you guys! i’m so excited today to be featured on waterfall creative’s design journey column! i’ve been a long time admirer of joanna’s work and feel so honored she reached out to me! click here to read more about my story of making the jump from accountant —> freelance design! thanks so much, joanna!
happy valentine’s day (+ a wedding photo)!
photo by annie mcelwain
we received our wedding photos this week and we are SO thrilled with how they turned out! that annie mcelwain is pretty amazing. can’t wait to share lots more with you all! in the meantime, i’m off to enjoy my first valentine’s day as a married woman! reis has secret plans for us tonight and i’m kind of excited :) hope you all have days full of love (and lots and lots of chocolate)!
san francisco.
our last hurrah in california was a quick trip to san francisco. we’ve both been a few times before, but never together…and it’s always more fun exploring places with him! reis had some school stuff to take care of and we figured we would make another road trip/weekend getaway out of it. even though it was pretty dang freezing when we were there, i really love northern california! (i didn’t take my peacoat or my snood off the entire time. major shoutout to the talented-knit-master janelle for knitting me my snood!) it’s so different from southern california and the city is such a neat place with so much culture and diversity AND amazing food! we stayed at hotel union square (and although parking in union square is a big pain), it was a fun hotel and it was great to be able to walk around at night right outside of our hotel. thanks to my friend lauren, she gave us some good recommendations for where we should go/eat (thanks lo!). here’s a few places that we really enjoyed if you are planning a trip in the near future!
walking around the ferry building
coffee at dolores park cafe
ice cream at bi-rite creamery
pizza at pizzeria delfina
dinner at zazie
dessert at the ice cream bar
breakfast + coffee at tartine bakery
dog/people watching in dolores park
we had the best time exploring and eating our way through san francisco, navigating BART (man, i really like public transportation – it’s so efficient!), seeing a few good friends from college, and just being with each other! more travels soon, please.
a morning in waikiki.
last week on reis’ day off, we had a morning date in waikiki that involved iced coffee and a beach walk. i love morning outings on weekdays because everywhere is more quiet and less crowded. you won’t find us in waikiki very often, but this day was particularly beautiful and it’s a close drive from our house. i also carried my new samudra x ladyslider clutch that reis got me for christmas! our friend tara makes them and i dig her whole collection. but this one is my favorite! it’s perfectly fashionable and super functional. i use it whenever i go out for errands or coffee runs and it fits my phone, wallet, keys, and even my big dslr (though i don’t recommend lugging one of those around in a clutch)! check out her shop HERE. and her blog HERE. it’s pretty great and will probably make you want to pack up your stuff and move to hawaii.
thoughts on freelance | staying organized.
i picked up these folders from anthropologie (i think they are sold out at anthro but i found them here) and have since put them to good use in helping me stay organized. my goal is to maintain a folder for all current clients to house invoices, samples, receipts, etc. related to each project. i also have folders for legal and tax documents in an effort to keep everything in one easy-to-find place. i am trying my best to implement this from the start so important papers won’t end up scattered around my house/purse/desk…or in the trash. i guess previously being on the other side of things as an accountant has given me motivation to keep things neat for the sole purpose of a seamless tax return preparation. messy clients were no fun and a giant headache. and since i’ll be doing my own taxes, i really don’t want that headache…so hopefully that serves as an incentive to keep this system up! happy weekending!
WORK | my brand.
this is the mood board i made in the process of my own rebrand. lots of black and white, neutrals and gold, just how i like it. i’m debating throwing in some color, but that’s yet to be determined. branding my company has been a very slow process, mostly because i’m my worst critic. but i’m working on it!! every single day. and can’t wait to do a grand launch. here’s to hoping it’s sooner than later. stay tuned!
*also…some people were asking me what a mood board was after the last mood board i posted, so to sum it up, it’s basically a collection of images, colors, and type to visually illustrate the general aesthetic/vibe of a company. it helps in the branding process to create direction for the designer. (i.e. the photo of the bottles does not literally have anything to do with my company, more so the composition/colors/simplicity of the photo…make sense?)