Skree! I could just pop with pleasure! I love how the 60′s Square Virage filter makes these photos look so retro. I can almost smell the emulsion after letting the photo develop. (My dad would be so proud. He loved photography. He probably inherited the photographer’s gene from his dad, professional photographer Kent Hitchcock.)

So for a bit of filter fun with photographs on your iPhone go to the iTunes iPhone app store and buy Lo-Mob. It’s just a few bucks and all the retro chemical film developing filters it’s definitely worth it.

A few days ago a group of other bloggers and I were fortunate enough to taste each of the 7 competing burgers from the 3 categories: Beef, Turkey, Vegetarian. You can see the who’s ahead on the Burgers On The Edge website where you can also find links to the Burger Genius TV show, the Burger Genius creators themselves (just some normal peeps like you and me), and videos.

Believe me, trying 7 burgers on the same night was a challenge but each burger had a flavor of it’s own. After trying them all I did have two that were my favorite. Here’s how the burger finalists ranked for me.

The Southern Belle

My favorite of the seven burgers is The Southern Belle. It’s a beef burger with fried green tomato, bacon, cheddar cheese, ranch dressing, onion, and pickles. I love the fried green tomato texture with the beef patty and with cheddar and bacon – how can you go wrong?

Mr. Smarty Pants

This turkey burger surprised the heck out of me. I’m not a huge fan of pesto but when paired with spinach, pepper jack cheese, sprouts and a fried egg the flavors are delicious. The fried egg on the turkey patty seemed odd at first but tasted really good. Definitely worth a try.

Save The Chickens

Another turkey burger, this one has focused ingredients and knows what it’s about.  I liked that there were onions, onions, onions with cream of mushroom sauce and NO tomato. It’s not a burger that will knock your socks off by being a crazy new combo but it’s a solid comfort food favorite.

The remaining burgers in order of my preference are: the Garden Isle Burger (veggie), Plan B (veggie), Kung Pow Burger (beef), and Da Local Kine (beef).

There’s still time left so make your vote count by the 30th.

Bon Burger Apetit!

]]> http://tammihitchcock.com/make-your-vote-count/feed/ 1 http://tammihitchcock.com/fashion-food-royal-hawaiian-shopping-center/ http://tammihitchcock.com/fashion-food-royal-hawaiian-shopping-center/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:40:19 +0000 tammi http://tammihitchcock.com/fashion-food-royal-hawaiian-shopping-center/ I couldn’t resist taking a picture of these fantastic, cherry, cherries hanging from one of the handbags at Juicy Coture while many tweeple (twitter people) were shopping and eating at the #RHCFashion tweetup.

Toby with @ATMarketing did a fabulous job of organizing and executing another great business tweetup. About 40 participants signed in at the start location, got our punch cards with target locations and goals then scrambled throughout Royal Hawaiian Center’s fashion stores like bebe, Acid Dolls, White House | Black Market.

While we visited stores there were pupus (hors d’ourves), wines, store specials and check-in stickers for the punch cards. The food was fantastic from restaurants including P.F. Changs (loved the crab wontons!), Chibo (yummy okonomiyaki), and Wolfgang’s Steakhouse (incredible crab cakes).

When we all finished tweeting where we were visiting & the delicious food we were eating we gathered at Doraku Sushi. Gnoshed, talked story, laughed and had a drawing fir incredible Royal Hawaiian Center gift certificates.

There are only a few men I can think of that have a natural smile on their face even when no one is looking at them. Two right off hand and they are Richard Gere and the Dalai Lama. Now everyone already knows Richard Gere is just getting more gorgeous as the years go by so I don’t have to explain why his face comes to mind and the Dalai Lama although not exactly a “hunk” has an amazingly peaceful hint of a smile even when he is listening intently to whomever is talking. Both have that je n’aise qua. That something intriguing about them (and I hadn’t thought of it till just now but the fact that they’re both Buddhist has nothing to do with my little post here).

I hadn’t really given this smile-on-your-face thing much consideration until I was on the city limo (thebus.org) the other day and just hapened to look at the driver. This driver had the most pleasant relaxed look on his face with just a hint of a smile. While he drove down Waialae Avenut onto King Street I glanced over (okay maybe more than a glancing moment) to see if the was still smiling or if I had just caught hime as he thought of something nice. Nope, sure enough his face was just set in a beautiful, mysterious smile. It made me think briefly about the paintiung odf the Mona Lisa. What was she thinking? What was he thinking?

There are many things a nice smilke is good for. In marketing if a salesperson asks you if you want the gorgeous diamond earrings to go with that stunning solitare necklace you just decided to buy and he asks you with a smile on his face and even a slight nod of his head while asking you – BAM you’ve just been upsold BY A SMILE. Or what if your wife asks you to come in to the other room to show you something are you more inclined to get out of your big fat comfy football chair if she’s smiling in a beguiling demure sort of way or if she just shouts from the other room “hey, come heah for I can show you da kine.” Right… you’d pick the enticing smile wouldn’t you?

When I was first starting out in the business workd there was a lot being said about whether you should smile or not when giving a presentation Many thought that if you smiled people would not take you as serious as you wantt=ed them to, especially if you were a woman. They also taught us women to shake hands “like a man” so you would give the impression you were strong and not weak. (Tell me that wasn;t sexist.) But things have changed and as society has loosened up quite a bit over the last 20 years or so a smile is now regarded as a positive asset when speaking. I’s understood as an indication that you like what you are talking about or what you believe in. Sort of a non verbal affirmation.

It’s said that it takes more muscles in your face to frown than it does to smile. I beg to differ because when I rest my face it doesn’t relax into a natural smile. (Maybe that’s just because of gravity. Who knows,) But when I remember to smile or i’m smiling because I’m enjoying something, other people start smiling too.

What’s the point of all I’ve said? Well, first of all maybe you will catch yourself smiling while doing something you enjoy and maybe, just maybe, someone else will catch a glimpse of you doing it and it will make them smile too. Or maybe you’ll remember to smile when you ask that special someone to do something for you (like take out the trash). Maybe you’ll just remember to smile and preople will hear it in your voice and they will smile also. It is contageous you know.

I consider myself fortunate. I have an ambidextrous brain (heavy on the right brain-thanks mom). Not only am I an accomplished artist but I’m logic driven. (Thanks dad for the nerdy Tammi.) every day I’m like a frikken walking talking internal tug-of-war.

And to top it off I’m good at most everything I try to do (except office politics). I totally suck rocks when it comes to playing in the sandbox with bullies and emotionally immature supervisors who pretend to know what they’re talking about. Maybe I’ve been thrown under too many busses. But wait, THAT’s a whole different atlrticle.

Do you ever feel like you have more ideas than you can follow up on? A creative feels like that e-v-e-r-y day. Rapidfire ideas bang away at our brains even when we’re on our best behavior in meetings or giving presentations. Idea triggers are everywhere, a word, a plant, a shiny object, you get the idea. (no pun intended) sometimes you’ll see is scribbling, making notes, tweaking drawings or maybe messing up a project you think is finished. We’re creating.

We’re problem solvers. We make solutions to feed our brains whether it’s pretty to look at or a great way to promote a product. It feeds our brains. It keeps us happy. But believe me… It ain’t easy being a creative.

Several months ago I was laid off from a job I’d been at for about 5 years. Yes it was traumatic and yes it’s had stressful moments but there’s been many good things that have happened as well. For instance my blood pressure has dropped from 160/90 to 130/76. One doctor’s visit it was 110/70 and I was practically dancing in the the air I was sitting in while the doctor was talking to me. It hadn’t been that low in YEARS and I was practically giddy with excitement.

Not only has my blood pressure dropped but I’m eating more regularly and better and I’ve cut way back on drinking sodas. As a result of that and walking a lot more than I have in years I’ve lost over 20 pounds! Talk about ego opium! Yesterday at Nordstroms I was even able to buy a smaller size blouse than I expected which felt great.

Besides the health benefits there have been professional benefits as well that wouldn’t have happened along with networking and learning. I’m much more social and active and basically happier. Who knew getting laid off would be good for your health.

Health and dental insurance is the one major thing about having a steady job that I’ve sorely missed (besides the obvious paychecks). I’m waiting to see if the new health care legislation that was passed will make health care more available.

So overall getting laid off has been good for me. Too bad it took loosing my job for me to take better care of myself. It’s a lot easier though without everyone else piling the stress on and having much more time to do things. In fact I gained about 6 hours of free time each week just because I’m not commuting Monday through Friday. That’s like gaining an extra day a month or 12 extra days a year! Works for me! Stay tuned for more weight loss updates and other exciting developments.