A Look at Art & Design

Money

A fun quote:

"Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy." Groucho Marx

Beatbox

Ok... This is the silliest thing I've seen in a long time!  It had me laughing so hard I woke the kids up.

http://www.beatbox.tele2.se/

Found via Design Observer

Smiley Happy Goodness in a bottle... I'll take some of that!

I woke up this morning in a "kick the cat" type of mood.  Sure could have used some happiness in a bottle, but hey... I didn't know they actually sold the stuff.  Sure enough, it seems they do.  Check this out.

It would appear that our happy little :) now has it's own line of beauty care. Smiley has been made into a line of aromatherapy "anti stress perfumes."  The Happy Therapy Center, refers to it's product as "a psycho-tonic" (psycho tonic??...boy these guys are gonna get rich!) resulting from advanced scientific research. Text on the site goes on to say:

"To conclude this new mission, smiley developed an active scent, able to give their smile back to the most stubborn... morose spirits breathe in deeply!  This contagious good mood is on its way to conquer the world. No one knows who will be able to stop smiley in its exhilarating crusade! A smile for everyone."

"smiley contains monoaminated alkaloids having a pharmacodynamic action called phenylethylamine and theobromine.  (huh? Whatever, if it makes me happy, I'll take it... and several more bottles for my friends, please!)  Phenylethylamine is to passion what endorphin is to love.  It sets off a feeling of joy, excitement and euphoria.  (Cool...sign me up.)  Theobromine blocks the receivers of adrenalin and thus decreases the effects of stress by a comfortable feeling of wellbeing. These two cardiotonics associated together dope vitality and sets up the moral.  It's that simple!"  (of course it is... why didn't someone think of this before?)

There is smiley eau de toilette, eau de parfum, deodorant, therapeutic bath, rubbing body friction, and body gel all designed to "activate happiness."  Wow... I feel better already just writing about this stuff! :)

See the entire smiley brand collection at SmileyCollection.net
Buy your own bottle of happiness at Happy Therapy.
Smiles here provided by Josh Spear

A Personal Note

Yes indeed, it has been some time since I've been here to write, to review, or to point my gentle readers toward some worthy site or blog of interest.  I haven't read any blogs and now find that since my disappearance on November 21, I have 1065 unread blog posts over at my bloglines reader.  I don't think, however, I can apologize for my absence as this blogger/designer needed some serious R&R. 

I will share with you now the fact that the months beginning in January of 2007 consecutively walloped me quite a few personal blows - a flooded basement ( seriously... 2 feet of water!) started off the year only to be followed by broken indoor plumbing pipes resulting in a completely water damaged bathroom, kitchen and basement.  There was also a broken car, the 8 month clinical depression of a loved one, the gutting and rebuilding of almost the entire first floor of my home, a broken furnace, broken water pump...Wow water was really not my friend!  It was a challenge but meanwhile business was going great.  My clients, I hope, never knew about my personal challenges (unless they are reading about it now) and it was work that was my bliss and my escape.

There were days and nights when I was sure that I was going to die from stress.  I slept with a paper bag next to my bed because often anxiety and worry would cause me to hyperventilate.  I was frightened all the time.  I found myself daughter to a mother with Alzheimer's disease, a mother to 2 teenage boys, a best friend, a business woman, a designer, a girlfriend, a homeowner, sole bill payer, and chief bottle washer.  Without the support of my sons and my friends, I don't think I would have made it...AND I did it without the help of drugs...perscription or otherwise.  I am titanium... well almost... we are all breakable, aren't we?

Sooo... the advent leading to 2008 found me preparing for Christmas, finishing up year end business and still...omg...still working on my house!  It was a big push to prepare the house for the holidays and (I swore) to greet 2008 on a better footing.  It was a mission and we all worked very very hard at making it a home again.

Being forced into such a reactionary mode for so many months, I determined that 2007 was the year of WORK. Many good things came out of 2007. Not that I want to experience that again...but I believe I've built a lovely nest for my sons with pretty painted walls, new appliances, safe heating, decent plumbing, and a lot less extraneous "stuff" cluttering up our environment (a lot of our personal belongings were destroyed by flood or indoor shower.)  My loved one who was so so sad during the first months of 2007 is now singing, playing music, laughing, and lighting up a room with his smile. Yeah... that is really nice.  Somehow we survived it and came out all the better for it. 

Every five years, I make a 5 year plan for my life.  I list out 4 or 5 major goals and work toward them...sometimes taking baby steps, sometimes taking giant leaps.  I've been pretty successful in this goal planning thing and have managed to meet most if not all my set goals.  2008 finds me with the task of setting up a new five year plan.

Having drank a glass of champagne to bid farewell to 2007, I greeted 2008 as the year of SELF IMPROVEMENT or PLAY.  How very strange when I visited the design firm of Cummings & Good and received my new 2008 Calendar which the design team entitled PLAY...how did they know?   

Back in 2007, I would find that my mind was often so cluttered by garbled random thoughts that I was unable to complete a thought or absorb any new topic.  Reading (one of my greatest pleasures) even became unmanageable...simply skimming the lines written on any given blog, website, book or magazine...comprehension ZERO.  I didn't go out to eat or go the movies.  I took no vacations. I went to the beach only once during the summer.  Days were filled with the thoughts of work or reconstruction or a fear of what on earth was going to happen next. 

Declaring 2008 as the year of self improvement and planning out my next five year plan is refreshing. I tell you it is almost like a rebirth.  I'm excited again. My mind is at ease... (for the most part as I believe it takes a bit of time to recover from chaos.)  During the Christmas holiday, I slept alot.  I took bubble baths. I read an actual book!  I got neck and body massages.  I was surrounded by love.  I'm looking forward to 2008 and the next five years reading and writing, developing my business toward Europe and Canada, learning new design skills, and taking care of myself.

I wonder if I'll actually have the courage to push the button here and publish what are some rather personal thoughts on a blog which has thus far been mostly a business/professional venue.  I suppose sometimes you just have to be honest and admit the fact that while yes we are professionals, designers, writers and artists; we are also people just trying to get through life.  It was Anaïs Nin who said "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." So with that thought... I push the "publish" button and send happy 2008 thoughts out to all of you.

Just a few little thoughts

Here are a two little quotes I picked up off Tim Ferriss' blog for The 4-Hour Work Week. These two simple little sentences just caused me to stop and consider. Interesting.

Be creative - start scaring yourself
Explore the unthinkable.

MakeFive :: New website connecting people through opinions and preferences

My friend, Eric Karjaluoto over at SmashLAB and ideasonideas wrote to me today announcing his new pet project MakeFive (honestly Eric... where do you find the time?) The site was launched yesterday and is based on a simple notion: share your opinions by ranking anything/everything and meet like minded individuals in the process.

After having browsed the new site I thought I'd post a little something here to give a bit of PR to the hard working folks at SmashLab but hmmm... how to I set a category for this post (or even multiple categories) without checking off everything from Art to Zebras? MakeFive has been created to accommodate nearly any subject you can imagine...including design related topics such as Most Influential designers of our time, Best design blogs, Best type families, Great books for entrepreneurs.

It can allow users to do so much:
- Learn about amazing new books
- Share their worst first-date experiences
- Opine on the most relevant news story of the year
- Document what things one wants to do before dying
- Find out about great restaurants they hadn't yet heard of

There is a lot of fun stuff here... one of my favorites is "What George W. Bush could do upon leaving office." My favorite answer : Take an English Class.

Visit MakeFive... and hey Eric, BTW... why do you call it MakeFive?

I'm going down...

For over a week now, I've been sick with some cold/flu/thing. It's in my chest, then my head, then my chest and head. It keeps moving around. This was suppose to be my vacation (at home) to catch up on some chores around the house, paperwork, and take a breath. Well taking a breath would be cool...IF I COULD BREATH!

Despite emptying a box of kleenex and a box of Tylenol Cold and Sinus... I've been a trooper. My thinking was "I've taken a vacation to accomplish things and by god, I'm going do it." Yeah.. ok. I have several rooms in my house that require painting. Due to a recent construction project there are boxes everywhere containing the elements of my life and organization is well...NOT.

It's friday. Any serious painting is just not going to happen because every morning I wake up with a body that is heavy and dragging as I push it through the day. Fine...I succumb. I'm taking the weekend to stay in bed (this might just kill me), read, watch movies and generally except that... I'm going down.

The Varr: A Special News Report by David MacDonald

My oldest son, David, had to write a report for his writing work shop. Always a champion of my boys talent and imagination, I wanted to share this with you, my readers. Here it is from the mind of MacDonald:

Angelina Jolie Abducted by Aliens, US Government Refuses to Negotiate With Terrorists

When famous actress Angelina Jolie did not return to the set of her latest film one afternoon a frantic search began in the hopes of finding her. Her car was found on the top floor of a parking garage a day later, the doors locked and the interior burned to cinders. No body was discovered.

Two days ago a message was broadcast to the people of earth by a species of extraterrestrial beings. They claim to have abducted the actress in order to negotiate with the people of earth. Their demands: only the frozen wastelands of Antarctica. In return they would give us back Angelina Jolie and promise to help restore the environment and keep the poles frozen. Some would say this was an excellent deal.

The Bush administration however refuses to negotiate with the aliens, claiming that they “… will never negotiate with terrorists of any kind, and that is exactly what these aliens are, terrorists.” A move most of humanity considers absolutely retarded.

The extraterrestrial species, calling themselves the Varr, were at first confused and upped their original offer, promising to share technology with the potential to end world hunger and create a super efficient form of clean energy.

The Bush administration again refused stating that no matter what they offer the aliens are still a terrorist group and that if they did not return Angelina Jolie they would take immediate and appropriate military action against the hostile organization. It was then that the people of the world realized the Bush administration was bound and determined to end the world.

Civilians and military personnel alike have risen up to crush the suicidal regime that the presidency has become. Angelina Jolie is still in the care of the Varr who have been politely asked to wait for sanity to be restored to the United States government before continuing negotiations. Bono of U2 is upset that this also takes precedence over ending world hunger and misses the irony of this completely. The Varr are very confused.

While the US reorients itself, the rest of the world has already accepted the offer, the Varr however refuse to begin anything without the acceptance of all world powers. As such the world is pushing the new US government to quickly settle itself and accept the Varr’s offer.

The people of the world are split many different ways in their views of the new species. Oddly most view the matter with the same casual indifference that has marked this age of humanity. A few people as always fear and hate the Varr for being different. Some see them as Gods and a new cult has already formed based on worshiping these newcomers. Some people are curious and hope to foster good relationships with the new comers to the planet.

Things I’ve learned on my journey through life:

It's Sunday morning and that means it is time for me to be catching up on the blogs that have been posted over the last week.  43Folders by Merlin Mann, discusses Stefan Sagmeister's views on design and happiness. I recommend watching Sagmeister's video entitled "Yes Design can make you happy" over at TED. It's really quite enjoyable and will put a smile on your face.  Mann has provided the list of 16 things which has helped Sagmeister be more open and happy.  Inspired I've written up 16 things that I've learned on my journey through life, so far :)

• Don’t consider yourself a victim in life, lest you become a victim of your own life.
• Money in the bank makes me feel secure. 
• Hard work works for me.
• Travel is good for mind and soul. It gives a different perspective on life.
• Don’t judge others until you are perfect.
• Reflect on experienced hardships and add them to your life’s portfolio.
• True love is inspirational.
• Lying is a waste of time.
• Learn, learn, never stop learning.  Seek it out and apply it.
• Spending time alone is good for me.
• Too much thinking can cause me to be stagnant.  Sometimes you have to stop thinking and go for it.
• When decorating your house, don’t scrimp on details.
• Being helpful to others makes you feel good. 
• Sometimes being polite just doesn’t work.
• Take care of those who take care of you.
• Find beauty and wonderment in simple things.

A most excellent quote

Here's a great quote I wanted to share with you.  Found over at zen habits...a great little blog by the way, and terrific for reducing the clutter in my head.  Anyway here's the quote:

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."  Aristotle