Blah,Blah,Blahg

LUNCH WITH BLACK + BLUM

I have been bringing my lunch to work as often as I can.  The year before it was painful to look back and see how many shoe's/savings I could have now if I had just brought my own food to work.  I saw this ingenious little lunch box and think it must be mine soon.  A totally justifiable purchase, no?

EXIT PLAN UPDATE

The Exit Plan. I had my first 'meeting' (via the tellie) with my Life Coach on Sunday.  I chose to work with Michelle Ward of 'When I Grow Up' because it seems the universe was conspiring to bring us together.  I like her sense of humor and felt I needed someone with a bit of wit to help me with my dire straits. I didn't want this to be a pity party, I wanted to be able to laugh and 'work in the solution'.  Which to the chagrin of most people that I am in any kind of close proximity to me I am constantly expounding 'Let's work in the solution' (I know annoying).  Michelle had emailed an intake form and stressed that she was not going to help me with my mental problems. Okay maybe not stressed but there was wording to the effect that 'I am not your shrink yo'. I am mentioning this in case you are thinking of hiring a Life Coach to remember that they are there to guide you and help you find your way, not wave their magic wand and take your problems away. Gold star for me for being realistic, (how very unusual). I actually believe I started to see the forest through the tree's with the intake alone.  I don't know if that's the norm but I felt like it made some things very clear for me.

The appointment (45 minutes) itself made me very hopeful and that in and of itself was worth its weight in gold.  I loved that she gave me deadlines, homework and that I am accountable to someone other than myself.  Have I done said homework or met the deadlines yet?  Nope, but it's only Wednesday I have two more days and I am planning to meet my goal. Really.  We discussed my being pre-disposed to procrastination (I blame my parents) and we will work on that but for today I feel that Michelle was a step in the right direction to getting out of hell. I may not be starving in Africa and I do have a job, which both these things make me feel super guilty for even complaining but seriously friends I am not a complainer and I do want out and this I feel is a great first step.  Is it a bit bourgeois to have a Life Coach?  Perhaps, but you wouldn't deny a diabetic insulin now would you?  I feel like I need to pursue this avenue as my 'insulin' and if you have the desire and means (Michelle is quite reasonable for what she offers--a lot) then my suggestion is to not wallow and do something. I am the biggest procrastinator in town, if I can can follow through on this than you most certainly can. 

PRINTMAKERS SIDE BOARD-RESTORATION HARDWARE

 

Although this piece would NEVER fit into my Keebler elf sized flat I can't help but covet it from afar....

SNICKER

This is Snicker, Snicks, Snicky doodle dandy (that last one was my take).  This little baby deer/pup belongs to Souvenir Foto School student and graphic designer Kari Beard.  We both wonder how she gets any work done with this mug staring up at her whilst she's at her computer.  Kari's obviously one tough cookie because I feel like stopping work right this sec and rolling round the floor with Snicks.  Happy Monday!

P.S. You think you have a cute baby animal? Or found one on the inter web? Please feel free to send it my way and maybe you too will have your 2 secs of fame...

HIVE 1511

I keep forgetting to write about the lovely new 'hive' of creative doyenne's Maria Cooke + Kate Headley of Ritzy Bee Events and the ever kind Suann Song of Simple Song.  I am not even going to go into the details, but trust you me you will want to head over to their site and get totally envious that you don't have your own hive.  If I were in DC I would totally beg to be invited to the party.  Speaking of party, that's their specialty, especially weddings.  I have worked with Maria on a couple projects and she is nothing but completely and utterly fabulous. Virginia and DC brides if the HIVE1511 isn't on your speed dial you need to remedy that stat.  Congrats ladies, here's to your continued success!

THURSDAY ISN'T FRIDAY...

 

I was working on links last night for a feature on The Bright Side Project which took me to Miss Holly's Decor8 blog, where I was taken to a new to me blog called Greige, where I was introduced to artist Sarah Atkinson above, where I wished that I could paint like her. Sigh, these pieces are magnificent...

WORLD DOMINATION

I saw this and it made me smile.  I love hand-lettering, wonky illustrations with a witty edge and this piece has  it all in spades...

"Created exclusively for the Royal We by Oliver Jeffers, this is a signed print of a hand drawn map of the world. The whole world. With pins. Each print comes with 202 pins to chart your path to total global domination. 200 of the pins are black, one of them is red and one of them is blue. Red is for headquarters, blue is for next target."

Here's to personal world domination...

A LITTLE PRETTY...

 

My friend Charlotte (and my former rockstar rep for Monyette Paris), decided one fine spring day to give up the successful business she had built to follow her dream of being a designer.  Charlotte is what you would call a go-getter, whatever she puts her heart into flourishes and I love that at the apex of her repping business instead of just settling for being the best rep in the business she quietly closed her doors and hit the road to find her creative side. I was bummed yes, as anyone who has a product based business knows that a great rep is worth their weight in gold but I know how it is to be really great at something that your heart just isn't into. It's tough. Charlotte made the leap to creative entrepreneur seem like a no-brainer and has since had oodles of success with her uber niche line of 'loungerie' Plum Pretty Sugar. The lesson learned here today? A) Follow your heart B) Fill a void in the market C) Make it pretty. Don't worry, Charlotte has kindly agreed to one day divulge her story, which I think will inspire even the most sloth like amongst us.

P.S. I *think* I may be starting work with a Life Coach, how L.A. does that sound? I am pretty excited (even though its made Ace roll his eyeballs into the back of his head) but if all goes as planned I promise to give you my play-by-play.  

//photo's by marisa holmes//

MEET FRANC...

Franc's mum Julien (of Thimble Designs) sent this photo to me, she made sure to mention that she does not condone smoking (and I agree smoking is a no-no) but gosh darn does Franc not make it look cool? I actually can empathize being a Frenchie mummy as well. I do know that Bella given the opportunity will put ANYTHING in her gullet. I have documented the day she ingested a tube of A &D ointment, the time she made me want to leave the country and she has been known to lick up spare change, eat sweat socks and once ate an entire roll of toilet paper. Cigarette butts are not a stretch.  I am such a germ-a-phobe if she did pick one up I would just allow her to swallow it, but not without getting a photo first... 

Happy Monday everyone!

HANG IN THERE...

It's been a bear of a week, I thought I would end it with one of my favorite. I actually will be back later with Creatocrat's Bokeh tute, so you can have something to try out over the weekend. It really will impress your friends and family. 

If you need more cute, you can visit the Pandacam here--eek!