Ten Great Small Spaces

Courtesy of Apartment Therapy

Tuesday Tunes: mc DJ

I've been listening to mc DJ pretty much all week. I think it's because it's a mishmash of things and it keeps my music ADD under control while I work.

I also really love this branding. Typography = goregous.

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This is kind of crazy week. I have a lot to accomplish in a short period of time. I'm leaving for BSU on Thursday afternoon and have some stuff that NEEDS to get done before I go. Time's a tickin'.

In other news,

"Patience pays off."

I hope. 

Finally!

Today was gorgeous out..I should have went for a run. But instead...

Guess what? I finally got my Etsy shop up and running. (Along with a few other important things that needed to get done.) It's taken me forever but I got there! Right now there are just a few items on there, and I will get more up as soon as I can. So feel free to visit it.

I also got a surprise phone call from a friend tonight! It was nice to catch up and chit-chat for a bit. I miss my old design friends from college. Thank goodness for social media making it easier to stay in touch with people. 

My new motto in life is: 

I don't always know what I'm doing - I just do it.

I'm going to start living that. This week. I'm going to start taking risks. I need to stop second guessing myself and just go with my first instinct. I always end up doing what I first decide so why even bother thinking of a dozen other scenarios? It's a waste of energy.

What's life without a little excitement? Trial and error. I'm not going to just magically get to where I want to be in life, right? Must. Take. Chances. Live a little.

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I had a crazy dream last night that I worked for BNSF (the train company my Pa works for). My job was to throw ice off the tracks after a train went by. I told my Pa this and he laughed. It was quite funny. I woke up very confused. For the past week and a half I've been having straaaaaange dreams.

Now, I'm going to enjoy a couple episodes of 30 Rock before I catch some Zzzzz's and dream some crazy dreams.

Inspiration via Cee Lo Green & 30 Rock

Last week, I was listening to "Old Fashioned" by Cee Lo Green and looking at some vintage designs. I felt the two needed to be combined into a design somehow. So this is what I did:

 

I found a color palette that I really liked and just wanted to stick to those 6 colors throughout. I also used 2 typefaces for all the posters, GeoSansLight and Chopin Script. The "Old Fashioned" one reminds me too much of Old Spice...

Yesterday, I didn't do a dang thing except sit and watch my new addiction, 30 Rock. I guess I'm catching up on all the TV I didn't watch in college. Kind of is frustrating being such a visual person, I can't really design and watch TV at the same time, I get too distracted by the TV. 

I like the humor in 30 Rock and I think Tina Fey is awesome.

Definitely didn't accomplish as much as I intended to this weekend. I have a couple of things I HAVE to do Monday/Tuesday so I will be a bit busy in the couple of days. I met up with my Pa today in GF and had dinner with him. That was nice. I also found a decent shortcut from TRF to GF. Recorded timing.

I'm leaving Thursday for Portfolio Presentations at BSU on Friday. Marlon is presenting his portfolio and I'm super excited to go watch. Also looking forward to seeing my old professors and peers. It's crazy, this weekend will be one year since I presented my portfolio. Time has seemed to go by faster now that I've graduated. It's weird. 

I'm looking for new music to keep me entertained. Anybody got any ideas? I like pretty much anything...although, not so much country.

Video-Mania

Today is the day for videos. I've been doing my daily check of favorite sites and awesome stuff keeps showing up. I share.

Oil'd from Chris Harmon on Vimeo.

Great message. Great animation. 

Voyage from MAGROUND Images on Vimeo.

Fantastic photography.

Love this stop motion for Martha Stewart Living. 

N.Y. Adorned “Tradition” from Evan Owen Dennis on Vimeo.

I really enjoy the cinematography in this video and that it's in black and white. Tattoos are a great piece of artwork. I wish I could afford another...

The Twins from skatefairy on Vimeo.

And finally, for my love of shooting skateboarding. These kids got skills.

Last night I all of a sudden had the urge to design (scratch that, I always have the urge to design) got hit with some inspiration. From this:

See more here. 

 and this:

Work to come soon. 

Inspired by Architecture

I happened across a blog last night called, Inspire Create Bake with a post containing this wonderful photography of University of North Texas.

All photos from Inspire Create Bake

When I go back to BSU next week for Portfolio, I'm going to really pay attention to the architecture. I've taken many photos of the campus before but these photos really make me want to stretch the creativity a bit further. 

Tonight I went to a meeting for a softball league I am joining. I haven't played softball in YEARS. Probably since I was like 15 or something. I think it will be fun and it will be nice to get out of the apartment and run around a bit. Alright, off to hunt for my glove. Not entirely sure where it is...

Tuesday Tunes: Childish Gambino

Last week I mentioned Donald Glover in a post. He is one of the actors on Community. I found out via a podcast interview with Nerdist that he is also a rapper. Of course, I had to check it out. Some of the stuff is your typical rap..but there were a couple of songs that stuck out to me.

"But I swear to God, Tina Fey gave me confidence. Taught me everything that is good comes from honesty. Everybody's got a voice, you just gotta follow it."

"And if I let it go, there'd be no one left to know. Being happy is the goal, but greatness is my vision."

"I am just different."

The lyrics of these three songs kind of remind me of my life in the way that I try not to let anything step in my way of getting to where I need to be. The only thing that can get in my way is myself. People who overcome obstacles in their life and make it to the top help me to keep going. If they can do it, why can't I?

Glover has had quite a life already. He's like 27 or something and has already been a writer for 30 Rock, done comedy gigs all over the country, has a couple albums out, and is acting in a hit TV show. What a life huh? 

I also found this little remix of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" I thought was kind of sweet. 

Adele's voice is awesome. I haven't checked out her new album yet except for this song but I think now I will have to. 

P.S. I have blog design ADD or something...I feel like I'm constantly changing things around. Bare with me while I just try and figure out how Inspire Me is going to look officially. I kind of realized today while driving to work I'm going through an identity crisis. I'll get there one day. Soon.

Spring Time Food

Bri from DesignLoveFest posted a video from My New Roots on how to prepare quinoa. I had never had it before. I decided to try it. One of the grocery stores in Moorhead had some organic stuff in their pay-by-the-pound bin things. I figured it would be the perfect way to try it since I could buy just a little bit for a decent price.

I also read that it is gluten free in raw form like this. But may not be if it is turned into flour. So for all you with Celiac's Disease (and I know of couple of you) give it a try!

Super simple right?

For my quinoa dish I sauteed up some sugar snap peas, orange peppers, broccoli, and chicken. Tossed it all together and topped with with some chopped fresh parsley and strawberry poppy dressing. Delicious and filling. One cup makes a lot, good thing I have tons of leftovers for lunches the next few days. My bank account can't afford grocery's until pay day on Thursday.

For the past week, in the evenings after dinner, I've been craving something sweet. But I've wanted to stay away from candy, cupcakes, ice cream. Tonight I figured some fruit would get rid of those cravings. I was right. I sliced up some mango and topped it with honey and cinnamon. Perfect spring time desert.

Anybody got any spring time dishes? I'm always looking for new recipes!

Antique Treasures & Flood Waters

Here are a couple of goodies I got at the Old and New Store in downtown Fargo.

First, a sweet old bottle I found in the dollar room. It is a Harley Davidson wine cooler bottle. Actually...It still has the wine in in. Is it weird that I bought it with the liquid still there? There wasn't one empty and I really wanted it for my collection. The label isn't all intact anymore but you can still read it. All I could find out about it was that it was a licensed product by Harley Davidson. 

And second is a Kodak Pony 135 Model C. I've been wanting to start a camera collection since I came across one last year at Grandma's Attic in Bemidji. But the one there was expensive and I couldn't afford it. Sooo, when I found this one for $10 I had to grab it. The Kodak Pony's where made from 1955-1958. According to Camerapedia it originally cost $33.75. I think I may get some film and see if this sucker still works.

I'm going to call this one a treasure too. I haven't had TeaBerry for months, since August. I FINALLY got my white chocolate blended coffee with pearls. Yummmmmmm. It was delish after walking around trying to get as many pictures in (for my type study) and shopping before my 90 minutes were up so I wouldn't get a parking ticket.

Part of my wondering around, I really wanted to go get some pictures of the Red River and the flood. I wasn't able to get home the summer of 2009 when I get really bad. I thought I would take advantage of being home and checking it out. 

The parking ramp for the Moorhead Center Mall is no longer accessible..

And the First Ave. bridge is closed off.

There's apartments off to the left that their backyard is pretty much the river right now. 

So there is part of my weekend adventure. I have my bigger project to start now, my type study...along with finishing the dozen other one's I seem to have going on. Must get back to doing my Scene: MPLS magazine and I have a couple other branding stuff that have been collecting dust to work on as well. Life is different when 8 hours of your day are consumed by non-creative work...Must get back on track.

On tonight's episode of Chuck, there was a couple seconds of design chat. Mostly about the colors and font choice for Chuck and Sarah's wedding. I kind of nerded out when I heard that. It was just kind of...well, awesome. I loooove being a crazy designer.