Wandering Summer

I love this video that was recently shared with me by my good friend Amon Focus about the very specific client-vendor relationships that you can often find in the development and delivery of creative projects.  Check it out!

So a lovely little lady named Lindsey Joann just had a big birthday.  Inspired by how happy she makes everyone she meets, I decided to interview some of the most important people in her life and have them tell her themselves exactly how much she means to them.  It took weeks of sneakily interviewing people (often with Lindsey waiting unaware in the next room), and editing it all together, but the secret was kept successfully until the big reveal (and, can I just say, there is nothing better than a good surprised reaction from a great friend).  BIG props to all the interviewees (you are movie stars, all of you) for being great sports AND secret keepers.

She is my crazy, unique, fabulous best friend…watch and see the many reasons she is loved.  Enjoy, my friends!

*Lindsey’s surprise birthday video* from Summer Lott on Vimeo.

Sometimes I wander for work, sometimes I wander on a mission…and this week, I wandered myself right up to the top of Craig Mountain in Otto, NC just to play.

My amazing grandparents have built themselves a fairytale cabin nestled in the wilderness and it is better than any resort or retreat you could pay for.  I am so lucky that they have this little slice of heaven I can share…everytime I come up to visit, I discover something new.  This week, it was whitewater rafting on a Class IV run, playing with beautiful horses (even though the actual riding lessons got rained out), and a much-anticipated event: Bake-off ‘09.  Gran’s peach cobbler won (of course).

The peace that can come from unplugging, losing cell service, and cuddling up in a giant treehouse for a few days is something I am clinging to, and I hope I can carry it back with me to hectic, humid Florida when I return.  I have been waking up to the most incredible view of the olive green trees out of my window and falling asleep on the porch to the sound of rainy thunderstorms and wind chimes.  I love it here.

Speaking of wandering, this year’s May-June-July trips up to New Jersey for some freelance work (producing tourism videos for the state of NJ’s Department of Travel and Tourism) ended up making a huge impact on what I’m sure will be very long-lasting memories of the summer of ‘09.

After giving myself a month since the final trip to reflect, I decided there was enough distance from the project to play a little “in 5 minutes what are the memories that float to the top as stand-outs” game with myself, and I came up with a Top Ten list:

10. BEACH TOWNS (boardwalks & ferris wheels & candyshops & arcades & the smell of salt)
9. ANIMALS (getting sneezed on by a giraffe named Georgia while on safari, with Kevin sleeping soundly nearby)
8. THE CLASSIC 97 HONDA (LMFAO & flip chronicles & 5 hour energy)
7. TRAFFIC JAMS (& the resulting dance party jamz)
6. DINERS (brownies the size of bricks…dipped in gravy…then deep-fried)
5. NEW YORK (Intentional & accidental trips to Manhattan…is this the right bridge? is that the wrong boat?…& that magical NY buzz)
4. CAPE MAY (B&Bs & breath-taking sunsets & bike-riding down a movie set)
3. THE VIEWS (of 3 states worth of skylines…of sunsets from a lighthouse…of beautiful mountains on all sides)
2. ALVIN AILEY (watching the dance company perform with Sweet Honey in the Rock from the nosebleeds at NJPAC)
1. ELLIS ISLAND (one of the single best days of my life)

…but what I’ll remember most is just that peaceful-but-hectic internal hum that comes from returning to work that you love while keeping a breakneck pace through such a WIDE variety of stimuli. Laughing/working/filming my way through Jersey is something I will literally never forget…I highly recommend it if you are ever given the chance.  Some visual support:

Check out the first handful of edits we produced on visitnj.org and all the rest of the tourism fun to be found on the new site. The remaining videos will be going up in phases over the next few months, so keep checking in. I hope they are as fun to watch as they were to film!

I swear it’s not because I’m biased to the main character’s gorgeous, delightful, unique name…but I’ve been looking forward to this movie for months.  Look for 500 Days of Summer very soon…

Welcome to Wandering Summer, the new blog which should make it a little easier to keep up with all my gypsy ways.  And what could possibly be a better first post than a video I edited of a recent journey to Philadelphia?  My dear friend Lindsey and I took off to Philly for a weekend in June for no other reason than neither of us had ever been there before…gotta love spontaneity!  Check out the video to see the music, places, and faces (including a few celebrity cameos) we found as we explored the city of brotherly love.  Special shoutouts to be found for fellow It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans…

Philadelphia weekend from Summer Lott on Vimeo.