New work:

About a month ago, I posted a little sneak peek of a project I was working on... and now I'm ready to pull the cover off that sucker and do the big reveal:

Over the summer, I was asked by fellow CT-based graphic designer Patti Murphy if I would be interested in designing posters for a group show at a gallery in New London. Um... Hells yeah?

The guidelines the artists were given were loose: the show was in October, the posters had to be 12 x 18", and the theme was positivity. That's it. Photographic, typographic, illustrative... the medium was entirely left up to the artist. 

Holy cow, this project was beyond fun; and I wish I had more time to devote to designing even more posters! It was incredibly therapeutic for me to design with so few limits, using the graphic design method of my choice. 

Opening night, Mattio and I took a ride up to New London, and it was so awesome to see everybody's work (leading up to opening night, it was nausea-inducing. Seriously, my work was hung amongst some pretty big deals in the graphic design/illustration community, and... uh, I was a little nervous). It was so exciting to see my work hanging in a gallery (squeeee!), and incredibly honored that it was hanging in such great company.

Here I am, all famous in a gallery! See that teeny picture on the left? That's me!

If you guys are up that way, I highly suggest you go and check out the Hang in There poster show at the Hygienic in New London (now through 11/12).

Shoesies:

I love Tory Burch (especially the shoes. My God, the shoes!), I love a good sale, and most of all, I love a good sale on Tory Burch shoes. So last Thursday, when facebook notified me that Tory Burch had a special offer just for TB facebook fans, I was sold. And, just my luck, they happened to be having a sale on the shoes I had been coveting ever since my friend Marcy featured them on her blog (proving even further that we might be twins separated at birth--at least fashion-wise--we unknowingly bought the same exact pair of shoes). They were half off, so there was no way I was NOT buying them.

Fast forward to yesterday, when UPS delivered the goods. Have you guys ever gotten a package that was just so... pretty? And fun to open? Because I am a packaging nerd, getting the shoes themselves wasn't enough--can I just say: squeeee! Packaging!

It was like my birthday, all over again. I've ordered my fair share of shoes online, and I've never been so excited to open a package (and not because of what's inside). Fun orange wrapping paper, with an embossed gold sticker, holding a note from Tory herself (OK, not Tory herself, but still. Fun).

Um, yes, Tory... I did find what I was looking for, and I DO love them!

Even the receipt/return shipping ugliness came packaged all nice in this pretty little envelope. The back says, "We love this envelope--it's a great place to keep all those lists, receipts and unframed photos."

I love this envelope, too; but not because of it's usefulness (although, bonus points). Packing receipts are rarely pretty, and return shipping labels are just downright ugly. But all of that yuckiness was contained in a pretty cute sleeve.

Oh, and the shoes?

Bright red penny loafers? Yes, please!

LOVE them.

Candy:

Hey--I'm back! Apologies for the hiatus, internet friends--things here at traciedesigns HQ were busy, busy, busy... and, well, something had to give. But I didn't stray far, and now I'm back, posting with my (somewhat) usual regularity, so never fear.

So, let's get down to it: candy corn. Basically solidified corn syrup, right? But--sweet Jesus--how awesome is it? Well, let me clarify that: how awesome is the orange/yellow/white combination (none of this pumpkin shaped baloney; or worse--the imposter "Autumn selection" consisting of yellow/orange/brown)? I have basically been living off of it the past few days--seriously, it's become a whole separate food group at this point. And just when I thought I couldn't eat any more, the intern came home with a whole jar full (for coming closest to guessing the correct amount in the jar, at a party--go intern!). Naturally that did not stop me, and I ate so much of her candy corn, I felt bad and bought replacement candy corn. Which, I have basically finished. It is a downward spiral, friends; one that I am going down faster and faster. Won't Halloween just hurry up and get here so all this candy corn will disappear (that way I won't have to make it disappear myself, and/or check myself into some sort of candy corn rehab)?

Do you guys like candy corn? I heard not too long ago that it is the number 1 most-hated candy. Like, people like black licorice better. Huh? I can't even comprehend that.

Wedding week:

My brother in law is getting married Friday night, and through all of the preparations going on this week, I found these save the dates I designed for them:



They didn't end up using these (actually, I'm not even sure I presented these, as they never sent out save the dates), but I came across it last night and there's something about it that I really love. Maybe it's the fact that they chose a more traditional wedding invite (which I'll feature later on this week), or maybe it's the fun, block-y font. Either way, I'm putting this in my back pocket and keeping it around for a while...

Thank you, Steve:

Richard Dreyfuss did the voice over for the one they actually aired on TV; but this here? This one's all Jobs.

Happy/sad:

Today is my birthday. As birthdays go, it was a good day: I worked, hung with the kids, had dinner at Shake Shack, and thought my night would end with a cupcake, and a little more work.

Instead, I had a cupcake, and read the news of Steve Job's passing.

I am heartbroken. I didn't know Steve Jobs personally, but my God. He has had such a huge impact on my life, it's hard not to feel the emptiness, now that he is no longer with us. Because of Steve Jobs' vision, I have a career. When Apple forced Jobs out, the company began a slow and steady decline, almost to the point of bankruptcy. Hired back in 1996, Jobs began changing the way the world operates; first by introducing the revolutionary iMac (from which I am writing this on, and from which I work every day), then the iPod, iphone, iPad...

Without his ingenuity, his genius, I wouldn't have a machine to work on. Sure, I could clunk around on a PC, but I guarantee that the field of design would not be the same if not for Steve Jobs and the way he brought Apple back to life. And he took it and ran, introducing the world to a new way of listening to music, a new way of communicating with one another, a new way of computing.

His great mind will be missed. I think my friend BJ put it best when he said that we are lucky to have lived in the Steve Jobs era.

Very lucky indeed.

Sneak peek:

Just a little side project I'm having loads of fun with... I'll have more details soon, but for now, you guys will just have to live with this little taste.

Life:

It's been a busy couple of days here at traciedesigns HQ. I have enough work to keep me going, but the kind of busy I'm talking about is life.

Last year at this time, I was the HBIC of the PTA at the 8 year old's school. It was not an easy job, and looking back, I see exactly how much of my time it took up (A LOT). But I enjoy volunteering at the school, I've met lots of great people and I can't even begin to tell you how rewarding it is (seriously. If you're feeling down, go have lunch with your kid at school. Watch their face light up and I guarantee that you will feel light years better). The 8 year old took great pride in my role as president (getting so frustrated with me if I couldn't answer her questions; "You're the PRESIDENT. Don't you know EVERYTHING??!" I wish).

But this year, I'm not the HBIC. Somebody else is running the show, and I'm OK with that. I enjoy having my time back, doing things with my kids, and not constantly checking my email to approve email blasts and flyers (OK, I still constantly check my email, but not for things like that). I enjoy letting the kids play on the playground after school gets out, and not having to run home to... yep, check email. I enjoy coming downstairs in the morning to a clean kitchen, instead of last night's dishes still in the sink. Most of all, I enjoy the sense of order I am restoring to my life.

So this past week, I've been doing just that. I've got work that I'm doing, but I'm really concentrating on a healthy work-life balance. And so far, it seems to be working.

Winning:

When you work from home--alone, for the most part--sometimes simple things like getting the mail is exciting (don't be all envious of my thrilling life). I don't know why I look forward to it day after day, as it's mostly bills and junk (let's play how many credit card offers will we get today!); but every once in a while, you get a pleasant surprise thrown in.

Like, yesterday, for example.

Yesterday was a pretty standard 5:1 junk to bills ratio (I guess it's good that it's not the other way around), with the exception of one Big Envelope. And that Big Envelope had a GD USA return address on it. Which could only mean one thing:

American Graphic Design Awards came in the mail!

The American Graphic Design Awards is a design competition that "spotlights areas of excellence and opportunity for creative professionals... It honors outstanding work across all media." This year's awards attracted 8,000 entries, with a select 15% winning.

There seems to be some sort of mistake on one (2 entries are listed--does that mean they're both winners?), so I may have won 5 total--Wheeeeeeeeeeee! And the winners are:

Melt Sandwich Shop website

Objects blog

Stylesson blog

The award with 2 entries listed:

art + interiors website redesign

Mari the Studio website

I'll find out later this week what the mix up was, but in the meantime, let's start pouring the bubbly and celebrating!

Monogram this:

Fun with monograms? Yes, please!



I'd never be able to pull it off (because I have children who ask questions), but I love the idea of a WTF monogram. Hee hee (or, should I say, LOL?)!

Fresh:

The (powerful) message is clear here: from the great stop motion animation, to the completely appropriate use of Coldplay's The Scientist (chillingly redone by Willie Nelson), this might be my new favorite commercial.

Chipotle, I'm yours.

(via Fast Co. Design)

Friday LOL (nostalgia edition):

This one's not so much funny ha-ha, but funny like, awwww, we used to work on that machine!

Shrine of Apple:


Awesome photos and videos of every Apple product, ever.

Remember the Lisa? Maybe you have a little ipod nostalgia--it's all here (and if it's not, the site says it's coming).

Fun to go through and see how very, VERY far we've come!

Type:

It's a good thing these are on the internet--I'm afraid my drool would ruin them if I had the real deal. Ladies and gentlemen, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map TYpography:



Holy cow, the typography on these maps is CRAZY gorgeous. I could look at them all day. As a matter of fact, if you need me, that's where I'll be...

(via kottke.org)

Inbox zero:

Yeah, I've pretty much come to terms with that never, ever happening.

Like, ever.

How do people do it? How on earth do people stay so organized--so ON TOP of their email--that they can claim inbox 0??!

I try so hard to be good--deleting Twitter notifications as they come in... OK, that's about as good as I get. I mean, I have client folders. I have etc folders. I'm not sure what prevents me from taking the extra 2 seconds to place an email into one of said folders.

This madness has got to stop--I have got to get on top of this email disaster! Internet, how do you keep your inboxes from becoming such a mess, that they end up looking like, well, mine?

Six:

This always slips my mind, because this time of year I am in full-on back to school mode, but--you guys, this week traciedesigns is 6!

Now, traditionally, the 6th anniversary gift is iron. Boooo-ring. The modern gift is a wood object. I'm sure if I went through my bookmarks, or scoured the internet I'd probably find at least 20 wood objects. But do you know what the traditional UK gift is?

Sugar.

Ah yes, sugar. The stuff my dreams cupcakes are made from. Mmmmmmm, cupcakes. The perfect 6th business anniversary present, ever.

Friday LOL (baseball edition):

More Alec Baldwin/John Krasinski funnies.

"Call 912! Call 912!"

"What is 912?"

"911 for rich people!"

Shop:

Well I guess now I HAVE to shop at Saks to get one of these fun bags:



Designed by Pentagram, the new bags encourage shoppers to follow Saks on Twitter. The custom @ symbol has been integrated into their print campaign, and will be seen in an upcoming catalog. Read and see more here.

Type:

Cape Cod is one of my favorite places; it's got nothing but charm, everything is SO laid back, and--most of all--ice cream. Lots of ice cream. Like, I'm seriously going through withdrawl now, there was so much ice cream.

Besides ice cream, the other thing the Cape has in abundance is hand-lettered signs. Because you're hard-pressed to find a lot of chain stores (save for Subway and Dunkin Donuts, at least in our neck of the woods), most of the stores are mom and pops, complete with hand-lettered signage.


Mmmmm, fudge. In addition to ice cream, there's no shortage to fudge on the Cape, either. I know. Too bad, right? Love the "mouthwatering fudge" lettering. Oh, and the fact that THEY MAIL CANDY.



I think I drove by this book store about 20 times a day, as it was right around the corner from where we stayed. It is the cutest little bookshop I have ever seen, and made me want to not order from Amazon and stay there and browse all day. True story. Love the flourishes.



Love the Agro Dolce--not so much the hologram effect, but the lettering is nice.



The first time I saw this sign, I swear I almost crashed my car, craning my neck to see it. Flourishes, script, gold detail... I loved it so much that I went WAY out of my way to snap this pic.



What can I say? I'm a sucker for Bodoni poster, even more so for hand-lettered Bodoni poster.



Come on, it wouldn't be a trip to the Cape without a weathered lobster sign!



Finally, I snapped this at the Brewster General Store. It's not hand-lettered, but Oh. Em. Gee. I love it.

Come on, Irene:

Wow.

So first things first: pardon my absence last week--we took a much needed week off and spent it on lovely Cape Cod. Yes, the Cape was all kinds of lovely... up until we left. We were supposed to stay into Saturday, but because of the hurricane that was due to arrive on Sunday, we left late Friday night.

After planning and prepping all day Saturday (which included the most insane trip to the grocery store I have ever taken, AND an unsuccessful attempt to get batteries [DANG! Why didn't we think to bring those back from the Cape??!]), Irene hit, taking our power with her--but that's it. And as much as I like to whine about not having electricity, that was the worst of it. Our cellar didn't flood, our house didn't collapse... our friends and family were safe, and we had to live like the Amish for a day and a half. Big whoop.


Post-Irene, Sasco Beach in Fairfield


It was still super windy when we went down, way after the storm left us...


...So windy, in fact, the intern almost got swept away!

Friday LOL (Jersey edition--part II):

So this is my second Jersey Shore-themed Friday post in as many weeks (also, apologies to those who follow me on Twitter, as I announced this the other day and now it's just old news). Why? Because these people are funny. Well, maybe not. But their circumstance is.

I have never watched the Jersey Shore. I know the characters have nicknames, like, the Situation, and Snookie, and J-Wow; but I couldn't pick the Situation out of a line-up. Apparently, these characters--the Situation in general--like to wear Abercrombie & Fitch. Problem is, A&F doesn't want their brand associated with this cast of characters. So much so, that they are willing to pay them to NOT wear their brand:

"We are deeply concerned that Mr. Sorrentino's association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image. We understand that the show is for entertainment purposes, but believe this association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans. We have therefore offered a substantial payment to Michael 'The Situation' Sorrentino and the producers of MTV's The Jersey Shore to have the character wear an alternate brand. We have also extended this offer to other members of the cast, and are urgently waiting a response."

I swear, you can't make this stuff up! How funny is this? What tickled me even more, was that A&F is calling this a "win-win" situation. Hysterical.

(You can see the full text of the statement here: click on 8/16, A&F proposes a win-win situation)

Wednesday LOLs (Andy edition):

Mattio and I just watched Wet Hot American Summer for the first time last week (I know, we're pretty late jumping on that bandwagon, huh?), and by far and away, the best part of the movie is Paul Rudd. I mean, duh, who doesn't love Paul Rudd? His character, Andy, was the best. My favorite scene in the entire movie is this one:



I love it. Of course, I immediately thought of my children, and their hissy fits. But now, every time I have to do something so stupid and useless and expend even the slightest amount of energy doing it, I think of this scene. Case in point: I went to wish somebody a happy birthday on FB the other day. I wrote HB on their wall, and hit return. Nothing happened. I hit return again. Nothing again. I realized that I had to physically take my mouse and click on a button, and I was so. put. out. I immediately watched this scene, and giggled not only at Andy, but at my own silliness.

Lessons:

You get what you pay for. I think this is true for a lot of things, but lately it seems to especially ring true in graphic design.

Last week a new DIY logo design site was launched--LogoGarden (I'm linking to their FB page here. Check out the wall full of designers saying LG ripped off their work!). The premise is, for $69, you can choose from a bunch of pre-designed icons, slap some text on that bad boy, and call it a day. Or a logo. Whatever.

Sounds like it's too good to be true, right?

Yeah, that's because it is. See, these pre-designed icons? They were pre-designed by other graphic designers. Who designed them for other clients. And LogoGarden just took them, and started selling them as icons to be combined with text to make your own logo. Only, LogoGarden doesn't own these icons.

Steve Douglas has a really great post about it here.

Lesson learned? If you're starting a business, and need a logo… hire a professional, for the love. You can work with a professional graphic designer and get something completely custom--not predesigned (and, er, stolen). Yes, it will cost you more than $69, but if you're investing in your business, isn't it worth it?

Want:

OH. EM. GEE. You guys, Target has partnered with Missoni to bring us all affordable zig zag goodness!

Debuting on September 13th, the Missoni for Target line includes clothing for women, men and kids (natch), as well as accessories, housewears, and a bicycle. Yes, a Missoni bicycle.

You can see the entire collection (and read some of the hysterical comments--"This doesn't look like something I can wear to a PTA meeting or soccer game!" Ummmm...) on Target's Facebook page.


Hello, adorable. Seriously, I think I might just go broke buying this stuff (not to be worn together, natch. I think it's a little much if you're piling Missoni, on top of Missoni, on top of Missoni).


There is a very blurry line between want and need when it comes to these shoes.


As with these great winter accessories. Hurry up and get cold so I can wear these!


OMG My kids are going to rock the socks off the world in this adorableness. Seriously. How. Freakin. Cute. Is this??!


Home accessories? Yup, I'm in.

Friday LOL (Jersey edition):

I love that somebody matched the skin tone of the Jersey Shore cast to actual Pantone colors.

The second guy down (I only know Snooki) is looking pretty light. Obviously he's not concentrating on the T part of GTL (which I totally had to look up what that stood for. OMG that makes me feel old!).

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!