Fashion Friday: Flannel

I have amazing co-workers that play along in this amazing effort to match. Also, while plaid is your typical type of flannel, as you can see Brian prefers the zebra.

Fashion Friday: Neon

As you know, I've been trying really hard to implement some social things into my offices DNA lately. Well two of my social avenues were picked up. Music Monday and Fashion Friday. The Vegas social media folks are sending out themes for Fridays and all of our eight offices are submitting photos for the company page.

This week was neon! I was really excited to see our Vegas and L.A. offices participate with us! Check out their photos below. 

Adios Google Reader

Today Google Reader goes buh-bye. I have transitioned all of my stuff over to feedly which is basically a more beautiful version of Google Reader. Check it out at feedly.com.

What are you using now? If there is something better out there, let me know in the comments below!

Ted Tuesday: Happy Birthday Charles

You should know I love the Eames'. Love them. I not only loved them because of the things they produced but their attitudes towards what they produced and how they went about making.

One thing that has always stuck with me was; in their design studio, when they would send letters the envelopes were decorated or designed with crayons, markers and other such things. The envelopes never went out with just a penned address scribbled across the front.

The TED Talk above was given on Charles' 100th birthday. Since his birthday was yesterday it seems only fitting to show this video again.

Below are some of my favorite Charles Eames quotes.

• Eventually everything connects — people, ideas, objects… the quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.
  
• To be realistic one must always admit the influence of those who have gone before.
  
• I don’t believe in this “gifted few” concept, just in people doing things they are really interested in doing. They have a way of getting good at whatever it is.
  
• Don’t be like I was. Don’t be afraid of history. Take all of it you can get.
  
• Always be passionate about ideas and communicating those ideas and discoveries to others in the things you make.
  
• Take your pleasure seriously.

Happy Tuesday!

This Weekend Went to the Dogs - Literally

This weekend was a blast. Leroy started agility classes and I was so proud of him. He did a lot better than I thought he would. It's probably just me being an overprotective mama.

In agility classes, I was really nervous about his instructor, she's a hardass. Though as the class progressed and she started to explain what she was doing and why she was doing it I began to calm down and be okay with everything.

Leroy completed everything except for one of the obstacles. Hopefully in the coming weeks he will gain the confidence and comfort level to do it.

We've had a doggie play date. Just about every single one of my co-workers own a dog now so it's only fitting that we got the dogs together and let them have at it. I'm not sure who had more fun, me or Leroy.

Here's to a productive and swift week.

Creative Brief Please: Arizona Firearms

As my co-workers and I were going to lunch the other day we found this ad in the New Times. The first thing you see is not the gun tan line. You're looking for it now aren't you? 

While it's not a very successful ad there are a couple of things I took away from this ad and reasons I would really like to see a creative brief for this assignment.

1. We all know sex sells and boys probably like looking at an image of a half nude woman BUT the woman is the one with the tan line. Does this mean they are trying to sell more guns to women? Or are they just looking for men who like women who put stickers on their bodies in the tanning booth?
2. The ad is simple, yet there is a lot going on woman, tan line, summer, lake, guns, specials, promo codes. All of this makes it hard for the viewer to quickly get the message. 
3. The ad is disconnected. Everyone who has seen this ad says all they see is the ass. Again this is great is your trying to give men a bit of soft core in your ad but when it comes to the point of no one paying attention to your message and business name underneath. We have a problem. 

Instead of saying this ad sucks and move on, let's back into a strategy based on the current creative to create better creative or at least what I think would be better creative. More to come on this soon.

Fashion Friday: Gerald

Meet Gerald. He's one of our AAEs. Check out those biceps but this man has the most amazing calves in the world. One of these days I will make him wear shorts so you can see them! 

My Commute

I travel about 60 miles round trip everyday to work. Depending on the time and season this can take anywhere from 40 minutes of my day to 3 hours of my day. When I'm driving I get a lot of my ideas. I also see a lot of stuff. Today I was really excited to see a Texas Fight Truck but was then saddened to see all the construction downtown. Hopefully my drive home will be awesome.

 

Wellness Wednesday: Yoga

Work/Life balance is very important to us in the office. So you will typically see people running around in workout garb near the end of each day. Yoga is really hot right now, many of us do bikram, some do Yoga on the Roof and some of us do it around the office. Check out Gerald and Linda after a session on the roof of Hotel Palomar.

What health trends are happening in your office right now?

Throwback Ted Tuesday: Sir Ken Robinson

This video is one of the first from TED. I watched it last night for the first time in a long time and it really gets you to think about creativity. Would we as a culture be farther or more advanced if things in our society were just a bit different?

Tea for Two

Welcome to National Iced Tea Day. Yum! We just got a tea machine in our office for the summer and we are making a great use out of it. Check out some recipes below for a little tasty variation of your typical Arizona sun tea.

1. Apple-Tea-ni
   You can make this with a little extra something something if you know what I mean or you can keep it simple and sober. Start with half a glass of unsweetened tea then add half a glass of apple juice with a splash of lemon to taste. Enjoy.
   
2. Red Sea Tea
   They say the red fruits are energizing and hold anti-aging benefits. Can I prove that? No. I just love the way they taste. Start with half a glass of unsweetened tea then add pureed strawberries mixed with pomogranite-cranberry juice. Add skewered blueberries for an aesthetic touch.
   
3. Tropical Tea
   If you know me you know how much I love tropical fruit and citrus. It's really a weakness. Start with half a glass of unsweetened tea then add an extracted mixture of mango, pineapple, peach and apricot. Put your suit and glasses on and go sit by the pool with this one!
   
4. Watermelon Lime Refresher Tea
   This one is for my fancy friends. Start with half a glass of unsweetened tea and add extracted watermelon. Cut a lime in half and use one half to squeeze into the drink and the other half to slice and perch on the side of the glass. Serve with an accent.
   
5. Raspberry Arnold Palmer
   A nice twist to the traditional Arnold Palmer! Start with half a glass of unsweetened tea then add Raspberry Lemonade (1 Part Lemon, 2 Parts Orange, 3 Parts Raspberries). YUM! 

Sceloporus Magister

We had a visitor today. I had no idea what it was but thanks to Google found out it's a Desert Spiny Lizard. The most important question I have is . . . is it poisonous? The answer is no, but they will bite if they are picked up.

My little visitor made me curious to know more. So I will share what I have learned. 

They are native to Utah, Colorado, New Mexico to Arizona and can grow to be up to about 142 mm or 5.6" from snout to butt. The tail size will vary and make them, obvioulsy, longer.

Their color is close to camoflage in the desert shrubbery though they have speckles of yellow on their sides, wedges of dark purple on their shoulders. Boys have two large, bright, teal patches on the belly and a blue patch on the throat so I'm pretty sure the one hanging out on my fence was a man. 

They burrow and live in pack rat nests after basking in the sun on tree branches during the day. They also hibernate in late Fall and Winter. 

It says you will most likely find a male and female together. "Mating takes place in spring and summer and one or two clutches of eggs are laid in spring and summer. Clutch size ranges from 2 to 12 eggs. Hatchlings may appear as early as late May but usually begin to emerge in July."

They eat insects including ants, beetles, and caterpillars. The DSL also feeds on spiders, centipedes, small lizards, and some plant material.

I got all of this information off a great website by Thomas Brennan, it has a lot more information on all the reptiles of Arizona. It's intention is to educate and preserve the great species we have in the desert. Go nerd out here.

These are the photos I took through my kitchen window. 

This photo is off the website mentioned above. Tom's photo looks a lot better and shows the true beauty of this lizard. 

Here's a fun video of one of the lizards getting some tasty fly snacks.

National Donut Day

So today is full of delicious donuts. Rainbow Donuts for everyone. My favorite are the colored sprinkle ones. Anything else will not do. What's your favorite kind of donut?

PHX Fashion Friday - Linda

Okay so I am really into our office social media. I don't know if it's because I miss being enthralled in Facebook and Twitter as much as I used to or what. Whatever it may be I am trying to get my fix of social media, thus coming up with content for our agency's Facebook page.

My first installment is Phoenix Fashion Fridays. Our AEs dress so amazingly I felt it necessary to document it. So every Friday, until I get bored with it, you will see one of our amazing AEs and the clothes on their back that day.

Above is Linda. She is great. Super bubbly and a little clumsy (okay a lot) she makes the office super bright with her great personality and giant smile. Hope your Friday is as fun as ours.

Creative Throwback

So check out how cute we were as children. Now learn a little about us.

Ashley J. George, Senior Art Director – She was born with one blue eye and one brown eye.

Ken Pham, Copywriter – He has three dogs that look like characters from the Lion King. 

Stefan Swenson, Designer – He speaks fluent Hungarian.

Ana Cordova, Designer – She has 45 cousins.

Conversation: MD and a Designer

Our MD ordered us food so we could stay in the office for some tight deadlines.

MD: Food in the front, creative out the back.

AC: Have you ever been to outback it's australian food . . . ?

ME: is it really?

#Thicke

This song is so fun! We had it on all day in the office and it puts you in such a great mood. Good job boys, but next time you wear the plastic outfits.

UPDATE: It was brought to my attention that the above video was the PG version. So below is the "Explicit" version. For some of you it might not be suitable for work. Honestly though I think it's WAY better than those plastic outfits!