A 10-mile, point-to-point course (named one of the fastest 10-mile courses in the country by Runner’s World) starts at the Central High School Athletic Field at Broad Street and Somerville Avenue. The course is a pleasing run past the varied neighborhoods of Philadelphia along Broad Street. It finishes inside the Philadelphia Navy Yard at the end of Broad Street in South Philadelphia.

This was my kick off to the 2008 running season and I was excited to run this course for the first time.  My training-mate, and cousin, Gary snuck ahead of me at the 8.5 mile mark to finish about 2 minutes ahead of me.  I came in at a respectable 88 minutes and not too much worse for the wear

I was able to attend Search Engine Strategies in NYC March 17-20 2008, and had a fabulously educational experience.   (SES) is the leading global conference & expo series that educates delegates on search engine marketing (SEM), including optimization (SEO) and advertising strategies, tactics and best practices. SES Search Marketing Events provide instruction from the industry’s top Search experts, including representatives of the Search Engines themselves.

The SEO industry converges for a week of spirited discussion, high-level learning and attendees leave with actionable battle plans to go forward with for their companies.

Some topics that were covered:

• How search engines list web sites for free and through paid placements
• How to get free “organic” traffic by building a site that pleases search engines and your visitors
• How to efficiently purchase listings guaranteed to rank your company at the top of search engine results
• How to calculate the roi of your search marketing efforts by tracking your visitors from the time they hit your site until they buy-and get tips on improving conversion if they don’t
• How to build links that generate traffic to your web site, and how to avoid the penalties of “spamming” the search engines
• What’s coming next in the constantly evolving world of web search, and how you can profit from those changes.

The icing on the cake to this incredible opportunity was being able to stay in the Hilton, right around the corner for Times Square, for 4 days and 3 nights of web design greekdom

Over presidents weekend I made my first trip West of PA and met 4 of my best girlfriends from college (lovingly referred to as the HoBabies) in Vegas for 3 nights. We stayed at the Hardrock, which was awesome, if you don’t count the 8am jack hammering going on outside of our window each morning. We visited Body English (Hard Rock), Pure (Caesars), and The Bank (Bellagio) during each of our nights and also caught the Cirque de Soli ‘Zumanity.’

We, somehow, all made it home alive and are looking forward to our next excursion.

I have been a terrible Aunt (and blogger) and have neglected to introduce the newest addition to our family.. my nephew, Camryn.  Cam was born back on  November 29, 2007 and welcomed by two thrilled parents and one very apprehensive big sister.   All have adjusted well, and Cam is currently giving us all a workout by growing insanely fast and packing on the healthy pounds.

I have been working on concepts to update my portfolio site for a little while and have finally completed a redesign. The new Fiske Designs site is up and running, please bare with me while I work out some minor glitches!

www.fiskedesigns.com

Over the past few months I have developed as working relationship with the team at XtraGlobex and their Creative Lead, Sarah Feidt.  XtraGlobex is a strategic business development firm based in Philadelphia, with clients and activities all over the globe specializing in business development that focuses on communications, technology, and globalization.

My first big project with Sarah was the revitalization of their client’s, The Outreach Center, marketing campaign. We developed several concepts to test on billboards and then went forward with the most successful of the three in print advertising and environmental design.

Check out one of many billboards that you might see around the area from the “Create” Campaign, above.

Congratulations to Mary and Dawn from a Garden Party for launching their website in April 2008!

A Garden Party began as two sisters with a love for flowers. They pride themselves in creating unique designs, and utilizing flowers in every way possible. A Garden Party believes that a special floral experience can enhance all of your events, creating memories that you will always cherish.

This fun, whimsical site showcases their beautiful designs and I look forward to seeing their business grow!  Thanks to Mary for her continued support constant stream of referrals

The second Down to Earth exhibit will be held at The Arts Scene in West Chester, PA, from Nov 9 - Dec 8, 2007. The exhibit will display juried potters who work with the earth to make objects to be used with food, and furniture makers who create surfaces intended to be used with food, creating a sort of “triptych” of food, vessel and foundation. Artists are “local,” living within approximately 100 miles of Chester County.

I was lucky enough to work with potter Lyla Kaplan on the design of this website as well as their 8 page brochure to serve as a promotional piece as well as event guide. If you are into art or food, or like me and into art while eating food, check out the Down to Earth Exhibit and special events. This is a great celebration supporting local artists and the buy fresh buy local chapter of Southeastern, PA.

In September, 2007, I had the pleasure of working with the boys over at Bakers Flooring Services, Inc. in Long Island, NY to develop a website showcasing their work and advertising their services. After a few short weeks of design, copy writing, and collaboration, we launched their brand new site. Need professional flooring? Check out Bakers!

After 3 long months of training my cousin, Gary, and I completed our first half marathon on September 15th 2007 at the Philadelphia Distance Run! We had a beautiful day, around 65 degrees at the start, that made things go more smoothly than expected. The biggest boost, of course, was coming upon our cheering section. A slew of our family and friends drug themselves out of bed on a Sunday morning to cheer Gary and I on to the finish. We finished at 2:11:53, right on target and only slightly chaffed

The above image is Gary running to high five our fans and me running ahead at mile 13!