Code Blue (or 1998 HTML Skills, Don't Fail Me Now!)

Urrrrgh.....

I've been trying all week to get my website up and running - digging through rusty memories of my freshman "English for the Digital Age" class, copious amounts of HTML help sites, emails to my computer friend halfway across the country. It's been an interesting process.

I felt an odd combination of depression and triumph working for hours on a bit of code, only to find out that the reason it's not showing up properly is due to an errant ">". Or, when I got frustrated with my FTP client, I had to fire off a big, complicated email to my computer friend... Only to have him gently remind me, hey, I'm typing in the address wrong when I go to check it. (Thanks again, Jeff!)

Rookie mistakes, to be sure, but it's nice to know that I can still do it, you know? A gal whose formal programming training was one semester, 11 years ago. And that, no matter how much aggravated time I put into it, my site is at least a tad better than it was this morning.

But miles to go, my friends, before the Robot can sleep.

Crafts (or I Love That Goat!)

I have a confession. I'm crazy. But it's okay because Josh is too.
How does our insanity manifest itself?

Goat love.

In a field near our house, there is a goat. This goat has no idea, but he has become our little mascot. Our own little folk hero, even.

He's adorable. He likes to stand on top of an old rusty truck in his field. He spends most of his time eating grass with the grey donkey. He has a brown head. We've named him Bartamus and have ascribed many outlandishly untrue (Or are they??) character traits to him including, but not limited to, Bartamus being a secret breakdancer who goes out and busts his moves on the weekends at many fine Houston nightclubs.

He's the source of many ridiculous, hilarious converstaions between me and my husband.

So, as a tribute to him, I sewed some coasters!
(Hey, you accept the creative spark wherever you can get it, right? Plus, I'm trying to get better at embroidery.)

I didn't take very good pictures of the process because I didn't think about it until too late. Regardless, in this one, you can see mine and Josh's attempts at drawing goats on neon Post-its. Very technical stuff. (Mine is on the left, Josh's is on the right.)




Goats are really hard to draw, by the way. Try it. It's nearly impossible to stop them from simultaneously looking like dogs, deer, and horses. I think we did okay, though...

A closer look at my novice embroidery.



So, yeah. That's Bartamus.* I hope he likes being immortalized in felt.

Oh, and I made a spaceship, too, because I like spaceships. And I had glittery felt.





* Well, that's felt Bartamus. I'll post a picture of the real one as soon as I get up enough nerve to stop the car near the field and get out. I'm kind of worried about invoking 'Deliverance'-style farmer wrath...

Design Genesis (or First Contact)

Well, here I am. Sitting at home on the first Thursday of my new life. Happy as a clam.

I recently quit my job and have decided to Fosbury Flop my way into the world of sole proprietorship. I've always had a passion for design (which is the classy way to say that I like how stuff looks) and now that I'm barreling my way toward 30, I decided it was time to stop fuming at my desk all day, get all Oprah-y on myself, and try to live the one life I have in the awesomest way possible. I'm now a freelance wedding photo album designer, and I'm incredibly glad about that...

I started my wedding-related career as most folks in the wedding world start out - by holding a wedding of my very own. Josh and I were married in March of 2008. I know it's cliche to say, "OMG muh wedding wuz teh best thing evar!!1!" but it really was. I won't go into details about how awesome our marriage is and how Josh is the best husband (and person) in the world, because as much as I want to say them, you might lose your lunch... So I'll just focus on the more digestable superficial aspects:



Photo by Kasey Marsh of Monkey Tree Photography


I love color. And I love balancing wacky fun with timeless class. I'm also incredibly indecisive and can see beauty in all styles of design... Hence, our wedding style.
As a result of our (relatively) non-cookie-cutter approach to tradtion, we were featured on Offbeat Bride. (You can read our write-up here.)

Anyway, that's all I'll say for now because I really do have a ton of work to do. Being the boss and the employee is a new concept for me. Plus, it involves a lot of reading in the beginning as I've found out this summer. That's okay, though. I'm looking forward to my upcoming visit to Amazon to obtain more literature on how to propel myself into the entreprenurial stratosphere. Also, I'll probably pick up the 'Mama Mia' soundtrack new Wilco album.




Photo by Kasey Marsh of Monkey Tree Photography