I’m wearing a new coat today. I’m in love with my new coat. It was a splurge financially, even on clearance, and it’s impractical as all hell since my chubby arms don’t fit into it as well as I would like. But I bought it anyway for the glorious, high-contrast piping. I LOVE PIPING. (OK,… Continue reading Design trends vs. personal aesthetics
Category: design
Comment-free zone
I’m experimenting with something new. Although I’m nowhere near as famous or rad as Marco Arment or John Gruber, I’m going to copy their style and eliminate comments from future blog posts, starting now. My experience in my extremely intermittent blogging over the years is that comments rarely add much value, and most discussions about… Continue reading Comment-free zone
Open storage is stupid.
There, I said it. People, unless you actually live inside of a Martha Stewart catalog, quit ripping off the doors to your cabinets! Even if you have nice fancy dishes like we do after our wedding, the reality of your chipped plates and old spice jars just isn’t that dazzling to look at. The inside… Continue reading Open storage is stupid.
Blog design identity crisis
Recently I signed up for Amazon affiliate links and Google AdSense, for no apparent reason. And in doing so, I had to define my blog’s main category/subject matter. Um. Help. I’m a gal who inherently wears too many hats, and I started like seven different blogs (see sidebar) to avoid this very type of boxing-in.… Continue reading Blog design identity crisis
I was on House of Turquoise!
Back when Erin from House of Turquoise went on vacation in July, I had my humble little home office featured on her amazing blog. I got lots of helpful interesting input from fellow commenters, but I was bummed that I couldn’t actually post that that was happening here since my site was down at the… Continue reading I was on House of Turquoise!
Metrics gone wrong
While I admit that I’ve learned to value data and metrics more in my decision making, I still think metrics can go very, very wrong. People can be misrepresented when they are reduced to a set of data points, and companies can make insanely stupid mistakes relying on numbers instead of common sense. Case in… Continue reading Metrics gone wrong
Yahoo pipes = rad, but HARD!
When I had Grant help design/redesign/build this vr.com site, I wasn’t totally clear what I wanted. Basically, I knew I needed a portal for my occasional blog posts that didn’t fall under heliotro.pe, framboi.se or loveb.ug, but beyond that I also wanted it to serve as a sort of “all about Virginia” portal that easily… Continue reading Yahoo pipes = rad, but HARD!
A study in contrasts
Back in the day, Kate Spade used to make some FANTASTIC bedding. I could never afford them, but I wanted one of her duvet sets sooooo baaaad — there was one in hot pink, black and white (I know it sounds like Betsy Johnson On Crack In Bed, but stay with me) that had canvas… Continue reading A study in contrasts
Eames obsession
Now that we’re about to be homeowners, with much more square footage to fill, I’ve started lustily browsing new furniture. I came across and subsequently fell in love with a new (to me) furniture designer — or rather, design duo — Charles and Ray Eames. Specifically, I’m obsessed with their office chairs. I stumbled upon… Continue reading Eames obsession
Holly Jolly Roberts
Grant and I were on a mini road trip this weekend, during which we briefly tuned in to Christmas music. Listening to all the predictable, same old tunes jingling about the various joys of the season, I had a sudden epiphany: I AM TOTALLY GOING TO WRITE A HIT CHRISTMAS CAROL. For real. I don’t… Continue reading Holly Jolly Roberts