Fun little things.

I made some greeting cards tonight!

I bought "A Little Book on Love" at Barnes & Noble yesterday. It features Lela Lee's Angry Little Girls, and it was too funny to pass up. It's tough to pick out favorite spreads, but here's a few to just give you an idea of what the book is about (and how small it is!):

I explored more of the Angry Little Girls website, and really enjoyed these ecards: "Love is friendship set on fire" and "It's dancing time!"

Vacation.

First of all, a pair of photos I find amusing.
This is my apartment during finals week...

...and this is my apartment approximately four hours after my last final.

This reveals a few things.

1. Finals week was intense.

2. Cleaning is therapeutic (helped me de-stress at the end of the week).

3. I like to photograph oddly ordinary things. 

I am so happy to be on vacation, and even happier that my sleepless nights and full days in school paid off (I received my grades today!). After taking a semester off, I was very determined to do well, but slightly afraid of what that would require of me. 

So what have I been doing with my new free time? 

+ Baking "Peasant Bread"

+ Checking out Native American art at the MIA

+ Walking through snowstorms

+ Packing many Christmas gifts

+ Playing "Dance Central" 

+ Reading 

+ Drinking fine wine 

+ Gearing up to start doing work for my internship

I love it. Trying to treasure every ordinary moment because before I know it, I'll be starting classes again.

I will leave you with this, another lovely tea bag tag from Yogi Tea.

Seventeen and a half

That's how many hours of class I have left until my Fall 2010 semester is over! As usual there is much to be done. My body is begging for mercy... well, sort of. As much I enjoy all that coffee and chocolate, the fatigue (and lack of energy-boosting exercise) is wearing on me. And that is why I've decided to keep Friday night low-key: snuggling up with a cup of tea, reading a book, maybe painting my nails. 

But before I settle in for the night, I wanted to share a few things...

First, the poster I designed for my Data Visualization class. For over two months this semester I recorded the number of times Facebook showed up in my browser history each day. This poster shows the patterns I found...

 

 
I compared the number of Facebook page views to the number of hours I worked and spent in class each day. I also compared Facebook page views on each day of the week, and on weekdays versus weekends. Last, but not least, I calculated how much money I could potentially earn by working for the same amount of time that I spend on Facebook. 

It was fun coming up with different ways to compare data, to calculate and make predictions. I also learned many many new things about using Adobe Illustrator (making graphs for a poster is so easy!).

Second, I've secured a project management internship for the spring semester, yay! Details to come later.

Third, it's snowing tonight here. I love it. It's fluffy and romantic and magical and makes it so much easier to endure the cold. And for some reason, every time it snows (especially at night) I want to go out and bike in it. Hmm, I'll have to try that sometime before Christmas.

All right, time to wrap up. 

My apartment is a mess--papers everywhere, dishes waiting to be done, etc. I have slept for maybe an hour in the last 36 hours. My abs need some serious attention. And next week may nearly mirror this one. 

But I am happy.

Afloat

The end of the semester is ALWAYS challenging. No matter how well one tries to plan for it, there seems to be too much to do and too little time. Too much caffeine and too little sleep. I think that what's really important, though, is to end the semester with something to show for all of those long days and sleepless nights.

That brings me to my typography homework for this week... type specimen posters. I chose to research Howard "Bud" Kettler, who designed the typeface Courier. Here's one of my rough drafts...

My process book for this course, intended to show all of the steps I went through in the design process for every project (sketches, research, etc.), is in the works as well. It is a larger project than one realizes at first–trying to put together every bit of work from the entire semester–but it will be nice to show my family what I've been up to in school!

That's all I've got for now... time to get ready for a full day of classes, and pack for the trip home for Thanksgiving!

Catching up.

It seems like forever since I've posted anything here.
It sort of blows my mind how much free time I seemed to have when I started this thing, and now days go by in a blink! There are only four weeks or so left to the semester! Because today is my "catch-up" day, the day on which I actually have time to do little things that have taken a backseat to homework, I'm going to keep this fairly short.

I lost my camera. I'm pretty convinced it fell out of my purse when I was at a movie a few weeks ago, and I really miss it. It sounds silly, but I was much more attached to my camera than I thought. And I really want to keep this blog image-heavy and avoid just "word vomiting" all over it.

There's SNOW on the ground! I'm not a huge fan of the bitter cold, but I do enjoy all those winter activities that require the snow. There's also something I find really romantic about walking around the city, cup of coffee in hand, as the snow falls. And Christmas. I love Christmas... candles and family and strings of lights and... but I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Thanksgiving is going to be fabulous, too. Time with my family is always fun and always seems to end too soon.

I'll try to post some of the work I've been doing for school soon. For now, it's time to tidy the mess that Hurricane Homework left in my apartment.

Dance

I danced ballet on-and-off from age 8 to 15. I can appreciate how much work goes into perfectly executing pirouettes and leaps and port de bras (not that I ever reached perfection, I just know how many hours of practice it takes to try doing it perfectly!). I've also danced tap, jazz, modern, ballroom, Latin, swing and even a little belly dancing. I love to dance and to watch dancers, especially those more talented than myself.
I've often fallen into YouTube-ing dance videos for hours. Today the two minutes (21:00 to 23:00) of ballet solos in Kanye West's "Runaway" video held me spellbound. Check it out... these women are amazing and beautiful.

An Education in Bourbon Whisky.

For the Copywriting course I'm taking, we were asked to write a long copy ad for Maker's Mark. For those of you who aren't familiar with "MM," it's a brand of bourbon whisky made in Loretto, KY. I didn't know much about whiskey before this assignment. (To be honest, I didn't care to-- the last time I tried whiskey I thought it tasted like a permanent marker.) I've discovered that for some, whiskey isn't just a drink-- it's a total sensual experience. My research took me to some unexpected places (who knew that Marie Claire magazine would have an article titled, "How To Drink Whiskey"?) and I've decided not to completely write off whiskey just yet.

Some notes/Post-It madness...

  

For my final ad, I chose to focus on Marjorie Samuels' role in the branding/presentation of Maker's Mark. She's the one responsible for the unique look-- the typeface, the logo, the bottle shape, and the red wax seal!

Now all that's left to do is try a little Maker's Mark for myself!

Boost

I really enjoy that Yogi Tea prints messages on its tea bag tags. I've been drinking their Echinacea Immune Support tea this weekend, and in addition to the immune system boost, I've received a spiritual boost as well.

On Friday...

And this morning...















Thanks, Yogi Tea.

Patterns

My current occupation? Full-time student.
One of my favorite projects so far this semester was pattern-making in my Introduction to Typography class. Here are two of the patterns I made, alone and applied to a messenger bag...

I've always been a fan of trying new things, but...

Starting this blog was one of those things that I kept putting off, afraid that I wouldn't do it "perfectly" right away. I had to remind myself that the first step doesn't have to be huge, it just has to happen. So here I am, world.
I decided to start this blog to keep track of the work I do in school, to practice documenting my process and my progress. It will also be peppered with personal things to add a little "flavor."
I think that's all I have to say for now. Much more to come!