Chris Dent

Taking a casual cruise through ArchDaily's pinterest board today, I landed on some stunning illustrations by Chris Dent. This guy knows what he's doing.

I should start doing this in my spare, unemployed time... Yes, yes I think so.

BTW, Your Friends are Already Living.

In the midst of a post-graduate job search at the age of 24 (and a half), one has to reflect on things and figure out what really matters.  This time is one that tests your strength as a person and ability to accept and take criticism to use to your advantage.  You must find out where you belong, what you want to do, and who you want to be.  They didn't tell you this in freshman orientation.

First of all--that whole, "you don't need to know what you want to do until you get to college. There's time to decide" shpeal that your parents and teachers give you in senior year of high school, that's all a lie.  A lie designed to make you relax and enjoy your youth.  What they didn't tell you is that you actually do need to know what you want to do in college/in life, or else you will spend 6 years in school.

Not that I'm complaining about my six wonderful glorious years in that fine institution in southwest Virginia, I'm just saying that my friends from my original graduating class (yeah 2010!) are way ahead of me in this thing called life.

Most of them know the career path they're currently on, and if not--they're in the process of changing it.  They've had time to discover and experience real life and build finances (some more than others).  I'm talking people that own property. At age 25! I have less than a stack (stacks on stacks reference via Kanye) in my bank account, most of which is still a refund from my student loan, and little to no prospects. I have a lot planned for myself and a lot I want to accomplish in life. But it's a paradigm. You can't accomplish without having some accomplishments.

Tough world.

With time something will work out.  I know this.  In the mean time I will enjoy the extra sleep (12 hours last night!), leisurely breakfasts, and lack of communication with people with which I do not wish to communicate. (That was a complicated sentence, no?)

Long live funemployment... For now.

Flashback: Elite Model Agency

I was redoing my portfolio today when I remembered how much I love our renderings for Elite. Special shout out to Denise Pendleton for her craft on these, even though she may never read this! They're truly beautiful.

I have a mild obsession.

When I say "mild" I mean full-blown. Many people can walk through Target without buying a thing. I like to call these people "crazy." I can restrain myself for the most part. When I find myself buying a bikini in January, there are problems--and I usually stop myself. Until I get to that aisle with the notebooks. That god forbidden aisle with the notebooks.

These people that Target hires to do things throughout the store--you know, the random small shops in the US that got a lucky break and ended up selling merchandise in Target--are angels sent from heaven. They make the cutest, most irresistible bundles of paper in the entire world. Hardly ever do I manage to walk out of Target without at least one.

Come in new obsession: I just discovered PaperSource. Yeah. Soak that in.

I found the notebooks of their office section. And I must...

Ughhhh. I die. Seriously, if anyone is stumped as to what to get me as a gift for any occasion... A $5 notebook will make me insanely happy. I still haven't thought of what to write in any of the ones I own except mindless lists of pointless issues, but someday they will come into use. I know this for a fact.

ASD // Benefit Cosmetics

Branded Environments. These two words together make a phrase that is now starting to really, really peak my interest. I'm all about branding. As a graphically-inclined individual, it is my calling in life to create brands. I create a brand for myself through my graphic style in my studio projects throughout my design education, and can only hope to continue to demonstrate that skill throughout my career. To me, branded environments are the only way to design interiors. Specifically for small restaurants and boutiques, but also for corporate interiors. CORPORATE INTERIORS. Those are just *screaming* for a brand. Every office space should be unique to its employees. No one wants to work in a boring office and/or cubicle, and I mean no one.

I stumbled upon ASD, an interiors & architecture firm in Atlanta, and noticed they had a "branded environments" tab on their website. Bazinga.

Reminds me of Serendipity 3 in Las Vegas. I'm not just saying I love this because it's pink and girly and because I'm a girl. In fact, I am not a fan of pink in the least. The graphic nature and boutique-y feel of this is just precious and darling and everything that I love. Makes you all warm and fuzzy inside.

Random Urban Planning Quote...

"One of the transcultural constants of town-making in history is the idea that a quarter mile is the maximum distance that the average person will walk to get somewhere on a routine basis.  Beyond a quarter mile, some people will either seek transport or not bother going.  This theory is born out in many different cultures around the world and is clearly due to the universality of the human scale.  The quarter-mile standard therefore seems to present an optimum arrangement.  It permits people to go about routine business without a car.  Chores that require many separate, tedious car trips in sprawl can be accomplished in a single outing on foot.  (In a culture of walkable neighborhoods, shop owners adapt by offering home delivery of bulky merchandise.)  Walking allows a person to visit many different types of shops--thereby promoting small scale, locally-owned businesses, which, in turn, promote manifold civic benefits from the support of local institutions to the physical caretaking of the street.  Walking down the street permits casual socializing.  Pedestrians make streets safer by their mere presence in numbers.  Finally, walking down the street is spiritually elevating.  When neighborhoods are used by pedestrians, a much finer scale of detailing inevitably occurs.  Building facades become more richly ornamented and interesting.  Little gardens and windowboxes appear.  Shop windows create a continuity of visual spectacle, as do outdoor cafes, both for walkers and the sitters.  There is much to engage the eye and the heart.  In such a setting, we feel more completely human.  This is not trivial."

Aunt Jeanne's House, aka Heaven

We found the cow whilst antique shopping. Let's just say antique shopping was not my favorite activity when I was a child and stuffed in the back seat of the 1988 Volvo wagon with my big sister in the middle of summer days. Yet, as a grown up? Extremely relaxing and fun. I got many things during this same trip.