chicago

sigrid and hans lammle. calendar illustrations published in 1957. (this isn't an illustration of chicago)

ever feel the need to be elsewhere? it's not that you don't love it 'here' but you just need to be 'there.'

i'm leaving for chicago tomorrow night. i'm going for a 9 day trip to visit my honey. i'm looking forward to having a pint with mark, laughing with friends, and experience fall in the midwest. i want to be there in the city and see beautiful chicago.

i'm hoping to recharge and be inspired. but i'm ready for the brisk air to hit my face and wake me up.

preview

i've been working on projects for my boss' blog and here's a preview of something i've cooked up, scheduled to post on black friday.

mash-ups

here are some more birthday cards that i've done for people at my work. we have a ton of november birthdays it's getting ridiculous.

it's always a good idea to take two different fields or seemingly different fields and see how they can mesh together. for example, taking a blanket-stitch found in sewing and applying it to a paper craft.

or taking the same embroidery thread and using it as a detail for a paper craft like the center of a paper flower.

this is always a fun experiment in other fields too and the possibilities are endless. what would happen if we were to combine music with painting, culinary and graphics, landscaping and architecture? some of the best examples of design and art has been the result of the mashing of two different fields. what interesting results could come out of combing whatever your field is with something else? this is where innovation and creativity comes alive.

in focus

october has certainly proven to be a memorable month. work was crazy, i turned 29 years old, had my wisdom teeth pulled, my uncle passed away, my mom left for a 3-week trip to korea leaving me home with my dad.

there are times in life when things come in to focus and suddenly you feel really stupid for wishing you could buy that new jacket when you already have 30,000 jackets and life seems to become so real and certain things just have no significance anymore. but the moment passes and life becomes out of focus and you mind wanders again to that dumb jacket.

lately i keep having those moments of clarity and blurriness.

the other day i discovered my first official adult wrinkle. i know, i know, such is life. and it's not a first wrinkle but in the moment it was significant for some reason. like the physical manifestation of my bodily decay had suddenly become a reality. i'm getting older. my body will one day betray me and rebel against my wishes and in fact it has already begun to do so.

every time i listen to the radio i am reminded that our nation and our state is held together by a thread. government is so completely fallible and it's a wonder that we make any kind of progress at all. and when someone says an off-handed remark that sends another in to a spiral of defensive comebacks and darting looks i think to myself, "man, people are held together by a thread." and when my aunt sits quietly until a single picture of her wedding flashes on the projection screen at her husband's funeral i know that she was held together by a thread.

and life continues and i still have careless desires for things that don't matter and through it all something continues to hold us together.