the insights and opinions of Alissa Sheley
The Sheley baby is here! Leo Mason Sheley arrived a week ago today (yes, he’s my St. Patty’s Day baby). He was 9 pounds and 12.5 ounces, and 22.5″ inches long.
After seeing how much time I’m going to be spending doing this “mom thing”, I wanted to let you all know that I will probably not be posting on my blog much. To keep up with me and everything that’s going on, please read (and check out the photos) on the baby blog, baby.sheley.org, or add me as a friend on Facebook.
Saturday morning I had the opportunity to enjoy my very first pedicure, thanks to my in-laws! For Christmas this year, they gave me a gift certificate to His & Hers Salon & Spa here in Topeka. I used the gift certificate for their deluxe pedicure, and it was fabulous!
For an hour I sat in a massage chair and had my feet pampered. A whirlpool soak, a exfoliating scrub and massage, some general nail maintenence and some fancy polish.
Last night the American Advertising Federation of Topeka (AAFT) held their annual ADDYs Gala to recognize the best creative produced in the Topeka area this past year. As Second-Vice President on the AAFT Board, I’ve been very active these past few months helping plan and organize the gala, as well as participating in the competition through my work at jones huyett Partners.
I am happy to report that we were successful on all fronts! The show went off without a hitch, and everyone I talked to seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves at the gala. I’m sure it helps that we had a free Boulevard Wheat keg tapped, but I think the big score for the AAFT Board was the highly successful video clips incorporated throughout the program! The clips were shot and produced by some of the best talent in town (Gizmo Pictures/Gadget Video, Shannon Reilly and his Laughing Matters crew from the Topeka Civic Theatre and the coordination/planning of Ms. Andrea Koker).
The jhP team also faired very well throughout the evening, coming home as the big winners in the medal count, pocketing 6 gold medals and 10 silvers! We were fortunate enough to see one of our dear co-workers, Leslie Palace, selected as their year’s Silver Medal Award recipient. And, I (as well as the rest of the AAFT Board) was the recipient for the Caroyln Terhune Volunteer of the Year Award.
Below is a list of the projects and clients that jhP won medals for. I am proud to say that I had a direct hand in many of these projects, but more importantly, that they were produced for some of the best clients in the world!
Golds:
- Mulvane Art Museum “Paper Dali Illustration”
- jhP 2008 Holiday Card
- jhP Pet Partners Holiday Card
- United Way Campaign Photography
- jhP Super Bowl Commercial
- Greenwave Electric Vehicle & Trailer Wrap
Silvers:
- Stormont-Vail HealthCare TV Campaign
- Penwell-Gabel Funeral Homes Coffeyville Calendar Photography
- March of Dimes “Chef Illustration”
- Mulvane Art Museum Outdoor Campaign
- Advanced Manufacturing Institute Brochure
- CoreFirst Bank & Trust Community Campaign
- Stormont-Vail HealthCare Healthy Times Newsletter
- Topeka Symphony Orchestra Branding TV Spot
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Employee Campaign
- March of Dimes Campaign Materials
There are so many people and things that I am grateful for this holiday season, but here’s my Top 10 (although listed in no particular order):
1. My family
2. My husband
3. Our impending bundle of joy
4. Working at jones huyett Partners
5. Great friends
I’m so over this election.
Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s important and will forever go down in the history books, but we’ve been hearing about it non-stop for almost 10 straight months now. I’m getting a little burnt out.
Technically, the election is over for me. I voted by mail and sent off my completed ballot last Monday. But the candidates don’t know that. They keep sending me campaign junk mail and filling the airwaves of the shows I watch with campaign commercials.
At least it ends soon.
Six years ago today I was on the tropical island of St. Lucia with my boyfriend, Brandon, waiting for the rain and clouds to clear so we could get married. Shortly before our scheduled ceremony, the clouds parted and wedding officiant at the resort said it was a sure sign that we were going to have lots of luck and good fortune together.
Looking back, I can only agree. Lots of people probably never thought we’d make it together this long. We’ve watched the majority of our friends marry and divorce over the years, but Brandon and I continue to survive.
It’s not always been easy. For those of you that know us well, you know Brandon and I can each be pretty stubborn, and that we’re opposites in many ways … I’m pretty focused and can be a little too intense, while Brandon’s pretty laid back and accepts that things will come with time. But we’ve found a way to make that balance, and work for us. We’ve grown through each other’s strengths and weakness and have learned how to battle through the tough times.
It all works because at the end of the day, he can always make me laugh and smile. Even when I really, really don’t want to. And I can make sure our finances are in order. : )
I love you, Brandon! Here’s to six more great years!
Despite the economic turmoil the world is currently going through, life at the Sheley household is still pretty good. That’s not to say we’ve not be hit by economic troubles, because we have. Brandon lost his contract job out of L.A. – they’re hoping to hire him back as they get closer to launching their network, but can’t make any promises until the economy is looking a little better. Fortunately, we’d always sort of viewed his income as discretionary because our budget to coverour basic needs (house, food, utilities, etc.) is completely covered by my income. And through his last 10 months on contract, I was able to squirrel away a decent amount of savings.
I’m sure our retirement savings vehicles aren’t looking great right now, but I’m not even worried enough to look. I mean, it won’t do me any good. And it’s money that I’m not planning to access for at least another 30 years, so I’ve got plenty of time to make up for any big losses. But I do feel bad for those that are starting to close-in on retirement. This downturn will have a serious impact on their portfolios and will potentially cause many to have to work a couple of additional years.
One thing is for sure, when Brandon finds his next job, and we have a little more discrecionary spending money again, we’ll throw a good portion of it into the market – with the help of our financial advisor, of course. The world-wide panic won’t stop us, because I know that the bad times won’t last forever … and my money has more opportunity to grow if I buy when stock prices are low. : )
I got back late last night from a little family road trip. My brother, Aaron, and I traveled out to Hutchinson together to meet up with my parents and watch my sister’s volleyball team play.
My sister, Amy, is the head coach at Seminole State, a community college located in Seminole, Oklahoma. It’s about four or five hours away from Topeka, so I haven’t had the opportunity to go down and watch her team yet. But this weekend they were playing in a highly competitive tournament in Hutchinson, a reasonable 3-hour trip from Topeka.
Unfortunately, Amy’s girls didn’t win any of the games I got to watch (I missed their first win against Barton County). I know Amy was disappointed with that, but I was still very proud of her and the way her team played. I mean, the teams they lost to were nationally ranked in the top 20 in the country, including the team currently ranked first. And while they never won a match, they did play several of them very close.
It also seemed like luck was stacked against them as they really didn’t have many extra players on the bench. So if one of the girls started struggling, Amy didn’t have much to work with in terms of making a quick substitution. And two of her typical starters were sidelined with injury, again stacking the odds against them.
The whole weekend brought back lots of fond memories from my days of playing volleyball at Cowley County. Althought my team was never nationally ranked, we did have a great time together and it was a great life experience for me.
Tons of things have happened since I last updated. Too many to list … sorry about that … so I’m making up for it by debuting my acting career in the Topeka United Way video. It’s just a short little spot, but I’m pretty sure I need to be packing my bags for L.A. : )
Oh yeah, Brandon’s in it too. See if you can spot him!
I actually helped with the production of the video too. It was a Gimzo Pictures and jhP collaboration for this year’s local United Way campaign.
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