To blog, perchance to dream.

This week's topic for consideration over on Home Life Simplified's Listmania is Gratitude.  As a glass half empty (with a crack that makes everything leak) type of person I have to give serious thought to lists like this.  Later on I'll no doubt think of things I should have included but here is how the list stands at the moment.

1. Family.

"Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts."  It's funny because it is true.  I'm grateful for a sister and brother-in-law who feed me when I conveniently turn up just before dinner.  "No, I really can't stay...I've got a thing I have to do...well if you insist."  I'm grateful for all the love and laughter I have shared over the years with my nephew and nieces.  With no children of my own it's nice to know that my taste in movies has still been passed on to another generation.  Yes, an entire family of Chevy Chase fans!  I'm grateful that about twelve years ago my nephew gave me a nickname that all of the kids still call me.  It certainly makes me feel special.  I'm grateful for the family members, both local and interstate who I know I can call on for a laugh or whinge at any time.

I'm grateful for my grandpa, who at 95 years of age is still as sweet, and as funny as ever.  There is a reason we all call him "Great" and it's not just because he is a great-grandfather!

2.  Books.

I may be a technical genius (unconfirmed) who spends hours a day on the line (that's what they call it, right?) but the truth is I am and always will be a book worm.  I've got to have a book on the go at all times and I'm not fussy about the genre.  So I'm grateful for books, authors, libraries and book shops.  One day I may even be grateful for e-readers.  One day.

3.  Friends.

"Friends are the family you choose."  I think that's how it goes.  I have a handful of friends who I can truly count on through thick and thin.  Some from the old days (read:1990s), some from recent years.  Strangely we don't all socialise together.  I think of it like separating your laundry. But that's okay, I value our time together all the more because each friendship is unique.

4.  My stuff.

Yes, it's materialistic, I know.  But I love my car.  I love my computer.  I love my shoes.  I love the bits and pieces like vases and ornaments that I've collected along the way that are or were 'me' at the time.  I love my ridiculous collection of perfumes and nail polish.  I'm grateful that I've either had the means to purchase or been given lovely little things over time.

5.  Creativity.

I'm grateful that I live in a world of so much creativity.  It's not just in the art galleries and museums.  It's in the architecture of my beautiful city, Melbourne.  It's in the imagination of the nieces who can play 'bakery' with play-doh or meow like a cat for two straight hours.  It's in the carefully constructed bird's nest you stumble across.  Occasionally it's in my own mind, too.

6.  The World Wide Web.

I complain about connection speed all the time but I really must be grateful for access to the online world.  I live on Google.  I loiter around eBay and IMDb.  I pretend I never use Wikipedia as a source of information.  I watch cat's getting their heads caught in cardboard boxes on YouTube.  And I dabble in blogging.  What a wonderful world we live in!

7.  Sleep.

I'm grateful for a good night's sleep.  I have bouts of insomnia now and then.  I blame all the cat videos I watch on YouTube.

8. Fur Kids.

I'm thankful that my two big-boned cats keep me warm in winter.  I'm grateful that the evil one didn't pee on anything in the last 24 hours.  A new record!


So, I guess I have a lot to be grateful for.  More than I expected when I began typing.  

Nice.

John, I'm only blogging.

"Hard work beats talent when talent refuses to work hard."

This is the mantra of NBA player Kevin Durant, given to him by his mentor Taras Brown.  I didn't know the origin of this quote until today when I Googled it.  Until today it had just been something I wrote down on a little piece of paper months ago and blu-tacked to the wall above my computer.  Something I probably saw in a Facebook post.  I love this quote and I really want to live these words.

This week on Home Life Simplified the topic for Listmania is favourite quotes.  It's week 17 for Listmania but this is my very first list.  I've never considered myself as a great follower of inspirational quotes but if I think about it, I realise there are a few that stand out for me these days aside from the hard work quote.

Yes, it's from a t.v. show, but I have loved this quote since the first time I heard it many, many years ago.  I'm at the bottom of a ladder I want to climb and I love it...heck I want to build the damn thing myself.  Sometimes it's scary, and that's okay.  Climbing ladders should be scary.  Getting to the top should feel amazing!

I spend a lot of time 'researching' which is really just looking at what other designers have been doing.  I'm a jealous creature and I often find myself looking at somebody else's work thinking, "Dammit, why didn't I think of that first?"  So, naturally I find the above quote amusing.  There is also something greatly comforting to know that other designers, in this case an incredibly talented designer, think the same evil thoughts I do.

First off, don't judge my crappy attempt at a Saul Bass-like layout.  He made it look so effortless.  The mark of a genius!  On May 8, what would have been Saul's 93rd birthday, Google paid tribute with a Saul Bass inspired take on their logo.  If you didn't see it, I highly recommend you check it out.

Wise words to end on.  If you ask me where this quote is from and who Bill S. Preston, Esq. is we're no longer friends.



Deb.

A blog by any other name...

Back in the old days, aka the 80s, my primary school presented all of the students in my year 5 class with The Australian Lettering Book.  Let me just say this:  I. Loved. This. Book.

Where the obsession began.

The book resurfaced recently and it got me thinking about my obsession with finding The Right Font.  It was always with me when I needed to put the finishing touches on my poster about Australian Birds or create a heading for my project about explorers Burke and Wills.  I often spent more time working on my headings than the actual content of the project hoping to dazzle my teachers with my creative talent.  "Look," they would say, holding up my poster for all of Grade 5 to see.  "This is what an A++ poster looks like."  

Okay, that last part didn't happen but you get the point.

Below are a few gems from this awesome book.

Letter-Shading advice

Ooh, fancy.

Pretty

In high school I may have forgotten about the book but my love of a good font hadn't gone away.  In my Year 12 Graphic Communication class we had a project that required us to come up with packaging and advertising for the product of our choice.  I chose perfume and named my product 'Mania.'  Why?  Simple, I liked the letter 'M.'  I loved working on that project!

Before I settled on the name Marmalade for my business I had my heart set on Milk & Cookies as a business name.  I loved the sound of it, and was so excited at the thought of choosing a gorgeous font to complement the name and I just knew that everyone would automatically know that any business with a cool name like Milk & Cookies would also have cool designs and products.  Obviously I didn't go with that name.  I ran it by a few people who poo-pooed the name, with the advice that naming a stationery design business after food and drink was too confusing.  Philistines!  So as you can see I took the advice on board, ignored it completely and named my business after something you put on toast.  I may have been hungry when I was brainstorming names.

I have been asked a few times about how I came up with Marmalade as a name.  After an awkward pause where I try to think up something terribly clever I go with the truth.  I opened the dictionary to 'M' and systematically went through it looking for the light bulb moment.  In the end, it was about the letter 'M.'