I have always been a fan of modern architecture.  This may be the result of having grown up with grandparents that had a super modern house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright prodigy Alden Dow.

Now that I’ve moved into a new photo studio I wish that I had the money to make it look cool and comfortable.  Right now the space is simply that . . . a space.  It is great for shooting but there are no chairs, no desk, no anything – but lights and other equipment.  I’ve seen pictures in the magazines of these really cool studio setups with great client areas and have drooled.

So searching the Internet I can across a website for a company that specializes in “office refurbishment”.  They have some really cool designs.  I don’t need a refurbishment I need a design from scratch, which I’m sure the complete group does also.  Well this company is in the UK so for me they are kind of out.  But hey you never know!  Perhaps they’ll find this post, allow me to email them some pictures and dimensions of the space and they could put together an idea.  So if anyone from the Complete Group in Kent wants to contact me about an office refurbishment please contact me using the link above!  If you live in the UK and especially in the Kent area and need interior office design you may want to check these guys out.

This morning I did what I do every morning – suck down about a gallon of coffee, delete spam then read the daily blog post from SEOmoz.  This mornings post was about link building and had some really cool tools to plug-into Gmail.  One that they displayed that is free and amazing is Rapportive.  This is a great social contact tool for Gmail.  After installing the plugin you enter your email addresses, social information and can connect with Mailchip and other bulk mail services.  When you receive an email the social and contact info for that person is displayed on the right side of the screen.  This allows me from the Gmail screen to follow them on Twitter, Facebook or connect on LinkedIn without leaving your mail.  Brilliant program.  I’ve only used it for a few hours and I’m already hooked.  This is a must get for anyone who uses Gmail.

Rather than take a new screen shot I just took the one from SEOmoz:

Last night I took a trip to out Mount Pleasant to visit my daughter at CMU and drop off a late birthday present.  Before making the drive over I sent her quick text and asked where she wanted to go for dinner.  Her suggestion was Midori.  I hadn’t heard of this restaurant so I Googled it.  There wasn’t much to find other than it is a sushi and martini bar.  OK I texted back, “but you are a vegetarian and don’t eat fish?”  She wanted veggie sushi and had been told that it was good.  I haven’t had good sushi in a while and figured it was work a try.

We started out with a cucumber appetizer and some steamed edamame.  Both of these dishes were presented well and tasted fantastic!  Then came the sushi.  We all decided on some rolls.  My daughter got the veggie roll and I got the house Midori roll and some other one that I wish I could remember the name of.  The rolls looked great were a veritable plethora of palatability!  When we had finished the rolls we were full but wanted to eat more just for the taste.

Anyone going to the Mount Pleasant area should definitely check out this newer restaurant.

I tried to look up the name of the roll that we had but the website says coming summer of 2011 and now it’s winter 2012!  Ahh Michigan businesses can’t ever seem to get this Internet stuff worked out.  (if the owner of Midori sees this post call me I’ll put together the website and do the food photography in exchange for food!).  I didn’t have my good camera and flashes with me so the pictures here were taken with my Android phone.

Midori can be found on Facebook at – https://www.facebook.com/midorimp

And while you’re on Facebook be sure to like my photography page – https://www.facebook.com/defoephoto