The Teenage Song of Despair

As a parent, I have tried very hard to make sure that I do not buy my kids clothes that I will be embarrassed about later. Still, somehow, things manage to find their way into their closets that makes me stop in my tracks in the midst of my morning routine, stare at them, and say “Oh no… you are NOT wearing that!”

At least three times a week, I say this to my daughter, who comes out of her bedroom wearing some tank top or otherwise sleeveless contraption that she wore in the 6th grade. Since she will be starting high school this year, those 6th grade tops really do not work for me and I keep trying to find them as they come down the chute and dispose of them, but somehow they keep passing me by. This morning was a shocker though. I never have to have this lecture with my son, but today he changed all of that.… [Read More]

E-Reader Debate Decided: Why I Hate My New Kindle

My wonderful husband chose to get me a Kindle 2 for our anniversary this year. I felt so shocked. I hadn’t quite made up my mind on what was the right e-reader for me, he had spoken out harshly against the Kindle, but when I opened the box, I just stared at it, sort of numb. Of course, I kissed him a lot and truly appreciate the gift. I immediately slid my new Kindle into its cover and downloaded some books from Feedbooks and went to town. So if you see my “reading list” page expanding rapidly this month… you now know why.… [Read More]

My Pink Hoodie

Now and then, the graphic designer in me gets bored and wants to come out and play. When this happens, I usually end up designing new blog graphics.. and wallpapers. I haven’t posted any wallpapers online in a long time, but this one was fun and didn’t take long, no emotion invested here.

I made it because it matched my hoodie. Not just any hoodie… my favorite pink hoodie.

Check it out, and if you like it, feel free to download it from my flickr page. Screen res is 1280×800 because that’s what fits my mac. If you’re using another res, post it in the comments and I’ll see about getting a resized version for you.

mypinkhoodie[Read More]

Life is Different in Mac Land

A dear friend of mine, and I call him that in spite of all the arguments we’ve had lately, has been considering the idea of getting a Mac. I think part of the appeal to him is that Macbooks are lightweight, versatile and well, he’s probably heard more than a bit from me telling him to just dive in and drink the kool-aid, but we’ve run into a few problems that have caused him to drop names at me like, “Mactard” and this drives me insane, and oddly enough, he finds this amusing. I think the guy gets a kick out of seeing me get passionate about the things I love.

When I first got my mac, I was confused about some things. My macbook is the first mac I have ever owned. I’ve used a couple, but those were always in school labs because Apple donated computers to public institutions for years.… [Read More]

The Essential Pieces of Me

I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few weeks playing with graphics software for the Mac. Yeah, I know, there’s Photoshop, but I really didn’t want to shell out 800$ for software that I was going to whip out and futz around with four times a year when a mood takes me to redesign my blog logo. That’s really where this all begins… with my blog graphic.… [Read More]