just some places I have been exploring

can you spot the plane

this one is a portrait of me a k... on a friday night

hello my fellow....

designers, creative people, and lovers of indie/documentary films...

have you heard of THIS?

a cloud appreciator I am...

if you are too... you'll LOVE this: cloud appreciation society

photos taken on my iphone around my work place, as I was wondering...

oh and also...my band, the Diamond Center, was interviewed by Break Thru Radio, and featured as the artist of the week this week! If you would like to know a little bit more about us you can read it HERE! There is one little inaccuracy at the very beginning... my name is not Brandi Harris... don't want to send anyone into a state of shock :)

... and while your at it, check this out, our website just got a facelift by our good buddies over at elemental blend!

plan B

I know this might be a little premature but I am already constructing my plan B, with Plan A being grad school, of course. I'm not thinking the worst, and I know the power of thinking good thoughts, and believe me I've already visioned myself sitting in college classes... I still think it's always good to have a Plan B.

I have been fantasizing about many scenarios. Maybe me and my boys could move to NYC, I've always wanted to live there, but without the prospect of some kind of way to generate cash, it's kinda scary, that and we just moved halfway across the country less than 2 years ago, and I don't know if i'm up for that big of a move again...yet.

We have thought about just straight up moving to Austin. We seem to like the place, and we have several friends there, but long past are the days that we, as full fledged, bill payin', grown-ups, are supposed to make decisions based purely on what our friends do. ( I guess )

We long considered that we could move in with my parents. They seem to like us, and they always enjoy company, but the vision of me and K sitting in their basement, sippin' on chocolate milk in our pj's, playing guitar hero, and tossing them a "high five" as they head off to work each morning... well, I think we might wear out our welcome with the speed of a festering cyst.

K has determined that Lubbock is intolerable and inhabitable, well, for us anyway. ( I know that seems a little dramatic... but just go with it for a moment) Despite that, we've already promised our house to my little brother for the fall. The truth is we are just ready for a change soooooo.... may I introduce my current apparition of Plan B.

I see this striped beauty every day when I break from work and take my afternoon stroll... and from the first time I saw it, I knew I was in LOVE. From what I can tell its a 1970's model Dodge X-plorer, van/camper, and I can already see my little family inhabiting it's quarters. The idea of living anywhere that we can drive to, and with the bobo's.... makes my little heart do backflips! The thought of traveling in a van that was built in the same decade as we were born, makes K nervous, and I should be the hesitant one. I, just finally, a year ago from next month, finished paying off a 15 passenger "band" van that didn't run for more than 2 weeks! ...and then there is THIS recent story of our Lubbock friends that made it to the New York Times! And then we still run into the "how are we going to make money" thing, for gas and all... don't worry, i'm already working on that....

Despite any detourance, someday I will get up enough courage to go and knock on the door and ask how much it's selling for and, if needed, Plan B will no longer be just a walking day dream.

finding inspiration

Since I am at the beginning of 2 design projects at work, I decided to spend some time in barnes & noble on friday getting inspired... so this is my theory & practice on becoming inspired: I look at EVERYTHING! literally tons of things! I try to visually overload my eyes and my mind. I look very closely at a few things and not to closely at many, many more. Sometimes I think you get the greatest inspiration not from what you see... but what you think you see. Here are some things I thought were too cool:

Shiner has a new coffee table book they released late last year. This thing is great! It has loads of interesting historical photos, ads, stories, signs.... and it is beautifully designed! I love how the photos were handled with the 5th color overlays. You can find the book here.

I found this little journal that I thought was so too cute. It asks you to look at a page, in no order, but do exactly what it says. I especially loved these pages ONE because my family is notoriously known for smelling things, and TWO because I have a knack for washing things that are not to be washed. (most recently k's cell...woops)

I am so intrigued by all images of our Pres... Obama-man, as I affectionately call him.

So every once in a while when looking thru different publications (mostly music magazines) I find someone that I know, or kinda know... and I get super excited. In this month's Ready Made Magazine there was a project with Thao of Thao and the Get Down Stay Down... and I actually DO know her... see!

OK, so this one is completely gratuitous, but I'm going for it anyway. This is a book that I designed for the The National Ranching Heritage Center back in 2004, I finished it less than 2 weeks before I moved to Georgia. I get giddy (inside of course) when I see it on the shelves at barnes & noble... sometimes I stare. There are a couple of other books on the shelves there that I designed when I was an intern at the Texas Tech University Press, but since that was SUPER early in my career, I wouldn't point them out to anyone.... except K... every single time we go. Yes, I never miss the opportunity to try to impress him, even if it is with the same thing over, and over, and over, and over! ha.