Addendum! Compendium!

I mentioned yesterday in my very random post that I finished my most recent self-imposed sketchbook project. Here are the tastiest tidbits from said book (and yes, I am SUPER ANNOYING!!! and watermarked them). My theme was "First thing in the morning, last thing at night." The two daily drawings varied between primarily text and pure image, and I took some creative liberties with color, stretching the theme, etc. 

I used a Micron 005 black pen and a Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine black pen, in addition to pretty junky (but cheap) colored pencils. Oh, and I drew out everything in pencil before inking. That's something I generally don't do, because I get really impatient and just want to see the final product, which is a habit I'm trying to force myself out of. Also, I didn't draw ALL the daily drawings on the days I SHOULD have... life got in the way :)

Some of the other pages didn't turn out as well, which is why they're absent, but you gotta go through some bad parts to get good ones. And the above, I'm pretty pleased with! Some of the sayings I found elsewhere (mainly pinterest.com, which has been my vice lately), but the "be here now" came out of my head when I was missing Andrew so terribly over the month we couldn't see each other (incompatible schedules). I don't know who penned the "Don't worry. Everything is going to be amazing," but I remind myself of that a few times a week and it's comforting. And, of course, Dr. Seuss is just wonderful. "Grain of Salt" was a particularly difficult day, mentally, for me; lots of frustration. The "AMPM" was an extra page at the back, and since my drawings were either in the AM or PM I just kinda scribbled that down. Oh, and I eat cereal with banana and drink tea every. single. morning. (And sometimes for dinner, too.)

Fill in the blank... Todays

Okay, so I read my dear friend Zach's little sister's blog kind of regularly (because there are lots of cute things on it!) and she does these things called "Fill in the blank Fridays." Welllll it's Monday... and I want to blog so here ya go!

1. The best deal I've ever gotten is... well, I've gotten a lot of great deals (thanks, coupons!) but the one I'm most excited about is that Kate Spade bag I posted in the last blog entry! I'm getting it tomorrow and CAN NOT WAIT! Other great 'deals' I've gotten, at least financially, in the past few weeks (as I built up my spring work wardrobe and put aside the clothes that were acceptable for college but not Madison Avenue) were a Banana Republic sweater, originally $98 and on sale for $26; a Banana Republic classy work shirt originally for $80 and on sale for $23; snazzy kitten wedged Nine West heels, originally something like $80 and on sale for $22; Me Too snakeskin flats on sale for $29 instead of the original $80. Thanks, Macy's and Nordstrom Rack! Okay, that was satisfying to relive the money I saved but probably did nothing interesting for anyone else reading it. Whoops.

2. If I were hosting a dinner party and could invite people from my fantasy guest list it would include... oh, wow. Great question... hmm. Well, because I don't really feel like writing a big long thing, I'll just list the people I'd want to eat dinner with and a short quip on why: Bing Crosby (probably not surprising to people who know me well) because I would want him to provide entertainment with his amazing singing voice; Kate Bingaman-Burt because I think her design style is just so intriguing, and she lives in the west now and I want to hear about how design differs "over there"; Cappie from Greek because he is hilarious!; Stephanie Herbst because how do you run for that long?; and probably most likely a bunch of others that my sleepy brain won't let me think of. Stay tuned for a possible sequel to this question.

3. If I could choose to eat one flavor of foods (sweet, salty, spicy, bitter) for the rest of eternity, it would have to be... isn't there a fifth flavor? Relatively new? I'll look it up later. If I have to choose from the list I learned since I was a babe, I'd piiiiick... sweet. Although, lately (as in the last few years) I've been steering away from super sugary things, or sugary things in general. I do eat chocolate every day though (I am my father's daughter, and my grandmother's granddaughter in that...). But it's typically pretty dark chocolate, not Hershey's or anything. Plus, I love fruit, and fruit is sweet and sugary! And delicious! And I eat lots and lots of it! So, I guess that kind of made my decision for me.

I dream about... lots of pretty real things. For example, the other night I was spending time with two characters from the show Greek (if you don't watch... do! It's so good despite what you may or may not think!), Calvin and Rusty, and Calvin was about to invent this really cool thing but this other guy was trying to steal it from him so Rusty yelled "TO THE PATENT OFFICE!" and we all booked it there. I don't know if we were successful though.

4. My will be spent (has been spent!)... planning for my wedding! We got lots of stuff done. We = my fiance and our families. We also helped celebrate my big brother's birthday, which was super fun. And the weather was mostly nice. Absurdly nice on Friday, which made walking around the park sooo much prettier and more enjoyable!

5. If I could only watch one movie or TV series for the rest of my life, it would be... GREEK. This reason is twofold: there are tons of episodes, and IT IS SO GOOD. My roommate and I have been watching them all in succession (she re-watches them with me) and I just cannot get over how brilliant the writing is. So funny. And the character development! Love!

Okay dear friends. Enjoy the ramblings. And enjoy a non-super-rainy commute tomorrow! But not Wednesday! :)


PS if my WEDNESDAY alarm goes off AGAIN tomorrow morning (an hour earlier than needed!) I will throw my phone out the window. No, phone, just because I say I will do this every day it does not show that I don't mean it. Seriously. Work. Please. And don't wake me up until I have to be. Kthxloveyoubyeee!

What's Been Inspiring Me

I've recently fallen in love with Kate Spade. I adore all of the happy colors (who wouldn't in such dreary weather?) and, specifically, this bag:

In Persimmon, of course! Ughhhhhghghg love. Want want want.

I've been HUGEly into Honeysuckle, which is Pantone's selected color of the year. As a redhead it's really the only bright red-pink-hued color that I can pull off without clashing horribly with my hair or being wiped out with a pale pink (pink is so not my color, anyhow). Speaking of honeysuckle, I remember when I was told that we could get a sweet treat from the flowering bush in my friend's backyard we were floored and spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out how to eat honeysuckle. It's such a summery plant now in my memory that how could I not love Pantone's choice?

Also, how cute is that video? So simple but I love it. Playing on repeat as I write this.

I've been wandering around the internet, scouring DIY crafts and projects that I want to embark on and now my email drafts folder is storing a pages-long email to myself containing links to everything I want to make. I can only hope one day that the house Andrew and I end up buying (while, of course, functioning primarily as a wonderful place for our children to grow up in) features a spectacular craft room. Preferably looking like this:

Or this:

Naturally I can't find the original linkage for either room inspiration, but aren't they just excellent? Neither is completely my style, but I love the color in the first and the calm in the second.

Hope everyone's rainy Thursday is moving quickly :)

-Jacqui

Spring in my Step

... hasn't arrived just yet.

It's warmer out than last time I blogged, and I bought and returned about 4 pairs of boots until I settled on these (I'm never allowed to buy shoes online again):

... for about half price. Have I mentioned that I love discount stores, sales, and coupons?

I went to Macy's with my mom last Sunday for a few things, and ended up with this Michael Kors purse:

Okay, I can't find it online (what?) but it's a small Hamilton yellow cross-shoulder. Got it for more than 1/2 off; still figuring out if it suits my lifestyle. I'm the kind of girl that throws everything in her bag. This is a little small for me, but maybe it'll make me pare down. I do love this bag, though... bag.

I also got these bad boys for $20. Yup. Wearing them right now, in black, and they're awesomeee.

This is so pretty:

State of 'Mergency

So, I never ended up using those 50 free Shutterfly cards. I'm always drawn to stationery (I work at a luxury stationery store), so it was a huge draw to me to win free cards, but I should've acted sooner... next year, if the opportunity arises again.

I'm back in NYC after a weekend away. I was at my fiance's house, visiting him and his family and extended family. I got to see my own family as well. Saturday we walked through Chesnut Hill, a quaint strip of old architecture and independent stores. We played cards at the local cafe, one of our favorite pasttimes (I lost) and watched the snow float down to the cobblestones. That night we went to a cousins party with his family. Expert games of intense ping pong (or, nip nop) were played and delicious food was eaten. I got to hang out around a roaring (real!) fire... gas fires have nothing on real ones. It made me want some marshmallows and twigs, along with chocolate and graham crackers.

4-10 inches are predicted for the city tomorrow into Wednesday. I bought some boots today, so I could make it through dry and unscathed and less frightened of the massive corner puddles that tend to well up while the city figures out what to do with all of the precipitation. I look like an anime character, with skinny legs and giant booted feet, but I'm pretty sure I love them (Sorel Caribous) even though my coworkers laughed at me when I tried them on.

Tonight brings a kickboxing adventure with my roommate and some artsy-craftsy hours until R&R takes over and sleep arrives. I'll leave you with some photographs I snapped this weekend.

Oh-So-Ho, Ho, Ho

Can I even tell you how excited I am for the holidays? My roommate and I are getting a baby (real! live!) tree tonight. We've begun decorating our apartment with snowflakes, red bows, and two adorable mini-stockings I knit. We have Christmas lights and a variety pack of ornaments. I am. So. Excited. We're having a bad sweater party this weekend which I can't wait for... the designs will just be hideous! And, hilarious.

Okay, disclaimer: I am totally a photo-geek. I take tons of photographs pretty consistently (that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but you know what I mean). I'm currently participating in DePhoMo, or December Photography Month (1 picture every day). Last year I did about a quarter of Project 365 (1 photo of yourself every day), and am looking to finish it this year... a lofty goal but I'm determined! Also, another disclaimer: I tend to be verbose in blogging...

So, recently, my fiance Andrew and I had our engagement photos taken. We went to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania on an absurdly cold and windy day, but we came out of it with a great experience and with pretty amazing images! Our photographer, Tom Feehly, posted some teaser photographs while he works on editing the rest of what we took--and we took a lot! I can't wait to see them all, but I'm glad we have some great ones to look at for now :) If you click on his name you can see the teaser pictures.

Recently, I found out about Shutterfly's promotional Christmas card contest (I love holiday photo cards! giving and receiving)and I knew I had to join--I really would like to use one of our engagement photos on the card! This time next year Andrew and I will be our own little family! I can hardly believe that. Also, kind of perfectly, Longwood had decked out for Christmas by the time we took our pictures so we have some really fantastic photos with Christmas lights... that are just itching to be showcased on a card! I looked through various card designs and pulled some favorites (and there are such great varying designs to look through!):

Holiday Love Sketch: I think these are just great cards. I love sketchbook-looking things (ie. that's why I'm also doing Art House Coop's Sketchbook Project!) so this card is definitely in my aesthetic. The message of the text is perfect, too: exactly the sentiment I want to proliferate. And exactly the sentiment that is true for our holiday season, too :)

Merry Thought Bubble: Okay, this is adorably simple. Simply adorable? As a graphic designer (I graduated from the Communication Design program at Parsons) I am clearly all about communication. That's what I do for a living: translate ideas into designs that are communicated to clients, fellow designers, or you know, the world, etc. So, thought bubble? Perfecto. And I love that it really shows off the image without a lot of design.

Paper Snowflakes: Can you tell that one of my favorite colors is aqua? One of the big reasons I love this card's design! I've also been really big into Futura and Gill Sans (light) recently... my inner typography-nerd coming out. I also love the minimalism of this design, but it still has great detail.

 Funky Christmas Wishes: The typography on this card totally reminds me of the 60's (one of my favorite eras to learn about!). I even took a college class about the 1960's which was one of my favorites. It's fun and yes, funky, and oh-so-hohoho. :)

Andrew and I are getting married next October, and we're expecting even more fantabulous pictures via Tom, which I would really like to get printed on canvas. I love to paint so I think it would be a lovely tie-in (plus, they just look really nice with the canvas texture imprinted on the photograph...). Another product we'll definitely be needing are thank-you cards. And I would just love to use a photograph or two from the wedding on those, so photo thank-you cards are ideal!

With over 800 designs, you all should submit! :)

Well, this failed miserably

I had intended this blog to chronicle my life in NYC as I finished up school at Parsons, but I didn't take into account my complete lack of time for anything other than design work... so here I am, 2-ish years later, graduated, full-time job, engaged. Overall a wonderful life.

Also, I'm trying to get some free holiday cards from Shutterfly. Because that's just an awesome promotion! Plus, as a graphic designer, I'm always interested in printed materials. Here you go. Do it. Love it. Write a blog about it (because you have to, to qualify, but also because you want to).