Naptown to Super City... Super Bowl XLVI

I could not BE more proud of my city today.

photo credit: my mom. Thanks, Mom! I totally stole this...

 um...and this...

 

Over the past week I have fallen even more in love with Indianapolis.

And I didn't even think that was possible.





Apparently, hosting a Super Bowl brings out the best in us all.



I volunteered Wednesday through Friday down in Super Bowl Village.
And not only did Volunteering come with its own set of swag, but it also came complete with a renewed sense of civic commitment and pride and dedication to my community at large. Every which way I turned people were smiling, laughing, thanking volunteers... Locals were running around like tourists... Visitors were complimenting locals... it was just this heady combination of a buoyancy of spirit petering off into complete and utter exhaustion (and sore smile muscles) every single day.

But I'm so glad I did it. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat.





*photo caveat*

Some of my favorite photos from the past week are currently STUCK on my phone's camera. Which is not cooperating in the technical sense of the word. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the good people of Sprint will be able to retrieve my things from the date black hole in which they've disappeared...pleaseohpleaseohpleaseihope...

In the mean time...enjoy this random photo of Dan & I...being ridiculous last Wednesday night after my first volunteer shift ended. It was a good time. We'll just leave it at that.

Naptown to Super City

Very

Very

Very

Cool.

Naptown to Super City Documentary.

You can watch the entire thing online via the link there there.

It's very well done.

Really.

Give it a watch.

Or a listen...while you do your work today...not that I've been doing that today or anything...

source

Left Brain :: Right Brain

How utterly gorgeous are these images?

 They're a part of a Mercedes-Benz ad campaign that launched back in February, 2011. But a year later, I'm just now seeing them for the first time. And, while the Mercedes-Benz TV ads focus on the sleek, stylish vehicles themselves, certainly nothing to turn ones nose up at; This print campaign is simply a thing of beauty. Each one is articulate, creative, carefully crafted. They're works of art. And the text is damn near poetic. I'd hang it on my walls, even with the logo there in the bottom right.

Diversification in advertising is important. It allows you to reach multiple demographics on a variety of levels. These appeal to an entirely different group of people than those who drool over the cars themselves. And this campaign goes one further. It appeals to that segment of people that treat their cars not just as vehicles but as an extension of themselves, their image, their persona. There's just something to be said for a good print ad campaign, people.

source

Agency: Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Y&R Interactive Tel Aviv, Israel
Chief Creative Director: Gideon Amichay
Executive Creative Director: Tzur Golan
Creative Director: Yariv Twig
Art Directors: Gil Aviyam, Dror Nachumi
Illustrators: Gil Aviyam, Lena Guberman
Copywriters: Sharon Refael, Oren Meir

Impressionable Youth...

This morning, The Monkey announced that she much prefers my radio stations (92.3 or 104.5) to Radio Disney. Internally I was cheering &pumping my fist triumphantly. Outwardly I smiled, a bit smugly, and asked why?

"Because" Monkey answered. "Sometimes when we ask you to turn it to our radio station you make a scrunchy face."

Oops.

I forget sometimes that The Munchkins are just giant sponges these days.

I forget how impressionable they are.

They pick up on every look, every eye roll, every small, snide remark I make under my breath. And they DO NOT FORGET. Also they repeat. At inappropriate times. Like in the line at the grocery and such.

I need to be more aware of how I react to their likes and dislikes. 

They're all in that crucial and fascinating stage where they're in the process of forming their own personalities; their own identities. When they were babies they were such small, soft things. But even then, even when you'd press your finger into that soft, doughy skin and still not find bone, you'd see sudden and unpredictable sparks of "I am" in a look or a gesture. Just before they threw a toy across a room, before they rolled over or took a first step, before they (I swear) purposefully dumped an entire bowl of bananas and oatmeal over their brother.

They were all such stubborn things, as babies. I don't know why I thought this would ever change. And, over the years, those small sparks of "I am" have solidified. Forged like steel, the core of who they are has been strengthened from the inside, out. But they're still so impressionable. And there are days I wonder if the face I pulled when one of them suggested lima beans (Lima beans for goodnessake!) for dinner has eternally altered their perception of the legume family. (shudder. lima beans...).

They won't break. I know this. But they will bend. Under the sometimes innocuous pressure of my own opinions, likes, dislikes, preferences, and subconscious yearnings I'm helping to forget that steel of "I am" every day in them. What a terrifying though.

I've got to stop rolling my eyes at Radio Disney.

I'm not really thrilled about its mirror image on my daughters these days...

  

A Hometown Super Bowl

Super Bowl XLVI

It's coming!



Downtown had been buzzing for weeks now with actual Super Bowl set-up going on.

Constructions is heavy in and around Georgia Street and they've started taking major arteries through Downtown down to just  a single lane or two in some areas.

So DO NOT park in the Moon Garage at Circle Centre Mall. You know, the one that spits you out onto Georgia? Just don't. Trust me on this one.

And for each person I've heard say "I'm not going anywhere near Downtown on Super Bowl Weekend!" I've heard four more than that hatching plans to come Downtown not just over the weekend, but on weeknights and random afternoon lunch-hours to check out all that the Big Event has to offer. What? People in Indiana going out on a weeknight? In February?! Amazing.

There's so much to do that doesn't cost a dime, that I'm planning on schlepping The Munchkins out and about all weekend to see what kind of Super Bowl Mania we can get into.

I'll try and do a roundup next week of Not-To-Be-Missed spots and photo ops...in case anyone else wants to try and experience a bit of the Bowl without facing game-day crowds.

Super Bowl Countdown Clock:

11 Days and Counting...

 So...Um...Who can guess what I did on MY lunch break today?

I might have just maybe frozen my tush off walking over to the Circle, just to be jostled by swarms and swarms of people desperately jockeying for positions to take "THE"  photo of the day: Giant Roman Numerals have found a home nestled just to the south of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the Circle Downtown, and you can't go more than six inches in any directions without bumping into a news crew or a professionamateur photographer.  Awesome.

Motherhood

Yep. This pretty much sums it up...

 source

Anonymous was obviously a woman...