Not new & not improved for over 90 years. (-is Most of camp) This is the same sink used by saints (church in the 60s) and the sinners before them (the gin running Madame in the 20s). We just keep fixing it. Sometimes its just worth it.At 7 years old, I remember walking into my friends house & being awestruck by their pink toilet & avocado green kitchen sink & thinking that Kohler was for rich kids. It seemed pretty exotic that somebody could afford to redecorate at all, let alone spend money on something trendy (where I grew up you picked white because you knew youd have it forever.) At Camp, they’re all still either originals or local barn sale finds. (We still have a stash of vintage Kohlers in the basement that we hope to put back into service). We’re surrounded by household names of gigantic companies & often take for granted how they even came to be: many started by some ordinary guy with extraordinary vision. Someone with a dream, who busted their tail. Generations later it would become the dream of their great grandchildren to continue to grow.Thats why we favor family-owned businesses & like to feel like were giving that very first dreamer our business. In this case, his name was John (he looks oddly familiar). A boot-strapping Austrian immigrant who would become a dairy farmer, door to door salesmen, iron worker & eventually build one of the most iconic brands in the world.If you told me that someday wed have a house filled with @kohler I would not have believed you. Last week, they launched a campaign online featuring the camp – where all of the sinks are white & fancier than anything my childhood self would have ever dreamed of having.Weve heard that we are all capable of making our own luck by picking a talisman. So every time I see that logo set in porcelain, it reminds me that anything is possible. We cant say for sure, but we think its working for us so far.Thanks, JohnPS: years ago, I brought back a $12 frame that I turned into a mirror and a $15 oil painting from an Austria flea (both from around the same time that Kohler immigrated from there – they now hang in both the baths. #BestPartnerSponsor @kohlerdesigncenter

September 29, 2018 • Published by Tereasa Surratt

Charliegirl on her 1st birthday in the backwoods. (she ripped the ear off of her baby deer cake right after this photo was taken.) This photo was my lead shot for the talk I gave for @Adobe on “Getting out of your comfort zone” yesterday (to a room full of the creatives & marketers at @JLL).Stepping into their offices for the first time since judging @Crain’s ‘coolest offices of 2017’ last year was such a good reminder that we have to love the space we work in… these folks are lucky to get to come in here everyday..Thanks, Adobe for asking me to come speak for “Creative Jam”- and for all the inspiration. #AllTheFeels #DesignMatters

September 28, 2018 • Published by Tereasa Surratt

Wisconsin sure knows how to paint -CTWrapping the 5th Annual Ogilvy Chicago creative retreat: (aka: Camp David named after our founder, David Ogilvy. We celebrated our 70th anniversary this week with Sunshine. Football. Fish fry. Bongos until 4am. Inspiration was had by all. Camp is our weekend hobby but first and foremost it is our home, and we where happy to open the doors of it to welcome some of our Friends and Family of Ogilvy Chicago. In our combined time, David and I have worked at this agency for 32 years. #TimeFlys #CreativeCommunity #OgilvyPhotos by: 1st: @hey_marina @Gusadel @peteramedlock @whatwhatktshutt @titoramirez @erinoahern @emshoo @jenniferaanderson @stirlingmclaughlin

September 27, 2018 • Published by Tereasa Surratt

WHAT WE ARE MADE OF. A love letter to a sign that welcomesWe hear a lot of talk about the power of community.We all want to belong to one in some sense. Find our tribe, find ways to give back, to make life mean more to ourselves and others.This past weekend we came to appreciate its power when a group of people decided to give up their evenings and weekends to build something for strangers in another state.Weve wanted a welcome sign since the day we opened. It turns out that the big lodge resorts pay 20k for them. Which is why after 14 yrs, weve never had one.So my little brother Sam decided to clear his barn to build us one. He opened his doors for volunteers to come help. Folks came in from everywhere to donate their time. Some harvested the cedar from the backwoods – some mitred chunks of it to form the letters. Others donated poles. Then he brought a few with him on a272 mile haul tocomeinstall it. When the man-lift broke, he scaled the poles in linemans leg irons. They rigged rope pulleys to level set 700lbpoles intocrushed rock.. and they finished it the night before our Kids camp. The crazy thing is that we couldnt get anyone to take our money. It was a labor of love gifted to camp by people that we love. I came to a realization this morning: every time someone walks under this new entryway, they are entering through the gates that were physically built out of the pure generosity of others. Its a towering reminder of what will remain long after we are dust. The things we build together – for others – is what sustains us, and will ultimately stand the test of time. This sign made us realize that selflessness & generosity towards each other are our lasting legacy.To us, thats the measure of community. Its time to pay it forward, we want to open the gates to more neighbors. More church goers to our 50-plus year tradition of Mass-in-the-Grass.Weve decided to christen it as a gateway— for the community that people who come here are building for themselves, each other & future generations. Next time you come visit us, look up as you pass underneath the gates. Those log letters say many things, the least of which is our name

September 26, 2018 • Published by Tereasa Surratt

BAD ASS BABES at camp alert.The lovely ladies of @speed_rack (an all-female bartending competition to benefit breast cancer research). Have taken over camp with @KnobCreek for the past few daysThese girls are doing lateral tastings of 20 different single barrel Ryes…. while honing their hatchet throwing skills, archery skills, tree swing skills, and generally bad-assery. This crew has every tasting, workshop & detail of their creative retreat executed down to an art. #MuchRespect #FearlessGirlGang #TeamSpeedRack

September 25, 2018 • Published by Tereasa Surratt

We didnt expect to find this.(10 reasons to stop if you’re passing throughIRONWOOD, Michigan)We bellied up to the diner bar &ran into a little old lady whoended up being a tourism guru for her little town of 5k….we hit up all her reccos: .1the Ben Franklin. (craftdead stock heaven.) 2the ‘Worlds Tallest Indian’ -Hiawatha w/mocassins the size of a VW3 the Miners Mural (100 portraits of actual local miners) 4the bar at Olkies (untouched by time) 5the Pasty Shop (serving them since 1946) 6the localDiner on the main drag. 7the Antique Stores(more taxidermy than you can shake a stick at. for cheap.) .8the Copper Peak Ski flying jump. 9Back in WI, the ‘Clam Lake Elk Herd’ (saw 5 of them at a stand still on shoulder of the road. freaky.) .10the ‘Totem Pole Restaurant’ (technically, not there anymore, but obsessed with this beautiful ghost of a place- found a postcard of it years ago.

September 20, 2018 • Published by Tereasa Surratt

“Working with your spouse is easy” (said no one ever.) .Working with your spouse, raising a kid together and attempting to run a side business is rarely easy. (Giving an honest presentation about the reality of that very real struggle to a room full of strangers was anything but easy for us)This week we got to do just that when visiting the designers & architects at @genslerchicago – they asked us to give a talk on the “Virtuous Cycle of Creativity”. It was a little about the ‘Country mouse / City mouse’ juggle, the power of collaboration with builders, makers and designers, the soul medicine of giving back, and the emotional impact buildings and space can have on all of us.We walked in not knowing what to expect. (having learned that they are the largest architecture firm in the world) …. and walked out newly inspired by the endless possibilites of a what a future Camp Wandawega could be. /// Fav detail of our tour: Their offices are housed in the historic Carson Pirie Scott building, Where they let some of the history peek through (the original wall mural fragments as a backdrop to their modern work space).Home photo #BrickWeaveHouse by: Rob Jillson // thanks to our forever inspiring friends at @studiogang

September 19, 2018 • Published by Tereasa Surratt

THE SUMMERCAMP THAT TIME FORGOT. We literally never wanted to leave this time capsule tucked up in the Northwoods. Camp Red Arrow is a boys summer camp in Woodruff, Wisco – they take campers as young as 7 years old for a minimum 7 weeks stay. It began as a logging camp in 1870, turned Williams Resort – until 1920 when it was converted into the All-boys camp that it still runs as today.This place is a literal living museum with Mess Hall, Rec Hall, Infirmary, and countless hand hewn log cabins (built by the Norwegian lumberjacks) – all still in original condition and used today.In the early days, it was known as the beer camp because boys from most of the Milwaukees big brewery families attended. (the Millers, Uihleins, Schlitz, Pabsts, Gettlemans and Blatz, along with the (Harley) Davidson boys. On our tour, the camp director told us that Chris Farley & Scott Foley were campers who got their start on their little log cabin theater stage. Makes us wish we where kids again. @redarrowcamp

September 18, 2018 • Published by Tereasa Surratt

What happened? Charlie cameout of the storage closet wearing this. She found a box full of the @Gant x Wandawega line from a couple years ago (so much of it was sized too big for her back then ). She was so happy to see that they had made a camp raccoon sweater.And I was happy to see that it fits her (but also a little sad to see that in the blink of an eye she has somehow doubled in size). When it launched, we couldnt imagine her being big enough to fit into any of it – and now shes 7 and three quarters and I miss her toddler days.So this little pink racoon Sweater is milestone reminder to be more present for all her days.#TooFast

September 17, 2018 • Published by Tereasa Surratt

Stumbled across this legendary road-side tavern on our northwoods road trip: The Moccasin Bar, Hayward, Wisconsin. Taxidermy dioramas of gambling, boozing, and yodeling animals cover every square inch of this place.Charlie loves it because it looks like a natural history museum. We love it because its a time capsule of Wisconsin Northwoods tradition: hunting & muskie fishing. Its the home of the worlds largest: Cal Johnson’s muskie – 67 lbs 8 oz – caught it in 1949 while he was a guest at the Moccasin Lodge. Cal is quoted as saying that “The Lord was with me when I caught this fish,” – then he preserved it in a glass case, and mounted into the wall of the Moccasin Bar. Love these old school joints, these mom and pop tourist attractions. So many of them arent preserved on purpose, as much as out of necessity. Lack of funds to modernize and remodel for the past 70Years has been a blessing for spots like this – (and were on a personal mission to find as many of these sweet little spots as possible while theyre still around.)

September 15, 2018 • Published by Tereasa Surratt