by Amanda Guy

Well it's that time of week again! Friday...well Wednesday, but for most of the country, it's somewhat like a  Friday, and we're trying to wrap up things here at the Wheelie HQ before heading off for the Holiday weekend with friends and family. It's been a crazy month so far, and with a few short days left until December hits, we've been looking back on the last 11 months of 2015 and thinking about everything that's happened here since ringing in the New Year.

It's Sunday night, and I'm curled up on my couch with my Golden Retriever, tired and happy from a terrific weekend. The past few days were filled with friends, home-cooked meals, bikes, cold hands, and snow. Winter is my favorite, and the pre-season excitement this year is as strong as it has ever been. That ski bum inside my brain is getting louder, spinning off my thoughts and handplanting on my concentration. I think this is happening to most of the Flathead Valley right now. 

I'm going to be completely candid right now-- it's hard to be an adult during times like these. I, like everyone else around here, would rather wax my snowboard and start searching for powder lines than sit in a confined space in front of a computer all day. I'll admit that, right here, in writing. But I love my job, and I love my clients, so the screen time is worth it. This annual battle between my inner ski bum and businesswoman has left me thinking a  lot about the definition of success and why we do the things we do, like own businesses and work our faces off.

So... I'm gonna get all kinds of existential on you on this quiet Sunday night. 

In Our Modern World, What Does It Mean to be Successful?

Honestly, the last five or six days at work have been exhausting. I'm not complaining-- I have it good, and I love my clients, but man, have you ever just had one of those weeks where you're perpetually humbled by everything? I'll tell you about it if you want to keep reading.

By: Lisa Slagle

Lately, I have overheard people say some very random, very funny things as I walk around Whitefish. These are actual, one-liners that I overheard in passing. They're hilarious when taken out of context like this, but that is all I heard as I walked by a group of teenagers or passed someone talking on their cell phone. 

I decided to turn these one-liners into a typography project called WORD ON THE STREET. Enjoy. 

Today, was excellent.

It was one of those days that mattered, one that will go down in the books as damn nearly perfect, and one that reinforced the love I have toward my life and the people in it. 

The best part about today was that nothing especially extraordinary happened. 

This morning, my golden retriever trotted up to me while I was making coffee/toasting a bagel/wearing one sock/checking email on my phone, and he literally used his nose to flip my iPhone out of my hand. My phone bounced across the kitchen floor, and I looked down at my dog incredulously. I swear he smiled. 

Called out by a dog.

Hi. Normally I write about business or design or things that inspire me, but right now, I feel like writing about life. 
Why not? I'll put some headphones on, listen to Ben Howard, and start typing.  

I like writing.

As soon as I learned how to write, I was hooked. My parents used to find me facedown, snoring into a notebook, a flashlight running out of batteries next to my head. I'd wake up with no. 2 pencil smeared all over my face like war paint.  What do five-year-olds even write about? Pancakes, maybe. 

I love working outside.

I used to landscape for the hotels owned by Crested Butte Mountain Resort, right at the base of the ski area. I drove around in a giant truck with a water cooler in the back, hanging out the window, watering flowers, trying to keep them alive at an elevation of 9,380 feet. On Tuesdays and Fridays, I mowed the massive, steep lawns of five hotels. I planted trees, built benches at the bus stops, and dug flower beds with a pickaxe and a shovel. I stored weeding tools in the back pockets of my Carharts and my iPod in the chest pocket of my hideous bowling shirt uniform with the CBMR logo. I was blonde, strong and tan.  My arms made Michelle Obama's biceps look like amateur hour.

It's always important to step away from the computer and remember why we even work in the first place. 
Here are some shots from weekends this winter.

13 things I learned in 2013 (mostly from people, but also from running a business):
1. Friends aren't random. Life is a series of choices, one after the other. You and your friends have all made decisions to get to where you are, and there is something incredibly significant about that. Be unconditional to your friends because we are kind of in it together.
2. Making decisions is easy if you ask yourself, "Is this awesome?" If yes, keep doing it. If no, then change it.
3. There is a difference between purpose and pursuit. I'm finding purpose in the pursuit.
4. Products are souvenirs of a story. I'd rather sell stories than products, and that's my approach to branding and design.
5. Money is circulated. Time is spent.
6. Stick with the attentive ones.
7. The concept of "play" is underrated, but "play" is the pinnacle of focus and interest. It's important, and should always be made time for. It's the art of being present, content, and engaged. I value my time to play.
8. I'm grateful and lucky that most days, my work feels like play. I think I have it good over here on 2nd Street.
9. Never check your work email on holidays and weekends.
10. Anyone who helps you clean up a horrific pile of dog shit in your kitchen on New Year's Eve ten minutes before midnight is probably worth keeping around.
11. If you teach at a community college, it helps to have a good sense of humor.
12. Creativity breeds creativity.
13. Always try to say "yes." Turns out it's pretty fun.

When my twin sister and I were 25, we took a self portrait every single day for a year. Then the files sat unedited in my computer for a long time. But here it is: check out this sweet video of my sister and I aging a year in 48 seconds:

My grandfather is tenacious. 
Today is his 84th Birthday, so I thought I'd share a video I filmed of him running on a treadmill this October. Three days a week, he laces up his Vans Skateboarding shoes and runs intervals at the gym. He hits 10 miles per hour for thirty seconds, then walks for 5 minutes, back up thirty seconds of 10 mph, etc. for five repetitions.
This is impressive. I would probably throw up on everyone in front of me after the third rep.
Since this video was taken a few months ago, he has started consistently hitting 10.5 on the treadmill.
Thanks for inspiring me every day. Happy 84th, you hoss!