Dyson Animal Ball...Finally

For years I have been coveting a Dyson vacuum cleaner. And then after I got my dog Paisley and realized how allergic Chase is to her I started really drooling over the Dyson Animal. THEN they came out with the Dyson Animal Ball. Turns on a dime.



Lucky for me, my friends at work picked up on my obsession. So when the office threw me a wedding shower they all went in together and got me a Bed, Bath and Beyond gift card so I could finally purchase my Dyson Animal Ball. Plus, I used a 20% coupon and got $110.00 off the vacuum cleaner.

Last night I tore open the beautiful box (isn't it just beautiful)and put the sucker together.



It was just so pretty! And it works so well and is so easy to use that even my Dad wanted to vacuum. (take note, this is a miracle!)



So, I am now officially a very very proud owner of a Dyson vacuum cleaner. It might seem a bit strange to get so worked up over a vacuum cleaner, but try one out. It will change your life.

The end of an era

When you move to a new city you have to do things you might not necessarily want to do. Like leave your current job and all the wonderful friendships you have made.

I have not talked a whole lot about my job on here but I will brag about it a little now. I work for an advertising agency in Oklahoma City called Third Degree. Its a full service advertising and communications agency choc full of uber talented people.

I started at Third Degree as a measly little intern the summer before my senior year of college. I impressed some important people so they asked me to work part time during my last year of college. Lucky me, they seemed to take to me so when I graduated I stepped into a full time role in Account Service.

The experiences I have had and the people I have been lucky enough to spend my weekdays (and some weekends) with has been absolutely amazing. I got to work somewhere I believed in and looked forward to going every day. Not very many people get to say that. And it happened to me at 22.

I am proud of what I accomplished at Third Degree and I am even more proud of the team that gives it everything they've got every single day. Third Degree will forever be a part of me.

Thanks for the memories...

Conquering Fear

I am terrified of heights. Bigtime. I climb to the third step of a standard ladder and feel like I am going to puke. I can't watch the beginning of Mission Impossible without dry heaving. It is bad. So what better way to conquer that fear than to embrace it head on.

Rock climbing.



My good friends Kathleen and Jeremy have become serious rock climbers and have been inviting Chase and I to join for quite some time...so we finally succumbed to their requests.

We made a Friday night of it and it was awesome. I surprised myself and actually got pretty damn high (for me). My friends were very supportive and I am not ready to hit the walls again!

Liz was a natural.

Home Office

Starting December 1st I will be working at a new job, a job which a large part will be working from home. No better reason to tackle the home office at the new house right off the bat.

The office has to be functional, very functional, but I also wanted to make sure it had a good well designed feel to it.

The one major must was having two work-spaces, one for Chase and one for me. We are accomplishing that with two separate desks. The other major must was a clean lines, modern and organized look.

So, here is the mood board for the office. (click on image to see full board)

The table is from Ikea, we snatched two of these. They are actually dining room tables which I liked because they are not clunky. No drawers, no pull out keyboard slots, just a nice large surface to work on. The storage unit, actually a bedroom dresser, we also got from Ikea. The glass elements compliment each other nicely.

The chairs Chase and I found at a store in Tulsa called joz. Its a fantastic "antique" store focusing on mid-century modern furnishings.

The lamp was a $8 clearance find from Target. And the rest of the items are yet to be purchased. I really want to focus on organizational functionality.

Can't wait to see it all come together.

thirtysomething

One of the questions that people always ask is "why do you do what you do?" I have been asked this question several times. My little story is kind of interesting so I figured I would share.

First of all, I work in advertising. Second, no I do not direct commercials. Third, no it does not make you rich.

I have known what I wanted to do "when I grow up" since I was around 5 years old. And strangely enough it came from television.

There was a show that came out in 1987 called thirtysomething. It was a pretty revolutionary show for its time. It stretched the limits on acceptable subject matter for network television and brought some very interesting scenario's to light. It was also about working in advertising. Two of the main characters run their own shop in Philadelphia.

My parents, mostly mom, were obsessed with the show. And when you are five years old you don't get much say over what you watch, so I was in front of the TV watching thirtysomething.

So what caught a five year olds attention to determine their future career path? One of the main characters had a small basketball goal in his office. He and his partner would sit around brainstorming ideas. When they determined one was no good they would crumple it up and throw it through the basketball goal. Awesome! You can play basketball at work. See at the time, I had the identical goal in my room so an instant connection to advertising was made.

Over the years, as I explored the industry more and matched it up with my talents I realized I would not be the creative director coming up with the big ideas but I did realize there was a place for me in advertising.

Funny how things work out. Plus, thirtysomething was a damn good show. Check out the first season on DVD.

Couch hunt

As our move to the new house in Dallas draws closer my furniture hunt gets more and more serious. The most important piece we need is the couch for the living room. Last weekend I went shopping at some furniture stores and was very disappointed when I couldn't find anything close to what I want.

Yesterday I hopped online and found my way to Macys.com where I was pleasantly surprised with their funiture collection. Then I saw it...my perfect couch. Mid-century style, great color selection and the elusive three cushions!

Isn't she beautiful?

Chase refuses to buy a couch without sitting on it (which I can understand) so this weekend we will be taking a trip to Macy's to find out if the couch is really for us.

My second favorite holiday

is Halloween.

This year there was a variety of different costumes and events. The first was Mad Men day at my office. I work for an advertising agency so in true form we all dressed up as characters who would work in the 60's advertising agency Sterling Cooper on AMC's Mad Men.



Second on the list was a trip to Stillwater. I didn't dress up BUT Chase pulled out his 8 year old "Gentlemen Bug" costume. Then our friend Chris won a costume contest as Billy Mayes.





Finally, I wrapped up this years Halloween festivities with a house party on Saturday night. My costume was a doctor straight out of surgery. I hit a main artery, there was a lot of blood. I also had to assist Mia Wallace.



Until next year...

Closing Day

I am now officially a homeowner. Yesterday I traveled down to Dallas with my parents to sign my life away on Chase and I's new home. It was liberating and nauseating at the same time.

I even had to sign my full name (spell out my middle name) which caused nervous cramps in my hand. Weird.



But, after it was all said and done I walked away with a new home, a fancy lunch at the upstairs Park Cities Club and some sweet initial Styrofoam cups (V and M)!