Ad2 Reno and its Prune to Plum, Story-To-Be… November 12, 2010

“Something has happened to the prune. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, I only know that I was at the supermarket one fine morning, minding my own business, when suddenly I came face to face with ‘the sun-dried plum.’

I will tell you right now that I’m a fan of the prune—particularly when it’s in Danish form—but the prune was clearly not selling. For the prune to turn heads (not to mention meet a nice guy, move to the suburbs, and have a couple of baby prunes) it needed a fresh marketing strategy. Which brings us to today’s subject: the online dating profile.

I’ve got a number of brilliant, beautiful, frank, funny friends, all capable of remarkable things, but writing an enticing online profile does not seem to be one of them. That’s where I come in. Some people offer their services in soup kitchens, some volunteer to shampoo crude oil off of sad, gooey pelicans; I rewrite online dating profiles.”

……..finish reading (my favorite new writer) Lisa Kogan’s dating profile makeover/marketing twist/try not to pee your pants article/prune to plum/10 Things Not to Include in Your Online Dating Profile by clicking here. It. Is. Hilarious. Seriously.

That whole introduction leads me to this: I am going  to flip Ad2 Reno from a wrinkly prune into a juicy sun-ripened plum. Rebecca Wikler and I just got back from the National Ad2 Conference, hosted by Ad2 Phoenix, and are very ready for the challenge.

If you’re not a metophor type of person, or maybe have never tried the tasty dried plum, Ad2 Reno is about to kick ass. It is THE club to join if you want to take part in a young community (22-32) that’s into IMC, advertising, PR, design, fresh ideas, communications, social media, networking, event planning and all around creativity. Also, CJ Milholland (the very talented web designer) is currently awesomitising the Ad2 Reno website…. definitely looking forward to his design!

after party at the ad2 mid-year retreat in phoenix

If you want to find out more about Ad2 Reno (or sign up) leave me a message and I’ll contact you with details.

Goodbye Thailand, Hello Job Search November 3, 2010

Thailand was amazing, but it’s back to the real world. Here are 25 fun pictures from the trip that I didn’t get to post while I was there:

 

just hanging out with tigers for the day

at wat mahathat in ayutthya. it is a sign of respect to have your head lower than buddha's.

there were freaking bats in there!!!

into the crypt, only to find spiders

the "wai" in front of wat ratchaburana

wat ratchaburana in ayutthya

the royal palace

sarongs for the summer palace. GORGEOUS inside. no pictures allowed :/

in the lighthouse overlooking the summer palace

very colorful hindu temple

traditional thai dancers

buddha's hand in "teaching mudra"

hand-stitched quilt...workmanship is unrivaled here

sky bar overlooking bangkok. amazing.

night shot of chao phraya river

 

floating market

yummy pad thai lunch from a market boat

One of my favorite pictures- monks robes hanging out to dry

stone absara (angel)

the metal palace- my favorite temple

getting my fortune

buddha

the queen's flag, monk's flag and flag of thailand

the gong at the golden mount

this is my favorite picture of all time. in order to have your picture taken with a monk, you must first ask his permission and make sure not to touch

Foodie September 22, 2010

I’m becoming a real foodie. At least I think. What is a foodie? I’ve heard that term before. Sounds strange when you say it. Say it 10 times outloud…. see? Is it someone who likes food? Tries new food? Cooks food? I’m going to go with all of that. So yes, I am in fact a Thai foodie.

I’m such a nerd. After I wrote that I had to look it up: “foodies are amatures who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news. It is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink.” That’s so me! Thanks wikipedia.

Aunt B and I took a Thai cooking class together. We started off at the Klong Toey wet market where the Helping Hands chefs took us to purchase our fresh ingredients. The menu: Tom Yum Gai (spicy chicken soup), Pad Thai (Thai noodles with vegetables), Larb Phet (minced duck with lemongrass) and Kow Neuw Moon (coconut milk sticky rice with mango).

the wet market

The shopping was the best part. There were definitely good smells and bad smells. Herbs and foreign fruit would be down one aisle, and pig heads would be on the next. I was mostly trying to avoid water puddles, dripping onto the concrete from melting seafood ice. There were hundreds of fish- salted, fried, balled…squid, sting ray, eels….most on ice, but tons that were still alive and flopping around. We came to the Issan section, a hilltribe North of Thailand. They had prepared crickets, beetles, spiders and live toads. I told B I would eat a cricket, but we couldn’t find the section again after the cooking class. Bummer. Guys in giant straw hats were hired to carry groceries in these huge woven baskets. They had some pep in their step too, so it was hard to stay out of their way. I learned this the hard way becuase apparently, I was in the way. Ouch. Women were eating bowls of noodles as they were selling their own concoctions. Children were napping or playing in the back of the food stalls. Motor-ci were driving through with deliveries. Shoppers were bargaining on prices. B was asking a bijillion questions (there’s always one in every group). It was overall, overwhelming. In a really good way.

good smells

BAD smells

don't get in his way!

...and watch out for flopping fish

There were five of us at the cooking school, held in a Thai house down an alley. We took off our shoes and put on our aprons. It felt so authentic.

thai chefs

Our instructor, whose name I forget, but our friend Ilana (she’s the middle thai chef… check out her blog here! She included the recipes!) thought it translated from Thai to English as the color pink. Fun. So Pink would cook first. She had us smell each ingredient, then taste her dish so that we could learn, then we were on our own. When we were making the Tom Yum Gai, Pink said she normally uses four hot peppers to her liking. Her assistant usually cooks with 10. We only used 1/2 of one and thought we were dying. In the end though, my cooking came pretty close to hers. Good enough to eat, anyway.

B and coon "pink" ...i really need to find out her name...

 

chop chop chop

tee-da! pad thai!

…A couple days ago we were on Khao San Road (a backpackers street), when an Issan vendor rolled up with some freaking crickets. B jumped up, and held me to my bold, cricket-eating statement the week before. She started ordering these HUGE crickets. I said absolutely not… so we settled on the small ones. We sat down with a couple beers when Uncle Randy grabbed a hand full of crickets and ate them like popcorn. I was a little more meticulous, but wound up eating five! Oily is the best word to describe them. Not bad though.

no fear

...the reach...

yikes!

and done. this was the first of five!!

B tried one too. i don't know why she didn't go for seconds?

“Now when you fart, you’ll chirp” …Uncle Randy’s quote of the night.

Getting Around September 22, 2010

You’d think you were in New York the way you can hail a taxi around here. You’d also think you were in a New York taxi once you’ve come to a complete stop 30 seconds later. But you’re definitely not in New York if you get to watch Thai movies in traffic! Which actually wasn’t as great as I was hoping, as there were no subtitles…. and it was loud… and bloody… and in Thai… with no subtitles. This is the point where B would lip sync for Sylvester Stallone. Entertaining.

bangkok traffic!

The other options: 1) BTS skytrain. Clean. Cheap. Efficient. Great for people watching. Funny commercials play on the screens… which are also great for learning Thai! “Aroy” means delicious… 2) MRT underground. Clean. Cheap. Efficient. No funny commercials. 3) Tourist river boat. This moves North along the Chao Phraya River. Great for transportation as long as it’s not rush hour. Then it’s really sucky. 4) Klong river boat. This is the locals’ mode of transportation, so we were the only farongs (foreigners) on board. Have to know where you’re going though because you can’t see much above this blue tarp… which is to keep water from splashing. Also, you have to be quick. These people aren’t messing around. Get on. Sit down. Get off.

locals' klong

 

tourist klong...see the difference?

Eh’ option: Tuk-tuk. This is an over-priced (usually), three-wheeled golf cart, with an open back and sides. They have a bad rep because some of them are known for scamming tourists (which we fell victim to once) and will take you to a jewelry shop where they get commission. The super down side to these guys is you sit around the fumes of the cars in traffic and no AC…. my suggestion is to only take at night because it’s cooler, or for very short distances. It’s something a little different and fun, so definitely try it once or twice… but … eh’

tuk tuk

Best option: Motor-ci. These guys ride around wearing orange vests so that you know they are certified. Very cheap and the best way to see everything. Interesting while holding groceries. Even more interesting in a skirt. Sense of adventure required… and do not take at night! Apparently most motor-ci drivers get “mauw” once it hits 5. No thanks.

i never know if i should hold onto him... the seat... the back handle?

Thank You September 20, 2010

I was going to post more on my trip, but decided to say thank you instead. I got this email yesterday from one of my best friends:

“Amber, you are such an amazing person, I am so proud to call you my friend. You are one of the few people in this world who knows exactly what she wants, what it takes to get there, and has no doubt that you will one day achieve it. I admire and yearn for your fearlessness. I am more sure than ever that you will have a successful and happy life because I see how you seize each opportunity, enjoy it fully, learn the most you can from it, and then move on to the next exciting adventure. I hope to one day enjoy the same confidence and optimism that you live everyday.

So happy happy birthday my dear friend. Know that I am thinking of you, celebrating you and supporting you. I love you tons and miss you more than you can imagine. I hope we get to catch up soon, until then, enjoy thailand!”

To this person… you know who you are… this made my day. Hope it’s ok that I’m sharing with everyone. It was just the best, feel-good note ever!

Master Seafood Chef September 13, 2010

Pop off the heads, squeeze out the guts, and rip off each tiny leg… one by one. Sounds like a horror scene by Hitchcock himself. Really, though, I didn’t even want to touch ‘em. They were looking at me! One grabbed ON TO ME! Alright, this is a slight exageration. They were dead. They were very dead. They were shrimp. Have you ever cleaned a whole, veined, shell-still-on, shrimp? That is looking at you!? With its eyes!? Maybe I’m just a big chicken, but one freaking jumped out at me! The one I was holding had these long antanae looking things, and then those got tangled up with the antanae of another dead and very unalive scary shrimp… and pretty soon it was leaping out of the pot and onto my arm!

So, we cooked them. Revenge. And they were awesome! The only thing we put on them was cayenne pepper (Uncle Randy was pronouncing this spice in his best Justin Wilson voice), creole seasoning, garlic, and butter… then grill for 10-15 minutes. *The secret  to de-veining the fresh shrimp is to use eyebrow tweezers. works. promise

look at those beady eyes

you have to put the shrimp heads in a separate pot to boil for soup

my face says it all

uncle randy... aka: grill master

right off the fire

A Photo Journey September 10, 2010

I have visited so many wonderful places! This post is a photo recap of life in general… from Phuket to current Bangkok. I will definitely add in some anecdotes in the next few days.

i'm certain this counts as a serving of fruit

 

big buddha

uncle randy and i, overlooking phuket from the big buddha

this street made las vegas look like an amateur

fish pedicure! it looks like i have fish booties on

feeding baby elephants bananas

we got to drive! his name is nom cho, and he is 32 years old

just finished snorkeling off the coast of phi phi island

wat chalong

we're doing the "wai"

royal barges

eating noodles and fish balls from a street vendor

a sunny day at wat arun, "the temple of dawn"

wat arun is made out of broken ceramics

the reclining buddha at wat pho

look at those toes!

a LOVELY picture of me...writing my blog...on my buckwheat bed

the view from our balcony after a rain

? ...all i know is that i have to live with these people for weeks

Adventures in Bangkok August 31, 2010

This country is absolutely amazing. The people here are so friendly- Thailand is known as the land of smiles. Which I’ve found to be true, a smile will go forever here- a “Swasdee Ka” or “Khop Khun Ka” (pronounced- ‘cop coon ka’… means- thank you) accompanied with a smile, it’s like I fit right in…. aside from my blonde hair and blue eyes. haha. ok, no. I really do stick out like a sore thumb. But truly, everyone smiles here.

Yesterday we visited The Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddah. Some of my favorite things at the Grand Palace –> Where the King parks his elephant…Where the royal children get their hair cut (top knots are worn by trouble-makers)…All the folk tales (about Garuda, deamons, guardians, fighting mosquitos, queens floating on fire, fish monkeys, etc.). Then we saw the Emerald Buddah–> which is actually very small and made out of jade, not emerald… that was discovered after a lightening bolt hit it…. it was originally covered in plaster, then the lightening knocked off the plaster nose revealing the jade underneath…. We had a VERY good tour guide.

On our way back we were (only a little) lost. We went to return home via tour boat on the Chao Phraya River… the woman selling tickets told us to return by 19:00 (they go by military time here). This turned out to be false information. No big deal. We headed on foot to the closest pier… crossing our fingers the boat was still available. We made it….for rush hour. The amount of people on this boat was insane. My aunt joked, “I wonder if their breaking fire code?” haha. What fire code? [mom and dad- I swear we were safe]… The pollution however may not have been safe. The boat was billowing fumes…. so, in my effort to hold onto an “oh shit” bar above my head with one hand, and the camera with the other, I wound up closing my eyes and covering my mouth… with my arm pit… my only option, but also not safe, I’m sure. haha. It’s like living in a sauna here! Sweating is the norm. So pits + all day sweat = ick.

That was all yesterday. Today, however, we had a really rough day- eating chocolate and getting manicures and pedicures. Oh! I absolutely have to find my nail color when I get home. It’s a light pink by OPI, called ‘My Daddy Is The King.’ How cute is that? The color makes me feel like I just stepped out of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

I’m very excited for tomorrow- shopping! Then off to a night bazzar for more…. shopping! AND I’ll get to eat Thai food! We really haven’t had the chance yet, so I’m definitely ready for some SPICE.

….scroll over the pictures for a caption….

Sawasdee Kaa August 29, 2010

Spirit House

Sawasdee Kaa! (swad-ee-ka) This means ‘hello’ in Thai. My Uncle tells me that I will impress people if I say this with a slight bow, with my hands at a kind of prayer position below my nose. I will have to try it out and let you know later.

It is around 9:30 in the morning on Sunday, Aug. 29… also my birthday! Waking up in Thailand= coolest present EVER. Thanks mom and dad! I think this trip is also my graduation, christmas, and any other holiday present for the next year

20 hours in-flight time, and I’m finally here in Bangkok. I’m doing well. No jet-lag…yet… and I have already learned a few things:

1) There are over 300 wats (temples) in Bangkok alone.

2) They have interesting toilets in Tokyo… there was a bedai (sp?), and a “flushing sound” button to cover up any noises you may be making in there. Kind of funny. They also have a floor toilet…?

3) Thai people sleep on hard beds. Really hard beds.

4) They do not eat dog here… I’m not sure who I was talking to about this, but no… no dogs (thank goodness!) They do, however, eat bugs. yum.

5) The driving is crazy! We took a taxi from the airport to my Aunt and Uncle’s condo- yikes.  We will be taking public transportation… aka: The Underground… or walking most of the time….this sounds like my safest option.

6) Do not drink the water.

7) Houses and commercial buildings put something outside called a “spirit house.” For commercial business, this is an elaborate house that is filled with offerings: food, flowers, and small figurines that represent ancestors. For regular houses though, I guess the spirit house is much smaller. My Aunt said it is a place for the spirits of dead ancestors to keep them away from the actual house or building. Cool.

As I learn more, I will post more, so check back often or subscribe! (Mom, click on the blue ‘about’ button in the upper right hand corner, scroll to the bottom and check the box marked, ’subscribe to this site by email’ )

Event Integration August 17, 2010

I+M+C = Integrated Marketing Communications. I’ve always thought of this as a fluid communication message between several media. However, a few weekends ago I attended New Belgium’s Clips of Faith Home Brew/Home Movie event where it was apparent you can have integration within a single event. New Belgium reps nailed it.

First off, the location. Reno. What a perfect place to promote beer drinking, bike riding and sustainability in general. The event was also a fundraiser for the Reno Bike Project. Rock On.

Second, the set-up. They had Belgian-dressed (I assume) servers, offering samples to patrons; Eclectic/chic  music (check out my favorite new song: Sister Kate); A recycled crafts area where one could: a) find a picture from a cycling magazine and recycle it into a fashionable button. b) recycle film strips into bracelets. c) screen print the Reno Bike Project logo onto a donated item of clothing. They also had a scavenger hunt type of passport that potentially led to great prizes… a trip to the brewery for beer making? Yes please

Overall, the integration was impressive. New Belgium brought Reno locals together with their ”folly”. The homemade movies were very, well,  homemade… and it completely tied in with the eco art, and recycling projects.

There is one thing I would change though….. why host it during Hot August Nights? Arguably THE biggest event of the summer, and it completely goes against what the event is promoting (beside beer)…. riding your bike. Cars and bikes- two major competing forces… ahh! Just a tactical error, but it’s a detail that can’t be overlooked. Especially when it is clear that SO much work went into making the event a success.

New Belgium- awesome event otherwise. Beer & Bike Lovers- definitely attend.