Those of you on Twitter will understand the prolific Fail Whale that tells us that Twitter is overloaded.  For those of you not on Twitter, get to it and sign up here!  Drink this martini while you’re setting up your profile.  You may be much more charming and intelligent.

This martini is featured in our February e-newsletter, The Gibson.  If you don’t receive The Gibson, click here to sign up!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 ounce vodka (top shelf)
• 1.5 ounce Cointreau
• 1.5 ounce Blue Curacao
• Lime slice

Preparation:

1. Chill martini glass.
2. In a large cocktail shaker, combine the ingredients with ice.  Shake until mixed and chilled.
3. Strain the cocktail into the chilled glass and garnish with the lime.
4. Tweet to your heart’s content.
5. Enjoy!

If you are in the Mid-Atlantic region you know what I speak of when I refer to the weekend’s blizzard as Snowpocalypse (or Snowmageddon).  It was major snowfall, even for this Idaho girl.  We ventured out briefly to trot around the city and take pictures of the sites in the snow, but most of the time was spent inside, catching up on some much neglected business book reading.

There’s no better time to catch up on some past due business reading than when you’re snowed in.  If you’re like me, you probably have several books in the rotation, plus a couple that are on your desk or nightstand that are in queue.  My most recent conquest:

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Mmm…bacon.

Thanks to primermagazine.com for the suggestion on this artery clogging, liver pickling glass of goodness.

This martini is featured in our January e-newsletter, The Gibson.  If you don’t receive The Gibson, click here to sign up!

Ingredients:

• 1 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger vodka (top shelf)
• 1 ounce Applejack brandy or apple-flavored liqueur
• 1/2 ounce amaretto liqueur
• 1/2 ounces good-quality maple syrup
• 1/2 slice bacon, halved crosswise

Preparation:

1. Candy the bacon.  Prepare a baking sheet with foil.  Coat each bacon slice in brown sugar.  Arrange on foil-covered baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.  Use tongs to transfer to a cooling rack or clean plate and allow to cool.
2. Chill martini glass.
3. In a large cocktail shaker or pint glass, combine the vodka, brandy/apple liqueur, amaretto and maple syrup with ice.  Shake until mixed and chilled.
4. Strain the cocktail into the chilled glass and garnish each with half a slice of candied bacon.
5. Place bottle of Lipitor at arm’s reach.
6. Enjoy!

We hope that you all had a very merry Christmas and happy holidays thus far.  For many of us, decorating the Christmas tree is a favorite pastime during December.  It’s especially nostalgic when you take out that beloved ornament that brings back memories of yesteryear.

Here are some favorite ornaments and the memories that they evoke from a few of our team members:

Little. Musical. Pinecone. Elves.  The words come together to form this sweet little trio.  My parents purchased these in 1964 for our first Christmas in my childhood home, the year I was four.  We had a large hearth with flagstone display shelves, which my mother festooned with evergreen garland, ribbons, small packages and figures.  I was so proud when my father held me up, so that I could tuck the miniature musicians among the fragrant branches, forming a little orchestral vignette.  They have been a part of my Christmas décor ever since, through my childhood, my daughter’s childhood, and now my grandchildren’s.  Truly making music and celebrating the holidays with us for 45 years!  – Martha Kirkpatrick, Director, Member Services

My mother’s side of the family is Cuban, moving to the US from Cuba almost 50 years ago. My family is big on continuing its Hispanic traditions, so my sister and I grew up celebrating El Día de los Tres Reyes, or Three Kings Day, on January 6 of each year. Every Christmas my family would set up two separate trees – a larger Christmas tree that we would place all of the presents under, and a much smaller Christmas tree that my sister and I would decorate on our own. At the top of the first tree we would place an angel, but we always topped the second tree with a star to represent the star the three magi followed. On January 6 each year, my sister and I would sing along with our mother to a song about the three kings. It was a childhood tradition that I looked forward to every year, so the star tree‐topper will always hold a special place in my heart.  – Amanda Butterworth, Director, Creative Services

One year ago, my fiancé and I decided to start a Christmas tradition where we picked out a Christmas tree ornament once a year.  With this being our first tree and start to a new tradition the choice to start at the top was an easy one.  Enjoying a favorite pastime, we were strolling the Charlottesville downtown mall, and spotted an angel in the window of a local shop.  We went inside, and after careful examination we knew this was the one.  The angel was made of metal screen and had a silver finish with gold accents around her wings and skirt.  The halo looked as if it were made of a bird’s nest.  It was perfect!  The angel has stood on top of our tree for two years now, and will proudly be the focal point of our Christmas tree for years to come.  – Lolly Rush, Senior Associate, Member Services

One of my favorite Christmas ornaments is a commemorative  White House ornament.  Although I have collected these for years, I do have a certain favorite.  The ornament has an eagle on it, and it reminds me of my father.  He was a WWII veteran, who at the age of 40 built a business that was so respected, he actually renovated and restored the Office of the Vice President, and many other executive buildings in DC.  This ornament reminds me that we live in a wonderful country, where our possibilities are only limited by our own imagination and drive.  – Margie Strickland, Associate Director, Accounting Services

We hope that your Christmas and New Years is a time filled with both memories of the past and visions for the future.

This martini was featured in our December e-newsletter, The Gibson.  If you don’t receive The Gibson, click here to sign up!

Many of the Christmas and holiday martinis that I found sounded very sweet and thick.  This one, however, is a perfect marriage of class and elegance to add to a holiday night.

Ingredients:

• 1 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger vodka (top shelf)
• 1/4 ounce Grand Marnier
• 1-1/2 ounces fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp cinnamon water (boiled water with cinnamon and sugar)
• 1 ounce blood orange juice
• 1 fig slice garnish

Preparation:

1. Place liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Shake to blend and chill.
   
3. Strain into a chilled martini glass, and garnish with a fig slice.
4. Enjoy!

This martini was featured in our November e-newsletter, The Gibson.  If you don’t receive The Gibson, click here to sign up!

Before Thanksgiving dinner I made these martinis for our party.  Let me just say that I am not an amateur drinker and these are POTENT (yet outrageously delicious).  You might want to limit yourself to one unless you plan on being “that guy/girl” with your underwear on your head at the family reunion.

Ingredients:

• 1 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger vanilla flavored vodka
• 1 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger Irish cream liqueur
• 1 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger pumpkin flavored liqueur
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 cinnamon stick for garnish

Preparation:

1. Pour the vanilla flavored vodka, Irish cream liqueur, and pumpkin flavored liqueur into a cocktail shaker over ice.
2. Cover, and shake until the outside of the shaker has frosted.
3. Strain into a chilled martini glass, and garnish with a sprinkle of ground nutmeg and a cinnamon stick to serve.
4. Enjoy!

It’s almost the day that, regardless of creed, we all celebrate and give thanks.

I asked a few of our Gibson team members to write about their favorite Thanksgiving memories.  Here is what they said:

“Growing up as the youngest child in my family (by so many years – I would almost say I was an only child) the holidays seemed dull. I would often think of how much fun it would be to have a big family – like some of my friends.

Now that I am married Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. We spend it with my husband’s family, which I love. Everyone comes to our farm in Virginia, where we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with a table set for 24, eleven of which are children. I love to see my four children enjoying time spent with their cousins, aunts and uncles. Our family travels from Connecticut, California, and Maryland and they arrive early in the week, and stay though the weekend. We play games, visit, and eat lots of good food. I am so very grateful to be able to spend this time with our family and create memories that will last generations.”

- Margie Strickland, Associate Director, Accounting Services

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“Thanksgiving is the one time of year that every single person in my mother’s large family gathers together. For me, the best part of the holiday is the calm before the storm. When it’s just my immediate family in the kitchen, preparing the green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and stuffing. A few hours later, 26 hungry people, plenty of extra chairs, and non-stop conversation will crowd the house. Every crazy minute of it is great, but it’s that peaceful afternoon that I look forward to year after year.”

- Heather Bien, GDM Blogger Extraordinaire

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Gibson Design Management is excited to announce the promotion of Martha Kirkpatrick, previously our Associate Director, Project Sourcing to Director, Member Services.  Martha is a perfect fit for this new position.  Her work in the industry, on behalf of both showrooms and designers, and her unwavering desire to provide the highest level of member service will make her a tremendous resource for not only our firm internally but also for each of the interior design firms that we work with.

Martha will continue to oversee our project sourcing services–sourcing fabrics, furniture, and finishes for our member firms’ projects.  However, this new position will also mean that Martha will be the “go-to” woman for each of our members and any of their business needs.  We anticipate that in the near future, additional team members will be added to this type of position as we are growing quickly.

We created this position to answer a need.  Internally and externally, we felt that our services forced our business into a siloed effect.  This siloed effect did not allow us to serve our members as well as we would like and did not make us as tight of a business team as we would like.  Even as a reasonably small company, it was amazing to see how easy it was for different service areas to not communicate effectively about one of our member firm’s needs.  In response, we emphasized the importance of the relationship and being the one-stop business resource for each of our members.  Through having one point person, design firms will be able to create a better and more seamless relationship, truly making GDM an extension of their own teams and utilizing our offerings to their fullest.

As this is a new position and a new structure for our business, please provide us with feedback!  If you are not a member but enjoy reading our blog, please comment with any thoughts or suggestions about our solution.

Congratulations Martha!  We are lucky to have you.

A few weeks ago, after I learned that Tim Schelfe, ASID–of Schelfe and Associates, Raleigh, North Carolina–was chosen to participate in The Nation’s Next Top Model Home competition, I jokingly sent Tim an email saying, “You are a rock star!”  Joking aside, Tim seems to have reached rock star status with this great opportunity as a professional designer competitor on a web-based TV show.

The Nation’s Next Top Model Home selected 7 ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) designers and gave them 28 days and $5,000 to transform a room in a model home (competitors could spend an additional $5,000 of their own money as well).  Voting then opened to the public for 30 days online (you can still vote!) and the winner will not only win the ultimate rock star designer status but will also win $25,000 for his or her firm.

I sat down virtually with Tim and asked him about his Nation’s Next Top Model Home experience.

GDM:  How were you selected to participate?

TS: An email blast went out to ASID and I filled out the required information, including photos of my work and a headshot of me.  Didn’t think much about it and then two weeks later got a call that I made the top 12 and then the final 7.

GDM:  What made you decide to participate and do you think it will help promote your business?

TS:  Initially I was very skeptical.  I thought, do I have time for this?  But the submission process was very easy to do and I thought “somebody is going to get selected why not me”!  I hoped this would get my name and my firm out to a very large audience.  I also thought it would be a fun competition to be in and a good way to promote professional interior design.  Also, since they were casting ONLY ASID designers I felt they were sending a good message to the public; hire a professional.

GDM:  Were there any pitfalls in participation?

TS: Yes all the designers had to abide by there budgetary rules.  Also the time it took away from my real business and paying clients was huge.

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Yes, we just alliterated.

If you have not become a fan of Gibson Design Management on Facebook yet, hurry up!  Today I am writing about a great gift app that we added to the page called “Send a Martini!”.  Through this gift app, you can send any of your Facebook friends a martini (there are currently 4 choices) to help them virtually celebrate a birthday or anniversary.  I frequently send them to friends who seem to really need a drink–even if it is only 10 am.

So, go to the page, become a fan, and then click on Send a Martini! tab and start your friends’ Fridays right.