My Life!!!
Hey friends. I’ve been the worst blogger in the universe this week! Sorry about that…
Since I’ve been so bad at blogging I wanted to do a little update on my life lately.
First things first- this is LONG overdue. I chopped off all my hair!! My long hair was seriously getting some major dreads going (no lie) I never brushed it and it was not good. It started stressing me out and got really bad… you guys it got SO bad. I would post a before pic but I’m honestly too embarrassed to show you. I know you would just think I’m a dirty hippie who never gets dressed or takes care of herself… (which may not be too far from the truth!)
So the cut was made. My good friend from home cut it- as I was too embarrassed to have anyone who doesn’t know me that well see what I had happening in my hair.
And now I love it. It is waaay easier to take care of, so easy to style, and I spend way less money on shampoo 
Next thing. My husband ran a MARATHON. That’s 26.2 miles folks. What a stud. He totally inspired me for my half marathon coming up next month.
We had our good friends from Seattle and their (semi) new little girl come and stay with us that week- as Kevin (Nolan’s friend) ran the marathon as well. It was a blast hanging out with them last week. Kelsey and I even made some pretty awesome signs (you would never know I was an art major in college!!) I asked a lady to take our pic with the signs but this was all I got when I looked at my pics later. Oh well- you get the idea! Also- don’t mind the long line of potties in the background of our gorgeous photo…
Also- remember this desktop download I offered you guys while back? Well, Tana from Mom’s Best Network loved it so much she wanted to use it in her new business venture, “Destination Nursery“. She explains it much better than I can so here’s what she says about it:
“Destination Nursery started with a desire to help someone…with my love for product design and experience within the children’s industry….I saw an exciting opportunity to help a mom be able to create her dream nursery space. To begin creating my babies space I knew I wanted a clean white background with some fun pops of color! My daughter is in love with animals and making their sounds so it was a natural fit to add in some of her favorites!”
Tana had my desktop turned into an amazing WALL DECAL!! How sweet is that? You can see some cool shots of it in the video (plus some other fun items I made spinning off the piece) below. Destination Nursery will be giving away one nursery makeover to a mom in need. If that sounds like you, head over to their site and enter!
So besides all that, having more friends in town, work, church and more work- life has been keeping me busy!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! Live it up!
Office Space Inspiration
OH MY GOLLY you guys (yes I just said golly). I just spent way too much time browsing this beautiful shop- Bodie and Fou. I’m sure many of you are already familiar with this little gem- but this was the first time I had actually spent time looking through the gorgeous items they have for sale.
First off, the shop is created by the lovely french interior stylist Karine Candice. Not only does it have pretty much anything and everything you need for a beautiful home- but they also have bags, accessories, and craft supplies. I’m in the middle of sprucing up my office space and was just immersed in all they have to offer. THEN I got going on the blog. It’s full of carefully curated photos of interiors, decorating tips, even DIY projects. It’s the perfect inspiration source for interiors.
Although most of their items are out of my price range, I can still dream, right?? I’m just hoping to gain a ton of inspiration and ideas from this site and others for my newly decorated space. Do you know of any other good sites to browse awesome interiors? Particularly office space? If so, I’d love to hear them!
Here are the links to a few of the items that stood out to me as awesome office accents:
Industrial clip-on light | Mima Le Chat print | Shanna Murray Citrus Garland | Wire storage basket
Happy Thursday friends- it’s almost weekend time!
Three things you can do to DREAM better.
Have you ever just sat down and dreamt a little? Forgotten about all of the social norms, what’s expected of you, and DREAM? It’s really fun and has truly been inspiring me lately. One thing I have all of my clients do is tell me their ideal client. It helps me know a lot about how to create their visuals and who to aim for when I’m designing. If their ideal client is a hippie/chique woman, the visuals will be totally different than if their ideal client was a coffee drinking bearded man. It says a lot about your business and can really give you some great direction. Your ideals effect everything!
To help you achieve your ideals, I came up with three fun dreams for you to dream! But there’s a catch- they are followed by things you need to do. As much as I wish I could perform magic, dreams can’t be created without doing something about them.
So Dream- then DO! And your dreams will come true… (oooh rhyming and truth.. so good right?? )
Here it goes!!
- Figure out who your ideal client is // Then FIND them! If your business works with individuals, who are they? What industry do they work in, who do they jam out to on their ipod, where do they live? Once you know this- go out and FIND them! Where are these people hanging out? Are they reading a certain blog? Then YOU need to be reading that blog. Are they at a particular networking event? Then YOU need to go to that event and meet them all! Your clients are out there- you just need to know where and get to know them.
- Dream up your ideal business situation // Then take ONE step towards it. Do you have employees? Do you have a set schedule? Make your own schedule? How much money are you making? Where is your office located? If your dream is to work with a team- ask around and see if someone you could see yourself working with would be up for collaborating on a project. See if a local college student would like to come along with you on that engagement shoot you’re doing this weekend. Doing these things will give you experience in working with others, allow you to network and move towards your goal of working with others in your business. It’s ONE step closer to your dream! Whatever it is you dream up for your business, see if you can take just one step towards it. Wether that be learning about it, starting a savings account towards it, or even DOING it if you can. If you can’t- what do you need to do to get there? Then do that.
- Dream up the coolest project ever // And DO it. Personal projects are one thing I miss about college so much. Doing work without any clients telling you how to do it. Ah, a dream for any creative person! Guess what? You have a business. Create something for that! Be your own client and make some RAD stuff without anyone holding you back! Have you always wanted to do a photo shoot in a certain place styled a certain way? Grab some attractive friends and make it happen. No one is stopping you. It will be an amazing portfolio piece and guess what- you’ll probably attract people who like what you did which means… more awesome work similar to what you would do with no one telling you what to do. BAM. Your portfolio builds and now you have your niche. And you had a blast creating it!
Easy, right? Just three simple ways you can dream up your business and then get practical and make it happen.
Notice how there’s quite a lot of talk about “DOING” in this post? In order to make things happen you have to do things. They may not be easy or fun, but to achieve your goals, they are necessary. It’s so much fun to dream, but what’s even more fun is to see those dreams come into reality. And that takes DOING. So dream a little dream! Then DO something about it! You won’t ever regret the work you put into making your dreams a reality.
Happy Tuesday friends!!
WINK! Weddings Branding
I’ve been meaning to post about this for a while, but one of my favorite recent projects that recently wrapped up to work on was the branding of Wink! Weddings coordination and design.
The client wanted something fun & a bit cheeky. They also really wanted to play up the exclamation point in their name. I started by narrowing down my extremely disorganized “brainstorming board” to three logos.
From there we narrowed it down, revised and played with it, turned it sideways, and boom bang bing- the final logo emerged! We brought the look of the logo onto the website. When a client is down for anything and ready to be creative- it pumps me up! I’m always down for new ideas and taking risks. So we made a sideways menu bar with a black and white striped footer. Infinet Design developed the site and did an amazing job. I couldn’t be happier with the result. You can check it out on the web here.
Good branding will get you far friends- with so many websites out there, people will choose your business based upon their connection to your visuals. So invest in branding- it’s SO worth it!
And for the ladies out there planning a wedding- check out Wink! They offer amazing services that are so needed on your wedding day. I had no idea how much I needed a coordinator for my wedding until we were in the middle of the process. And with Wink’s creative spirit and amazing experience- they would be a great choice. It’s so important and so worth every penny!
Happy Wednesday friends!
photo by Melissa Klausman
DESKTOP DOWNLOAD for Spring!
I’ve honestly never been a huge Spring fan. I’ve always loved the cold winters and hot summers. The in between seasons have always seemed just a means to an end to me. But this Spring I’ve just been in heaven! I am loving the weather, the trees starting to blossom, and the fresh fruit showing up at the grocery store. I’ve especially loved the lemons. Lemons are great for cooking, (I just made this the other day and it was amazing!) they act as a natural home deodorizer, and they make for a great table centerpiece! The yellow color is just gorgeous placed anywhere in the house.
So here’s a desktop download I made for you to help you celebrate this beautiful season! Download it by clicking the correct size for your computer (or iphone and ipad) below. And definitely go out and buy some lemons!
2560 x 1440 // 1680 x 1050 // 1440 x 900 // 1280 x 800 // IPAD // IPHONE
I Want to…
Oh yes I do. My mom and I took a spontaneous trip up to my sister’s house in San Luis Obispo today. Both of us were just really needing to get out of LA. You know that feeling? That stir crazy feeling where you just need some change of scenery to spice up your creative juices? I truly believe (at least for me) that sometimes you just have to get out of the norm to get motivated. Now being by the beach I want to ride a cute bike around and wear these yellow spring flats.
Cheers to inspiration and change of scenery!
A New Season
Hey friends! I know I’ve been a bit sparse here on the blog lately, so I wanted to fill you in on a few things happening in my life and in my head. Bullet point style.
-I’m excited about a new season. It’s officially Spring and I can feel it in the air here in Southern CA. The temperature is in the 70s and 80s and I am loving it. I’m soaking it in before summer comes and it gets to be scorching hot.
-I find that I love change. I crave it in the weather, my work space (been working at a lot of different coffee shops lately) even in my running playlist. I have around 4 different ones that I rotate through.
-I feel like I’m becoming a much more organized person. I was told that organization is a skill, and it can be learned. Thank goodness for that.
-I really am putting work into my new portfolio site. I’ve been working on this thing for what seems like ages. I’m very indecisive when it comes to my own branding- but sometimes you just gotta suck it up and make a decision. It’s never going to be perfect. (I keep telling myself that!)
-My half marathon is in May and running is going well. Besides the fact that my knee and hips are killing me after every long distance run. I think it’s weird out of all things my hips are the ones that are hurting… if anyone has any remedies feel free to leave them in the comments!!
-I’m excited that Easter is this coming weekend. I still hide Easter baskets for my husband. It’s something I loved as a kid and won’t stop now that I’m an “adult”!
I hope you are all enjoying Spring. And for those of you on the East Coast- I hope you’re staring to see some signs of Spring and keeping warm! Happy Monday friends!
I’m 25 Now!
This past weekend was my 25th birthday. And boy- did I feel loved. My husband and our friend Andrea planned a surprise party and dinner for my friend Amy (whose birthday is a day before mine) and I. We ate a lot, drank margaritas and listened to music under the stars. While standing under the cafe lights in our friend’s backyard, surrounded by family and friends I looked around and and felt so thankful. Thankful to the Lord for blessing me with such loving people in my life who I aspire to be like. They lift me up and encourage me without even knowing it.
So I’m 25 now- and it honestly feels great. I don’t fear getting older, (well, maybe a little bit) but mostly I am excited for what life will bring me, for the new things I’ll learn and how I’ll become more confident and comfortable in my own skin. I think that’s the awesome thing about getting older. I look back to how insecure and immature I was in my younger years, and just hope that in 5 years I can look at myself now and think the same thing.
So I had a wonderful weekend- I feel so loved, so blessed, and so ready to see what this year has in store for me.
Bring it on 25!!
Don’t Become Weary
A good reminder for me today. Keep on going!
Feelin Free
Lately all I’ve been wanting to wear is a maxi skirt with my hair up in a highly messy bun. (I have these major knots I’m working on getting out of my hair at the moment… not cool) I think it’s the weather warming up that’s making me feel all desert summery. It was around 78 this weekend and I was in heaven. I made this little fashion board to go with my mood these days. I call it desert hippie rock.
Happy Tuesday friends!