The Master Plan continues…with business cards!

Tags

Business Cards, Conceptualization, design, graphic design, Typography

Hello everyone. I have been busy busy busy with a million things (when it rains it pours, right?) but I wanted to check in a leave a little evidence of my production. I have been working on updating my “brand”, if you will, and I have come up with my logo & overall look. Want to see?

 

The mood board above helped me organize snap shots of what I wanted to portray of myself to others. Although I am a cheery and positive individual, in my design I am deep, purposeful and rich so I wanted to bring those qualities across in my graphic design. I was especially taken by the lower right-hand image from the credits for Io Sono l’Amore. The calligraphy was done by Luca Barcellona and it encompasses everything I see in myself: an appreciation for beauty and romance but with a modern, professional and clean side as well. That lead to playing around with typefaces, colors, and arrangements which then lead to my first stabs at business card designs.

 

My logo is everything I wanted it to be and I think it really pops here, especially against the blue and grey. I need a whole blog post to go into the design of it so that will come later. Sydney over at The Habitual Ritual gave some awesome feedback – what do YOU, think, Reader? Any good ideas, questions, comments? I want to hear!

I am heading to a really interesting event tonight at the Kennedy Center: Matt Moran’s Slavic Soul Party! It’s an untraditional take on Balkan music so it’s right up my alley. Hope you all are doing something fun this weekend too!

Much Love,

Liz

 

Quick Note: My work is featured!

Tags

Accomplishment, graphic design, Nicole's Classes, Typography

You know the typography exercises I showed in my last post? Melanie Burk, the instructor of the class, submitted the Valentine’s Day Invite as an excellent example of student work! It’s great for me, because sometimes I wonder if I’m that person who thinks that their work looks good but no one else does. It’s nothing huge, but it’s a really nice little encouragement to start out the weekend. You can find the feature here. Longer post to come!

A Master Plan

Tags

Dr. Meg Jay, graphic design, Nicole's Classes, Typography

Hey all! I bet you all are wondering how I have been “accomplishing” myself lately because, let’s face it, posting a bunch of pictures I took in May 2012 isn’t going to cut it. Never fear! I haven’t been on a personal development hiatus, I just haven’t written about it all recently. Let me back up a bit and update you on how life has been in Washington D.C.

I moved into my current location in August which was hot hot hot! I do not look cute in heat and humidity – it must be the Irish in me. Anyway, I live with two wonderful roommates: Kevin and Corinne. I have known Corinne since college so she was a default friend and I am so very happy to have her around. I met Kevin when I moved in, and so far he has become our resident political expert and all-around handyman which are both very important jobs. Our house is an old, decrepit row house in the up-and-coming Columbia Heights neighborhood. Even though practically everything needs replacing, this house has a charm that I am really enjoying. Of course, my initial accomplishments were buying a whole suite of furniture (ouch) and painting my bedroom a soft sage green. Then it was getting new license plates, registering my car, and finding the right times to leave and come back from work. All of those boring activities lasted until Christmas. That’s when I finally felt like I had this D.C. thing under control and could resume my more intellectual pursuits. This is also when I stumbled on this amazing book called The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now by Dr. Meg Jay. It changed my whole outlook on my current situation! This book seems to garnish either praise or hatred, but no matter what your final opinion it’s definitely food for thought. I won’t go into details here – I’ll save that for a later post – but that Christmas break I decided to shake up my routine and be more proactive about achieving my long term goals. How? I am so glad you asked!

I have a new Master Plan. I can’t really spell it all out here, but the first step in this plan is to hone my graphic design skills and come up with an graphic identity for myself and my future endeavors. I took some graphic design courses in college, but there are so many new ideas and technologies out there now that I need a refresher! This lead me to a wonderful site: Nicole’s Classes. Nicole’s Classes offers an easy, high quality online learning environment for a myriad of different creative skills: from Illustrator and Photoshop to Floral Arrangement and Photography. I am currently taking the Typography for Beginners class and even after the first week I can see how much better I am getting at arranging type and choosing the correct typefaces for a project. At the end of each week the teacher gives a homework assignment. This week we were to design a business card, wedding invitation and party invitation. We were only to use type – no illustrations. Here is what I turned in:

They’re nothing all that special, but I would have had no idea how to use type in an interesting way without this class. What’s really interesting: looking at the other students’ responses. We were all given the exact assignment and parameters but all of our work looks so different! That’s why I love the creative fields – there’s no right answer, just different interpretations. I have to say that mine are the least cutesy of the bunch. I was going more for modern/elegant. Any thoughts on the above?

So there’s one more week to this class, and then I move on to the class on building a website. I am so excited! Other steps that need to be completed in my Master Plan:

• Create a logo
• Choose my color scheme
• Choose my typefaces
• Create a business card
• Create a website
• Learn how to write better (dreading this)

Of course there are some other elements that need to be completed that I won’t mention, but overall it’s a large endeavor! In the end I might update this blog’s look too – but that’s waaaaay down the road.

Are any of you working on a Master Plan of your own? Have any suggestions on websites, books or techniques that can help me with mine? I’m all ears!

Much Love,

Liz

 

 

The long awaited Croatia Post!

Tags

architecture, Cavtat, Croatia, Hvar, Mrcevo, nature, photography, travel, Trsteno

My family went to the land of our fathers (Croatia) in May of 2012. I am just now posting the photos! Shame on me. Oh well – better late than never, right? My dad’s side of the family is Croatian, and all from the area around Dubrovnik, so we went there as a family pilgrimage. It was one of the more memorable trips of my life and I am SO happy that I took so many photos! Here’s the cream of the crop:

This was the first hotel we stayed in. It’s in Cavtat, near Dubrovnik. Definitely has that 80′s look, but the stay itself was nice.

This older man was fishing on the cliff right under our hotel. He looks peaceful, no?

This is the little bay in Cavtat.

We went to a touristy restaurant in the hills outside of Cavtat, where I found this beautiful rose…

…and this old water wheel! Look at all of the plant growth – pretty cool.

My dad, aunt and I went for a hike in the hills outside of Cavtat. The Croatian landscape is fantastic! It’s not lush by any means – there are more shrubs than anything else – but as one of the Miss Allens says in A Room with a View, sometimes the things that are indelicate, are also beautiful. (I promise I will stop talking about E.M. Forster in this blog soon.)

 This is a house we found on our hike near Cavtat. I remember hanging my clothes out to dry in Florence, and in Germany for that matter. I actually prefer it!

Croatian kitten!

Croatian boat!

This photo really summarizes my view of Croatia. The real towns and spaces (aka not built for tourists) are not shiny or pretty – they are raw. The above is a deserted basketball court in a tiny village outside of Cavtat.

Now we are in Dubrovnik. This is one of my favorite pictures. I love the darkness of the sky with the dramatic perspective in the image. It looks foreboding, but in a warm way. Does that make sense?

Shhhh…don’t tell my sister that she appears in this post! I wanted to add this picture to show how narrow the streets were – Dubrovnik is an old city. I was just looking up some more information about it and discovered that it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. According to UNESCO, it was first founded in the 7th century. Yes, I think that qualifies as old.

I was fascinated by the roof textures in Dubrovnik and how everything was built so close together, without any real plan. Although it’s not a big city, you could definitely get lost in it.

Older lady knitting! Heck yes! Rock that turquoise, grandma! This picture was taken from the wall surrounding Dubrovnik, hence the overhead angle. I just love that she gave no thought to the fact that there were tons of tourists right above her head. She’s my role model.

There were many small windows overlooking the city in the turrets that dotted the wall.  The vignettes were stunning – the bright orange of the roofs pierced the darkness of those little towers and created quite the visual contrast.

All of the cream and terracotta! Dubrovnik really is a charming city.

Do you see the two boys playing soccer? Again, I thought it was lovely that since Dubrovnik is so small, real life and tourist life can’t help but mix.

Stonework detailing.

Now we are in Trsteno, a small village (population: 237) outside of Dubrovnik. Supposedly this is where my great grandfather is from. This picture was taken at the Arboretum in Trsteno which was built in the late 15th century. What I remember most about it is how many of its features are Renaissance, but were built before the full popularity of Renaissance architecture in Italy. Isn’t that interesting? There were so many beautiful flowers, plants and trees there – I highly suggest visiting.

This was taken outside of the Arboretum at the coast. This structure, and the ones following, are completely abandoned.

How cool is this?! It’s a pool carved into the cliff. You can see at the lower left corner there’s a water inlet that allows the water level to rise and fall with the tide. I dig it.

Although this is some crazy awesome graffiti, it’s sad that these buildings have been let go. The views are amazing and the building have fantastic bones.

This is one of the windows of the main villa at the cliff.

Although I may be wrong, this building looks to have a lot of Venetian influence. It would make sense, since Venetians at one point ruled the city of Dubrovnik, but I really am not all that good at identifying architectural periods and influences. Another thing to put on my “to accomplish” list!

Here’s where my Interior Design geek comes out – LOOK AT THESE WINDOWS! That’s original glass! To be completely honest I shouldn’t have been up there – the floor had completely caved in and I was walking along its perimeter. It was exhilarating.

I fell in love with this villa. If I could, I would buy it, renovate it and turn it into an exclusive B&B. I would screen who could stay there and only allow people who respected the Croatian heritage of the area and who truly appreciated its beauty. How amazing would that be?

Croatia has many wild, bright, rambling flowers.

This is the Neptune’s fountain in the Arboretum.

After Trsteno we made our way to Mrcevo, where another one of my ancestors is from. My father remarked, “No wonder they all moved to California, this place is a sh*thole!” While I wouldn’t go that far, it certainly was a desolate landscape and a remote town. We didn’t see a single person. Literally. However, we did see the grave of my great uncle so that was interesting.

This was a scoreboard for some sort of bowling or bocce ball court.

On our tour to find the places of our ancestors, we stopped near a cherry orchard. How beautiful are those?

We decided to ramble around and stumbled on this quaint little bay. I loved the bright blue someone had painted this wooden structure. What is it? I have no idea. The water was so clear and cold and the mountains so rugged – it was simply spectacular.

Now we are on the island of Hvar – what seems to be the most touristy place in all of Croatia. It’s actually an island so we took a ferry to get there. It felt like the Croatian version of Ibiza – we could hear the sounds of partying into the wee hours of the morning. Anyway, this is the main church there. Quite old.

Hvar did have some bright colors going on.

This is the main bay on Hvar. The restaurants on its perimeter would go to the edge and pull up fish for dinner! Most of the food had Italian roots, due to Croatia’s proximity to Italy. If you go, don’t miss the ham, olives and cheese. Mmmmm I could live off of that combination. :)

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this post! I would go back to the Dubrovnik area any day, although I would suggest going in September so that you can get the warm water but avoid the crowds. Have a lovely weekend and I will post again soon!

Much Love,

Liz

 

Apathy.

Tags

A Room with a View, apathy, E.M. Forster, self improvement, society

Oh hello again, everyone. It has been an absolutely shameful amount of time since I posted last. My apologies! I have been wanting to write here again, but for some reason couldn’t find the spirit. Then, today, while driving home, I heard this bit from my audiobook version of A Room with a View by E.M. Forster which really shook me to my core:

“It did not do to think, nor, for the matter of that to feel. She gave up trying to understand herself, and the vast armies of the benighted, who follow neither the heart nor the brain, and march to their destiny by catch-words. The armies are full of pleasant and pious folk. But they have yielded to the only enemy that matters—the enemy within. They have sinned against passion and truth, and vain will be their strife after virtue. As the years pass, they are censured. Their pleasantry and their piety show cracks, their wit becomes cynicism, their unselfishness hypocrisy; they feel and produce discomfort wherever they go. They have sinned against Eros and against Pallas Athene, and not by any heavenly intervention, but by the ordinary course of nature, those allied deities will be avenged.

Lucy entered this army when she pretended to George that she did not love him, and pretended to Cecil that she loved no one. The night received her, as it had received Miss Bartlett thirty years before.”

This bit was so well timed, because I have been feeling this censure myself and I am worried that I am becoming one of the many average, automated, and careless people that exist in society. That may be a bit dramatic, but I think we all have those moments of self reflection that lean towards drama and doom. Passion is, and has been, something that I have struggled to repress ever since college. In fact, I have been embarrassed of it! Passion is not something that is really commended in my workplace, and masculine decorum and logic rules the day. When I first entered our office, my passion was met with suspicion and pity. I recognized this and have struggled to suppress my excitement, interest and curiosity so that I, too, may possess some sort of stoic equilibrium. I have been so successful that a flat-line existence is now my default. Upon reflection, I saw this as me “growing up”. What I have realized recently is that this is just me “sinning against passion and truth”.

Thankfully, I have recognized this and it can be solved. I am working now to figure out how. Isn’t it funny when life brings along something that you need to see, hear or experience, right when you need it most? I found it especially interesting, too, since Women’s Health Magazine ran an article on apathy this month. The article is entitled, “Down But Not Out”. Here’s the crux of it:

“In a 2012 survey of more than 900 women, [a psychologist] found that one in four felt indifferent about love, work, and life in general. What’s more, they considered that indifference to be normal. …[T]hey got through their day-to-day activities just fine – only sans any real spirit.”

Amen, sister. It’s just so hard to feel or care when something isn’t the way you want it but you feel absolutely helpless when it comes to fixing it. It’s much easier to become indifferent. But this can’t happen! There must be spirit! I believe it’s that spirit that will lead you to the solution, even though it may take a long time. Although it takes a lot of energy and time, I think it’s time to re-kindle my spirit, through whatever means necessary. It’s okay to care about things, and I need to remind myself of that. This is why I am writing here again – to keep me interested, challenged, and excited. Can’t wait!

According to Women’s Health, 1 in 4 women feel the same way I have. So tell me, Dear Void, are any of you feeling apathetic right now? How do you plan to move past it?

E.M. Forster suggests that you listen to some Beethoven. :)

Much love,

Liz

Image via dreamingofstars.tumblr.com

Tea at The Brown Palace Hotel

Tags

Denver, tea, The Brown Palace Hotel

Why hello, all! Thank you for reading and putting up with my unreliable posting lately. I have a huge backlog of things to blog! As little as I have to do right now sitting in my extended-stay hotel, time is actually flying by. Time flew even faster when I was back in Colorado, so I’d like to share with you today one of my favorite places to go to when I am back in Denver: The Brown Palace Hotel. Located in downtown Denver, this hotel is a personal bastion of adolescent excitement and fond memories for me. This time my best friend Madden and I went to tea to talk over life and catch up after my move back to the States.

Isn’t it beautiful? It’s not modern by any means – it was built in the late 1800s and has had many famous guests, such as President Eisenhower, President Theodore Roosevelt, and The Beatles. If my memory serves me correctly, it was also one of the first atrium-style hotels in the West.

The girl in the second photograph is Madden. More to come about her – she’s getting married in a month and I am the maid of honor! Madden, her mother and I used to go to the Brown Palace on special occasions to have tea. My family wasn’t a big tea-drinking family and those were the first times I ever had tea sandwiches, clotted cream, and tea that wasn’t in tea bags! I thought I was just SO accomplished – going to a beautiful, grand hotel to have tea and cakes. That jubilation still hits me now when I go to tea, and it’s become a small (and expensive) tradition of mine that I really cherish.

I highly suggest that you check out this place if you happen to travel to Denver. Click here for the website!

I have yet to post my Croatia pictures and pictures of a marvelous adventure I went on this weekend, so those will be coming soon. One nice thing about living in a hotel right now means that I have plenty of time for personal projects. I am reading 5 books, knitting a baby turban, working on Madden’s wedding stuff, and shopping for my new apartment. Speaking of that – I FOUND A PLACE! How could I forget to mention this?! I will be moving to downtown Washington DC and I will be living with a good friend of mine from college. I am so excited! There are so many things to do in the city that I am sure time will continue to fly.

Hope you all are doing well, and I will be seeing you soon!

 

Firenze

Tags

Florence, Italy, photography

I am really missing Florence tonight. Sigh. When I am in a more narrative mood I will list out what I miss most about it. Until then, this is a picture I took from the top of the Duomo.

A dopo,

Elizabeth

Road Trippin’

Tags

America, Blue Ridge Mountains, Colorado, Colorado Springs, Davy Crockett, Kansas City, Missouri, Nashville, Road Trip, Smokey Mountains, St. Louis, Tennessee, Virginia

Hello all! I am back and ready to blog. I am now in Virginia, and so far it’s been pretty good. However, one of the best parts of this deal was the fact that I got to drive from Colorado to here and do a little solo road trippin’. Here was my route:

Let’s follow the route pictorially, shall we?

To be clear, my mom lives in Colorado Springs and my dad lives in Denver. I visited my mom during my 5 day stint in Colorado and we went to a movie at the Peak Theater in downtown Colorado Springs. We saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which was quite fantastic. Thankfully, my mom was unaffected by all of the fires that were happening at that time. It was really hard to watch my hometown burn on TV and I am very thankful for all of the firefighters that risked their lives to save it. Way to kick some fire butt!

I also spent the 4th of July in Colorado. We weren’t allowed to use fireworks, but we still had a great time grilling (and drinking) anyway. It was SO hard for me to leave this time. I love Colorado and I am starting to doubt that I will ever find a place I like more! However, I eventually got everything together, got in the car and started on my journey.

Fact: Kansas is one of the most boring states to drive through – ever. Plus, it’s SUPER LONG. It’s never ending, flat desolation. No offense to anyone who is from there, but really. How is it habitable? It didn’t help that it was 108 degrees F for the whole 9 hours I was driving through it – haha. So really, there’s not much to report on the first day of my journey unless you want to hear about shrubbery or windmills, because there was plenty of that!

I decided to spend the first night in Kansas City, Missouri. It was surprisingly awesome! The picture above was taken in the Power and Light District, right before a big open-air country concert. I think I saw more cowboy boots and hats there than in Colorado, actually. Kansas City has this midwestern, raw vibe which I really liked. I would definitely go back!

My next destination was Nashville, Tennessee so I passed through St. Louis on the way. I didn’t stop, but I snapped this picture while driving (shhhh!) which turned out surprisingly well. The arch is way more impressive in person than in Nelly music videos. Imagine that.

Missouri actually has some very pretty parts. It made me picture covered wagons, log cabins and butter churning. I have no idea why – I think it was because the landscape looked like something out of Little House on the Prairie. Loved that show!

After another 9 hours, I arrived in Nashville! What a cool city – I would definitely go back. Street-wise, Broadway has most of the touristy country stuff and but I was completely overwhelmed there. I decided to head over to the Hermitage Hotel for dinner so that I could have some good food and peaceful eatin’. It did not disappoint – check out the picture below!

This is the lobby of the Hermitage Hotel. What a gorgeous place! I had truffle macaroni & cheese with a Nashville-style gazpacho for dinner. Yes, I understand that’s a strange combination but after a long day of driving you just don’t care. :) I would highly suggest checking this place out if you are ever in Nashville. The interiors are lovely.

The next day was driving from Nashville to Sterling, Virginia. This was the most beautiful leg of the trip. I passed through the Smokey Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Now I know why people find that area so alluring! The two ranges really had different personalities: the Smokey Mountains were rugged and when I looked at them it seemed as though I went back in time. The Blue Ridge Mountains were rolling, lush, and had a definitely sense of melancholy to them. I couldn’t get any good pictures, but I am planning on driving back through them soon so I can take pictures then. Instead, I told myself I would only get off the highway for one thing (besides bathrooms and gas stations): any Davy Crockett paraphernalia or landmarks. Here is where we need to take a quick tangent.

I love Davy Crockett. It’s so weird, but it’s one of those strange fascinations that we pick up as kids that carry through adulthood. For me, this “fascination” started in my early grade school years, when I saw Disney’s Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier. First of all, Fess Parker (the guy who plays Davy) is a total stud and this is completely obvious even to a 8 year old girl. Second of all, I think the whole backwoods, badass, straight-arrow, smart, dark, Native American-loving guy struck a chord with me. I can probably quite this entire movie to you, but instead I will give you a small snippet:

Anyway, I struck a gold mine in Limestone, Tennessee: Davy Crockett’s Birthplace! I seriously could not believe my good luck and I drove over 50 miles out of my way to see it. The area he lived in is beautiful! Very green, rolling farmland with creeks and the mountains in the distance.

This was the cabin Davy was born in, or a replica. I doubt they built handicap-accessible ramps in the 1800s so I’m assuming there’s been some modifications. :)

This is the river Davy played in as a kid. The opaque brownness astonished me – typical Rocky Mountain creeks aren’t that color but it definitely fit in with the stifling hot day and the cicadas chirping (more like screaming) in the trees. This was a moment that I had wanted to experience for over a decade, and I felt really fortunate to be able to be there.

I think the picture above just about sums it up.

After that it was a long and uneventful drive to Sterling, Virginia. At 11 hours, it was definitely my longest stint, but it was rewarding to finally arrive. Over the trip I mostly listened to old CDs of mine that I had found in boxes in Colorado. I also had The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn audiobook and I found it way more enjoyable of a story now than I did when I had to read it in school. It’s almost an Odyssey – how can kids appreciate that now days? I listened to about 7 hours of it and it proved to be extremely diverting. I got the version read by Elijah Woods – he does a great job with all of the accents and dialects. You can find it here.

Anyway, over this entire journey I found that I truly enjoy long drives by myself. I don’t mind the solitude, and, in fact, it was the perfect thing to do to celebrate my American homecoming after almost three years of living abroad. I am looking forward to my life here in Virginia and I will be sure to update you as soon as something interesting happens. Right now I am living in an extended stay hotel so there’s not much to report. :)

‘Till later, friends! Have a great week!

A quickie!

Tags

Culture, German Food, Germany, Stuttgart

So, to put out yet another excuse for why I haven’t posted recently I will tell you: I moved from Stuttgart, Germany back to the United States! Needless to say it’s been crazy and sad and exciting and nerve-racking all at the same time, but I am here in one piece and I am looking forward to this next step in my life.

I took the train from Stuttgart to the Frankfurt airport, and while Stuttgart was slowly passing behind me I wrote down a few items that I will miss about Stuttgart, Germany and Europe. Here we go, not in any order:

• The sweet, kind and quirky Germans. I totally think they have a bad stereotype as a cold, unfeeling and strict rule-following culture. Yes, they do love their rules, but they are far from cold. For example, one lady who saw how much luggage I had at the train station demanded that she help me put them all on the train before she went to her seat. I have never had an American do that for me!
• Brezeln, aka pretzels. I LOVE German pretzels. I think I had five before I left.
• The greenness of the city of Stuttgart. There are trees and parks everywhere!
• The Fests, the Weindorf, and the African Festival. Stuttgart people know how to party.
• My house. The picture above is my old bedroom – a little sparse but it was cozy.
• My friends. I met some truly fantastic people in Germany and I am going to work my butt off to make sure I don’t lose touch!
• The Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof. The European train system is simply amazing.
• The döner kebaps. Super easy to find, usually delicious, and always leaves an odor on you.
• Maultaschen. The most delicious Swabian specialty! Normally it consists of a lamb/beef/herb/spinach mixture wrapped in pasta, like a ravioli. I am hungry just thinking about it!
• All of the delicious European wine. ‘Nuff said.
• The super cute flower cart that would be in Marienplatz on Saturday. It’s called Blooms. They always have local rustic flower selections.
• Cafe Kaiserbau gelato – the best in the city! My favorite flavors were Rhubarb, Caramel with Salt, and Dark Chocolate.
• Esslingen – the cute medieval city outside of Stuttgart. Home to the Renaissance Christmas Market, which had wooden ferris wheels, turkey legs, fat brats, and candle making. There was also an awesome booth filled with random animal skins.
• My neighbors. They were such gems and were super kind to me, even when I did dumb things like put the special recycling bag in the bin for trash or overflowed my washing machine, sending water into my downstairs neighbor’s apartment. Ah, good times.
• The Bio Markt in Marienplatz which had the most delicious organic groceries.
• Fleishküchle, which we called Flesh Cakes. Sounds terrible, but it’s actually just a super moist slice of meatloaf which they serve in a roll with ketchup and mustard. Germans love meat.

Anyway, I have a bunch more to add but that’s what I was thinking about on the train. It’s weird being back in the States for good – I am definitely having a bit of culture shock already.

I will post my promised Croatia pictures soon, but my jet lag is pulling me to the bed. ttyl!

Croatia Teaser!

Tags

Croatia, photography, travel

I haven’t posted in forever, but there’s a good reason: I was in Croatia! I filled up an 8GB media card with videos and pictures so it’s going to take a while to process, but until then here’s a teaser pic.

Hope you all are having a good start to June! Talk to you soon!