kelly lorraine caldwell | a working mother mind in a stay-at-home mom life

Most of the final shapes look strikingly similar, but I suppose for the budget [and the timeframe] this is pretty awesome.

So I seem to be on an interesting path to self-discovery, which is somewhat appropo/useful, as I am thirteen months away from the big three-o, an obvious [albeit relatively arbitrary] milestone into “adulthood”. I’m glad it is still a bit off in the distance, as I think this process is certainly underway, but not in any big rush.

Recently, I was struck by the stunning realization that I am NOT my innate tendencies. I collect accumulate all sorts of “useful” detritus. As a crafter and an artist, I typically justify all these bits and pieces as something I *could* use or possibly something I *might* need. And I absolutely could/might. BUT not only does having all this STUFF cause me undue stress [one - bc of the clutter and the need to organize it all and two - bc then I have the sword hanging over my head of all these uncompleted, if even started, projects] but it may actually hinder my true talent: off-the-cuff problem-solving creativity. Example: perhaps I will need to collage something but maybe in the future I won’t be able to afford to go to the craft store to buy materials. I most certainly have the make-it-work attitude to use whatever means I DO have – dollar store materials, thrift store finds, old clothes, old newspapers, cereal boxes, whatever. In fact I probably thrive in the unusual circumstances. And so… a massive cleaning project [physical, mental, and emotional] is underway.

“To become a success at what they did, they had to shed some part of their own identity.” Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, p.266

My son said that he “set up an optical course” today. One would assume he meant OBSTACLE course, but w this kid, you never know…

I can’t decide whether I want to see the Eat Pray Love movie. I LOVE the book. I really like Julia Roberts. I HATE the graphic design on the movie’s ad campaign and website.

I am *such* a design-nerd.

No, but seriously – the book has such a maturity and a groundedness, a passion and a warmth, a connectibility. The bus stop ads [the ones I've seen anyway] and website have these slick little icons and bright trendy colors and superthin sans serif lettering. It totally looks like a repeat of the Valentine’s Day posters, but without the ensemble cast. NO WAY. Ugh.

So my great fear is that the design is actually GOOD design that is true to the movie and that the movie is just this horrid piece of fluff. I suppose I’m hoping that it’s just bad design that was pushed through the movie studio factory and that perhaps the designer never read the books nor saw the movie and just went with what style of design is “current”. That would be very sad, but greatly preferable. I guess I’ll just wait and read all the reviews to see how it pans out.

Oh, and yes, I am rereading the book right now. It’s FABULOUS.

BBC article: Do typefaces really matter?