the time has come!

for me to move my blog to a new place...

Thank you for following my blog here but would you please redirect your bookmarks, and mouse to the following location:

http://www.lynnczarnecki.com/ramblings/

Updated subscription information is also available at the address above.... THANKS and see you over at the other URL ;-)

St. Cloud Wedding Expo Proposed Website

St. Cloud Wedding Expo
Originally uploaded by lynndro

Follow up from the logo, this site is designed to allow vendors, brides, friends and family of the couples, and wedding planners with the resources to provide and receive goods and services associated with weddings.

My concern with this design lies primarily in the choice of colors. I feel that not everyone would see green and pink as wedding colors, but then again, some brides choose purple! :-) The main goal is to provide information for the event. Where, when, who, how to sign-up, etc. The main buttons or calls to action should help direct site visitors to the proper place on the website.

So my question for you is would this site appeal to you? As either a person who has had a wedding, been involved in planning a wedding, or just likes weddings in general?

THX in advance for your help! :-)

The Elephant Line, please?

Pretty impressed by the foresight of Paul Middlewick who in 1988 spotted "the elephant" in the tube lines, stations, and junctions on the London Underground map. Pretty neat. These would make awesome framed images for transportation/animal enthusiasts :-)

To see/learn more (or buy a really cool t-shirt) stop by Animals on the Underground.

Logo Feedback Needed, plz :-)

New logo for Wedding Expo website
Originally uploaded by lynndro

Goal: Design a logo to represent a wedding expo in the Saint Cloud, MN region.

Audiences: Primary audiences are wedding product and service vendors. Secondary audience includes brides, wedding planners, friends and families of brides, etc.

Thoughts? I'm wrestling with whether or not the audience region will be content with just the SC (St. Cloud) reference or if the state name should be included. I could tell you what I'm leaning toward, but that might make you biased! :-) Also looking for other feedback regarding the idea, colors, typeface, etc.

Thanks!

Casey; still the best dog in the world...

So the love of my life, Casey (aka Bear, boozel, boooger, Casey Jones, Falkor) is 13 as of May 28th 2009. Now it is my closely-held belief that he is hands down the best dog in the world and usually he proves me correct through his interactions with other people, dogs, and experiences --until last week.

During a nice evening we headed out to our secret fishing location and happened on a sailboat tied up right over our favorite spot (bummer). But alas, we moved down and still did alright on the fish count. However, sailboat owner came to take his boat out while we were fishing and approached Casey with a confidence that most people don't usually show when approaching a dog that they've never met before. I noticed this, but didn't think much of it because, well, he IS the best dog in the world and would never harm a human or otherwise (for pete's sake he rescued a baby rabbit that would have died by carrying it to my mom in his mouth!!!!!). So sailboat owner approaches Casey and places (doesn't give, but places) his hand on Casey's snout, for what I'm assuming is the sniff-check. He then pets Casey on the head and looks up to talk to me. At this point, he retracts his hand slightly and Casey snaps his jaws together and growls. He didn't bite him, just got a little crabbie. I apologized to the man who told Casey, "Wow, I almost thought you were the most mellow dog I've ever met!"

I was kinda bummed thinking that at Casey's young age of 13 that he was getting grumpy and his hearing was going and his sight isn't the best so maybe he just made a mistake.. until I stumbled upon this quote from Plato....

"The disposition of noble dogs is to be gentle with people they know and the opposite with those they don't know... How, then, can the dog be anything other than a lover of learning since it defines what's its own and what's alien."

...and in reading that, I found my peace with the situation and my still-perfect dog who must have felt that the sailboat guy was a bit off.

Holy Cats that is Cool!

I am currently being super impressed with this awesome resume/info graphic! If I had more time, I would lay out my life like this... maybe someday :-)

Giugno! (June!)

I can't believe it's June already.. Should I mention that the heat was on in my house this morning? Yeah, that's crazy. Dear UP, when will you finally warm up? I suppose I can't complain too much because we've been able to enjoy the sun SOME days, just not nearly enough...

Anyway, I have some more lengthy blog updates for later this week, but until then, I'm quite content to keep looking at this photo and think about summer :-)
Photo from ffffound

wow weekend!

So, the ultimately unfair fact of the matter is that I get to go hang out in B-town for the weekend as my little brother is all grown up and graduating from HS and I left J a list of house work, whoops! :-) All is fair in love and home ownership? Right, I think someone said that...

Anyway, I hope to do a more formal holiday weekend update but it will have to wait.. ALSO, I'm working on moving my blog, so hang tight for some changes!

Paper Culture, an updated look for greeting cards...

Making my merry away through my Google Reader this morning, I stumbled on these fresh and beautiful greeting cards from a new company, Paper Culture. I'm excited to see more from them, here is a sampling to pique your interests..

the perfect distraction...

Apparently my mom knows my weaknesses for creatures of any kind because yesterday she sent me a link to a live webstream of an eagle's nest. wow. There went my productivity.

I immediately tweeted it on twitter and have since had the greatest amount of retweets or RTs that I have had to date using the micro-blogging software. (This is a good thing, feel free to clap.) I also spent some time watching how many viewers were following the neat live stream. When I first visited yestrday morning, there were approximately 440 viewers, between 12 and 1pm, the feed piqued at 1,200 viewers! This morning, as of 9:12am there are 557 viewers, I think the eagle's are gaining popularity!

I felt the need to write about this because I think the fact that scientists/researchers are using web technologies for studying/viewing purposes is awesome! I only wish the CBC site had some kind of posting functionality so that experts could pose reasons for some of the eagle behaviors. IE the different calls, the reason why the 3 small ones seem to be 3 different sizes, etc. I took a few pictures over my short observing timespan and JUST MISSED a picture with both mom and pops (I was sorely disappointed.)

Mostly I just enjoy hearing the sounds of the woods while sitting inside and working. It's very soothing and I'm excited to keep checking in as the little guys grow.

Watch out, she's watching you!












__________________________________

UPDATE! Got one! Mom and Pop Bald Eagle :-)

Graduation Invitation

Just posting the invite I made for J's graduation. Exciting, at the new house and everything. :-) Only a few days left... lots of prep still in the works!

New Carpet!

New Carpet!
Originally uploaded by lynndro

YAY! Holy progress! As J said, "this has been a huge payoff weekend." The picture here is as of Monday, 4/27. Carpet was installed this morning. I haven't seen it in person yet but I'm so excited that I can hardly stand it. Although... the colors don't look right at all in this photo (IE the back wall is orange).

This weekend could not have been completed without the help of Adam and Megan, (you guys rock)! Because of their time and effort we were able to paint AND prime the whole house! We were just hoping to get through priming and hopefully have the loft painted. It's exciting to see the place really come together like this.

I've posted pictures on Flickr but I'm going to take some more because I don't feel like they are a good representation of the HUGE success!

Meet the New Neighbors... of sorts...

As the snow has melted, J and I have got to see more and more of the yard behind the new house. We knew it was decent sized for being on a city block and we were excited at the possibilities of fencing it in for the pups.

In the last few weeks, a surprise of sorts has come out of the house buying adventure and the pictures below portray our new neighbors...

Yep, headstones. Who would have thought? I certainly had not considered the possibility of having headstones in the back right corner of our yard, but behold! We checked with the real estate agent and she thinks the stones don't come with any organic remains, but it makes you wonder nonetheless.

At first it was quite a shock and I was a little (ok a lot) weirded out by the prospect of having headstones in the backyard. But after raking and spending some time with the attention-grabbing icons, I've had a little change of heart... Now my interests are piqued and I have more curiosity if nothing else for the names on the stones. The area is full of the last name Peltier and I'm half tempted to open up the phone book and have some heart to hearts.

Last week we started some seedlings inside and are planting an array of fruits and veggies for the garden, of notable mention would be the pumpkins. It seems there is the perfect little incline directly behind the headstones for a pumpkin patch... and I'm thinking about getting a bat house too! All the comforts of Halloween, year round. :-)

Day 2--Snow on April 21

Day 2
Originally uploaded by lynndro

Yesterday I was unhappy, today I am dismayed. Seriously? AND it won't even stop snowing long enough to walk to and from buildings to cars and vice versa. I feel like Paddington Bear in a brown rain slicker -- but I wish it was yellow!

AND there is a winter storm warming in effect until 5pm.

According to the National Weather Service Office in Marquette, this is a new record for the area. On April 20th in 1982, 10.6 inches of snow fell. Yesterday we recorded 12.2. Go Team?

Today on campus...

Snow in Hancock...
Originally uploaded by lynndro

I woke up this morning to this view outside my backdoor. Yes, I was a bit surprised, slightly saddened, and ultimately hoping I was still asleep. On Friday the temperature was 70 degrees and the sun seemed to be here to stay, but alas, we were punked.

The most interesting part of this snowy dusting, was walking on campus this morning. I got here at a time when most students were in their first class but there were still a few meandering about on the sidewalks. I noted, no one walked in a group and there was that all too familiar silence that snow seems to bring. Since we are a friendly community, I noticed that everyone I passed made eye contact with me, but no one muttered "hello," or "good morning." The look seemed to be somber disbelief... and that, my friends, was the mood on campus this morning..

Bluebird skies and dancin shoes!

The past two days have been absolutely gorgeous in the copper country. Suprisingly, I haven't been drug under a bus by the amount of work I have yet... staying on top is always a chore when the weather starts improving. I have a feeling it will also effect the ability to attract helping hands at the house this weekend but we've had such great help thus far that there can be no real complaining.

My dad took off today, headed back downstate for awhile. He really helped the house come together with working the structural beams and framing in most/all of the windows. THANKS DAD!
This picture makes me happy. that's why I posted it. I should have more home updates after this weekend.

J's (unofficial) official graduation is in two weeks!! Meaning that he gets to dress up and look important but still has a ways to go in writing his book.

Well, back to the grind for as long as I can today. It's proving to be quite a challenge with the sun taunting me!

Bathroom in progress...

Bathroom in progress...
Originally uploaded by lynndro

Thanks for all the feedback on the design options. Last night M and I rocked the bathroom wall. It took awhile to get things adjusted, we used a projector to display the tree on the wall and then modified from there. Overall this design resembles option C the most but the curve near the bottom isn't quite as pronounced. We also took out some of the crazy branches to make it look less busy and intimidating.

Tonight I plan to touch it up a bit but the hard part is over and M did all the hard work of removing the pencil marks from the wall. Now we just have to cover up a few unpainted spots and that will be one room finished... with some big ones still left...

Cast your votes, please! :-)

Options... here they are. This is my bathroom wall. If you'd like to see more photos of the bathroom, jump on over to my Flickr page. For sanity's sake, let's call the options A, B, and C, respectively. :-)

A:

B:

C:

Mom's new logo

What do you think of this one?
Originally uploaded by lynndro

I'm designing a logo for my mom's business, Bayside Custom Canvas, specializing in custom boat tops and other canvas needs. This is what I have so far. Still tweaking the idea a bit. For the general feeling, do you feel that the "b/boat" idea is clear or are you lost with the "ayside?"

color is still coming...

Painting a house...

Wow, now there's something I hadn't planned on quite yet. The remodeling is moving quickly and I think it's time to consider what type of paint should go on the walls.. Hopefully the drywall will be completed early this weekend and will be followed by an intense session of mudding, tapeing, and sanding!

I love colors... I think sometimes that I overuse color and forget how great using white can look... especially in my designs. But, having grown up with white walls, I think I want to add lots of color to the walls of our first home.


I stopped at Sherwin Williams on the way home the other day just to view what they have to offer... This is the already-picked color palette that I like the most. I'm not opposed to mixing and matching and I will probably be doing some of that too but I thought this might provide a good base. Thoughts?

I'm currently leaning toward the Tigereye on the East wall and the Basket Beige on the North and South.
So that's my really, really bad 3d interpretation... and the colors aren't quite true. They are both deeper and provide a "richer" feel, or at least I think so. The other palette colors, like the dark brown, will hopefully be the wood furniture color (table, chairs, shelves) and the teal color would be more for accent. Or at least that's how I'm picturing. The real conundrum then is what to do with the bathroom.... any ideas?

Going on the wall.....

Found these images on Etsy today. I think they are going in the new house... too cool...

Where does the time go?

This week is already flying by and it's only Tuesday!

The kicker this week is that we're trying to get everything out of J's apartment and either stored at the new house or taken to my apartment until the new house is ready to move into.

My dad is making the trip up this weekend to help with the trim and maybe even some painting. There's a bit of drywall to finish but hopefully we'll be working toward that this week.

Work has been getting pretty busy. I'd like to have more time to design some stuff for fun but just haven't had the time. That's why I posted this awesome print from a designer. I'm thinking of buying a few things from her Etsy shop to put in the house. I think they rock...

Til next time... :-)

Updated Shiny Trike Website Design

Updated Shiny Trike Design
Originally uploaded by lynndro

To view a larger image, click and move over to my flickr account. From there you can select "view all sizes."

I made some edits to the original post. Hopefully I can get some feedback from my ENORMOUS group of followers... giggle, giggle, laugh, laugh.

Overall the colors shifted slightly and more elements were added. Texture and a gradient overlay were also placed on the road. If you've got some feedback, I'd love to hear it! Thanks in advance!

Tweetup, noun: A physical meeting for online users of Twitter

Houghton
Originally uploaded by Hajj Flemings

So recently I've been getting some flak from friends and people who don't understand my new obsession, twitter.

Twitter is a new-ish social networking, micro-blogging application. It allows you to make posts (160 characters or less) about your thoughts, interesting links, etc. People can "follow you" which means they can see when you post new things and you can choose whether or not to follow them back.

This "no-follow-required" system has its pluses and minuses but I have found it useful because I can follow CEOs of companies, big name marketers, magazines that I'm interested in, etc. And then I receive information about what they are doing, how they are doing it, and what their thoughts are on x, y, and z.

I post about graphic design findings, marketing/branding articles, greg's pictures, seo tips, etc. I tend to follow people with the same interests.

This weekend we had a meeting of fellow tweeters, the tweetup pictures associated with this post. A few people that I've already known about on twitter were there and I also had the opportunity to meet new people. It was a great time for social interaction and meeting people with the same interests as you is always entertaining. I would definitely do it again.

If you aren't on twitter and you would like to be, you can ask me any questions about it and definitely consider following me!

Happy Friday!

"It will cost you nothing to dream--and everything not to." --Author Unknown

Tis Friday! Lots of house stuff to do this weekend. A few brave and awesome friends are going to help with insulation, drywall and other odd projects. I'll be doing the photography documentary as usual and probably making some foods to keep everyone's hunger at bay.

I should be updating the flickr account with more photos. I've taken some through the course of the week and there has definitely been a few changes!

Stay Tuned!

random rant...

It isn't a commonly known fact but I have long since had issues with my own name, Lynn. I point out that it only "sometimes" has a vowel, as the saying goes: "A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y." In high school I even propagated my own nicknames (really lame)... And today during my email sign-offs, I came up with yet another reason why it bugs me: Using an L as a sign off letter rather than my name just doesn't have the appeal of a b, m, h, j, or a.

I know, I know I must have better things to be doing right now than complain about this. But I feel as if I have been deprived of a useful letter to end emails, blog posts, or notes. A lowercase "L" looks like nothing more than a vertical line in fonts used for email communication, granted the font type makes a difference, but not much.

Alright, that's my week's worth of complaining... So everyone, appreciate your letter...

Bear is ready to go swimming!

Bear is ready to go swimming!
Originally uploaded by lynndro

AND it looks good on him! Slightly worried when I pulled it out of the box because it is kind of bulky (enter flotation properties) but once I snugged it up, he acted just like any other dog in a life jacket--awkward...

Hopefully he'll understand that I only have his best interests at heart :-)

Thanks Ruffwear!

Open your eyes..

"It doesn't take much to see the world with bright eyes. One only needs to open them." -- David Rippe

This weekend I definitely had the opportunity to open my eyes. Last week a friend of mine looked at the house that J and I are buying and said, "Wow, this would make an amazing loft." Immediately we saw it too... Eyes, opened. :-)

That statement, after some consideration became a new goal and one that we've been working hard at over the weekend. Between burying ourselves in blown in insulation and ripping down some old drywall and walls, I'd say it is going well. Thanks to M&P Mortgage for the funds to make any of this possible and to my Mom for the long hours of demolition this weekend!

To view the progress of the "lofting," take a look at my flickr page.

Image via ffffound.

Casey's new life jacket!

Bear will now be safe, happy and excited for summer swimming. :-)

I love Ruffwear!

Perfect for Tuesday...

"Learn the wisdom of compromise, for it is better to bend a little than to break." - Jane Wells

thoughts?

thoughts?
Originally uploaded by lynndro

Just testing out a new design, hoping to get some thoughts...

The goal of this site will be to sell that trike that is in the top-right for charity purposes. Half of the proceeds will go toward buying a child a bike.

The audience for this site will be individuals within the biking community. The plan is still in the works but currently consists of having tables set up at bike races within the Keweenaw this summer to launch the program. Folks will be able to choose a trike (copper, aluminum, anodized colors) and purchase it from the site or in person.

I'm looking for a general design critique. Do the colors/look engage you? Right now there is no content, are you interested?

THX -- lynndro

The house = pain in the butt...

Winter Carnival 2009
Originally uploaded by lynndro

Today I've been successfully turned down by two separate mortgage lenders. Go me.

Apparently in these hard and dire times it is mandatory to have the coined term "Full Time Employment" in your back pocket. As some of you know, I am currently working as a contract employee, 40+ hours per week until August. At that time, if I am no longer employed by my current employer, I submitted a letter stating that I would have full time employment from my job at a sporting goods shop.

I am quite irate... that's all I've got.

Airborne Power Pixies are disgusting

Airborne Power Pixies are disgusting
Originally uploaded by lynndro

That's right, these are gross. I figured everyone should know. I am battling a cold/fluish like bug and these "pixies" which you don't need to dilute in water and just place on your tongue -- are disgusting. The medicine taste that you hate in the powder form that makes you want to vomit...

I am submitting that as their new slogan... sick girl, out.

and I quote...

"Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use." -- Charles Schultz

I feel like this statement is especially true right now. I've got so many interests pulling me all over the map and only a few outlets at which I can direct them. Guess I'll just keep hoping for more hours in the day and a secretary :-)

The road to hell...

"I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions." - Augusten Burroughs

photo courtesy of fffound

37 miles in and we are already losing parts of the car... 16 hrs to go!

Ottawa or Bust!!
Originally uploaded by lynndro

Went to Ottawa last weekend and the gas station in Baraga left us with missing pieces of our car. Luckily they held on to the piece until we went back through on Monday. I think they got a kick out of it more than anything!

Pictured here is good ole' Greg who found the unreliable piece of plastic and talked the gas station people into holding it for us.

Ottawa was a blast. Flickr will have Ottawa updates soon and thus, the blog will also. Stay tuned! :-)

Playing chess on Lake Superior...

quincy-mcclain-19
Originally uploaded by igmaino

Yeah, don't make fun of our pastimes this winter. Casey and I are that cool.

Downtown Houghton today.

Downtown Houghton today.
Originally uploaded by lynndro

Houghton, Michigan through a bit different perspective. In the reflection you can see the historic building that now houses the Cyberia Coffee House. You can also See Jason's shirt on the right hand side, my shirt on the left and the outline of Jason's phone that I used to take the picture.

My artistic perspective on Houghton for the day...

Kettu is learning about new technologies...

Kettu is learning about new technologies...
Originally uploaded by lynndro

Kettu decided to give computer networking a try. He will be formerly enrolled in Network Administration starting in the fall... so proud. :-)

Three layers of yummyness!

The Irish Times in Laurium, Michigan is a fine establishment of refined taste and Irish mayhem. Sydney and Michael are in town for Winter Carnival so we stopped by after enjoying a fine Mexican dinner at Carmelita's. Sydney used to work at The Irish Times and a reunion of sorts ensued.

The establishment itself is tastefully decorated and the bar that you can see in the picture is artwork itself, done by a local artist. The artist also painted one of the walls and added the most interesting brick-like texture that appeared to "come out of" the paint. It's hard to describe but it appeared as if the wall was brick and just had a few spots left untouched. A very cool effect.

We spoke with the owner "McCormak" who came over from Ireland ages ago and told us about his Irish ancestry.

Overall, the night was great!

Warmest temp since November!

Warmest temp since November!
Originally uploaded by lynndro

So today in Marquette it was, as you can see, 32 degrees. By the time we drove back to Houghton, it was in the 20s we had a 5-foot visibility the whole way and the roads were crap...

I'm glad I snapped the picture and I hope the thermometer wasn't a fluke because I really don't know when it's going to be freezing or above this winter...

Happy Superbowl everybody! We'll be enjoying a spread of wings, dips, venison chili, AND MORE!

Testing flickr phone upload with a black and tan!

Testing flickr phone upload with a black and tan!
Originally uploaded by lynndro