Photo:

Here I am, riding my bike in the CT Challenge with a big 'ol smile on my face (OK, so this was clearly taken at the beginning of the Challenge, not sure how much I was smiling at the end). Behind me is my friend--and CT Challenge mentor--Ed. Such a fun day!

Faux real::

When I was a child, I wanted to grow up and be an artist--but not just any old artist. I wanted to be the artist that Hollywood producers called when they needed artwork for their movies (as in, the lead character is an artist, but my artwork would be shown as theirs). I had no idea how that all worked--I really thought that was a specific job you could have ("What do I do for a living, you ask? Well, have you ever seen critically-acclaimed, box office smash Movie About an Artist? I was actually the artist behind the Artist.").

Alas, I'm not working for a studio, and my artwork doesn't appear in the movies. But, there IS hope. Check out Fauxgo, a Tumblr of logos of companies that exist only in the movies. Lots of Pixar love here, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Up and Wall-E are all represented; as well as huge pop culture icons Dunder Mifflin, Sterling Cooper and Oceanic Airlines.

I'm checking back regularly to see what else gets added. Who knows, maybe one day that will be my claim to fame.

(via swissmiss)

Yum:

Can we just take a minute to talk about my new design crush, Jocelyn Warner? I first saw her on favorite design*sponge last week, and, come on, who is not drooling over this:



Check out the gorgeous coordinating wallpaper, rugs, fabric and lamps, and if that's not enough for you, head on over to Terrain to see some furniture. Lovely.

(via design*sponge)

Illusion:

This post, like the 13th floor in a high-rise, does not exist. I mean, like the 13th floor, it really does--you're here, reading it, right?--but I'm going to take my cue from high-rise-floor-namers, and not call this what it really is: my 666 post.

Scary.

Friday LOL (best ever edition):

Do you like Mad Men?

Do you like Arrested Development?

If the answer to both of those questions is HELLS YEAH, then have I got a treat for you: a fantastic tumblr called A Trick is Something a Whore Does for Money (see G.O.B. introduction, season 1 episode 1).

Screenshots of Mad Men, coupled with dialogue from Arrested Development. Enough said.

(via Jezebel--I knew this was special when they titled it, Pete Campbell is a never nude.)

Mecca:

The Vogue shoe closet? Yup, that my friends, is Mecca.

Everything Prada:

Quite a number of years ago (more than I would care to admit), a friend found a great little hole in the wall in Chinatown for knock-offs. Completely convinced I was going to find a gorgeous [insert designer name here] knock-off, I trekked into the city, only to be completely let down by that day's selection (first world problems, I know). However, they did have a decent selection of basic, black, nylon Prada bags. For $20? Sure, I'll take one. Problem was, all of the metal Prada tags on the purses were scratched (I think we're beyond first world problems at this point). I reluctantly asked if they had any bags without scratches... and do you know what happened next? The woman took a plain black bag off the wall, and opened a box FULL OF METAL PRADA TAGS.

Naturally I asked her if I could just buy the box of tags.

Naturally she had no clue what I had just said.

So I got my knock-off with a shiny new Prada tag (and believe me I got my money's worth, as I still use that bag to this day). The running joke is that I wanted to buy the box, and stick a Prada tag on everything: our refrigerator? Oh, it's Prada. The TV? Prada. These shoes? No, that's not Nine West crossed out--they're Prada.

Now at least I don't have to worry about labeling my fonts Prada, as Alias has already done so:


Prada the font? I'll take it!

I love how they call it Prada Candy--it seems so appropriate. And, if, if they ever sell it, I won't need that box of metal tags anymore!

Challenge:

This Saturday, I rode in the 7th annual CT Challenge--it was my first time. Even though I'd just gotten into road biking this past spring, I've been training hard and completed the 50 mile route. It was such an amazing experience!

The CT Challenge raises money to support cancer survivors. There were plenty of survivors who were riding, others who chose to volunteer, and lots of survivors cheering riders on. Before we all took off, there was a survivor's walk, and after that they announced that the oldest survivor riding was 71, and the youngest was 8. I'm not sure which was more impressive (and made me cry more!).

The spirit out there was unbelievable. Riders were looking out for each other, yelling "car back!" or "car up!" depending on the direction the car was coming from (a couple times, it was "runner up!"). As we headed through Ridgefield, about a million Ferraris passed us by on their way up to Limerock (and, just so you know, if you're ever on a bike and a Ferrari is behind you, you can totally hear it coming). The rest areas--about every 15 miles or so--were incredible. Stocked with power foods, water, Gatorade, electrolyte tablets, pain relief, EMTs and bike mechanics, they were such a great oasis to ride up to. I don't think I've ever eaten so many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my life!

As I rode, I kept my friend Kathy and her mom in my thoughts--Kathy's mom is battling cancer as we speak, and every hill I climbed I thought of the battle she was fighting. I also kept in mind my BFF Sara's father in law, who just last week passed away from cancer.

There were some tough hills, and every person I know who has been touched by cancer helped me up them. It was such a great feeling finishing the race--I had been on some longer training rides, but never 50 miles. The race to the finish line felt great--we traveled from Westport up through Ridgefield into Bethel and Newtown, and back down through Easton, Fairfield, Southport, and back to Westport--I got excited approaching the Merritt Parkway on the return trip, and even more so once we passed I95. It felt great to finish, but truth be told, I was just so proud that I got to take part in something so amazing!

The CT Challenge is a fundraiser who's mission is "is to empower cancer survivors to live healthier, happier and longer lives. The Connecticut Challenge serves its mission by creating and funding programs, offering credible resources and building a community of support. To date, our programs have impacted the lives of 5,000 survivors in our state." If you are interested in donating, click here.

Friday LOL (font edition):

Comic Sans Criminal.

Recently I had a whole Facebook discussion over Comic Sans. I linked to sites like Ban Comic Sans and the Oatmeal (as well as gave my own opinion, which is that Comic Sans is the official font of the PTA), but today I came across this little gem and think that it is the perfect response to the Comic Sans discussion.

If you ever feel the absolute need to use Comic Sans, I definitely suggest going here first to see if it's entirely appropriate (hint: if you're not 11 or designing a comic--or even dyslexic--it's not OK).

Pillow fight:

So remember a few months back when we recovered our dining room chairs? Being that we recovered each one in a different design, we had quite a bit of fabric left over.

In completely separate news, I was having a hard time finding some throw pillows that I loved for our sofa. Can you see where this is going (because it took me quite some time to figure this one out)?

Yep, I had my mother in law, who is pretty handy with the sewing machine make some throw pillows (I, however, have not used a sewing machine since 6th grade home ec--which, by the by, they don't even call home ec anymore. It's like, consumer science or something like that. Why can't we just call it sewing and cooking? That's what it is, right?)!

Behold, our new pillows, which I love, love, love!







We only had enough of each fabric to do one side (with the exception of one pattern), so I told her to mix and match front and backs. FUN!

Happy birthday:

It's the now-8-year-old's birthday today (hmmm, artist-previously-known-as-the-7-year-old?)! Hard to believe that 8 years have come and gone so fast--as, like most parents, I remember her birth as though it were yesterday.

She's grown into a really cool kid, with a fun personality (see above), and--I might add--pretty decent taste in music (one of her favorite bands is Matt and Kim. Of course, she also likes the Bieber, so let's not go crazy here).

Happy birthday, 8 year old... The past 8 years have been a blast--can't wait to see what the next 8 bring!

Ride:

This past spring, I've really fallen in love with riding my bike. I've always liked spinning, but there is something about riding on the road that I'm really drawn to. So much so that I signed up for my first long-distance ride (50 miles next Saturday, part of the CT Challenge), and have taken more of an interest in the Tour de France (watching it while sick last week--picking up pointers from the pros, natch--I couldn't believe that these guys were racing down a mountain at 61 mph. Sixty. One. Miles--not kilometers. Per hour. On their bike. Yikes).

So it was with great interest that I read Christian Annyas' series Graphic Design in the Tour de France. From team logos and jerseys, to bicycle logos, to component logos, to saddle and pedal logos, it's all covered here in 4 well-researched posts.

I think my favorite feature is the Components--specifically the evolution of the Shimano and Campagnolo logos (let's just take a second to swoon over that gorgeous Campagnolo typography. Whoa). I also love the bike logos--again, some great typography there (yeah, I'm looking at you, Wilier Triestina). All in all, a nice round up of bicycling-related graphic design.

Fools rush in (RANT):

Friday was July 15th--mid-way through the month. As of Friday, my kids had been out of school for a whopping 3 whole weeks. They don't go back for another 7 weeks (not that I'm counting).

So what better time than now to launch back to school?

Yep, back to school is in FULL effect--last week we got multiple catalogs just about every day; advertising backpacks, supplies, and clothes. FALL clothes. Long sleeves, jeans, tights, and--wait for it--puffer vests.

Puffer vests. On July 15th.

While I hate that school has barely ended, and companies are already shoving back to school down our throats (isn't life rushed enough? Can't we just enjoy the laziness that the summer months bring?), I get that different areas of the country start school at different times. For instance, we happen to start in early September, but I know some areas in the South start in early August.

But you know what? They don't need puffer vests. Nobody needs a puffer vest for back to school (except maybe kids in Alaska. Maybe). Did I mention that the puffer vest had a (faux) fur-lined hood? Grrrr.

So I'm going to continue to toss these catalogs straight into the recycle pile, without a second glance. But if you ask me what puts me over the edge, I'm not going to say the summer back to school push (or Christmas in barely-autumn--or July, as there was a Christmas display in a Hallmark store I went into this weekend--which is also spectacularly annoying).

No, I'm going to say puffer vests in July.

Friday LOL (Don Draper edition):

What Would Don Draper Do?

It's no secret I love me some Mad Men, and I love me some Don Draper even more. Even though he's a womanizing, alcoholic jerk; he looks good whilst doing it, so therefore he is swoon-worthy (take your swoon pause here).

Actually, he is so alcoholic (OK, maybe not this last season) that the Oatmeal has made a comic about him. And--spoiler alert--it all ends with a drink. But the journey to get there is quite funny.

Want:

Tattly designy temporary tattoos.

Started by the super-awesome Swiss Miss (aka Tina Roth Eisenberg), Tattly tattoos were born from everyday temporary tattoos looking, well, childish and clip-art-y. So what's a designer to do? Start her own line of temporary tattoos, of course!


If I can't afford to hire Jessica Hische to design me a real tattoo, this is definitely the next best thing.

As Tina says, "Life is too short to drink bad wine and wear ugly temporary tattoos. Right?"

Right.

Dress me up:

I saw this dress the other day on the always fab Zooey Deschanel, and thought to myself, adorbs!



Then I found out it was from my fave Kate Spade, and I thought to myself, naturally!

So now, I'm thinking to myself, I just need an extra $500 and a reason to wear it.

Mr. 3000 (or what I did this weekend):

This past spring, we had a plan. See, we're pretty crazy Yankees fans, and every year we try and get to a couple of games. But this year, our plan was to go to 1 game, and spend more money on better seats. The game we chose was this past Saturday, July 9th.

It was kind of a good game to go to.


This is actually hit 2,999. I didn't have my camera/phone on my for hit #3,000. Aw, snap!

In case you live in a cave (or don't follow baseball. But mostly live in a cave), Derek Jeter reached a baseball milestone: 3000 hits in his career. To give you a little perspective, only 27 other players have achieved this milestone. To say the stadium was rocking this past Saturday is putting it mildly.

We sat in the first tier above 3rd base--awesome seats that gave us a clear view of everything (and were right in the shade the entire game. Note to self, sit there from now on). Hit #2,9999 sent people screaming. The energy in that stadium was unbelievable--as was the fact that his at-bats were the quietest I've ever heard.

Hit #3,000 was amazing. The 7 year old and I happened to be across the stadium--over by 1st base--standing in an aisle (we were on a sno-cone quest), and he smacked that ball--a home run--and the stadium erupted. I cried, natch.

So our plan seemed to be a good one. Who knew, back in March, that we'd be purchasing tickets to history?

Friday LOL (food edition):

What's Good at Trader Joe's?

It's no secret that I love me some Trader Joe's. I started shopping there years ago, when their prices were super duper cheap. Nowadays they're still a bargain, but with food costs rising everywhere, it's not quite like the old days. But I continue to go back: the employees are awesome, I can do a week's worth of shopping in 20 minutes, and--best of all--the food? Well, it rocks. And apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so:

Hello. My name's Nathan, and I love Trader Joe's. My wife Sonia does, too. She's a great shopper, has excellent taste, and knows good value when she comes across it. As many of you know, Trader Joe's is unsurpassed in the world of good-value grocery stores, so we spend a lot of our time and money there. Although the store fairly consistently delivers great taste with its own unique line of food products, there are definitely some big-hits, and unfortunately, there are some misses...

After doing a couple of internet searches for reviews of TJ's food items, Sonia discerned an apparent dearth of good, quality reviews for the store's offerings. So, at her suggestion, we decided to embark on a journey of systematically reviewing every Trader Joe's product, resulting in the blog you are about to read...

It's a great site--obviously much thought and care goes into each review, which is awesome. But I think my most favorite part is that I stumbled upon the site just as they reviewed the Wild Blueberry Vanilla Chèvre, which played a pretty big role in last night's all violet book club! And they gave it 9 out of 10 golden spoons (which I would completely agree with)!

So maybe this site didn't make me laugh out loud... but I think I love it just the same.

Book club:

Last night my book club met, and since I chose the book, I got to host. The book was the Violets of March, by Sarah Jio. Every time we meet we try and do a matching theme to our book (we also have a bottle of whipped cream vodka that comes to every meeting, but more on that later); but this one was challenging. The book itself took place in Seattle, and went back and forth between present day and the 1940s. There wasn't too much food in the book, and save for fish and coffee, I was stumped as far as Seattle foods went. So I got a little creative and decided to have a violet food theme. Blue corn chips, purple grapes, figs (or Fig Newtons in our case)... you get the idea. So I tweeted:



And Oh. Em. Gee. You guys, the author of the book tweeted back!



As my book club gals arrived, I told them the awesome news about my twitter conversation, and you know what? Sarah Jio not only live tweeted with us throughout the meeting, she BLOGGED about our little violet book club meeting(and called us trendsetters! Squeeeee!)! It completely reaffirmed my love of the Twitter.

We promised Sarah that we would tweet some pics to her; here we are toasting her with our blueberry creamcicles (sparkling blueberry juice and whipped cream vodka):



And here is our blue foods spread:


Purple grapes, Washington apples, brie, blueberries and chocolate covered blueberries, Fig Newtons, blue corn chips, hummus (that wasn't blue, but was delish!), and goldfish! Also, red velvet cupcakes for the red velvet diary in the book. Whoever thought of that is the honorary book club rocket scientist.


Cannolis with purple sprinkles? Yes please!

Book club is always a blast--we're such a diverse, fun group of girls--and so far we've picked a bunch of diverse, fun books, so I always look forward to a meeting. The fact that Sarah Jio was conversing with us all meeting long was the icing on the cake. I think the only way the meeting could have been topped is if she was there in real life (her living in Seattle, and having recently had a baby were just a few minor obstacles). But rest assured, next time she does a book tour on the east coast, I am SO there!

Email this:

The last week or so, I've noticed links to an Email Charter floating around the internets. What exactly is an Email Charter, you ask? Well, it might be my new favorite thing:

We're drowning in email. And the many hours we spend on it are generating ever more work for our friends and colleagues. We can reverse this spiral only by mutual agreement. Hence this Charter...

The Charter includes things like respect recipients' time; attack attachments; and slash surplus cc's. There are some days where I do feel like I'm drowning in email. Since I'm the only traciedesigns employee, I can't pass it off to anyone else to answer (or hand my work off so I can devote an entire day to responding to email). An Email Charter might not be the perfect solution, but when you're up to your eyeballs in email, it's a great start.

EOM/NNTR :)

Refreshed:

So last week I told you guys that I had split my days between work and play.

Well, late Friday afternoon, I turned my computer off, and I didn't turn it back on until this morning. And let me tell you--especially coming from someone who is tethered to her computer--it felt great. I'm sitting at my desk first thing Tuesday morning, and I don't feel stressed, I feel calm, and ready to take on my day.

I could have worked this weekend--lord knows I had plenty to do (fortunately no screaming deadlines), but I'm really trying hard to work on my work/life balance, and I think I got it right this weekend. It was a great mix of friends, beer, parties, kids, pools, beach and fireworks--I can't think of a better way to kick off summer.


(last night's gorgeous sunset as we waited for the fireworks)

Week off:

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, internet friends. This was the first full week of no school for my kids, and while the oldest and youngest had enough going on to keep them busy, the 7 year old (almost 8!) had a week of nada. To be fair, camp for her starts next week and continues for the rest of the summer, so I think 1 week of nothing was just fine.

But, she is 7 after all, and so boredom comes quick. We spent most of the week like this: let Mommy work in the morning, and we can do beach/playdates/whatever in the afternoon. She caught on quick.

So I haven't gone very far, friends; and I promise to be back starting next week... this week I just found myself with some sand between my toes (which was just fine by me).

Friday LOL:

Today's LOL isn't funny so much as it's cool: Dear Photograph.

Take a picture of a picture from the past in the present.

The site is a mix of funny ("Any idea where them dinosaur shorts are at?") and poignant ("Dad never took a picture of me, ever. Then I noticed his reflection in the glass"), with a lot of memories mixed in.

It reminds me of a photo of myself, taken at a local park when I was around 2 or 3. When my cousin was born 14 years later, he looked so much like me at that age that my mother took him to the same park and photographed him on the same rock. When my eldest was the same age, we did the same thing. The 7 year old got the same photo, and this fall, the intern will have her turn to sit on the rock. It's pretty cool to look at all of these photos and see the park's changes through the years (much like Dear Photograph).

Cooking with color:

I think I may have to find a new title for these types of recipe posts, because I have been cooking with the same palette of colors all year long.



Anywho. I love vegetables. And I especially love them in the summer, fresh from the garden. This "recipe" was made up one night when I was looking for an alternative pasta salad. I just tossed some veggies and pasta together, threw in some olive oil, and voila! Summer yumminess. This one is definitely a summer staple in our house.

Summertime Veggies and Pasta:
(please note that there are no amounts, as I don't really measure when I make this. The general rule of thumb is that I love veggies, so I try and do equal amounts veggies to pasta)

Cherry or grape tomatos
Any color pepper
Red onion
Capers
Fresh Basil
Pasta (brown rice pasta is yum with this--and normally I'm not a fan)
Olive oil
Salt

Chop up all your veggies into bite size pieces. Boil, and then cool, the pasta. Combine veggies, capers, basil and pasta. Add olive oil and salt, and mix. For extra spice, throw in a little hot pepper.

New work:

traciedesigns edition.

Back over the winter holidays, I decided that I was (finally!) going to bite the bullet and redesign my website. I was tired of the brown, I needed to update my work, and there was a lot I wanted to do differently. So January 1, I hung a "be back soon" sign on my site, and set out to work.

Then, clients started calling.

Being a 1-woman show, I couldn't exactly ask them to wait until I finished my site, so, as usual, my personal work got put on the back burner. For a loooooooonnnnnnngggggg time. I would revisit it every now and again, trying to tweak things here and there... but I never really felt like it was finished enough to go live.

Well I don't know if it was prolonged sun exposure from the weekend or what, but I (finally!) bit the bullet last night and decided that I was just going to put up what I had--because lord knows that's better than a "be back soon" message--and tweak things along the way. And once it went up last night, I realized that there wasn't very much to tweak.

So ladies and gentlemen of the internet, I present to you the all new traciedesigns (version 3.0 if you're counting). I really feel that this site reflects my design style so much better than the last one did. I hope you all love it as much as I do!

Day off:

The 25th anniversary of the release of Ferris Bueller's Day Off was this past weekend. Let's just let that sit for a moment, eh? 25 years ago, FBDO was released. 25. Years.

Yikes.

I remember seeing this movie in the theater (which I guess is a sign of getting older--sigh)! I remember staying during the credits to the very end. To this day I can't hear Yello's Oh Yeah without thinking Rooney eats it. Of course, I can't hear the Beatles' Twist and Shout without thinking of Ferris hamming it up on a parade float, either.

So of course when I saw illustrator Max Dalton's version of a FBDO board game, I ate it up.



If this were available for purchase, I would buy it in a heartbeat; maybe for the fact that I will always--no matter what I'm doing--stop to watch FBDO because it's such a great movie, or maybe because the vintage-type illustrations are just plain awesome. Either way, win/win.

Work hard, be kind:

It starts off hysterical (natch), but towards the end, Conan O'Brien's commencement speech from Dartmouth is inspiring and awesome:

So, at the age of 47, after 25 years of obsessively pursuing my dream, that dream changed. For decades, in show business, the ultimate goal of every comedian was to host The Tonight Show. It was the Holy Grail, and like many people I thought that achieving that goal would define me as successful. But that is not true. No specific job or career goal defines me, and it should not define you. In 2000—in 2000—I told graduates to not be afraid to fail, and I still believe that. But today I tell you that whether you fear it or not, disappointment will come. The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality.

Many of you here today are getting your diploma at this Ivy League school because you have committed yourself to a dream and worked hard to achieve it. And there is no greater cliché in a commencement address than "follow your dream." Well I am here to tell you that whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change. And that's okay...

I have told you many things today, most of it foolish but some of it true. I'd like to end my address by breaking a taboo and quoting myself from 17 months ago. At the end of my final program with NBC, just before signing off, I said "Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen." Today, receiving this honor and speaking to the Dartmouth Class of 2011 from behind a tree-trunk, I have never believed that more.

I can't think of better advice to give to recent college graduates--and anyone, really.

You can read the text of the speech here (but it's much more fun to watch it).

Feel good:

This weekend, I participated in Relay for Life, an overnight fundraising event to benefit the American Cancer Society:

At Relay, teams of people camp out at a local high school, park, or fairground and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event. Because cancer never sleeps, Relays are overnight events up to 24 hours in length.

For the second year, I was on team Survive, Thrive and Endure, one of 164 teams that participated. All in all, over $241,557.10 was raised by 2053 participants (our team raised over $7000)!

Saturday night into Sunday morning, I walked 12 miles in honor of both of my grandmothers. It was a chilly night (much colder than I had anticipated), and I don't remember being as exhausted so early on last year, but it was a great night. While I had a good time with my friends, the cause and mood were not lost. Looking forward to doing it next year!

Friday LOL: Baseball Edition

As we head into the weekend that traditionally begins summer, I thought more Alec Baldwin/John Krasinski baseball laughs were in order:



"You have the hands of a plumber!"

Poster love:

I am really digging on these Sasha Blair-designed posters for the Washington Lottery:





Great typography, whimsical illustrations... all in all, these posters are definitely winners (see what I did there?).

Themes:

I don't look back on the old Mac OS (pre OS X) design fondly, but you have to admit, it does make a quirky Wordpress theme:

Friday LOL: Hipster edition

Dads are the original hipsters: high-larious.

Your dad wore Chuck Taylors before you did. Those were his “Just do it” shoes. He could ran faster, jump higher and ride your mom longer because of them. The only training you hipsters have done in those shoes are Natural Spirit chain smoking marathons and smug bike rides to dive bars. I wish time travel was real, just so your dad could kick your own ass for wearing the shoes that he made a legend.

Love it.

Exciting:

A Marimekko online shop, via Crate + Barrel? Sign me up, please!

Surprise, surprise: I love Marimekko prints! The bold, colorful designs always make me feel so happy. In fact, if I didn't already love my comforter, I would totally spring for this bedding set:



Adorbs, right?

Revised work:

trishareger.com



The interior design firm Reger has been my client for years. They started with a snazzy flash website that showcased their beautiful work (go ahead, flip through their portfolio section, I'll wait). Unfortunately, we all know about the iPhone, iPad, and the subsequent demise of flash.

Recently they wanted to update their website, and wanted to be more visible on mobile devices. I think we all know where this is headed... no more flash-based website!

The design of the site is basically the same as when it was programed with flash, and what they lost in fluidity going from page to page, they more than made up for in the time the site loads. The entire team at Reger is thrilled they made the switch, as am I.

Yay, revised work!

Want:

Holy hell, I need to get me a letterpress necklace, pronto:



Gorgeousness.

(via Joanna Goddard)

Monday LOL: silly edition

Sometimes, a girl's just gotta to ask herself: am I wearing pants?



With the onset of leggings, jeggings, and other questionable -eggings, sometimes a girl's gotta consult a high power to determine if her legs are covered in proper attire.

Not sure if you're wearing pants? Check out this flowchart in it's entirety here.

Like:

I was in a Starbucks recently, and this CD was at the counter:



(Starbucks sidebar: new coconut mocha frappuccino. Try it. Seriously, you can thank me later)

So, I'm all waiting in line, and this kd lang CD catches my eye. I love the layout--I would totally buy this based on the cover art alone.; nice photo, gorgeous type. Well, of course it's gorgeous because the next day, my type-design crush Ale Paul tweeted:

Photo: k.d.lang new album using Mrs Sheppards! Sing it loud…

Love it.

Wednesday LOL (interior design edition):

What if you lived at Ikea? Come on, you know you've walked around an Ikea store wanting to do this!

Tuesday LOL:

Sometimes you need to laugh on a Tuesday, too.

Last week, I was watching Parks and Recreation--which is becoming more and more a favorite, the more and more I watch it--and this happened:



I'm pretty sure Ron Swanson might be Mattio's hero.

Want:

I pity the fool that doesn't have this Mr. T teapot + mug set. Now quit yo jibba jabba and go out and get one. And don't give me no back talk, either.

First name mister, middle name period, last name, T. (I just added that one because it's my favorite. Did you know it's from Silver Spoons??)

(link found via swissmiss)

Friday LOL (interwebs edition):

I think we all have some of these Facebook "friends" in our lives:

Altoids "Curiously Strong Awards" from Marc Ritzema on Vimeo.

(via swissmiss)

Cooking with color:

I've been sort-of vegetarian for the past 15 years--actually, I was a straight veggie for the first 7, and when I found out I was pregnant, I added poultry to my diet in an effort to get more protein (well, that and I was so nauseous the first trimester that *when* I could eat, it didn't really matter what it was. But let's go with the whole protein thing).

One of the reasons I went veggie was that I'm not crazy for the taste and texture of meat--so when I added chicken and turkey to my diet, I wasn't out eating turkey burgers left and right, because, well, the texture of a burger--no matter what it's made with--is gross to me.

That is, until I found this recipe. The thing I love most about it is that it breaks up all the meatiness with loads of veggies. You can use as many or as few veggies as you like--although, if you go overboard with the veggies, the burgers fall apart on the grill. Trust me--I know this from experience. Veggie turkey burgers are a staple in my house come grilling season--they are so yum!



You'll need:
1+ lb of ground turkey
Veggies! I like to use 1 pepper, and 1 onion, but I always try and mix it up. Sometimes I'll do half of a red pepper, and half of a green pepper; a lot of times I like to throw in some jalapenos, or another type of hot pepper to spice things up a bit.
1/3 cup shredded cheese
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
a smidge of black pepper
a generous smidge of garlic salt

Dice all your veggies in a bowl. Add the ground turkey, cheese, ketchup, soy sauce, pepper and garlic salt and mix it up good. Form into patties, and grill!

*Hint: the colder your meat is, the better the patties hold their shape on the grill. Sometimes I'll make these in the afternoon and refrigerate the uncooked patties so they're easier to handle on the grill.

Want:

This Shoes Appreciation Society Poster (and, well, duh, membership into said society):



(via gariphic)

Listen:

OK. I know there have been rumors, and you guys, I'm finally admitting it. For all the world (or, at the very least, the internets) to read:

I kindofsortofmaybe like the new Britney Spears song.

So much so, that I kindofsortofmaybe downloaded it. From iTunes--like, I paid for it and everything.

You guys, don't judge! I can't help it--it's so damn catchy! And my Friday spin teacher--who's all kinds of fun, and makes class fly by awesomely fast because she has pretty decent taste in music (hello? LL Cool J spin? Hells yeah!)--has been playing it for WEEKS, and it wasn't until I shazammed it that I realized it was Britney.

And then I was all, well, NOW WHAT? Next thing you know, I'll be listening to boy bands, putting money in their pockets. And then it would be like I didn't even know me anymore.

Fortunately, there is a happy ending. And this happy ending features none other than my other fave female singer at the moment (the one who doesn't need all kinds of digital manipulation to sound good): Adele. Ladies and gentlemen, the best of both worlds--here's Adele's Rolling in the Deep, mashed up with Britney's Dancing Till the World ends.

Friday LOL (baseball edition):

I've always loved Alec Baldwin, but I especially love him in full Jack Donaghy (as a Yankee fan!) mode. He definitely doesn't disappoint debating with John Krasinski (uh, I hope he's really not a Sox fan!) in this New Era commercial:



"Go ahead, celebrate in April, we'll dance in October." Made me love him just a little bit more...

Cool:

When your friends who make music announce they are getting married, of course you are going to want to make them a wedding invitation that doubles as a paper record player:

Paper Record Player from kellianderson on Vimeo.

There is WAY too much to love here; starting with the fact that it would have been really easy for this designer to burn the song onto a CD, and package it with the invitation. Instead, she did a TON of research, and made a record. And since few people have turntables these days, she also made a paper record player to play said record on.

So much thought, so much care (so much science! And math!) went into this, it's awesome, adorable, and, well, awesome, all rolled into one. Plus, imagine the bragging rights the bride and groom have: "Oh, your wedding invitations were made out of paper, too? Yeah, but could they PLAY RECORDS???"

(via twitter)

New work:

You know what's a really fun project for me? Anything that has to do with a wedding.

I LOVE weddings! They are such happy occasions--plus it usually gives me an excuse to buy a new pair of shoes :)

But seriously, anything wedding-based is alright by me; I'm actually working on some invitation designs for my brother in law and his fiancée, and just last night I found out that a good friend got engaged, and he asked if I would do their invitations, too. SQUEAL!!

But back to the project at hand. Lydia Ross Taplett hired me this winter for a new logo, and internet friends, I got excited. Lydia is a wedding planner, who just happens to have incredible taste. In our initial meeting, when I asked her about other logos that she liked, it was pretty much like talking to myself. How awesome is that?

First, I played around with her initials. But I didn't want to go the traditional monogram route, because I feel like for weddings, that's done a lot:




I love the font Fling so much that I want to marry it. I thought it would be the perfect fancy-but-fun script:




One of the things Lydia noted in our initial meeting was a love of Greek key patterns. I found inspiration there, while designing something that would also make for a nice icon:




A tiara! No wedding would be complete without a tiara!




These next 2 logos incorporate the very technical design term "swirlies." I love playing with swirlies, and thought that this was a good way to incorporate some "wedding" into the logo, without going full on church script:






I know owls are the big thing right now, but man, I think hummingbrids rock. Plus, if you think about it, a wedding planner is like a hummingbird, all moving so fast behind the scenes you can't even see her:




Finally, incorporating a little Martha into it. I love the icon, and the script was placement for something a little more custom-y handwriting:




And, the winner is...



Hummingbird!

I'm so glad Lydia chose this logo, as there is SO. MUCH. we can do with the swirlies (there's that very technical design term again). I've already done an ad for her for Westport Magazine, incorporating those swirlies into it, and it was so. much. fun! Plus, I not-so-secretly love the subtle gradation at the bottom of the swirlies. Next up: I'm working on a blog redesign for her--can we say swirlies on the web?!

April showers:

Well, if April is going to insist on being all rainy and chilly (weren't we JUST talking about peeptoes?? Come on, Mother Nature!), the least we could all do is look cute out in such dreary weather. I'm all for this impossibly adorable rain coat (or Rainyday Duffle, as theiy're calling it) from Boden:



Oh, look at that: they have it in my size. Let's pair it up with some classic Hunter boots (in a fun color, natch):



Now let's go play in the puddles.

Shoes:

It's time.

Time to put away the boots. Time to put away everything fur-lined. Friends, it's time to break out the peep-toes.

While it's certainly not warm enough (in Connecticut, anyway) for sandals, it's time to start thinking Spring. And that, my friends, means peep-toed shoes, and--of course--pedicures.

And while you're at it, enjoy this adorable post about kate spade staffers' slightly unhealthy (says who??) obsession with shoes. If I worked in an office at kate spade, I would be hoarding shoes this way, too.

Get crafty:

This weekend, I got myself a little crafty. OK, on the craft scale of things, it was probably a way lot crafty. It involved multiple trips to Staples and Home Depot. It involved a power staple gun (after the guy at Home Depot told me that mine wasn't powerful enough, I thought he was saying that *I* wasn't powerful enough. I got way super insulted. Then, once I realized what he was talking about, I got way super embarrassed).

People, the dining room chairs got a nice little face lift this weekend. Let's take a look at before, shall we?



Oh, what's that? The stains don't look that bad (OK, really, they do. But I'm going to zoom in for you anyway).



Yes, this is what happens after 8 years and 3 kids get to them.

But now let's get to the fun part, the after. As I said earlier, I found 5 different kinds of fabric that I loved, and that I thought would be perfect for the project. I couldn't decide, and they all looked great together, so we used all 5 (even though we have 6 chairs. Two chairs have the same fabric).



The dining room is actually part of our living room--the walls are light and medium gray, and the sofa is charcoal. We're using yellow and orange accents throughout the room, so you can only imagine the squeals of excitement when I found this fabric.



Of course, we still have 3 children (one of whom is three years old). And some of these fabrics are pretty white. So I'm just going to enjoy these while they're still stain-free. And of course, stock up on those Tide stain remover pens.

Friday LOL (clever edition):

Anti-theft lunch bags.



I have heard horror stories of people in larger offices losing their midday meal to lunch thieves. Fortunately for me, I've always worked in smaller offices, so I've never really had that problem. But if I ever do, I'm totally getting some of these bags. Awesomeness.

(Thanks Lee Moody, for the link!)