Dallas Allstate Half Marathon

After the race we noticed little QC codes on their numbers. So we scanned them with our phones and both Dafni and Adam's statistics came up. It was awesome. It listed time, pace, how many other people of the same gender or age came in before them etc. I thought that was way cool.

Brandon and I were able to cheer Adam and Dafni on around the 4th mile and then around the 9th mile (I think.) Brandon estimates we trekked over 5 miles through the city to meet them at those points. (So we got a workout too! Go us!)

At the 9th I was very pleased to see a large group of people cheering the runners with encouraging signs and clapping and shouting. Instantly I felt ashamed of myself for having just "watched" them as they ran past us earlier. How rude! Next time I will have a sign and be shouting encouraging words while I wait.

I love this photo below. Dafni getting a kiss and Adam grinning at me—it captures a bit of "real life" at just the perfect moment.

I don't know why but watching people cross the finish line made me very emotional. What a thing to do! Running long distance is such a physical AND emotional thing. And then to watch two people I care about cross the line? They've been training and talking about this for 9 months. And then suddenly to watch them meet their goal…there are no words! I loved hearing the announcer call out their names as they finished. What a thing to be congratulated by name. Well done Allstate. Well done. And Adam and Dafni too.

Password: welldone

Marathon2013 from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Dance Birthday

Yes, Adam DID have a birthday this year. My apologies for not sharing the celebratory images sooner.
We had friends over and had pizza (made with a yummy bacon spread), cake, and did some x-boxing of the dance sort. Later some friends from church made maple bacon cupcakes, with crunchy bacon sticking out from the frosting for Adam—which he devoured.

Check out Adam's birthday dance.
Password: dancecake

Dance Cake from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Dance Cake from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Committed

My friend Dafni "won" a free website design from a photographer who put up a contest on her blog. (This photographer decided she wanted to get into designing websites in conjunction with her photography. So she decided to design four FREE websites to get her portfolio started.)

Unfortunately—and may I say, as predicted—she had no idea what she was getting into. After Dafni had already purchased a domain, spent time finding a Word Press template and going through several rounds of logo designs with the photographer—we could tell said photographer might be stalling. Sure enough a few days later Dafni received an email saying the project was a "bad" fit and that she decided she "didn't have time" to do web design after all. This left my friend with no logo, a non functioning site, and a few months of lost time = "lost money" during the interim.

First, I am absolutely disgusted with said photographer. What she did to my friend was completely unprofessional and lacked integrity. Had she any honor she'd have found some way to finish her commitment or offer some compensation (I'm not talking monetarily here.)  No harm, no foul. If I were to liken it to HER own profession, would she EVER say "sorry, I got in over my head…working on your wedding photos is too much work and you were a bad fit anyway. I'm not going to give you your wedding photos after all." Can you imagine? I don't care if money wasn't exchanged—find a way keep your commitments or compensate one way or another.

So what's an Anna do? I've muddled through Word Press once before so I figured I could muddle through again. So this is what I've been working on for the past several weeks. After rounds of design and code tweaking (still a few issues to iron out but…)—Dafni has gone live!

Again, some rough, rejected logos. She wanted something clean, organic, feminine but not girly.

I am actually glad for this experience. I have been feeling sorry that I didn't go into web design earlier and take more courses for it. Not knowing how to write code, use Dreamweaver, Flash etc. pigeon holes me. But after working on this site, I am reminded that I don't like it. I think I went a little crazy actually. Can you see my eye twitching? I'll design a website sure…just don't ask me to build it.

Above is a mock up of the landing page.

Ultrim Finishes

Adam decided to start a business with a friend—legally it's called a joint venture, it's not a partnership. (Had to clarify for all you Dave Ramsey fans out there.)

Lot's of brainstorming and throwing out names like "Nail'd it" and "Kilwood" finally landed them a keeper in "Ultrim Finishes."

They've registered with the sate, signed legal documents, and it's been official for a couple of months. It's exciting! I'll be posting some of their projects soon. One of them is currently taking up parking space in our garage….

Naturally I was roped into doing their logo. The guys wanted the mark to be simple, bold, and feel west coast—almost west coast skater. SO MUCH WORK goes into creating a mark, it's a shame no one ever sees the ones that get kicked out and don't make it to the final rounds. So I figured I'd put up some of the rejected ones—it's kinda fun to see.

Below is one they picked. Ultimately I think it was a great choice, it's strong and very versatile too. We've printed off a couple hundred cards and the guys are working on getting the word out. Here's to the entrepreneurial spirit!