merge and signage

hey blog world. it's been a busy three months. can you believe that i've been working at mobberly for that long already? time flies when you are having fun.

Part 1: merge

i've been working on a logo and other promo materials for a new strategy at Mobberly called MERGE: Combining the influence of church and home. It's about parents taking a huge part in helping their children to grow spiritually. it's about conversations at the dinner table that point to Jesus. It's about praying together. It's about reading scripture together. It's exciting and from what I have heard from most parents...it's challenging. The process of creating this logo was fun. I haven't had the opportunity since college to really sit with someone else and go through a design process to get a product that I am really happy with. Thank you, Liz Gregory for being on staff at Mobberly. It is awesome to work with another designer, ahem, girls minister.

Part 2: Signage

One thing that my good friend Kimberly and I share a love for are cool signs. Something about those signs really gets me excited. Kimberly is really good about taking pictures of them and making them look even better. Spend a few minutes on her blog.

See ya later.

Packaging

http://www.thedieline.com/

announcement!

...not out of debt

...no kids

...not moving - didn't buy a house

...no new car

...not getting a puppy (yet)

...new website! whatsthejillio.com!

...this blog is moving. soon. but not yet...still working out some kinks.

more marfa

apparently, marfa is the place to go if you like to take photos. i took a ton of them, but my friend linsey found some others who traveled to this little art oasis right around the same time we were there.

enjoy their photos:
Esther Havens Photography

(the teepee is definitely at el cosmico...the campground that we stayed in.)

Kelsey Foster Photography

Eric Ryan Anderson

jotting down some new sites / things that overlap

http://www.creativemyk.com/gallery.aspx?q=&c=4&s=

Logo Lounge trends

Collide magazine

from LogoPond...by "Oxide"

Venn Diagrams

Infographics. Kimberly, I think you would like this site.

Marfa, not Martha

Hehe. Everyone thinks I have a problem when I say Marfa. They think I'm trying to say Martha. Reminds me of when people say birfday instead of birthday or libary instead of library...

I have not had the time to edit any of my photos from the Marfa trip...but here they are. All 256 of them. You'll see photos of Balmorhea Springs pool, the Davis Mountains, art in Marfa and a some nice signage.

I especially loved these tables that Donald Judd designed (I keep thinking about how I could set my sewing machine up, work on a quilt, paint, design stuff on my computer--and still have room to eat dinner!):


My favorite part of the Chinati Foundation tour: 100 untitled works in mill aluminum


* Linsey...thanks for being a model...

Apple Pancakes, Goodbyes and Sheridan

I'll start with a summer update. I hate typing a lot so I'm gonna make it quick:

Mid-May - Geoffrey starts his new job

May 31 (actually a couple days before) - we're moved out of our Waco house. (and I miss this house a whole bunch!) Geoffrey moves into the cabin (see this post) and I move in with Lynn and Norm Hoffman. The Hoffmans are our dear friends in Waco who have been like family to us for the past three years. We miss them a whole bunch. I'm so thankful for their generosity...I lived with them for my first month in Waco and lived with them during my last month in Waco. One thing that we learned from the Hoffmans is where to eat. They introduced us to many new restaurants during our time in Waco (some not in Waco. Like here and here and definitely here). One of the highlights of staying with the Hoffmans this summer is the night that Lynn and I made the Apple Pancake from The Original Pancake House. Lynn and Norm introduced Geoffrey and I to this pancake one weekend while we were in Dallas and it MAY be the best thing that I've ever put in my mouth. We were so proud of ourselves for recreating this pancake. We ate the whole thing for dinner with ham and I believe we even had dessert after that. Here's the recipe if you want it. Our masterpiece:


Mid-June - went to HS camp with the youth group (see this video). Had a great time getting to know the youth group.

June 28 - Geoffrey and I have been married for 2 years! Woohoo. We went to Dallas the weekend before our anniversary. There was an adventure that included riding the DART and walking about a mile to eat a nice dinner at P.F. Changs.

End of June - last day at the Chamber. It was really hard to leave. While I consider that this job was extremely challenging and a very unhappy place at times, I do think that I learned A TON. I developed a thicker skin and learned how to work with people. I also fell in love with Virginia Ferguson. We started working on the same day (June 11, 2007) and I do believe that God placed her in my life (no doubt). I miss her so much. I miss our Friday morning coffee runs (okay Scot, I miss you being there, too). Scot Sanders and Alexis Weaver and Jennifer Peel are people that I wish that I could work with here at Mobberly. Do you think you could move to Longview...puhlease? It was hard to say goodbye to Waco...

July 1 - Hello Longview! Living apart from Geoffrey for a month = way hard. Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly and loving to the two of us. Living in Longview again is weird. It's not like it was growing up. Better? No, different. We love it so far. I'll have to tell you about my new friend Naseem in another post.

Mid-July - Geoffrey and I traveled to Sheridan, Wyoming with the Mobberly youth group. This was a wonderful experience. The youth at Mobberly are really fun and nice and eager to get to know us. Highlights of the trip: sharing with all the girls how Geoffrey and I fell in love, reconnecting with my friend Molly Bearden (had not seen her in seven years) and chasing cows off the road on the way up the mountain to look at the stars with her, seeing almost 100 people trust in Jesus at the Sheridan Rodeo, visiting Porcupine Falls on the last day and celebrating Geoffrey's birthday in Denver with Matt and Vasha.

This ran in front of our van on the way to Porcupine Falls
Please click here for more Wyoming photos. See if you can find our Christmas card picture in there.

End of July - Started my new job as Admin. Assistant at Mobberly BC. Geoffrey and I work about 300 yards apart for each other...hehe. It has been a great experience so far. I've been making some new work friends. My boss is really nice. I'm going to do another post on the job sometime soon.

Note: Geoffrey and I are starting a new blog to keep you updated on our lives in ministry at Mobberly. We aren't ready to do this quite yet, but stay tuned...it's going to be awesome.

FYI

A blog post is coming. get ready.

Oh yeah..I'm either officially blog popular in Asia OR people are leaving annoying notes on my blog. So long...I added some security today and I'm thinking this is going to stop. (fingers crossed)

Possible upcoming topics: (comment for the one you want first)
Photos from this summer
My new job
Hotel signage
An upcoming trip to Marfa, Texas
I heart my IPhone
The Droid commercials are terrible
I want to do another triathlon and I need to work out
Cabin Life
Debt Free in 2011
I want a house

Threadless

My friend Linsey Metcalf is in a contest to get her t-shirt design printed. If she wins, the money will go toward her upcoming mission trip to the Dominican Republic. So I'd like to encourage you to take a few minutes, sign up on Threadless.com and vote for her t-shirt design.

I love Linsey and I also love the Dominican Republic. This is a great cause to support!Vote for Toby Now.

Cabin

Thought you might want to see our temporary Longview living quarters. God bless the Reeves family for letting us stay there for a little while.

Pie charts and new loves

Found this guy while searching for pie charts that have been turned into cool illustrations. I enjoyed seeing his pie chart illustration and the cake that was created to go with it. Great idea.

Additionally, I found this blog. It is an art therapist's blog and I am quite fascinated!

Other things I'm going to spend more time looking at later:
Outlaw Design Blog
Paper Leaf Design Studio
Letterheady - vintage letterhead designs. yessss.

New topic.

Geoffrey and I found a house that we really like. (Right down from Adrienne's parents' neighborhood) We were thinking it might be something that we could think about buying...until I got online and realized that it's on 39 acres and it's 350k. Figures. While it needs some work, I really love the windows in the kitchen and built in bookshelves in the living room. It also has really old, gigantic trees in the yard.

The Lord will provide a house for us that we like, I just think our timing is a little off right now.

Just to dream a little...here are some things I would love to have in a house: (which I think is pretty much what a lot of people want...pretty generic)
- hardwood floors (but we could do this ourselves over time)
- built ins, interesting features (our Waco rent house had bookshelves, a china cabinet and a phone nook)
- good closets
- a garage that doesn't face the street
- trees
- i like older homes but don't want to buy one that will require a complete remodel

Alright, enough dreaming for now.

p.s. Youth camp was awesome. It was great to see some teenagers get excited about following Jesus.

Camp!

Welp, I leave in the morning to go to high school camp with Mobberly BC. We're going to Windermere in Roach, Missouri. Haha...Roach. Hope that doesn't mean that I will be seeing lots of those while I'm there. I bought sunglasses and candy necklaces and stickers for my HS girls group I'll be leading -- this is so that they will think i'm cool...

This guy named Pat Cammarata will be speaking to the students this week and Sarah Reeves will be leading worship.

I got a job. More to come!

So, I'll see you guys next week!

Work in progress...

www.whatsthejillio.squarespace.com

next step: buy my own domain name. not telling because i'm afraid someone will steal it. you could probably figure it out if you take away the words that start with s from the above address.

love it or hate it or have any ideas?

like this website.

been thinking about doing a portfolio site. like the simplicity of this one. thanks again, steven heller, for your daily heller blog. also, i saw you on milton glaser: to inform and delight the other day. felt like we were buddies. thanks to mr. patrick pollei for recommending the movie.

do you know who milton glaser is? do you have a t-shirt that says i heart ny? he's responsible.

oh yeah, i need a job. in longview. please?

Bucket List Update

1. Zeb's (fried jalapenos) complete
2. Double R's burgers
3. Cameron Park Zoo complete
4. Waco Mammoth Site (haven't been yet)
5. Art Center Waco (yup, haven't been there either, wow...that's embarrassing)
6. Lake Waco Wetlands (yeah, I've just seen pictures)
7. Jump off the cliffs at Lake Whitney (yeah!)
8. George's complete
9. Mountain biking in Cameron and at Lake Waco (this is Geoffrey's addition, not mine) complete
10. Coco's Shaved Ice complete
11. The slide at Lions Park complete...they aren't opening the slide anymore!
12. Gut Pack at Vitek's
13. Churro's at Altos de Jalisco in Hewitt - complete
14. Baylor Baseball game complete
15. Bangkok Royal complete
16. Swim in the Brazos again (yeah right...Geoffrey can do this by himself)
17. See Blake Adams do another show at Common Grounds (someone tell him) and enjoy a Cowboy Coffee
18. Fro Yo on LaSalle (probably will do this multiple times between now and the end of June)
complete complete complete complete (and will be getting more!)


What would you add or subtract? Surely you guys have an opinion.

LOST celebrations and bad spelling

If you aren't a LOST fan, this post will either be really boring for you or you'll think I'm crazy.

This week Geoffrey and I celebrated the show LOST with our faithful watching crew. It was the last time that all of us will ever be together.

First of all, Melaina's FOTO FRIDAY (of which I am a huge fan) has the best photo from the celebration. The smoke monster is strangling Sawyer(Melaina) as he tries to enjoy his fish biscuit. A bunch of seasons all in one photo. Sawyer also likes this?

We made Dharma packaging for all of our food (thanks Adrienne for the initial idea. Melaina also made Dharma mac and cheese (much better than regular mac and cheese out of the box...).

All of the food was island themed. Geoffrey and I both felt like we were back in the Dominican eating at the resort buffet. Thanks to the ladies at the Proctor street house for providing most of the meal.

Melaina made fish biscuits. (the most awesome part)

I dressed up like Crazy Claire (a really bad impression, but pretty fun) and Tihara was the smoke monster.

The Dharma packaging would not be complete without a creepy bar code on the back. Hope we make it through the weekend...

I made my second attempt at creating an all-natural typeface a few weekends ago. I made this for my friend Linsey only to realize about 15 minutes after I took the photos that I spelled her name wrong. I just got so excited about the rock for the bowl of the D. Tee hee.

Fascinated by the Flash Mob idea

Over the past semester, I've been introduced to the idea of the flash mob. I'm quite fascinated by it.

Here's an intriguing history courtesy of Wikipedia.


It started with Kyle Dunn. He showed us a video one Sunday morning featuring a surprise for Oprah.


And then there is a tribute to the Sound of Music...


More recently (April 2010), Baylor University had a little tribute to MJ


And if you like Glee, you will love this.


A little different, but awesome!

Anyways, I want to do this...or be a part of something like this. How fun!

You have any fun ones to share?

Shout out to Passion...once again

Check out the Passion blog today. THIS is exciting!

And will you be there next year?

Waco Bucket List

Yup. We're moving. Geoffrey and I are moving to our hometown: Longview, TX. More information about that later.

I'm here until the end of June, Geoffrey moves mid-May. We're excited.

Leaving Waco is bittersweet...it will forever hold a special place in our hearts.

Last night we tried to come up with a Greater Waco Bucket List. We're gonna have to narrow it down a little.

(in random order)
1. Zeb's (fried jalapenos) complete
2. Double R's burgers
3. Cameron Park Zoo
4. Waco Mammoth Site (haven't been yet)
5. Art Center Waco (yup, haven't been there either, wow...that's embarrassing)
6. Lake Waco Wetlands (yeah, I've just seen pictures)
7. Jump off the cliffs at Lake Whitney (yeah!)
8. George's complete
9. Mountain biking in Cameron and at Lake Waco (this is Geoffrey's addition, not mine)
10. Coco's Shaved Ice complete
11. The slide at Lions Park
12. Gut Pack at Vitek's
13. Churro's at Altos de Jalisco in Hewitt - complete
14. Baylor Baseball game complete
15. Bangkok Royal complete
16. Swim in the Brazos again (yeah right...Geoffrey can do this by himself)
17. See Blake Adams do another show at Common Grounds (someone tell him) and enjoy a Cowboy Coffee
18. Fro Yo on LaSalle (probably will do this multiple times between now and the end of June)

What would you add or subtract? Surely you guys have an opinion.

Pink pancakes

Happy Valentines Day from Mom and Dad...they sent me pink chocolate chip pancake mix. Geoffrey refused to eat anything pink, so I made and ate them alone last night. Tasty!

Also, I keep forgetting to tell the blog world that I've passed 100 posts! Yee haw! Now what? I've been pondering a switch to Wordpress...but haven't had the time or energy to do it.

As for my travels to Austin, I kept forgetting to take more photos of bad billboards...but I did keep seeing my good friend Dave along I-35 in downtown Austin. He was reminding me how much money I didn't have to spend while I was there...yikes.

Worth a mention

I subscribe to Steven Heller's blog, The Daily Heller. Usually read skim through what he has to say everyday and don't spend more than 10 seconds. He talked about Christoph Niemann today, though. His illustrations are pretty entertaining/smart. You'll enjoy his legos, too. Look around at his site...love it.

A shout out to Adrienne for the awesome quilt site. From McCain's site: "Eleanor's use of hand-dyed fabrics, patchwork, and stitched lines connect with more traditional schools of quilt­making. 'I'm really attracted to the idea of participating in a classically female, previously demeaned form of art. I'm in awe of it. For me it references more of the history and the women who have done this for years and years. It is their form.' "

And now for some staff meeting doodles (I'd like to paint these and make them a lot bigger):

Just to prove I am crazy

Interstate 35 causes me a lot of grief. If I'm driving, I'm usually nervous. If Geoffrey is driving, I'm usually really nervous. Add terrible billboard signage to this and I am nervous and angry. Add the ugly new Texas license plates to the mix and that's about all I can handle.

We drove up to Dallas for a Stars game this past weekend. It was fun...they lost...but it was fun. The drive: not-so-fun. I graded papers most of the way. This helps me miss all of the bad billboards. I think Geoffrey was grateful that I had my head down most of the way...for the billboards and for my backseat driving (that is really just making sure we don't get killed).

We got stuck in Hillsboro for about an hour on the way home, so I took this time to pull out my camera and snap a few shots to help cure my boredom. I want to share these with my little blog world. I plan on taking a few more shots over the next couple of weeks because I will be on 35 a lot with an Austin wedding and the Creative Summit. My only fear is that my blog will be so ugly that you won't want to look at it.

Words are too small...also don't need to say everything on a billboard. Keep it simple!

Don't like that typeface

Needs more contrast between letters and background

I'd show the location, not Randy Travis. And it's wayy too hard to get the important info when you drive by.

Is that a cartoon tool?

The cow looks kind of scared that it's going to be eaten...that's what they are going for, I think. I probably would have played this up a lot more. Still could have done so much more with this. I also don't think they need "Brisket Ribs Sausage & Fixins" Isn't that implied with BBQ?

Well, the cookie looks pretty tasty, but I probably would have used a cookie and something about how they are baked fresh. Or take off the cookie and show a sandwich. The main header is hard to read.

Actually, I like this one. And I love Chuy's.

On that note, here are some good ones.

So, I know I've complained about the license plate problem on here before. I have found the one I want. Here it is. There are lots of other choices, too. Way better than that new design.

A few things to note.

-I made a Goodwill run last night before watching LOST. Two skirts, one pair of hot pink capris and a really cute green dress. $27 bucks. I like! I wanted to take a picture of my new off-white skirt with little red polka dots all over it...but I don't have a camera handy at the moment.

- Geoffrey and I are loving Financial Peace U. We paid off a credit card last night and are well on our way to be able to say WE'RE DEBT FREE!

- When you budget for things like buying new clothes or a cup of coffee from Starbies, it's AWESOME. No guilt attached...pure enjoyment.

- Geoffrey and a team from Highland are in Dauphin Island, AL this week. The pictures on their "town" site are making me a little jealous. But anyways...Geoffrey said that yesterday that worked with a group that helps to accommodate sailors who come in from all over the world. Sometimes a sailor can be on a ship for well over a year. When they stop at places like Dauphin Island, it us up to the Coast Guard whether or not they are going to get a "shore pass." Pretty crazy. So they met some guys who were allowed off the ship yesterday and all they wanted to do was go to Walmart.

- I have ten followers on my blog now. I think that I don't know some of them, so I'm probably going to have less followers soon.

That's all folks.

Burgers

MOTION and Marinara

Sunday Feb. 28, 2010

Geoffrey and I went to a fundraiser for the youth group at Highland on Sunday. They are going to Boston this summer to perform their "stomp" routine/bang on trash cans and plastic buckets. They are pretty talented and very entertaining. So, part of the evening was a delicious Italian meal and the other part was bidding on cakes. Fortunately, our friends Lynn and Norm invited us to this event--they had the money. I just got to help with the bidding. Norm ended up with a Easter basket shaped carrot cake, chocolate covered strawberries (that's cake, right?) and a cherry pie (also cake?). I was impressed with this Mickey D's hamburger (cake). Fairly certain those are sugar cookie fries. Anyways, kudos to the kid (or the kid's mom) who made this one. Well done. Okay, I'm done.

Also enjoyed these illustrations on some brochures at Starbucks.
Definitely showing these to my class.

House.

From a recent House catalog

Have I blogged about House Ind. before? It's about time.

There ya go. Go to the site, look around.

Geoffrey and I are going to make some blocks like these...eventually. Or you can go ahead and get your Christmas shopping done early for me this year. I want a J, a heart and a G. Awww, how cute, right? Actually, they stopped selling those on Valentines Day, so nevermind...we'll just have to make them.

I'd also like the complete set of Neutraface. $599. I got to use this face for a project in undergrad and oh, how I wish I could afford this.

Speaking of undergrad, I'm headed down to the Creative Summit this year, March 26-27. Should get to catch up with some old friends and professors. I'm also hoping my little students at BU will enter their Pandora posters in the design competition...but haven't seen much enthusiasm as of right now.

Okay, it's been too long.

It's been snowing all day! Here's some pictures I took at the Chamber this morning.

What I've been doing lately:
- Anxiously awaiting LOST episodes every Tuesday
- Frantically grading projects/tests/tutorials for my students
- Planning bachelorette parties/going to wedding showers
- Wanting to start training for another triathlon and wondering if I'll have time
- Mourning the loss of my golden retriever Sunny(he was 14!)...I have a blog post in the works on this...
- Attending Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University...so far a very good decision
- Helping with Waco's ADDY Awards (and winning a few!)
- Designing relocation guides, quarterlies, brochures, logos...sooo much
- Trying to think of awesome blog posts
- Getting really excited for Matt and Vasha moving to Colorado (Shout out and congrats!!)
- Greeting lots of new babies in Chamber world but still not wanting one of my own
- Having my picture made with Nolan Ryan!
- Trying Indian food for the first time at the Clay Pit in Austin (yum yum)

Welp, that's all for now...I really do want to write more...

Another quake in Haiti this morning.

We wake up to the radio in the Davis household. The first thing I heard (no joke, the very first thing out of the radio's mouth) this morning was that there had been another earthquake in Haiti early this morning.

I dunno who reads my blog, but this is for you. NOW is the time to get involved. You don't have much money? Neither do I. You can't go to Haiti to help? Me either. Prayer is involvement. Let us lift up these people who are hurting and tired and mourning and questioning and ASK God to comfort them, ASK God to strengthen the hands and feet (and minds) of His people who are there serving...who can proclaim His name among the people. Psalm 62:8 "Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." I pray this for the people who need shelter.

If you wish to give financially, here are still some opportunities (and all are good!):

World Vision has several different ways that you can help: giving money for clean water, emergency relief, food & care

American Red Cross

If you would prefer something that you can give to and get something tangible in return, what about one of these shirts? (thanks linsey!)

Leave comments if you have other ways to get involved.

much love to you all. jill

Mas Haiti

A response to Pat Robertson.

Melaina's blog...more ways to get involved.

More later.

DO IT...please?

I don't really know everything that is going on right now, but Haiti really really needs our help. All I've been thinking about over the past few days is that I really want a pair of new boots. I don't need them at all...but I really want some. I think I'm gonna have to hold off on these. I just can't get it out of my mind how some people in Haiti NEED so much right now and all I want is a pair of boots. Of course, there are people all over the world who need stuff all the time. It's just really clear right now!

A. You can help immediately by donating to the Red Cross, OR donate $10 to be charged to your cell phone bill by texting “HAITI” to “90999.”

B. Samaritan's Purse is sending planes with goods and people who can help as we speak. You help them here. They have a plan of attack on their web site...at lease go check it out to here how they are helping.

C. World Help. They are delivering all kinds of goods and setting up shelters. Go here.

D. Pray. Gather to Pray. Matthew 18:19-20 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Get involved.