little birdy

I finally completed the corporate holiday party invite! check it out!!

http://www.stanleyassociates.com/Holiday_2009/email.html

I'm no flash master...

Thank You AVT Peeps

I just wanted to thank you all for the awesome gift card to Target!
Mike and I enjoyed doing the hoodies for the Light the Night Walk.


And of course it's always a pleasure to be of help.
I hope you all have a great weekend!

~Sarah~

How sweet!!!!

omg i finally saw Vina's video...I am very impressed with Joe!!!! That took alot of planning!!! Congrats!!!!

They're engageddddddd!

Dumps like a truck. Thighs like what.

Why dogs hate Halloween

CLIFTON HAUNTED TRAIL!

Vina suggested I post this info on the avt blog :)

The trial may or may not be canceled on account of rain. Please check the clifton haunted trail website the day of the trail to get an update http://cliftonhauntedtrail.com/

:: PLAN A ::
If the trail is on, we will meet in Clifton at 7pm. If you plan on carpooling to the trail [which is recommended] please meet at Jo's house at 6pm. Remember, tickets are $10, please wear sturdy shoes, and costumes are encouraged :)

:: PLAN B ::
If the trail is canceled we will meet at Jo's house for a costume party at 6pm. Please be sure to bring your favorite halloween treat or a dish to share. If you don't have a costume, I'll have cheesy masks to pass out to folks :P We'll most likely be playing games [taboo, guitar hero, http://hotel626.com/ and http://www.asylum626.com/]

As always, the more the merrier, so I hope so see everyone on saturday! :)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oct 13, 2009:
As you know the Haunted Trail will be held next Saturday October 24 from 7PM-10PM in the creepy town of Clifton. We will meet there at 7pm. This year the ticket price is $10 per person, but bring extra cash if you want to buy any snacks or goodies while there. Also, since we will be trudging through the woods, make certain to wear sturdy shoes and dress appropriately for the weather.

Please keep in mind that parking is very limited in Clifton. Jo's offered to have folks meet at his place where we can park and carpool to the trail together. If you're interested, his ready for 8 acres of horror. And as tradition we will hit up IHOP for pumpkin pancakes afterwards :) The more the merrier, so feel free to pass the word! Also as a side note, costumes are encouraged, I'll be wearing one! :D

For more information about the trail please visit http://cliftonhauntedtrail.com/

......................................................................

Although I'm sure many folks have their own plans for Halloween... I want to extend this additional invite, I'll be hosting a casual Halloween party at my place on the 31st, please respond and let me know if you're willing to attend or not. Just bring your favorite scary movie and/or story and a halloween treat. We will also be playing http://hotel626.com/ and/or http://www.asylum626.com/

Need some Help

Between all of us we listen to different music. Dad heard this group called something like Walila -it's a cherokee group- and he heard them sing a cherokee version of amazing grace on one of his morning radio shows and loves it. I can't find them anywhere soooo obviously he's got the name wrong. So has anyone heard anything that sounds remotely like that?
p.s. then again you all know how bad a speller I am so maybe I just spelled it wrong....

This looks like sometime we would like

Pumpkin whoopie pies & maple marshmallow creme

Imma get you, bitch!

DESIGN POSITION

Hey Guys
Turns out one of our designers is leaving. If you or someone you know is interested please forward me a resume and portfolio pieces.

http://www.stanleyassociates.com/

AUTUMN EVENTS!

After having dinner this past weekend with you guys, I'm really looking forward to hosting this years Thanksgiving Taboo :) I'm also super excited about Halloween this year. Have we made a decision as to what we're going to do? I know the Clifton Haunted trail is on October 24th. I'm not sure if that date works for everyone. If not we have two other options, which both are held through out the majority of October:

1] Field of Screams
2] Field of Fears

I also don't mind having folks over at my place to watch scary movies and eat Halloween junk on the 31st :)

LIST OF EVENTS [please feel free to add onto this list]
Oct 10 - Vina's Birthday Picnic
Oct 17 - Leukemia Light the Night Walk
Oct 24 - Clifton Haunted Trail
Nov 21 - Thanksgiving Taboo

It always seems that autumn is our hang out season :)

dinner time~!

okay crew, are we ready for the next potluck? we've decided to switch it up a bit this time and instead of everyone bringing a dish, there will be a set menu and everyone will bring fresh ingredients so we can cook together~!

the menu is as follows:

-- spinach arugula salad
-- fresh sugar snap peas
-- sliced bread with butter and fresh radish
-- campanelle with mushrooms and cream
-- linguine with fresh (last days of summer) tomato sauce
-- roasted chicken
-- panna cotta with blueberry compote

can't wait to see you there~!

V is for Vanquish!

F is for FAIL from Brent Barson on Vimeo.

hahahhhaha

You are sew fine.

AVTers! We need to learn how to sew our own clothes. Clothes are way too expensive and way too cute for our own good.

Case in point, all the clothes on this site. Not TOO pricey but dangerous when you want them all.

This is how Stephanie is going to fall in love

WILLYOUSITNEXTTOMEONTHEBUS?!

what the flip book?!

oldie but goodie but looooove it~!

Squeeze me from MUSEEK music video festival on Vimeo.

or the starbucks or the starbucks

okay okay, most of us have seen this video already but our blog just wouldn't be complete without it! thanks to amie who showed this first.

Friends Forever!!

because i heart "amélie"

it feels oh-so-like "amélie".

I can see us doing something like this.

BabyCakes, the Book of Recipes: It's Here! from BabyCakes NYC on Vimeo.

this may be it...

This weekend I met Tamra, who's very interested in renting out the room. She's looking to move in on the 1st of June. She seems really nice, and is willing to pay the deposit and rent. She's willing to go so far as to have her rent direct deposited into the mortgage account with each pay period. I'm going to send her a References Sheet and Survery Form to fill out. There's just one problem, she's a 50 year old churchy black woman...

But you know what, in the end, so long as she doesn't cause any trouble and she's pays rent on time, what's the harm in her being old..

Ad Wars

I spend a little time each day to surf through craigslist to see if I can find a roommate match. If I find a match or two I respond to them via email with my ad and pictures of the place. So I'm perusing through craigslist today and check out what I stumble upon! The first ad was bad enough, but the response to the ad is the real zinger! I almost chocked on my swedish fish reading this! haha!

read this ad
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/sbw/1172148521.html

then read this response to the first ad
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/hou/1172439885.html

Greetings from Seattle

Greetings from Seattle. We are up visiting Sara and Miss. V. Sandy and I were at airports from 6am eastern time to 2:45 pacicfic time-so a LONG time. The baby is cute but at only a month old she's still a bit fussy-well it's been a while since I 've been around a crying baby. But she's better today. I am going to try and post a picture of her at some point this week.

"I want a love that makes me want to cut off all my hair...well, maybe not ALL of the hair."

son of a..

what a waste of time, turns out homegirl doesn't want to rent the room. She said she'd prefer renting an apartment instead. Why she didn't say that in the first place is well beyond me. Either way there's no sense in me getting increasingly upset about it. I'm going to continue the search and hopefully something will come up. In the meantime I'm going to continue my negotiations with my mortgage servicer to bring down the price of the house and maybe I won't even need a roommate.

Persistence Breaks Resistance

cutestuff/creepystuff

the first video is of a project up in nyc of robots with a destination written on their flags. the little robots have to rely on the kindness of (human) strangers to help guide them to their destination. oh-so-cute.

the second video is a cartoon by chris ware with music provided by andrew bird's bowl of fire. to say the least, i was pleasantly surprised when this showed at the movie theatre last last thursday~! and yes...the mouse is in love with a cat head. enjoy~!

Quimby The Mouse from This American Life on Vimeo.

My First Dictionary

My First Dictionary. Hilarious!

happy friday!

every friday I'm going to attempt to post something funny to make us all thankful that it's FRIIIIIIDAAAAAAY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuy5r_tpXNQ

warning: be prepared for the tom foolery and ghettoness of this video

Becky the Roomate

Incase you're curious to learn a bit more about my prospective roomate, I've got a screenshot of her facebook. I know this sounds a bit stalkerish but folks have been asking more about her...

http://www.earthtone1.com/facepage.jpg

She's the blonde in the foreground :)

awesome news!

I think I may have found a roomate, keep your fingers crossed. Her name's Rebekah, she's a 24-year old Optomistrist from Boston. She's moving down to VA for a 3 year contract position at Quantico on June 1st. She has 3 pet turtles, is an early riser, and a non-smoker. I'm going to give her a tour of the house and room on May 2nd. She's also going to look at other apartments in the area that weekend, but I hope she goes for renting out the room. So everyone keep your fingers crossed, and if she takes the room I'm going to have a Welcome Potluck Party for her :) and i hope you all can make it

dear everyone, love stephanie t.

find your bliss

I think the motto for this week is, find your bliss. So many of us live for the weekend, for good reason, we don't take joy in what we do Monday-Friday. If I could, I'd have my own business creating websites, corporate looks, and displays for nonprofit organizations. I want my designs to go to a good cause, not just to get the company to make a few more bucks which goes into a higher-up's pockets.

I don't believe our line of work is obsolete; there are just a bunch of hacks out there, which drives me nuts. They wouldn't know good design if it peed in their coffee. Yes, we should all be thankful we have jobs in this economy. But in the meantime, find your bliss. Figure out where you want to be, focus on it, and one day you'll get there.

Unsatisfied

It seems to me that the more I get older and start discussing work with others, I find how unsatisfied people are with their jobs, especially in the graphic design world. Is our profession becoming obsolete? It seems that anyone can make a website and create illustrations using available software. According to many of my customers, they are designers too, even though they never studied art, like color theory, composition, etc.

Sigh. I'm right there with Thrib and Jen. I can't even get a break into the "real" graphic design world, and quite frankly I'm not sure I want to anymore. Making designs for t-shirts is not exactly challenging or rewarding. My work environment isn't exactly the greatest. I feel like I'm just here to do one's bidding and then disappear into the shadows while someone else takes credit for my work.

I am thankful to have a job, but it's not my dream job. Does such a thing really exist? Perhaps we should band together and start revolution. I too have been on the hunt for another job, but it seems that you have to be able to do bend over backwards and do a double twist before they will even look at your resume.

Sigh. My final note is for everyone to just hang in there. Even it's by a thread.

my stupid computer

ok since my stupid computer won't let me make comments I'll just post. Yathrib I know how you feel I do. I stand all day and not do anything creative or constructive but sell and all they really care about is for us to open dumb credit cards. AND you know I'd rent one of your rooms if I could get a job up there-but since no one is responding to my job applications I am short of stuck right now. But I should be happy I have a job! BUT if anyone has a job opportunity send it my way!

Steph I know what you are feeling right now! My dad- who had Frecks sleep with him in his bed since he and mom split- two nights ago looked at me as he was going to bed and said I miss freckles!! I almost cried. But think of it like I do-Frecks is up there chasing rabbits with Tara and having a fun time with no pain. So maybe they are all running together. LOL Tara hated other dogs here-she was the territorial type-but I am sure she's better up there!! Have you read the rainbow bridge? maybe I'll post it tonight-it made me cry but it's touchung.

unfulfilled

I really don't like my job. I take no joy out of it, I'm not fulfilled by it. I feel under appreciated, and slack regularly. I slack because I feel like I'm not going to be recognized and my work isn't good enough. Why do I feel like my work isn't good enough? Because everyone in the design department had the task of coming up with a design concept for the corporate poster series. My supervisor collected everyone's design concepts except for mine. Apparently my work isn't good enough to be considered. If the economy wasn't so bad, and I didn't have the responsibility of the house I would just leave. I'd rather spend time working on my freelance work. At least then my concepts and designs are taken under consideration and even incorporated in some manner. There's nothing worse for a designer than having their designs ignored and discarded.

http://www.earthtone1.com/

Room for Rent [update]

Well it seems the only peron interested in the room thus far is a 60 year old divorced and retired soldier. But I refuse to give up hope. If you know of anyone who's looking to rent please forward them my information. They can check out photos of the place at the below flickr set. Thanks guys! :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rentmyroom/sets/72157616038154549/

the official unofficial AVT mascot

hi all...i guess along with jennifer's, my dog sancho went to join too :-(

little sancho passed away on thursday morning and i am oh-so-sad. i had to let you all know since he was sort of the little unofficial AVT mascot...hanging around the earlier potlucks for a snack or a cuddle. he will be missed~!

below is a pic of sancho -- his peaceful daydreaming interrupted by wind-up chickadees. they always seemed to be unsettling to him. lol.

ROOM FOR RENT

I've started up the quest for a roomate again. Please help out where you can by passing the word! THANKS GUYS!!

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/roo/1101924733.html

AVT 4 MARIE

Hey Guys!
I want to begin getting the team geared up for our second year in the annual Light the Night event. The event this year will be held on October 17th, so please mark your calendars. I'll continue to keep everyone posted as I get more information. Again, I encourage everyone to speak to their employer. Company's always jump at ways to donate to tax deductable organizations like the LLS so I doubt they'll say no to a large contribution.

http://pages.lightthenight.org/nca/WashDC09/AVT4MARIE

Everyone who reads and writes on this blog should have already received an email invitation to the team. If you have not please use the above link to join.

Obama for Breakfast

I know we've posted multiple images of Obama made from food, but here's another one made with cereal. Just looking at it reminds me of my childhood and many Saturday mornings of overflowing bowls of Fruit Loops and milk. Ahh nostalgia.

new skooter?

If anyone knows anyone who wants a 150 brand new skooter my cousin is selling hers for 800.00 give me a ring

Photoshop World!!!

Hey All,
I'm at my first Photoshop World in Boston. It's so exciting. If anyone's here give me a ring :)

So far today, I took 2 classes: Painting with Photoshop and Illustrator Down and Dirty Tricks. I got some cool new tips and techniques but overall I'm just excited about the new CS4!!! Also, Wacom announced a new revamped tablet today. They have a bunch of demos on the expo floor which I hope to check out later today. Well that's about it for now. I'll be heading back in about an hour after my lunch break but if I come across anything exciting I'll be sure to post it.

FREE TREATS!!!

In my mind there's no better word than free. Mark your calendar for these upcoming free sugar fixes!

April 21
Ben & Jerry’s
One free cone

April 29
Baskin Robbins
A scoop for 31 cents

July 11
7-Eleven
A free 7-ounce Slurpee

September 24
Coldstone Creamery
A free ice cream treat

LOL

ok I had to post this cause it made me jump. Last night I went into the computer room here at mom's were Im sleeping to go to bed. We had been to a neighborhood party but I was being good and wasn't really drunk. As I was changing I turned to look at mom's computer monitor and there was a picture of marie waving at me on the screen. LOL mom has a slide show of all of her pictures and I had a folder in her computer of some of my pictures and alot of the avt parties pictures were in it. SO I edited her pictures folder so none of my pictures were on there.

Finally relaxing

I am here in NC visiting mom and I feel like I am finally relaxing. The past 3 weeks have really gotten to me I guess and I was just tired all the time and pissy at everyone. 2 more days and I will have to go back to reality but then it's another month and I actually have a weeks vacation coming up.

The Periodic Table of Typefaces

Since most of us who post/read this blog are designers of one kind or another, I thought this to be quite appropriate to post. I love it and wish I had full size poster for my wall. Yes I'm that dorky. This was created by Squidspot. They also have lots of other neat ideas/designs. Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend!

Attempt FAILED

I spend 8 hours a day infront of a computer working but while I work I have cnn/live going on my screen the whole time. I don't know if I just need the background noise or I just want to stay generally informed. Most of the news is bad news, but every so often you get those golden nuggets. Today's nugget was a bit sad but I just couldn't stop laughing.

This dude attempted to commit suicide by jumping off Niagra Falls. A nice way to go out right? SIKE! Not only did his suicide attempt FAIL but because of the force of the fall authorities found dude without any cloths! AAAAAHAHAHAHA! Is something wrong with me for having laughed at this? I mean this news report was literally the high light of my day!

I don't even like Cinnamon Toast Crunch

but I thought this commercial was adorable.





anddddd, move over evite. PINGGGGG!

the day in photos

always a favorite of mine, the washington post's link to their pictures of the day. i love looking at them -- some put me in a happy mood and some give me a better perspective. enjoy the link~! oh also, is a link to my other page, since i don't particularly post alllll my boring secrets over here. tee hee. hope you guys are enjoying the wonderful weather~!

1. the day in photos
2. the other page...

p.s. i've been dying to try out nasreen's new page with the photo combos but i've been uber busy at work and i don't have photoshop at home anymore. womp wompppp :-(

Waffles, Levitations and clips of Mike dancing.

Also, if you missed it before.

BOYCOTT BLOCKBUSTER

If you rent from Blockbuster, STOP. This is the last straw, I've had it with them, and I'm calling for a group boycott. First they made a stink about adding my sister to my account, then they demanded that I hand over my bank account so they can fully charge me for any late videos, they hiked up their rental fees to a ridiculous amount and THEN I got a headache after getting in a fight with the store manager over the weekend. So again, if you rent from Blockbuster, don't! Explore Redbox [they're awesome], Netflix, or your local video rental. For the most part it's only $1 to rent and the local redbox isn't gonna be rude to you.

I should be Happy

I should be happy about the snow but I am so sad. I had to put Frecks to sleep on Saturday!!! I can't believe I had to put two dogs to sleep within a year and a half from basically the same thing!!!!!!! He fought the whole time he was on the table-he hated anyone touching his paws. After the second attempt I ran out of the room. I still look for him in all of his places in the house and hear the regular house sounds tht I guess I assumed were him and then realize it's not. Well it will take time I guess-he was my best friend and protector since I was 10 years old.

Fitz & the DizzySpells/"God bless the Hideout"

Andrew Bird with Mucca Pazza - "Fitz & The Dizzyspells”

we might have to edit the napkin list...

just a copy and pasted chat i had with sarah p. today (i hope she doesn't mind me posting it, especially since it makes me appear to be the heartless one. haha!) i was at work today and my gmail told me that an old classmate from around elementary school added me to her facebook. and of COURSE she's married with two kids. i relayed this information to sarah which caused her to ask:

sarah: hahaha...do you ever feel old looking at people who are married with kids? a lot of people from my class are married with kids. in fact quite a few have been married for years

me: mmm

not old per se

more like

dead on the inside?

sarah: awww...but you go out and see the world and do so much fun stuff...think of the people who sit at home watching their kids and don't have the luxury of spontaneity 

me: oh actually i meant

i feel dead on the inside because i don't care about them getting married and having kids...hehe

haha and of course...i'd be THRILLED when my real, close friends will start getting married and having babies. :-) :-) hurry up, muse and get that list started~!!

Surreal This

My boss is still out of town and out of boredom I created another blog. (I'll see how long this lasts). Basically I just post images and people can create their own masterpiece by combining the images. I may have done it more for me just to help me get my creative juices flowing since they've been kind of dormant lately but I thought it would be fun to take a few minutes to step away from our normal jobs and do something random.

Let me know what you think. Feedback is definitely welcome. If you think of any themes I'm all ears.

Happy Monday!

I guess the link would help too :)

http://surrealthis.blogspot.com/

Feelin' art, art, art.

I will be waking up at four AM to help Helen, printmaker extraordinaire, with the "Making Connections Arts Marathon". 24 straight hours of art, sonnnn.

Dance.
Music.
Photo.
Sculpture studio from 1-7 AM. Yeah, we'll see about that.
Printmaking with Helen Frederick. Silkscreen a lobster like you mean it!
Graphics with Don Starr. 11 pm
Rasa box with Paula Murray Cole. Noon friday.
Parade starts Saturday in H lot, 10 AM from campus to downtown fairfax.

Arts Marathon blog

I'll be around FAB from 6 AM- 2:30 PM Friday and 6 AM-Noon Saturday.
Be there.

Obama Sushi

I thought this was really neat, except I can't read Japanese.

Surf-n-Turf Brunch with Strawbellies on the Side

Sunday's photos are up! Videos (hopefully) soon to follow.

My boss is out of town!!!!

So this employee will surf. surf. surf. (...and occasionally nap).

If you're looking to kill some time and join me in slacking, check out:

http://www.fmylife.com/

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/

Enjoy the rest of your week!

follow your bliss~!

how perfect for us...

just one year

hey all~! i just wanted to say that i had such a lovely time with you all on sunday...i have a lovely time whenever we have a get together, really. i'm so glad we had the chance to be with each other a year after marie -- i can hardly believe that much time has passed already. but here's to her and to us =-]

i just can't reach you

a friend sent me this picture that was on a t-shirt. i love it~! take a looksee below...as well as my favorite song by the clientele, which came to mind when i saw the design. the song is called "i can't seem to make you mine". (sorry if some of the pics are a little racy for work -- this was the only version i could find that didn't have scenes from the "lake house" tacked onto it.)

Pee-cans vs Peh-cahns.

I decided to make Nutmeg Doughnut Muffins for Marie's Brunch on Sunday. Recipe from Orangette, awesome awesome awesome food blog. Also, we're going to make our first official avt video. I'm not exactly sure what that entails just yet but we'll figure it out then. It'll probably be our patented Video Clips vs Photo Slideshow madness. You know how we do.

Side note, who's making mimosas!? Should I bring coffee?
Andddddddd, since I don't want to flood the blog (ew I hate that word),

to follow up on vina's food post...

don't forget:

a note on self-defense

want to watch a video showcasing how to avoid an attacker featuring a ninja baby? 

you clicky here. hahaha -- enjoy~!

More Ira

Below are more image of Ira Glass experience.
I also just wanted to thank
Mariam for saving seats for us.



Geesh I felt short. Or he's really tall. Or both.

Mariam and Ira

And last but not least is Stephanie and Ira