that is how long it took my chickens to lay their first eggs…

let me rewind a bit. about six months ago kristie and i finally realized our (relatively new) dream of owning chickens. we went to the feed store and bought 2 little baby chicks, both rhode island reds and named them claire and camilla. a few days later kristie went back and bought three more, two barred rock (cumin and coriander) and one ameraucana (an impulse buy named constance). we knew that they would take about 6 months to grow to the point of laying eggs, but also read that their egg laying can also be influenced by the weather, so we figured it would be march before we could expect eggs.

low and behold kristie was cleaning the coop yesterday and she found 3 eggs in 2 of the nesting boxes!

here are claire and camilla, our good little producers.

and let me tell you, the eggs were delicious. i have had all kinds of eggs, ones from the grocery store that range from the 99 cents for a dozen to the 4 buck a dozen “organic” variety, all the way to eggs from the farmers market, and let me tell you, they all get blown out of the water by the eggs i had last night.

i cracked the egg into the pan and it just sat there. it didn’t run! not at all…it cooked to bright white and the yolk, it was an amazing velvety rich almost orange color. and the taste, it was a more eggy egg, that is the only way i can describe it. i tried to compare it to something i had tasted before, but couldn’t pull a good association out of my brain….

so i am looking forward to many more delicious egg dishes from here on out. I will let you know how they go.

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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.

Posted in Uncategorized, aka Jana "My name's pronounced 'John-uh'" Sanders Perry | 1 Comment »

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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