At A Glance

One of the biggest sources of stress for me in the last month and a half was the redesign I had to complete of my company's main brochure. Mainly, it was stressful because I not only had to design and produce it, but also because I had to coordinate and edit the newly expanded content. Thank goodness I had several editors and writers to help me flesh it out and copy edit. Otherwise, I probably would weigh 200 lbs. from the resulting stress-induced eating. In any event, after several late nights, I got it done and I really like the way it turned out, especially the cover:
On the left is the old version (which I didn't design.) The direction I was given was to make it more colorful, modern and slightly playful, while maintaining its professional look. My original concept had to do with evoking a door, but it doesn't necessarily have to read that way.

Blogs I Read: Cute Overload

I read at least 30 blogs everyday and that's on days when I'm busy. On lazy weekend days, if I'm not reading a magazine or doing a sudoku puzzle, I can read more than a hundred. Not that that's terribly difficult but that's the beauty of blogs. They offer easily-digestible bits of information or insight usually every day. Mostly I read topical blogs, though there are several personal blogs that are very interesting. Every Tuesday, I'll share a blog that I think is worth a peek. Feel free to share a blog with me that you think is cool or that I would enjoy.

Cute Overload is one of the blogs that I turn to when I need an immediate pick-me-up. Dedicated to sharing cute pictures of animals with the world, it consists mainly of photos that readers send in, with the appropriately precious comments from the editor, Meg. This blog is definitely not a secret, having won several awards and scored mentions in the national mainstream press. However, I'm featuring it today, because yesterday, I checked it out (click here for the post) and saw this little guy:

I adore baby Boston Terriers! If I wasn't so allergic to dander, I would have gotten one already. I love their eyes, their batty ears and their black and white markings (yup, I like graphic statements.) In any event, you can bet I will be accessing the site several times today just to see those huge doleful eyes.

Decisions, decisions

One of the gifts that I got from K this year was a year's subscription to any magazine of my choice. Seems pretty straightforward, but when you take into account how many magazines I read and love, it definitely gets hard.

Should I go with something that I would not otherwise be able to afford? K said that he was aware that I might choose an expensive magazine, but I don't think he took into account how spendy art and import magazine subscriptions can be. My top choice in this category would be the Australian foodie mag, Delicious, at $143.48 a year. The only thing I like more than eating yummy food is reading about it, and this magazine is the ultimate in food porn.

Should I add to the piles of magazines I have to keep forever by choosing a design magazine? Architectural Record, Communication Arts, Print, Interior Design, Contract, Hospitality Design, I.D.... I could go on and on, and I'm not sure that I'm even going to able to whittle down this category. The one thing to note here is that I could always buy these subscriptions myself and deduct them since they have to do with my work.

Perhaps I should go with something that I'm a little embarrassed to buy in public and would certainly never buy in view of my peers. The top choice here would be O, The Oprah Magazine. I'm a sucker for her brand of self-empowerment and self-improvement, and while I do think her personality is a little bit much at times, I do think she has helped many people in many different ways, me included. The magazine itself is useful, well-edited and pretty, and has all the girly stuff that I need to know about without making me feel like I'm being sold to constantly (though I am fully aware that everything is a sell in some way or another.)

I could go for volume and choose a weekly. Going to my mailbox after work and finding a magazine waiting for me brings me no end of joy. Having one there every week would increase my happiness and so this might be the best choice. Because I don't think I could deal with a potentially depressing news magazine every week, if I go for a weekly, it would have to be Entertainment Weekly.

A choice that would help me kill two birds with one stone would be a travel magazine. That way I could figure out where in the world I am going to escape to this year. I currently receive Travel & Leisure, but sometime in the last couple of years, the articles became less interesting and the layout more cluttered. Plus they use really cheap paper, making the photo spreads less enticing. I already get National Geographic Traveler and Budget Travel, but those magazines are more about the practical stuff...I want to open a travel magazine and salivate. The two magazines that fit the bill are Conde Nast Traveler, which I think is a much better magazine than Travel & Leisure, and Travesias. Travesias is a Mexican magazine that is gorgeously put together with thick glossy paper and beautiful photography. Plus, because it's written in Spanish, it seems even more exotic and worldly and I can rationalize that choosing it will help improve my Spanish. Though if I choose Travesias, I will most certainly go to Mexico or some other Latin American country.

The one magazine that combines a lot of the above is Wallpaper*. I have a strange relationship with this magazine in that I both love and hate what it represents. I love the art, architecture, travel, design, and gadgetry that it endorses, but sometimes, I feel it represents an impossible standard of life that most people, including me, don't have and will never have, and is a little bit too shallow and materialistic. I'm a designer, but even I recognize that the singular pursuit of glossy beauty without inner meaning or purpose can leave you pretty empty. So, if I chose Wallpaper*, it would be BYOS...bring your own soul.

So what will I choose? I'm going on a fact-finding mission later this week (Barnes & Noble and Hennessy + Ingalls on Sunday after my cupcake meetup), so I'll let you know. If you have any suggestions, feel free to chime in.

Art Deco Tour in the Rain

During what looks to be the wettest weekend so far this season, I am scheduled to give a tour. I hate the rain, but if anyone is brave enough to show up, they deserve a tour and I'm going to make sure they get one. If you're interested, check out the Conservancy Web site for more information and bring an umbrella.

UPDATE! This tour has been canceled due to the rain. I get to sleep in! YAY!

Resolved

According to Franklin Covey, one of the things you have to do to help make your New Year's resolutions stick is to go public with them. So here goes:

Resolved, that I will do my best to exude positive energy.
K & I like to watch the Dog Whisperer. (Actually, for several years, K has been preparing himself for getting a dog by studiously reading every dog training and psychology book under the sun) After watching several shows, it's easy to get the gist of what Caesar Millan preaches. One of the basic tenets of his philosophy is that dogs read the energy you put out there and adjust their energy accordingly. For example, a neurotic owner often can lead to a neurotic pet, whereas a calm owner instills calmness in her pet. I thought about this principle and realized that many of my social problems stem from either my negativity or lack of action. I automatically assume people don't want to talk to me and hence don't talk to them and it all becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The people I get along with are those that are sunny and very secure with themselves, making me open up and be just as sunny and secure. My goal is to be one of those people, so that my smile gets matched with another smile instead of my indifference being matched with equal indifference.

Resolved, that I will be in bed before midnight on worknights.
This gives me around 8 hours of sleep a night, which will help me to function normally during the day.

Resolved, that I will be on time to work, leave to take my lunch break and leave on time unless I take overtime.
I've struggled with this in the past and I do believe that not doing these three things adds more stress than necessary to my day. I am hoping that getting enough sleep will help me to get to work on time and that stepping out for a breather in the middle of the day will help me to keep my perspective. Leaving on time seems like it would be easy, but I can get caught up in work, especially design work, around quitting time, which usually coincides with my peak performance time. Also, if I get to work late, I usually try to make up for it in spades by working much later.

Resolved, that I will not wait until the last minute to do my work and homework assignments.
I always underestimate the time it will take to complete a project. The final project for my Elements of Design I class last quarter took at least 2-3 days of work and I naively thought I could knock it out in less than a day. The point is that I have to be realistic with my goals and recognize that a little time padding helps when the expected unexpected occurs.

Resolved, that I will reach out to friends and family when stressed and not withdraw inwards.
If you take a look at my cell phone records, you'll notice that K accounts for 95% of all my calls. Since we're on the same network (Verizon), that means that I'm not using the actual anytime minutes that I'm paying lots of money for. So, there is no reason I shouldn't be calling and chatting up the people I care for, right?

Resolved, that I will find a physical way to blow off steam.
Since I stopped dancing (for various personal reasons), it's been difficult to find something physical that I like to do with regularity. Lately, I've been really missing dancing and have been considering starting up again with tango and perhaps learning ballet. Other physical activities I've been thinking about involve forcing myself to go to the gym or walking to work in the morning.

Resolved, that I will actually do the things I put on my calendar.
Unless I'm sick, I am not going to flake out on the events that I thought were cool and important enough to actually put on my calendar.

Resolved, that I will go abroad this year.
Even if it's just to Canada or Mexico, I am itching to leave the country for a week at least.

Resolved, that I will make my home an inviting and comfortable place.
This involves redecorating my apartment to create a good work/project space, improving the lighting and purchasing a vintage (art deco or mid-century modern) hardwood dresser. On the maintenance side, this also means that I need to clear out the clutter and keep everything clean and tidy.

Resolved, that I will pay down at least 15% of my credit card debt.
I've already created my plan for doing this, which absolutely takes into account the fact that I am paying for school out of my own unlined pocket and that I want to go on a trip this year.

Resolved, that I will write in my blog more regularly.
So far, so good.

These are my resolutions... what about yours?

Museums

Over the holiday break (which lasted approximately 11 days for me, not counting a few hours here and there of proof checks), I had the chance to check out three museum exhibitions that I've been wanting to see for a while.

The first I took care of while visiting family and friends in the South Bay and OC. "The Birth of Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury" at the Orange County Museum of Art was a nicely composed exhibition of midcentury modern furniture, paintings, objects and music. As I entered, the first room had Charles and Ray Eames' film, "Tops," projected onto the entire wall. The music was very hep. The next part of the exhibition gave some historical context. I really liked the signage and organization of this portion, which consisted of items and flat screens showing film clips, mounted on the wall with a cool blue band of paint behind them. The rest of the exhibit was heavy on the Eames' (rightfully so) and Julius Shulman's photography. (Note to self: Must see his exhibition at the Central Library before that closes on January 20)

The next two exhibitions I saw on New Year's Eve day: "© MURAKAMI" at MOCA's Geffen Contemporary and "Dali: Painting and Film" at LACMA. I really enjoyed both and it was interesting to see how Dali really made it possible for artists such as Takashi Murakami to create the kind of art that they do.

Initially, K & I didn't intend to see the Murakami exhibition, but we had some spare time before our 3pm Dali tickets and a little extra zip from our Intelligentsia buzz, so we went for it. I had seen some of Murakami's work in the "Ecstasy" exhibition a couple of years back, but this was definitely more an in-depth exploration of all aspects of his art. My favorite part was watching the Kaikai and Kiki movie preview. It was so adorable and weird that it made me feel very happy and young inside.

While we were able to take in the MOCA exhibition at a leisurely pace, we had no such luck at the Dali one, which is unfortunate because there was such a wealth of beautiful painting sand films that I could have stayed much longer. After waiting in line for about 20 minutes to get in, we were greeted with a slow-moving line that snaked along the wall of the first room. After waiting in that line for 10 minutes and moving only 10 feet, we decided to walk along the back of it, forsaking an up-close look at the first dozen paintings. After the bottleneck in the first room, it was smoother sailing and we were able to appreciate the rest of the exhibition up close. While I enjoyed the screenings of various Dali collaborations (in particular, Luis Bunuel's "Un Chien Andalou"), the highlight for me was seeing the actual paintings. The colors that he used were so vivid, especially when he paired warm and cool colors, and that definitely gets lost when you just see a poster of one of his works. Actually, with many paintings, a book or poster print usually does not do it justice. For example, when I saw Tamara Lempicka's "Jeune fille en vert" at the 2004 Art Deco exhibition at the San Francisco Legion of Honor, I felt the same way.

In any event, I would recommend seeing all three of these exhibitions. Unfortunately, the OCMA and LACMA ones close this Sunday(!) Luckily, you still have until February for the MOCA one. If you go, be sure to add to this piece of impromptu public art:

Ooey Gooey

In addition to my little cupcake obsession, I've been sampling all sorts of yumminess at various bakeries. Today, I stopped at Milk for the first time and I'm almost sorry I did. Not that it was bad... it's just that I have to go the Art Store fairly often and Milk is located just off the same intersection (Beverly & Poinsettia.) Unfortunately, I can absolutely see myself picking up one of their "ooey gooey double chocolate" cookies every time I need to pick up some mat board or pencils. Those cookies are the most chocolatey and rich double chocolate cookies I have ever tasted. I was happily buzzing for hours. And at $1 a cookie, I can't wait to have another one.

In addition to those cookies, I also bought a slice of blue velvet cake for one of my coworkers and a square of chocolate croissant bread pudding for K. The reviews were very positive.

Milk is probably best known for its milk-derived goodies, like shakes, pudding and ice cream. Perhaps next time, I'll try something from their food menu (I hear their cobb and media noches are good) and wash it down with a chocolate malt...and, of course, grab some of those cookies.