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.