Ginger Pelz

Nerdy (but awesome) glasses? Check. Amazing retro sound? Check. Great performer and fashion sense? Check. Fun and funny Twitter account? I’m sold. Heck, I may or may not even have a Mayer Hawthorne bobble head on my desk at work. Ahem. What all this is saying is that I’ve had this obsession for a while… I’ve just needed to get it out.

DETAILS OF THIS OBSESSION

The first time I saw Mayer Hawthorne was last summer at the Mile High Music Festival – which I’ve since learned is not going to happen again this year… what gives? Anyway. I’ve had a thing for soul and Motown music for a while and am loving seeing it come back through newer acts like Adele, Raphael Saadiq, and more. Nothing makes you want to dance like this stuff.

Even more, I love how Mayer Hawthorne let’s his personality really shine through. He has a YouTube series called Mayer v. Food, a spin-off of the Travel Channel’s Man v. Food. Basically, Mayer visits infamous eating joints in cities where he’s touring and documents the entire experience. I love it.

My only complaint at this point is that I need more. I need a new album, Mayer!

ESTIMATED LENGTH OF OBSESSION

I estimate I’ve been obsessed with Mayer Hawthorne since mid summer 2010. I liked his music before I saw him at the MHMF, but after seeing the whole thing in person, my level of adoration grew by leaps and bounds. I also saw Mayer again in November 2010 in Boulder, CO… oh, and I met him then and got an autograph. I’m such a fan girl.

FIND MAYER HAWTHORNE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | MySpace

CHECK HIM OUT

What’s YOUR current music obsession?

Before I left for Austin for SXSW Interactive, I announced I was creating a best-frames-at-south-by challenge. The #sxframeoff. While in Austin, I spotted some amazing spec appeal but also encountered a few unforeseen roadblocks in completing my challenge of finding the best glasses at SXSWi. These included:

• Getting past the fast-paced, go-go-go factor (nearly impossible to stop someone while they’re rushing from panel to panel)
• The problem of not being able to interrupt a group conversation in order to tell someone they have great frames
• Spotting someone with great glasses… on the escalator going the opposite direction from you
• The fact that I don’t yet have an iPhone with a flash on its camera – this inhibited my ability to take photos at night at the parties… one of the biggest challenges.

All that being said, I do think I found some great specs at SXSW. Below are my favorites:

@camh – His frames are Warby Parker

@ruffian

@fimoculous

@ericnakagawa – He orders his frames from Japan… love that.

@ashleykdwilson and @letsgoalltothe

Side view of @letsallgotothe‘s frames

Thanks to everyone who let me take their photos for the #sxframeoff. Until next year…

To those that know me, it’s no secret I love glasses. Not only do I adore them for myself, I appreciate a good set of frames when I see them.

I recently ordered a new set of glasses from Warby Parker. If you don’t know much about them, the concept is amazing. They offer vintage-style frames, with prescription lenses (polycarb! and anti-reflective coating!) for $95. Besides being drop dead adorable, the best part is that for every pair they sell, they donate a pair to someone in need. That’s right – go do some good and order a pair NOW. (Disclaimer: No, I don’t receive any sort of compensation from Warby Parker from my endless evangelizing of their glasses. Although, perhaps I should.)

Here are my Zaggs that I’m obsessed with:

Okay, okay, enough about me. Why this post?

Well, I’m heading back to Austin again this year for SXSW Interactive (better known as South By Southwest) and I came up with an idea for a unique challenge.

My new glasses and general obsession with great frames has inspired me to challenge all SXSWi participants to a frame-off. Not a face-off, but a frame-off.

Throughout the week, I’ll be finding the best glasses at South By and posting them here on my blog (and Twitter and Instagram). I’ll be tweeting with the hashtag #sxframeoff, so make sure you follow along!

Think you’ve got the best glasses at SXSWi? Find me in Austin.

BRING IT ON and I’ll see you there!

I have a problem with shoes. Not just any shoes… I like eye-catching shoes. Bold colors, lots of detail, and tall, tall, tall.

After perusing ModCloth, one of my favorite sites for vintage-inspired clothes, I quickly became obsessed with school girl wedges. I need like five pairs. Below are some of my favorites:

Commence drooling.

Prompt: Moment.

Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

I think the default answer to this particular prompt would be something to the effect of “One glorious day this summer, I was hiking in the wilderness and stopped near a bubbling brook. The air was crisp, the grass was green and I breathed in the fresh mountain air. It made me feel so alive. Blah, blah, blah…”

Yeah, yeah. Mine is nothing like that. Hands down my moment this year was the moment I received the job offer for this new position I am in at this new company. (Notice the repetition of the word new. Further cements that “new” was my word for 2010.”

That moment made me feel so alive. It made me feel like I was valuable. That I had proven that I was worth more, and that I could do more. And that I had big things in store for my future. It gave me a big change that I had been needing for a while. Not that I was desperate to leave my job – I had a great job. I just needed something new in my life, a breath of fresh air, if you will, and this one moment gave me that outlet.

Funny thing about change is… when I was living back home in Arkansas, change was one of the things I feared the most. But the moment I decided to pack up and move to the mountains in Colorado for the winter, my life had changed. I became someone who embraced change – who needed change.

Yes, hands down, my moment this year was starting a new job – a new path in life. And many, many more years in Denver.

This post is a part of #reverb10. Reverb 10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead.

I decided to participate in this year’s #Reverb10.

Last year, I heard many, many wonderful things about #best09 from Cali and because she is part of the crew putting on the #reverb10, I was even more anxious/excited to jump head on into this challenge.

What’s it all about, you ask?

Reverb 10 is a daily blogging challenge throughout the month of December. Each day, participants are given a prompt which will spark stories and reflections on the past year. It’s also designed to put you in a mindset to manifest ideas for how you would like to start off 2011. Sound cool? Join the challenge!

Prompt: One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

In thinking about the last year, the best word I can think of to describe it is simply new.

New job.

New relationship.

New friendships.

New music.

New blog.

New experiences.

New car.

New goals.

Visiting new places.

The last year was good to me. Sure, we had our ups and downs, 2010 and me, but I believe if you continue to look to the future and keep your chin up, you can get through nearly anything.

Now, for the word that I’d like to describe 2011… brave.

I want to be brave to build on the amazing things that have happened this year. Be brave enough to finish things I start. Don’t let my fears hold me back. Don’t let my procrastination hold me back. Don’t let anything get in the way of me accomplishing what I know I’m capable of — and more importantly, what I deserve.

Well, here’s to beginning this journey. I’m looking forward to tackling this challenge and meeting others through it. Cheers.

While sitting at the Rock Bottom at Denver International Airport and enjoying a larger-than-life sized pretzel (no kidding), I realized that since I’m heading to BlogWorld, I should write a blog.

I swiftly packed a bag this morning for this afternoon’s trip to Vegas. Not that I just found out I was going this morning, but just because I procrastinate. Let’s be honest.

It’s going to be a quick trip for me. I arrive tonight, attend the Social Health panels tomorrow, fly out Friday at noon. Oh, and a few meetups and parties in between, of course!

After a few months of being at my new job, I finally feel like we are beginning to head toward some exciting things for the company in social media. I’m looking at this trip in particular as a jumping off point. I’m going to Las Vegas to mingle with others in health care communications and chat with them about social media (brainstorm ideas, talk about barriers, their unique experiences, etc.), hear about the latest and greatest of social media and health care, and meet new folks in general, but I’m looking forward to coming back to Denver motivated. Just like I did after SXSWi.

With the light research I’ve done, I can already tell that BlogWorld is going to be different than SXSWi. I think it will be a little more intimate, a little more focused, and have a little bit of a different crowd. I’m excited for what’s to come.

But, speaking of procrastination, I think my flight is boarding. I should try not to miss that flight to Vegas. Eek!

I’ve come to the realization that my life is like a soundtrack. I listen to one artist or set of songs on repeat – incessantly – until eventually I stop. The change is usually brought about by small adjustments – a change in the seasons, change in life events, an upcoming or past trip, a good conversation or until I eventually grow tired of it (a rare occasion).

With this realization, I decided to start a new blog series: Current Music Obsession. Each time I realize that I’ve taken up a new music obsession, I’ll blog about it and share here on my site.

DETAILS OF THIS OBSESSION

Back in August, I went to the Mile High Music Festival. Before going, I didn’t do much research at all – I just wanted to see a lot of bands that I’ve never heard before or seen play live. I did, however, learn from friends that I just had to check out One eskimO. My friend Raquel and I made sure we had a decent spot when they played their set, but I was even more excited to see them perform later in the day… basically just to me. Okay, me and like ten others.

Anyway, the festival had a small tent where smaller acts throughout the day played an acoustic set for about a half hour each. I was lucky to see several acts play in the tent including One eskimO, Amos Lee, The Constellations and Joe Purdy. It literally felt like my own personal concert.

During the small set, I learned these guys were from the UK, they were all super cute, and I realized I really like the band’s mellow, but soulful sound. Here are a few pictures I took at that acoustic session I was lucky enough to see.

ESTIMATED LENGTH OF OBSESSION

This obsession has been hard-core the last two weeks. I literally can’t stop listening to this band. Since they only have one album, it may end sooner than later – just depends on if I wear it out too soon. Either way, I think these guys will be around for a while and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store for them.

FIND ONE ESKIMO ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | MySpace

CHECK THEM OUT

Today is my last day at MGA Communications.

That’s right. I’m leaving the job I’ve known for the last 3.5 years and diving into the unknown - a land filled with no time sheets, a great corporate culture and about 33,989 more faces in the sea of employees. 

I’ve accepted a position at DaVita – a Fortune 500 healthcare company specializing in kidney care. I’m joining their corporate communications department on Monday.

This change is scary and exciting at the same time, but I’m no stranger to setting out on new adventures. When I joined MGA, I had never written a press release and I sure as heck didn’t know one thing about oil and gas operations or NEPA processes or superfund cleanup sites. I was a recent marketing grad from Arkansas who had aspirations of fashion school, and while the opportunity to join MGA kind of fell into my lap, I am grateful for everything I learned and the fantastic (and smart!) people I had the pleasure of working with.

My experience at MGA, if anything, has been extremely diverse. I’m so happy to have been a part of fun office videos, big client wins, several awards, awesome events, employee volunteer days, and more.

I’m most thankful for the constant opportunities to do the kind of work I truly wanted to do. Along the way, I realized that I really had a passion for social media. MGA recognized that and let me jump in head first to continue learning everything I possibly could, train other MGAers on tools, build strategic social media plans, talk with numerous clients and potential clients about the importance and benefits of building their online presence – in a strategic way. Without that opportunity, I wouldn’t be where I am today. 

All of my experience at MGA has prepared me for this next step. One of my main roles at DaVita will be to design and execute a strategic social media program. The company is really carving out its reputation by already doing cool things in the online space, and I’m looking forward to what we will build.

The company moved their corporate offices to Denver from Los Angeles last year, and I’m one of the first three communications employees to work out of their new Denver office (over half of the team is still in the LA office). I’ll still be working downtown and with my new schedule of 8-5 Monday – Friday, I am excited to actually make it to happy hour (at MGA, we get out at 6PM, but we have half-day Fridays). 

Going from a small agency to a large corporation is bound to bring many changes, but I’m welcoming this new experience and all of the challenges it will bring. If you have advice to share for this kind of transition, please do! 

Here’s to new beginnings.

I hope that other markets around the country are as blessed as Denver is when it comes to news outlets “getting” social media. Scratch that. We are blessed primarily because CBS4 “gets” it.
 
We’ve been singing the praises of Misty Montano, an assignment editor at CBS4 (with a Twitter problem), for a while now. Misty rocks. Misty has revolutionized not only the way the station gathers news, but the way that they interact with viewers online. Being a PR professional, I especially love that I can easily interact with her on Twitter about everything under the sun, and even pitch her over DM!
 
However, there is another rock star who also deserves some attention. @skyjosh is an aerial cameraman who often tweets about traffic, posts pictures around Metro Denver taken from the helicopter, and more. I’ve interacted with @skyjosh before, but he really impressed me last week. Last Tuesday, I was headed from Denver to Boulder for New Tech Meetup and was dreading the traffic on Hwy 36. I sent out a tweet before I left to let folks know that I was on my way: 

Just a few minutes later I received a response from @skyjosh who answered my question, even though I didn’t ask it:

This is what real engagement on social media looks like. I had a concern (no matter how small it was) and @skyjosh proactively eased my anxiety by sending over information that I needed at that moment. What was even better was that he was dead on with his traffic information.

I just want to say “thanks” to @skyjosh and let him know that he rocks! If you’re not already following him, do it.

Number of times I said “rock” in this post? Four. Because it’s true.