Cupcake Giddiness!

I just received confirmation today that I will be decorating cupcakes for not just one upcoming friend's event, but TWO events!! The first event is her mom's 50th birthday party and I will be making pink champagne cupcakes. I think it will be really fun to make them pretty and sophisticated for her party.  I think they might look something like this:

The second cupcakes were the ones we had originally talked about - Cupcakes for her daughter's second birthday - ELMO!!

I am so very excited about making these two cupcakes for my friend! I already bought the frosting tip to use to make the "fur" on Elmo! I will have to do a practice run on both of these fun cupcakes, that is for sure! Any testers out there...? hehe. 

On another note, another one of my friends is getting married in May and asked me to design and tweak the design of her invitations. So, with all of that creativity, my creative juices are flowing! I like the way that this is feeling these days! Pouring myself into some things that I really enjoy and care about. I wish that I could just jump into doing one of these for a living. Need to build up my clientel though first!

Alright, well, I have some cupcake decorating planning and invitation design mockups to work on!

-L

Alright, well, I have some cupcake planning to do

Cupcake Creations

Since it is snowing like mad outside, I have been doing what I do "best," baking! Although the pictures below are not of today's creations, I just wanted to make sure that I had most of my cupcake creations in one place, or at least, so far, most of my creations!  I actually made triple-chocolate cookies today and almost snagged a picture of Derick licking the beater, but alas, I was not faster than Derick's desire to devour every square inch of cookie dough left on the beater! So, without further ado, I give you, my cupcakes... (I feel like "Be Our Guest" needs to start playing here, so cue your imagination music!)

The first attempt at making an elaborate cupcake! Sunflowers!

Some other "experimental flowers" that were made that day

Rubber Ducky, You're The One! You Make Baking So Much Fun!!

Green-Eyed String Monster!

August 2010 in memory of my Grandpa Joe

Sept. 2010 Ali's Goodbye Bus Cupcake Cake! 

Cupcakes for our friends' daughter, Ava for her First Birthday!

Ava's Finished Princess Cupcake Tower!

Fishy Cupcakes for our "Fishy" Midwest Cichlid Association Friends

Look! They're schooling!

Packers Superbowl XLV Cupcakes!

GO Pack GO!

Valentine's Day Red Velvet Cupcakes 2011

 Hope that was enough for your sweet-tooth!
-L

The Youth of the Nation

Ok, well, maybe not the YOUTH of the nation, but more of the people younger than myself in my office.

Today at work, I had the chance to meet with a couple of the newest Assistant Merchants and explain how we as a Visual team interact with them and what that looks like. First of all, I was so proud of them for taking the initiative and scheduling some time with me to ask me some questions about how we interact. I had met with one of them once about 6 months ago where we really dove into my job and its responsibilities. It was basically a crash-course in a Visual Production Specialist's role! The end of this meeting also ended in me glossing over some of the things that I do - and what interaction we had with the Marketing team.

I had printed up a list of things our team would need to ask a merchant assistant for and then bullet-pointed a list of what "action" steps they would need to do in that instance. They were blown away that I had made a nice list for them - and which made our meeting (orig. 30 mins) shorten up as I went down the list, highlighted and gave more examples and then opened up for more questions at the end, and the meeting just ended up being 19 minutes. It was really refreshing to see that they are interested, learning, and asking questions. I like sharing what I do and the interactions between our departments. That is one thing that I wish I could have explored more in my first year or so here. I did shadow one other department but I wish I could have done more.

I am not sure if the one girl is looking to move departments, but I really like that she is taking her interest and acting on it, rather than just wondering...

That is really all I have for today. I just wanted to share a good moment at work today!
-L

Happy Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day marks the 6th year that Derick and I have officially been "together."

It started that night before Valentine's Day, six years ago, that I agreed to be Derick's Valentine. I wasn't sure that it meant anything that I had laughed and said, "Yep, I will be your Valentine tomorrow." Apparently he had many plans in mind! I remember waking up that morning, grabbing my toothbrush and facewash, heading to the bathroom for the morning. I opened my door and there was a balloon attached to a rose outside my bedroom door! Wondering which one of my friends played this apparent prank on me (I had never gotten flowers from a boy other than once when I was about 6 or 7 years old). It plagued me into the afternoon - and I thought I had it narrowed down to about three of my guy friends. Later that afternoon, (I was an RA at the time) I went to check my mailbox in the staff lounge. I had planned on carrying it upstairs with me and going through it in my room because there were quite a few people standing behind the desk and in the general area. Someone (I don't remember who at this point) asked me if I was going to look at my mail and suggested that I look at it downstairs. (I think it might have been Derick himself who suggested it!) I flipped through it and as I did, a folded piece of paper fell out and onto the floor. I picked it up and opened it. There was a list of places to check downstairs in the staff lounge to find something at the end - a scavenger hunt! I went to all of the places noted in the note and ended up at a black tote container. I opened it and inside, there was a basket of flowers with a small, brown teddy bear! Derick had gone to all the trouble to write me a sweet note and then send me around looking for my flowers! That was one of the sweetest things he or any guy has done for me. I still have the teddy bear and even the basket the flowers came in!

Well, this year I left him a box of Swiss Cake Rolls (one of his favorite guilty pleasures), a small box of chocolates (that said Funky and a had a picture of a monkey!) and a card in his place at the table. I am positive that I got the "surprise" gift giving aspect from my dad and mom. My parents would put out little things for holidays at the table for us. My dad still has flowers delivered to myself, my sister and my mom at work/school! Pretty sure he has the reputation around here as the "best dad ever!"

So, I am left wondering what he may or may not have for me this year! Last year, he went online and looked up how to make origami roses, and made me a dozen purple and red roses! They were so pretty and neat!

My Valentines Day did not start out the best though. I arrived at work, got all of my things out of the car, walked around to the back of my car, and totally wiped out on some black ice! I hit my left knee really hard and skinned it up pretty bad, even ripping a hole in the knee of my pinstripe pants! I was so pissed! It hurt (and still hurts) pretty bad. My left elbow also met the ground, and while it didn't break the skin, there is a little road rash there...I am a hot mess! So, hopefully things will turn around today!

I did make Red Velvet cupcakes this weekend and brought many of them into work this morning. Maybe I need to go eat one of them! Yes, that could very well be it!!

-L

***Update***
So, an update to what happened in regards to the rest of my Valentine's Day!
So after my not-so-lucky start to the "most romantic day of the year," I received flowers at the front desk at work from my dad! They were beautiful! Deep reds - tulips, gerbera daisies, Carnations, Alstroemeria and some smaller filler flowers and greens. That helped brighten my day!

Then later, close to "quitting time" at the office, Derick called me and asked if I wanted to eat at home or eat at Sweet Taste of Italy (a small GEM of a restaurant close to our home that we love because the food is awesome and awesomely priced to fit out budget!) So, I drove home, went inside to drop off my work stuff, and saw on the table that Derick had got me a small rose plant and a hand-made notecard! We decided to head to the restaurant and ate some yummy food! Later, we came back home for some relaxation time on the couch. We watched How I Met Your Mother, and then tuned in for the rest of The Bachelor (yes, I will admit that I have been sucked into this show - Thank you Amy S! lol!) I think that also made my Valentine's Day! Michelle got kicked off the show - the psychopath whom no one seems to like (myself included)!

I am a very lucky girl with many good guys in my life - a great Dad who is always looking out for me, a wonderful Husband, and even a great puppy, Tucker! He wanted to snuggle all last night too - maybe he was even feeling lovey! I hope that you all had a great night - regardless if you are with someone or not. And even if not, who says you can't get yourself a box of chocolates?!

-L

The Effects of a National Logo Change (on graphic designers)

I was looking up some friends on LinkedIn and found this article from one of the "groups" I have subscribed to, and thought that it was very true. The New NBC Universal "logo"

Being trained in the field of Graphic Design, there are things that have been ingrained into my thinking and my general way of life. When building a logo, you are not only creating a symbol consisting of colors, text or image(s), you are creating the emblem of a brand. There is something to be said about the logos that have stood the test of time, are easily recognizable and memorable. Take for instance, the Nike "swoosh" logo, the Apple logo, and, even the NBC peacock logo. All of these most people can take a look at and say one or more of the following:

• I have seen that before
• I know what that stands for/I know the company that represents
• Can rattle off information about said logo and or the representative company

I am very sad to see that the iconic peacock of the NBC logo has been removed. I really liked the peacock. It was unique, colorful, and historically significant to the brand and the brand image. Like many of the comments about this article (which I have only scanned the first couple of pages) I am in agreement that this logo change resembles what Gap tried to do most recently with their logo and their idea of "logo re-invention," an epic failure.

I find it interesting that so many brands feel like they need to "update" themselves and re-make their image. Some of the most iconic logos, as I was getting at earlier, work well for the company and their image. I once had a book about the 100 most memorable logos and when paging through the selections, it was obvious that behind each logo, there was a story and a memorable company eventually attached to each one. It is sad to see some of the older logos go away, because these days, it seems that a lot of the new logos are worse - design wise - than the ones that they started with in the first place. I guess I would like all companies to employ the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," because then things like Gap and NBC Universal happen. Oy vey!

-L

In the Workplace

I just read an article that was posted to a site I frequent: Behaviors in the Workplace
I really liked the bulleted section:

• Give people the importance they deserve.
• Let them know that their contribution is valued and that their opinions, recommendations and advice are needed.
• Analyze the reasons for uncooperative behavior-it is an indication that something is not right, that there may be certain issues that need correction.
• The best way is to allow the situation to cool off and speak at a later time about avoiding such a scene in future.

I really feel that superiors should be sensitive to the needs of their direct reports and should strive to have an attitude of, yes, I want this to be a well-oiled machine of a team that works well together to get the best result at the end of the day each and every day. I also think that ignoring the issues makes things worse. Ignorance of the problems in everyday work life translates to your employees as "I just don't care about you." and who wants that? I think that, of course, there are extremes in every area of the list above, and things need to be applied on a person-to-person basis, but as an overall place to start, I wish more superiors abided and used these suggestions as a starting off point of interacting with their employees. 

I saw another post on the same site that claimed that, "Colleges not preparing Graphic Designers for the workplace." and I almost 100% agree with that statement. From my college experience, there was little application for how to conduct yourself in an actual interview situation, what materials to bring to your interview from your portfolio, and so on, and that was just in regards to the interview portion of things.

Sure, we had the Portfolio Preparation I and II classes. Here, the focus was: Student will gain an understanding of the preparation of a professional portfolio and interview techniques. And the second part was more: Final preparation and presentation of a well designed portfolio and resume in preparation for seeking internships and employment.

I vaguely remember talking about the actual interview process in those classes, and the day after the actual Portfolio Presentation was over, I had never felt more alone in my life in regards to my professors, teachers and mentors at college. There was zero assistance from the department(s) in regards to "internship or job interview assistance." Funny, because that, partnered with the claims and glowing reviews given to me by one of my senior professors at a college fair (before I had even applied to this university) said all the opposite. They said that they had one of the best design programs in the country (true at the time) and that there would be plenty of assistance when it came time to finding an internship and landing a couple of first job interviews. Wow, was I in for a rude awakening!

When I had some of my first interviews, I donned the matching suit, hauled my giant silver portfolio all around town and ready to give my 20-30 minute sch-peel to my possible future employer. Uninterrupted and get through my entire portfolio. Wrong again. Some of the things I had done had absolutely zero commonality with the places I was interviewing with.   Also, much of the work I had was student work, and that was apparent to just about any person with whom I had interviewed with. I think colleges should give more training on the different types of interviews out there and how to tailor your presentation and yourself to be the best fit for that job that you want to land. Also, more emphasis should be about promoting your brand - or, yourself. In your first steps into the "real career world" or even down the road - to keep stock of what you love and how you want to keep growing and expanding your career and therefore, your brand.

Alright, I will get off my mini soapbox now. I just got caught up in the article which then caused me to reflect on my training and my preparation, or lack of, in relation to the after-college experience.

-L

Movie Update and Travel Plans!

Movie Update:

Last night we sat down to watch the latest movie that graced our mailbox, Salt.

I sort of figured that the movie would be action-packed and a pretty girl doing some pretty kick-butt things, as she is most known for in her films. Well, I got that and then some!

Not only was there a lot of intense action scenes, but there were so many plot twists that at one point I had to stop and really think about what had and what was happening in the movie. The one thing that I like about action movies is that for the most part, they keep me on the edge of my seat (ok, sometimes, burried in the depths of my couch viewing some parts around a pillow...) but they seem short! Lately, when the hubby suggests we watch a movie, I think to myself, ok, is that really the best way to spend 2-3 hours of my time...it has become a lot about time the past few years. I think working a full-time job with it being as crazy as mine is I can attribute some of it to that. It doesn't help that I have transferred into more of the time and project management role of our department (can I hear RAISE in March?! Please!!)

In other news

 I got my vacation dates approved for the end of March into early April to go and visit my dear friend in Texas! I am SO super excited already! I cannot wait! I have never been down to Texas before, and am really just looking forward to a vacation and spending some time with him! It has been a long time since we have gotten to hang out...over a year I think by now. I thought about driving when I saw the price of airline tickets, but that would be an awful drive for me, a young-er female taking all by herself. And in the end, with the gas prices, it would end up almost costing the same to drive and to fly, minus about $50-$100 give or take here or there. I am sure I will be flying - it is shorter and more convenient. Hopefully. I am really wanting to catch a direct flight down there. Connecting flights make me nervous, as I have this fear that I would inevitably miss my connecting flight, and then be SOL. It may be cheaper, so I will have to weigh my options!

All for now!
-L