sketches and art and design, oh my!

Apparently, NOT having a design job is my inspiration for doing design. I miss it so bad lately, that I spend so much time looking and loving design. I have begun trying to get a website for myself done again, I am stuck, but trying to get past it and will hopefully seek out help before I give up. We'll see.. . . .

Anyway, my other focus area in my art degree is printmaking. OH, I love printmaking. I talk about it, think about it, but NEVER do I actually do it. Why, you ask?? I don't know. It is challenging. So, today, I sat down and decided to do a little sketch (the beginning of a possible print idea...) I really love red coral, I love it in it's raw, organic form. I love it's imperfect shapes. I love it's saturated red color. SO, I did research and sketched a little sketch:

tada. I think it would make a cute little print on a postcard sized paper. Off-white paper, of course. Well, that's all for now. :)

for all you customer service workers:

I was looking over some of my favorite design blogs and I came across this site: http://clientsfromhell.tumblr.com/ Now. This is aimed at graphic and web designers, but I think that anyone that works with clients can really appreciate this site. When I look at this, I think, really, if you think you can do it yourself, BY ALL MEANS, do so.

I really look forward to getting back into graphic design, I really miss it.... However, I don't look forward to working with unappreciative clients. Oh well, I guess every job has it's gives and takes!

I know it's early, but....

I started my plants for the garden already! We got 72 pods planted with vegetable seeds, ready to warm up in the dining room, so they are nice and hardy for the outdoor transplant around April/May. It is WAY early, but I get SO excited! And anyway, in the past I have always thought that I was too late. It starts out that I think it's right on time, but my veggies come late in the year and then I have to stress out about whether or not they will have enough sun to turn, you know. Well, here is stage one... Oh, and you can see, I had my helper with me as well, she planted half the pods and helped make the little flag labels (her idea!) Cute!

sun.

It was sure great to see the sun today - I realize that it gives me a whole new outlook on my day, better mood, more motivation. Amazing. Today was great, the sun was shining, I even hit the gym after work (pointless, considering I finished the night with a cheeseburger and tater tots, YUM), point is, I went. What makes me sad is that I know it's just a tease, see, I want the sun to STAY! I see you coming rain, and I don't like it one bit.

well, for now, I am just going to enjoy a couple of sunny days! Enjoy yours as well.

typography poster ~

So, here I am, now a preschool teacher. I enjoy my job, and the convenience, wow! I work minutes from my house and am off of work by 3 almost every day. I can't beat that. However, with all of this, I have been dreaming, obsessing even, over the graphic design part of me that has become inactive. I have been pouring through design blogs constantly, and dreaming of screenprinting as well. Needless to say, in my search today, I found something that I just can't pass up, it is worth sharing, I think.

I saw this poster, made by the birds and the beasts, on a blog that I also just found today, The Scoop. What a great poster, well written and oh so true.

I wonder if I will have the motivation to begin doing printing and design as a hobby now, so I can really enjoy it, since I realize how much I miss it when it is gone... I hope so.

Christmas.

I LOVE Christmas. I love the family get togethers, the food. OKAY, I like the gifts too!

Today we had Christmas #1 at my dad's. How special to get to share a Christmas with my Grandma. We didn't grow up getting that, because she was always in California. I imagine it was slightly harder than most, as this was our first Christmas without Grandpa. Both Grandpa's for that matter. Even with that in mind, I am so grateful for the family I was given. I truly think they are the best. All of them. We have a great time together.

Tomorrow will be Christmases #2 and #3. And technically, it will only be Christmas Eve. I can't wait to wake up on Christmas day and have no plans. We will be home in jammies playing with new toys if anyone needs us! :)

Merry Christmas Eve, eve. That's today...

Happy Birthday to ..... ME!

YAY -- well, I just celebrated my birthday weekend, technically, I am not older until tomorrow, but the spoiling began this weekend. I am a lucky girl!

For the weekend, we started by getting out of town. We went up to Washington and stayed with some very dear friends. Thank you to Adam, Mandi, Cooper and Cloey for sharing your beautiful house with us, it is always so comfortable and pleasant. The boys sent us on a little shopping spree on Saturday, Travis sent me to buy myself some gifts, while they watched the kiddos for the day. That is the best gift ever because usually, there is always guilt that comes with spoiling myself. This time I shed all guilt and got myself some new shoes and clothes. Downtown Portland shopping is hard to beat! When we were done, we went back to the house, sent the kids to Grammy's house and went to dinner! We ate at:

Yum.

It was delicious. We had great food and great company. (recommendation is to go during happy hour and order this:)

delicious.
I don't think these little potstickers can be beat, they were SO good!

We lounged around, watched movies, ate popcorn and cookies for breakfast. It was great. On our way home, we decided to stop and eat at cascade station, which then led us to Marshall's, Ross, and a successful trip to Ikea. Afterwards, we headed to Abby's Pizza to pick up dinner to go and stopped and shared it with Travis' mom. It was a great finale to a great weekend.

Yeah, I feel pretty lucky.