I Bought My Toms!

I bought my TOMS last night! I blogged about TOMS shoes awhile ago, this pattern was one of my original picks, but I went with purple rather than blue. I should have them in a few days!

Design Archives Part 1

One of my main goals when first creating this blog was to use it as a way to keep current with (and creating) good graphic design. So far, I haven't really featured much of it, so I've decided that once a week I will do an entry called Design Archives. Each of these entries will include pictures I pull from my folder of "inspiration", which simply is a folder on my laptop full of pictures of what I think is good graphic design. I will also include some sort of commentary on why/what makes is good graphic design.

I haven't been very good at sourcing where my images come from (most of these, in fact I think all of them, come from The DieLine) I need to get better at this, it's VERY important to give credit where credit is due.

• Paulette: If I knew where I could buy these delish looking cookies, I'd be all over it. It's so obvious, it's almost clever, that the double T's should become a cookie...that idea is carried through each letter as the stroke all have the characteristics of the cookie. The varying opacity of the background illustrations add subtle interest to what could have easily become over done or...boring
• Crab Meat Packaging: The tag line "Seafood & Eat It" is a GREAT play on the well "see-food diet" It made me smile and laugh and that's good enough for me!
• Crazy Foam: What little kid wouldn't want to take a bath if they got to use Crazy Foam? Each bottle becomes a character and could easily keep a child entertained in the tub. Form and function, I give it an A+!
• Treo: I'm not even sure anymore what this is, but I love, love, love the typography and color scheme. Lately I've really been digging slab serif typefaces, so it didn't surprise me when I pulled this image for my first Design Archive post.
• Chocolate Bar Packaging: I love that this packaging takes a totally different approach than the normal "sensual, expensive, silky" images of chocolate packaging and advertising. I admire how detailed the illustrations of the Cacao Plant, from which chocolate comes from. And again I love the typography. It's simple and the percentage of cacao was a lovely idea.

May Love List

I know there are still a few days left in April, but I am WAY too excited for May to hold on my May Love List!! There are a few MAJOR things happening this month...

• My second niece is due this month—so excited to meet her!!
• We're moving on Sunday the 2nd
• Mother's day is in May—I have the best momma in the world
• My littlest sisser is visiting
• Going to an ex-high school teacher's concert here in Chicago
• Goodbye Coastline's first concert the 17th
• A&J are getting married (they coined the term "That's So City")
• May flowers—April showers bring them ya know

May is going to be a good month! I'm excited.

NICE Assignment: Pick 5 For the Environment

This week's NICE Assignment from Melissa of Operation NICE, is to Pick 5 for the Environment, in honor of Earth Week.

Yesterday was Earth Day, did you do anything special? I didn't...but I like to think that I live a pretty "Earth friendly" life without even trying. For example, I take public transportation everyday, don't leave extra lights on, I use a water bottle instead of cups, I use scrap paper for my to-do lists and then recycle it afterward, and I eat meat that was raised on the family farm or purchased at a 4-H fair. But, there is always room for improvement.

Anyway, on to my Pick 5, which is a campaign the EPA is sponsoring to celebrate Earth Day/Week. They have lot's of ideas and tips for saving the Earth and ask that you pledge to do five of them. I've picked my five, what will your be?

• Reduce: Cut back on the amount of 'stuff' that could later end up as waste. 
• Dispose of solid and liquid wastes and medications safely
• Use only the water you need, and reuse when possible (I tend to leave the water running while brushing my teeth and while doing the dishes, I pledge to stop doing this)
• Save Energy at home (our apartment gets pretty warm, we've been leaving the ceiling fan all day, I'm going turn it off and open a couple extra windows)
• Reuse: Upcycle! Take something that is disposable and transform it into something (My BFF was telling about a co-worker who makes lamps out of styrofoam cups, I probably won't do something so involved, but I'll think of something!)

On the Hunt

I'm on the hunt for a "so city" chair that will compliment our new Movie Sofa (check it out--we didn't end up getting the glass table, because we've decided to focus on one room at a time) The perfect chair will be modern in design to compliment the sofa and will bring color and personality into the room. I found a few different chairs at Pier 1 Imports, but I'm still looking.

I'm going to have to commit to it for a few years, so I want to make sure I'm in love with it. I don't want another area rug episode...to fill you in, hubs and I bought an area rug last September, not a SUPER expensive one, but it wasn't cheap either. He's a little upset, because I'm already sick of the colors/pattern and we haven't even had it a full year.

So far I have three options, all within my budget. I like each for a different reason and right now, I'd say I like them all equally. What do ya think? Have you seen a cool chair somewhere? If so please share!

NICE Assignment: Call for Testimonials

So, I'm about 10 days late completing this assignment, but like they say "better late than never."

Last week's NICE Assignment was a call for testimonials. That means share a story about something nice someone did or said to you, big or small. I have two stories to share!

One thing about living in a city like Chicago, that isn't always enjoyable, is riding the bus or the 'L'. And that's what makes this first nice testimonial so wonderful. Last weekend, hubs and I were on our way to meet up with my parents, after transferring from the Brown Line to the Red Line, we were pleasantly surprised by an up beat train operator.

"This is a Red a Line train heading to 95th, making all stops. Including Sox 35th, White Sox stadium, US Cellular Field, also known as The Cell"

"Next stop Roosevelt—Museum Campus, walk to the Shedd, Field Museum and Adler Planetarium" 

He didn't really do much, other than happily announce the stops and at a couple stops he even added his own commentary, but it was enough to make both of us smile and enjoy our half hour ride on a crowed train.

On to my next testimonial. This weekend, I have a bridal shower to attend! I'm excited, because I love weddings, sometimes I think I should have been a wedding planner, I guess I still could, I'm only 23 after all. But I digress...back to my testimonial. Before I even went, I was having a hard time deciding on what to buy and even though I just got married last summer, I couldn't even remember what gifts I was most excited about, and sometimes once you pick something off the registry, you can't find it in the store, so to say the least I was a bit overwhelmed before even getting to Macy's.

So, I arrive at Macy's and located the in store registry printer, print the registry. While standing there looking over the registry and trying to remember what everything looked like online, because there were no photos on the print out, the nicest employee came up and asked if I wanted help. I said that I was just trying to find a shower gift, but hadn't really decided what I wanted to buy. She proceed to tell me what floor the items were on (which is very helpful when the Macy's your at is like 8 stories) and then walked me around the lower level and pointed out which sections the majority of items were in, made small talk, and made some suggestions for shower gift ideas. She really made the trip more enjoyable.

These two stories really show how it's the small things that can make someone's day a little bighter!

TOMS

A couple of weeks ago, while I was getting ready for work, I turned on the Today Show, well at least now I think it was the Today Show, but anyway...they were interviewing the founder of TOMS Shoes. For those of you who don't know, for every pair of shoes that is purchased, they give a pair to a needy child. Recently, to raise awareness about their cause they declared April 8th, "One Day Without Shoes" I was really inspired by this, especially hearing the story of how the business started and how young the people involved at the ground level were/are.
I'm for sure going to buy a pair...I just have to decide which ones I want. Maybe I'll get more than one pair, since it's for such a great cause! They have tons of fun designs to pick from, it'll be tough. Check out there website, to check out more great styles like the ones below!