Welcome to my coffee shop in the cyber neighborhood!


The Chronicles of Nani On Video

I am overcoming my inability to type with my ability to talk (and talk and talk and talk) I'll be posting a video every week on my YouTube channel. I'll be posting those videos here too along with an occasional regular blog in the mix. (As long as my hands are up to doing the extra typing.)

You'll be able to watch the videos here, but I encourage you to stop by my channel at YouTube once I'm up and running to follow me and get my numbers started!


Welcome to my coffee shop in Cyber Space
Try the latte with a slice of black forest cake!


Contact Nani at
chroniclesofnani@gmail.com

Monday, March 23, 2009

Monday Mug Shot

Sorry things are running a bit behind today. Sometimes the Monday Mug Shot just skates in under the midnight wire anyway. My life isn’t all blogging all the time. (Wouldn’t it be COOL if it was? ;) ) But we got in very late last night after a weekend in Indiana. LAURA IS OFFICIALLY MY SISTER!!!!

Oh yeah, remember the layout I did with the free quilted quick page a couple weeks ago? That was October and last Saturday was the wedding! Yes, my brother got married, that’s how I get to have Laura as my sister. I get a new niece and a nephew in the deal too. Sorta culture shock for me. I have an adult nephew and a married adult niece! Wow. That was fast! hehe

I‘ll share some wedding details form the sister-of-the-groom point of view over the next few days. It was a really nice ceremony and a FUN party! I even danced for two songs, bad knee and all. No - I don’t dance well with the knee. Maybe one day I’ll get a new knee, better, maybe bionic. Then I can dance well again, but I still had a good time!

So coming this week at The Chronicles of Nani:

Wedding details form the main event in Indiana this year
Great photos from Spring 3rd!
Patch 365 layouts
a freebie Quick Page (or two)

But for right now, let’s get on with the Mug Shot!



Taquamenon Falls
Paradise, Michigan

When I worked at Omnicom Cable as the Sports Director, I put in some MAJOR long weeks in the spring. In a salary job, a 65-hour week pays the same as a 40-hour week, even a 35-hour week! By the time the spring tournaments were done, and the spring workshops, which I taught were over and graduations for 4 high schools were recorded, I had worked three months of more 65-hour weeks than 40s! I had an awesome boss, who was a bit of a workaholic type herself, but always made sure that everyone took a break, got time off when they needed it and got at least some comp-time for their extra hours!

My spring responsibilities, usually resulted in her calling me to her office and opening her planner to the pages where she was keeping track of most of the hours that I wasn’t. I was usually told I had 5 comp-days, which was the max she could give, and told that I needed to take them “as soon as possible.” Things slowed down in the summer when the schools were out and she insisted I take a vacation when I had the time to do it. In 1992, right after my first Spring as a producer, that time was in mid-July. Mom and I took a trip “Up North.”

This was the same trip as my first crossing of the Big Mac (see the 2/23/09 Mug Shot) After our crossing and that stop for pasties, we went on toward the Soo Locks, stopping in Paradise. Michigan is the only state that can tell you the exact mileage between Paradise and Hell! It’s the only state with both!

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan really is like being in a completely different state from the Lower Peninsula. It’s more forested, little pockets of civilization dot the greenery, but it’s mostly wild and beautiful. Walking in Taquamenon Falls State Park truly is being in Paradise. The songs of many birds high in the trees fill the quiet and squirrels run up and jumping from branch to branch. Then the sound of running water, lots of running water gets louder and louder!

The upper falls are among the largest falls east of the Mississippi River, dropping nearly 50 feet. There are several places on the path in to the falls for viewing and great photo ops! I remembered having seen the falls as a child and it was neat as an adult to see them again and realize what I did and didn’t remember about them. I remembered they were beautiful and I remembered they were orange.

Orange? Well yes, orange! The water at Taquamenon Falls runs orange from tannic acid from the trees that grow in the swamp land that feed the Taquamenon River. I believe it runs more orange at some times of the year than others, but in the summer, when we were there, it was O-RANGE!

We spent a while there and got the obligatory souvenir photos at the upper falls, then went to the lower falls!

The Lower Taquamenon Falls are not a drop like the Upper, but a series of smaller falls stretched out over a larger area. They are still pretty, but not as intimidating as the 50,000 gallons of water per second that rolls over the upper falls. They are powerful yet peaceful series of falls stepping down the river.

After a day of clean fresh air in the mid-July jacket weather of the UP. we were good and ready to get a hot dinner and check-in to our hotel for he night!