broke [creative] students

College students have always been a little bit more creative. Forced to live in shoeboxes, often with little creative control over the furniture etc., it forces poor students to push the boundaries and explore alternatives. Check out this slideshow from the New York Times which showcases what creative college students [ok mostly art and architecture students] have created in their cramped dorms/apartments. 

[image via NYT]

i'm baaaaack

Sorry for the lack of posts this last week. I moved into my new house [ADORABLE- pictures later] and didn't get internet hooked up until today! 

Sweet Tooth.

Check out Amy Atlas Events. They create works of art at all sorts of events ranging from corporate parties, bridal showers to children's parties and weddings. So cute. So fun. Love it. 

must. find. dresser.

I want this dresser for my new room: 

Must find it. 

[image via brilliant asylum]

Hi, my name is adorable.

My new baby cousin. I'm in love with her. 

[totally unrelated to anything, except super super cute!]

Dropped Calls

Cingular Ad. Clever. 

Michaels Italian Restaurant

So Michaels, the crafting mecca store has FINALLY decided to update its logo. Gone are the dated red letters that adorn weekly coupons in the Sunday paper, and in their place, this whimsical hand lettered font. 

On paper I enjoy the new logo. The handwritten style is definitely in keeping with the "crafting" mantra of the store. However, I'm not quite sure how this will look on the stores themselves. It looks more like a boutique style store, rather than the solid national crafting institution that it is. I know that their ads [and their coupons] will not be as identifiable in the Sunday paper, but could the same fate await the stores themselves? Let me explain. I inherited my creative spirit from my mother. While I prefer to keep it somewhat under control, my mother has let crafting go to her head a little too much [I mean this in a good way of course]. Recently my mom and I took a road trip. When planning said trip my mother grew very concerned because there was a Michaels one day only sale coupon [a "special" one besides the typical sunday paper regulars]. The problem was that this one day interfered with our trip. In order to appease my mother we pulled off the highway in Fredericksburg, Virginia in search of a Michaels so that her coupon would not go to waste. Lucky for us, all we needed to find was the giant strip mall infested road that ran through town, and then giant [ugly] red letters would alert us to the nearest Michaels. 

I ask this - with the new logo, will it be as easy to find when driving down the road? I fear that new logo will not be as substantial, nor easily identifiable to passersby. Should my mother and I find ourselves in an obscure town the day of a one day only Michaels sale, will we be able to distinguish the crafts giant from Michael's Italian Restaurant? I worry. 

Don't get me wrong, I like the new logo, I'm just not sure how it will work on a storefront. 

Orange, White and Blue

The first time I saw this sign for Mark Ellmore's congressional race in Virginia I did a double take. The sign bears a striking resemblance to that of Jerry Kilgore who ran for Governor of Virginia just 3 years ago. Ok, it is absolutely IDENTICAL. Both of their names even end in "ore."  

I understand that those who design for political campaigns often "recycle" the layout for a mailer etc. However, if you're going to make your logo completely identical here are a

 few suggestions: 

1. Recycle a sign/logo that hasn't been used IN THAT GEOGRAPHICAL AREA in at least 2 major political cycles [city council doesn't count]. 

2. Perhaps change the color or use a design that isn't so drastically different from the "norm" [aka blue, white, red...you know...patriotic colors]

3. Use a design that actually worked. Don't choose a design that didn't even work the first time around. If you want to connect yourself to someone, why not hook yourself to a winning campaign? 

I apologize for the small Kilgore example. Apparently, the campaign stripped the internet of all evidence that he ever ran for Governor following the campaign. 

fit for a princess

So my cousin is due to give birth to her first child [a daughter!] any day now! I think that little girls' rooms are so cute and so in honor of my future baby cousin, I have compiled a collection of fun girls' rooms, from baby to teenage years...OK so I'd probably live in half of these...

This room has a crib for baby and then a bed for when baby grows up, or when mommy sleeps in the nursery.

OK, so I probably wouldn't have this nursery, but if this is your style then I think its really cool. Very clean with simple lines. 

JLo's twins' nursery. A little girly for the boy, but absolutely precious for the girl! 

The perfect room for the modern, trendy teenage girl. 

Very cute room for a more retro girl. 

I thinkn this room looks adorable...ok WOULD look adorable if it were a little bit bigger. It looks very cramped but with wonderful pieces. 

Standard issue little girls room, bed for girl, bed for friend...oh sleepovers... 

I love circle cribs! I think they are so cute! 

Simple and yet ornate at the same time...

I could probably do with out the giant diaper pin on the wall...

Retro baby. 

lebello chairs

How comfortable do these Lebello summer chairs look? I know summer is over, but my new house that I'm moving into in a week and a half will have a deck...maybe next summer... 

judge the judge

Kelly Wearstler has declared in the new issue of Domino that it is time to move on from the Hollywood Regency style. Um, first off, I like the Hollywood Regency style. But secondly, what will take its place? Apparently this bravura modernism the Top Design judge did to her guesthouse. I DON'T THINK SO. Horrid. Absolutely Horrid. Kelly, we can not live with your design. 

the big 1-0-7

So I'm not going to lie. I really didn't think that this blog thing would last. I wasn't sure if I would have the motivation to keep it up, nor did I really expect people to read it. But lo and behold, I have reached my 100th post milestone. Ok, so I have actually reached my 107th post milestone but I wasn't really paying attention. Then on Friday I was reading a Linkedin question and it was discussing how many bloggers reach their 100th post milestone and this person estimated that only 1% did [which I completely disagree with by the way] and they then continued on about how special said milestone is. Well, I'm not going to elaborate on how this is the happiest day of my life or any of that nonsense, because in actuality, I didn't look to see how many posts I had done until I read the Linkedin post, but I would like to say thank you to everyone who reads my blog. I wasn't sure any of you would :)  oh and I would also like to thank sitemeter for letting me know that people really are reading it and I'm not just talking to myself [which is still cool].