Adventures in Candyland

Since this is my first post, let me start by introducing myself…consider me the “client concierge” at Sweet Talk, handling lots of details for our clients’ projects. 

I’ve been thinking about some of the tools we’re always using for our projects, and of course the first one I thought of was our Pantone book.  We can’t be without it when working on branding, websites, collateral, etc.  But not everyone has a Pantone book, so then I remembered that I thought we should share one of our fave sites with you - Colour Lovers.  This is a great site for a little inspiration, and a good place to find color combos and palettes you’ve never even thought of before!

On the same note, last week was Fashion Week in NYC and WWD directed us to Pantone’s Fashion Color Report Fall 2008.   Sweet Talk is lovin’ the Ochre!

Always fun to play with colors and brighten up the day.

We read a lot. Its part of our job. But we also really like to read, and we really liked it long before it was part of our job. The avarage day has us reading (if not scanning) newspapers, several magazines, multiple blog postings, headlines and newsfeeds, digital newsletters, resource lists and more (children’s books come to mind). Ironically, with all this reading…it takes us weeks and weeks to finish a book. In fact, I think Lauren and I have been discussing the two books we’re currently reading for about a month (for those of you wondering, I’m reading Starbucked and Lauren is reading Straight Up and Dirty).

So why don’t we read more books? Well, for starters we’re so busy reading all the aforementioned other things, in addition to which we’re also listening to radios and iPods, watching TV and responding to email. In our media-obsessed, snack-sized culture, it can be challenging to find the time to sit down with a good book.

That’s why I’m now obsessed with DailyLit! This site offers over 500 titles that get emailed directly to you in bite-sized installments. Many of the classics are free of charge - you just sign up and start receiving email installments instantly. There’s a fee for some of the copyrighted titles, but its minimal and much less than you’d pay for the book (and this is an eco-alternative anyway!). You can even decide when you want to receive your installments - every day, just on weekdays or three times a week…in time to read with your morning coffee or right before you hit your pillow. And the installments can even be viewed on your PDA.

I’m reading my first installments now - The Three-Martini Playdate, but I guess I’ve run out of excuses for not having read War and Peace…

So, even though it’s 2008 (where has the time gone?!) I am going to sound very early ’90s right now. Here goes…The Internet is the coolest invention ever!!! I think most people hold that belief in some form, but now we take it for granted as it has become so embedded in almost every society and we’ve already even moved past it in its purest sense. But truly, it allows for such amazing information sharing that sometimes I just get newly excited by its concept. I think we should take a second to remember how hard it was to get information before we had this unbelievable global source available to us 24 hours a day. Of course, some people may believe that this has created a societal decline in a number of ways, mais pas moi.

Anyway - I only bring this up because today, I became overly enthused by three things I bumped into.

1) I have always loved metromint water - so refreshing - been buying it at Whole Foods since the first day I saw it (along with my favority energy drink, Inkos White Tea - so good!). Yes, it’s only spearmint and water and , yes, I could make it on my own or drink it hot (Isreali-style), but of course I often choose the convenience path and pay the price. During the last few years, they have extended their product line with peppermint, orange and lemon, but OMG - I have no idea what to say about this next iteration. If you know me or even read my yelp reviews, you might realize I have a strong predilection for chocolate and mint, together that is — since I was a little girl. To me it’s one of the most refreshing and luscious pairings. Today, I come to find out that MetroMint is launching ChocolateMint water. Yes, chocolate water may sound a little scary, but I’ll be trying it as soon as I can get my hands on it at my mecca, Whole Foods. I mean no sugar, no preservatives, no CALORIES - this is January 3rd - so I will take my dessert calorie-free thank you - at least for this month that is (well, let’s be honest, maybe this week).

2) Okay, along the same vein, if you like food, if you like cooking, if you like pairing flavors, but sometimes you feel like you don’t know what would compliment what, you must check out Foodpairing. Yes, we all know that gruyere is phenomenal in potatoes, but did you know it also can pair with licorice? Not being trained at le Cordon Bleu shouldn’t prevent you from trying unique flavor combinations for friends and family, but it also might be good to have a the pizza menu handy — sometimes experimenting with weird stuff can end up, well, weird, so it’s a good idea to have a back-up plan. In any case, I think this is so cool and I will definitely be a frequent visitor here.

3)Now, this one doesn’t have to do with food (I know, shock), but it does have to do with two of my other obsessions - Japanese minimalism and architecture. Toyo Ito is one of my most favorite architects and Sendai Mediateque is such a unique and breathtaking structure. I can’t wait till the day when I get to experience it in person. Here is my newest fave -Kengo Kuma. Check out the Lotus House…..amazing.

See why I love the Internet.

Update..got to add one more - this one from Danielle, but I had to include it as belongs in the same Asian modern minimalism/nature category as the above, is beautifully subtle yet exquisite and one of the collaborators is another amazing Japanese architect, Tadao Ando. Check it out…

We spend a lot of time asking our clients to think about their favorite brands - the brands that speak to them, the brands they are loyal to, etc. We thought that in honor of the New Year, we would do that exercise ourselves, since we had never composed a formal list of our own favorite brands. Sooo…while this is definitely NOT a best of 2007 list, it is a list of some of the brands we at Sweet Talk are admiring these days. Let us know what your favorites are. Wishing you a happy 2008!

Apple
BMW
H & M
Method
Starbucks
Target
Whole Foods

I’ve always felt like cube farms sucked the life from you. I know I’m not the only one. For years, many companies, mostly European or creative, have been experimenting with better ways for their employees to work. I once worked for a Scandinavian company who had us sitting in pods of four, which I originally thought were cool, but then realized were just as confining as cubes, but looked better. Thankfully, change is afoot. With the advent of Starbucks, wireless and the next generation workforce (the millenials), organizations are learning they need to create freer, more open environments for collaboration and concentration. These millenials won’t stand for bordom, repetion and Office Spaceness (my made up word, but you get it). They’ll just go find a more fun job where they won’t have to whither away in a cube for 9 hours.

In today’s PSKF, they made mention of a NYT article talking about this new way to work.

And yes, we work in one room with our back to one other, but we understand the importance of white space. In fact, Danielle blogged about this very idea a couple months ago. Her blog mentioned creating physical and mental white space - and I think offices who embrace this new way to work will be on their way to helping to create more of both and a lot more positive productivity for everyone.

How many of you have imbibed with the obligitory watermelon loaded with vodka? I sure have and though not the classiest way to get inebriated, it was always a little more fun then the plain old swallowing of alcohol (yes, this took place in college).

As I get older, it’s a goal to bring a little bit more class and sophistication into my life, hence the edible martini. If you couldn’t tell from this blog, we’re fans of innovation and creativity. This is just another case of taking the common and twisting it into something unique and beautiful. And I want one of those vacuum things!

Don’t know about you, but the day after Thanksgiving I made my holiday shopping list. I did NOT however take to the malls on Black Friday - can’t say I’m that motivated - and now I’m glad I didn’t. Today I learned about Nonprofit Shopping Mall. It’s a great site that lets you shop for a cause.

What’s unique about it is the huge brands they’ve partnered with and the full transparency about how much these brands will contribute to the charity of your choice - ranging from 2% to 10%. And with brands like Target, Toys R Us, Gap and iTunes participating, I’m sure to make a dent in my list.

Adds a whole new meaning to holiday giving.

I know Danielle has already offered her thoughts on Thanksgiving and how we should never take the freedoms we have for granted, but of course, I needed to add my two cents on all the other things that shouldn’t be taken for granted as well (shocking, I know).

One of the brands we represent, Soul’s Calling, is all about transferring positive energy from one person to another. The big idea is that we are all connected and whatever we are feeling or whatever is happening to us, we pass that emotion/energy to everyone we come in contact. Not surprisingly, Gina, president of Soul’s Calling, creates aesthetically-pleasing products that literally feature fun, affirming messages directed at its owner and whomever the product and it’s person come in contact with. To create this kind of line, you definitely have to be an eternal optimist, and she truly is. Recently we had her create a list of her: Top Five Easy Ways To Make Yourself Happy. I liked all the ideas, but I was particularly drawn to the idea of the gratitude list.

A gratitude list isn’t a new, unique or innovative idea, in fact, it’s quite simple and basic which is probably why I was so attracted to it. It’s so easy to take life for granted. When something traumatic or painful happens to you, you definitely feel the need to be reflective and thankful for everything you have. But so often, as soon as life resolves itself and moves back into the daily grind, you forget about all that stuff and just live life - not that there is anything wrong with that either - it’s just the way it is.

As a very busy person, with a lot on my plate, I’ve realized I need a method of reconnecting to myself and the others around me that’s simple and doesn’t take a lot of time or effort. Yes, I would love to do an hour of yoga everyday and I wish I could meditate for 20 minutes each morning, but sometimes its just not possible to fit it in. So, I have made this gratitude list a part of my everyday. I usually write it out right before I go to bed and it calms me down and offers good thoughts as I fall asleep. Then a few days ago, Danielle sent me this link from Tim Ferris’ blog, “Experiments in Lifestyle Design.” In the post, he features a study which likens the kind of gratitude list I’ve been completing each night to a form of meditation resulting in things like increased alterness, enthusiasm, determination, energy, optimism and a whole litney of other great things that typically result from more traditional forms of meditation. Who knew I was helping myself even more than I thought I was!

Obviously, this is quite apropos considering tomorrow’s Thanksgiving, but it’s probably even more apropos every other day of the year when we really do forget to be thankful for all we have, because baby, ain’t those the days when we need to remember it most. Particularly in the ultra fast paced, multi-media, always on, information overloaded world. For five minutes, just forget about all that other stuff and remember what makes this thing we call life so worth it. And believe, me I’m not one of those, “golly gee, isn’t life grand!” types, but when I do this, I realize my cup overfloweth in so many ways.

So c’mon have an attitude towards gratitude. All us busy professionals need to keep things in perspective and it seems to me, this might be one good way to do it.

Happy Turkey Day!

Yesterday we toured a very cool house in Brentwood. Wired Home by Living Homes (obviously, Chris Anderson didn’t completely turn me off). The house used state-of-the-art technology and environmentally conscious steel, glass and reclaimed redwood-encased Prefab for Living Homes by celebrated architect, Ray Kappe. The home is completely wrapped in windows - allowing the outside to be brought it - a concept that is throughly appealing to me. It was 4,000 sq. feet of design and technology exquisitness and absolutely the kind of house I see in my future. There was so much coolness in this house (forget the house keys, how about an iris reader instead) and we’re real suckers for it. Here are a few shots(sorry about the crappy camera phone) that really don’t do it justice.

The interior was also pretty spot on - modern yet not cold. The art was interesting, particularly from this artist -Andy Diaz Hope. Here’s something kinda trippy that I took - reminded Danielle of the show, “Flight of the Concords”. This was the mirror in the upstair bathroom.

But, there was only one issue - the price tag. The house is on the market for 4.3 mill. I don’t know if I will be able to afford this in the near future. And that begs the question, how many people really can? I understand that this home was for touring and sets the standard, but when will the masses, or even the upper middle class, be able to afford a sustainable PREFAB home. The definition of Prefab has definitely changed and so has the price. I don’t know the exact price of putting one of these homes up, but I’m assuming it’s quite costly even when they aren’t customized.

For me, the home symbolizes the green movement. Lots of new ways to be environmentally conscious, yet ironically, the majority of products are typically more expensive than their non-green counterparts. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule so you don’t need to list off all the ways or products I’m wrong about, but if we are to move in this direction, I hope that this kind of lifestyle can become more cost-effective and easily accessible for more people in the near future. I, for one, am waiting for the day.

A hug that is - you know Brits with their funny talk. I just saw a piece on Yahoo News about how British adults needs more hugs. I’d add Americans to that lot too. Life is all about hugs when your kid and then suddenly everything gets less about fun and love and much more about stress and the seriousness of life. So hug someone today. It’s easy enough. Hug someone who doesn’t expect it or who needs it. Make sure it’s genuine and you’ll feel a little bit of sadness and stress float away. But, please keep it clean!

Just a little stress reliever for a Tuesday.