5*31*10

This post is mostly for my Sasha Love. :)

Here is a list of the blogs that I check on a regular basis:

How Blog - Updates on all things in the graphic design industry. They post all sorts of stuff thats fun and inspiring to look at.

Nubby Twiglet - Portland graphic designer with a very popular blog. She blogs about her work, clothes, Portland, etc. She's pretty much just a badass.

Agent Lover - Blogs about what she wears and everything else. She's foul-mouthed and hilarious, and I think she's also local.

Design*Sponge - Interior design, graphic design, DIYs, etc. All around beautiful and inspiring. Tons of great decorating ideas on here.

Posie Gets Cozy - Portland-based blog about all things domestic. Her photos and writing are beautiful and generally make me feel warm and fuzzy. The author publishes sewing patterns.

Definatalie - Australian-based graphic designer that writes about her work as well as advocates for fat acceptance. Very cool lady.

Smitten Kitchen - Ridiculously delicious recipes, accompanied by ridiculously beautiful photos.

5*30*10

Just a bit more on food...

Family dinner night was tonight. This is when I cook for a few friends, and we all drink some wine and have good conversation and a generally jolly time. Tonight I consulted my favorite cook book: Martha Stewart's Dinner at Home. It's a great book because the recipes are not only amazing, but also categorized by season and grouped in menus with other dishes that compliment each other.

Tonight I went with the Catfish Po' Boys. Mary made polenta with salsa as well as a salad with black beans and corn chips.

5*27*10

Food lately...

For family dinner night on Sunday I made a butternut squash, caramelized onion and fontina cheese galette. I'm only disappointed I didn't discover this wonderful dish sooner. Basically its a big pie crust with lemon and sour cream folded around a pile of tasty fillings (photos before baking, then after):

Tonight my mom came over for dinner. I grilled some brussel sprouts. I am getting so excited about summer and all the fresh veggies that it brings.

My teeny apartment smells like onions now. Not such a bad smell.

This broccoli makes me miss my garden:

5*26*10

Another day of dreary weather. In my opinion, the best way to deal with shitty weather is a little "liquid sunshine". And, conveniently, I just stumbled upon this awesome recipe for ginger beer. It looks pretty easy, so I think I'll have to give it a shot.

5*25*10

Every morning when I wake up, I give myself a little pep talk. It looks something like this:

5*24*10

I've been working on a business card for my co-worker, Cami Justice. She's a massage therapist, but wanted her card to avoid the typical photos of hands or stones.

I'm obsessed with the font I used on her name, Fertigo Pro.

5*23*10

Yesterday I put on my finest country garb and went to the Rose Garden to see the Tim McGraw. What a hunk. And what a totally different experience, seeing a mainstream show at such a large venue. It feels pretty spectacular if you allow yourself to really get into it.

5*21*10

All this hard work. It makes me want SUSHI!!!

Found this helpful little guide to eating it...

5*20*10

I listened to a story on Fresh Air today that really moved me. It was about a Catholic Priest that runs a non-profit called Homeboy Industries. It's a gang intervention program that helps former gang members learn trades, get tattoos removed, and receive counseling. This just seems like such a rational solution: investing in people.

I would go on about it, but it's much better to listen to. Do that HERE.

5*19*10

This dreary Portland weather is not terribly motivating. I pretty much lose all drive to exercise, work, or do anything productive.

What I am motivated to do is stay curled up in my bed, catching up on movies. And taking breaks from that to bake the most perfect chewy, but crispy around the edges, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

5*18*10

Today I visited the ranch that the owners of Isabel's, Billy and Isabel, just purchased. Billy invited me to come check the place out and enjoy the incredible scenery while downloading and discussing files. This place is absolutely incredible. In addition to the landing strip, greenhouses, warehouses, the main residence also has this breathtaking view of the river, just inside the entrance:

Can't say I'd mind having this as my office:

And another view I've really enjoyed lately is the one from my bike seat, touring Portland during the scattered breaks of good weather we've had. Like this one on a bike-friendly, tree/beautiful home lined street (note the round-about in the middle of the road that deters through traffic):

And this one, where the bike path is actually on the river:

Good stuff!

5*17*10

Here is the graphic I created for a shirt for the Ashland Outdoor Store. Not my concept, but my work. Hopefully I can get 'em to send me a shirt so that I can photograph it for my portfolio.

5*16*10

Street Art. Werd.

My (and everybody else's) favorite street artist, Banksy, just came out with a movie. And it's playing at Fox Towers.

I'm a little confused, is it about Banksy or the documentary maker? Either way, I think it will be worth seeing.

5*14*10

There are several small projects for me to be working on this morning. Business cards, a t-shirt for the Ashland Outdoor Store, and soon some menu work. So I made sure to get in my dose of sunshine and exercise early this morning with a ride around the river:

It wasn't a particularly difficult ride, only just more than 600 feet of elevation gain. But I'm not so much concerned with the difficulty of the ride right now as I am about getting conditioned. And by being conditioned I mean acclimating my hot pocket to being on a bike seat for long periods of time.

5*12*10

I recently learned that Nike wants to expand. A lot. That means they'll need more graphic designers, riiiiiiight?

Read about it.... HERE!

5*11*10

I'm working on a few business cards right now. One is for a friend who cuts hair. I want to use this color theme:

It is very warm. But I think that on white the colors will have a softer effect.

5*10*10

What a productive day its already been. I've installed Leopard, CS4 and Office on my laptop and CS4 on my desktop.

Also, I went for a bike ride with my crazy friend Cullen. Crazy, because after I mentioned going on an easy ride, he took me on a ride up Lovejoy Street, up through Forest Park, to Skyline, and then down Burnside. It hurt so good.

Cullen is the mastermind behind RideWithGPS.com. I created this map of our ride on his site:

The views were pretty incredible from the top. As were the mansions.

5*9*10

I've been away for a few days. I needed a change of scenery, so I visited my pseudo home in Ashland. It sure is nice to have such an amazing family of supportive friends in such a beautiful town.

It was a very successful trip. I did a bit of First Friday art walk, visited all my favorite bars and a few new ones, and saw many of the people I've been missing like crazy.

I also hiked through Lithia Park, and took an obnoxious amount of photos like any good tourist.

Some useful advice. It reads "Don't make the same mistakes twice... Instead make new ones."

The park winds along Lithia Creek.

So there are several picturesque bridges.

I also spent a fair amount of time lazying around, reading, napping, reflecting.

5*5*10

I've just finished watching season 2 of Flight of the Conchords. tear.

5*3*10

We went to the Willamette Week Eat Mobile Food Cart Festival a couple weeks ago. And even though my tummy was not particularly happy with me afterwards, we had a fantastic time sampling from the 30 best food carts in Portland.

Favorites:

Garden State - Sicilian inspired fare. They were sampling a baguette slice topped with mixed greens, cod, and a slice of citrus of some sort. Very fresh tasting.

Mono Malo - Tapas! Unfortunately they were out of the vegetarian option by the time I made it there, but Cory raved about the lamb estofada (stew).

Whiffies Fried Pies - Literally fried pies. So disgustingly delicious that we went back for more the next day. They've got sweet and savory ones. The chocolate peanut butter one melts in your mouth.

Flavour Spot - Waffle sandwiches. This was the one that I consistently heard EVERYBODY rave about. I tried the tiramisu one and it changed the way I feel about waffles forever.

At The People's Pig (pork sandwiches):

5*1*10

I've been working on a couple ideas for invitations to Cory's housewarming party. His house is old school, right down to the plush carpeting and avocado curtains, so I thought it appropriate to keep with that theme for the invites. Also, I'm designing them to be postcards so that they could be printed on the cheap. I put in a filler date and I'm not entirely certain about the address.

Forgot to put a border on this last one for display purposes, but I suppose the idea comes across. On the last two the info would be printed on the back.