I always have a renewed optimism this time of year.  A fresh start.  It doesn’t always serve me or the Kitchen, as I can turn into a nutcase racing to finish up projects before the big ball drops in Times Square.

But boy does it feel good to offload the big stuff. This week sees us finalizing our permanent financing for the Kitchen. (THANK YOU, Jim Eccher and Bob Briski of Old Second National Bank.) Our LEED certification is ready to submit, just waiting on some technical corrections from the USGBC.  We’ve started our search for a pr firm too.