Beyoncé Has Great Jeans, Too

Actually, Beyoncé had great jeans first; Her Levi’s ad came out almost a year before the American Eagle campaign starring Sydney Sweeney. Beyoncé also had great genes first; She is 16 years older than Sydney Sweeney. After all the hubbub about Sydney’s AE ad, and virtually no pushback about any Levi’s ads, I thought today’s post would be fitting (no pun intended). Here’s one of the Beyoncé ads in the Levi’s series…

The Levi’s ad campaign launched in September 2024, coinciding with Beyoncé’s country music album and a certain song called “Levii’s Jeans.” I guess it was clever enough, if not low hanging fruit, to use the song and the superstar for a Levi’s commercial. Certainly there’s nothing controversial happening in the commercials, beyond the idea that some reject her music being country music.

A year later American Eagle comes along and makes denim a hot topic again. For all the pushback against Sydney Sweeney, she actually never said she has good jeans (or genes)… the narrator said it. Of course, they’re using word play and it works because Sydney has good genes (at least on the outside) and she has good jeans (according to American Eagle). Levi’s could’ve said the same exact thing about Beyoncé but they didn’t think of it first. What strikes me as the biggest difference between the two ads is that the American Eagle ads illicit a response whether you like them, hate them, or don’t care either way. The Levi’s ads, no offense to them or Beyoncé, are boring. Nothing much to remember… Just another ad for another product with another star spokesperson.

But the truth is that both brands and both stars can coexist. One star’s success doesn’t steal from the other. There are more than enough customers to go around, too. Some people like Levi’s, others like American Eagle. But I think it’s safe to say that in a marketing campaign sense, American Eagle made a bigger mark than Levi’s did last year and it has nothing to do with the spokeswomen.

-Out of the Wilderness

A Beagle at the End of the Rainbow

It was like something in a movie. I couldn’t believe my eyes when a rainbow formed over the spot my 15-year-old beagle is buried. There hasn’t been a rainbow in that spot… ever. How does a sweet moment like that even get explained? Here’s the picture and a video I posted on Instagram, along with one of my favorite songs right now.

The lyrics of that song are so good. Thank you for sunshine. Thank you for rain. Thank you for joy. Thank you for pain. It’s a beautiful day.

It felt like a hug from God, and as I type I think of his name “Immanuel”… God with us. Even in something so little in the grand scheme of things, He cares. God with a little nudge to remind me He’s here and all my sadness hasn’t gone unnoticed. But the timing is pretty crazy, too.

The possibility of seeing that was so incredibly small. I had just finished a run which I had to do on that day because of a decision I made 6 days before. I also ran earlier than usual because of the dark clouds. And how about the spot where Piper is buried (over 3 weeks ago)? Not much science behind that, I just picked a spot that I thought she would like and would fit with the surrounding area.

The rain starts as I’m cooling down, sitting on the front porch of my parent’s in-law suite. The rainbow lasted for maybe 2 minutes. If I hadn’t run, or hadn’t sat down to cool off, or hadn’t looked to my left. So many factors that it would be humanly impossible to align everything in that type of synchronicity, especially when a natural and unpredictable phenomenon is part of the equation.

I’ll never forget that day. God is good and Piper was (and is) the treasure at the end of that rainbow.

-Out of the Wilderness

A 7-Day Triathlon Training Challenge!

I don’t have any triathlons or races on my calendar so you might ask me why I would set up a 7-day challenge revolving around swimming, cycling, and running. Welp, maybe I’m a glutton for punishment. Actually, there’s no maybe. As a coworker once said to me: “You pride yourself on depriving yourself.” That is definitely the case and designing a workout challenge matches up with my desire to not get too comfortable.

Also, I had sort of gotten out of any routine of cycling and/or swimming so that needed to change, at least for these 7 days. On top of that, once I get an idea in my head for ways to torture myself, it’s hard to let go. 🥴

The 7-Day Challenge: Complete 2000 yards swimming, 100 miles biking, and 20 miles running.

I knew I had my work cut out for me. Especially the swimming and cycling because it takes more effort and planning– driving to a pool, finding a safe place to cycle, that kind of thing. Running, on the other hand, you can basically step out the front door and start. To make a long story short, the one word I’d use to describe the entire thing: Tough. Multiple times on multiple days I was resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to complete the challenge. Especially as I neared the end. The height of my disbelief was on day 4, with only 3 days left to finish. Surprisingly, I had already completed the swimming portion, which is my weakest of the 3 disciplines, but I wasn’t even halfway on the cycling and running. There was a group bike ride on the morning of day 5 and I knew that that decision was the way the challenge would go. If I joined the group ride, I may be able to do it all. If I don’t, then I’m out and I’ll try again some other time in the future.

I didn’t do the ride.

It was over. Without doing a lot of miles on day 5, there’s no way I could do 50 miles on the bike and 20 running in just 2 days. Plus, with the weather the way it is, the window of opportunity was pretty limited here in north Florida. But then… I decided to go out for a bike ride by myself and knocked out enough miles to give myself a boost of hope. I ran a few miles the evening of day 5, too, and started to believe.

The Result: I’m not too proud to admit that finishing the challenge surprised me. Somewhere in the middle, like I said, I figured I was done and wouldn’t be able to reach the goal. So I’m *very* proud of myself for sticking with it even when I had mentally given up more than a few times! I’m not a swimmer and I’m just a hobby cyclist and runner. I really didn’t think I could do it so maybe the moral of this story is that you and I can do whatever big thing is in front of us, just keep putting one foot in front of the other. And we can be encouraged, too, that even if we don’t quite hit the target, we’ve done *something*, right? What’s that saying, “Don’t let great be the enemy of good.” I’m extremely happy that I finished this challenge and I hope to do another one this week, more on that later…

Tell me about your challenges, no matter how big or small they are. Did you finish? Did you give up, like I did, about halfway through, but somehow keep going? I want to hear about it and what your thought process was throughout your experience. Write a comment below, I’ll be on the lookout!

-Out of the Wilderness

To Serve or Be Served, That is the Question

When someone does a favor for me, I almost always tuck that memory away so I can pay them back one day. I suppose that’s not a terrible trait but it’s not necessarily good to keep a scorecard like that. Walking around every day with the feeling of owing someone can be overwhelming. I remember back in the 90s joining Columbia House where you pay something like 1 cent and get a handful of CDs. After that, the price goes up and I always had this distinct feeling of dread as long as I was a member of this club. Who wants that? The joy of music was lost and in the same way, if I constantly think of being in someone’s debt, that’s no way to live an abundant life. Instead, I should receive their act of kindness for what it is, a gift that doesn’t need repayment, and I betcha that person isn’t expecting to be repaid at all.

On the flip side, when I’m the one serving or doing some kind gesture for someone else, I sometimes work it out so there’s some benefit to me. Nothing that takes away from the amount of help given, but still working the situation so I get something out of it. That’s also a pretty selfish way of being kind to my neighbor, serving the people around me. But hey, there *are* moments that I’m doing something out of the good in my heart, I’m not a total monster! 🙂

So then, are those two thoughts connected: Feeling like I owe someone who helped me and serving someone but making sure I get something from it? I think the word that connects the two ideas is “conditional.” A transaction.

Yikes.

Sounds real fun. 🙄 I’ll do A so I can get B and C. Or if this person does A, I’ll repay them later with B and C. There is nothing unconditional about any of that. This week, I’m going to try to be better about serving and being served without conditions. No secret expectations. Doing things for other people, or letting others be kind towards me, with those acts being the whole thing– no loose ends waiting to be tied up or debts in my memory that can be repaid later.

-Out of the Wilderness