Reflecting On November 2019

The leftovers are almost gone and the Christmas decorations are up; December is here! We have so much to be thankful for over the past month that it was hard to pick just 10 favorite things.

In no particular order, here's what we were doing, watching and reading last month.

Last Month's Stand Outs

An Interesting Read:

We are proud and delighted to work with Kitá Wines, a boutique winery owned and operated by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. Just in time for Native American Heritage Month, Kitá's winemaker and my good friend Tara Gomez was interviewed by Kathleen Willcox of Wine Enthusiast. The article is called Behind the Rise of Native American Wines, and you can read it here.

A Memorable Ad:

In case you haven't seen REI's Everything To Lose, it's a powerfully moving and visually beautiful piece about the urgent state of our planet in crisis. From the costumes and imagery to the love letters for Mother Earth, this ad had my curiosity piqued from the very beginning and captured my attention throughout. Only at the very end does the viewer find out it was presented by REI, as part of their #OptOutside campaign.

Wow. Talk about an ad that initiated an emotional response!

Favorite New Song:

A bit uncharacteristic, Meg's been jamming out to Aventura by Lunay, Ozuna & Anuel AA. The beat is catchy and it's hard not to dance in the chair when it comes on... But since she don't speak Spanish we hope the lyrics aren't anything controversial!

New or Most Used Tool/Resource:

Our winner in this category for November has to be YayText's unicode tool for bold and italicized fonts in Instagram and Facebook posts. Try this free tool yourself here!

Celebrating The Win:

As a small team who specializes in supporting small businesses, we are very careful not to bring on too many new projects at once. We are thrilled to announce that we partnered with two new clients in November, and we are no longer accepting any new clients for the remainder of the year!

We are proud to be partnering with Santa Maria Philharmonic Society for the next few months as their Community Ambassador, and with the brand new EarthScapes Knits & Designs as their Brand Developer and Marketing Partner.

Made Us Smile:

You know that time when you order something new on the menu and fall madly, deeply in love with it and wonder where it's been all your life? That's Meg and her recent discovery of the french toast latte at Fresco Valley Café in Solvang.

On The Job Selfie:

Meg was lucky enough to get to spend the day on location at Flying Flags RV Resort in Buellton to capture photos for an upcoming story on a much needed momcation to the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley.

Fangirl Topic:

Like fans and their football teams, we get really excited to celebrate the big wins of our local small businesses, like The Solvang Bakery. No secret to locals and a number of celebrities who order their creations year after year, The Solvang Bakery has a gingerbread workshop at their Buellton location that kicks in to gear in October and ships their hand-decorated creations all over the country.

Two years ago Meg had the pleasure of touring their gingerbread HQ and was shocked at the level of detail - down to the illuminated "stained glass windows" - of their edible creations. This year their crafty work takes a savory twist in Frito-Lay's holiday campaign with Anna Kendrick, replacing the typical sugary decorations with Cheetos, Doritos and other snack food favs. Read all about it in Marketing Dive's drill down in to this festive campaign.