Design or Bust

family bday calendar

2009-05-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

after feeling like a bad friend, cousin, aunt, sister & daughter... i've added a family bday calendar (scroll to the bottom of my blog). this includes birth year so if that makes you itch, please let me know and i can take it off. it's just nice to know the milestones of the family. if i left you off, PLEASE email me and let me know your bday so we can all celebrate together. i took these off a very old birthday list. if you have a gmail account and would like access, let me know and i'll email it to ya.

xo

too good not to pass along:

2009-05-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

"guys we're going to make america sweet again, one slap at a time"

your business card is crap

2009-04-16T18:03:00.001-07:00

possibly the best youtube vid ever:

new hair

2009-02-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

i found a little hair school here in petaluma and got my hair cut and colored for dirt cheap. i decided to cut my own bangs one night and did a shotty job. i wish i would've taken a pic for laughs. they fixed them. so i have bangs too. i like it.

:(

2009-02-10T19:34:00.001-08:00

home sick. i miss my family and friends.

"rated S for songtastic"

2009-01-09T14:22:00.001-08:00

poster

2009-01-05T20:26:00.001-08:00

so linds asked me to make her this poster (this is mocked from an old WWII poster) and has popped up a few places from a few artists so i'm not copying or stealing it :) PLUS i had to recreate the crown and the font so i made it my own... i'm going to print it and send it to her but wanted to see if anyone else would like one? i will send them all to linds. i can make them any color... let me know.

here's a little info on the history of the poster: http://www.keepcalmandcarryon.com/pages/history

ho! ho! ho!

2008-12-19T11:10:00.000-08:00

merry christmas and happy new year. i'm so excited to spend christmas in utah this year....

a little christmas sweater inspiration

2008-12-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

so we've started a christmas tradition with the fam to do a ugly christmas sweater competition. i will nominate myself as the last years winner (tying with rick of course). i wanted to share my inspiration for this years sweater: PLEASE ENJOY! i think i saw the sweater i wore last year in here. :)

http://www.lesliehall.com/8-sweaters.html

thanksgiving w/jenn and the talberts

2008-11-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

this pic is for jenny to grab. it's for her man. jenn just copy image to your desktop.

jenny, a chimney head.

morrow bay

more jenny pics. her battery died in her camera so she wanted me to take pics for her :)

not a ding dong

more jenny :)

the lady who butted in front of us. she butts, she gets her butt photoed. hehe. it's actually smiling.

the other butt.

we're not impressed with the butts and the long line.

boo.

JanKris. great wine, great vineyard.

in front of "gevrey's vineyard" :)

brad working at the winery. he was so cute and great with everyone at the bar. he got us all to say "sofa king bueno" say that ten times. don't say this with kids around. it's not kid appropriate :)

at pebble beach.

jenn. she looks like she borrowed gevrey's pants. she's so teenie.

evan avoiding the camera.

gev... she's so cute.

ha. got him. :)

matt preping the table.

jenny and i played pool everynight. it was fun. we're both pretty good.

matt & amy

amy & her friend

me. pre-turkey.

these pics are great. we had a mini photo shoot. some are SO funny...

like this one :)

make like a tree....

posing

this is awesome in so many ways :)

a beautiful view.

amy and bosco.

i had such a great time. thanks amy for letting us come.

the hat

2008-11-25T21:39:00.001-08:00

here's a pic of the hat erin made for me.... LOVE IT.

ferry

2008-11-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

the ferry is saving my life and pocket book. i love love love it. i have to wake up super early to catch it but it's worth it. the view of the city at night is breathtaking. i'll post pics later.

the best time i've had in ages...

2008-11-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

last weekend i went to st.george to visit with mom. i needed a break. i had worked long/hard hours in the weeks prior and needed some time to recharge. it was kind of a quick, last minute decision and i'm glad i came out. erin and nicki even drove down to join in on the break and fun. i think we laughed the entire weekend. i had such and amazing time. i'm just sad i wasn't able to come down the weekend before to see sarah graduate (i had a huge deadline that required me to work long hours for 3 weeks), i'm so proud of you sarah and wish i could've been there to congratulate you in person!

here are some pics from the weekend, enjoy :) click to enlarge...

a panorama of the valley coming out of snow canyon

erin caught in her knickers... or swimsuit bottoms :)

erin and i

mom and nicki

erin's profile (she had a little fun w/my camera)

mom needing me as back support while nicki works her magic at makeup

me wondering how long i need to sit there.

getting restless and spazzing out

funny stuff

the colors changing. i liked this yellow tree.

any uncomfortable smiles? we just got done talking politics. we still like each other.

pretty redrocks

erin being a superstar runner.

some more beatuty

me, nickers and erin

she didn't know i was shooting her pic. isn't she beautiful? i love this shot.

if you look closely, you can see the california bear (from the flag) and a eagle???? ask mom. it took me over 15 minutes to see the "eagle." i think it looks more like e.t.

another mom shot. mother of 10 kids, 63, and smokin hot!

erin and mom

prehike. erin doing a little stretching dance for us.

the view right by mom's place and the entrance of snow canyon.

erin

mom eating bad-girl treats.

what would you do for a klondike bar?

i don't know why we all found this so funny. this is mom's breathing machine while she sleeps. it's serious stuff but we all had a good laugh at the contraption. checkout the hair.

we were kind of out-of-control this night. a little slap-happy.

haha.

after a swim mom blew her hair dry into a fluff.

erin doing a great job modeling mom's robe and nicki's hot croc high heels. she looks amazing.

nickers

get out and vote!

2008-10-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

get your boss involved if he/she isn't already. visit http://www.votehour.org/

tagged

2008-10-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

i was tagged a while ago by jenn. here are 7 unique things about myself.

1. my mom wished on a star to have me. she calls me her star baby.
2. i love coffee. i blame joe and megan. they used to give me coffee nips when i was a kid. they would make we put on my mc hammer pants and dance while they cracked up. my payoff was candy. i worked at a coffee shop for 6yrs on-and-off. it was my favorite job so far, i met the most amazing people and have some of my best memories from there. anyway, i can drink coffee all day. we get free food and tons of perks at google but my favorite perk is that there is an espresso machine there and i make a double americano every morning. yum....
3. i love to sing. people don't know this about me. i sing my heart on in the car all the time on long rides by myself. it's a release for me. sometimes i'll crackup at myself because i'll turn the music down and hear how bad i really sound, but i don't care.
4. i have a foot fetish. not the creepy kind. mine is more of a obsessive/compulsive one. i hate having long toenails. they have to be a certain length. and if the sides of the nails are too long, it makes me crazy (like the sound of nails on a chalkboard crazy). i'm looking at them now and am about to cut them....

5. i love making people laugh. if they don't laugh i'll keep pushing until i get a smile.
6. i'm a granola girl at heart. i love where i came from. i love utah, the mountains, and the desert. i just love being outside.
7. i'm so shy but such a spaz at the same time. i have a very serious, determined, structured side to me but i also have such a care-free, light-hearted, silly side. i don't let people see the fun side of me as often, but i'm working on that.

half moon bay

2008-09-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

one of "my spots". i have to be outside. it's my only sanity, really. i found half moon bay the first weekend i came out to cali. it's on the other side of the golden gate now so it's harder for me to get there with gas prices rising and all. it's still my favorite place to go. i go to walk, sit, run, stroll, think. mostly to clear my head and regain any balance i have. i love going in the fall because of the drive and also because there's less people. i've seen whales, dolphins, seals, jellyfish and crabs at this beach.

this is MY spot. i sit on the concrete block sometimes for an hour. in this pic it doesn't show how high it really is off the cliff. the block is right at the edge so it makes for a great view and perfect place to smell and hear the ocean.

"come sit with me for a while, my love"

and i sat for a while

google dance

2008-09-27T10:17:00.001-07:00

these are posted a bit late but here's some stuff i did for google dance. i did all the icons, logos, posters and tshirt. it turned out pretty cool.

two googlers with glowing shirts. the cool thing about these is they are handed out with no glowing graphic. i made 3 "smiley" icons so your friend could have a diff icon than you and you would only notice it in the dark or under a black light. it was SO fun to see people's reactions.

my shrit :P

part of the outside dance floor. there were a 3,000+ attendees i think...

icons i made for each poster. turned out pretty freaking cool if you ask me.

the dj booth and inside dance floor. i was excited to see all the goods projected on the wall, all night long. it was cool to see 3 months of hard work executed.

goodies

2008-09-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

"He is able who thinks he is able." - Buddha ...

"A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden." - Buddha...

"If you want to have friends, you must be friendly. If you want to make peace, you must be peaceful." - Peace Pilgrim...

"That's the risk you take if you change: that people you've been involved with won't like the new you. But other people who do will come along.” - Lisa Alther

so home sick

2008-09-23T20:31:00.000-07:00

i need some utah mountains bad. one thing i miss most this time of year is the changing seasons. all i want to do is hike up south fork to my spot and chill under the aspens.

i also miss my family. i miss being able to see my sisters and bro's whenever i want. i miss my nieces and nephews and watching them grow up. i miss being apart of my family's lives.

link

2008-08-02T07:52:00.000-07:00

check it out. pretty cool type stuff! oh yeah, and i'm on there.

http://www.thingsihavelearnedinmylife.com/sentence/photography/i-believe-god-only-i-spell-it-nature-quote-frank-lloyd-wright

i miss you girlies

2008-07-24T19:34:00.001-07:00

i know i already posted this pic (i stole it from nickers) BUT i love you guys and miss you all. if i could be in that spot everyday i would be a happy camper all the time.

kung fu quotes

2008-06-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

some good food for thought from an unexpected source, a panda movie and yes i saw it:

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present." (my personal favorite)

"There are no accidents."

"One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it."

concert

2008-06-29T21:46:00.001-07:00

i saw alison krauss and robert plant play over the weekend. a friend had an extra ticket and i gladly accepted. it was great. they both had the same hair-do and robert had on these red tight leather pants. they both rocked out. i love them both seperate but together it was amazing. they ended up playing one of my favorite led zeppelin songs too, "battle of evermore". the crowd in berkeley kind of reminded me of utah a little. there were a lot of hippies and aromas of "grass". anywho, it was fun. to listen to their album, go to: http://www.robertplantalisonkrauss.com/site.php?content=tour

my weekend retreat

2008-06-22T12:39:00.001-07:00

i found an excellent beach called dhillon beach close to my house. if i'm cooped up in one place too long i go a little nutty. one the weekends i try to get out as much as i can even if it's by myself. here are a few shots i took.

super close up of water.

dhillon beach

nat, bill and my their dog corbin came too once. i love corby he makes me miss ellie.

on the drive out to the beach there are these crazy random boulders shooting out of the ground. everyone stops and stares and the cows just graze around it. it's pretty cool.

i've conquered the boulder. yay!

st. george

2008-06-22T12:25:00.001-07:00

sarah posted some good pics i took on her blog so you can look there. i stole this pic from nicki of some of us girls chilling on the couch watching that painful movie.

getting ready for a walk. here's megan, erin, ethan and jen.

i miss the desert so much. i love the red rocks and the flatness. i could easily move there.

the most amazing woman in this world: my mum. i love you mom!

i have some sassy sistas. did somebody say cake?

erin sass

amy taking a pic

pretty pretty rocks!

i'm still trying to figure out a good slogan or logo for the trip to make shirts. any ideas ladies? i know linds loved: "fo shizzle fo sho". or "be real just chill". hehe.

san diego

2008-06-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

i finally downloaded some pics off my camera. these are some from san diego last summer when erin was preggers and staying with mom. madi and lauren are so cute! i LOVE being an aunt.

here's lauren at the beach.

madi surfing like a lil' pro!

lauren getting in on some surfing action.

and erin relaxing on the beach.

madi and i went out in the water and she is so tiny that every wave that came up, we would both jump holding hands and i would stay put and she would float away with each wave and i would have to pull her back to me. it was fun. mom and i also went out and played in the waves. i felt like a kid again.

blown tire

2008-06-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

today on my way to work i heard a thud-thud and then a thud-thud-thud-thud...... i pulled over and yep, my tire was blown. i'm happy it was gradual and didn't freak out. the sad news was that i couldn't pull over fast enough and cracked my rim ($360 replacement plus I needed 2 more new tires, $170 each). i drive so much here that when i had last looked, my tires were fine. now i need to replace all tires within the month. so check your tires, use the penny trick :)

*** pics from girls retreat coming***

girls retreat

2008-05-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

ok sisters! i am going to design a t-shirt for the girls retreat and need everyone's t-shirt size. you can email it to me too. it will be american apparel and they run (shrink) a little small so keep that in mind. i am so excited to see everyone and can't wait for a relaxing trip... i wish it were longer. :)

what i've been up to at work

2008-05-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

we finally launched the next round of iGoogle. it was amazing! see the video here:

i was envolved with helping the agency who projected the art with suppling some of the content. i made web banners for the event and made the projection marissa used. you can see my banners on rollingstone.com and rhapsody.com. if you search for coldplay you'll see my banners on the page... very cool. i feel like all the hard work paid off, now i can relax this weekend :) i also made banners for other artsist but these are the ones being feature right now... it's the header of the page/advertisement:

rhapsody

rollingstone

rollingstone

nyc in a nutshell

2008-04-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

thanks for all the suggestions of places to visit while in nyc. danielle- i checked out the pizza place cameron suggested and it was very tasty! i had the margarita pizza with a whole wheat crust and a fabulous martini :) i went for work so i pretty much did just that - work. i got to see the statue of liberty on accident by taking the wrong train to work. i got to see the empire state bldg from a view of work's cafeteria. it was cool. our hotel, which sucked (sorry for all the hassle mom!) was right next to central park. i went to the moma and fell in love with van gough all over again. i love crazy artists, it makes me feel normal! i didn't bring my camera since it's a heavy SLR so my phone took these pics. we also got a private invite session for nike id. we made some killer custom shoes you won't find anywhere. the highlight of my trip was a surprise meeting with one my graphic design idols, STEFAN SAGMEISTER. i was SO star struck and excited. he invited us to his private penthouse loft in downtown NYC and sat and chatted with us on his rooftop balcony. it was the coolest thing that happened to me, i was a nervous mess. if anyone can remember the piece of work i made "i believe in god, only i call it nature", quote by frank lloyd wright, sagmeister was my inspiration. needless to say, i'm still giddy about the whole encounter. we also had a private meeting with christoph niemann who is also a very famous illustrator, he's done works for the newyorker.

we worked so hard when i was there i barely got a chance to go off and do anything touristy, i think i was the only one of my group that had not been to NYC before. i went to time square and at some point ate a hot dog from the street vendor. i did as much as i could but will have to go back! i'm happy to be home but realized i'm not really home here. i'm thinking about moving when my lease here is up. i need some new faces and think my time in SF may be coming to an end soon, not really soon but soon. i love my job and am going to stay for it but am thinking of something new in the near future...

check it out! http://www.sagmeister.com/

in my hotel room

van gough: olive trees

just cuz

2008-04-02T14:57:00.001-07:00

And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. (Luke 7:50)

google going to mars!

2008-04-01T10:51:00.001-07:00

check it out. http://www.youtube.com/projectvirgle. google is going to mars. even better, you can come too. check out all the snazzy candidates. this one is my favorite for sure!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wo1vsCpbMk

so cute

2008-03-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

i had to share this. it's so cute. this is my good friend nat's interpretation of me. she calls me trek (long story). so this is me - trek master p, trekkster, trekkie, or just adrien :)

also check out this cool site: http://www.beautifullosers.com/index.html

lucky traveler

2008-03-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

i'm going to hawaii for the first time with becky, jen, danielle - jen's friend, and mom in april. i'm so excited. i wish all the girls could come. thank you george W (for the $600 check you will be sending me soon). the day after i get back i'm going to new york for the first time as well, for work. anyone have any recommendations of places to visit while in these states? i want to live it up as much as i can while there...

what to eat

2008-03-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

the one thing i hate about being single is cooking and eating alone. i hate to cook so i'm always eating bad or food that takes about 2 minutes to prep. does anyone have any good, quick recipe's that want to share? i am also going to do the south beach diet to drop a few pounds before hawaii.

other news, i have carpal tunnel in my right hand. it sucks. it's making everything difficult and i'm now temporarily left handed. i don't have to get surgery i found out but have to wear a brace for about a month, go to physical therapy and take lots of asprin. gooood times.

mi casa es su casa

2008-03-02T18:51:00.000-08:00

here are some pics of my new place. it's changed a lot since i've taken these but i think lindsey will blow if i don't show something now :) jk linds. i have a pullout sofa bed so um, i need some visitors to occupy it!

this is the view from my balcony.

my kitchen - granite countertops! ooooh yeah!

bathroom. (i can't figure out why it rotated this image).

it came with a washer/dryer combo.... i love it! i can do wash at midnight if i want. what's better really?!

my computer nook.

my bedroom. the door leads to the balcony and there's another door to the balcony from the livingroom. the view is lovely and i love having my morning coffee outside. the room is so big that i need more things to fill it up. coming from renting a room with two other roommates, it's been soooo nice to be able to spread my wings.

lastly, the closet. it's a walk-in with a light. love it.

so far i'm loving it. i actually enjoy cleaning on the weekends. it's also nice that after buying house stuff for the third time, all of the house stuff is mine! it feels great.

music

2008-01-25T22:26:00.000-08:00

i figured how to make my blog sing. i was listening to linds and becky's blogs at work and decided to make my own tunes. i'll have to apologize ahead of time for some of the stuff. shuffle it along if you don't like what you hear, i promise there will be something you like; there's 100 songs!

pics

2008-01-25T11:11:00.001-08:00

i'm finally posting some pictures.
i do exist. nat sent me some pics she's
taken over the years i've been here.

me and ali

group shot

me and nat on her b-day. my cheecks are nice and rosey

goofing around w/ali

nat and bill

tuesdee

2008-01-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

so i finally got a laptop but it's not mine, it's works but it works and i can actually use my computer. i felt to guilty checking my email at work. so i'm watching american idol and i have to say i love laughing at some of the people at the auditions. i feel kind of bad for laughing but some of them have it coming.

i'm looking for a new place in SF which means i'm moving again, which sucks but i'm happy to get out of the place i'm at now. my current roommate smokes inside. so i'm going to get my OWN place which means i need visitors to keep me company.

that about sums things up.

thought for the day

2008-01-02T11:35:00.000-08:00

happy new year! i just read a cool quote and wanted to share:

"Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha..."

put that in your back pocket!

holiday ecard

2007-12-14T17:00:00.001-08:00

so i was too late in sending this out so i'm posting my holiday card as an ecard instead.

sisters

2007-12-06T17:03:00.000-08:00

this is one of my favorite pics of me and my sisters, not only because i'm a toothpick in this pic but we look so happy and becky's drooling all over me. :) i love you lindsey and becky!!!

my favorite lil elf

2007-12-06T16:56:00.001-08:00

happy holidays!

2007-12-05T14:42:00.000-08:00

i'm bored at work and it's been a while since i posted. i went to my mom's for thanksgiving and had a great time. i don't think i've laughed so hard in a months. my mom was trying to ryme doing a "high five", "down low - too slow". she ended up with "up high - in the sky" "down low - way to go"... it was funny. i guess you had to be there. i drove to san diego and stayed with jenny.

for x-mas i'm going to utah! i can't wait to see all the new pritchard additions. i'm not looking forward to the cold though. things are going well at google. i'm scheduling an onsite massage for tomorrow :) i can't think of anything else so happy holiday to you all.

comment posting

2007-10-01T12:44:00.001-07:00

so my computer officially sucks! i'm unable to post comments on other blogs because of a virus i picked up. (i'm getting a mac soon because of this!) so i'm sad to say i can't comment on other peoples blogs. i can see comments but not post them. hopefully this will be fixed soon! :(

new job!

2007-10-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

so it's official. i just signed my name in blood... not really in blood but i just got an incredible job offer! i start friday working for google as a graphic designer. i'm so excited. not only is the pay and benies great, i get free breakfast and lunch and a 3:00 snack with an onsite chef. sounds dangerous but there is a gym onsite too. :) anyway i just wanted to thank everyone for their support and prayers as i took a huge leap of faith to quit my job and search for a graphic design job. this was maybe the scariest thing i've done so far. and a special thanks to lindsey for listening to my daily dramas.

so i'm dying to see pics of ethan - erin's newest addition. linds post some pics! i may be coming out to utah in november or december to see the new babies! i'm dying to see what darby loo looks like!

Latest and Greatest

2007-09-24T18:54:00.001-07:00

Last week I did some freelance work for Sanrio the Hello Kitty company. It was so much fun. I took product shots then cleaned them up in PhotoShop and made them ready for the web store. If you go to sanrio.com and click on the store/shop you can see some the stuff I did. I also got a slew of free Hello Kitty stuff from the people there. It was super funny. The first thing you see when you walk in the building is a life sized Hello Kitty and the other characters. Life size as in as tall as me.

I had dinner with cousin Danielle and her hubby. It was fun to see them. They were visiting the MOMA and we met in SF and had some yummy Vietnamese food. It's my fav right now.

SO I'm still looking for a FT job but am liking the freelance stuff. I'm interviewing w/Google next week. Keep your fingers crossed.

Things I'm excited about this fall: America's Next Top Model, cooler wheather and change. I love love love fall!

Newbie

2007-09-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

i'm officially a part of this blogging madness thanks to my sisters. more posts to come :)