Entry #1 to the Veer Grand Prize Contest
Entry # 2
Entry #1 is my favorite.
Making sweet potato fries for a study snack. I almost burned them in the oven.
Etsy Finds
4. Feather and flower headband
7. Glasses
8. Chair clutch
I’ve started my application process for grad school! I’ve decided to apply to Pratt, RISD, and SCAD. The next two months are going to be very stressful!
Links you should visit today:
1) Design Vagabond.
Fall is here.
I went on a helicopter tour of Ann Arbor last week! It was my first time flying in a helicopter, and it was great. Though I must admit that I did get a little queasy halfway through the tour. My seatmate made an observation: Ann Arbor has a lot of trees. It just hit me that we should have played “I Spy” while we were up there.
Links you should visit today:
1) Sandra Juto. A photo blog.
2) Ruthi Auda. She does the store displays at the Anthropologie in Newport Beach. I want her job.
It’s Fall Study Break here at the University, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. A four-day weekend is just what I need to catch up on all my readings. I have an exam the day we get back from Fall Study Break, and I plan on studying for it tonight or tomorrow.
Reading for class and enjoying some tea. I’m growing to like tea.
I’m staying in Ann Arbor over the break, as I never get anything done when I go home. And when my brother left for college in September, my parents turned off the wireless internet at their house. It makes sense–my parents are the only ones at home right now and can make do without it, but I don’t think I’d be able to survive for four days without wireless internet.
A lot of my housemates went home for the Fall Study Break. There’s about 6 of us in the house right now, and it’s really quiet. I can’t wait to see everyone again, but I’m also appreciating how calm it is around here. Though the calmness feels creepy at night.
Speaking of creepy, some of my housemates saw Paranormal Activity, and it really freaked them out. I get scared way too easily, so I avoid scary movies altogether.
My roomie got me a gift certificate to Hollander’s for my birthday last month, and I used it a couple of weeks ago. I bought art supplies and a map of the world. @sara_bee has the exact same map–I saw it at her house, and she mentioned that she got it at Hollander’s. When I went to Hollander’s and saw it, I wanted to get it too.
Hollander’s is known for its supply of decorative paper and bookbinding materials and classes. They have a really great and beautiful paper inventory.
A small sample of the paper available at Hollander’s. There’s a whole room at Hollander’s devoted just to paper.
One of my housemates and I went to the Salvation Army for a couple of hours on Friday and both left with some good finds. She got a couple of skirts and dress shirts, and I got a belt, some tops, and a skirt. One of the tops and skirt is a tad too big for me, so I think I’ll give them to one of my sisters.
I went to the Michigan Theatre later on Friday with my roomie, @sara_bee, and @jasminezoo to see The September Issue. I really enjoyed it; it was everything I thought it would be.
I shot the University of Michigan vs. Delaware State football game yesterday. The photographer that I was supposed to shoot with woke up feeling sick, so I shot the game all on my own. It was really cold, but I had a good time.
After shooting the game, I went to the yearbook office to upload the photos. I got back to my co-op a little before 6pm, had dinner, and started working on a piece that I’m thinking of including in my portfolio for art school.
Here’s what my piece looked like at 8pm yesterday.
Here’s my completed piece at 2am! I pinned it to my bulletin board, right above “come-visit-our-school-for-more-information” letters from grad schools that I’m thinking of applying to. This will all serve as a daily reminder to get on those applications! How I’m wishing those letters were acceptance letters.
For the past few months, I’ve been looking for a jewelry stand. I came across a few that I liked, but they just weren’t what I was looking for. Last week, I saw that one of my housemates puts her jewelry on a bulletin board, which I thought was genius. I ran out to pick-up a bulletin board as soon as I had some free time.
I’m really happy with my jewelry bulletin board. On a side note, I’ve had that pink flower for a little over two weeks now, since the day of my tea party. It’s starting to wither, but I’m happy that it’s lasted as long as it has.
SORRY FOR THE HIATUS! My life has been consumed by classes, work, baking, the Michiganensian Yearbook, and attending mass meetings for student organizations that I’m interested in joining this school year. I just had an interview with the Michigan Advertising & Marketing Club last week and heard back from them a few hours ago. I’m in! I’ll be working with the Creative Development Team to design posters, flyers, and other promotional materials. There’s a mass meeting for the U-M student chapter of AIGA Monday evening, and @sara_bee and I are going. I am super excited about this mass meeting! Also, I shot my first Michigan football game for the Michiganensian this month! I’m not that into football, but I had a blast taking photos.
I hosted a tea party at my co-op Saturday afternoon. I baked for 8 hours straight Friday night, went to bed at 5am Saturday morning, and got up a few hours later to finish baking! My housemates and I baked snickerdoodles, raspberry buttermilk cake, cheesecake-swirled brownies, plum kuchen, oatmeal chocochip cookies, chocolate covered peanut butter balls, zucchini bread, banana bread, blondies, cheese straws…there was A TON of stuff. It was all pretty delicious. Photos courtesy of @amandajeaners.
Classes are coming along. I’ve fallen behind in my readings and doubt that I’ll ever catch up. I just want to run away and work for @MarthaStewart.
Over the past two days, I’ve come across some amazing design blogs. Read about a couple below!
The list:
1) A Field Journal. Can you believe that this blog belongs to UNIVERSITY STUDENT!? Her name’s Livy, and I simply don’t understand how she can keep up with classes and do everything on here. It’s amazing.
Livy threw a small birthday party for her housemate's 21st. The food, setting, and decor are absolutely gorgeous.
2) Inchmark. I came across this blog while I was fantasizing about working for @MarthaStewart. This blog belongs to a former employee of @MarthaStewart. I swear, I found this out AFTER I started reading the blog.
The bag below was stenciled using freezer paper! I’m so going to give it a try.
A very nice hand-stenciled bag.
In my room. Currently listening to Regina Spektor.
Classes started on Tuesday. It was a pretty hectic week, and I am very glad that it’s the weekend. Though I do have quite a few readings to get through before Monday.
I dropped an Art class, Linguistics class, and Cultural Anthropology class after attending the first day because they weren’t what I expected them to be. I did add an Intro to Buddhism class, but that’s because I dropped Cultural Anthropolgy and needed a humanities class for distribution credit. I’m taking 13 credits instead of the usual 16, and let me tell you, it feels GREAT.
Anthony Bourdain, Frank Warren, and David Sedaris are coming to speak to the Michigan Theatre as part of a speaker series! Kevin Smith is coming too, but I really have no interest in Kevin Smith. I bought subscriber tickets earlier this week, guaranteeing myself a seat to see all three speakers. General tickets will go on sale to the public closer to the event date. I am PUMPED. I am huge fans of David Sedaris and Frank Warren and have just recently started watching Anthony Bourdain’s show No Reservations.
My trip to New York City was pretty great. I visited Pratt and Parsons. I really liked Pratt and thought Parsons was okay. I plan on applying to both in addition to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
I saw a great deal of Manhattan during my six days there. I stayed on W. 34th St. (a very touristy part of the city) and was in walking distance to practically everything–Times Square, Bryant Park, the huge Macy’s, Fifth Avenue. I also took the subway (which is really clean, by the way) down to SoHo and up to Central Park. SoHo was very overwhelming, and Central Park was gorgeous. It’s a lot bigger than I thought it would be. I walked to Hell’s Kitchen, and ran into a past roommate! It’s such a small world.
I brought my camera, but I didn’t take any photos. It would have slowed me down.
I haven’t gone thrifting in a while. Maybe I can go this weekend!
The list:
1) The Michigan Daily. The Michigan Daily launched is redesigned website last week! It looks great. It’s still getting tweaked. PS. I designed the blog headers.
2) PrintMag. While in Manhattan last week, I spent some time in Borders reading Print Mag. There was a great article about Target and design. Find it online here. I’ve never read Print Mag before and I like it so much that I’ve subscribed to it. I can’t wait to get my first issue in the mail.
Yesterday, Bob Mankoff, a cartoonist at The New Yorker, spoke at the Michigan Theatre as part of the Penny W. Stamps Lecture series put on by U-M’s School of Art and Design. A friend of mine in the art school told me about the series earlier this summer, and I plan on going to every single one. A designer from Pentagram Design Studios is coming to speak within the next couple of months.
I thought Bob Mankoff was pretty funny.
In my room. Currently listening to nothing.
I leave for New York in two days! I am so excited! I spent all last night doing laundry and packing–I didn’t go to bed until 4am! And I got up extra early to do some last minute errands. I’m really dragging right now.
I made raspberry scones today with some leftover raspberries from a berry picking adventure. @sara_bee, @jasminezoo, and @Steph_Steinberg I went berry picking this past Sunday at Makielski Berry Farm in Ypsilanti. It was about a 15 minute drive, and we had a great time. Except for the bees. They were everywhere.
After berry picking, we met up with @LaraZade and went canoeing and kayaking down the Huron River! It was a ton of fun, but VERY tiring. We canoed and kayaked for 2 hours, about 3.7 miles! That may not seem like much distance to some people, but my arms were very sore after. @Steph_Steinberg and I kayaked together and we ran into trees and bushes that line the shores of the river quite a few times. I almost lost my glasses one time because of tree branches.
After canoeing, we all went back to my co-op, made raspberry almond scones (@sara_bee found this recipe, and we substituted the blueberries with raspberries), and had a tea party. It was a great day.
One of the scones I made with leftover raspberries from a raspberry picking adventure. This is my second helping. Nom nom nom.
I updated my links/resources yesterday. Check out some of my favorite blogs and websites to the left, under “Some Favorites.”
1) decor8. An amazing blog by Holly Becker. I discovered it yesterday and have been reading it ever since. I went to bed at 4am this morning because I was reading this blog while I was packing!
“As a writer and interior design consultant, I created decor8 to catalog beautiful finds and to inspire others.” -Holly Becker
There are some great resources on here for organizing, decorating, painting, art projects, the list goes on.
In one post, Holly Becker blogs about Coral von Zumwalt Photography. I love this photo; I love seeing people's inspiration walls/boards. Photo: Coral von Zumwalt
2) seesaw. I found the link for decor8 blog on this site!
“Seesaw is a graphic design & letterpress studio. This is where we share all of the things that inspire us on a daily basis.”
They post on a wide range of things: art, architecture, industrial design, information design.
Very clever design. And think about how green it is! Not too much waste, the packaging for it is probably simple and clean, and you can ship and transport a ton at one time.
In my room. Currently listening to Regina Spektor.
I put zucchini bread in the oven about half an hour ago and it should be ready to come out in about 15 minutes. I got the recipe from marthastewart.com. It’s the second time I’m using this recipe, and I’m hoping it turns out as good as it did the first time!
I started moving into my new room, room #9, yesterday! It’s just down the hall from room #6, the room that I’m staying in now–thank goodness I don’t have to go up any steps. I had room#6 all to myself for the past few months and am rooming with someone in room#9. Her name’s Christina. I haven’t met Christina yet, but we’ve exchanged e-mails.
Read about my moving adventure below:
Monday, August 25th, 2009:
5:00pm: Get home from work to find that #9 is locked. I had spent the previous day cleaning and moving furniture around. I had pushed a dresser out into the hallway because I didn’t want one and notice that the dresser is gone. The desk hutch that I had put out in the hallway was gone too. Maybe the maintenance guys moved them to the basement?
5:03pm: Run around my co-op looking for Amanda so I can get into room #9. Find her in the basement computer lab with her boyfriend, Evan, talking about groceries.
5:05pm: Unlock room #9 and find that the desk hutch is sitting comfortably on my desk. There are also three dressers in the room. Three. I had pushed mine out into the hallway and left one in the room for Christina. Where did the third one come from?
5:10pm: Pushed two dressers out into the hallway. I probably pulled a muscle in the process.
5:23pm: Ask Evan and Amanda to help me move a table from the basement to room #9. It’s really hard walking up the stairs backwards carrying a table.
5:30: Talk to Amanda about how horrible our vacuums are. The one on the 1st and 2nd floors don’t work. Amanda says that the one on the third floor works.
5:32pm: Lug the third floor vacuum down to room #9. It works! Spend the next few hours cleaning.
6:17pm: As I’m cleaning the radiator, I find some cheese melted to it. Cheese.
6:40pm: Pick up a piece of cardboard from the closet floor and see a spider on it. Run downstairs with the cardboard and spider and let the spider loose on the front porch. Hopefully he doesn’t find his way back in.
7:00pm: Vacuum. There are a lot of feathers on the carpet. Was there a pillow fight in here?
7:08pm: Wipe down the walls, windows, and closets and realize that I’m inhaling the cleaner. Ah!
8:00pm: Take a break. Go on to marthastewart.com and look up recipes for blondies. Go on to smittenkitchen.com and look up recipes for blondies. Decide to make the blondies from marthastewart.com.
8:30pm: Slowly start moving things from room #6 to room #9. I didn’t realize I have so much stuff.
9:21pm: Start baking!
10:02pm: Slide the blondies into the oven and clean the kitchen while they’re baking.
10:33pm: The blondies are done! Enjoy them with Amanda and @bcbodnar, another housemate. Talk about the history of the co-op, drugs, and skunks.
11:30pm: Return to room #6 and look up recipes for carrot cake.
12:07pm: Bed.
I hope to finish moving everything into room #9 by tonight, but I’m dead tired, so we’ll see.
The list:
1) Human Resources. “Human Resources is a source of creative visual and aural inspiration” (from Human Resources). They have some pretty nifty stuff on here and also post links to people’s portfolios and websites.
Wishing my room were big enough to accommodate these.
Wondering how the shelves are arranged in the "L," "A," and "N" pieces.
2) Dazed Digital. I got this link from Human Resources! It kind of reminds me of NYMag.com, which I adore. Dazed Digital seems to have more content, and I’ve practically glued myself to their Arts & Culture section.
3) Style Bubble. I got this link from Dazed Digital! It’s like that 6-degrees of separation thing–every website is connected to one another through links to one another. The author of this blog, Susie Bubble, is a contributor to Dazed Digital (more evidence of the 6-degrees of separation phenomenon). She lives in London, so I’m sure she has an awesome accent. Jealous.
Anywho, Susie blogs about fashion and her life. Her life is a lot more interesting than mine, but then again, my life’s pretty average. She describes her blog as “a record of observations, experiences, and thoughts about my very specific view of fashion.”
Here is Susie selling some things at a flea market. She's trying to clear out her closet. Picture courtesy of Style Bubble and Fred Butler's blog.
In my room.
Currently listening to Regina Spektor.
I just found out that Regina Spektor will be in Ann Arbor on September 15th! She’s performing at the Michigan Theatre. My housemate, @bcbodnar, is going to the concert, and I’m still debating whether or not to buy a ticket. I checked online, and the only seats left are pretty crappy.
PostSecret is going to be at the Michigan Theatre on December 4th! I can’t wait. I tried to buy tickets online, but it doesn’t look like they’re available for purchase yet. If I can’t get tickets to this event, I’ll be very upset.
I’m going to New York August 31st-September 7th! I am SUPER PUMPED. I’m taking a train out there. It’ll be my first time on a train, and I think it’s going to be fun.
I’ve scheduled campus visits of Parsons and Pratt. I’m excited for both campus visits, but am really looking forward to visiting Pratt.
I don’t plan on sleeping while I’m in New York. I’m putting together a list of things I want to do and places I want to visit: Central Park, Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Arts and Design, thrifting, Bryant Park, Union Square, NYU…basically, a lot of tour-isty stuff.
The list:
1) Angela Ficorelli. There’s some great stuff on here. She has a wonderful porfolio.
I really want to take a printmaking class in the Fall!
2) Lookbook.nu. @sara_bee and @jasminezoo love this site, and I do too! It’s a great place to get some fashion inspiration. I wish students in Ann Arbor would dress more like the people on this website!
I can't walk in heels. I'd wear this outfit with flats.
Currently watching LOST with @BCBodnar
My housemate Bridget and I started watching LOST last week, and I can see why people are addicted to it. We’re on Disc 6 of season one.
On Wednesday, I went to the Salvation Army and Treasure Mart in search of a briefcase like the one below. I think it’s so classy.
http://www.etsy.com/category/jewelry?page=19
But I couldn’t find one. Darn. I did find a crystal pendant and a pearl necklace at Treasure Mart though, and I only spent $10. Score!
I love Treasure Mart.
I am not giving up on the briefcase.
Yesterday, Bridget and I went to Fleetwood Diner. Neither of us had been there before, and I think it was okay. Here’s what happened:
Waitress: What kind of toast would you like?
Me: Um…french?
Waitress: White, wheat, or rye?
Yup. That really happened.
Bridget and I also went to Nakamura Co-op for a bit yesterday to celebrate my past roommate’s birthday. I hadn’t seen the birthday girl in ages, and it was really great to sit and catch up.
Early Sunday morning, Bridget and I are going to go to Afternoon Delight for breakfast (I think Bridget and I are going to hit up a good number of Ann Arbor restaurants this summer) and then we’re going to go to a Quaker service after that. There’s a Quaker/Friends House a few houses down from our co-op, and we think it’d be interesting to sit in on a service.
Today, I signed up to be a guinea pig at the Dental School. If I’m eligible for the study, I think I’ll be testing out some new mouthwash. I’ll get paid and a free teeth cleaning. Woot.
The list:
1) Lovely Package. A website similar to The Dieline. Loves it.
I love packaging design. This is what I want to do with my life.
2) Fleuron. Hmm. I can’t remember if I already blogged about this site. Fleuron is a “journal of typography and design,” and there’s some pretty neat work on here.
By Isabelle Vaverka (visit her at http://isabellevaverka.net/)
in my room
Currently listening to The Like.
No international holidays today.
Early this morning, @hruffe (Hillary) and I went to the Kiwanis Rummage Sale in downtown Ann Arbor and to Treasure Mart in Kerrytown. We didn’t find anything at the rummage sale, but I did find some awesome jewelry at Treasure Mart. I bought a pin, necklance, pendant, and hat pins. I’ve recently become obsessed with hat pins and am now becoming obsessed with suitcases like this. I saw a couple of suitcases that I liked at Treasure Mart, but some wire was exposed on them and I poked myself.
Today was the first time that I went to Treasure Mart, and though it was a little pricier than I had thought it would be, I’ll definitely be returning soon.
My Treasure Mart finds! (Clockwise from left): A brooch and chain made into a necklace; a lovely green pendant; five stick/hat pins.
This past Sunday @sara_bee (Sara) and I put on the design inspiration board at The Michigan Daily office. I think it looks great (I’ll try to get a picture of that up too)! We put 16 hooks on a wall and ran a whole bunch of string from hook to hook. We’re using clothespins to hang up cool designs that we come across in magazines, online, etc.
Haven’t heard back from the people at ffffound.com yet about my invite….
The list:
1) NEED: The Clock Clock. GENIUS. See The Clock Clock in action here.
2) Etsy.com. @hruffe and I love this site. They even have a category called “geekery.” I haven’t bought anything from here yet, but I’m sure I will soon. Like in two days or something.
