Thumbelina for Grand Dog!
One of the O2 office dogs, Thumbelina, is running for Grand Dog!
That’s right. Philip and Eric’s Boston Terrier-pug mix (a “bugg”) is campaigning to be Grand Dog of Grand County Pet Pals.
What’s Grand County Pet Pals? Well, it’s a non-profit here in Grand County that advocates for responsible pet ownership. The organization helps the Grand County animal shelter with its neutering and spaying program, and works to raise funds and help in other various ways.
The Grand Dog contest is one such fundraiser, which helps to support Grand County Pet Pals as well as Advocates for a Violence-Free Community. Dogs (or other pets) may campaign to win the title of Grand Dog, with one dollar equaling one vote.
That’s where Thumb comes in: she wants to be Grand Dog, and she wants your vote! Click here to go vote for Thumbelina on the Grand County Pet Pals website!
Thumbelina even has her own Facebook page to help her campaign for Grand Dog. Click here to go like Thumbelina For Grand Dog on Facebook!
The campaign is actually a lot of fun, and it’s generating support for a great cause. And besides, how can you say no to Thumb’s cute little face?
To meet Thumbelina, or her pug siblings Wylie and Sophie, stop by the O2 Creative office some time!
For more questions about the Grand Dog contest, or Thumb, or anything else O2, contact us today!
To contact O2 Creative, give us a call at 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].
Vote for Thumb!
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A year in review
Whoa, has it really been a whole year since Brad started at O2? That sure went by quick! As we toasted a bottle of bubbly to celebrate the anniversary, we asked Brad to reflect on the past 12 months and share some of his favorite moments.
Let’s see…there have actually been quite a few cool experiences at O2 in the past year…where to begin? Oh! There was that one particularly powdery weekday in January when Granby Ranch called and asked for fresh photos of the snow on the slopes. As much as Brad wanted to stay in and sit at his desk all day, he mustered the will to cruise over to Granby Ranch and strap on the skis for some fluffy photo ops. Tough work, but someone had to do it.
Then there was the other time some clients requested photos of their private pond – a pond that just so happened to be stocked with trophy trout. Being the hard-working guy Brad is, he again obliged. While he was out trying to create photo ops of a fisherman enjoying said pond, one of those handsome trout just happened to sneak up and slurp his fly – how about that!
Brad also enjoys all the writing he gets to do – writing for clients, writing for O2, writing about camping or skiing or even dogs. He loves the opportunity to write blogs, and he ESPECIALLY loves writing from a third person point-of-view!
But for real: Brad really does enjoy his job, and even says it’s a privilege to work for O2. He’s very thankful for the opportunity, and thankful to everyone and everything that makes O2 the cool agency it is: his coworkers Philip, Eric, and Jaryd; all of O2’s awesome clients; Grand County and Colorado’s Favorite Playground; even the pugs! (Except Thumbelina…she’s a bad dog).
So if you see Brad around, send some congratulations his way!
To contact us at the O2 office, call us at 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].
The Misadventures of Thumbelina
Anyone who knows us at O2 knows we’re all dog lovers. Anyone who’s ever been to the O2 office knows that the pups pretty much run the place. Wylie, Sophie, and Thumbelina are always by our side, putting in whatever hard work and long hours it takes…or just taking naps on the couch.
However, one of the dogs has had quite the mischievous streak. As soon as the O2 humans leave the office, it turns out the lovable little Thumb likes to start trouble.
We go out for lunch, and what happens? We get back to find our latest copy of AdAge Magazine, completely torn to bits by yours truly.
Nor does it end there – step out of the office for a quick meeting? Just enough time for Thumb to pull Brad’s headphones off his desk and maul them beyond recognition.
Oh, and Eric’s business notepad, with all his important notes? Guess which little monster decided to give the Godzilla treatment to the notebook too.
Sometimes she’s so naughty, she’ll start trouble right before our very eyes. In the couple minutes it took Eric to get up and walk across the office, Thumb decided it was just enough time to make a run at Eric’s breakfast sitting on the edge of his desk. Don’t worry, though, her mischief was thwarted this time; caught with the proverbial paw in the cookie jar, if you will.
Don’t get us wrong – we love the office dogs. But that doesn’t mean sometimes Thumb can be quite the troublemaker!
To meet Thumbelina the darling devil dog, or the other pugs, (or even the O2 humans!), feel free to stop by the O2 office in downtown Fraser, Colorado. Or, you’re welcome to contact us any time – give us a call at 970-726-8021 or email us at [email protected].
Oh, and BAD DOG!
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O2 Helps to Save the Fraser River
O2 is pleased to report we’re teaming up with the Colorado River Headwaters chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) to create a campaign to raise awareness about the Fraser River. If you’ve ever seen those blue oval “Save The Fraser River” bumper stickers, then you already have an idea of what we’re talking about.
In case everyone didn’t already know, we at O2 take pride in serving our community. We love Colorado’s Favorite Playground, and we ESPECIALLY love the Fraser. We can often be found riding our bikes, cruising on our longboards, or walking our dogs along the Fraser River Trail.
We’re also often found on the river with wading boots and a fly rod, trying our luck at catching the river’s trophy trout (don’t worry, the fishing still sucks here).
Unfortunately, the Fraser is one of the most threatened rivers in the nation. Over 60% of its flows are diverted to Front Range communities for water use, and now Denver Water is trying to divert even more of the water. That’s where the efforts of TU come into play.
Basically, TU has worked hard for years to get a “Mitigation and Enhancement” agreement written into the water diversion project. This agreement articulates that if Denver Water wants to divert water from the Fraser, they must also pay close attention to the river’s vital signs as part of the project. If the diversions compromise the health of the Fraser, then Denver Water must also work to mitigate the harm done, and also enhance the natural environment of the river so that it remains healthy.
In other words, this agreement will take the fate of the Fraser out of the hands of politicians, and put it into the hands of scientists. These scientists can monitor the Fraser and adapt management policies that protect and preserve the natural river ecosystem for future generations, while still serving the water use needs of Colorado’s growing population.
The health of the Fraser is extremely important to us at O2. It’s important to Colorado’s Favorite Playground, and to Grand County; and to the entire state of Colorado. We hope it’s important to you too.
So what can we all do to help? Well, we encourage you to go like “Save The Fraser River” on Facebook (click here). This page will provide ongoing information, news, events, facts, photos, and just cool content in general about our beloved river.
We also encourage you to write letters advocating for the protection of the Fraser (and to do it quick – the public comment period only lasts thru the end of May!) This is the most tangible way to voice our support for the health of the Fraser to those who will decide whether to implement the agreement (and ultimately, to decide the fate of the Fraser). Check out http://www.coheadwaters.org/Home/WhattodoTODAY.aspx to learn more. Save the Fraser River!
To contact us at O2 Creative, contact us at 970-726-8021 or email [email protected].
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Press Coverage for O2
O2 was in the news this week!
Yup, that’s right. O2’s own Eric Van Herwaarden was interviewed this week by Grand County’s Sky-Hi Daily News. The article offers a little insight into what it’s like to do business here in the high country of Colorado, and covers a lot of interesting topics about O2. Eric discusses a little bit of everything, from marketing and design inspiration to living and working in Colorado’s Favorite Playground. Give it a read!
You can read the interview online: CLICK HERE for a link to the Sky-Hi article about O2.
Thanks to the Sky-Hi Daily News for the great writeup!
Of course, if you’d like to discuss the article, or if you have any other questions for us at O2, please feel free to contact us! Give us a call at 970-726-8021 or email us at [email protected].
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O2 on the river
We at O2 love to spend time outdoors. We’ve written about our hiking, camping, and even skiing adventures on here previously. We’re avid fishermen as well, and enjoy every chance we get to get out on the water.
We’ve even had the pleasure of writing about fly-fishing here in Colorado’s Favorite Playground (don’t worry, it still sucks). When members of the O2 team were invited to join an early-season float trip on the upper Colorado over a recent weekend, we jumped at the opportunity.
The warm spring weather was just enough to melt the ice off the river and provide the flowing water sufficient to float. More than sufficient, actually – the river was running rather high and fast, with a stained muddy color unusual for this time of year.
While the river was fast, the fishing was slow. Unfortunate, but not surprising (after all, if you caught fish every time you went fishing, they’d call it catching instead, right?)
No less, the trip was still thoroughly enjoyable. The early spring weather was splendid; the scenery, spectacular. High country cliffs and canyons carved by the Colorado; rolling hills strewn with sagebrush; grassy meadows crawling with wildlife…heck, why write about it? They say a picture tells a thousand words, so we’ll just let some photos tell the story for us:
Oh yeah, and like we said – WILDLIFE! We ran into a group of bighorns:
Floated by under the watchful eye of an eagle:
And saw herd after countless herd of deer:
All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed a fabulous first float of the season. Here’s to hoping it won’t be the last. (And here’s to hoping we’ll catch some more fish next time!)
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O2 on the slopes
In case it hasn’t already been blatantly obvious – we at O2 are ski bums at heart. When we’re not hard at work in the office during the winter months, you can probably find us out on the slopes.
We’re excited that the Winter Park Resort has already opened. We’ll be enjoying many a weekend up there from now until April. In fact, we even had the privilege of getting out for a few runs on opening day!
We think Winter Park’s “Season of Seven Terrains” is a pretty nifty promotional campaign. For the record – Jaryd loves the Eagle Wind, Brad and Eric are all about Mary Jane, and Philip likes the good ol’ Winter Park side. We’re excited about the new Cirque Sled Pass as well – we’re looking forward to exploring some of the resort’s far-reaching terrain!
We’re also excited about skiing Granby Ranch this year. We’ve always enjoyed the less crowded, more laid-back feel of this smaller resort. Plus, we love to get out there on Friday and Saturday nights for Granby Ranch’s night skiing – always a good time!
We like to get out and ski together, whenever we get the chance. Eric and Jaryd are snowboarders. Brad likes to ski. Philip…well, as far as we can tell, Philip mostly just likes to start the après-ski as early as possible.
You’ll find us all over the mountain, especially on a powder day, though we each have our own unique styles. Eric enjoys shredding the rails in the freestyle parks. Philip is a groomer kind of guy. Jaryd likes exploring the trees. And Brad recently decided that only skiing forwards is only skiing at half his potential, so he is currently learning how to “switch” ski (which is just a fancy term for skiing backwards). So if you see a goofball in red ski pants bombing down the slopes backwards, there’s a good chance it’s him.
We love skiing for a whole boatload of reasons. It’s a good workout, and a fun way to spend time outdoors in Colorado’s Favorite Playground. We like to strike up conversations with new friends on the lifts. And, being the right-brained creative types that we are, we even try to gain inspiration from everything about the ski experience – from the sparkle of fresh snowflakes, to the rugged mountainous terrains, to the colorful jackets and ski apparel around the resorts.
So if you ever see us out and about, stop and say hi! Ski a few runs with us! Meet up with us for a little après-ski! Just don’t you dare tell Brad he’s doing it backwards.
Mary Jane photo credit: Winter Park Facebook
Night Ski photo credit: granbyranch.com
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Late season in the backcountry
Part of the fun of living in Colorado’s Favorite Playground is the ever-present opportunity for adventure, as illustrated by an impulse we had a couple weeks ago:
“Shoot, did summer really come and go already? What about all the fun adventures we planned but never got around to, like that backcountry camping trip?”
“Yeah, shoot! …you think it’s too crazy to still try and do it?”
We had a destination in mind – a particularly pretty little high alpine lake, tucked away right at treeline along the Continental Divide.
It’s only a few miles as the bird flies from Winter Park, but actually getting up there is a whole ‘nother story. The drive there is up an unnervingly narrow forest road, complete with switchbacks, blind corners, loose rocks, and rutted-out potholes as big as a Mary Jane mogul – and that’s just to get to the trailhead!
The hike itself is its own challenge, requiring a steep traverse across the open tundra. No small feat, especially with a weekend’s worth of camping supplies strapped to your back.
Still a couple days until the weekend, we weighed our options. The trip would be just the adventure we had been jonesing for, though we’d inevitably encounter chilly late-season weather, especially if things got wet or snowy.
“…but…but…we never got in a good backcountry camping trip!”
“You’re right…do we still have time? I mean, it IS late September in the high country…”
“This weekend is supposed to be nice weather, perhaps the last nice weekend of the year. I say we go for it. We should be fine. Just remember to bring your long johns.”
So that was that. We packed up the SUV, shifted into 4-wheel-drive, and began our ascent.
(After all, what good is a sense of adventure without a little feeling of the unknown? If you knew exactly how an adventure was going to pan out, what’s the point of even going?)
The drive up, though quite bumpy, was no less lovely, with brilliant groves of golden aspens accenting the mountainside. The hike in actually wasn’t that bad either, but at that point maybe we were just too excited to notice the weight of our backpacks.
Next, time to find a campsite. A backcountry campsite is pretty much the same as any other campsite – flat spot for the tents, trees for cover, plenty of firewood – it just happens to be at an elevation over 11,000 feet.
We set up camp, get settled in, and take a moment to appreciate the landscape. This. Place. Is. GORGEOUS! Sheer granite cliffs, scraggly green conifers, shrubs and willows in the peak of their autumn color. The lake is crystal clear and as smooth as glass, but for the occasional breeze or the dimple of a rising trout. Should we have brought our fly rods? Man, we shoulda brought our fly rods.
Alas, it’s getting late. The sun slowly slips behind the mountains, treating us to a remarkable Rocky Mountain sunset.
Time to get the fire roaring. If it ever got cold that night, we never really noticed. Maybe it was the fire, or the wool socks and extra layers of fleece, or the high-tech sleeping bags, or maybe just the Southern Comfort, but we never felt too chilly.
We woke up to cool, soupy weather that looked like it could turn to full-blown rain or snow at any moment. Time to get back down! We pack up and begin our descent.
On the hike back, we hear a commotion in the bushes right along the trail. A bull moose pops out right in front of us and sprints away across the tundra. Whoa! How does such a large animal move so fast? Especially at this elevation, with the air so thin! We can barely hike ten feet without losing our breath!
Needless to say, if we got a photo of the moose, you would have seen it by now. It ran off so quick we didn’t really have time to get the camera out. Besides, we weren’t really thinking to snap a pic at the time. We were just thankful it ran away from us instead of toward us.
Despite the damp dirt road slowly turning to mud, we manage to get down from the divide safe and sound. We decide to welcome ourselves back to civilization by stopping by our favorite local burger joint. As we’re eating, that swampy sky finally opens up, and rain showers down on the Fraser Valley. The rain eventually turned to snow later that evening.
Thankful to Mother Nature for affording us one last night to camp, and having quenched our thirst for adventure, we congratulate ourselves for finally managing to squeeze in that backcountry camping trip.
Colorado’s Favorite Playground, indeed.
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The “Leaving Planet Earth” Sticker Campaign
At O2 Creative, we have a lot of hometown pride. We consider it a privilege to live and work in the Fraser Valley, with its beautiful mountain landscapes, endless activities, and quirky bohemian charm.
We thought the town’s iconic “Leaving Planet Earth” city limits sign was such a fun way to express the unique Fraser lifestyle. In many ways, this town really is “out of this world.”
We were a little bummed when the Leaving Planet Earth signs were recently removed from the city limits signage. (Whyyy!?) We wanted our town’s extraterrestrial reputation to live on either way, so we designed these fun stickers to keep the sign alive.
Perhaps you’ve seen them around by now. The big green stickers are popping up more and more on car bumpers, snowboards, guitar cases, and all the other fun places stickers get stuck.
We wanted to get a little more out of this particular campaign, though. We wanted the stickers to do more than simply represent our community. We hope to give something back to the community as well.
That’s why we’re taking a unique direction with this campaign. We’re offering the stickers for just $3 bucks a piece. Or, simply bring non-perishable food items into the O2 office (you know, canned goods – soups, tuna, peanut butter – stuff like that). For every food item you bring in, we’ll give you a sticker for it!
All the proceeds we can raise and all the food we can collect will be going to our friends at the Mountain Family Center in Hot Sulphur Springs. This nonprofit organization provides food and help to Grand County residents. Their services are invaluable to our communities, and they could always use more support themselves, which is why we hope to help them with our sticker campaign.
In fact, if you’re already closer to the Hot Sulphur Springs-side of the county, you can simply stop by the Mountain Family Center to support them. They even have some of our Leaving Planet Earth stickers, so if you make any donations or canned food contributions directly to them, you’ll still get hooked up with a sweet sticker! While supplies last!
We like to have fun with our campaigns. We also like to help out a good cause in our community. So if you want to score a super cool sticker that represents our hometown, while also supporting and strengthening our community, stop by O2 Creative today.
We’re located in downtown Fraser at 345 Zerex Street, in our new (to us) office on the corner of Eisenhower and Highway 40. If you pay us a visit, we’d be happy to hook you up. Or, if you’re out of the area, we can mail you stickers as well. Simply send us a check made out to O2 Creative, as well as a self-addressed and stamped envelope, to:
O2 Creative
PO Box 1349
Winter Park, CO 80482
You can also contact us by phone at 970-726-8021, or email us at [email protected]
You can do it to support the Mountain Family Center, and all the folks in Grand County who depend on them. Or you can do it just for the stickers. Either way, just “doo eet!”