood didn’t strike them, it was okay.

After sharing two dozen to sample, we swapped six dozen (plus some leftovers) more. Seventeen households/families… it was quite a party! We recognized the best theme-related, best tasting, best decorated, best-in-show, and best haiku.

See some pictures here taken by my brother-in-law and my pictures below. If you roll your cursor over the pictures, you should be able to see their names. Want recipes? Let me know. Enjoy!

Tags: Christmas, cookies, Friends and Family, holiday, living, party

Cookie Exchange Party: Haiku Poetry

We’re cleaning up from a great afternoon and evening. A John Hughes themed cookie exchange, complete with best theme, best decorated, best tasting, best cookie overall and best haiku. There was an amazing display of creativity. I loved it: Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller, Mr. Mom… The party is always a good way to help bring out more Christmas spirit, but this year, it was especially good since my family had another death in the family this past week. There were moments this week when I’d be fine, but then while preparing for our party, the smallest thing would remind me of my uncle (he loved parties and threw great ones, too) and I’d start crying. *sigh* I’m better now, really.

I promise to have a link to pictures soon, but for now here are our some haikus from our poetry wall.

Butter and some sugar.
Don’t forget choc’late. And then
Tasty bits of joy.
(A.O.)

Mrs. Fields is my friend.
We go way back, to my youth.
I don’t care what kind!
(S.S.)

Delicious cookies
Look so good to eat today
The cookie crumbles
(A.T. and J.T.)

A celebration
Winter cookies and close friends
My perfect evening
(E.T.)

Uncle Buck would be proud
Baking duties thrust on us
Must use everything!
(D.M. and Y.H.)

Pretty pink panties
Day off in windy city
We miss you John Hughes
(S.C. and M.S.)

cold milk fills my glass
warm chocolate chips and walnuts;
a cookie fixes everything!
(A.C. and S.R.)

John Candy outdoors
Bald bear knocked him on the floor
Too bad there weren’t S’MORES!
(J.M.)

Oh Ferris Bueller
I wish I had lived like you
Taking Ferraris
(J.H.)

Tags: Friends and Family, fun, haiku, party, poetry

Reconciliation, Glass Blowing and Friends

What a nice weekend. We celebrated Abby’s First Reconciliation at our church. The big celebration will be in April with First Holy Communion.

Then we visited our friend and glass artist, Robert Fritz. Bob (sitting) and Eastman used to work together, but now, Bob is a retired high school art teacher, and he can do what he loves. Bob hosts a holiday open house at his studio and home to showcase his work as well as other artists. We’re fortunate to have a few pieces by Bob; one was commissioned by Eastman for Christmas right before Abby was born. Talk about an emotion-evoking gift! Breathtaking work, really. Check out Bob’s gallery on his website. The highlight of the day is learning a little about pulling or blowing glass and being able to pull our own cane ornaments. We must have at least a dozen now.

Looking a little wonky?!

We were excited to see Greg Colombe again and his beautiful pottery work (he’s in the background in the red shirt). He’s doubled his color palate just by adding porcelain to his materials. We have a stoneware pillar candle holder and lidded jar. This year we bought a soap dish with the most amazing glaze, and Abby and Ollie both came home with the prettiest magnets our refrigerator will see. You just might fall in love with Greg’s work if you go to his site and check out his gallery.

So, to continue the “visiting friends” theme of the day… we ventured a little further and met with some long time friends, one I haven’t seen since high school! I don’t know who had more fun, the kids or the grown-ups?

I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend to help me get out of my winter doldrum funkiness. I’m so blessed with amazing friends and family.

Tags: art, Friends and Family, glass blowing, kids, pottery

Christmas Card Display idea

Maybe you tape cards to the back of the door. Maybe you string them up along the top of the wall, or maybe line the cards up along your fireplace mantle. Here is a fun way to display your holiday greeting cards if you want to try something new.

Supplies: 2 x 4 ceiling tile, fabric, ribbon, light duty staple gun, picture screw hooks, heavy twine or rope, push pins

Make sure you have enough fabric to cover your board. Place your fabric on the floor, right side down, and then the ceiling tile, also right side down. Wrap the fabric around the edges, and staple to the board. Turn right side up, and place ribbon horizontally and vertically to make board look like a present. I also stapled these to the board.  On the back side, I screwed hooks into the board a few inches in from the edges and then strung twine through them to create a hanger. I loved how it turned out last year.

Christmas 2008 Card Gallery

Tags: cards, Christmas, crafting, family, Friends and Family, fun, holiday, kids, martha stewart, tutorials

Holiday Party Planning for a Cookie Exchange

I honestly try to enjoy Fall for what it is – the transitioning into winter, the falling leaves, late gardening, the colors, pumpkins, costumes, giving thanks. I LOVE Fall, which is probably also why I make myself feel guilty for even slightly thinking about Christmas and winter. This is the time of year I get myself mentally, physically and emotionally charged up for the barrage of Christmas and holiday events including the ones we host here at the Tiu homestead.

Cream Cheese Mango pinwheels

For the last nine years (minus the one when we were building the house) we’ve invited close friends mainly from high school and college to a cookie exchange. It started out innocently, as most things do: Six households probably no more than 12 people. Last year we hosted about 60 people including children, 20 households. It marks the Christmas season for us as we open our home to friends, and it’s the most incredible display of cookie baking, not to mention cameraderie and even a little friendly competition. Each home brought 6 dozen cookies to share and went home with just about the same amount. This Facebook album link is a doorway to our cookie madness that we love so dearly.

One more thing I’d like to share as a free download.  It’s my trusty party planning spreadsheet. You type in the date of your party and the spreadsheet fills with start and end dates for different tasks. There’s also a worksheet that will calculate food quantities. It’s in MSExcel for Windows, and you can use it for other types of parties. I’ve used it for bridal showers, dinner parties, brunches, simple gatherings. But, this one is written with our holiday cookie exchange in mind.

Tags: cooking, free download, Friends and Family, holiday, party, party planning