Christmas for real

Love this so much. So cute.

Things to think about

Today I was reading some things my sister wrote and I felt a little lost in my life, or I realized that I felt lost. I like that my church has a General Conference 2x a year to keep me centered, to bring me back to thinking about what God wants me to do, rather than what I want to do - or what I HAVE to do.
On that note - I'm going to listen to the Relief Society General Session today at work since I missed it on Saturday.
I often get bogged down by the immediate things in life - the tasks "at hand". Why is it that they seem to important? My work has basically consumed me whole for the past 3 months or so -- I work late almost every day and I get home, and then I eat and then I sleep and do it all over again. I am closer with the people at work than any of my friends outside of work because I have no time for them. The problem with coworkers is that they don't go all-the-way with you as a friend really. If one of you got laid off, or if one of you had an accident... would they call you anymore? I think there are a few people that are like that... but few, very few.
Last week I was hospitalized during my business trip in Boston, and I layed in serious pain for about 3 days. I was very sick with something--they diagnosed me with viral gastroenteritis--although I know they had no idea really what I had. My body is still so out of whack. My doctor will recommend, most likely, to move to the next tier of treatment for my disease - crohn's. I am not sure what to do, and I fear that I lack the ability to receive direction from God on this. I feel scared and far away from knowing what path to choose. I feel lost and alone in my suffering -- even with my husband and family's support.
As a woman, I have always cherished my ability to bear and birth children. I feel it is a special and unique gift that has been given to women and for that reason I have always been excited for that time in my life. I am currently in the best years of my life to do this, to be a mother and to carry my babies...and I can't. I am not healthy enough to do it. It feels like I am failing... or that I am broken. I have had experiences with the Spirit of God that lead me to believe that I will bear children and that I need to prepare. I am not sure when, or how, but I have felt that I will. I struggle to communicate about this with my husband... and anyone else, for that matter. And so, I feel like I could burst. Probably because I have no control over the situation and I am a controlling person.
I cannot wait much longer, I need guidance - I hope General Conference will bring me what I am seeking.

logo design: iEventfoto

I don't know if they'll go with this design, but I am really liking it.

A blanket

I really want this blanket so much - I want I want.

beautiful design. : ) Sometimes I really love things at target.

Slow Design Manifesto

I believe in this - thanks gavin, for the share: via nineteenthirtyfour

Designer Callie Neylan was fed up, like me, with deadlines too soon, designing too fast for clients too unhappy. The question "why can't you design any faster?" really weighs on me. And, as Callie says, heaven forbid they pay you what you deserve, or what you ask for....

She has taken the Slow Food Movement from Italy and modified it for Slow Design. Enjoy:

01 Our forefathers of design, who first designed under the tenets of modernism and in response to an increasingly fast-paced world, nevertheless spent years of slow, careful consideration perfecting and codifying the design disciplines we know today: architecture, industrial design, graphic design, and today, interaction design.

02 With the advent of the information age, we are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Design, which disrupts our vision, pervades the aesthetics of our workplaces and homes and forces us to look at ugly things.

03 A firm defense of good, well-thought out design and opposition to cheap templates, bad typography, malignant form, easy solutions, and unappreciative clients is the only way to oppose the universal folly of Fast Design.

04 May suitable doses of guaranteed visual pleasure and slow, long-lasting enjoyment resulting from a slowly-designed, well-designed thing preserve us from the contagion of the multitude who mistake frenzy for efficiency.

05 Our defense should begin in the studios and design schools with Slow Design. Let us rediscover the fruits of thoughtful concepting, adequate rounds of revisions, and respect for our discipline and banish the degrading effects of Fast Design.

06 In the name of productivity, Fast Design has changed our way of looking and threatens our user experiences and visual literacy. So Slow Design is now the only truly progressive answer.

07 That is what real culture is all about: developing taste rather than demeaning it. And what better way to set about this than an international exchange of experiences, knowledge, projects (are you with me, fellow Good Designers)?

08 Slow Design guarantees more beautiful, pleasurable, useful communication and objects.

So amazing.... with a Massimo Vignelli quote at the end: “The life of a designer is a life of fight: fight against the ugliness.”

On to some more very slow, careful design.

Hype for Type

New favorite? I want to spend my money...

best new favorite

This

 

I wish we could get a puppy so bad! And also pinned here...follow me!

Today

Today I cut up a credit card and paid off another. The End.
Make that three credit cards, paid off!

It's time to get real

Maybe if I start writing all my goals on my blog I will actually accomplish some of them.
Has anyone had any success in this?
I don't mean to be negative, there are just so many things I want to do....
Read 5 books before the end of the summer.
Finish recovering my chair.
Plant flowers in my pots.
Watch the godfather.
Lose 10 lbs.
Get my Crohn's Disease under control.
Start selling things on ebay/amazon.

Perhaps I should pat myself on the back for some of the things I have accomplished:
1. I recently got to go on a research business trip with my design team, it was tiring, but enlightening.
2. Jared and I have been harvesting some of our garden, which is overflowing with greens - anyone want some arugula? Yellow Pear heirloom maters?
3. We finally finished refinishing our table - it took almost 1 whole year, but mostly because there was an 8-9 month sabbatical from refinishing during the winter. You should come and see it.
4. I finally sent in my camera to get it repaired. Now I will be able to share images - now that the garden is completely grown....  : /
5. Our chair is getting recovered... it's still in the process, but I think I'm going to work on it tomorrow, or maybe even tonight!
6. I am halfway done writing our thank you notes for our wedding - our one year mark is fast approaching. I hope to have them all done by then.
7. A site I designed finally went up - it is for a custom home building site for a construction management firm in Kansas City. You can view it here.
8. I have lost 5-7 lbs.  - we may be able to attribute this to catching a summer cold, however.
9. We finally got our settlement for my injury on my hand and will be using a lot of it to pay off all our credit card debts - YAY!
10. I am starting to do research for a new business idea with my friends from Picture This! Fun fun fun - I love interaction design!

Have a great day - and pat yourself on the back for something you did.

Sam Sam, she's my man

Sorry, it rhymed. I need to shout out to my main mommy blogger, Samantha Kelly. She is doing great, and I enjoy watching her videos and seeing her cute pics on youngpeopleinlove.

Check them out! Follow them, even.

Life never stops moving

Can someone tell me how to make things move any slower? I am having trouble keeping up with my brain - my body is too slow... fat...sick...
I'm pretty excited for:
1. Friends getting married
2. Family Reunions
3. Harry Potter Party
4. Turning 27
5. Going to Harry Potter Land?
6. Reading books on my iPhone
7. Blog/etsy/money?
8. Getting some new design/interaction design work
9. Paying off all my debts in the next month or so
10. Planning for grad school, big moves, life decisions

Thanks be to God for giving me such an exciting life!

google PLUS

So far, I like it.
My opinion is based off of the interaction models that are a little/a lot more interesting and intuitive than those of facebook. Facebook doesn't organize friend groups very interestingly.
Drag and drop functionality of circles is pretty nice - i'm interested to see where google continues to go with the iphone/mobile app for google+. Last night I couldn't get to the app for it, today i can.

Can they keep it up?
only time will tell us.

I really like that it's integrated in with my gmail interface as well...

micromanagement

Sometimes I get itchy when this happens.

A poem for Dr. Moore

I like him,
I hate him,
I feel really mad.
I feel a better today than yesterday
but then I feel really sad.
Maybe I'm too tired,
maybe I'm in pain.
Oh what a world of medicine
It really wracks my brain.
A fistula, infliximab,
a really tiny pill,
injectable, detectable
you may get TB again
can I even learn it all?
I surely don't believe
They don't know me
I don't think
not any more than me
or how much time I cry
Will I have kids? a surgery?
will I die of cancer?
or will it be alright?

Crazy is as Crazy do

I have been doing a lot of thinking and a lot of playing and a lot of working - hence, no new posts. I really need to get some more sleep, and today, I need a pedicure - so I think I'm headed there in a few mins.
There is part of me that is a really REALLY bad control freak - I need to know what will happen, at least a little bit, in my future. I want to know at least somewhat how things will go and plan based off of that. I have a hard very hard very very hard time letting go, letting the Lord take the reins and run the show. My life has been very blessed every time I choose to let Him lead my path and literally take my lame feet and walk them for me to the place they need to go. Most things in our family/life are really really good right now, but certain things recently learned about my health have made me reconsider everything: Schooling, My career, Jared's career path, Moving, etc. I really really truly don't know what to do, and I have to make very hard decisions.
I am not quite sure why I feel so alone, I think it is because I don't know how to communicate this worry and leave it with God. I feel all-encompassing panic a few times a day, and just simply turn that part of my mind off to move to other matters... work, sleepovers, going to provo - seeing a fun movie.
I think this is a good trick for survival under stress, although I wonder if it will last, and how it will all break down suddenly.
On Sunday much of my family will be fasting for me and my health. Jared's too. If anyone would like to pray for me and fast this Sunday with them, I need it. If for nothing else, to be sound of mind and learn all that I need to learn to make a good decision about managing my health care.

Immunosuppressants

I don't know what I should do. I want to have babies soon.

Getting Better All the Time

I am not eating anything today. Well, I get to eat jello. Green Jello. Tomorrow morning will be my second colonoscopy of a many many more, I suppose. I am praying to understand my body better. I want to heal what is happening, but that's impossible. Sometimes it is hard to think about having this my whole life... taking this many meds, feeling bad so often...

In other news, I love my family and I will miss them now that I got a few little games of nerts and monopoly in. We don't have tons to do at our apartment, but we played a lot of lumines, a great game that is just like tetris.

I really needed to be around people that already know me and love me and get me. Sometimes it's really important to have that for a little while.

Cut Copy

Every time I listen to them, I renew my love. Why and HOW can Cut copy be so amazing? They just keep reinventing their sound and coming up with something just as good.
Anyone? Anyone agree?

Writing a love story

I have recently been thinking of writing a story of love about my husband and I. They will be a small series of children-story type books that are easy, simple and naive in their approach. The illustrations should match that writing style, but they will encompass perhaps one or two small memories in each book. I think it's going really well, I have the first one pretty much written, and I haven't started thinking of the visuals yet, but this was inspiring in that it reminded me of my project and how beautiful it could be -- perhaps a great way to teach our children what our love is, and what love can be like : )

<3<3<3

New programs, new life

I feel invigorated by the fact that I'm learning new types of design and design thinking. I am enjoying learning this prototyping program called axure - so intuitive and useful for presenting interaction design concepts to clients and stakeholders for various projects - even at the flowchart stage : )
Check it out - axure.com

Pinterest

Does anyone else see pinterest as just another sick ploy to get us to not work while at work? I sincerely can get addicted to things like facebook, gchat, pinterest and blogging if I'm not too busy at work, and so - adieu. to you, and you, and yeu.

So cute, and I love giraffes

I love this! http://www.buenothebear.com/

Conversation

I have to make a concession - I am a jealous person. I get jealous of my husband's attention. He gives it to soccer and the internet and homework. I lure him away though. I am jealous of my sister's attention, and my mom's. I am weird about my husband talking to his ex gf. Even though she and he don't have any feelings for one another. I wonder why that is. I wonder why I'm worried and jealous about these people.
I have another concession. I am getting fat...er than I usually am. I really don't have any pants that aren't too tight. But I REFUSE to buy new ones that fit better.
It has been really fun to have Janna in town - we didn't do anything cool, just watched harry potter and Bridget Jones' Diary and ate so much food. Made cookie dough, played 2 games of monopoly last night. We are best friends, and I hope it always stays that way.

Also, does anything taste better than strawberries dipped in sugar?

Update on the garden

I will be starting our food blog shortly, as soon as I get a new camera from costco, because the other one just broke one day - but until then, I have to just say the BEANS!! They are growing so fast and so tall! I am very VERY excited to cook and to harvest.

More to come!

In other news.... I told the landlord about our pothead downstairs, he said he would talk to him, but he's moving out at the end of the month! Anyone want to live downstairs!!! It's only 600 dollars including utilities!!!!

Because I have to be an information Design Junkie

Here is the sweetest, easiest and most fun way I can think of being on a diet/obsessing about my food. What I eat, how much, how bad it is for me, etc.

Publish Post

MAKE A CHART!

Also, please check out these 40 visualizations of food eaten, via datavisualization.ch

keeping cool

Our apartment is above another apartment in this fourplex made of an old, 1929 house. It is beautiful and we love it, and love making it beautiful. We have a problem, however. In the apartment below, there is a pothead who I have asked nicely not to smoke in the house - we share air vents. In Utah it has been raining a lot in the past few weeks - which is really strange, so it's been cool. But NOW, now it is finally hot in Salt Lake, and we want to use our much-needed and covetable air-conditioning.
The switch for the air conditioner lies within the pothead's apartment, and lately, his new thing is to tell me that it's on, and then turn it off so he can smoke and it doesn't come up through the vents. Jared realized this last night, as he had to rig up some sort of air ventilation circuit with our fans... we both smelled the smoke, even without the fan running from downstairs and quickly realized this must have been his plan. Is it time for me to take actions into my own hands? I don't want to be the bad guy - I didn't want to tattle to the landlord....but shouldn't I call him?
Why must we dwell in the skunkweed smelling putrescence of this guy with a long goatee?
In other news, I was thinking of fans when I found this beauty - too bad it's like 150€ just to get it sent here. Too pricey for my pocketbook. but if you want it - go here.

hmmm.

I Start to actually blog.

I dive in today -
So i found this photo and it's killing me Event Design by The Parsonage - best use of chinese lanterns that I've ever seen. I have been obsessing about wedding design and event design since my own wedding last August which was featured in Real weddings on projectwedding.com.

Lots of things I don't blog about

1. marriage
2. work
3. emotional issues
4. my lack of general health
5. gaining weight
rft5dfreasrd5czvfcDZsetr5dfsrZ - JARED
6. moving
7. absence of ability to make new friends
8. cleaning my house
9. wanting babies
10. bikram yoga

I wish that I could talk about these, but there's just to much to say. I guess the most important strides I'm making are realizing that I am actually a very capable person - worker, wife and member of the church. I am feeling valuable these days - which is a welcome change from recent past years/months.

I can't really talk about it, but I have been very sad some days. I want to stop being sad and remember that part of patience is learning to love and be happy in a sad moment. Pain is part of forgiving, and loving.

Jared and I have been married for 9 months since the 14th. I count this as a miracle because we are both still in love.

This was cool

I love this, and felt like printing something.

I love...

Shoes.

I love these

I'm looking at learning how to design useful icons that can go cross-culture for the project I'm working on at work, and I ran across this guy on informationisbeautiful.com.

His name is Gerd Arntz and I LOVE looking through these. Check out his site to browse his icon set.

who knew your period could be beautiful?

This is an awesome, cooky representation (a FLOW chart...haha) of the womanly cycle we women know so well.
By I Heart Guts, this is my fav tshirt on her site

The Truest portrayl of my last 8 months.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_changes

Alphabetz for babes

This is a sweet little alphabet by jen montgomery: for all my friends who are having babies right now!

Found this on her blog, old glutton.

html emails

Why is it that when UO makes designs that look a little messed up, i still like them, and even want to copy?

Has anyone else become obsessed with this? It is a great tool, and I might use it in my very near future for a design idea/project.

Also, I had no idea that other people, probably getting paid way more than I do, get to make crazy videos just like mine... these guys are cooky!

Chalkie love

kind of obsessed with  Dana Tanamachi -
no wonder she works at Louis Fili's studio.

mmm...

via formfiftyfive

it's true. why didn't we think of this?

Every designer who sees this is kicking themselves for not doing it first.

looks like their site is down, but i got this via liakim, who got it via designcrush.

i just found some cool websites.

Click the flaming log.
You know you want to.

crazy town spikers.

Click for a therapeutic torn paper animation. tons of other web gems at this link.

All are the work of Rafael Rozendaal.

okay okay....

sometimes it is stil just fun to play with type at 12:30 am.

ride that train

This makes me want to do transport graphics SO BAD.
I love when I see work that inspires me big time.

See other work by Ateljé Altmann HB.

Internet: I LAVA U

I just found this store, poeira and it makes me want to live in portugal again. Lately I have been feeling really sad that I'm forgetting how to speak portuguese a little. I get afraid when I find a native speaker, I get tongue tied... never happened when I was a missionary. I told Jared that he HAS to get me the rosetta stone for Portuguese and for Spanish, so I can really make myself learn again how to distinguish the two foreign languages I know the very best. Then maybe French after that. I think that my hobby in the next year might just be learning languages. I have been feeling a great urgency for it.
So much has happened in the past 2 weeks that last night Jared and I had to list them all out.
Here are some of the highlights:
Jared tutored his best friend in Economics
I applied for 20 or so jobs online one saturday
Jared and I had my brother Chris stay on an air matress in our house for 4 days. SO FUN.
2 days after applying for jobs, I got 4 calls for interviews. I had 2nd interviews at 3 - 3 offers for employment (feels good after last year...)
Jared studied every day. Took two midterms.
My dad came into town and we all painted the inside of the whole minigolf course at Trafalga in Lehi with blacklight paint.
Untitled from Meg Gallagher on Vimeo.
I got a new job at General Electric Healthcare. my salary went up by 60%.
We decided to move to Salt Lake, and sell my car.
Jared had a soccer game. 
We made dinner for 10 people. And had them over to our apartment - it was no small task to fit them all.
We ate at Red Iguana 2x. Yum.
We went to Rachel Van Wagoner's amazing MFA show.
My computer broke, and got fixed for FREE - thank you apple store.

There were lots of other little things, but it's been a little nuts, to say the least. Life is fun/crazy/intense.

this is so cool for anyone into performance/clothing design

http://yoshinarinishio.net/installation/position/

Can you believe these panties?

I cant.

happy v-day

 

This is me trying to make a heart out of the gotham O

I need to reformat my blog, but no time...

I accidentally made this today.

Not bad.

Do any other SEO geeks find this funny?

I do.

Thanks, hypem. For such a little gem.

I will blog more this year....I will I will I will

Friday's photoshoot for work. Got some fun stuff. Love me a mannequin....