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?

100 Days of Blog'in

Today is the 100th day of the year. It is also the 100th day of this blog. (Technically, my 101st post of the year due to penalties.)

I was super excited about this, until Ben said, "Only 265 days left!" Darnet, Ben.

Obviously, since I'm 100 days in, I'm obviously a blogging expert--not.

Every day, I'm learning new things about blogging; what works and what doesn't, what sticks and what crashes.

Here's five major lessons I've learned in the first 100 days of blogging:

Jump in, toe-testing is for sissies: I don't know if I would have embarked on this project if there wasn't a blog to go with it.  When I started this blog on December 31, 2011, I thought--I'm a genius! What a great way to make sure I keep doing the project!

What I didn't think about: gaining subscribers, doing the project + a post every day, being ready for critics, and lots of people knowing a WHOLE LOT about my present life. 

But, I jumped in, and didn't have a chance to look back. I'm so thankful I did. Not only do I have people that check in on me and keep me honest, but I also have a huge network of cheerleaders keeping me going. Thanks all, I really appreciate it. 

Be See-through: Transparency can be extremely therapeutic. As you have probably noticed, if I'm having a bad day--I have no problem posting it up here. Most of the time, it really shows through my work and the project du jour. 

There is something therapeutic in letting you know where I am at day-to-day. And, a couple people have told me, that they find it entertaining. 

Don't be boring: Have something to say. Be interesting. Be timely. This is probably something I have violated on multiple occasions--sorry, thanks for being gentle. 

Mess Up, being perfect is super boring: This goes along with not being boring. Some of my 'most viewed' posts are those that I thought were a total failure. But, it wasn't boring.

I think this lesson is the very reason I hate wedding blogs like "Style Me Pretty" or the 9,000 others. Way too much perfection. What they don't show are the 35 buttons and three people it took to get the dress bussled. They don't show the marathon invitation-addressing sessions. Those are interesting. Another wedding with pennant flags, striped straws, and rows of mason jars is so boring.

Have a plan, stick to it 84 percent of the time: This is the most important thing I've learned. I've tried so hard to plan out weeks in advance (See Week-o-Wagamama...) But sometimes, life gets in the way. Sometimes, Luke Babbitt makes you so angry, you need to have a rant-filled post that day. Focus, but not so much that you are too rigid. Don't let your play-dough dry out.

So that's it. My five lessons learned from the first 100 days of this project. Thank you so much for being interested in my project, and keeping me honest. The next 265 will be even better.

Big Boy Easter Baskets continued

Happy Easter, everyone.

Ben and I had an awesome day. Started out with church, and ended with a giant burger at Slow Bar. Chalk it up as an awesome day.

Ben loved his Easter Basket, thought I'd share a special gift I put in it: Coasters for the Man Room.

There's nothing extremely manly about coasters. Actually, they have 'naggy wife' written all over them--but I made them anyway--and he loved them.

I got the idea from Curbly.com this week by Alexandra Hedin.

Started out with some ceramic tiles from Home Depot--cost about $0.16/each.

I got 6. Because then no one will have an excuse not to use a coaster.

Got some ceramic paint from the craft store. Taped up some stripes, and got to painting.

Most brands of ceramic paint need 24 hours to dry.

Baked them.

 

 

Ta da!! Cute little coasters.
Wait...I mean super manly awesome coasters for the bros.