The Answer to Einstein's riddle

My writing is so messy. Row titles from top to bottom:
colour (of the house), nationality, pets, beverage and smokes.

The original question is here... http://brandhealthacd.blogspot.com/2011/01/einsteins-riddle.html


To get the answer I created a chart, five across and five down and then started to fill in the boxes. Basically, you had to figure out where everyone else lived and what they drank and smoked leaving one square blank. There were several places that I could only fill in definitively, but then I logically deduced what, went where, depending on the clues given and the spaces that needed to be filled. It kind of reminded me of a sudoku puzzle. And everybody knows how much I love sudoku puzzles!

So, the answer is... The German. The fish belongs to the coffee-drinking, Prince-smoking, German who lives in the green house. 

The knead to create

First on our menu, homemade mini 
cinnamon buns drizzled with icing

In another life, my friend Christine and I would be the owners of a quaint café/bakery/flower shop called Buns & Roses®. I would only make delicate sweet buns and she would sell petite, fragrant bunches of roses tied with a ribbon.

This morning I thought I had better practice... 

Einstein's Riddle

Einstein wrote the following riddle. He said that 98% of the world could not solve it. Ummm, I solved it. I think he was trying to psych people out. It's not all that hard if you are logical and are very patient. Give it a try:

There are 5 houses in 5 different colors in a row. In each house lives a person with a different nationality. The 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar, or drink the same beverage. Other facts:
1. The Brit lives in the red house. 
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets. 
3. The Dane drinks tea. 
4. The green house is on the immediate left of the white house. 
5. The green house's owner drinks coffee. 
6. The owner who smokes Pall Mall rears birds. 
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill. 
8. The owner living in the center house drinks milk. 
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house. 
10. The owner who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats. 
11. The owner who keeps the horse lives next to the one who smokes Dunhill. 
12. The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer. 
13. The German smokes Prince. 
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house. 
15. The owner who smokes Blends lives next to the one who drinks water. 


The question is: WHO OWNS THE FISH?


Answer: http://brandhealthacd.blogspot.com/2011/01/answer-to-einsteins-riddle.html

When Brush Script was considered... Cool?

How I hate Brush Script. The sight of it makes me cringe! I could never imagine an application to which Brush Script would be acceptable. For the good of mankind, I’ve been known to delete Brush Script from font servers as to maintain the integrity of an agency’s font collection. But, to my amazement today, I came across these vintage hat boxes. In all it’s glory, there it was... Brush Script. Looking all retro-chic. Edna even spent money to have it embossed in gold foil!! Son of a... (beep) I adore it. Yes, even with that bad kerning. Dare I say, it has some charm.

And, with that I wrap up my week of typography!

Deanna's favourite font

"My favourite font would have to be Gill Sans. It's clean and versatile, which makes it an easy go-to font that looks good with just about anything.  Another favourite of mine is Century Schoolbook, especially in italic. It's probably the first font I think to use whenever I'm designing anything for myself.  There's something so elegant about it, it's hard to resist!" – Deanna

For font dorks... like me.

I wish I could say that I’ve mastered the art of combining typefaces but... I can’t. I believe combining fonts is an intuitive process which every designer approaches in their own way. My only rule is to keep it simple. I often like to limit my font usage in a piece to two or three at the most. I know! Sometimes impossible when there are soooo many amazing typefaces out there. To help focus myself here are three techniques I have a tendency to use, but not limited to, as I find sometimes it’s those happy accidents that prove to be winning combinations.

ONE: Choose fonts with contrasting or complementary moods. The contrast between the font moods will play off of each other and create something very charming and surprisingly harmonious. 

TWO: Choose fonts with similar line qualities but with different textures. These three mechanical fonts play elegant curves against hard edges to create dramatic typographical tension.

THREE: Choose typefaces with similar proportions but give them different emphasis. Here you see one font is played up in a large size while the other fonts play support roles for a understated, sophisticated result.

My top 3 picks for script fonts

Compendium  |  Designer: Alejandro Paul  |  Get the font: 

http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/sudtipos/compendium/

Memoir  |  Designer: Stephen Rapp  |  Get the font: 

http://marketplace.veer.com/type/UMT0000329

Olicana  |  Designer: Nick Cooke  |  Get the font: 

http://marketplace.veer.com/type/GTT0000022

My top 3 picks for serif fonts

Brioni  |  Designer: Nikola Djurek  |  Get the font: 
http://www.typotheque.com/fonts/brioni

Expo Serif  |  Designer: Mark Jamra  |  Get the font:
http://www.typeculture.com/foundry/font_collection/font.php?ID=FNT09

Lineare Serif  |  Designer: Eduardo Tunni  |  Get the font:
http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/tipo/lineare/

My top 3 picks for sans serif fonts

Graphix  |  Designer: Christian Schwar  |  Get the font: 
http://commercialtype.com/typefaces/graphik

National   |  Designer: Kris Sowersby  |  Get the font:
http://vllg.com/KLIM/National

Urbana  |  Designer: César Puertas  |  Get the font:
http://new.myfonts.com/fonts/cepuertas/urbana/buy.html

"Helvetica is like the Beatles"

"I remember having drunken conversations with my college buddies one night about our favorite fonts basically boring the non-designer girlfriends and boyfriends to death forcing them to find a 9mm with one bullet in the chamber. But us designers got right in the mix of it all and tried to persuade others into what we thought was our favorite fonts.  My eastern European friends were all about the Helveticas out there. Very structured, very clean.  Helvetica was like the Beatles :”You can’t say it’s a bad font if milllions of people love it and use it!” I personally loved any type of Germanic Font just to push that whole Skater/Biker feel for any cool stuff that I did. 
But when it comes to layouts, Caslon, Garamond,Baskerville and Gill Sans are my favs. Cartoony stuff – Yikes!  Is my go-to font. Helvetica is my fail safe." - Paul A. 

A week of typography

This week of blogging is going to be about Typography. I’ll be honest, if you are a non-designer this won’t mean much to you. If you are a designer and love typography as much as I do... Then, this week will be typornographic.

Today I found this fun iPhone app called The Font Game. This game will test your ability to name typefaces. Think you know your Helvetica from your Arial? Then give this app a go!

When I went to OCA, we use to spend hours flipping through books naming fonts. We took so much pride in spotting the subtle differences and then arguing over who was right... If we only had this app!! For the font novice in you, this a great way to learn your typefaces. For the seasoned font-spotter this game will challenge and expose you to a wide variety of typeface. To add to the excitement you are racing against the clock. How much fun is that?? It’s $1.99 but worth the download.

Try the Stroop Test: better than coffee to wake the brain

The Stroop Test is a psychological task of your mental vitality and flexibility. Quick! Say aloud as fast as you can what colour you see in every word, NOT the word you read, just the colour.

It’s a lot more challenging than it might seem. If you want to time yourself, check out this link. The first test will ask you to read the words. The second test will ask you to say the colours.  
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/ready.html

Then you can compare your score with my score:
Test 1: 9.21 sec
Test 2: 15.6 sec

Why? I don’t know... seemed like a fun idea at the time.

Chronicles of riding

January 17, 2009 - My very first lesson on Dallas. It's okay, you can laugh.

January 22, 2011 - Two years later, me and Beau.

A little over two years ago today, I started horseback riding lessons. I remember it well. It was –20C (today was a balmy -15C). My coach was Stephanie and my horse was Dallas. Some consider him a pony I think because of his height (just over 14 hands). At the time I thought he was gigantic and I was stricken with shear terror as Steph coaxed me through the proper mounting procedure. But, once I got on, there was no turning back. I was, to say the least... obsessed. (I know heads are nodding.)

I won’t get into every lesson I’ve had or the goals I’ve achieved or the questions I still have (I would love to, but I will spare you.) I will, however, in honour of my 2nd anniversary thank everyone that has had to listen to all my horsey antics (especially Randi!!!); to all my Facebook friends and family that has had to filter through all my horse related postings (and there were many); to all who supported me and let me into their horsey worlds; to Janice for always accommodating me at her barn and to my coach (Amy) for sharing with me her patience and immense knowledge!

July 2010, Central Park, NYC
(L to R) Paul on Prancer, Chris on Slip, Me on Poncho, Christine on Breeze.

A special thank you to Paul (Tracy and the BH partners) for setting up a trail ride through Central Park at our manager’s meeting in New York City... AND for accompanying me on the trail ride... AND THEN hanging on bravely as I gloriously trotted down the concrete pathways while their horses followed enthusiastically! That will always be a great horsey moment for me! 

Summer 2009 - Randi and Freddi and what I aspire to.

But, I mostly want to thank Randi who has encouraged me from the very start and has shared with me everything horsey, including barn chores, horse births, horse illnesses and her sister Stacey, who introduced me to fox hunting and Woodrow! I couldn’t have done it without you, Randi. Thank you, I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!

Wow, two years went by really fast...

I love gifts

Today Spencer came into my office with a beautifully printed black t-shirt from Krista English at Reframe. It was a show of appreciation for all the work we've done for them this year. I was so thrilled, I proudly wore it all afternoon around the office... and received many compliments too! Sadly, Krista informed me that the t-shirts were made for the volunteer committee and filmmakers only and are not for sale - which makes me cherish this t-shirt even more!

Thank you again Krista. Your appreciation really shows. It's our pleasure to be associated with the Reframe Film Festival and so glad we could contribute. Count us in for next year too! What a nice surprise for a Friday afternoon.

If you haven't bought tickets for this event do so soon! I'm so looking forward to next weekend!!

Best lunch in the world!

I have a little problem. I like to take pictures of food. So, every once in a while you're gonna see what I'm eating. Today it's a chicken pita wrap with a Greek salad from Favourite Greek on George! Thank you Chris!

The BrandHealth pool table finds a new home

On behalf of the BrandHealth Management Team, it's my pleasure to announce that our pool table is finding a new home in our community today.

As you may or may not be aware, Chris (CFO, partner of BrandHealth) is involved with the Fairhaven Foundation board here in Peterborough. In October 2010, the board was approached by the Fairhaven Residents Committee with a wish list. High on the list was a pool table for their recreation room. Coincidently, BrandHealth has a neglected pool table sitting in our studio! I should rephrase... It's not completely neglected, we often use it as the buffet table during our BBQ season, the mockup table during our peak season and the storage table for things we just don't have a place for. But, rarely do we use it to play pool. 

Chris put the request into Mike (CD, partner) and Paul (President) and they fully supported the donation. Knowing that this will be making a BIG difference in the lives of residents at Fairhaven, the staff at BrandHealth fully supports this decision too. Our multi-functional pool table will be missed but, it will make room for further enhancements in our studio. 


"Hope this makes you smile, it certainly has for the folks at Fairhaven." - Chris White


About Fairhaven...

Established in 1960, Fairhaven is a 256-bed Long-Term Care facility offering both residential and extended care.  Fairhaven is jointly owned by the municipalities of the City and County of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Residents and staff moved into the brand-new facility on January 27th, 2003.

For over 50 years, Fairhaven has established itself as a viable and innovative organization that serves the people of the Peterborough region. First and foremost it is a Long-Term Care facility, owned and governed by the community and operated without reliance on operating funds from the municipality. As the needs of the community have changed, Fairhaven has responded by expanding its scope and reaching out to serve the continuum of needs in the long-term care field to individuals of all ages.

Fairhaven is a provincial model for the design and delivery of highly specialized programs and services, to its residents and to other organizations in the community and beyond.

Chris' favourite iPhone app

"Dragon Dictation
Two Thumbs Ups! For iPhone users with big thumbs who haven’t mastered the keypad on their iPhones. Tracy, our Executive Assistant to the President and Val Silva, Cognosit, were quick to point out this ‘handy’ voice recognition app. Makes texting on the go easy....check it out. ITS A FREE APP!" 

- Chris White, CFO and BrandHealth Partner

My two cents...

Chris was so pumped about this app that he hovered over me while I tested it out. It's simple. You launch the app, press record and start talking. When you're done it creates text which can then be sent as an email or text message, posted onto social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Pretty slick. Of course I think I either had marbles in my mouth or it was noisy around me cause the translation was a bit screwed up. I said "Hi Jim. How was your day?" It translated it to "Janet your day". Luckily there is a keyboard feature to fix your text. 

I tested the accuracy out a bit more and had a pleasant surprise. You can also add punctuation to your text by simply saying 'period', 'question mark', 'exclamation mark' or 'new paragraph'... I have no idea how this works but now I know why Chris was so excited! Download it while it's still free!

How to make friends and impress Creative Directors

The job search for creative positions these days is challenging. There are a lot of talented people looking for work and very few jobs. If you do get an interview you will want to make the best impression possible. My sense is - schools are not preparing students enough for the interviewing process. Yes, they guide students with their portfolios but do they teach them how to sell themselves? Do they teach them about interviewing etiquette? If you’ve been out of the job search market for a while, do you have a resource to educate you on these skills?

Having interviewed a few people over the years, I thought I would offer some suggestions of what impresses me when I’m interviewing people for a creative position at BrandHealth.

Have you researched online and looked at the work? Even before you send in your resume you should be doing this and asking yourself, “Is this the kind of company I want to work for? Is this the kind of work I want to do? Does this company need my skills?” The first question I ask in an interview is, “How much do you know about BrandHealth?” I know we are a young and small company. I don’t expect people to know a lot about us but I’m always impressed when someone can tell me at least one interesting fact and how it relates to them on a professional level.

Please don’t apologize during the interview. Prepare yourself and plan out the interview in your head. If you have to apologize for being late or disorganized or a portfolio piece being incomplete... Then you are not prepared for the interview. I might overlook lateness for legitimate reasons but I will be honest, you will have to work twice as hard during the interview to gain back my trust. There is no excuse for being disorganized. And, if you were unhappy with a piece in your portfolio, why are you showing it? Or why did you not fix it? In general, Creative Directors are not impressed with excuses.

Are you interesting to interview? I want to see your personality shine through. I want to know if you have interests outside of work. It can be anything really, it doesn’t take much to impress me in this category. Just be yourself. And, this isn’t a deal breaker when it comes to hiring. I consider it an added bonus. We want to work with interesting people. Wouldn’t you?

Do you have style? I read this somewhere months ago and I thought it sounded superficial, but I have to admit... it's true. It’s the first impression I’m going to get from meeting you. Are you presentable or does it look like you just rolled out of bed? Is your portfolio case dusty and damaged? This isn’t about being a part of the popularity club. No. I am looking for signs of effort and thought put into your interview from your resume submission to your appearance, to your portfolio, to your presentation style. Step back and take a look at yourself. What’s your style?

Are you a GOOD PERSON WHO GETS IT? What I mean by this is, I’m looking for someone who naturally possess similar values to our company and who’s skill set adds value to our existing team.

Last but not least... Do you have a killer portfolio? The definition of ‘killer portfolio’ is different for every agency. What I might admire or be looking for could be completely different for another agency or design studio. My only advice is to create a portfolio that maximizes your skills, one that you are proud of and one that will leave a lasting impression.

Hope that helps and good luck! 

Brilliant online portfolio

Here's a designer every Creative Director wants to hire.

This designer/illustrator created a single-page website for his portfolio. It's informative, concise and his work is inspiring. He shows off his unique style, background and personality with ease - showcasing over 30 pieces (6 years of work)... usually I would say that is way too many pieces but it was an absolute joy to view each one. 

Be prepared to die with envy... http://www.sebdesign.eu/

Wish I had thought of this...

I ran across this incredible single-page website that made me go 'wow'. It was so inspiring I wish I had thought of it. It has a crazy interactive navigation that is simple, intuitive and addictive. Beautiful balance of information and type treatment. And a clever non-rotating menu solution. His portfolio is great too. Check it out http://www.jlern.com/

How to get an interview

If you’ve applied for a creative position at BrandHealth and haven’t heard back, please do not take it personally, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t talented or that we don’t respect your skills. It’s probably because your style or skill set might not fit with what we’re looking for at the moment. If you are thinking about applying to BrandHealth please do! We are always on the look out for GOOD PEOPLE WHO GET IT and it could be you!

How should you apply?

As impersonal as it might sound, your best bet at getting your foot through the door is submitting your application to careers@brandhealth.ca. Along with your resume please submit a cover letter and samples of your work. (Samples of your work could mean an attached pdf or a link to a website or blog of your portfolio).

I review and evaluate every single creative application that is sent into BrandHealth and there are three things that I look for.

1. Do you seem like a GOOD PERSON WHO GETS IT. And what I mean by that is does your cover letter and resume show me a bit of your personality, values, interests, knowledge for this business and the company.
2. Are your creative samples well designed and have a unique creative style? Show us what you are most proud of. Too often I see a creative dump of everything a person has worked on – the good, the bad and the ugly. You are not going to impress me with volume at this point. I want to see what you enjoy doing and what you excel at doing.
3. What value can you bring to BrandHealth? Finally, I evaluate the whole package: your personality, your style, your skill set and ask – How can you make our team stronger?

Make a good impression on these three levels and... you’re going to get an interview.

I keep all applications on file and will review them periodically if a need arises. You might not get an immediate response but I’ve been known to pull up an application that was submitted a year ago and find the perfect fit!

Welcome Mark to the BrandHealth team!

Mark has been freelancing for us for some time now. But, today I am happy to announce that he is officially a full-time Bher!

Mark brings to our team a vast set of skills: photography, web development, flash programming, video and sound. He is most proud of his photography and film making skills... and his two daughters!

Mark graduated with Honours from Ryerson Polytechnic Institute, receiving a Bachelor of Applied Arts, in Photographic Studies, Motion Pictures Studies Option. And, won Best Fiction Film at the Canadian Student Film Awards with his 4th year thesis film. He’s been in the film industry for 20 years, and worked on Genie and Gemini nominated and winning productions (for sound). I know he is especially proud of the work he did in India, on the movie ‘Such a Long Journey’. So, it’s no surprise on his first day we throw him onto a video shoot!

His title here will be Multi-media Production Artist, please help me in congratulating and welcoming Mark to the team... And, if you’ve been following my blog you should know of at least 10 ways to do so!

What's your favourite iPhone app?

That’s the email I sent out to the studio this morning. The response was great. 

I have a few favourite apps myself and a few apps that I can’t do without. Facebook, of course, so handy to update your status, comment and review the News Feed. Although, the feature to chat with friends is available, I haven’t been successful in doing so.

IBooks – the intention was to use it as an eReader but alas... Have not gotten through a book yet. I do however use it to download, store and read pdfs for work.

Skype – since I have the iPhone4 FaceTime is only available when I have wireless service. With the updated Skype app I’m now able to vid chat on 3G.

Bump is the latest app I have downloaded. It’s free and transfers select data (contact information, pictures, calendars, music links) from one iPhone to another simply by bumping iPhones. 

WhatTheFont is one of my favorite apps. It identifies unknown fonts by simply taking a pic of it. If you are a designer please install this app. It works and it’s free!

Read on to see what other apps BrandHealth creatives are using...

Ainsy’s favourite iPhone app

“Lately it's been scrabble.  Even kate steals my phone to play it.  Hipstamatic is my fab photo app. And facebook is one I check all the time.
I was super addicted to Angry Birds a while back ,but I went to some group meetings and I'm not so much anymore.”
- Paul, BrandHealth Designer/Illustrator


My two cents...
I was so addicted to Scrabble on Facebook a couple years ago. (Yes, I was a Scrabble nerd and I don't care who knows it!) I downloaded this app and it looks like you are able to connect to your Facebook games too. Very cool!
Hipstamatic is a great photo app too... Photos never looked so retro!
Psst, if you need any Scrabble tips just let me know...

Mark’s favourite iPhone app

“Ok... This weeks faves:
PCAM for photography
Facebook
Stanza for ereading
Hipstamatic/ Classic Pan/  Tilt Shift Gen for using built in camera
Dropbox
Tango for vid chat
ThumbJam for playing music”
- Mark, BrandHealth Multi-media Production Artist


My two cents...
I've checked most of these apps Mark. Except for the PCAM app. It looked pretty technical for the professional photographer and at $29.99 I'm not sure I would get my value out of it. 
I've downloaded Stanza and can't wait to try it out. It received a great review here http://www.appshouter.com/iphone-app-review-stanza/. Highly recommended. Maybe I will finally get through an ebook now. I'll keep you posted.
I've been meaning to open a Dropbox account. I think I will get a lot of value out of accessing files anytime, anywhere. This could possibly be my new favourite app. 

Spenny’s favourite iPhone app

“I'm with ainsy on scrabble. We've had a few games going on in the past week while paul has been away and im sure we would both agree it's been a very important factor in his recovery from the big accident.

But one app I couldn't live without would be the google app. It has unbelievable voice recognition software that let's you speak exactly what you want to search. Awesome for when you don't have time to type out what you need to look up. You might already have it, but if not, check it out.

If anyone knows of an app that will shovel my driveway, get back to me in the next 5 minutes.“
- Spencer, BrandHealth designer


My two cents...
Help! I don't know if I'm ready for this Google mobile app. If you hear me yelling at my iPhone in my office, you'll know why...

A fishing brain teaser

Two mothers and two daughters were fishing. They managed to catch one big fish, one small fish, and one fat fish. Since only three fish were caught, how is it possible that they each took home a fish?

New name and logo design for The Trent Community Sport & Recreation Centre

I just wanted to share with you a recent rebranding initiative from BrandHealth. Those of you living in the Peterborough area may be seeing a teaser campaign - green billboards around town promoting The Trent Community Sport & Recreation Centre. Well, a lot of work and brainstorming went into that and it started off with a renaming exercise and logo design.


With the building expansion complete, the “new” Trent Community Sport & Recreation Centre (TCSRC) at Trent University is embarking on a community-oriented approach to fitness in the City of Peterborough. The TCSRC building will become the benchmark for a unique and enhanced fitness experience offering both a facility and recreational/fitness service where students and the community meet and join.

In order to support this initiative and to distinguish it from other parts of the university, BrandHealth considered the name and its appropriateness for appealing to the community quickly and easily without losing the building’s identity. Some people presently refer to the TCSRC by the acronym “The AC”. Thus our inspiration to explore the name ‘The Athletics Centre’ . ‘Centre’ in the best sense of the word, conveys a place where a community of like-minded individuals can meet with a common interest. Thus the proposed name for the TCSRC will be ‘The Athletics Centre’ accompanied by the support type ‘At the Trent Community Sport & Recreation Centre’.

The brand identity that developed is one based on the existing shape of the Trent University  Varsity emblem, stylized to represent something state-of-the-art and new, yet still maintaining the vibrant university connection. Nestled within a maple leaf the identity takes on an interesting appeal and speaks to the unique and natural setting. The new green will be distinctive of The Athletics Centre yet compliments the existing green of the university. It is surrounded by a distinct copper frame that connects the logo to the new facility and it’s memorable copper wall facing the river. The stylized running man has been selected to represent health, fitness and sport. It appeals to the masses as it’s design is ageless and gender neutral. The new name, in combination with all of these elements speak to a truly extraordinary fitness experience. A fitness that integrates the university and the community. Fitness that is located in and around nature. The best kind of fitness.

Sabrina worked on this extraordinary brand identity that is distinctly Trent and that no other facility can claim. It truly sets the Trent Community Sport & Recreation Centre apart from the rest of the pack. The possibilities that this identity opens up are exciting and endless.

10 ways to tell Graeme congratulations

There are so many different achievements in life that people are proud of. They are proud of their marriage, birth of a child, new home. They are proud of a new job or a promotion - one of the favourite parts of my job is giving out promotions and recently, it was my pleasure to offer a well-deserving promotion to someone on our creative team - Graeme.

I know everyone at BrandHealth was excited for him and told him ‘congratulations’ in their own way. But, it made me realize that there are so many ways to say congratulations... and I thought I would have some fun with it.

Here’s a look at 10 ways to tell Graeme congratulations:

1 . The first thing I did was give Graeme a hug and pat on the back. I know how unimaginative but it’s still one of the most natural form of congratulations.

2. You could send him a congratulations card. Eons ago, when I had time to spare I would actually make unique creative cards for family and friends. It had a very personal touch. Now I buy cards. That works too!

3. Send him flowers. I bet Graeme likes flowers. Beneath all those tattoos there’s a sensitive guy.

4. Write him a letter or email about his accomplishments... As we do for all of our promotions we place an ad in the Examiner (see above) and send out an internal email. But, you could do something similar.

5. Buy him a round or take him out for lunch. This is a popular way of saying congratulations at BrandHealth!

6. Bake something for him. Who doesn’t love cookies and cupcakes?

7. See if you can help each other out. Sometimes the best way to congratulate someone is to see if there’s something you can do for them. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? But it’s not. You can say your congratulations by helping Graeme adapt to his new responsibilities or offer advice from your own experiences.

8. Spread the word. One thing that we don’t do enough is to tell others how proud we are of someone.

9. Facebook him! I know I often send my congratulatory wishes on Facebook, Twitter and now blogging! There is nothing wrong with that.

10. Be there to help with the change and be understanding. I personally am thankful for everyone that have been there for me for my ever changing life. And that is worth more than words.

Along with Graeme’s promotion, Val and Sarah G. from Client Services were also promoted too! Congratulations everyone!

How are you going to tell them congratulations?

The end of another day

Another Sunday comes to a close. While a lot of people were taking advantage of the beautiful winter conditions today, my husband was inside... getting ready for his first day of school. Yes, at the age of forty-something, my husband has decided to go back to school. 

Since our move to the Peterborough area in 2008, Jim has had the most difficult time adjusting. One of his major adjustments was losing his job about a year ago (as a lot of people did). So, after a year of job searching and soul searching he has traded in his suit and briefcase for a sweatshirt and a knapsack.

I have to admit, I haven't seen him this excited in a long time. It's definitely a turning point in his life and what an incredible sunset to mark the close of this chapter. It's been a long two years for him but it's great to see his life swing into a new direction. About time!

C is for cookie

I must be feeling better because I baked today. It's the quickest and simplest cookie recipe in the world.

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup all-purpose flour
Preheat the oven to 300 F.
Sift together icing sugar, cornstarch, and flour. With a wooden spoon blend in butter until a smooth dough forms. Drop cookies by spoonfuls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool on wire racks and decorate. Enjoy!

Lake Chemong is officially... frozen!

Numerous tire tracks across the lake is my first clue that the lake is safe to cross. I don't know how people know when it's safe but I'll still give it a few more weeks before testing it out myself. Today was a beautiful sunny day. The temperature was -6C and the winds mild. In the distance I can see a couple people ice fishing. I say, time to break out the ice skates. Call me crazy but I love winter.

Just a random brain teaser

If five people can sew five dresses in five days...
How many people can sew fifty dresses in fifty days?

3 things I learned about hockey

I have lived in Canada for thirty-odd years now but I don’t know that much about hockey... Who am I kiddin. I know nothing about hockey. But Wednesday night’s Junior’s Gold Medal game was of particular interest to me because Lisa’s brother was playing on the Canadian team. That’s Lisa in the pic with her husband Dan talking to Chris and Mike (photo taken by Paul Hickey - a different Paul from the broken Fibula Paul, see previous blog). She works with us at BrandHealth and her younger brother is Marcus Foligno (number 17). I know Lisa as an amazing Account Coordinator that works with me on the Lilly brand. She is hard working, a pleasure to work with and often the last person in the office with me late at night. But apparently, she leads this whole other life in the hockey world! Lisa often shakes her head at me and my lack of knowledge... Interest(?) of this sport.

She would have been pretty proud of me Wednesday night though as I cheered the team on. She would have thought I was a diehard fan. I cheered at all the right moments and by the end of the game I felt the loss about as hard as any fan would. Even I felt that devastation to my very core. One night of hockey does not make me an expert but I did learn 3 things :

1. Icing! I learned that icing is when a player on his own side of the red line shoots the puck all the way past the opponent's goal line without the puck going into the net. Still a foreign concept to me but I’m working through it.

 2. It ain’t over till it’s over. A quote from a baseball player pertaining to baseball... But it works for hockey too!

3. If you don't win gold, it doesn't mean much.

I know coming from me this won't mean much but congratulations to the silver medal winners! Lisa you must be so proud of your brother, what an honour to have been part of the team. I know he will go on to achieve great things!! I wish I could have experienced the exhilaration of a Canadian gold win but you know what this means, don’t you? I’m going to have to watch more hockey... 


Oh gosh, where are my Canadian manners. To the Russian Juniors congratulations on a well deserved gold win!