Man & Wife.

Wedding season is coming up, and for those of us attending Engagement Parties, Bridal Showers, and Bachelorette Parties--the gift giving can get a little repetitive. You want to give a gift that will bless their marriage, show your support, but also be useful to them in their new chapter.

But Pyrex only comes in one style: BORE. RANG.

I've had several requests of homemade gifts for bridal showers, and I'm working on an entire 'Mr. + Mrs.' series.

I'm thinking glassware, kitchen towels, aprons, utensils, etc with a cute Newlywed Twist. I know I'm not the first to do this, but I'm trying to do it with a little fun twist.

Here's what I'm working on so far:

I'm working on a couple more, they include: Partners in Crime, The Better Half, Mr/Mrs, and Man + Wife.  Stay tuned for the gifts...

Here we go again.

Can you believe it's almost May?

I didn't give myself enough time for last month's blog design, so I'm prepping early.

If you can remember, a couple weeks ago I started planning for May--and one of the inspiration pieces was this awesome sailboat:

From here

But, I think too much stripe-adge would make you go a little cross-eyed every time you came to the blog.

So I toned down the color a baby bit, used my 2012 signature color [screw you, Pantone] and put it all together.

 Not there quite yet, I have some great ideas for the side banners and page layout. Stay tuned for Tuesday!

Treats and Snoozin.

Having an amazing weekend thus far. Ben and I have our best buds in town, and we are having a blasty blast.

What else is a blasty blast?

Sugar and carbs.

All you need is a tablespoon of butter, some brown sugar and a can of biscuits.

Mix the brown sugar and butter, put the mixture into a muffin pan (should be enough to split between six)

Break each biscuit into four pieces.

Push them together and place into the muffin pan.

Bake them for about 12 minutes, and you get this delicious bun:

Can I have four beers?

I don't really drink that much. But, I'm at Edgefield all weekend, so my weekend is all about responsible big-boy-soda fun.  So I thought I'd post some epic cocktail inspiration to kick off your weekend.

Bottoms up!

A shrimp cocktail, cocktail. Uh, Duh.
here.

I'm a little [lot] obsessed with champagne. Thus, the classic Champagne Cocktail.
here.

The only thing I like more than champagne, is pickles and basil. Trying this immediately.

here.

I've never had a Julep before, but a peach julep sounds AWESOME right now. Big hat included.

here.

Those are the cocktails on my to-do list.

Isn't it nice to have nothing to do but have great times with amazing friends and enjoy exciting cocktails?

Yeah, it's awesome. Happy weekend, everyone. I hope you get some well needed R& R.

Woof.

What an EXHAUSTING week.

It's technically my 'Friday' right now, so I'm going to brag how I will spend the next couple days with a couple of my favorite people on a mini vacation to McMenamins Edgefield.

In the words of my favorite New Jersey Housewife, Melissa Gorga, "Thank you, Jesus!" [I should really stop watching New Jersey-themed shows while typing up blogs. Eh, it's my heritage!

It was an especially tiring week. Nothing went bad or horribly, but everything went CRAZY.

I'm also having a total creative breakdown. I can't hit on of a good concept if it ran into me with a giant white Orca whale. 

So in the effort of transparency, I'll show you the absolutely horrible Illustrator Art Board I'm working on [For those that aren't familiar with Illustrator, think of it as a giant computerized sketch pad that a 5 year old just discovered markers on. It's messy. It doesn't make sense. But, you're oddly interested in it.]

Now that, is a hot mess.

So today, I give up. I'm exhausted in every way you could be exhausted. Nothing is sticking. It's just not going to happen.

And that's just fine.

I can be terrifying.

I scare people.

Seriously, I do. It's an emotion that I try to illicit from innocent bystanders. I don't go out of my way to instill fear in people. I just do.

I'm not necessarily physically terrifying [at least I hope not.] I mean, I look like this:

[I'm the one in the big white dress.]

As terrifying as that may look, my sisters are both wearing about 2-3 inch heels. I, on the other hand, am wearing 4 inch heels.

I don't physically intimidate, but damn to I make people uncomfortable.

I spent the day today at a great symposium on Women in Leadership held here in Portland. It was a wonderful day filled with lots of 'how to kick ass and take names' speakers. For me, it was also a day that I totally realize why I scare the shit out of people.

This is really something that I've struggled with, so allow me to get out my thinking. I'm bearing a little bit of my soul here, so be gentle.

My top three reasons why I am terrifying:

Turning you to stone.

1. My body language is big.

Most of the time, when people ask me my height they are totally in awe that I am 5'3". While I am very conscious in not wearing clothes that overemphasize my stubby legs or t-rex arms, I use giant-sized body language. [Today in the symposium, this was described as 'using your hands in the passion plane.'] I'm conscious of making sure that when  am trying to get my point across that I 'look big.' I stretch out my baby arms, broaden my shoulders and talk really loud. Thus, I am a giant. Giants are terrifying.

This is the only picture I could find of me looking like I was giving instructions.
[Full disclosure, Teeny (the woman) and I had a wonderful relationship, in which I didn't scare her. ]

2. I know what I am good at, and I'm not afraid of telling people.

I wouldn't necessarily say I'm the foremost top opinion on anything. I wouldn't even say I am even close to being an expert. But there are certain things that I am good at--really good at. I know I'm good at them, and I will give my opinion. I also know what I am not good at--and I'll tell you that too. This is the most terrifying thing about me.

I hate that this makes people afraid of me. If you were to ask me what I believed my biggest character flaw was--it is this. I tend to intimidate some people to the point that they are so defensive that they cannot work with me or to the point that their new mission is to constantly compete with me. This is unhealthy for both of us, and I am working every day to foster an environment that invites people to work with me, not against me. I noticed this most in my past career and especially with my time at PLU. I feel like I alienated a lot of people by being a little too forward, move a little to fast, and possibly take some prisoners. I'm truly sorry to all my victims if I made you feel upset, but I'm not sorry for striving to be great at what I do.

Couldn't find a good picture for this one, so I used this one.
Cool shoes, right?

3. I can sense you competing with me, and it makes me want to shine brighter. 


This is probably another character flaw, but I thrive on competition [especially the friendly variety.] I love having competition. I love that you are great at something, and it inspires me to do better. I don't do it out of spite or of any ill will, I do it solely because I am trying to better myself.

This was really hard for me to realize today. Really hard. But I kept going back to this quote by Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love:

This is in the same passage as, "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." Shiver. 

When I read this, I don't know how to react. I don't like that I scare people, but I don't want to 'shrink' to avoid others' insecurities.

So, today, I am a powerful woman. I am good at some things, I am great at other things, and there are a lot of things that I am no good at. I am over-aware of my abilities and their limitations. I am competitive. I use big body language. And that is going to scare the shit out of some people.

And, at this point, I won't apologize for being intimidating. But, I will work on my methods. I will try my damnedest to make you feel that your opinion is valid and valued. I will be the best listener I can be, and become a better listener everyday. I will make sure that you know that you and your work are valuable to me. Because honestly? Us working together in tandem will achieve so much more.

Thanks for making it through this [very long] blog post. I did bear a lot of my soul here, and am a little vulnerable by communicating this to you--but now we have more understanding of each other than we had yesterday.

This blog has taken me through some big realizations, some little realizations and a whole lot of day-to-day fluff.

And, it's only April.

Chipotle Jr.

Still trying to tone-up for summer, thus really focusing on 'clean eating.' But yesterday, I had a huge hankering for Chipotle. Swimsuit season just won't stand for a 1500 calorie burrito.

But, I realized what I really wanted was some of that cilantro/lime rice. So I made some. 

Just some Basmati Rice (you can use brown) lime and cilantro all mixed up. Yum.

Then, the toppings. I put some chicken in the crock pot this morning (just chicken, water, and couple shakes of cayanne pepper and garlic.) I also got lettuce, salsa and a baby bit of cheese. Skipped the tortilla, made it bowl-style. 

Oh yeah, Chipotle, yeah.

And it was awesome. And about a quarter of the calories (no tortilla.) So good.

Check back tomorrow for some awesome bachelorette party details... OH YEAH, VEGAS, YEAH! 

(I'm watching Jersey Shore right now, sorry. )

Please don't stop.

A couple of weeks ago, the rain/cold mix here in Portland got near-unbearable.

But weekends/days like today remind me why we chose to live here.

If you don't live in the Seattle or Portland area, just imagine 80 degrees, no humidity, and everything is still green/blooming. That's what we live for every summer. 

I'm going to make this quick, because you should be outside right now (that is, if you're living in the Pacific Northwest--if you don't live within 100 miles of Portland or Seattle, you should consider relocating or take a vacation ASAP.)

Ok, now go outside and play.

Feather Dustah.

I'm in the midst of a project extravaganza.

No final projects yet, but one of my favorites that I'm working on right now is all about feathers [ooo, shudder.]

So I thought I'd put together a quick feather inspiration board. Enjoy!

[Disclaimer: Feathers are shamefully terrifying due to the amount of germies and parasites that live on them. Viewer discretion is advised--please never pick up a feather off the ground, no matter how pretty it is.]

Source: cubiclerefugee.tumblr.com via Annie on Pinterest

From here.

From here. 

From here. 

From here. 

Happy Sunday!

Oops.

Sorry, forgot to fill you in on yesterday's project.

Yesterday, myself and a team of youths, a great youth director and proud parents put on a New Orleans themed dinner to fund a trip to the ELCA National Youth Gathering in July. It was an awesome [but totally exhausting] experience--and I didn't have the energy last night to post pictures of the event.

Then, I realized today, I didn't take any pictures. Uhh...whoops.

But you'll just ave to trust me, the dinner was a rousing success--we met our fundraising goal and we'll be sending 9 high schoolers to New Orleans! It was especially great to see how well this group worked together--I can't wait to go!

So today, you'll just have to settle for this super cute picture of a puppy:

Hey, wait for me!

Don't be tardy for the party.

I'm winding down from my crazy week and prepping for a whirlwind of crazy weeks/weekends to round out April and bring me through all of May. 

Tomorrow, my church's youth group is having a huge fundraiser for our trip to the ELCA National Gathering in July. I'm in charge of decorations [duh] and we're doing a Jazzy Photobooth.

So I made mustaches:

This one is maybe a little too big. But full of glittah!

I think I'll call you, 'Beardy.' 

I'll post more tomorrow on the awesome decorations I have lined up. But, I didn't want to set up a table in my messy apartment. Mainly because I don't want to clean it.

Happy start-to-the-weekend, ya'll! The weather should be sparkly nice in the PNW, it's about time.

Oy vey.

Oh boy. If this week had a name, it would be 'Lucas.'

Lucas is that weird-but-really-intense person you know that is really smart but kind of makes you feel crazy.

Ugh, Lucas. I'm done with you. But, you intrigue me and I'm not ready for you to be over.

My brain is over [evidence: I just named this week Lucas.]

The only conclusion I can draw is:

Did you know fake Tupac is going on tour?

Thinking toward May.

This is a big week for our little company, so my brain power is almost all but used up today.

I decided that I really don't like April's blog design. I mean I like it, but I don't like like it. I think it's partly because I started working on it at around 9:30p on April 1. It was a bit rushed.

So, I'm working on May early--and starting by pulling some inspiration together.


First off, colors. I want to get back into color. But, I'm still totally upset with Pantone for taking my signature color, and making it the 'color of the year.' Suck it Tangerine Tango.  You were mine first.

Since Orange and I are on a break until 2013, I'm really digging yellow.

Source: behance.net via Jamie on Pinterest

It's been a little sunny in Portland lately, too. Thus, I'm back to lusting after boats. I'm totally obsessed with nautical themes.

But I get horribly sea-sick [oy, feeling woozy just thinking about it] so I settle for pictures of boats.

Source: blog.whereisthecool.com via Lauren on Pinterest

..and what do April showers bring?

Source: joannagoddard.blogspot.com via Linda {Simply Seductive | Sequins & Tulle} on Pinterest

So that's what's inspiring me for May. Yellow, boats and flowers.

What's inspiring you today?

Why, I oughta...

Ben and I went on an impromptu date to see The Three Stooges tonight.

In short, it was awesome. Highly recommend it. Super silly. Super stupid. Just awesome. 


Larry David [my secret celebrity crush] makes a terrific Sister Mary-Mengele. For a good portion of the movie, I was expecting Leon to pop up and say, "Larry, you get in that..." [When does Curb your Enthusiasm come back on?  I seriously need a Larry David/Leon fix.]


So, in honor of the Three Stooges, let's say it together:

April Allergy Font Fun!

Has anyone else's allergies been killing them this weekend? Jeez.

Allergy season is always bitter sweet. It signals the beginning of Spring [sun], which you enjoy underneath your pillow with that nasty sinus headache. Blech.

TMI Alert: I'm pretty sure I've lost 5lbs in snot the last three days. Where does it all come from?

Today was another one of those days that I worked on a ton of projects, and you don't get to see any of them.

Instead, I thought I'd show you some of my favorite fonts I've been playing with lately on my projects--all free downloads of course!

League Gothic:

Remember this? Have you ever seen a quail in real life? They're real cute.
Way cuter than owls. 

Raleway:

This just in: It rains in Portland. 

Ostrich Sans:

We spent an inordinately large amount of time learning to
introduce ourselves in high school Spanish. 

Qumpellka No 12:

This font would be perfect for a fairy tale about flying puppies. 

Piron:

This one kind of looks like it's made out of hipster pipes.
But then again, you've probably never heard of it. 

Fun, right?

#YOLO

Today, Ben and I celebrate 6 months of marital bliss--hooray! (It's also about 2 weeks before our 10 year anniversary of dating--yeesh!)

To celebrate, we obviously went to Titanic 3D. Duh.

If you're on the fence whether it's worth it to see it again in the theater--GET OFF THE FENCE AND GO TO THE THEATER.

It was seriously amazing. We were fortunate enough to catch it in IMAX 3D, and it's crazy what you catch on the big [read: ginormous] screen that you don't get from your home TV.

So, in honor of the official 'sinking' date of the Titanic [hit the ice berg on Apr 14 at 11:40p, sunk at about 2:30a on April 15, duh] I present you with the second best quote from Titanic:

You only live once. 

What's the best quote from Titanic?

It's a major tie between Fabrizio's, "GOODBYE, I will never forget-chu!" and Old Rose's grunt when she throws the Heart of the Ocean into the...well...ocean. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend, let's get ready to kick this week in the keister!

Swimsuit Season is coming....

I'll admit it: Since the wedding, I have totally let myself go. To the tune of about 10 pounds. I don't regret it, I totally had an awesome time eating whatever I wanted and not going to the gym. It was awesome.

But let's be real--I'm going to Vegas in a couple months for my best buddy/sister-in-law's Bachelorette party, I have two weddings coming up, and honestly--I feel a lot better 10 pounds lighter. 

So, for the past week I've been strapping down and really watching what I'm eating and getting back to my regular gym schedule [finally.] Thankfully, it's already paying off--2 lbs down this week!

I've been overhauling my favorite restaurant foods all week to be swimsuit season friendly, here's one of my favorites, Veggie-Packed Fried Rice.

I use:

Brown Rice (a cup cooked)

Whatever veggies are in the fridge (I lucked out with some awesome red pepper, yellow onion, green onion and carrot.)

Oyster Sauce (get it at an Asian market)

Soy Sauce

Egg

Veggie Tales. 

Start out by stirfrying the veggies in a baby bit of oil (I used veggie oil) and some garlic. Once they're happy and cooked, add in the cooked rice and the egg. Stir it super fast.

When the egg is cooked, add in a blob (1tbsp?) of oyster sauce and an equal amount of soy sauce. Stir it super fast. It will look a little something like this:

...and will have about 1000000 less calories than its Chinese Restaurant cousin.

Flesh Eating Bacteria

Did your mom ever tell you to drop that pretty pretty feather you just picked up off the ground because it was CRAWLING WITH GERMS?

But they're so pretty.
And totally awesome to pull the little fibers apart. 

I started up a project today that involves feathers, and it got me thinking about our mother's fear of feathers. Is it valid? Will we -one day- tell our young child to, "Drop that feather immediately! It's chock full of disease!"?

Oo, feather in the wind. 

A quick and totally scientific Google search found hundreds of immediate bird-feather-caused contagions. Including [but not limited to] lice, salmonella, bird flu, absolutely terrifying flesh-eating bacteria, and parasites.

So thanks, Mom, for telling me to drop that feather. I think.

Workin' Overtime.

Ben and I are getting closer and closer to owning our own home.

[Side Note: Is it just me, or is there something EXTREMELY stressful buying something that costs 4x what you make per year? How has this ever been determined to be completely rational? Eh, doing it.]

Thus, we have been dreaming overtime about what to do with our littler fixer upper. We still have to do the inspection, but thankfully most of our upgrades are only cosmetic. And by cosmetic, I mean everything but tearing out a wall. New floors, new countertops, new appliances, overhauled bathrooms...you get my gist.

When we started looking at houses, we decided we either wanted something that was 100 percent ready to move in and not touch anything, or something 100 percent completely hideous that we could turn into our perfect home. We obviously picked the latter. Now, as we wait for the closing date, we're dreaming.

Today, I dream of the perfect hang-out-watch-movies-vege-but-totally-do-it-in-style living room.

Put this together today, I don't know why I'm so obsessed with the celadon-black-white thing. I think I need to add in a couple turquoise accents...

[Flocked Metallic Wallpaper] [Houndstooth Reading Chair] [Celadon Couch] [Black Chandelier]

So swanky.

I'm really liking this couch--but I have to make sure it's super-take-a-nap-on-a-Sunday-afternoon-comfy. I've had my eyes on that Houndstooth chair for a while, I think the living room is the perfect place for it. I'm also toying with the idea of getting an upholstered bench for more seating... We tend to not invite twelve people at a time over...

What do you think?

Everything is cuter when it has a face.

Think about it: Everything is a little bit cuter if you put a couple dots for eyes, and a little line for a mouth.

Proof: "Think about a booger. It's so not cute in real life. But, I bet if you draw one on a piece of paper with a little face it would be the cutest little thing." --Paraphrased from a real conversation with Mr. Reese.

In general, we like things with faces, or the appearance of a face. Think cars. My car looks like a little old lady. She's cute.

I had the opportunity to do a little work for the Arcadia Montessori School in Tacoma, WA, brought to me by from my former professor at PLU. They needed help with invitations for their Dinner + Auction, and had an awesome theme; The Enchanted Forest.

Knowing I had a ton of work in the past couple weeks, I took on the job--mainly because I wanted to do something with their theme.

[Pro-Tip: If you want some 'free' design work, pick a cool theme. Or, just let the designer do whatever they want with no boundaries--we don't get to do that often. Also--never tell a designer their work looks 'really professional.' No duh it looks professional--I kinda do this for a living, professionally. ]

You've seen a couple excerpts from this project, but I thought I'd show the whole she-bang:

The Invitation:

Front Cover: Look at those wittle toadstools. 

Da middle: Look at those wittle hoot owls. 

And...the RSVP Card:

RSVP Card, Side one: Snails in real life? Totes ugly.
Snails in cute life? Totes adorable. Especially when their best friend is a little slug. 

Finally, Side 2 of the RSVP Card: That little snail is about to eat that mushroom! How cute!

I really liked doing this project because I got to play with my Wacom tablet lots. I've been afraid of that thing for about a year, but I think I caught my stride with this project, and now Wacom and I are in a healthy supportive relationship.

Also--Editorial note, I fixed the comments, yay! For some reason before you could only comment if you had a Blogger Account--now, not so! You can anonymously comment all you want!

Elephant Explorations.

I go through major font phases. For a while, I was obsessed with this one:

Then, I was obsessed with this one:

Then, I was obsessed with the two of them--together.

This month, I'm obsessed with a font called Elephant--especially of the Italic variety.

Look at this:

Then watch this:

Awesome right? So awesome I used it for this month's blog design.

It's the perfect semi-retro-yet-super-modern-slash-swanky-slash-goes-with-everything font. Apparently, it also comes standard on new Windows PCs. What a waste.

So, I developed this little thing:

Whatchu-think?