lazy

sorry i haven't been keeping up with this. i've had lots of good stuff, just no motivation. things at work are crazy busy and i just don't feel like posting. i will leave you with a pic of my christmas tree which i put up a couple weekends ago. i also have pictures of the kittens helping, but will post them another time.

I illustrated a really fun Christmas campaign involving cheesy sweaters and fruit cake. I may post it eventually. The client liked it so much they might use me for some side work in 08. Cha-ching! Got some invitations lined up too. And I might be working on the Nashville Roller Derby logo, which could score me "season tickets." Haha. Didn't think the Roller Derby even had such a thing.

I'm driving home next week and am EXTREMELY excited. I miss my family.

We're getting an extra paycheck at work AND $250 to donate to any charity we want. Each employee gets $250 to allocate wherever they please. I'm giving mine to a food cupboard back home. I think they could use it. I've been getting really involved in church. I was a torch-bearer last Sunday. I really like my church. Feels homey. I like that. And the spiritual boost is always a plus.

That's about it. I still have tons of shopping to do, Christmas parties and whatnot. I think this is the most excited for Christmas I've ever been.

p.s. happy late birthday to kevin, if you read this. i really should call.

Just Another Monday

Today's been quite an interesting day. So far today I've...

- Volunteered for 2 hours at St. Luke's toy store, helping less fortunate folks pick out toys for their kids
- Designed stationery for the U.S. Pork Center of Excellence (www.porkgateway.org)
- Designed stationery for a tattoo parlor
- And designed stationery for a place that sells lingerie to small-chested women.

I love my job.

Wonder Years and Mac(crap)Book

Saw the guy that plays Wayne Arnold from The Wonder Years at Fido this morning. That's right, you know you're jealous. I was excited, not enough to talk to him or ask for an autograph, I'm classier than that. But it was pretty exciting. That show's a classic. Also, yesterday some people from work saw Bobby Flay, also at Fido. The Food Network was shooting some special about Las Paletas (the most delicious gourmet popsicles ever) that are made in Nashville. Fido's quite the place to be I guess!

In other news, Macbooks are shit. At least their hard drives are. After having mine only 1.25 years, the hard drive crapped out. Completely kicked the bucket. I was furious. Abolutely livid. I kept my cool though, I'm good at that. Luckily the nice folks at the Apple store filled me in on what to buy and how to install a hard drive myself. That way I'm only spending a little over $100 as opposed to $300 for Apple to do it, and probably put in a shitty hard drive again anyway. Meh. Technology bites.

Come on Thanksgiving! Everyone be safe and gorge yourself on turkey and stuffing!

Warm Wishes and Seasons Greetings

It's time to break out the hot chocolate and candy canes! Emma's offering some new seasonal goodies this year to go along with their custom holiday stationery options from last year.
Basically, we'll get to design full custom campaigns and postcard-style emails for clients, geared toward the holidays. They run about $300 a pop but they're designed high-res so the client can then go and make postcards, which is pretty snazzy. Plus the clients will get a design consultation.
Check out emma's seasonal page to see some samples. I designed the first 4 on the left-hand scroll section. I'm pretty excited about it! It's going to be A LOT of fun!

Illustration is fun.

I'm working on an illustration for a house party invitation for a guy here at work (by 'a guy' I mean Kendrick). It's supposed to be in a similar style as David Berkeley's website. I guess he's a singer/songwriter friend of my co-worker and is going to be performing. I don't have the exact style down, but I think it's got a similar feel. Anyway, I'm definitely enjoying it. Makes me want to go home, put on some comfy clothes, make some coffee and/or hot chocolate, curl up with my Wacom tablet and a movie.

Who needs excitement. Really.

Weekends

I love weekends. This weekend was the first in over 5 weeks where I've actually been in Nashville. Pretty low key and mostly relaxing. Friday night I went to the Frist with Jessica to hear two artists' presentations. One works in metals and one in felt. It was pretty interesting.
Saturday was a good, long and productive day. I got up early to do a crazy ton of laundry, then went off to the library to get a book on hold and some cookbooks. After that I spent the rest of the day cleaning. I put away all my summer clothes, organized drawers, put away laundry, vaccumed and washed the floors, dusted, wiped down all surfaces, cleaned the bathroom and even bleached the tub. I don't think my apartment's been this clean since I cleaned it upon moving in. Saturday night Hilary and I went to see Dan in Real Life (highly reccommend it) and then the kitten peed on my comforter and I spent the rest of the night at the laundromat.
Sunday was church. Irene, my 85 year old buddy, roped me into being a greeter which was nice. There was a mini luncheon afterward which was fun, got to mingle with some church folk. I then went out and bought a new comforter, got the makings of a beef stew together in the crockpot, took a long nap and watched TV and then went to check out the new Whole Foods. Awesome. Really nice place. and then wandered around Anthropologie and the Merrel store. Drooled the whole time. Came home, read for a bit, went to the gym, cleaned up and went to bed.

A very full and relaxing weekend indeed.

Barnabus & Magda