New Bridal Shower Invite - Heart Flags

Yay a new invite design!

*Names have been changed.

PA Univerisity/ Leadership Fundamentals

SPHERES OF INFLUENCE- PA Univerisity/ Leadership Fundamentals


Journal Entry #1
Goals, fears, response

I received my survey report a little bit later than everyone else’s. Before I received them, I was waiting anxiously for the results as I thought I would get mediocre (which to me, is horrible) scores.
I expected my interactions with team members and contribution to be on the excellent side. I was mostly worried about how I would rate with public speaking (which I expect to be a 5 or 6), time management, and my overall assessment as a leader.

Perhaps you are your harshest critic, because the results came back quite the contrary to my negative assumptions. Although only 4 out of 10 people responded, I received positive responses. I rated a 9/10 for listening, contribution, and interaction. I scored about an 8 on public speaking, a 7.5 on handling difficult members, and an 8.5 for overall leadership skills. Someone had marked “6” on my ability to handle difficult members and I would say I agree. I don’t enjoy confrontation and am eager to please. When I used to be a server in a restaurant, how much I made was contingent upon my ability to satisfy and my efficiency. So, in order to avoid conflict, I would do everything in my power to please. I maintain my calm and treated everybody equally for the most part. You never know, the ones who are hard to please and that everyone else has given up on, may turn out to be your biggest fan and tippers.

Leadership Development Goals
After reflecting upon my results, I found that I should work on my public speaking skills and handling difficult members. What I came into the Leadership Fundamentals class was to learn how to be more assertive and confident in my proposals, whether verbal or not. I also wanted to learn how to effectively manage my time so that it would lead to less stress.

It seems what I need to work most on is organizing my thoughts. With organization comes better communication; with better communication leads to more confidence. This in turn leads to better public speaking skills which, if/when confronted with a difficult person, can help solve the situation if you've done your research and can back up your proposal. While this may seem like a slippery slope fallacy, I feel that organization is the central component that could help me tremendously.

One of my positive traits is that my mind is on a constant, idea-generating motion. If I don't jot it down in a notepad or blurt it out immediately, the idea flees and I feel that it was all for naught. While I have tons of ideas, I find myself constantly frustrated that I can not seem to implement them. Part of it is my organizational pace is much slower than my call-to-action ideas.

With time management on my side, I believe I can effectively achieve my goals.

Chinese Wedding Homage Photoshoot

I finally got in contact with the awesome Jessi Field from Jessi Field Photography and she agreed to do a couple's shoot! She specializes in natural light, outdoor photography. After an amazing shootout last night with 15 other talented photographers, models, and designers, I got inspired to pick a theme that means a lot to me. I started thinking that I don't really acknowledge my heritage as much as I should. Of course, I make Asian jokes about myself, but that doesn't really go far.

I told Jessi that I regretted not having a professional photographer at my Chinese wedding when there was so much awesome food and colors there. Well, we did, but he didn't know my family very well and the pictures showed. I love my parents' wedding pictures so friggin much!

The next photoshoot will be a homage to my Chinese wedding, modernized and outdoors. Think Anthropologie in China.

Props to consider bringing:
- Chinese dragon wooden circle decoration from China Doll
- Red lanterns
- Fans
- red wedding ribbons
- red balloons? Is that too trendy? Screw it. why not!
- (2) wooden red chairs from home
- satin red flower bouquet
- stylized umbrella

Style:
- Red heels

- huge, custom red satin peony hair piece with veil

- 1920s glamour, or at least 1980s traditional: use parents' wedding photos as inspiration

- short, big wave curls
- red lipstick

- french manicure

- mom's hand-painted silk scarf

- tea set

Poses:
- chair, bride sit, groom stand
- grass pose, aerial shot
- lake, dock
- pouring tea
- both drinking tea, looking straight

Open Living and Kitchen Space Feel

via www.makeundermylife.com

Master BR Feel

Guest Bedroom/Modern Library

I am so excited! After struggling with what I wanted to do for our house(aka how to blend T's and my style), I decided to start with the room that has the least amount of stress for me. This will be the last room we'll ever work on, but because it's low priority for us, that meant I could be as open and free about it as I want! now that my creative juices are flowing, I think I'm going to settle down what what I want in our other rooms. 

It was a Facebook convo I had with Ben's photographer friend that sparked the whole mustard and slate color pallette frenzy. I knew I couldn't work with yellow or grey throughout the house because they're not my favorite colors. Yet, I was determined to see it in a cozy space. Traditionally, dark colors make a room seem smaller, but for this room, it was to make it cozy and modern. The dark walls would lend itself well to the wallpapered pattern on the direct opposite of the doorway, thus bringing a focal point that makes it fresh, feminine, and awesome at the same time!

Instead of a normal bed, I want a modern sleeper sofa so when a guest isn't there(rarely are!), I could actually use the room like a little library! The opposite end of the sofa bed would be a floor to ceiling(well, maybe just half a wall) of book shelves to put reading materials on. against the wall where the entry way is will be a 2'x4' desk and decorative chair for us to use. There may or may not be a rug, but since it's low foot traffic, I think a  masculine, geometric design would work well and we may just purchase one when we see fit. Of course, decorative art will be dispersed along the walls- some may actually be functional! See my memo board tutorial here- it functions both decoratively and useful as well. WIN!

Remodel the House: Links & Mustard Yellow

Remodel Post from 2010

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2011/04/designtripper-in-new-orleans.html

http://www.designtripper.com/

http://www.dwell.com/slideshows/straight-and-narrow.html?slide=9&c=y&paused=true

http://design-milk.com/

Remodel the House

Remember when I posted that we were going to remodel the house? Well, it's finally happening. The garage is up and Thomas is now knocking down part of our new bedroom wall to fit our French doors in. I'm in freaking LOVE! Now, he's making all this progress and I haven't even nailed down a design yet. All I know is that I want everything stainless steel in the kitchen. Unfortunately, that's uber expensive and unreasonable. Yet, Thomas knew that was what I wanted and somehow scored the sweetest deals from a rich man who just wanted to get rid of his brand new stove top, oven, and microwave/convection over for over 75% retail value. WIN!

Oh dear lord... the Biebs

I love the Oatmeal. The Biebs is kinda old now, but don't worry, there's still some amusement left in him.

Created by Oatmeal

Pranks

Just a couple of fails and pranks noticed OTJ.

It says website blocked:marketing allowed. However, marketing was the one that accessed it. FAIL.

Brad's got the Biebs. We Biebered him up and somehow it got leaked to a couple of managers. One printed it up and posted it on Exit door of the office. Nice.

New Office

It's further away, but instead of a cube, I get an entire office all to myself! Talk about a half year promotion minus gas, time, and sleep! joke.

Positive note- it's quiet so I'm actually able to do my work. Noone's really here so I crank up my music and watch video tutorials without randoms breathing down my back. Plus, I like my little easel set up! I have 3 containers for my writing and coloring instruments. 1 for pens & pencils, 1 for mini colored pencils, and 1 for Crayola markers. Yes, I'm a kid, but it helps me get creative. I've set it up so that I can draw what I want on the board. That bulletin board in the back? Handmade by me one weekend so that I could have something trendy, unique, and cheap for my office. Check out the tutorial here: Trendy Memo Board Tutorial.

#141 le sigh

As much as I've talked about loving what I do, and I truly do, I can't help but feel consistently stressed. It's like I have this pressure on my chest and I can't get it to go away. I am working all the time and my projects keep piling up to no end. I keep thinking, "Finish the little stuff first to make room for the big stuff" but in reality, I need to do a little bit of big stuff bit by bit. I've been hitting my deadlines but because of lack of sleep, stress, and a busy schedule, I feel so overwhelmed. The benefits here are great though- my departments gets fed quite often and we attend a lot of nice events. Now with my baby dog gone, it's hard to go home and try and snug. Her dog food bowl is still sitting on the ground with food in it. Everytime I go home, I smile, thinking Storm hasn't gotten a chance to get it then realize she's not home.

#139 R.I.P. Storm

Today was one of the hardest days I've experienced in a while. Thomas and I took Storm to the vet Thursday because she wasn't feeling well at all. It was very sudden- her body just started getting weaker and weaker. Turns out my baby girl had cancer in her spleen and it is suddenly taking over her. I got to know and love Storm for the past 2 years- I've known her for 7 years but really connected with her in the past 2 years. I wasn't sure if I could love an animal that was raised by someone else, but she was always there for me, protecting me - truly selfless. I've never had such a connection with an animal- nevermind that she was 14 years old, her spirit was still a puppy. Very youthful, happy, bouncy, annoying. Though I had my previous cat for 13+ years, she was still a cat meaning ultimately selfish and would probably turn her own mother in if it meant she would gain something. Storm, on the other hand, loved her family and would risk her life to defend her owners tooth and nail- something I just adored about her. Yet, she could be so girly despite her strong upbringing. I miss hugging her and rolling in the dirt- we would literally dance whenever we had the chance. She'd bounce around and jump up in the air as high as her arthritis would allow and when she landed, her talons would scrape up my leg. *oh well*

When we found out she wasn't going to get better, instead of leaving her at the vet which she hates, we took her home. Thomas took off 2 days to spend time with her at home. I was off Saturday and instead of going home to my family, I stayed with Storm all day. We took her outside and I snuggled right next to her reading my company book, TGIM. When it got too cold, Thomas picked the 80 lb+ pooch back inside and onto her handmade bed by me. Thomas rearranged our furniture so that we could live out of our 1 room and to be with Storm. At 4am, we heard a yelp and both of us hopped up to be next to her. We stayed with her until the end which is still the most haunting part for me, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. We went to our new garage and I watched Thomas build a wooden box for her. We had a burial for Storm a few hours later. I wrote her a pink Thank You-for-being-a-good-pup card and cried like a baby reading it at the burial. I left the card in the soil for closure. I miss you so much Storm. This is so hard.

#138 Work = Play?

Ever since I took on my new gig, I feel like I have been going a million miles per hour. The transition change and the new faces- I've gotten really comfortable at my office. I've been keeping tabs of how many days my work has fed me and so far, it's close to 40%. I've also kept tabs on how many events I'm working (aka out of the office) and I say close to that as well. It's pretty awesome- I get to stay very, very active while utilizing my skills on the side. Oh, I found out that I'm in charge of their Youth Club- that's pretty awesome because I specialize in children's illustrations and have wanted the chance to create my own book- now it'll be in newsletter form 4x a year

#137 New Job

Wow, it all happened so quick. I did a testimonial at my credit union a few months back. About a month ago, my [now] boss saw my commercial and made a comment about how nice I seemed. At the time, they were in need of a graphic designer and my friend mentioned, "Um, you know she's a graphic artist right?" So, my boss checked with the HR department to see if I applied- No I hadn't, but once I found out about the opportunity, I dropped everything I had and applied. I finally got to work on my portfolio presentation and decided to go with the iPad- hello, it saves PAPER and is with the technological age! I literally spent 3 whole days prepping my best work to look like it was in 3-D. Oh, this is once I found out I got an interview. I spent the next week and a half working on my portfolio and scheduled an appointment with Career Services for a mock interview. Practice, practice, practice. Though my work should speak for itself, the way I verbally communicate is a variable I was nervous about. I practiced speaking in the car, to Thomas, to UWF, etc. I even got my hair trimmed and a new outfit from The Limited(on sale! woo!). This was the job I wanted- no doubt. You got the 9-5 benefits but also working at all of the events so you're constantly staying busy. Rocked the interview and came back for a 2nd with the CFO.

Now I am at an amazing place.