Old Spice vs. Edge Shave Gel

14 Tuesday Jun 2011

Posted by in ads, internet, opinion, thoughts

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Apparently (I’m tempted to say “allegedly” but it just doesn’t apply, sigh) I’m about a month behind on this, but I just saw the Edge Shave gel commercial tonight and the similarity to the Old Spice commercial was just uncanny.

It made me instantly wonder if something like that would actually work, or just backfire. On the one hand, they’re using an idea that’s worked before, to a miraculous degree. Ok, miraculous might be an exaggeration, but I guess that would depend on your religious/spiritual beliefs. It worked for Old Spice, why wouldn’t it work for them? (I decided to do some research on whether the Old Spice ad campaign actually translated into money…and apparently it didn’t. What it did do, however, was give Old Spice a facelift and show how social media can be put to good work in an advertising campaign.)
On the other hand, it’s such a blatant copy cat, and Old Spice picked up quite the admiration with it’s commercial, that maybe people would be offended that someone would copy it. I’m assuming that Edge Shave knew how blatant the copy cat was, and thought people would find it funny. But you can’t mock something that people like…because people get defensive. And you’re trying to win those people over to buy your product.
Turns out, this wasn’t such a smart move for Edge Shave. Comments on the interweb were generally negative and disappointed in the blatant copying of the Old Spice commercials.
Anyhow, my thought process immediately following the commercial are superflous since comparisons have already been made. But I thought I’d add my two cents to the internet anyway.
What do you think:
vs.

True Story: I made a girl cry. Once.

09 Thursday Jun 2011

Posted by in friends, friendship, law school, random, stories

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Not on purpose, I swear.
It was probably second year of law school when it happened. Allegedly — and I use that word simply because I don’t remember it happening, the source of this information is actually very trusted and don’t doubt her word by any means…and I really like to use “allegedly” whenever I can — our usual group of law school folk were hanging out, probably pretending to study Con Law, and a new member was introduced to our group: cue Ms. Natalie. Through the course of this initial interaction, Ms. Natalie said or did something that elicited me to say something to the effect of “wow, you’re not even part of our group.” Harsh, right? Here’s the thing though…if she had known me at that point in time (which she obviously didn’t because we had just met), she would’ve known that I was being uberly sarcastic. Maybe too sarcastic…since those words did elicit some tears. Am I ashamed? Yes.
Good part of the story: we now share moments like these:
To those I have unintentionally made cry: I’m sorry, I hope you’ve since forgiven me and that we’ve had some amazing moments like Natalie and I :) And let this be a reminder to all of us: sarcasm is usually only appreciated after the person knows you well enough to be able to appreciate it. Yep, true words of wisdom, from yours truly.

OCD: The Gmail Inbox Kind

07 Tuesday Jun 2011

Posted by in emails, OCD, random

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Ever since first or second year of law school, when Courtney showed me how I could have a clean inbox by archiving everything into folders, I’ve been a little obsessive about having too many emails in my inbox. In my prime, I could keep it down to maybe 4-10 emails in my inbox.

My current inbox total: 302 emails. It’s killing me.
Mind you, these are not unread emails. That would be ridiculous and would bug me to no end. Just emails that I’ve read, but don’t want to archive yet because I want to read the content when I have more time, or I need to follow up on it and archiving it means I’ll never remember to do it.
302 emails.
And growing.
Yikes.

Decorating, Cooking, & Hosting, Oh My!

07 Tuesday Jun 2011

Posted by in 31 Bits, decorating, fundraising

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Abby and I have decided to co-host a jewelry party fundraiser for 31 Bits, and we’re quite excited about it. There’s a huge chance it’ll be the two of us a a little more than a handful of the ton of people we’re inviting, but I’m honestly just excited to cook some new appetizers and desserts, and decorate Abby’s place all vintage-y. We were inspired by this blog.
This past Saturday we woke up earlier than you should on a day off, and did some garage sale hunting. We found some cool vases, and THIS beauty:
That shiny, beautiful red lantern was only $0.50! The camera belonged to my grandfather, and my mom has loaned it to us, along with these:
See that ruler? That’s what back in the 1950’s was called political propaganda! Pretty cool, huh?
And these beauties…I found them when Jeff and I were in Old Town Orange looking for the door handles for the jewelry thingamabobber project (which, if it turns out good and vintagy enough, we might also use to hang some cool jewelry on at the party). I kept joking that I wanted to find a “$5 deal” which was ridiculous: prices at these antique stores are, well, ri-di-cu-lous. Then I found these containers…and I was expecting prices of about $25 for each of them, which would be in line with everything else…
But no! They were $7 and $9! Even the guy who rang me up was shocked by the price…it almost seemed like he was debating on whether he should sell them to be for that price or try to come up with some excuse to hold on to them. But alas, I got them, and got as close to a five dollar deal as I was gonna get. But I’m really, really happy with my find/purchase.
I’ll save the menu for another post :)

DIY Project: Necklace Hanger Thingamabobber

07 Tuesday Jun 2011

Posted by in creativity, DIY, jewelry, projects

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I always get excited (and by “excited” I mean slightly jealous) when I see other people’s works of creativity, including Jeff’s art. Recently I realized: like so many other things in my life, the only thing keeping me from doing stuff like that is myself.

Last week I mentioned to Jeff an idea I had (I’d like to say it was original since it was new to me, but I’m sure someone’s done it before–please don’t send me any links confirming my unoriginality: ignorance is bliss). Being the amazing husband he is, he’s encouraged me every step of the way and it’s almost complete!

1) We went to the Orange Circle to an antique store that actually inspired the project: I was there a few weeks ago and saw a wagon full of old door knobs and handles and thought they looked super cool. So we went there, and we bought some :)


2) We scrounged through Jeff’s dad’s garage and found some old pieces of wood. My job: knicks and scratches and sanding! Jeff’s job: everything else!


3) Jeff put it all together, then he taught me a great technique for using protective blue tape.


4) This is where it really came in handy to be married to an artist. I had no idea what I was doing…


5) Not too shabby, eh?!


6) Tonight we gotta finish drilling the wholes and place the handles. I might need to buy some more screws, since the ones we got at the antique store weren’t necessarily matching ones.

Stay tuned!

Accountability Updates

06 Monday Jun 2011

Posted by in accountability, exercise, food, health

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I had In n Out for lunch yesterday. And I didn’t even go for the protein style version of the burger. Then I had chicken tortilla soup for dinner….from El Pollo Loco. I know. FAIL.

BUT, I have been doing a little yoga here and there, and yesterday I tried a little pilates on Netflix instant watch. Holy-way-more-intense-than-yoga! My legs are actually a little sore today, and I don’t think I even made half way through the forty minute routine. My goal this week is to make it through the whole session at least once. I will confess that one problem I had was in keeping up: it’s way faster than yoga, and my coordination is sorely lacking…so I haven’t had the easiest of times keeping up with the routine, ha.

We had a pretty busy weekend, which means no hikes or climbing (but plenty of fun, which hopefully I’ll write about later). I really miss how much time we spent outdoors in April. July should be a little more mellow during the weekends, so hopefully we can pick up where we left off (we still have to explore Blackstar Canyon, and do more outdoor climbing).

On a good-ish note, this has been my usual breakfast for the last couple months or so:

What is this mess, you may ask. And I don’t blame you. Fresh fruit (banana and cantaloupe in this case, although it’s usually a banana and orange or something), granola, and yogurt. I mentioned earlier that I transitioned to vanilla yogurt, making my way from strawberry to plain. After I finish what seems like five pounds of vanilla yogurt I’ll try out the plain stuff. I wasn’t a huge fan of the vanilla stuff when I first started eating it, and now kind of enjoy it, so I’m hoping the same goes for what I’m sure won’t be as pleasant plain yogurt.

‘Tis the Season!

30 Monday May 2011

Posted by in college, friends, Guatemala, invitations, law school, wedding

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With Summer comes…wedding season! This year Jeff and I are fortunate to be invited to two weddings, both of which I’m excited for and honored to be invited to (and be a part of!).

This Saturday, my amazing friend Katie gets married. We met in law school, after finding out that we had both been to Guatemala. I literally just realized that the two roommates I ever had (other than Jeff), I’ve gotten to know because of our initial connection with Guatemala: my freshman year in college someone told me there was another girl in our dorm hall that was from Guatemala…I think I left a really lame message on her door with something to the effect of “You’re from Guatemala, I’m from Guatemala, we should hang out!” Lame, but it worked. We became great friends and shared a one bedroom apartment for three years. And then my first year in law school we had to introduce ourselves in Torts and say something “interesting”; Katie mentioned she had just traveled to Guatemala, and I mentioned that I was half Guatemalan and spoke Spanish fluently (what can I say, it’s the only really interesting thing I got going sometimes). We sat next to each other in one class, and before we knew it, we were trying out for the ADR competition team together, traveling to cities near and far, sharing an apartment, and eventually sharing a hotel room during the bar exam (let me tell you, sharing a hotel room during the bar is EXTREMELY frowned upon–we were advised multiple times by multiple people not to do it…it worked out great :) ). Anyhow, Katie’s friend Lauren made her invitations, and they’re absolutely adorable (vcm1313@cox.net).
And next Saturday is Shirley’s wedding! We also met in law school. Shirley might be one of the craziest girls I know, and she’s absolutely amazing for it. She’s incredibly smart, and has more passion for public interest than anyone else I know. She currently works for a legal aid in Nebraska, and is kicking ass at her job. I wanna be her someday :) Her sister, Wendy Peng, designed and made her invitations, which look awesome (pendyweng@gmail.com).
I should mention that both of these fine young ladies are marrying amazing gentlemen. Katie met J, and it’s the first time ever I’ve ever seen a couple that is more lovey dovey than Jeff and I :) And Shirley is marrying Seth, who she met in Nebraska while doing an internship out there during law school. Things worked out well enough for her to move to Nebraska (yep), and now they are happily engaged and….homeowners!
Ladies: I can’t wait <3

Charity of the Month: Isabella

30 Monday May 2011

Posted by in charity, Charity of the Month, Isabella

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It’s been less than four years since I drove down Twinberry to meet the new members of Giselle and Lucho’s family: Santino & Isabella! Grandma was beyond excited, and Giselle looked like any new mom of twin’s would look: tired! :)

Since then, I’ve seen them grow up through their Tia Erika’s stories and pictures, and tried to win over their affection whenever I see them. It’s hard to win over their affection when they really only have time for each other: Santino lives for Isabella, and Isabella lives to defend Santino!

On a Sunday, less than a month ago, Isabella was complaining about her tummy, and although initially thought to be just a tummy ache, Isabella’s complaints were enough to worry Giselle. They ended up at the hospital and finding out that same day that Isabella had a sizeable tumor in her kidney. The diagnosis after the initial biopsy: Stage 3 Wilms tumor. Isabella started chemo that Friday. Since then she’s acquired a new haircut, as have her barbies:


What amazes me about this girl is that she’s dealing with all of this better than I think most of us would, and definitely better than I would. Part of it is probably not even being aware of what’s going on, but another part is just how resilient and full of life she is. I imagine myself in her situation and I think I’d be sitting in that hospital bed with a frown and throwing a pity party for myself. Not this girl. For example, a little snippet of the updates we get from her mom: “One thing this tumor can’t take away….my daughter’s great taste. When asked what she wanted to watch before bed tonight…she chose “Clash of the Titans” over Hannah Montana….that is MY girl.”

A family friend started a fundraising website, and the response has been absolutely amazing and heart warming. In the span of about three weeks, they reached their goal of $10,000, and have increased their goal to $15,000. To the average person such as myself, this seems like a lot of money (which it is, and it truly is awesome that the love of family, friends, and strangers alike were able to raise this kind of money–thank you to all of you who have already donated!), but when you think about the overall cost of what they’re looking at, it feels like a drop of water in the ocean. If you feel so inclined, please check out Isabella’s website to help them out with whatever amount you can.

Most of all, please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Accountability Updates, Pre-Memorial Day Weekend

26 Thursday May 2011

Posted by in accountability, exercise, food, health, yoga

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I did yoga this week! Not the most intense of work outs, but still better than not doing anything (maybe that’s just my excuse). On Tuesday I did a yoga workout that was recommended on Netflix instant watch: Crunch: Candlelight Yoga! Haha, yeah, I thought it sounded pretty lame too, but there were several reviews raving about how great it was, so I thought I would give it a try. It was actually really soothing, and just what I needed after my self-induced stressful day at work. Candlelights, mellow background music, aaaaaand I almost fell asleep a time or two. It definitely wasn’t an intense workout, but I think it’s a good introduction to yoga if you’ve never done it.
On Wednesday I decided to try another recommended video that was on youtube, and that looked a little more intense. This one lacked the production and editing of the first one, including a lack of soothing music and candlelights. And this is where I stepped things up a notch: iPhone APP TO THE RESCUE! Cue ambiance. I was gonna go with “Portuguese Forest,” but the toad or frog or whatever it is was a little distracting. “Bright Sunny Morning” worked out pretty well. (Wow. Yep. I put soothing background noise while doing yoga. Who am I??)
So that was the extent of my activity for the week.
We didn’t cook anything too exciting this week. We made pasta the other night and both realized we got really used to having veggies with our meals. It felt weird not eating veggies with our dinner. I think that’s a good sign.
I’ve been eating way more fresh fruit than I used to. Usually a banana and orange/cutie for breakfast with granola and yogurt. Speaking of yogurt…I usually buy the strawberry yogurt, until I realized that plain is probably a better way to go. I didn’t wanna quit strawberry cold turkey though…so I’m trying out vanilla for now (baby steps). Not a huge fan. Also, who knew you couldn’t even buy yogurt without checking labels and researching? Eating healthier is more time consuming than it should be.
I mentioned before how Jeff and I bought stuff at the farmer’s market a few weeks ago. I realized the problem of shopping at the farmer’s market is that stuff is WAY fresh, as in…it doesn’t last very long. For a household of two…it’s almost wasteful to buy a bunch of stuff at the farmer’s market only for it to spoil before we get a chance to eat it. Not sure how people make that work. I’m thinking we just have to buy on the day of, which means going to the store more frequently. Hmmmm.
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