Acqua Alta Bookshop

A friend and I recently traveled to Venice. This is the kind of town that you want to explore on foot (or ideally by gondola). While wandering through the streets we found the Acqua Alta Bookshop. There was a sign as you entered that claimed this was, "the most beautiful bookshop in the world" and the shop completely lived up to that claim. Gondolas and boats were filled with books and every other nook was stuffed with volumes on art, Venice and any other topic you can imagine. (Photo credit for image above.)

On the floor a path is marked. Following the yellow footprints leads you to the shop's view of a canal.

The next time you are in Venice you must check out this shop... but it might be best if you just happen upon it. Happy travels!

Charleston on Design

I spent Saturday in Charleston with these lovely ladies. We wandered the cobblestone streets admiring historic architectural design and poked around Charleston's garden's. I recommend a harbor tour for a quick overview with plenty of city history tossed in. Below are a few highlights of the beauty of this southern jewel city. Clockwise from top left: Charleston harbor/Maritime center, Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge, Hyman's seafood, St. Michael's church

The Sketchbook Project Tour :: Atlanta

This weekend I spent a short time at the Granite Room in Atlanta to see the Sketchbook Project. My adorable friend Christin participated in this unique show and I wanted to "check out" her book... literally. (See sneak peeks from her book at her blog, Wishful Thinking.) My sister and I arrived to see plenty of show-goers flipping through sketchbooks. I signed up for my library card and requested Christin's book from the stacks. It was a lovely experience and I wish I had a few more minutes to explore additional books from other artists. The Sketchbook Project is on tour for a while longer and is headed to Washington, DC next. I recommend stopping by!

 The Granite Room

 Signing up for my library card!

 The stacks—plenty of colorful spines

 A peek at Christin's book

 Cute library card—aka souvenir

 Me and my sis

Support Teachers (& Local Art!)

 

I recently picked up this piece at the faculty exhibition of the university I attend. It is always inspirational and humbling to see the personal work of those who teach me. I sometimes get accustomed to attending their classes and forget the talent that should make me sit up and listen while taking down every word from their lips. I am grateful for all I learned from them and am thrilled to have pieces by my professors'.
(The piece above: Firefly by Jon Andrews)

Babar's Dream :: the concocted universe

I've been reading Edward R. Tufte's Visual Explanations this evening in search of useful tidbits on William Playfair (the inventor of the pie, bar and line graphs). The topic is as interesting as I could expect a history paper topic to be. Just as my head began to nod I flipped the page to the colorful image you see above: Babar's Dream by Jean de Brunhoff (1933). Tufte uses the watercolor to illustrate, "concocted universes, showing all at once what never has been together...an impossibly wonderful scene". This image of Babar launches me back to my childhood. I grew up with King Babar and distinctly remember accidentally finding a wind-up doll of the peaceful elephant hidden in a cupboard. It was intended to be a Christmas gift for me and I felt like such a bad girl for discovering him early. The books, stuffed elephants and even the Babar perfume...I was completely in love. (Did I mention that as a child I hoped to become an elephant doctor?) Did you grow up with Babar?

I would like to recommend Tufte's work on the basis of his sound, useful instruction to designers on the topic of information graphics, but I especially enjoyed running across the, "graceful winged elephants who chase Misfortune away...and bring back Happiness". I know they brought me a little Happiness tonight!

Starbucks Petites

Went with the coworkers today to try out Starbucks' new petite treats. I chose this precious pink cake pop to accompany my chai. Not only was it a delicious 3 o'clock pick-me-up, but it was just about the cutest thing I've seen all week. Watch out for those 170 calories though—a bit of a splurge for what amounts to two bites. Worth it? Um, yeah.
(Photo credit: Starbucks.com)

Laundry Sacks

Today my laundry sacks were printed and delivered to their new owners. Before I sent them out the door I snapped a few pics to share with you. The sacks were screen printed at Dapper Ink in teal and charcoal. I'm happy with the results and enjoyed custom wrapping each package before it went out. Check it out below:

Vintage Valentine

I wanted to share this sweet vintage valentine from my dad's collection. I think it's super cute how this one folds open for an additional message. The front reads "All in a nut shell My Valentine" and the inside says "Why nut-meet me half way". So it doesn't really make sense to me, but isn't that what makes old stuff so cool? Happy Valentines day :)