Big Change

It may not seem like a big deal, but I had to shave my goatee for the new job I've picked up to fill in the gaps while the real estate market continues to be slow. I've had hair on my chin since I was 18. Even when no one could see it, it was there. So, It's a big change for me. My chin is cold.

I Think the Groundhog was Wrong

The last two days have been in the 70s and sunny. The week ahead is forecasted for 60s and 70s. Perhaps the Groundhog was wrong?? Or perhaps he is no match for my insistence that if we are not going to have snow, we might as well have warm weather!

You Call This Snow??

Woke up to about 1/2 an inch of slushy white stuff....Richmonders call it snow, but I'm not so sure this qualifies. It's the only white stuff we've seen since November 2006, however.

Parker, the eternal optimist, somehow managed to pack a snowball :)

2009 Addy Award

Today I found out that an ad from the campaign I did for Virginia Blood Services had won an Addy Award! (My full campaign is pictured here.) The Addys are a nationally-recognized advertising competition, and kind of a big deal. Click HERE for a link to the site.
I'm totally shocked. My partner entered the top ad in the alternative media/viral campaign category, and didn't tell me. Imagine my surprise when my professor announced in class that we had won!!
I can't seem to upload the .pdf of the image. So I'll just tell you about it. It's a checkbook with an actual check that we made featuring Virginia Blood Services. It was designed to raise awareness about the critically low blood supply in a way that would actually inspire the public to donate. The line on the check is "We could run out, too." (I personally wrote HUNDREDS of lines for this campaign, and the creative director ultimately approved that one for production. I'm not such a big fan, but it was more about the concept behind it.) We created the check and photographed the checkbook. Kinda unique...ever seen something like this in YOUR checkbook before?


Anyway we don't know yet how we placed in the competition (Gold, Silver, etc), we'll find out at the Addy's Award Gala at the end of February. But I get an actual award!! It's crazy and totally unexpected. The ones pictured are from previous competitions. (The last one looks like it's sitting on a chocolate cake!) It's a big fancy event with a gallery exhibition, dinner, a ceremony, and all that, and Jeremy is taking me. Thank you to everyone who sent me lots of love today-- it made my day to share this with all of you.

1997

I was going through my little box of high school treasures and came across this beauty. This was taken in the spring of our senior year (twelve years ago, yikes we are increasing in age). How freakin' cool are we? Sadly, I was not dressed in theme. I commonly wore a vest over a t-shirt that year. We stole that barricade while on our date and later abandoned it inside the school. :)

Barbies!!

Speaking of collections . . . Trisha asked how many Barbies Janell has in her collections these days. I'm not sure if she would actually divulge that so I thought I'd better step in. I just finished counting and I came up with 196. I didn't include the 20 or so Kelly dolls because Janell keeps telling me they don't count. It's a great collection and makes Janell happy. It's so cute to find her in her office changing their clothes or trimming their hair. Plus, I never have to wonder what to get her for her birthday!

Does Anyone Remember This?

I'm a collector, as you all know (of dolls, coins, stamps, books) and yesterday got the last of the "new" quarters and completed the "Quarters of the United States" map. Does anyone else remember when these maps came out, 10 years ago?


I think everyone was excited about them for a couple years, but that was it. For some reason, we kept ours around and kept adding to it when we'd remember, thinking, wow, 2008 is soooo far away.