My shoulders do feel a little bit lighter already. It’s nice having a place for everything somethings and putting them it in that place. Along time ago Chris read an organizing book that said if a chore takes less than two minutes, do it right when you think of it. That’s been my motto lately – if I bring something out to the garage instead of putting it on the workbench (which is what I used to do, and then before you know it you have put 15 things on the workbench…) just put it where it goes. Right at that moment. Takes way less than 2 minutes. Done!

Another tip we have been hearing for years, but are only now using: When you come across something sentimental that you don’t really need, you are just holding on to it because of the memories it brings up – take a picture! That picture will take up 100 times less space than the actual object and you can look at it when ever you want. Just pull up the “sentimental items” folder on your desktop and let the memories come back. Alternatively, you could always dedicate one photo album to actual prints of the special objects – that might make it feel a little more real to those of you that like scrap-booking and actual printed photos.

Here are some before and after pictures. I love before and after!

The Garage: Before

The Garage: After

The Evil Mr. Kitchen Pantry: Before – see that Miller Light box. Yeah. That had been in the same spot, on the same shelf, never looked in, since the day we moved in. June 30, 2005. Seriously.

The Friendly Mr. Kitchen Pantry: After – this is such a big deal to me! I find myself walking by and opening the door just to make sure I’m not dreaming. Now when we have guests come over I won’t be afraid/embarrased to open it.

The Coat Closet: After – I forgot to take a “before” picture as I was so excited to get to it. But trust me, it was packed.

Other noteworthy accomplishments: Cleaned out my kitchen desk. That’s where I normally put all that random paperwork I don’t know what to do with: An articles with an interesting tips, Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons, credit card offers… I had a million of those.

Oh, and address labels. I was holding on to WAY too many address labels!

There have been enough signs from the Universe lately that I am finally willing to listen.

We rented and watched this movie from Netflicks, we’ve seen random episodes of TCL’s Hoarding: Buried Alive, and we have read many books that at least mention if not dedicate a chapter or two to how much control your things can have over you. I think Chris and I are finally ready to get down to business. A fair amount of our stuff HAS to go. I am tired of spending hours each evening trying to find new places to store things because all of the usual places are packed full. I really do feel like our stuff is controlling us and I’m frankly tired of it.

OUR MISSION*: To get rid of 1/4 of everything we currently own by Thanksgiving 2010. It’s scary and yet freeing to type that, because now I have to stick to it and now I have to stick to it!

*When I say” our”, I really mean “my” mission. Chris is excited and will be a willing party and I’m sure will make it his mission too. But, when I told the boys about my mission they both looked at me with crooked eyebrows and said “Why?”

Where is all this stuff going to go? Probably the usual suspects: Goodwill, Salvation Army, Craigslist, and friends. Hey, if you are in need of a bunch of stuff please let me know!

But, if you are feeling a little more like I am right now, how about taking the 1/4 Challenge with me? On my Facebook page I’ll be posting before and after pictures of closets, rooms, etc. I’ll also post stories of the process, how many tears were shed and by whom or how good it feels to be able to *walk* into our walk in closet or actually park our cars in our garage. CRAZY. If you decide to take the challenge with us, please let us know how it is going for you and your family. We’d love to see your pictures, too!

So follow along, as the Schell/Stephens family gets rid of 1/4 of their belongings and hopefully finds their way to just a little more inner peace.

WOW! What a night. Not only did we receive a gold Addy for the bearski bath & body logo, Design Rangers also won the Best of Print category! We are so happy that Jessica was there with us – she loves that logo as much as we do! We have to admit, it was a bit of an Oscar moment… “did they actually just say our name. what? really? collect yourself. stand up. walk. speak.”

I have to say almost 2 weeks later it still feels a bit like a dream. We are honored and humbled by the award. Really. There was a LOT of great print work submitted to this year – a beautiful promotional kit designed by Sandia for Flying Horse and the Rio Welcome Kit by David C. Cook was amazing. That’s the humbling part – our little ol’ logo. Best of Print. We are proud parents to say the least!

When Jessica offered to write up a press release (yes folks, not only is she a soap chef, she is a wife, a mom, an amazing writer and PR professional!) we immediately said PLEASE! She did an awesome job – please keep your eye out for our little article coming to a newspaper near you!

Jessica, Jenny and Chris heading off to the Addy's

It’s doubtful however that many would envision a talking wine bottle looking for a date with food (a campaign for Epcot’s International Food and Wine festival). Or an ad showing Yoda, using the force at luggage claim (in a campaign for Star Wars Weekends). Yet these are exactly the kind of fun (and funny) ideas and campaigns coming out of Disney’s “Yellow Shoes” in-house creative department.

Or take the example of the campaign for the Disney Princess half-marathon. It would have been easy to take a group-shot of Disney’s many animated princesses and call it a day.  But by combining a classic icon with the unexpected, you get a much more powerful and targeted message. The theme worked so well, that Disney created real glass-slipper running shoes for display alongside other athletic shoes at Foot Locker, the key sponsor.

The Rangers had the exciting opportunity to attend Will Gay’s presentation to the Pikes Peak Advertising Federation that provided rare insight to the creative engine that drives the creative look for Disney’s resort brands. Will, the creative director for Yellow Shoes, showed us that even under the seemingly restrictive brand that is Disney, big ideas and creativity still rule the roost.

Besides being a fun and entertaining presentation, the talk sparked dialog at the Ranger Camp about the importance of creative play and the ideas it can create.  The big take-away for us is that you should always be pushing for innovative and smart creative, even if what you have is already working for you. Disney has a proven formula that’s worked through the ages, so why step outside the box? Because it works, and it keeps the Disney brand from becoming stale. As Will put it, “If you entertain people, they forget that they are being advertised to.” What ads or brands stand out in your mind as innovative, creative, entertaining or willing to push the envelope? We look forward to hearing your favorites.

So, better late than never, here are the fun, cool, smart, great things we saw or did over the past 2 weeks:

1. We were honored and excited to be asked to design a bookmark for the “No Impact Man” book. Colin Beavan, the author, will hand out the book mark at his books signings. After we designed the bookmark they also asked us to create a on-line ad from the bookmark design – we were happy to do it. The book is quite amazing and the blog also has a lot of information.
2. After working with the “No Impact Man” we decided to follow him on Twitter. One of his recent tweets was regarding the Safe Routes to School National Partnership. As you know (or are just now learning we are big advocates of bikes, bike trails, and SAFE routes for kids to walk or ride their bike to school.) Remember when you were a kid – there was nothing better than the freedom you felt while riding your bike. Consider sending a letter to Congress asking for their support of the Safe Routes campaign.
3. Have you been to Mule Design’s Feed Store? If you love a good T-shirt there are plenty here!
4. We are recent members of the National Parks Conservation Association. Their mission is to protect and enhance America’s National Parks for present and future generations. We love our National Parks and wanted to be a part of assuring their future.
5. Finally, something to make you smile. What a great project!

Please check back for a blog dedicated to the No Impact Man and the work we did for him. We also have quite a few exciting projects in the final stages of completion. We are looking forward to posting them as soon as they are approved and ready for the public eye.

Happy Trails!

Here are a few things that caught our eye this week:

1. Yes, we are procrastinators… but at least we are self-aware. Check out The Now Habit, maybe we can overcome procrastination together. But, we’ll have to put it off until mid-October.
2. On the same note – we came across this site on a great blog we follow. Yes, life is busy and we are still learning to keep it under control. But it’s always nice to know you have lots of company.
3. Well, enough of that – let’s get to the fun stuff! We LOVE logos. We love to look at logos. We love to read about logos. We love to design logos. As designers we do lots of logo research, always wanting to be hip to the newest trends – good or bad. We learned a lot from logo trends of 2009. We are looking forward to 2010!
4. Design Rangers love boy scout merit badges. I wonder if you can just buy the entire set for like 50 bucks? They are all great, but I think this is my favorite!
5. You know that song you love – well, you know how you REALLY love minutes 1:38 – 1:52. These guys feel the same way! It’s about a 30 minute podcast – make sure you hear the first 6 1/2 minutes and the last 1 1/2 minutes (the remaining minutes in the middle are for more mature ears – parents out there with young ones, be warned). This is the spin off site from that podcast – songparts.biz where you can buy you favorite song parts – for cheap! Hear the song part before you buy it if you click on the gray “click to play” bar. Joni Mitchell spazzes out and fake laughs(?) at the end of “Big Yellow Taxi” $.04 - DEAL!
   
6. On a more serious note – our hearts go out to our friends in California. All the talk about the forest fires there reminds us of our good friend, Smokey Bear. What a great guy! (A blog devoted to Smoky and his 65 year campaign coming soon…) Remember, Only YOU can prevent forest fires.

Hope you have a great weekend and as always, Happy Trails!

I know we (as in all of us) are not supposed to be spending money right now. “We” should be stockpiling it, eating ramen for every meal and by no means drinking Starbucks or eating amazing Thai Food. So when Chris and I decided that we (as in our family) were going to take a 12 day vacation to the Hawaiian Islands in October I felt like a really bad person. I was actually nauseous for a few days after buying the plane tickets – millions of terrible thoughts running through my head… “What if all our clients decide they hate us and take their design jobs elsewhere?” “What if one of the kids comes down with the Swine Flu the day before we are supposed to leave and we have to cancel our trip and lose all that money?”

I kept trying to remind myself of the positives. Airfare was a crazy good deal – every time we tell someone how much we paid for the tickets their mouths drop open, “REALLY!?!” they say. Not to mention the fact that we will be staying with friends which means no lodging expenses. And the really big one – my dad passed away 9 years ago and the day before he died I promised him I would take Dalton and Chris to Hawaii, promised!

A few days ago I finally got over the guilt. I read a great article in Inc. magazine about the life of entrepreneurs and how “there’s never a right time to buy a house, start a family, have a life.” Luckily we are past the first two major milestones (accomplished before we were entrepreneurs) – but we are still working on having a life. Having a life takes two things that we don’t have a stockpile of, time and money. And yes, the Hawaiian vacation will require both BUT if not now – when? Have you seen the Disney/Pixar movie UP? I pretty much cried from beginning to end (maybe I’m a little more emotional than your average bear) but if you’ve seen it, you might know why. If you haven’t – rent it. UP is one of the main reasons I decided we really needed to make this trip happen.

Because you never know. And if not now, when?

Jenny

During the evening Design Rangers were awarded 2 gold ADDY’s -

One for Tammy R. Oler’s logo

and one for the logo we created for Ehren of the Ehren Space Museum.

We love creating logos that are the basis of our clients’ brand and are thrilled at the honor!

We are also pleased that our very own web site – designrangers.com won a silver award,

as did our stationery package

and the logo we designed for Zachary Meloy.

We would of course like to thank our clients for trusting us to show the world who they are and what they do. We couldn’t have done it without you!

We are personally big fans of this campaign – it mixes humor with marketing, gets the point across and makes watching a commercial fun at the same time. What’s better than that?

Andrew Wineke of the Gazette spoke with us after the luncheon. Jenny talked with Andrew about how the commercial is such a big hit in our house – the kids love it and everyone stops what they are doing for 30 seconds to actually WATCH a commercial. And yes, we probably visit Sonic more than we used to – it’s working! Click here if you would like to read Andrew’s full article that was published in the Gazette.

This Ad Fed luncheon solidified our belief that creative fun is okay, its not for every market or every client but when it is appropriate – why not make someone smile?

Chris and Jenny were super excited – they had never been without both of the kids for more than one night and hadn’t gone away on vacation, alone, since their Honeymoon. Dalton went to his dad’s house for the weekend (and his birthday! Sorry Dalton!) and Jenny’s mom took off work to watch Keagan… more on her adventure later.

Here is Jenny’s journal of our adventures:

Sam and I landed in Chicago safely and managed to meet up with Chris and Shellie pretty easily – thank goodness for cell phones, how else would you find someone at O’Hare? We decided to take a cab into the city (my FIRST cab ride, ever!) which proved to be a slow, hot trip! The cab driver dropped us off at the Burnham Hotel in downtown Chicago. It was pretty late so we quickly found our rooms, marveled at the hotel and hit the pavement to find some food. We landed at a great restaurant/bar just a few blocks from the hotel and enjoyed a great dinner of fish and chips and an ice cold beer. It had been a long day – so it was well deserved!

This is our room at the Burnham Hotel – Chris and I started out on the 3rd floor but…… this is what we heard out our window at midnight - jackhammers, backhoes, and saws.

By 1pm we were really tired and in desperate need of some sleep. Chris – being the tech genius that he is – downloaded some “white noise” from the internet, burned a CD, and played it on the room’s CD player. That was unfortunately not enough to tune out the construction and we called down for some earplugs. We finally got some sleep that night….

During an amazing breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant and amazing service by our waiter Keith, Sam started to talk about what he wanted to do that day (Friday). 

#1. Go on the Architecture boat tour 
#2. Have a nice dinner
#3. Go see Wicked – the broadway show about the two witches in the Wizard of Oz BEFORE Dorothy landed

We all thought it was too much to do in one day – Sam was sure it would all work out, so we headed off to buy tickets for the boat tour and Wicked. BUT before we could leave Shellie insisted on speaking with the front desk and asked them to move us to a different room. They were very accommodating and moved us to a different room.

While we were waiting for the boat tour we stopped by Millennium Park. This sculpture is called “the cloud” I believe. It was SO cool to see the reflection of the Chicago skyline all around “the bean” (what the locals call it we found out the next day). We then began to walk towards the water hoping to see Lake Michigan but took a few wrong turns and we ended up a bit lost.
We did find a great sandwich shop and the boat left just after we had lunch at “Brian’s deli”.

It was great to learn more about Chicago’s history and it’s architecture. We had a great guide and really enjoyed the tour! Chris and I have a much deeper appreciation for architecture now and a new view on how it relates to our field of graphic design.

After the tour Sam decided it was beer:30 and we set off to find some. We enjoyed our drinks on the outside patio at millennium park. We then decided it was time to head back, make a reservation at Nick’s Fish Market and get ready for dinner and our Broadway show!! We met Sam and Shellie in the hotel lobby and walked a few blocks to Nick’s – little did we know what we’d find inside

Nick’s was beautiful inside, our table was right by a window that looked out at a lit fountain in the courtyard. Our waiter, Kenny, had worked at Nick’s for nine years and was VERY good at his job. He explained the Chef’s specials with such detail and excitement – I had a great appreciation for that being a former waitress. We all felt like if we chose the right special it might change our lives, little did we know it would really did happen!

We all decided to start with the lobster bisque (pictured above), it was, quite honestly the most amazing thing i have ever eaten! I cannot even explain it  - creamy, sweet, a bit of zip, with chunks of lobster. This soup was heaven in a bowl! Shellie and I had the swordfish for our entree, Sam had scallops and shrimp, and Chris chose salmon. We drank two bottles of wine and also enjoyed dessert. Sam and Shellie shared the key lime pie and Chris and I shared the creme brule – another life changer!
 
WOW! after savoring this amazing meal we felt like we were running a tad late  - Shellie and I took off our heals and ran down the next few blocks. Sam and Chris were wearing their “sensible shoes” and were able to walk at a brisk pace!

We arrived at the Oriental Theater right on time and we were immediately captivated by the interior. Very, very intricate work covering the walls and ceiling. They were extremely strict about NO pictures (the shot above is from the lobby) so we don’t have much to share with you, but trust us, it was AMAZING inside! “Wicked” began and we were immediately captivated! Chris and I had never seen a Broadway show and didn’t really know what to expect. Wicked is the story of the two witches of OZ before dorothy shows up – how they met and what leads up to Dorothy. It was so awesome and so emotional – i just couldn’t believe we were there getting to see such a great show. The costumes, the music, the set, the actors – wow! Chris and I were both in tears when the show ended – and not because it was a sad ending. 
We walked back to our hotel after wicked and Shellie spotted the construction workers that had kept us up the night before. She ran over, while they were jackhammering, and began talking to them. They shut down their jackhammers and Shellie says “come on, let’s take a picture”. The foreman was not thrilled, but let us go under the yellow tape, another worker handed me his hard hat, and cheese! 

Shellie was not ready for our crazy Friday to end so we took a cab to another part of town to find drinks and live music. we first stopped at Jilly’s Lounge which featured a man and a piano – singing Frank Sinatra songs. I had told Shellie earlier in the day that Chris and I had never had a martini so we decided on another first and ordered lemon drop martinis.


The lounge was very interesting people watching – lots of much older men dancing with much younger women. I felt like we were in a movie.
We finished our drinks and decided to go next door to The Back Room, they had a live jazz band playing – unfortunately we had missed most of their set but got to hear a few songs – they were very good! We all felt like it was time for the night to end and grabbed a cab. Our cab driver was from India and it was just a classic cab ride. Shellie said we needed to go to “Washington & State” (the cross streets of the Burnham Hotel) and he said in his indian accent “I cannot take you to washington state, that would take like 44 hours”. We clarified, and he drove us home. For the rest of the trip we kept asking Chris to do his impression (one of many other talents – impressions) of what the cab driver had said – it was really funny!
All in all – Sam was RIGHT. We did it all and had a day we will never, ever forget! Thanks Sam!
The next morning (it’s only Saturday!) we headed down for our delicious breakfast in the hotel restaurant, The Atwood Cafe. We were again waited on by our new friend, Keith. He was funny and sarcastic and very kind to us. We talked about our plans for the day. My good friend from high school, Amy lives just out side of Chicago and was going to ride the train in and meet Chris and I for lunch and some site seeing. We went to China Town for lunch with Amy and enjoyed sitting with her and catching up on what was new in our lives since 1991! Amy then took us around Chicago, I mean all around Chicago. One of the places she pointed out was the Chicago Tribune building –  around the whole building there are pieces of other buildings or monuments inset in the wall – pieces of the Great Pyramids, the World Trade Center, the Great Wall of China, etc. 


We walked to Lincoln Park and then along the shore of Lake Michigan. Amy has a wealth of knowledge and really loves Chicago, it was so great to see her, catch up and learn more about where we were. We said a very hurried goodbye to Amy as her train was leaving at 5:40 and it was nearing that time.

Chris and I walked back to our hotel and met up again with Sam and Shellie. We decided to go down to the John Hancock building. It has a lounge on the 96th floor and we headed that way for appetizers and drinks.
we waited about 1/2 and hour to get on the elevator to the 96th floor and then zoomed up. The elevator went so fast you had to pop your ears. We got there at a great time – the sun was just setting and the lights in the city had not come on yet. Chris found a great table RIGHT next to the window and we ordered brie cheese and crackers and some drinks.


We got to watch the skyline begin to light up – these are a few pictures Chris took from our table. We enjoyed the view, took the elevator down and then walked to The Wave, a restaurant Sam and Shellie had gone to with their kids the last time they were in Chicago – the inside was very shiny and modern, really cool. we ordered a great meal of Tapas and enjoyed some great conversation. We were all pretty worn out after that (still trying to recover from Friday!) and decided to head “home”.
On our walk home I received a call from my mom. Keagan was sick, again (he had be sick on and off, mostly on, since Labor Day. All those new Kindergarten germs were not being good to him). He was running a pretty high fever, and a terrible headache, and had kind of collapsed at the top of the stairs. I called the Dr. on call for his pediatrician’s office and she told us to continue with the ibuprofen and if his temperature got to 105 or didn’t go away in 3 days, to bring him in. It was so hard to be away knowing Keagan was so sad and sick. We went to bed missing our babies!
Keith had made us 9:30 reservations for Sunday Brunch so we all met up for another amazing breakfast. We were sad to be leaving Keith and I think he was sad to see us go he kept bringing out yummy treats – below are the homemade donuts we got to sample.


I asked Keith if we could take his picture so we wouldn’t forget him and all we gave him a big hug goodbye. We had to leave the city at about 3pm to ride the subway to the airport and come back to reality!
When we got back to our room we packed up and I called my mom to check in on Keagan. He was feeling quite a bit better, just a slight fever and headache. That made us feel better and we planned out our last day.

Above is a picture from our “quiet room” on the 12th floor. The tallest building in the distance is the Trump tower – how do they get those cranes up there? How do they get those cranes down?
It was also Dalton’s 13th birthday! We called him – he was at the bowling alley with his dad and friends having a good time. except he sounded like he was getting a cold……
Sam, Shellie, Chris and I walked out to Navy Pier and then around town some more.

We passed by the Hancock Building so I took a picture of it from the ground – yes, we were way up at the top just the night before! Sam and Shellie were really pleased at how Chris and I kind of knew our way around town – after having Amy as our tour guide the day before we felt like we knew a bit about where things were.

Just before getting back to our hotel to grab our bags and leave I saw this cab with the Wicked sign on top.

Maybe its just me. Small town girl in the big city. But I really felt like this trip was magical.

Chris and I caught the travel bug. And that’s exciting!

Chicago was a city of firsts for us – first really big city weekend trip, first cab ride, first lobster bisque, first martinis, first broadway show, first river boat tour, first long weekend out of the state without the kids in 8 years.

We cannot thank Sam and Shellie enough for asking us to come along. We will never forget Chicago!
P.S. I called my mom from the airport to check on Keagan – his temp was 104.8. I asked her to take him to the after-hours clinic. He was diagnosed with bronchitis. Dalton also came back from his dad’s feeling pretty crummy. They were both home sick from school for three days.

WELCOME BACK TO THE REAL WORLD – SORRY YOU WERE GONE!