Giving Thanks: An ultra-cheesy post on gratitude

John and I have had a year – it’s been good and bad, definitely busy. Today is a reminder to continue to dwell on the things that are good in life – my husband (hahaha – I still can’t say that without thinking it’s weird), my amazing family, good Christmas songs that I play a week before Thanksgiving (sorry, Fleur).

I think one of the best ways to stay happy is to preoccupy yourself with what makes you happy. In the same vein, I think the easiest way to remain miserable is to linger on what is making you miserable. I challenge you today to just think about something happy, fun, or good whenever Aunt Marge starts annoying the crap out of you. And maybe start a gratitude journal on your iPhone.

Although John’s mom won’t be with us, we’ll be thinking about the good times we had with her around the dinner table. She loved to cook and to adventure out to new restaurants with us. She also made a mean sweet potato casserole that I wish she could be here to share.

We’ll be spending Thanksgiving with my lovely sisters, their partners and my niece – now we all get to sit at the adult table! It’s going to be a bit of a misfit holiday – we’re having turkey skyline chili, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, and more pie than actual dinner.

I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving, however you choose to spend it! Dwell on the good!

Give thanks today and every day for a happier life

Design challenge, day 4, coffee!

Tried something different today and I’m not sure it works but I’m putting it out there anyway because I want to go to sleep. 🙂

Used the Paper app on the iPad then moved over to Photoshop to rearrange what I sketched. I tried to simplify each luxury as much as possible. Can you still tell what they are?

"What on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book, and a cup of coffee?

 

“What on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book, and a cup of coffee?…Was ever anything so civil?”

― Anthony Trollope

Design challenge, day 2, Dovahkiin.

I couldn’t help but create something silly about Skyrim. I’ve put way too many hours into the game and still play on a fairly regular basis even though the game came out almost 2 years ago. It’s kind of like playing an MMO without the idiots.

someone-stole-your-sweetroll

Anyway… the challenging part of this was actually letting myself use Trajan (because I feel that it’s often overused) and finding a Celtic-inspired font that didn’t look like a smashed sweetroll. Well, that and drawing the sweetroll. These challenges are supposed to take .5-1 hour and both of these have taken about 2-3 hours. I think I need to let go a bit.

Celtic: http://www.fontspace.com/sam-wang/celtic

Self-imposed design challenge

I’ve decided to challenge myself to try to design something every day. Here’s day one, Doctor Who-inspired.

John and I devoured all seasons of Doctor Who available on Netflix last year. Now we’re waiting on the 50th anniversary episode to air next month. I’m very excited to see John Hurt as the Doctor.

Anyway, wish me luck in my endeavor towards better design!

Bowties are cool.