inbetween discovery

While doing a bit of research on Maira Kalman I found the AIGA Design Archive website and the AIGA home. The AIGA is "the professional association for design". You can find a lengthy description here. I tell you all of this because it is SO COOL to find sites that share inspirational design. My sister-in-law just wrote about how everyone is a snob about something. And design is one of those fields where it seems like EVERYONE'S a snob. So much so that they refuse to share, fearful that their precious design will be stolen. Newsflash: everything has been done. And generally, if you like a design (or a t-shirt or a movie or anything artistic) it's because you've seen something similar somewhere before and it's hidden in all of your gray matter.

So check out the websites, enjoy the someone else's design. And copy it if you can.

maira kalman

Going with the theme of children's books, one of the best authors/illustrators out there is Maira Kalman. We have two of her Max books: Ooh-la-la, Max in Love and Max Makes a Million. Her illustrations and typesetting are full of color and personality ... they're the kind of books that bring whole new discoveries every time they're read (NOT the Where's Waldo kind of discoveries). She has also done quite a few frame-able New Yorker covers.


And whole walls during the reconstruction of Grand Central Station.

new inspiration

I have been feeling a bit uninspired lately. Funny how a little bit of down time in life leaves me with nothing to say. Or maybe just an inability to put how I'm feeling into words. I think some people can write more when they're down. I tend to thrive on happiness.

So I have had to rethink where I find inspiration. D loves for us to read to him. He actually brings us books and sits in our lap to listen. So I thought I would share some of our favorite kid books.

D's first favorite (from around four months, believe it or not) was Dig Ivan Dig. Wendy Ann Gardner has a series of Naughty Naughty Pet books. This one entails a pug who reeks havoc on his NYC loft. I think D liked it because the dog looks strangely like a baby. I love the graphic nature of the pictures. It's not too cutesy. We ordered Yes, A Cat Named Marty Cohen and Naughty Naughty Keifer. He liked them ... just not as much. We never could find Heedley Pecked Me in the Eye.
More to come ...

when the snow falls

We landed this morning in Colorado to snow on the ground. Just to give you a taste of my husband's excitement ... right now he sits upstairs in the TV room drinking Jones Cream Soda (the fastest form of sugar rush in a bottle) eating pizza and watching ski videos. I can only imagine what's on the screen ... angry-guy-music is filtering down the stairwell.

We had a great stay in The ATL. It was 80 degrees today. T bought a pair of shorts for his one day stay. I got to see so many of my favorite people. I also forgot some of the things that I love about the South.
#1 - My family. I miss them a lot and it's so good to have time with them.
#2 - The trees. Gigantic and still green.
#3 - The peeling paint on the houses and buildings from all the moisture (the much needed moisture right now). I have been living in cities with siding ... practical, yes ... but lacking character.
#4 - Taqueria Del Sol (if you have never been you HAVE to go. The world's best fish and fried chicken tacos ever. Those are separate tacos. Together they'd be gross.).
#5 - The fact that my mother and brother cannot go anywhere without seeing at least two people that they know.

Now that we're back, the title to this post is a hint. Come on! The mountains await.

religious about the environment

So Wednesday was "blog for the environment day" and I wasn't near my computer to post anything.

And then Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize for spreading awareness about global warming.

Ironically, as I bought beer on Wednesday night the guy behind the cash register told me that he thought "being green" was all a bunch of hype (after I told him I didn't need a bag ... that was his answer to my statement!). You know, he is a little bit right. It is very "in" right now to be green. To love the environment. To buy organic and local. To conserve. To buy hybrids. To hate big oil companies. Etc, etc, etc.

But maybe this fad isn't a bad one.

In case you didn't know, I'm a God lover. And I think this earth is a HUGE gift for us to take care of. Lately I have been reading about a grain of faith. How with just the smallest amount of faith the impossible can become possible. It makes me realize that when I wish and pray for specific things I sometimes don't believe that they will come true. I worry about this world. And I think my worrying might be a gigantic waste of time. Because if I just believe that things will change and make the appropriate changes in my own life to make things better ... then they will happen.

A grain is really really really small. And that makes believing seem a whole lot easier.

a new movie

I love Wes Anderson. I love the way his films are shot, his quirky characters, the colors, the actors, the music. I love how he creates families that have all sorts of problems, but in the end it's about being together and loving each other.

Since I rarely come out from under the rock that I live under I was unaware that he had a new movie: The Darjeeling Limited.

I might have to crawl out to see this one in the theater.

And if you haven't seen his AmEx commercial ... check it out. As our friend Rick says "it's by far my favorite commercial EVER".

an awesome day on the world wide web

I love checking out my favorite sites and feeling overwhelmed with inspiration. Today I discovered Also ... a design firm out of NYC. Their work has a wonderful hand-made quality that you rarely find in web design.


I also came across KidsModern, a dutch web retailer with really really cool stuff. And the best part is that I can only window shop. I don't think they ship to the US. I love the marker and line drawings.


And while we're talking kid's toys, Tom found Oompa the other day (isn't that a great name?). I would love to say we only have all wooden toys. That is how it was while I was pregnant ... "we will only have well designed, sustainable material baby items". Right. D's toy bin is a plethora of wonderful plastic presents and hand-me-downs. They do the job just fine.


And finally a simple project that I would love to do on canvas for a rug or a chair ... fruit prints. Wouldn't this be great in a chocolate or apple green? Or both?

survivor gina

I don't watch Survivor. Or any of those reality TV shows. But I was curious today as I drove through Denver running errands. Three times I heard the radio ad for Survivor Gina. I first thought to myself "where is Gina?" and then I quickly wondered if they knew that when you string the words "survivor" and "gina" you get something that sounds a lot like Survive Vagina.

As I was telling Tom my discovery tonight, I asked him how you actually spell the country of Gina. He only had to look at me for half a second for the realization to occur. Gina is China.

Have I ever told any of you the story of "Look at that donkey run"?. Another post for another day.

busy busy busy

Friends and family visiting. And lots of freelance work. Little time to blog.

We saw the aspens last weekend. So beautiful. Unfortunately we were not alone. The line of rental cars (read: tourists not used to driving in the mountains) heading up the gravel road was slightly annoying. But it was worth it.

D was much more interested in the ancient truck that was at our roadside stop. Actually I was pretty obsessed with it, too.