toCREATE

I crave creation. An idea that is implemented and finalized. To create something is evidence of your skill. Proof that you are capable of fulfilling a vision.

Ideas swirl in my mind for my next creation, but I am lacking the motivation to fulfill the vision. Maybe I lack the skill too. Ideas of grander clouded by inability and laziness. I would love to create an oil painting, a unique collage, a stunning photograph, or another award winning business plan.

To create means to own the equipment which helps deliver your creation. I need equipment. I need a canvas, a pair of sharp scissors, a Nikon D40, a kick ass marketing plan and projects for the next 4 years.

To create is to have the time to develop an idea from mind to hand. I wish I didn't have to sleep. Sometimes my mind and hand need a rest, and all I can handle is a remote control.

To NOT create means to have excuses for delaying a creation. I have many excuses. How do I make up for them? Inspiration. Reading inspires new words. Museum visits invite creative thinking. Research evokes new methodology.

Now, how toINSPIRE?

ChristMÁS

Christmas is a wonderful time. A time when shopping for $15.00 ornaments is justified. A time when tangled stringed lights look beautiful. A time when pine scented candles are perfect. A time when please, thank yous and excuse mes are most fitting and will ensure you get something under your tree.

But ChristMÁS is also about extremes. A lot of food. Too much traffic. Extended family. And MÁS dinero! Christmas has even breeched the Halloween line…and now Black Friday is as celebrated as the actual day of Christ’s birth!

And more means more stress. More food to buy to feed more family who have brought more gifts. You’ll have to send out more Christmas cards to wish more people the happiest of holidays! And more gifts doesn’t mean more thank you notes, cause you are expected to give more. I love Christmas for all the good. But more and more, the bad threatens to shift the weight of the scale. Sometimes I think Christmas should just be renamed to, Christmore.

bigBOI Clients

I wanted bigger clients. “Big Boi” clients I call them. Clients that help bring home the bacon. But bacon is all I get. Fatty and over processed. I think the higher you go on the client food chain; the more likely you will be eaten alive!

Big Boi clients value your skill. What you can do for them and how fast and inexpensively you can. Smaller clients value you because you are helping them fulfill a vision. A vision that we often share.

Someone once asked my why I didn’t start working for some big advertising agency right out of Cooper. And I said, “I didn’t want to get lost in the directory of names. I wanted my design to be recognized, honored and be my own.” I retract my statement. Now it goes, “I didn’t want to be a puppet. A bacon eating design puppet whose only drive is a fatty over processed paycheck.”

enGAGED

I’m engaged. A definition of engaged is “having agreed to get married.” Yes, I have agreed. I have agreed with him that our relationship is dreamy for…oh about 8 years. I agreed with my friends from high school who said, “Damn, he’s cute.” I have agreed with his daughter who thinks he is the quintessential dad. I agreed with my heart that he was the one.

A definition of engaged is “busy doing something.” Yes, I am busy. I am busy calling venues hoping they send me a proposal that is less than a million dollars. I am busy doing research about a marriage license for a wedding in Jamaica. I am busy thinking who will be mad if I choose to get married in Jamaica. I am busy procrastinating on a guest list. I am busy wondering…who is this wedding for? I am busy now writing and thinking about how fortunate I am to be engaged. Busy in love and so happy I agreed.

reDO, reBUILD, reDESIGN

Something came over me recently. An urge to redo, rebuild and redesign. Maybe it’s my hair. Its long now and makes me feel like a new person. Maybe it’s my ring. It’s an engagement ring I got from my sweet love. Or maybe it’s my business, Studio 162. It’s finally taking off...

The urge is also to give. In my heart I am a giver but somehow now there is more of me that seems worth giving. I want to redo my perspective. Change the lens of my glasses and my eyes. I am slowly changing me perspective of building, designing, doing and giving...all at once. A flush. This blog is somehow another way to give, build, design and do.