ADDY Awards

Oh hai! So, do you know what the ADDY Awards are? Only the largest advertising competition in the world. And while I may live in a tiny town in eastern Idaho, I just wanted to let you all know that we made a clean sweep at the Eastern Idaho GEM Advertising Awards! We won Judge's Choice, Best in Show, and a Diamond of course! This means we now get to compete for the Rockies in Boise . . . then the Northwest ADDYs in Seattle . . . then the National ADDYs!

Will we get that far? Who knows; when your competition is a sweet ad agency from New York, that answer is most likely "no." But you always compete against companies of a similar size (and we're quite small despite our international clientele) so there's a chance. Anyway, we won! Namely, my copywriting and my coworker's awesome graphic design abilities won. w00t! ADDYs, here we come.

{images via various 2011 regional ADDY posters}

Workin' like a dog

I recently judged an advertising competition on the BYU-Idaho campus. At first I was pretty nervous, and thought I'd be too nice and just Paula my way through the whole thing, but it turns out there's a little Simon in me after all.

Seeing how keyed up and nervous some of the students were got me thinking that there's some post-graduation myths I'd like to clear up, or at least relay my personal experience with.

Life is only going to get busier after I graduate.
Depends on what you're doing. The fact that homework is no longer an issue has opened up my schedule and I feel I have plenty of time for whatever I want after work. My job never comes home with me, it's strictly 8-5 p.m., M-F. The rest of my time is mine.

My inexperience will disqualify me.
Sometimes just stepping out from the crowd and making yourself known as a candidate is enough. We're looking for your enthusiasm to learn and work, not expecting you to already know the business by heart. So many students I've interviewed have been utterly stressed over their lack of real world experience. Relax, I'm impressed that you've made it this far.

Well gosh, I guess those are the only two I wanted to address. Maybe more later.

I'll just put this here:


Howlin' cyclist via Pat Perry.

Sh*t my coworker says

So so busy. Work + NaNo have me writing writing writing. I shouldn't even be taking this blog break. I love this Barnaby Ward sketch as it's a good reflection of my mind right now. Just busy and cluttered. But I'm getting everything done! That's what counts. Seve's incredibly busy too. Read: TWO PLAYS AT THE SAME TIME. Plus school. Crazy.

Oh, and we're officially going to Florida for Christmas! Didn't think it would be possible, but my Mum and Bum-in-law have very generously secured the trip for us. Trying to think of how on earth I can ever repay them for their kindness.

Also, I was daydreaming about how funny it'd be to have a "fashion blog" dedicated to people in pajamas and sweatpants, but in really sexy poses and pretty photo shoot settings. They'd act like it's real fashion, and list where they got each item. Winnie the Pooh onesie - $15 - Walmart.

And OH YES Halloween was fantastic! Though Seve's "Proud to be an American" t-shirt drew a fine line between Garth and Joe Dirt. Luckily, Trent scrawled "Aerosmith" over it.

k TIME TO WRITE MORE bai.

These dreams are ours for the taking

I was previously working on a Little List of my "must-haves" for fall fashion, but decided to get a little more serious here and wax poetic about autumn-colored accessories later.

My husband and I have been discussing finances, like any married couple, and reevaluating our spending, savings, when to get a new car, etc. After reading an article about the ideal amount of money to make to achieve happiness, it all had me realize I made more than I thought.

I'm not Mrs. Money Bags by any means, but I'd like to express my gratitude for the salary I do make. I remember stressing in college over that concept: salary. Would I ever achieve it? Would I ever pass the class to get the degree to get the job to get the money to get the bread to put on the table? I'm here to tell my college-attending friends that the dream is attainable.

According to that article, I definitely have yet to achieve happiness, but after reading the comments it really put into perspective how much I make as a copywriter. Not only am I doing what I love (writing for a living) but I make a decent amount to take care of me and my own, and prepare for Seve's future doing what he loves. And for that I'm very grateful.

Time to put out a news release!

image via Liesl Pfeffer

Time for a long, reflective post

In a previous blog (that I've since imported over to this blog if you're truly curious to run through my archives), I used to write about my aspirations to become a YA lit acquisitions editor. I used to cruise YA editor, agent, and librarian blogs and once applied for an internship to Random House. Was it Random House? I don't even remember. Up until I met Seve, I was pretty determined to move to New York after graduation and fumble, grow, learn, and mature into a fantastic editor. Marrying Seve changed those plans as I accommodated his dreams into my life as well, which meant staying in Rexburg so he could finish school. I now find myself a copywriter/marketer/advertiser/PR guru for a software company in Idaho, and I'm quite happy with that, though it doesn't bring me anywhere near discovering and publishing the next J.K. Rowling.

So my dirty little secret is that I like to write as well, and no, not just my obvious technical writing, but fiction. It's something I did a lot in high school and my early college years. My high school friends were all into writing and we'd share stuff with each other. We even tried to start a zine once, and later a "prose mix" group, where you make a mix tape and then write a story for each song, then create a quarter zine for it that we'd pass around the group. It was so much fun, but as the years have gone by, I found myself embarrassed to admit this passion to anyone, and it died out after China.

In China I told all the volunteers about NaNoWriMo (from which Water for Elephants was brought to fruition), and they loved it so much we all decided to write "China novels." There was no real word count goal, just "write a novel," and the time span for completion was just our semester abroad.  We all bought paper journals to fill our novels with, and only one girl actually finished hers. It was a hilarious retelling of our time in China with each of us as featured characters.

Anyway, during my recent time off I went back and read my China novel. It practically brought me to tears, not because it was amazing but because it reminded me how much I love writing. How did I ever let this go? And actually, yeah, I thought my story was pretty good, so I've decided to just finish the thing. And I can't go much longer reading Sam's tales of query wars before wanting to just jump in and join the bloodbath myself.

Oh, and, uh, Happy 4th! Hope everyone had a good one. We went to the skate park, haha.

Eyes caught careless

I've been having the strange experience of receiving resumes from people older than me for a position to be, well, my assistant (not my personal assistant, but to me and my supervisor). Not only am I significantly younger than these applicants, but I'm very small and petite. I hope they don't balk at me when I interview them. We're also looking to hire writers and marketers for a new venture we're experimenting with, and again, all the applicants are older than me. And this particular venture is something I'm in charge of hiring for, so here's to hoping I'll be respected as a "boss" despite my size and age.

If you haven't yet listened to The Decemberists Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) I highly recommend you do so now. This is my favorite song from their catalog of work, and lately I've been tempted to suggest their album The Hazards of Love as the next venture of the book club I'm a part of. Think they'll go for it?

Drifting

This week has felt so sleepy and dizzy. I find myself falling asleep earlier and earlier each night. I knew pregnancy often made women feel exhausted, but I didn't think I'd feel this exhausted, or sick, all the time.

I have my first business trip next week! I'll be conducting interviews and writing case studies, and hopefully feeling better since I'll be up and about rather than sitting at a computer all day. As sick as I feel, getting up and moving really helps . . . but sleeping feels really nice too. We're headed east, and as much as I'd like to get out on the town each night after work, I can easily see myself spending my nights crashing in my hotel room and trying my best to keep dinner down . . .

Yes, a Pillowcase

Holy cow, so much has been on my mind lately.

The Normal Stuff That's Been On My Mind:
-Negotiating my salary at work. Makes me feel like a big girl and a child at the same time.
-My desire for the Apex 34 (back in stock in 3 WEEKS!!) and Seve's desire for the Landyachtz Switch (we're not fond of the graphic though) . . . versus our budget.
-My birthday and his birthday that could justifiably bring us these longboards . . .

The Transitional Normal/Crazy Stuff That's Been On My Mind:
-Imma gonna make a dress out of a pillow case! (via Style Rookie via Sassy)

The Crazy Stuff That's Been On My Mind:
-Seve was cast in the Barber of Seville! No, that's not crazy, this is: he plays an old man and has to shave his head. Partially. Like, appear as though he's balding with that half circle of hair remaining around the sides of his head. His precious head. Why not just let him wear a bald head piece?
-Seve's laptop is injured. The top right part of his screen has this horrible "black eye" sustained in his backpack during a longboard injury (of course . . .) It's so frustrating because the rest of the laptop works great, it's just this giant blotch on his screen so he can't see anything there. And replacing the screen will cost half of what a new laptop will. What to do, what to do?

Also, I've been thinking of reinstating the grunge party by way of my birthday this month! And minus Mary Kay. Happy Grunge Birthday to me!

Camera Shy

Yesterday I filmed some coworkers for a new brochure I'm working on. I wanted to get the peeps in Sales to email me their sales pitches so I could create one that would compliment their spiels at trade shows. But my boss wanted me to record them in action instead, so it'd be more "authentic."

They were all way too embarrassed to be filmed, but my camera was the only recording device I had. Since I only need their voices, I ended up filming boring objects instead while they spoke. I even ended up filming Daniel drinking his Cup O' Noodles for one while a coworker talked off camera. It was hilarious!

Le Orange Tree

Well well well, my uncrafty self managed to make this tree for a trade show at work. On the right is the handout I made to be tucked into the leaves (that I didn't end up making . . .) on the tree. Now that the trade show is over, this tree is nestled in my living room.

And if you weren't aware, I WON the Panache giveaway last week! I told you this scarf and I were meant to be. Thanks, Brandilyn!

Dealing with this

It's been a really bad week. I've seriously been down in the dumps. A real mess happened at work, but my boss and coworkers have stood behind me 100%. I have such a great team here.

I hadn't really had time to cope with what happened, and I hadn't talked about it to anyone but Seve. I'd been so busy, but last night I finally had time alone to myself to reflect on the situation. We produced an ad that ran in several papers in Idaho and Utah. So far, everyone has found it funny and we've gotten really great feedback.

Except one guy.

He wrote a pretty angry letter, so I wrote back an apology. Rather than accept it, he wrote back another mean letter, this one attacking me. Appalled, my boss tried to call and console him, but the guy only attacked my boss too.

It's been a really strange occurrence, and I know I shouldn't let one crazy guy get to me. But writing that apology letter only opened up myself to be the target of all his frustration. I don't know what this guy is dealing with to make him so upset, but he's really felt the need to attack me and my work personally. Being a member of the Church, he even took it upon himself to attack my moral standing. Really out of line, really unprofessional.

So, I've been in the dumps. Why is it that out of the hundreds of clients I deal with who offer me happiness and gratitude, I let one letter of hate and spite get me down?

Job Job!

Today we're posting a new job opening, and I was asked to write about it in the company blog. I was tempted to post something like this:

But instead I posted it with the air of professionalism required of me:

Yeah, it's still kind of cheeky.

Oh, dreamweaver!

There's something to be said for just going for it. So far at work I've been pretty conservative with my ideas, thinking that's where my team wanted me to be. But when yesterday's meeting didn't go so hot, I just decided to throw caution to the wind (and cliches . . . oh, wait . . .) and develop an idea that, in all honesty, was just silly and cheeky.

Yeah, uh, they loved it.

So, I think I'm going to spread my wings here and take my copywriting-flight to the next level. Like heaven or something.

Actually, I was so focused yesterday on my idea that my creative juices are really spent today. I can't get my mind to harbor any of the things bouncing around in there, thus this detour for a blog post. I guess I'll just start looking up more trade shows to attend until I can harness my thoughts. Currently two members of our team are at a show in London. I'd be jealous, except I just got back from Moscow myself.

Home again, home again

For those who haven't heard, the Kiev trip was less than stellar. The best way I can sum it up is in one particular experience: the electrichna, or electric train. It had plush seats, so we figured its overnight ride wouldn't be that bad. But the seats were back to back, and didn't recline. The frost on the windows extended to really being just lots of frost on the seats. That we were sitting on. And we were sitting by the doors, which couldn't lock and slid open and closed all night so we had snow hitting us in the face. And I didn't even get to sit with Seve. Instead I sat the whole ride next an old man who farted the whole time.

Le sigh.

But Kiev really was a beautiful, amazing city. And we were able to visit Lutsk, which I liked even better. I even made some pen pals.

Also, I started my job this week! To put my duties plainly: write scripts for ads, create flyers, design brochures, write customer case studies, look up 100 trade shows to attend this year, create a Big Idea for our sponsored baseball event in June, create PR buzz for our official release of . . . shh! It's a secret. On a funnier note, I also update the Twitter, our official Blog, and maintain the Facebook.

Coming back to America has been a big whirlwind, though.

Guess What?

I GOT THE JOB!! And it ain't no khaki pants job, either.

You know what I'm saying.

;-).

No I in Team. Unless it's the new iTeam app!

Had my job interview today. And. it. was.

Awesome.

Can't wait to hear back about it.

I was so nervous for it. Nervous that I'd have technical difficulty being in Russia and all. Nervous I'd stutter or something, since it was a phone interview and my voice was the only human thing about me they could get to know aside from my resume.

In preparing for this interview, I learned a lot about myself. Like how much I love writing, and how it really is my greatest strength. Not as in "poems are PR33TY" but as in press releases and advertising copy. I love researching and writing that stuff, conveying the right image to the right audience, selling a product/person/idea through my words, writing scripts, coming up with Big Ideas. Writing "Adam Sandler wouldn't be caught dead with it" in order to sell classy men's deodorant. I'm into that stuff.

I realized how much I love to work. How the idea of getting up early and into my black pencil skirt gets me giddy. Like, semi-colon winky face giddy.

;-).

The idea of heading to the office with my cup of not-Joe because I'm Mormon and getting ready to get down to business and work just makes me feel so fulfilled. And working with a team. No really, I love that. Being a "team player." Some people love football, I'm the office-team kind of fan. Go team go. I did work with the AAF and it stole my heart away.

I also realized (more like remembered) how I'm a much better writer than I am a speaker. Oftentimes I over prepare for things and have so much excellent information to deliver I can't decide what to focus on and end up, well, blabbering. Example: my Keds case study is a highlight of my college career, and while I received an A++ on it, the presentation part of my grade was basically a question mark from my professor. After both viewing my presentation and reading my case study, she remarked how she couldn't believe she'd missed [insert great aspect of case study here] from my presentation because she really loved reading about it in the case study. In response, I awkwardly laughed this off while cringing on the inside because I'd obviously made my pearls look like swine upon their delivery.

Today I cast my pearls before some very not-swine-at-all professionals and forgot that I had more pearls I could have, you know, cast. Because of my over-preparation and too-much-material issues. The interview went well but I can't help but second guess myself.

College has filled my head with all kinds of aspirations so let's hope these dreams come true.

Rand & Capote highlighted speakers at the Ego Conference, Dylan & Prince to perform (separately, of course)

It's no secret that I'm not a great cook. I'm into simple baking.

I'm also not incredibly well read. I'm more of a newspapers 'n magazines kinda girl. 

This novel I really enjoyed. A dog catcher who unwillingly dawns on werewolf gangs schmoozing the streets of L.A., East L.A., and the entire thing written in free verse? I'm not about to pretend I enjoyed reading something as pretenious as The Fountainhead; no, this is the kind of stuff that gets me interested.

FYI, I have a job interview. For a job I'm really excited for.