unsolicited opinions on random things
Mr and Mrs Globe Trot is a blog following Seattle-based photographers as they travel through Europe on their 6-month (!) honeymoon. That’s their travel plan up there at the top, and a few of my favourite shots from their blog. They’re both professional photographers, so it’s no wonder the photos on this website are stunning.
My favourite online printer, Moo.com, is offering 30% off all printed products until Sunday at noon. You don’t need a promo code – the discount is available right now on their site. Need business cards, mini cards, holiday cards, stickers, or postcards? They’re all on sale. And you DON’T have to be a designer to use Moo – it’s really user friendly and they have a bunch of ready-made products to choose from. I had two business meetings this past week where my clients gushed about my Moo cards – they really are great.
You all know I LOVE to travel. So when Ian and I sat down to decide our winter travel plans, we thought of many options. Should we go on an all-inclusive resort holiday to Mexico? Drive to Florida and stay at the Postcard Inn for a few nights? Go to some far-flung locale for one last travel adventure as a childless couple?
But then reality set in, and we realized we don’t want to spend too much money (gotta save for when the baby arrives), and I also realized that in January and February I’m going to have a baby bump, and I don’t want have to buy warm-weather maternity clothes (I already have to get enough cold-weather maternity clothes). Oh yeah, and we kind of forgot for a moment that we’re undergoing a massive kitchen renovation in the New Year. And we should probably be around for that. It all put a bit of a damper on our dreams for a grand trip.
We’ve come up with a new travel idea – or at least, new to us. Instead of taking a big trip, why not take a few little trips? I’m going to Las Vegas next weekend with my girlfriends to celebrate a birthday. Then Ian and I are going to Chicago for 4 nights in between Christmas and New Years – we found amazing deals on hotels on Expedia (we’re staying at the Omni, which is on the Conde Nast Gold List – ooooh la la!). We’ll drive to Chicago to save on airfare, bring our warmest clothes, and have a little break away from work and post-holiday burnout. I’m looking forward to eating good food, visiting a few museums, and enjoying Christmas in another city (I’m a sucker for holiday window displays and ice skating).
Then in late February we have a weekend trip to Montreal planned with Hilary and Tristan. Tristan and Ian are huge Montreal Canadiens fans, so we’re all going to a hockey game. Again, Montreal in February will be as cold as Chicago in December, but that’s why we have warm clothes, posh hotels, and wonderful restaurants to visit.
My favourite part about our plans is that we know we have a few different things to look forward to. We will return for each mini-break, knowing there’s another one coming up! I think we’re on to something with this weekend trip idea…
Much has been said of Mad Men‘s design, but I haven’t seen anything so fun and playful as Mad Men: The Illustrated World. Illustrator Dyna Moe drew a scene from every episode of the first 3 seasons of the show (like the Betty Draper one above). You can see all the drawings on her Flickr page. (And if the style looks familiar, it’s because Dyna Moe also created the popular “Mad Men Yourself” avatar on Facebook)
In addition to the scene illustrations, the book also includes quirky features about 1960s office culture, icons and fads, along with recipes and drink menus (including Sally Draper’s cocktail menu). My favourite is these Joan Holloway paper dolls (above).
Read more about the book on Penguin’s website.
[via ColourLovers]
Influencers is “a short documentary written and directed by Paul Rojanathara and Davis Johnson. The film is a Polaroid snapshot of New York influential creatives (advertising, design, fashion and entertainment) who are shaping today’s pop culture.” It’s not a masterpiece, but it has some interesting ideas, and if you love New York as much as I do, you’ll enjoy the drool-worthy shots of the city and its neighbourhoods.
If you have 1.5 minutes, watch the trailer below.
If you have 5 minutes, play around on the film’s website. It’s one of the best Flash websites I’ve seen in a while (and I don’t usually like Flash websites). http://www.influencersfilm.com
If you have 13 minutes, watch the actual film in its entirety: http://www.influencersfilm.com/#/Film
INFLUENCERS TRAILER from R+I creative on Vimeo.
On Saturday morning, the sun was shining, so Ian and I took Isabel to Cherry Beach for a romp in the park. I remembered that I lost my favourite hat last winter, and didn’t replace it, so I had to wear an old one that doesn’t fully cover my ears, and I was chilly!
I decided to knit myself a new hat, and found this gorgeous pattern on Ravelry.com. It’s a cable stitch pattern that matches the Irish Hiking Scarf I’m working on for Ian. It was a quick piece – I knit it up in 24 hours. I think it looks quite good!
I’m halfway done Ian’s scarf, and once I finish that, I’ll make one for myself, and a hat for him. Then we’ll really be matching in our hats and scarves (different colours though).
[apologies for the bad iPhone photos]
Okay, Halloween’s over, Thanksgiving in Canada was last month… so now we can all turn our full attention to Christmas! Yippee! I can be quite a romantic about Christmas – the lights, the tree, the food, the (fingers crossed) snow, time spent with friends and family… I really do love it all.
One thing I do NOT love is shopping malls at Christmas time, so I try to do all my shopping months in advance, with most of it online. While I’m perusing for others, it’s hard not to notice a few things I would like for myself… so here’s item one on my Christmas List: The Exquisite Book. The book features one hundred contributing contemporary fine artists, illustrators, designers and comic artists, all working kind of together (for more info about the book and how they all came together, click here).
I think it looks amazing, and it will be very hard not to cut out certain pages and hang the artwork on the wall. Maybe I should ask Santa for two copies…
Yes, I know, a circular bookshelf is terribly impractical. But it just looks so cool.
[via sfgirlbybay]
I promise to not go too baby-crazy here on the blog, but I had to share this. I don’t read too many baby websites or blogs (I find them a bit overwhelming), but I do love OhDeeDoh – a website made by the folks behind Apartment Therapy. It’s like a design blog for kids’ stuff, and it’s full of great ideas.
I saw this post on OhDeeDoh, featuring a baby’s nursery with bright blue walls and cool white tree decals (wall stickers). I loved the wall stickers so much, I wrote a comment asking where they got them. They came from “Designed Designer’s” Etsy shop, which is full of amazing decals for baby’s rooms. I love wall decals – they look so cool, and are so easy to put up and remove later.
I am most definitely going to get one of these for our baby’s room – now I just have to choose which one! I really like the birch trees with owls (pictured above), the woodland tree with owl, the birch trees with deer, and the safari playground. Aren’t they too cute? Visit the Designed Designer Etsy shop to see them all.
I will fully admit, I’m a print nerd. In a lot of ways – I love paper, I love typography, I love letterpress… I even spent a lovely evening with Kinnon watching a documentary about printing processes. And back in June, we did a letterpress workshop at a local indie print shop.
So I was easily able to waste some time exploring Graphics Atlas, a website that’s part online printing archive, part printing education lesson. Do you know the distinguishing characteristics between relief and intaglio? Or, more relevant to today’s designers – the difference between offset litho and direct thermal? If you’re a print nerd or a designer, this is pretty essential knowledge. Check out Graphics Atlas and learn something!
