Birthdays and SEmmys and La Chupacabra?

This week has been a bit busy... Monday I celebrated my 24th birthday, by going to Epcot with my Mom! At the time it had it's frustrating moments, like long lines and I forgot that Epcot requires the most walking, can we get a shuttle please? Overall it was fun. Same day we traveled back to St. Petersburg to go to my dear friend Molly's birthday celebration, where they had a viewing of The Princess Bride, great movie, need to watch it again as I left in the middle. Birthdays tend to be a day of reflection along with celebration, and although I don't always feel that I have accomplished all that I want to or am at where I think I should, I am realizing how blessed and lucky I am to have the family, friends, and people I have in my life.
One more major birthday is tomorrow, my niece's, so "Happy Birthday Josie!"


Recently one of my pieces was nominated for a SEmmy (picture below), I was going for a retro look, the SEmmys is an awards ceremony that the Seminole Campus of SPC does. The awards are handed out to those who had the best Digital Graphics, Video, and Web Creations. Sometimes I am a bit baffled on why one won over another, and I am not sure who the judges are.
The special guest this year was Dick Crippen, who is a Senior Advisor for the Tampa Bay Rays here in St. Petersburg he has had and continues to have a successful career here in the Tampa Bay Area, and it was a great joy to listen to him talk about the broadcasting industry and his career.
La Chupacabra! For fun I am doing a couple of small posters for a Nueve de Mayo party that is hosted by my friend Nathan. It's getting me to think a bit outside of what I normally work on, because it's not every day you have a subject like the La Chupacabra, which is good, since I like challenges, I am just hoping it turns out the way I want it to, and that the host likes them!

Now on to ideas for OHANA, La Chupacabras, and my friend's website.

Taking a break

Today, I am spending some of the day working on a website for a friend. It's a pretty simple project my mind is just not with it today. So music will be a friend later, usually helps me get in design mode. Once I am there it's hard to put a project away.
One new thing this week is Nintendo's DSi, it is an early birthday gift, and it is nifty! It's the upgrade from the Nintendo DS, I can access the internet from it, which although is good, I think I may need a sabbatical, I now have the internet available to me by computer, cell phone, and now Nintendo DSi, so unless I find myself where there are no satellites I can access the internet from just about anywhere.
It has cute features where you can edit photos, it's not Photoshop, but it's fun.
You can also listen to your mp3's and record sound, or you can just talk and listen to the parakeet repeat your words, which is oddly funny, and disturbing as well.
It also is a bit more user friendly instead of only giving you the option to turn it off, you can just go back to the main menu!
My only peeve is the shell of it, it feels like it has a layer of dust on it that can't be dusted away, so I guess I am going to be getting a cover for it.
So back to the website, should be getting close to finishing it up!

My Favorite Things

Favorite things...

I have many favorites, whether it's music (Dido or Coldplay), perfume (Mark Sassy), or the color blue; they are things that make me happy. When it comes to Graphic Design, I don't know what I would do without one particular site and set of books.

Whenever I am feeling un-inspired or just want to see some great web design I go to http://www.thefwa.com/. The FWA has a Site of the Day award, it features flash sites from all over the world. The sites range from Portfolios to the website for a brand new car or product. Some companies get really creative and interactive with their websites, like mini games or videos and customization of what you can do with their products.

My favorite series of books that feature Print Design are the All-American Ads books from Taschen, each book focuses on a decade, it features ads for various products at the time, and the movie stars that endorsed them. For me it's eye candy, I adore anything that is old and has history, and my favorite of the series is the 1920s, a lot of the ads are almost like paintings.
You can find the All-American Ad books and others at Taschen.