Settling into a new city

 We bring you back to your regular programming -- just a change in surroundings for myself. I made the epic drive to reach my new home: thirty-five hundred miles, four days, three nights, and one BF and apartment to settle into. Loads of decorating and sightseeing commenced. Just wanted to drop a note that I'm around. Expect to see posts shortly.

Motivational photo of the day: Ice Cube Dreams

Ice Cub Dreams by artist Terry Border posted on his Bent Objects blog.

Tokidoki on TV

tokidoki alert. I know there's a bunch of you fans out there. Get a behind the scenes look into tokidoki's work space. KarmaloopTV interviews the tokidoki's founder and designer, Simone Legno. I love his work space. Very colorful and fun. And, of course, he plugs a new Tokidoki creation. You also see quick flashes of the tokidoki Sanrio collaboration. I definitely enjoyed seeing Simone explain his creative process from the sketches to finished production illustration (looks like on Adobe illustrator).

Also, if you're in the L.A. area, Simone Legno will be making an in-store appearance at my favorite magazine/boutique, Giant Robot at its GR2 location. Lucky!

Simone Legno at GR2
Wednesday, July 30
6:00-8:00 p.m.

GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90025
310-445-9276

Oh, the places you will go

What a difference a year makes. Blogging wise, dearly devoted has celebrated its one-year anniversary! It did so in May but I'm only reflecting now with the major changes happening soon. This year, I got out of my metaphysical limbo, applied to grad school, and quit my job to make the move.



So, what does it mean, dear readers? I'm picking up my bags to move to Seattle! So, next week I'll be driving cross-country. In the meantime, I've been playing with Wordle, a web app that crates graphic, textual art based on reader submitted text or link. Wordle will create a visual word cloud based on randomness or frequency. Above, I entered a list of cities I've traveled or intend to. Can you guess which ones I've visited and the ones I'm itching to go next? My inspiration came from Ork's City Neighborhood posters, seen below.

Check out the results that Wordle generated when I entered dearly devoted's website:

You can customize the color, font choice, and layout to make it how you like. For a graphic geek like myself this is a fun, cheap thrill.

Shake it like a salt shaker

Dig monkeys? Enjoy a tropical motif? Need a quirky housewarming present?  Go B-A-N-A-N-A-S with Alessi's Stefano Giovannoni's OrienTales banana "monkey bros" salt & pepper set, $36. These happy-go-lucky monkeys deserve a good home.

The Good Worker Bee card

Everyone appreciates the concept of a gold star. Do something great, get recognized for your efforts.  While that hold true for teachers in the classroom, there's no sparkly equivalent in the cubicle world. That's why, I couldn't help but be amused and confused by this Congratulations card designed by Be a Decent Human Being for Sycamore Street Press. Is it snarky? Is it sincere? Maybe both? It's inscrutable.  The equivalent of a Rorschach test for card receivers. The overlarge typographic emphasis on "THAT THING YOU DID" would certainly make me feel...unsettled. So accusing. Followed by that cheery post-script, "Really super," makes me feel weird. If I was an evil passive aggressive nice boss, this would be ideal.  Perfect for upper management, coworkers, and frenemies. Seen over at Decor8





Congratulations card: Great Job on That Thing you Did , $4, Sycamore Street Press

When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping: Lisa & Stephanie jewelry

Times are tough. The economy's in the tank, work is stressful, and people are looking for relief. Pour some sugar on me, indeed. June/July has been a very bad month for me. On the 4th of July, I made out like a damsel in distress to Sarasota to be with family and friends.  Funny enough, my shopping instincts also followed me. My brother's girlfriend, Lisa Gellens, introduced me to her latest line of jewelry,   Lisa & Stephanie  that she cofounded with her sister. Lisa & Stephanie is known in Tampa for its custom-made glass bead work. However, I immediately zeroed on her custom, handcrafted jewelry that I modeled here. Mmmmm...silver, it's not just for killing werewolves. I'm loving the crumpled, rough hewed silver bracelet above. I like to pair  tough/feminine details in my outfits and would rock a pair of those bracelets.  I also dig the organic details in the silver rings below.