NEW FROM MY STUDIO: ENCOURAGEMENT CARDS

Having a good attitude makes each day better.

Attitude is something that you have full control over, but it takes practice. To be fully aware of yourself isn't saying that you can't be human. Bad days and bad moments are going to roll in and tear some things apart but it will pass and once it does, recovering or starting over is made easier by encouraging yourself and everyone around you. Everyone is trying to live a good life. Everyone could use a hand, your hand, in fact!

I decided to create a little series of what I call Encouragement Cards to send to a pen pal of mine and to a recipient of my Drawn & Delivered project. The idea is inspired by wish stones, where they are kept with you to serve as a reminder. The intention behind these cards is to focus on living the life of your dreams and establish self confidence.

They are the perfect size and shape for the card holders in your wallet.

I like the idea that you can find them in your wallet when you are looking for a bank card or ID and BOOM! there they are! ready to remind you that you are awesome and to be fully present with your goals.

PHOTO DIARY: THANKSGIVING

This was our first year hosting Thanksgiving for our families. It was quite an honor, especially because these amazing people drove over 8 hours to see us! Pork Wellington was our entree instead of turkey because it tastes good, looks pretty darn fancy and it is filled with autumn flavors. I had my first foray in making mashed potatoes! They turned out well, even though I really don't care for them, myself. The rest of our meal was pretty simple. We had corn, dinner rolls, gravy, salad and wine. To prepare for the meal, we purchased a card table and a couple folding chairs. We also used our patio chairs to fit everyone at the table. So yeah, nothing matched but it was still fun to get everything ready.

To keep things from taking too long around dinner time, I made the pork Wellington in the morning and heated them up in the oven before we served the meal. I am so glad I did it that way. It saved so much time.

For dessert I got a pumpkin chiffon pie from Sarah Jane's Bakery which was perfect. It was like a light and fluffy cloud of pumpkin pie.

We finished the night very full and happy. It was a great feeling to have the apartment filled with people we love. 

By the next morning, we were ready for pastries, coffee and showing off our new city.

THANK YOU FOR…

Happy Thanksgiving, USA!

As a way to pay tribute to this very special holiday I will be sharing with you what I am thankful for by way of drawing! It's a little rough around the edges, but I want to share it anyway.

It's a lot, so get ready!

In no particular order:
Minnesota, Michigan, my hunky husband, Trader Joe's cookie butter and plantain chips, a strong wifi signal, my studio, Podcasts, yoga, Tombow dual markers, family and friends that are near and far, the grocery store, restaurant, AND coffee shop across the street from our apartment, LUSH bath bombs, GPS, air travel, hot tea, cold beer, the Whole30, kayaks, walks in the park, internet videos about baby animals, the new Star Wars movie (the anticipation!), sweat pants, the netti pot, floss, smartwool socks, all of my apples (iPhone, iPad mini, iMac and MacBook Pro) and the crock pot.

I hope you, yes you! are enjoying your holiday immensely. Give some extra love today.

NOVEMBER UNIFORM

Another month is just about gone! As a way to wrap it up, let's chat about personal style in the cooler months, shall we?

I have a very hard time dressing comfortably for this time of year. When I'm inside, I'm too warm or if I'm outside, I'm too cold if I don't balance it all well. I also don't like to be bogged down by too many layers or it feels like my mobility is compromised. The struggle is very real.

Instead, I've tried to stick to simple warm pieces with an emphasis on interesting shapes.

Here's an example of this technique in action:

TOP
Long sleeve, thermal, the most basic of basics.

JACKET
A thick wool-ish coat, the kind that covers the bum!

ACCESSORIES
Sunglasses. Even when it's in the 20º range the sun is shining away. ANNNND a cup of coffee (to keep my hands warm…of course…)

BOTTOM
High rise flare leg jeans, actually! Free the ankles, baby!

HAIR
Sky high pony tail so I don't have a mouth full of hair while walking outside.

MAKE-UP
Not much to report here. Just trying to keep my skin from feeling too dry and patchy. Speaking of which, major props to moisturizing face scrubs like the oatmeal one from St. Ives!

SCENT
I've been savoring my sample size tube of Jo Malone Ginger Lily and Amber. It's from their 'intense' collection so it sticks to my skin for much longer than you'd expect.

FEET
Footware with flare jeans styled in a modern way for the cooler months seemed like an oxymoron because if I wear boots, skinny pants are then tucked inside the boots, so what is a girl to do? I opted for my paint covered Converses because they seriously look good with everything.

BAG
The satchel wins this round again! Though I may need to bust out a more weather resistant option for the next couple of months.

—

What have you been wearing this month? Do you enjoy dressing for this time of the year? Or find it to be a challenge like I do?

TEARS OF JOY

History repeats itself. 

If you've taken ANY history class at all, you learn that quickly. So when I read the news about the 'tears of joy' emoji (or as I like to think of it, the LOL emoji) being named as the Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries I had to 😂😂😂

I find it odd and wonderful that pictograms are back, in such a big way. 

Back when humans were a young species, before the written word, we had cave paintings like those found in the French cave of Lascaux and a bit further south lived the iconic hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt. Pictures told the stories of the human experience.

I use emojis on the REGULAR as punctuation and in conjunction with words via text and social media. It is as if these little emojis express something that words simply cannot.

I think people love them because they are easy to use, cute, and provide a good visual break among a TL;DR amount of words. I also believe that it reconnects us to part of our human experience that our modern selves haven't used in a long time (emoticons, aside).

Yes, emojis can seem lazy or as just a fad of modern technology but I find it interesting that it pulls us back to the oldest form or record keeping and human expression. I'm not saying that we should abandon words again and only write documents in emojis. HOWEVER! Wouldn't you love to see the iTunes terms and conditions form written in little faces and food pictures? Sounds brilliant to me.

On a slightly more serious note on this silly topic, I find the combination of pictures and words to be an indication to how people prefer visual, easy to digest communication in modern media consumption. I am seriously WAITING for a book or magazine to throw emojis in their body copy. Call that crazy all you want, it probably is, but there is something about that idea that thrills me! I believe it's because it fully embraces where we are today in culture and communication. Expect to see it! I have a feeling we will.

Something I also find interesting is that there is a distinct difference in interpretation of these 'picture characters' (the direct translation of the Japanese word 'Emoji'). Like I said earlier, my interpretation of this > 😂 was 'laughing out loud' instead of 'tears of joy'. Both translations work well depending on their context.

The embrace of emojis as a way to communicate takes me back to learning about the history of art and design. This is because emojis are becoming an artifact of our history—a design element, even. It all feels very full circle and that we are much closer to our ancestors than we think.

We don't really know what the Lascaux cave paintings were saying all those years ago. We can guess, we can even have very educated guesses! I imagine that 10,000 years from now emojis will be the same.