You know you’ve worked with someone for a long time (in our case, nearly six years) when your wardrobes start to take on the same look. Case in point, here is a photo of me and Debi that Kym took this morning:

Unintentional matching happens quite frequently at the Merlot office. Sometimes a couple of us are wearing similar tops, or a few of us wear the same color combinations. Even yesterday, Debi, Brenda and I were all walking around with our black pashminas.

But today was different. Not just because houndstooth is a pretty distinctive pattern (in case you hadn’t noticed), but also because usually the outside public doesn’t have to bear witness to our matching outfits. Today, Debi and I had a PR meeting with River City Bank. In person. At their office. And it was just the two of us. People must have thought we were crazy as we came strolling into the lobby looking like a pair of patterned twins. 

We gave the client a nice chuckle, so we thought we’d share with the rest of you. From now on, we’re comparing fashion plans before the meeting.

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Before the start of any design project, you always want to take a step back to outline the strategy, as well as,  determine how the success of this project will be measured.   Take a website for example.  We can track the success of a new website design and development by tracking unique visitors, bounce rates, click-thrus, SEO and much more.  But from an agency perspective, an important element to measure is the reaction and approval from the client.

Recently, we designed, developed and launched a new website for Wallace & Hinz Bars, craftsman of fine custom bar for commercial and residential use: www.wallaceandhinz.com

The response from the client…he posted this sign on his computer screen, took a picture and uploaded it to his Flickr account.

To us, this is the greatest measure of success and the best compliment!  You Rock Wallace & Hinz!

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Today is Robert Cook’s 30th birthday and at Merlot we like to celebrate! Nothing but the best for our Rob. Check out the chocolate chip mint ice cream cake we made…I mean bought him. Thanks for sharing with us Rob! You can see pictures of our little ice cream cake eating party below.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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We would like to announce that Julie Fraga has been working at Merlot Marketing for one year now. Julie is our Public Relations Account Executive and does a great job keeping our clients happy and promoting their products. We love having Julie as part of our Merlot team and look forward to working with her for many years to come.

Thanks for being a part of our team!

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Every year here at Merlot we have a pumpkin carving contest. This one started out like every other contest. A flyer announcing that we were having a contest, a reminder email the week before Halloween and another reminder email plus me announcing it out loud around the office the week of the contest.

So I had found my cool pumpkin and found a pattern I liked and carved my pumpkin. Granted, I carved it the night before the contest as I tend to put things off sometimes but once I was done I was very proud of my pumpkin and couldn’t wait to bring it to work.

I got to work early on October 30th (judging day) and set my pumpkin up on the kitchen counter with it’s candle lit waiting to see the competition. One by one the employees came in…empty handed. After the last employee walked through the door without a pumpkin I got very excited. Why? Because I was the one that bought the prize for the winning pumpkin and now knew that I was the winner of the pumpkin carving contest.

Sometimes it pays to be the Office Manager and buyer of the prizes, especially when I am the one that wins! And here is the winning pumpkin and carver!

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I would just like to announce that today is my 40th birthday. I feel 28 and look 32…or somewhere around that age so I’m told (ha! ha!). My peeps decorated my office, bought me lunch and we had a little celebration at the office with my favorite cake. Yes you guessed it, Sam’s Club Coconut Cake! Best cake ever!

Unfortunately three of my co-workers (Debi, Brenda and Z)were traveling so they didn’t get to celebrate in person with me but they did call and sing happy birthday to me while they were at the airport waiting for their flight. Needless to say they received some funny looks from other travelers. Jana is in Hawaii for her 5 year Merlot trip but didn’t forget and sent me a happy birthday text.

Ray Sanford called me out of the blue to wish me happy birthday (which made my day) and all my Facebook friends were typing away sending me birthday wishes.

I hung out with my husband, family and friends all weekend so I have to say, my 40th turned out to be a great one! Thanks everyone!

Here are some pictures of us celebrating at the office.

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This is my first Water Cooler entry…Yea!

To embrace the hot days of summer,  we had a Merlot Summer Potluck at the office. Everyone brought their favorite summer dish to share (mine was the coconut cake) and Brenda’s contribution was good ole margaritas. Not only did they taste great but she put little umbrellas in our drinks for a pretty presentation. Well after lunch and drinking the margaritas, I decided to put the umbrellas to good use by decorating mine and Zsavonne’s (AKA “Z”) hair.

At first, Z was not a willing participant until she saw how cute my hair looked. Then she let me put one in her hair too not knowing it was sticking out of the top of her head (see pictures). We both had a good laugh!

Now that’s what I call Creative Chic.  

Oh and did I mention, there was no alcohol in the margaritas?

Cheers!

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Debi and I recently attended the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Hot-lanta and if you follow Debi on Get To The Grapes, you already know it was a successful show!  For those ‘tradeshow goers’ out there, you understand that three days of early mornings, back-to-back meetings and very late nights can get exhausting.   And when you are exhausted, everyone handles it differently.  Some can’t keep their thoughts straight, some get blood shot eyes and others, like Debi and myself, find even the smallest things hilarious.  Here is a prime example of something as simple as taking a picture becomes the funniest thing in the world.

Here are our clients Brent and Ramsay…

Take One: Say Cheese!

The good ole boys!

See how simple that is!  Now it’s the ladies turn…

Take One: Say Cheese!

Okay, wait...my right eye looks like it's straying. Ramsay, take another picture.

Let’s try this again…Take Two!

Alright guys, stop making me laugh!

Take Three…

Okay, I've lost it. And what happened to Debi?

Take Four…

We almost have it pulled together.

Take Five…

Okay, now Debi's lost it.

And finally, Take Six:

The Ladies of Merlot - Cool as a cucumber!

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Happy Earth Day, Water Cooler posse! I can’t ignore my hippie-tendencies today, so I’m formally calling for all Merlot Team Members to abandon their dependency on plastic bags. Invest in some environmentally-friendly alternatives. Pick up four or five and take them with you to the store, on shopping trips, or even put your lunch in them and bring them to the office. You’d be surprised how incredibly convenient they are!

If not for me… do it for the turtles.

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George Washington? Captain America? How about William Katt, as teacher Ralph Hinkley?

For those of you who are not well versed in early-80’s sitcoms, William Katt played Ralph Hinkley, a recently divorced teacher who just happened  to wear a superhero costume that granted him amazing powers, including super strength, the ability to fly, invulnerability to projectiles, invisibility and a host of other cool tricks. 

The “magic jammies,” as crime fighting partner Bill Maxell (played by Roberty Culp) called them, were given to Hinkley by an alien, under the premise he was to utilize them for the good of mankind. The problem was Hinkely lost the instruction manual to the suit, which meant hilarity insued every time he put on the costume. Flying more like a wounded duck than Superman, Hinkley was forced  learn all about his new powers, and limits, through a trial and error process of physical comedy that only the 80’s could provide.

Now, how did we get on this topic in the first pace? Isn’t it kind of random? Well, yes of course it is. We’re Merlot and this is The Water Cooler. 

We got here because while discussing Monday night’s season premiere of Heroes, I pointed out that the actor who played the reporter was a hero himself: The Greatest American Hero.

Credit (or blame) my 80’s education for this knowledge. I will take it as a compliment.  In fact, in the world of random, insignificant trivia and observation, I’d have to say it was on par with Matt correctly idetifying Meshach Taylor as the man in Designing Women.

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