Hello! I’ve taken a major blogging break these past few weeks.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year.  The past two weeks we’ve been from Utah to San Francisco to Arizona back to San Francisco.  We’ve settled into our beautiful rental home (sort of… ok, not really), worked on the Zinch office, and have found out that our little baby will be a little BOY baby.  We’re excited for the New Year and all the changes and challenges it will bring.

Trying to move into both our home and the Zinch office included many trips to IKEA.  While I’ve never shopped there for clients, I do actually like the store and believe it can offer great things for those with a tight budget.  However, I’m all IKEAed out.  Four trips in three days makes the magic wear off.  I quickly felt like this young fella:

Thank you all for your well wishes and understanding as I’ve been a little slow responding to emails and requests.  Don’t fear, we’re back up and running and will deliver more inspiring posts.

Oh Lady Gaga, such an interesting character. In honor of the Met’s production of Hansel and Gretel, Vogue did a beautiful spread to which includes designers like Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, and Nicolas Ghesquière. It’s absolutely beautiful. Notice Lady Gaga’s debut as the witch in the fire.

I don’t know if any of my readers read Mick’s blog of complete random goodness, but he often has some pretty cool things.  Like this Orbitz commercial.

Thought I’d highlight our uber-talented graphic designer for our giveaway.  Mrs Natalie Brown from Enbee Invitations:

I have been a graphic designer for over 2 years and I absolutely love it! Wedding Invitations, Thank You Cards and Holiday Cards unite friends and family and I enjoy being able to be a part of that. I love the holidays and can’t wait to design a special custom Holiday Card for one lucky winner!

You can check out more about Natalie and see more of her work at her blog.  Remember, tomorrow is the last day to enter!

I’ve always loved Dior’s add campaigns. So flirty and magical.

Classic Children’s Book.  Although, I think the wild things are quite scary.  It amazes me how the little eight-year old isn’t phased at all by them.

I’m also excited for 500 Days of Summer I think it comes out this week.  Since this is a design blog, I thought it appropriate that I show you a clip from when they’re in IKEA.  The first part is brutally cheesy, but then gets better.

Tara, Jessica, and Katie.  I know you girls are crazy busy trying to plan a wedding.  Maybe you should just hope someone does this for you:

courtesy of my husband.

I’m loving T Mobile’s internet campaign.  They’ve been able to pull off some pretty amazing stunts. 

And yes, the last dance video is similar to the other one I posted a while ago.  The same group helped with the execution.  See the behind the scenes here. 

You getting excited yet?  Orla Kiely’s line comes out February 15th.  Here’s a little preview of her line.  Of the many wonderful things, I think I’m going to get the canisters and apron.  I’m pretty sure her fun designs will make me want to spend more time in the kitchen.

Well Organized closets are so sexy.  Is that wrong?

Mick and I are completly re-organizing our home office.  In our hunt for files and boxes, we came accross this amazing sale at the Container Store.  I wish they had one here in Utah (good thing oyu can shop online).  There’s just something so exciting walking around the store with thoughts of living a well-organized life.  Somehow that’s as far as I go: THOUGHTS of being well organized.  This is the year!

How are your New Year’s resolutions?  I’ll be working on my all this week.

Illustration by Andrew Bannecker.

Cool new campaign by Adidas.

I like this new ad campaign by ESPN Brasil, “Not Good Enough for Beijing.”  Click on the images to see the full size version of the image.

Fish Slicing Champion

Hanging Spoon Champion

Head Weight Lifting Champion

I like this commercial. It’s funky. It’s fresh.

I really like some of these new ads by Monster.com.

London based illustrator/designer Jethro Haynes has some nice stuff including this for Vans.

www.jethrohaynes.com

4000 sets of keys.  4834 people called back.  Effective reach: 120%.  That’s some nice marketing by MTV Cribs (Poland).