My 100th post!

I have been watching this moment arrive trying to figure out what to do for such a monumental occasion. Here are 100 things you may or may not know about me.

1. I have red hair.
2. I own a house.
3. I moved to California when I was 24.
4. I love paper.
5. I love the smell of new books.
6. I dated my husband for nine years and five months before getting married.
7. I am fascinated by my husband's irrefutable memory.
8. I secretly read about cars and have put many men in their place when discussing automobile statistics.
9. I can't wait to go to bed every night.
10. I love Q-tips.
11. I am a graphic designer that doesn't know web design.
12. I like to take photographs.
13. I love to take my dogs to the beach.
14. I love that I live near the beach.
15. I like to sew.
16. I love flamingos.
17. I stare into my dogs eyes.
18. I often wonder what my dogs are thinking.
19. I do not have a diamond engagement ring.
20. I have two sisters and one brother.
21. I am the youngest sibling in my family.
22. I have been an aunt since age 12.
23. I am known to my family as Baby Heather or Aunt Baby.
24. All of my computers have been named LBH for Little Baby Heather.
25. I listen to Jimmy Buffett.
26. My next car will be a classic Mini Cooper.
27. I love to take my dogs for car rides.
28. I refer to my car as the swirling tornado of dog hair.
29. I like to gun the engine just so Thomas will yell about how much gas I just used.
30. I love to cook.
31. I find baking fun.
32. Whenever I bake I dirty every bowl in the kitchen.
33. I love to read cookbooks.
34. I love In-N-Out burgers.
35. I like wine.
36. I buy wine based on the label.
37. I brag about my husband's cooking ability.
38. I sleep with my iPhone under my pillow.
39. I am hugely possessive.
40. I love shoes.
41. I love purses.
42. I have an entire wall of my home dedicated to my purse collection.
43. I love my birthday.
44. I crave sushi.
45. I have a room full of art supplies that don't get used enough.
46. I am the tallest kid in my family.
47. I am 5' 10 1/2" tall.
48. I hate to clean.
49. I love to garden.
50. I built a deck with my husband.
51. I built a retaining wall out of 75 lb. bricks with my husband and mother-in-law.
52. I built a kitchen cabinet with my dad.
53. I have no spacial reasoning.
54. I love letters in the mail.
55. I collect individual letters.
56. I like a dirty martini.
57. I am trying to grow my hair long.
58. I love the color orange.
59. I am very ticklish.
60. I am a freelance graphic designer.
61. I love going out for breakfast.
62. I love sunrises and sunsets.
63. I want a telescope so I can become a better backyard astronomer.
64. My favorite city is London.
65. I dread turning 30.
66. I can install large wall size graphics with my bare hands.
67. I owned a yarn store before I really knew how to knit.
68. I love to crochet.
69. This was my locker number in high school.
70. I hate to knit with cotton.
71. My husband has banned me from purchasing anymore wrapping paper.
72. I love Sharpies.
73. I love tape.
74. I love to write letters.
75. I have an unintentional collection of vases.
76. I like quiet.
77. I don't like to read books.
78. I love to start a new project.
79. Sometimes I drink the wine before I've finished making the meal.
80. I installed a gas cooktop with my husband.
81. I love nail polish.
82. I am not good with makeup.
83. My legs are longer than my husband's and he is 6' 4".
84. I love the smell of a new book.
85. I baby my Oakley sunglasses.
86. I can roll my tongue.
87. I can hum and whistle at the same time which really annoys my dogs.
88. I was the only one in my wedding party that did not wear white.
89. I have oddly short pinkie fingers.
90. I have a collection of rulers.
91. I love to go to bed early.
92. I love to come home to my dogs.
93. I love a good sale.
94. I love old dishes.
95. I like vintage tea towels.
96. I wish my furniture was more modern, or maybe just my couch.
97. I don't understand how computers work.
98. I love coffee.
99. I love tea.
100. I am generally a happy person.

That's 72 to be exact

Of the things I miss most from Pennsylvania, pierogies are number two. (Tastykake Kandy Kakes are number one.) Have you ever heard of the wonderful fried treats called pierogies? That's what I thought. Pierogies are a delightful Hungarian potato dough dumpling filled with fluffy mashed potatoes, boiled then deep fried. I then enjoy them salted and carefully drizzled with ketchup.

We have tried to find them in California, but nobody knows what we're talking about when we ask. We then commence the story about how our favorite hot dog restaurant, Yocco's, offers these little fried bites of heaven, and oh how we're craving them. We just can't go on living without them. Yocco's sells the Doggie Pac which includes a dozen dogs, buns and all the fixings. My dad has been keeping us filled with Yocco's dogs for the last few years by air mailing a Doggie Pac on Thomas's birthday or whenever he thinks Thomas has a hankering. Yocco's does not, unfortunately for us, package their pierogies!

A few days ago, I received a cryptic email from my dad. "Expect a package on Thursday." We speculated what it could be, one can never be too sure when dealing with my family. We waited and pondered some more.

Thursday came and here's what arrived:

Pierogies! Six DOZEN pierogies to be exact. He split the order into different varieties sending us potato and cheese, plain cheese, and potato and onion. I dropped a dozen in the fryer and they turned out perfectly!

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Millie's Pierogi, get some for yourself, here.

Now with the worst logo I've ever seen

The global branding agency Enterprise IG has relaunched its identity. Dubbing itself The Brand Union, it sets the bar high. Here is their new logo sitting atop their previous.

So who told them to go ahead with this logo? It's hideous and down right illegible!

Here their website expounds on the ideas of brand mastery. "Part science, part art," it begins. "Knowing the measure of each in the building of a brand is the key to mastery. Lean too far to the right and you get creative flair without a strategic perspective. But lean too far to the left and you get strategy without beautiful execution. So you need a healthy balance between the two sides—a dynamic tension that’s vital for building great brands."

Balance? Between two sides? They missed all their own key points. The logo does not have any creative flair or so called beautiful execution. Maybe they just went for tension.

Then for added vomit potential they hit you over the head with the idea, that yes, they ARE A GLOBAL BRAND.

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Brand Union website. Link.

Advertising Age article. Link.

It's for my health

Have you seen the studies by Spanish scientists that say beer is better than water? Well, it's better after exercise anyway. Beer replaces lost calories and helps prevent dehydration. Oh, and those tiny bubbles even help quench thirst.

I'm in love. What a better way to motivate me to walk the dogs?

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Click here to view the entire article.

A new foot forward

It's the beginning of November and I think I am motivated to make some change. Tess has been making lots of little strides forward as of the first of the month. She has decided to take a photo of herself everyday for 365 consecutive days (a Flickr thing), and is also taking an hour out of her day to do something therapeutic. It was the later of the two that kick-started my ambition today. Why can't find an hour or even a half-an-hour to take care of myself.

I am not going to diet. I am not going to cut out alcohol. I don't drink Coke anymore, maybe a can a month and for a member of my family that counts and none.

Therefore, best way I know how to take care of myself is by running. I was on the cross country team in high school and really enjoyed it, but I have never run consistently since graduating. I don't have any outrageous goals of a marathon, ala Katie Holmes, but I would like to drop the ten pounds I've put on since my wedding. Well, it's not actually ten extra pounds as much as its healthy muscle rapidly disintegrating into flabby arms and thighs.

I'm not alone in this mission, the three of us are in this together.

These two fuzzies have to be my motivation, and maybe all of my friends in cyberland do too. You will have to hold me accountable. Please, remind me. Motivate me some more. I need it. Really, you should see these thighs. I will post weekly updates of how many miles I have walked/run in a given week. And, to kill two birds with one stone, I will post this on Sundays, just for Kelly who complains that I don't post everyday. (...complains by calling me a 'slacker' and this has taken its toll on my psyche in such a way that I cannot go on living until I make a post JUST FOR KELLY.)

Here we go:
Week 1
Walking, 2 miles
Running, 1/2 mile