Keds!

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a ridiculous Keds fan. I even did a case study on Keds my last semester for an advertising class and got a big fat A on it . . . because I so was obsessed with writing every little detail about Keds. For those unaware, Keds is the inventor of the sneaker and was most popular (in my opinion) in the 80s, and could be found on the likes of Kelly from Saved by the Bell. White was the most popular color and was often worn with little lacey socks and leggings. Are you getting the picture? Anyway, Keds have been around since 1916 and were named the "sneaker" because the rubber sole was so quiet you could "sneak up on your boyfriend," haha.

Almost everyday I'm wearing my latest find: a pair of vintage (VINTAGE!!) 1970s all black Keds that I got for a mere $3 at the thrift store (they were in mint condition by the way). How do I know they're vintage? Because I'm obsessed enough that I can distinguish the different aspects of design of their trademark blue rectangle logo tab on the back of each shoe. And the shoe is pebble-soled with pink liner as opposed to today's kind-of-pebbled soles and multi-colored liners, and much more narrow than today's Keds so IT'S CLEARLY FROM THE 70s and I'M AMAZING. Or maybe they're from the 80s. Anyway, VINTAGE.

Part of the case study was to speculate what you think would be best way to rebrand the company in order to reach a different market. I said that Keds should go for a more urban vibe and try to market to indie hipsters. From 2005-07 Keds deemed Mischa Barton "the face of Keds" and had a preppy we-love-the-OC-esque campaign until Mischa got a DUI (among other things) and couldn't represent their squeaky clean image anymore. Ah well, the times are a'changin'.

Keds did some thinking and has now partnered with Chictopia for a "Straight off the Streets" style gallery on their site, which features fashionista hipsters who submit photos of themselves posing in Keds. Woo hoo! Great rebranding! And what an excellent way to reach out and get the market involved!

Anyway, there is a certain style of Keds I wish they'd bring back and that I'm positive hipsters (mostly me) would love . . . the pointy-toed Champion. Keds could partner with Urby and do a sexy photo shoot in a submarine or something and make these things the hottest shoe on the planet.

On a side note, these shoes are far more sexy for longboarding than the typical chunky equivalent . . . if you're just pushing around, and not sliding or trying any too complicated tricks that would require heavy foot padding, anyway.

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!

I want a Bosty

What could warrant two posts in one day?

Giveaways! Carrie is offering you a mustache mug (among other things) in honor of her 100th post, and Brandilyn is going to pick me to win this scarf. I just know it.

Desire

I am totally digging this board right now. My birthday is a mere month away and Original's Apex 34 is calling to me. It's incredibly lightweight (just under 5 lbs!), incredibly flexy, low to the ground, and supposedly great for sliding. Unfortunately, it's out of stock. And after an email to Original, I learned that it probably won't be back in stock for another two months.

Boo.

In the mean time, I'll be re-graphicizing my Spud. And when/if I get the Apex 34, it'll get a makeover as well. I'm just not too keen on these street/gangsta/gnarly dude!/graffiti graphics.

Not that I don't enjoy me some good graffiti.

Via Dolk.

My interest in the Apex 34 was sparked when this weekend, out on a nightly ride with friends through the ever-enchanting Broulim's parking lot, a mysterious car pulled up to Amy and asked what board she was riding. We all quickly rode over to her (we've seen Taken) when the driver turned out to be a well-intentioned longboard-maker who quickly showed off his handmade board complete with the signature springy Original trucks. He let us each have a turn on it, and those trucks are amazing. For a 90 lber like myself, I need trucks like that if I my weight is going to make any kind of dent in a tight turn, and the more I slide the more I wish my board had a little more flex to it.

Two months, two months! Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.

Oh No, Jules!

So apparently I WON a giveaway . . . and had no idea! I thought they'd contact ME if I won but I was supposed to contact THEM to claim my prize . . . normally I check giveaways I enter like crazy awaiting my name to be announced, but I've been so busy at work (thus the current molasses-rate I've been posting at anyway) that the ONE giveaway I win I fail to truly win at. So they declared a new winner! FML, seriously.

My prize to win were three kicken' journals by Carrie . . . and guess what? She loves me so much she's going to make me some ANYWAY! Ha yeah! THANK YOU CARRIE!

Now I just have to decide what kind of cuteness I want them to be customized with. Hmm . . . what says Jules?

Search THIS Little List

It saddens me to read everyone's blogs and tweets about their spring break vacations . . . graduation and the working world have put an end to these for me, and instead of longboarding/sleeping/movie watching/cooking/baking/novel reading my heart out, I'm a busy copywriter staring out my office window at the beautiful weather I'm not a part of. Oh, well. Money must be made.

My little list today will focus on a search I did; a search of searches. Namely, the top ten searches that have led people to my blog. From least to most frequent, here they are, written exactly as they appeared when typed in a search box . . .

1 "panchae" - Trying to find Panache, I guess! This misspelled search always links to my various posts on Panache giveaways, even though each post has the spelling correct.

2 "garrypants blog spot" - My friend Jeff set up a blog dedicated to a tree he owns. Guess some friends of his were curious as to its humble life, and stumbled upon my blog which links to it?

3 "wrangler red we are animals" - This search leads to entry on Wrangler here, where I mused some thoughts on their controversial ad campaign.

4 "bloody butt ring" - Yeah, you read that right. Also in reference to my Wrangler post, taken from the phrase "But then again, is that a bloody butt crack I see? Ew." This comes up more often than the actual search for "wranglers red we are animals." What the crap!?

5 "MAN MAN RABBIT HABITS" - And always in all caps too! Ever since I did my quite recent post on albums I'd hang on my wall, this one comes up a lot. Why aren't users simply being directed to the band's site?

6 "ohnojules.blogspot.com" - Whoever was searching for my blog obviously typed this in a search box instead of the URL bar . . .

7 "jno jules" - Leads to my blog homepage. Who's Jno?

8 "van halen roller skates" - to this entry. Just go see why for yourself.

9 "kaysells mountains" - this has led people to this entry, specifically the phrase "I mean, Mary Kay sells make-up, right?"

and the most commonly searched term that directs traffic to my blog IS . . .

10 "zombie minnie mouse" - I get this at least once a week. And it takes them to this post, in which I wonder what to be for Halloween. No zombie Minnie here, folks.

I've searched each of these terms myself and my blog NEVER comes up, so it's a surprise to me how people have discovered my little corner of the world while Googling the likes of bloody butt rings. Oh, Internet. Happy reading, Googlers!

How to Tame Lions

 

Hello, Spring

So few posts lately, time to catch up: Easter was great (I made us some bunny ears and we hunted for eggs . . . actually Seve hunted for eggs while I cracked up watching) Conference was wonderful and Seve is DONE with Children of Eden, which means Seve & Jules time shall now increase tenfold. Though Children of Eden was such a great show and we're sad to see it end, that extra time means hanging out at home, date nights reinstated, goofing off abounding, and some quality time finally spent together. Just the way I like it.

That said, things that involved laughter and goofing off this weekend:

-Awesome date night on Friday.
-Our favorite 1-year-old's birthday party on Saturday (Happy Birthday Jens!)
-Jeff over at our place till practically 11:30 last night . . . we were keeping him there because, unbeknownst to him, his girlfriend Mallory (who is moving out here from Ohio so their romance may continue to bud) came out a few days early to surprise him, and rolled in pretty late. Was pretty cool to see him light up to see her.
-Absolutely horrible and hilarious movie trailer for a film called Teeth about girl with  "vagina dentata." Yeah, it means you have teeth growing down there. Like, down in there. And she uses those teeth to bite off the violating equipment of molesters. Haha, really? Who would make a film about this?

image via Andrea Shear

Little List of too much

Inspired by McKenzie's post on 8 albums she'd hang on her wall. I bumped the number up to 9 . . .

Bat for Lashes Fur & Gold
Picked this up after returning from China. I saw the music video for “What’s a Girl To Do?” and fell madly in love with Natasha Khan. Her voice, her style; all of it is pretty whimsical and dark and haunting and other adjectives dealing with moody beauty.

Beirut The Flying Club Cup
So beautiful. Everyone should listen to this album. This is my most recent love.

David Bowie Hunky Dory
Everyone thinks they're the biggest Bowie fan, and I'm no exception. I grew up on him and this album is my personal favorite from his catalog of work. I could listen to this album any time, anywhere.

The Smiths Louder Than Bombs
I've always been a Smiths fan, but Seve gave me this album when we were dating and it only made me fall that much more head-over-heels in love with him. "Is It Really So Strange?" is one of our songs, and it played at our wedding.

Daniel Johnston Hi, How Are You?
Seve introduced me to Mr. Johnston. In fact, he has a shirt with this album cover on it that he wears a lot . . . until I stole it. Now that we're married I guess we both own it. Daniel Johnston was always in rotation early on in our marriage, and his music will always remind me of that first year together.

Grizzly Bear Yellow House
This album was on repeat the whole season I worked in the Grand Teton National Park, and became the soundtrack to my time there. I even listend to this with headphones while hiking alone, which I'll admit isn't the smartest thing to do. Whenever I get in a camping mood, this is the music I reach for.

The Pixies Wave of Mutilation
My gosh I LOVE the Pixies! This album brings me back to high school . . . this is one of the few bands I loved at the time that managed to age well and stick around as my musical tastes developed.

St. Vincent Marry Me
As if I don't talk of my love of St. Vincent on this blog enough. I listened to this and Patrick Wolf's The Magic Position abundantly before leaving for China, which was such a happy time for me. Before entering the country we spent two days in Hong Kong, and I can't listen to "Now, Now" without thinking of the YMCA (the hotel we stayed at . . . yeah, it was really called that).

Tom Waits The Black Rider
It's hard for me to explain my love of Tom Waits to people. Another artist that Seve introduced me to, and his music can almost always be heard drifting out of our apartment. Apparently Scarlett Johansson is a huge fan of him as well.

BTW I should have bumped the number up to 10 and added Animal Collective's Sung Tongs, or 11 and added Man Man's Rabbit Habits, or 12 and added the Talking Heads Stop Making Sense . . . too many TOO MANY to choose from! But for now I'll just leave you with a song. . . I'm a little disappointed because I  wanted to feature individual song samplings after each album description, but I couldn't configure it . . . it ended up just placing the same song as the first widget for every widget. So, instead, I'll simply leave you with some Bowie:

Oh, and Happy Friday!

Lars & Seve

When my husband has a mustache, I think he looks like Ryan Gosling from Lars & the Real Girl.

Free free free tans tans tans

How could I not post this kitty today?

Especially when we have a Panache giveaway on our hands PEOPLE? And there's such a heartfelt entry about the store's beginnings - HOW COULD I NOT?

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?