Monday, September 10, 2007
Breaking through!
Pretty exciting -- we're going to be doing the redesign for our Chamber's website! It is exciting to see how we're branching out with local projects. (Patting self on back)
Labels: Union Design Photo
------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
We WON A Silver ADDY Award!!
We participated in the regional advertising awards, and our website for Oogles n Googles won a Silver ADDY!!! Very exciting, considering we are designers more than advertisers!
Labels: Union Design Photo
------------------------------------------------
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Kids and Work - Freelance/Homeschool Style
Today, we went to an artist's house to photograph some of her work, as we are creating a website for her. We asked in advance, and were able to bring our kids with us, which meant both Jeff and I would be able to go.
As luck would have it, this was a beautiful location for the kids with lots of fun stuff to explore, including a large basin of water, which they happily made "soup" with, using leaves, twigs, and pine needles. The artist was very gracious about the whole experience, and when we left, the kids had had a good time, and seen many things there, including a kumquat tree!
As homeschooling freelance/small business owners, we have to include our kids in our work in many ways. At times, it seems like it is so overwhelming, we'll never get ahead! And other times, like this one, it all seems to merge seemlessly.
Labels: parenting, Union Design Photo
------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Bartering for Services?
We are in contact with a mosaic artist who needs all sorts of promotional work done, with no budget (as most of our clients seem to be ... feels kinda good, though, helping a new entrepreneur!!). We were thinking of providing her with our services for equivalent value of her work .... we've only briefly mentioned it, and need to think more of how it would work.
We also are in the process of starting a branding project with a Commercial Contracting service, and were thinking of bartering our services for "Handyman" type services .... again, not sure how it would work.
Labels: community, Union Design Photo
------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Is it October already??
My month of October is just crazy busy -- we have one website that is about a local art show, and it happens this weekend, so there are a ton of last minute changes, etc. (and I took this over from another mom-friend who is due the first week in November and took on grad school this fall -- and got overwhelmed), we have a new textbook to design, we just finished a 16-page brochure for a national health care campaign, and we're slated to do another brochure for the same organization to promote their educational courses across the US. We were just contacted by an apparently "very prestigious" man (according to Jeff, who decided we could take on a few projects after realizing who is was) to do some new identities for organizations he oversees/controls. We're still in the process of three rebranding campaigns, and completing materials for an international association's annual meeting. Oh, and then there are the two local political campaigns .....
I haven't had a chance to update picture albums or even denote major milestones ... like Kira starting to sleep through the night, having all but her 2-year molars, starting to count (OMG ... she amazes me DAILY!!), really getting into the independence/tantrum thing full throttle. Or like Parker finally drawing a self-portrait (yes, I cried. He just busted it out like he did it every day!! I was so proud!
), reading a CALVIN & HOBBES in the van and LAUGHING at it!!, writing all the letters of his name, and finally getting into art for the sake of art (and drawing recognizable things!!). Two of Parker's local cohorts have lost their first tooth, and I'm nowhere NEAR prepared for that! I don't know what we'll give him, or have a tooth pillow, or anything. 
Labels: artwork, homeschooling, Kira, milestones, Parker, politics, reading, Union Design Photo, writing
------------------------------------------------
Monday, July 10, 2006
Crazy Busy July
I can't believe how busy my life seems to have become -- my calendar just seems crazy! I am actually looking forward to mid-August, when Parker's classes end and everyone else is starting to get crazy with the start of school! We still haven't signed Parker up for preschool, and the closer we get to that time, it seems the less likely we are to do so, especially with the classes he's taking at O2BKids.
So, for me --
1) I'm still doing lots of work on our business, including a conference brochure, the birthday party company still, an architecture-related international service, and a couple of others. We have one client who is refusing to pay us right now, and they owe us about $600!! I'm very "put out!".
2) I am still effectively running the playgroup for Kira, which involves keeping about 10 moms, working and not working, organized enough to keep regular meetings. We've just completed our first complete 2-month rotation, and people are even more excited about it than before (before the whole group was going to just peter out, so this is awesome!).
3) I am now on the board of MOMS Club here, doing the newsletter, and helping as we sister a new group. It has actually been really fun, and I've already learned a lot more about my community.
For Jeff --
1) He's as swamped with freelance as I have been, as well as trying to revamp our entire website including a complete portfolio -- it is quite the undertaking!!
2) His work may be in for some upheaval, though I can't talk about it yet, since it doesn't go public until the end of the week.
For Parker --
I love this boy!! He can be a pain in the neck, but he's so sweet, so smart, and so full of energy!
He's really great with all of the family he's been meeting (though at times he's TOO friendly with strangers. I really need to work with him on a healthy distrust ...)
His big thing is that he absolutely WILL NOT let me cut his hair. I had to cut his bangs recently, but that was all he'd allow. I should have known this was coming with all the fussing he often does about it.
He totally loved having my mom (his Oma) come for a visit, and to go with them to his Great-Granny's house.
Of course, that means that I'm having to deal with him stealing my cell phone and calling them every chance he gets and him constantly talking about going to visit them or them coming here.
Parker mostly loved spending time with his 12-year old second cousin, Ross. They really had lots of fun and Parker talks about going back to see him.
That's them at the fireworks on the 4th.
Kira --
She's become such a firecracker! She's very smart -- I think moreso than Parker! She says lots and lots of words, uses a fork/spoon, already remembers/reads books, and is a pretty darn happy girl (until it is sleep time).
More than that, she ADORES her Grampa (my dad). Oh my goodness, I've never seen a child take to a non-parent like that! She often ran to him instead of to me! I loved it.
She also favored my mama, but not nearly the same. Still, it was a nice reprieve for me.
She was much more shy meeting the extended family, like her Great-Grandma Morris (Jeff's grandmother) above, and her Great-Aunt Kathy below.
She always seems to have a serious look on her face, like Parker did. It is almost like she is trying to completely digest and comprehend the world before she's 2!!
Okay, I'm including the following out of obligaton:
I have some videos I have to download from my camera to share. As much as I adore my kids, more and more I feel like we're done. Maybe I'll change my mind -- I'm only 33, and they are only 4-1/2 and 17 months. We'll see.
Labels: community, family, homeschooling, Jeff, Kira, Kristin, milestones, Parker, Union Design Photo
------------------------------------------------