Fun Filled Weekend

Due to some unfortunate events (my laptop charger giving out and coming down with a HORRIBLE case of the flu) it's been quite a few days since my last post. But I'm healthy and have a brand spankin' new charger, so I'm ready to go!

It was a pretty busy weekend for us. My parents and foster siblings, visited. It was so great to see them! We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, The Children's Museum on Navy Pier, we showed them our new apartment, hung out at their hotel, and ate at some delicious restaurants! It was a busy couple of days.

Tim and I also, bought our couch over the weekend! We've decided not to buy the dining table right now. I plan on blogging a little bit more about that in another post.

While I was charger less, I missed a NICE Assignment :( I would make it up, but it was time sensitive. I probably half partcipated because I never wear shoes around the apartment, but I don't think that was the point. I do want to get a pair of TOMS though! I plan on blogging more about this too, so keep coming back and looking for it!

April Love List

Continuing in the tradition of the March Love List NICE Assignment, (check out my list here) I thought I'd make a Love List at the beginning of each month. So here is April's Love List.


Things I Love About April

• Easter! It's always been one of my favorite holidays. Though, I'm a little sad that I won't be spending it how I normally do, at my Grandpa and Grandma Brodbeck's
• Spring is officially here, no more worrying about waking up to snow
• My parents and foster siblings will be visiting for a weekend
• One more month until we move!
• Flip flop weather

NICE Assignment: Send a Postcard

This week's NICE Assignment from Melissa of Operation NICE was to send a postcard. I'll give myself an A+ for this one, I'm sending five. I chose to send mine to family. I think one recipient will be most surprised...I'm sending to a somewhat estranged family member, hopefully, it will bring a smile to their face!

This assignment was super easy (which I like) a nice break from the last couple, that I struggled with. I just used some postcards, I bought a couple years ago while in New York. And since there isn't a lot of room on a postcard, I didn't have a hard time with knowing what to say. Added bonus, sending postcards, was one of my goals I wrote about in an earlier post!

First Kiss

I have an idea for turning one of my old projects, from an image making class I took in college, into a book. I think it would make a pretty cool book and has the potential to have some really neat imagery. The initial project was a mini accordion booklet that had images and stories of people's first kisses. That's one of the original images below—a xerox transfer, scanned in a given color in Photoshop.

The complete idea for the book is still formulating (I just thought of this today, while avoiding my actual work) but the basic idea is exploring people's first kisses...in the movies and on TV first kisses are often romanticized and stereotypical ideas of what a first kiss should be like. When in real life, they're usually awkward, funny, embarrassing, or well I guess they can be romantic in real life too. 

Step one: collect lot's of stories about first kisses, the stories could be about the person's first kiss ever, their first kiss with a certain person, their first kiss as a wife or husband, as long as it's a "first kiss" of some sort, the story could be used.

Step two: sort through the stories and decide on which ones I'll use in the book. Also decide on what the image should be of i.e. a couch, door stoop, car, garden, church, etc

Step three: experiment with imagery, layouts and binding techniques, I've got some ideas, but not sure what I'll actually end up doing. This step can be happening through out steps two and three

Step four: create final images

Step five: put it all together

Mostly I'm going to create this book, to keep myself doing something creative, since my current job requires very little creativity. Additionally, it will add some pizazz to my portfolio and show that I can take initiative and create without being told too. It would be like a dream come true that it would like take off and become something cool that could get published and people would actually buy it, but I think that's just a dream...

Feel free to leave a first kiss story in the comments—but know that if you do, you're giving my the right to use it in my book :)

NICE Assignment: Be a Better Listener

For those who don't know, I've committed to completing every NICE Assignment posted by Melissa of Operation NICE. This week's assignment was to be a better listener.  I like to think that I'm a pretty good listener, but the fact is I tend to interrupt and interject by own two cents worth. So this week's assignment was actually kind of tough for me. I think I did better though...

I just asked the hub's if I was a better listener this week...his answer, "I think so. I don't think you interrupted my stories as much" For those of you who don't know my hub's, it can be pretty tough NOT to interrupt his stories, they drag on and on and on! But sshh I didn't say that ;) So over all I think I did pretty well, but I still have room for improvement. We'll see how it goes.

On a side note, I feel like I have been complaining less. I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking with that NICE Assignment for longer than a week!

Tattoo?!

I've been thinking about getting a tattoo for awhile, but until recently I hadn't really been that serious about it. I couldn't think of anything I would want on my body for the rest of my life, but I think I've finally decided!

After a lot thinking I chose the words—create yourself—because I feel everyone has the opportunity to become whom ever they want. Every passion you pursue, every mistake, every choice you make shapes your life and creates who are. The tattoo would serve as a reminder to myself, to thoughtfully live life and make conscious decisions to create the life I want for myself.

Is that getting a little too deep? Maybe...but what do you think, should I get the tattoo?! I'm trying to decide on a typeface. The designer in me cares A LOT about this. I think I've found my top 9 and I'm leaning towards a serif typeface. But I would like some opinions. What do you think of the idea? What typeface do you think would look best on my forearm?

I've Got Goals Too

Today I'm taking a page out of my good friend Amy's book and setting some short term goals for myself. Maybe by publishing them on my blog (even though I don't think I have a very large readership yet), it'll give me more motivation to achieve them.

-- Finish designing my little sissy's blog (I've picked the color scheme, just need to design the header and what not)
-- Pick paint colors for the new apartment
-- Frame the mini Polaroids (I wrote about this project in one of my first blog posts)
-- Work out, I'm in a wedding at the end of May and would really love to lose a few pounds
-- Send postcards, just because