Magic is currently on tap in Montana's Flathead Valley

By: Courtney Stone, Project Manager

​Magic is currently on tap in Montana's Flathead Valley -- fruit trees are exploding with blossoms, bees are sipping spring's first nectars, tulips are bravely thrusting their heads high despite the weight of the morning's metallic frost.   As Ellis Peters so perfectly summed up: "Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment."

This spring is particularly filled with ongoing wonder for me.  My children are, for the first time, both old enough to talk to me this spring, to inquire as to how buttercups rise from the dirt to turn their sunny faces at the sky, to desire to know if worms get married, and to ask me, upon glimpsing the sun through the morning fog rolling off the chilly Flathead River, if they've just seen a planet.  Exclamation point, Mama!  And so we've been talking a lot about cycles, seasons, and re-birth, all on those literal almost 3 and almost 5 year old levels.  We've been planting seeds and putting down roots.  We've been eating every meal and lots of popsicles on the porch.  We've been happy in the simpleness of the lengthening days.

Every morning as I drive into darling Whitefish, sometimes passing under the apartment above Nelson's Hardware where I participated in post-Palace handstand contests with the girlfriends I moved to this mountain town with all those years ago, I delight over the bold hues and scents of the hyacinths and the forsythia.  I observe the young mothers with strollers and I am struck with longing for the bleary, sleep deprived sweetness of those days, my baby's tiny hand wrapped around my pinky finger, and also relief, that those days are done.   The robins are twitter-tweeting and the turkeys are gobbling and the furious whirring of startled ring neck pheasants all fill my ears after so many months of winter's silence.  And so in that way, this spring is no different for me than any previous, in terms of astonishment and wonder and awe.  And yet, this spring is completely singular with the acceptance of my new position here at Wheelie Creative.

​The past few days have been filled with immersing myself in an industry -- design -- that has long fascinated me but that I am a relative newcomer to.  I've also steeped myself in trying to lay good groundwork to be the best Project Manager I can be for my co-workers and our for clients.  So far, as your dandy new Project Manager, I've worked on spreadsheets, video shoots, print campaigns, blog posts, website bios, and mission statements; I've brought my dog, Roy, to work with me, to keep us safe from the UPS man and other dangerous visitors; I've brainstormed new product names and fresh website concepts with long term clients and brand new ones; I've had my mom over to the office for a landscaping consultation; I've thought through new operations and management systems; and I've baked a cake for a coworker's birthday.  It has not been dull.  

For the past seven years I worked for myself.  This spring, as I prepared to leave self-employment behind and rejoin the "normal" workforce, I suspected one of the best parts about helping someone else's small business succeed would be getting to have co-workers again. Have you met Lisa, Amanda, and Dan?  Well, they're not exactly normal, but it turns out I was right.  The chance to work with their creative minds, sharp wits, and easy laughs is one I'm relishing.

​And our clients?  I'm finding I already know many of them personally - as they say, Montana is just one small town with really long streets.  The ones I don't know seem to be as fabulous as my co-workers.  The best hire the best, from what I've seen, and I can't wait to help all of them reach their creative goals.  

Thanks to all for your kind words of welcome last week.  Here's a few words in return, that are inspiring me, on multiple levels, this week:

“She turned to the sunlight
    And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
    "Winter is dead.” 
― A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young

​If you have words of wisdom to send me on design, project management, who I should follow on Twitter, office management, or how best to remove glitter nailpolish from a toddler's toes, feel free to email me: courtney@wheeliecreative.com.  If you'd like me to help your business with a new logo, a fresh website, or an attention grabbing brand video, do the same.  I'd love to help your team work with mine.