Snow? But this is Louisiana!

My left wrist is slowly becoming more limber in the morning; that’s a clear sign that warmer weather is here. I am quite clumsy, and I have broken my poor mistreated left wrist twice. Hopefully describing it with so many adjectives will somehow make up for the abuse it has endured. “Poor lefty” had pins surgically inserted and then brutally yanked out of her due to a skateboarding accident. That was the second break, which I affectionately refer to as my “final skateboarding adventure”. After that injury to my now bionic left wrist, I began to realize that in cold weather “lefty” will ache and be immovable until about 9 a.m. I truly don’t know how people with plates and screws in their bones cope with these arctic temperatures, not to mention the orthopedic bills.

Aching bones are not the only complaint for the cold weather. I have overheard many grievances from our fellow Southern citizens during my daily activities—the most prominent one being the dreaded winter utility bills. Personally, I feel the utility companies should offer a spring/fall savings plan. You could add $5 per fair-weather bill to be deducted later on from your winter bills, which skyrocket to three digits—the first digit often being four. However, I work for Insty-Prints, not a utility company, but they can have that idea for a small consulting fee.

Along with escalating utility bills and aching sports/clumsy girl injuries, winter complaint 203 is trying to stay warm at night while you are trying to sleep. We bundle our children up in footy pajamas, and they wake up drenched in sweat as if they slept in the mouth of a volcano. Somehow as adults, we lose our internal heating mechanism. I am not sure at which age this happens, but if I could stop time for one reason, that would be it. Well, that and maybe the whole youthful metabolism thing. Maybe this lack of sleep due to freezing overnight temperatures only exists for those brave soldiers; who, like me, spend the night in a giant bed all alone. My fellow lone rangers know what it’s like to cuddle up to a pillow and purchase a $70 electric blanket that breaks in two weeks.

Humanity relies on modern invention to keep us warm enough to function as members of society, but this year Mother Nature decided to show us a better way to warm ourselves. I’m sure we all remember the great snow of 2010. When I walked out of the house that Thursday morning, little white things floated down from the sky. My heart grew five times its normal size and an ear-to-ear grin was plastered on my face. I carefully picked the perfect snowy day song to listen to in my headphones as I walked from the parking garage to work. Insert plug for band and song I really love: Alterkicks “Oh, Honey.” It was perfect!

Later that night we went to the opening of the Norsworthy Gallery. It was like a movie. The girls and I sat on a bench drinking wine, surrounded by art and watching people rush in the door gently brushing the snow from their hair. People walked the streets closer together that night. Snow really brings a romantic scene to downtown Shreveport.

The following morning, I awoke to see that the snow had stuck and I still felt twelve years old. Apparently I was not alone in this feeling of childlike wonder. Grace—whose snow-covered tree limbs hugged the ground that, on other days, is known as her driveway—stayed home from work and made a mock-up of her family out of snow. Rodney, who usually takes random pictures of food, took a memory cards’ worth of photographs. Richard used his fancy movie maker to video his drive to work, and Raydra walked in pouting because she wanted to be in an epic snowball war with her children rather than be at work. Michelle and I spent the day half working and half staring out the windows with dreams of hot chocolate and warm fireplaces.

When the day came to an end I put on the exact same “perfect song” for my drive home. I saw that the snow had melted from the trees and the ground was green again. However, almost every yard had a towering snowman still standing—proud reminders that adults took off work, kids stayed home from school, and families spent a day together outside, away from the office and responsibility and closer to loved ones. I’m sure legend will remain that it snowed in 49 of the 50 states that day because the Saints won the Super Bowl, and the twelve year old inside of me is just fine with that. Thank you, Saints and Thank You, Mother Nature for keeping me warm this winter.

~Leigh

A Night on the Red Carpet

After much anticipation, the 2009 ADDYS® have finally come and, unfortunately, gone. January and February are always abuzz with ADDY talk at Insty-Prints—concerned chatter like, “Have you gotten your dress yet?” “What kind of heels are you wearing?” “How are you doing your hair?”—you know, the usual girly talk before an awards event. Oh, and I guess we wondered what awards we would be picking up, as well.

Everyone was extremely excited that the event was taking place at the Robinson Film Center. It is definitely one of our favorite places in town. Most of us have been to a few events at RFC and the staff always does a wonderful job. This time would prove to be no different. After much stressing over new dresses (Raydra didn’t even wind up wearing hers!), new shoes, and unbelievable amounts of prep work, we were each ready for the night’s excitement. This was Michelle, Leigh, & Rachel’s first ADDY Awards Gala; Raydra’s second; and as for Jerry, Crickett, and Grace—well, we’ve all just lost count. All together there were seven Insty family members in attendance, along with a few spouses. Everyone was wearing their absolute best—the girls looked stunning and the guys were truly sharp-dressed men. Jerry even showed up in his penguin suit! Everyone at the Insty-Prints sponsored table was having a fantastic time—and no one in the room had a single doubt! We “wooed” each time our logo popped up on the big screen. We cheered when we got our food (which was, of course, fantastic!). We laughed late into the night. After dinner, our rowdy bunch made their way to one of the theater rooms for the awards ceremony. Grace was a presenter and got to help hand out a few awards. We thought she made a very sultry Vanna.

As usual, there was quite a bit of joking and ribbing going on during the presentation and everyone had a good time. There were some amazing pieces submitted this year and it’s always enjoyable to see our talented local designers get the recognition that is certainly deserved. No doubt the district judges who came in a few weeks ago to sort through all the amazing work and choose who would advance to the event had a very difficult time picking winners. As always, the student work submitted this year was very impressive. It’s good to know who our future competition is (smile and wink).

Insty-Prints did pick up a couple awards Saturday night—a Silver for a logo created for Oak Alley Farms’ Pattie Shop and a Bronze for an invitation for the Krewe of Justinian. We are very proud to be able to participate in this annual event and be recognized among the immense talent found here.

This year’s ADDYS were very successful and by far the most fun we’ve ever been to. Allen Garcie, AAFSB president, and Alan Hampton, vice president and ADDY chair, certainly made the night unforgettable, as did the rest of Shreveport-Bossier’s Advertising Federation members. We are already looking forward to next year’s event. If you have never attended one we want to recommend that you do, but make sure you sit close to the Insty bunch. That is where the real party will be!

Do You Really Think I Am the Bee's Knees?

Both of my children have had notes sent home with them this past week with the names of their classmates so they can write out their Valentines. My son even has to decorate a shoebox to put his in. This got me to thinking about Valentine’s Day when I was in elementary school and what a big deal it was, at least to me anyway.

We usually made our “mailboxes” in art class. The teacher would wrap shoeboxes in white butcher’s paper and we would decorate them with crayons or construction paper. There was a little slot cut into the top for your Valentines to go in.

My teacher would send home a list of names and my mom would take me to pick out my cards. I would usually pick out ones that had cute animals or something on them. I would then go home with my cards and my list and begin a very important task. I had to make sure that I gave the right card to the right person. My memory isn’t the greatest, but I remember like it was yesterday how carefully I would make my decisions about who got which card. Of course all of the boys that I liked got the “Be Mine”, “You’re a Sweetie”, and “My Heart Hops for You” cards. The boys that I didn’t like would get the “You’re a Cool Kid” or “I’m Glad We’re Friends” cards. I didn’t want to give the wrong boys the wrong impression. I also had to make sure that my best girl friends got the coolest cards.

After our Valentine’s party at school, I would take my “mailbox” full of cards home and shut myself up in my room to read them. At this point I analyzed every card that was given to me and I would try to read into their messages. So, what was Jeremy trying to say when he gave me a card that said, “You are the apple of my eye”? Did I really make Shannon’s “Heart go Pitter Patter”? And why would Steven give me a card that said, “Best Buds”? I thought he liked me more than that! It sounds so silly when I think about it now, but it was very serious business when I was in third grade.

I am curious to see if my kids will be as serious as I was about Valentine’s Day cards. Right now, thankfully, they are more concerned with picking out the coolest cards and trying to talk me into buying more candy.

~Raydra