If you like tv, I like you

Okay, here’s my thing with TV, I like it. True that it can be a good point scorer on the lazy meter but on the other hand, my brain was really working overtime with that DVR’d Law and Order episode I watched the other night—it was SVU after all—talk about push-ups for the brain. Occasionally I run into people who seem to be ashamed to watch TV and feel more comfortable talking about all the books they have read. Not that I have anything wrong with books, I am a collector myself and would love to have my own little words published one of these days but I have decided to consider myself well-rounded by liking both.

Sometimes I hear people say, “I don’t have time to watch TV” or worse, “I WISH I had the time to watch TV.” Both of these statements confuse me; I was under the impression that everyone has the same amount of literal time in each day. However, when I hear either of these statements I no longer wonder if the individual is actually trying to make clear of that fact that they are living a much more Gandhi/Mother Theresa-inspired lifestyle—reconstructing the world for a brighter future for our children rather than sitting on his or her couch wasting away what little brain cells remains after television overexposure, no-no, instead I have decided to interpret the statements as, “I waste my time on something else besides TV.”

Not owning a TV is different than not liking TV and is perfectly acceptable if one has internet access to view a missed mini flick or attends their neighborhood Lost party. To be perfectly honest, I have also considered giving up the flat screen to save a little on the green. And I’ll admit, I have done my fair share of time wasting in front of the old tube but that is the beauty of DVR, which unlike any other devise, seems to actually add minutes on to your day. It’s like a time machine for TV! And DVR, my friends, is why we will be doing no television dismounting anytime soon.

This is probably sounding like all I do is watch TV which is simply not true. In fact, some days we don’t turn it on at all and when we do it’s usually not until after dinner, (with the exception of Hendrix’s morning Yo Gabba Gabba and Charlie and Lola.) Skipping nights really allows us to indulge in our moving picture faves. So you see, we are hardly a family of couch potatoes, more like couch potato chips, which is fine with me. Besides, who doesn’t like potatoes?

And one more thing, if you haven’t seen 30 Rock yet, you should really consider it.

Thank You Dr. Martin

"I Have A Dream"

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Is it just me?

I certainly don’t mean to offend, but am I really the only one who thinks “breast and nipple” when I see these cupcakes?

I saw Sprinkles Cupcakes featured on Martha Stewart one day and since then I have seen them featured here and there on various blogs but I have yet to see someone point out what I thought was the obvious.

Don’t get me wrong, using little candy disk on the top of a cupcake to indicate the flavor is completely genius not to mention charming. And with flavors like chocolate marshmallow and lemon coconut, I’d love to taste one of these mini cakes in real life. I’m just not sure I could bite into one without blushing.

I don’t know…maybe I have just been nursing the babe too long.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Sometimes periodic library rentals no longer suffice when it comes to a book you can’t get enough of. This is why I decided to not spend my birthday money on something like groceries this year and buy two books that inspire me: Hand Job: A catalog of Type by Mike Perry
A beautiful collection of all handmade text by various artist.

and Whatcha Mean, What’s a Zine? by Esther Pearl Watson/illustrated by Mark Todd—a book about the art of zine making.
The computer is lovely but there is just something magical about creating work with tools you can feel and smell.

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Merry and Bright

This year I had the assignment of creating a holiday greeting card for an electrical company. I knew the greeting card would be hand delivered as an insert in a box of See’s Candies® so I decided to eliminate the option of an envelope allowing for something a little more unique, like a light up reindeer nose. One of the requirements for a holiday light up greeting card is adding text such as, “May your holiday season be merry and bright”

My inspiration for this job came from the Throwies campaign which my husband introduced me to a while back. After a little computer graphics and printing work, each greeting was assembled by hand using 3mm red LED lights and 3 volt batteries.

I hope your holiday season is as merry and bright as a LED reindeer noses!

For the Nerds Like Me

In one of my typography classes in school I had to purchase a little book called, The Mac is not a Typewriter and it pretty much changed my life. Well, maybe not, but it did change the way I type. Even though I am old enough to have actually had to use a typewriter, I am convinced that even those who have never used a typewriter are following outdated typewriter rules like I was, (and sometimes still do.)

Did you know that you should NEVER double space after a period? Now that we are no longer using mono-spaced, mono-sized type like we once did on the typewriter the double space just becomes an unattractive giant gap. Okay, you probably knew that one but I didn’t when I first read this book which was not all that long ago!

Re-reading this book again reminded me why it is one of my faves even up against a few pricey deign books I own. This book also includes things like using the right type of dashes in the right places, widows, orphans, proper quotation marks, the no-nos of underlining and a bunch of other exciting stuff for a nerd like me.

I am now realizing that I probably just totally turned you off from ever reading this book but seriously, you should at least check it out from the library. I wish I had the cash to purchase a copy for everyone I know!

P.S. The PC is not a typewriter either so this book applies to all computer owners.
P.S.S. I am exempting myself from having to follow every rule of type on this blog. So, if you do read it, please don’t consider me a hypocrite.

Ms. Julia Pott

The "My First Crush" animation was my introduction to artist and animator Julia Pott. Much later I saw these awesome temp tattoos in her etsy shop and then in October she released her animation for the Casiotone for the Painfully Alone-White Corolla video and I was more than pleased. Considering I have watched it a hundred times, I just can’t get enough of Julia Pott.

Faux Forest

Sometimes, when my to-do-list is lengthy, I become suddenly enticed to go on a cleaning spree. When I have downtime, I am much too exhausted to do any house tidying! I also have a talent for becoming magically motivated to create meaningless projects when I have a million important things to get done. This is why I was able to fabricate a little homemade wallpaper project that I have been meaning to put together for the last few months.

My inspiration came from a birch tree wallpaper by Cole and Son that I saw in a kitchen of my dreams a couple years ago. As a temporary alternative to being the owner of the imaginary forest, known as "Woods Wallpaper", I substituted wallpaper with wood-grained pattern contact paper. Not quite the same but an improvement nonetheless. I am thinking about adding a little woodland creature peeking out of the branches, perhaps an owl, what do you think?