the pretty

Today being my only day off this week definitely merited some online window shopping to the usuals. By usuals I mean the "I just realized I'm broke and can't afford anything other than this" stores. Harsh realities y'all. I found a lot of patterns that spoke (sang, rather) to me, including this skirt, this Zara dress (never have I ever found something at Zara?), and this dress. Spring is coming, you guys. It's about damn time. We deserve it. I had more snow days that I've had since 2006. Many a fire were made, many a comfort foods were eaten. Christmas is a distant memory. The dresses are practically leaping out of my closet.

Aside from online window shopping, I did my fair share of Pinterest. By Pinterest I mean "staring blankly at the scrolling iPhone screen and tapping." Most inspiring and warm fuzzy generating were the ones of peonies (one of the most perfect things on this planet), and beautiful places in France, because... Hello, France. What I would give to transport to Paris right this instant and have a chocolate croissant. My local bakery just isn't cutting it anymore...

A seemingly Greek town just getting some sun. Pastel buildings, bright blue water, whitewashed everything. In reality, I have no idea what that is. All it says to me is "you belong here." I'm down...

This week also marked a week where I actually tried to start sketching again. It lasted for two days. Such is life.

But I did find some inspirations along the way. Someone I've admired from afar (in a totally uncreepy way, guys) since my brief stint on tumblr (ain't nobody got time) - bouffants & broken hearts. She definitely knows what she's doing.

Watercolor is a thing of the past for me, but maybe I'll find some inspiration once the weather warms and things start looking alive again, as opposed to crunchy, dead, withering plants. One can hope! Experimenting with sketching and watercolor could be a fun little proj to try out... The second my deck is free of clutter, dead plants, snow, and dirt, I'm absolutely sitting out there with a cold beer (or wine!) and getting some pretty things made.

To the weekend I go (actually I work tomorrow and Sunday, I don't remember what a weekend actually feels like?)!

a post that makes no sense

Oh hey there, blog. It's been so long. I'm sorry it's taken [yet another] snowy day to bring us back together for the first time since Halloween.

This post is about getting your shit together and doing what you want to do in life. Accomplish what you want to accomplish! Don't let your day job get in the way of what you really strive to achieve. Hell, maybe even try to combine your goals into your day job, if possible. I know it's possible for me. Some people, however, those financial consultants that really dream of being golf pros, maybe this isn't as attainable.

But if you're working at a boutique small business that is already basically a design firm/store in itself, why not try to merge your graphic design talents in there as well? Shake things up a bit. Everyone will benefit from a rebranding strategy. You will get to do graphics work, and the business will look better. Win win, right?

Maybe. Let's explore.

First, a sketch. One that reminds me to keep sketching, because I can. This is one of a series of 30 from a garden at school. It was the bomb. I have vowed to sketch one page per day. Maybe this will help me determine my priorities.

Let's start with where my greatest interests lie. Interior design? Not really. Though it should be top on my list seeing as I spent about 6 years studying the science of interior design... This is not my greatest interest. I've managed to twist and turn it into more of a hobby and past time. Ironically enough it's what I spend my days doing (in peoples' homes, though, and not commercial or public spaces - which I've found to be more rewarding anyway as you develop a personal relationship with these people). I could spend hours on home styling blogs and pin boards and yadda and yadda. I spend the better half of my time on Pinterest looking through home images to get ideas for my new home in the end of the summer. Maybe it's a girl thing. We nest. We gather. We make homes.

Gotta make your loved ones cozy! Duh.

But I'm not sitting here 24/7 in Revit putting together a building with HVAC and doing all the boring stuff. And for that, I am glad. I remember in studio critiques when my professors would ask me what a particular aspect of my design would be made out of. "What material do you think this is?" they would say. Hell if I know. I just know what I want it to look like.

For that reason, maybe I wasn't the best interior design student. But I did know one thing - I had an eye for graphic quality. My other professors noticed this early on, and I probably knew that back in the day when I had a website in middle school (to this day I cannot remember what was actually on there, but I remember making it pretty). 

Unfortunately, I realized this about halfway through my degree. No backing out now. So what did I do? Turned all of my projects into a graphic project. I challenged myself to present it in a way that no one else was presenting. To turn an interior project into a graphic project. But still having enough "interior design" qualities to make it okay with my professors. It lacked some technicalities, but in the end I think they know what I was trying to do and who I was trying to be.

Let's stop rambling and start getting to the point. My top interests are:

1. graphic design

2. food/baking

3. interiors

Yes, food and baking wins out interiors. After work, I come home, window shop online, pin design pins, and most of all - read cookbooks. I typically fall asleep reading a cookbook. I think about food most of the time. I watch food network any time that I'm home. Every night before leaving work, I find a recipe to make. Must be a given talent that I have to be able to read a recipe, because apparently this hard for some people... I would like to help those people. How sad it would be to not know how to read a recipe. And for those of you wondering - yes, reading a recipe is different than reading reading.

Graphics & food... Graphics & food... Sounds like Spoon Fork Bacon to me, but also sounds like an opportunity to blog more. And that I will. Maybe I'll even start photographing some food after I cook it for my honey. That is, if he doesn't eat all of it instantly. Also if we ever make dinner before 830 PM on a weeknight when the sun is still up.

Likeliness: Zero.