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10 Memories, 100 Discoveries: Memory 10 – Ringing in 2012
Huxley said, “Memories are a man’s private literature.” Memories are private and you never know which ones will be picked up, stored away and treasured. In 1 Year, 10 Projects, 100 Discoveries, ten of the discoveries are memories- fun, sad, happy, I’m not sure what types there will be, but I do know that they will all be treasured. This post is part of that project. You can see all 10 memories here and the entire project here. Enjoy the memories, I am!
To say that 2011 was an epic year filled with change and good fortune might be an understatement. Needless to say, the celebration to end such an epic year and begin another needed to be memorable as well. In addition, for the first time in six years, this was one New Year’s Eve I was off the clock. Those two things coupled with the desire for a memorable kiss led to quite the celebration.
Kicked off at China Poblano with fantastic food and even better drinks, the night began on a celebratory note. Coupled with a live performance by Stevie Wonder, 57,000 firework explosions and the lights of The Las Vegas Strip as the backdrop made for an unforgettable experience.
Posted in 10 Memories, 100 Discoveries
10 Kisses, 100 Discoveries: #10 NYE
I have one deal breaker. Mae West says kissing is a man’s signature. Signature or not, it also tells you everything you need to know about a man. 1 Year, 10 Projects, 100 Discoveries started with 10 Guys, 10 Weeks, 10 Drinks. The sequel is 10 Kisses, 10 Tastes. This post is part of that project. You can see all 10 kisses here and the entire project here. Get ready to pucker up, I am!
Every year, there’s one kiss that’s the most talked about, the most fretted over, the most planned. For some people, it sets the stage for the entire year. For others, it doesn’t matter who the kiss is with, just that it happens. Still, others could care less.
Most years, I fell into the latter category. But, this year was different. This year, I knew who I wanted for my last kiss of 2011 and my first kiss of 2012. I also knew that this kiss would be Kiss #10 in my project. It had quite the trifecta to live up to.
The setting was the Boulevard Pool at The Cosmopolitan. The skirt was sparkly, the earrings big and the heels high. And the man? Well, the man was impeccably dressed in a baby blue that brought out the blue in his eyes and a jacket that hugged his perfectly muscled arms.
Sharing the first kiss of a new year is special. Like your very first kiss, you never forget who you were kissing when the clock strikes midnight and the ball drops. With 57,000 fireworks as the backdrop, the kiss was long and lingering. It was filled with love, excitement for the future and the taste of fresh apples. As my very first “real” holiday kiss, I couldn’t have dreamed of a more perfect setting nor anyone else for it to be.
Posted in 10 Kisses, 100 Discoveries
10 Commitments, 100 Discoveries: #9 – One Photo a Day
Hi, I’m a self proclaimed commitment-phobe. But, I’m also one that is working very hard to change. Honestly, it’s one of my toughest struggles. But, I am proud to say it is one that I am chipping away at slowly but surely. One day, when I tell my kids of my fear of commitment they will just laugh and say, “No way, not you!”
With the commitment, 1 Year, 10 Projects, 100 Discoveries, I’m working to show myself that commitments are like trains; it doesn’t matter where they’re going. What matters is deciding to get on. Discoveries “#60-69″ are about commitments and plans. This post is part of that project. You can see all 10 commitments here and the entire project here. Focus on the plans, I sure am!
Today is the 365th day of the year. If I was a perfectionist, I’d be distraught over missing 25 of my 2011 “One a Day” photos. I also wouldn’t look past the times when I had more than 1 photo for a day. After all, the tagline for the project was “with creative license.” Why? Because the project wasn’t necessarily an exercise in taking one photo a day or becoming a better photographer, it was about commitment. It was about sticking with something for a year even if, and inevitably, when, there were “slips”.
When reading about one photo a day projects, all the posts said it is a big undertaking. I saw it more as fun. As the year continued, I also realized that it was a project with a HUGE payoff.
Here’s just a few reasons I fell in love with something that started, in my mind, as “simple and fun”:
- Imagine being able to look back at any day of your year and recall what you did, who you met, what you learned… (Often we find it hard to remember what we did just yesterday or even last night, let alone a whole year ago!)
- The year-long photo album is an amazing way to document your travels and accomplishments, your haircuts and relationships. Time moves surprisingly fast.
- Not only will friends keep you honest about the project, but they love being a part of it. It’s fun for friends to be there when you take your daily picture. And, it’s an even better feeling when they realize that your moment with them was special enough to “make the cut”.
- You start to see the world in a whole different way. You appreciate and notice the “little things” more often.
- You have a treasure trove of your own artwork to use for anything – magnets, personalized postcards, to decorate next year’s calendar, framed pictures for your house, office, the possibilities are endless!
I haven’t quite figured out how I want to display all of them together, but it’s been fun to use them in a variety of forms from magnets to a customized iPhone cover to postcards for friends and family to artwork for my new apartment, office and more!
The scary part? This is one commitment (with a twist, of course) I want to carry into 2012. The best part? Not only did this project teach me that commitments can be “easy,” but it also gave me the desire to stick with and continue a commitment past its original expiration date.
It looks like I’m well on my way to leaving my fear of commitment in the past 🙂
Posted in 10 Commitments, 100 Discoveries
10 Cool Things of 2011
Yes, ladies and gentleman, it’s that time of year again… bring on the Top 10 lists! I used to get annoyed at all these lists, but I have to admit, it’s pretty cool to look back and remember the cool people, events and what was important to you in year’s past like 2008, 2009 and 2010.
While it may have started out a little rocky (like quitting my job without a new one in sight), 2011 ended as an unbelievable year. And, certainly one of my favorite. As I looked around the last few days of 2011, I read and heard a lot of people say, “Thank goodness this year is over, it [insert depressing/sucky word here].” This year, I disagreed with them all. 2011 is one year I’ll look back on with a HUGE grin on my face.
Without further adieu, here’s the Top 10 of one of my very favorite years:
- Backpacked across Europe in heels
- For the first time, I let a guy sleep over at my place
- Experienced two of my best friends becoming engaged!
- Got a new job. Again 🙂
- With the new gig, I road tripped back to the East Coast. These days, Columbus, Ohio is “home”
- I ran my very first half marathon
- Became an “Aunt” for the very first time
- Many a great lesson and experiences were had (including Skydiving!)
- I traveled like a mad woman – 7 countries, 48 cities and 197 days on the road
- I learned the meaning of true friends
SPG Gets it Right
I love this holiday email from SPG (aka Satrwood Hotels). It’s smart. It’s cute. And, coolest of all, it used all the data that their customers provided them to not only give us our data back in a bigger and better way, but to also give us some insights into hotels and cities that we might want to explore. Kudos SPG! One more reason to love being an SPG Insider 🙂
Posted in Advertising, Social Media
10 Lessons, 100 Discoveries – #10 How You Respond
Are you ready for a secret? Promise not to tell anyone? Okay, here goes… don’t tell… I’m naive and still have many life lessons ahead of me, both big and small. In essence, 1 Year, 10 Projects, 100 Discoveries is actually 100 lessons. But, this project of 10 lessons is about ones that hit me over the head, ones that maybe others already know and ones that will impact my life on a semi-daily basis. You can see all 10 Lessons here and the entire project here. Enjoy the learnings, I am!
I’m pretty sure that I already knew this lesson, but it’s also one that doesn’t always come naturally. The Secret focuses on it as do a multitude of other books, philosophers and culture specialists.
About a week ago, I went to a two day seminar for the new gig. Think of it as an orientation into their culture. Yep, it was a total Kool-Aid drinking, Kum Ba Yah-filled two days 🙂
However, there were two great focuses from the meeting. To me, they were things that I had been working on all year but without being able to articulate them properly, I also couldn’t properly zone in. The lessons were:
- Be Here Now
- How Do You Respond?
The second theme was focused around another theme – “Be Curious”. When you’re curious, positive and open, your ideas become better. People feel excited and good about working with you. And, most importantly, when you’re positive and happy, the people around you are more apt to be positive and helpful. In essence, what you give, is what you get.
I’m still not perfect at staying positive all the time or focusing on the positive first, but I’m working towards it!
Posted in 10 Lessons, 100 Discoveries
The Year According to Google
It’s that time of year! You know, the time of year for every blog to post Year in Review and Top 10 Lists.
If one thing Google does well is videos that pull on the heart strings. Enjoy!
Facebook Goggles
The fascination with Facebook has always boggled my mind. Lately, I’ve become ultra sensitive to the CTA’s on ads from brands and the amount of ones that drive to their Facebook fan page vs. their OWN website. I shake my head thinking, “There’s another advertiser that spent $100,000 to give free advertising to Facebook.”
I won’t ask the question, “What happens when Facebook is no more,” because too many brands are focused on short term vs. long term goals, especially when creating advertisements.
As non-sensical as it is, I think I finally have the answer to why marketers do this. It’s simple really. Are you ready? Wait for it… It’s because so many brand marketers, the ones making the advertisements, don’t have control over their own websites! The websites are run by the “eCommerce” or IT team while most Brand Marketers sit in a completely different area, most of them not having any online experience whatsoever. While the eCommerce team drives direct revenue, the branding team drives, well, branding.
Unable to speak the language of the eCommerce team, it’s difficult to effect real change on the website, let alone have a landing page created that is a sensible transition from the CTA on the advertisement. With their hands tied, there’s nothing else to do but drive to Facebook where they can effect change.
It’s a sad day when departments within a single brand can’t even talk and support each other for a better long term goal. The age-old question becomes, how do you break down internal silos?
Posted in Interactive Media, Marketing, Rant, Social Media
Marketers Are Ruining QR Codes
I wrote about the perils of QR Codes before. More frequently I see QR Codes popping up on magazine ads, direct mail pieces and store windows.
Sadly, few marketers are getting them right. Arik Hanson does a fabulous job sharing his QR experiment in Mall of America during Black Friday. No insights into what’s behind the code, codes that lead to error messages or lame content / non-optimized sites makes me want to smack my head against the wall.
The question is, will marketers shape up before they ruin QR Codes forever?
Posted in Advertising, Interactive Media, Marketing, Mobile, Rant