Seen there done that

dé⋅jà vu

When it comes to creativity or creative ideas I always try find something new, something inspiring, something no one has ever seen before. Maybe it's a new look, a new colour combo, a new take on an obvious solution. As a designer, I am often told, "Think outside the box!" (if I hear that phrase again, I swear I will give someone a scissor kick to the lips!!!!!).

Lately I've been noticing something. I have various blogs and websites that I visit on a regular (if not daily) basis. From one, you can click to another and then to another...and another and click - another. With each click there is some new type of eye candy - a painting, a picture, a mood, a feeling. Everyone is putting their original ideas and concepts out there. It's a fantastic blend of idea and inspiration ans it's all readily available. I realized something as I was clicking away, there are bits and pieces all over the place that I swear I've seen before. "That's their new logo? I know I've seen it somewhere. It just came out? Really?"

It happens all the time, in fact, it's happened to me. About a year and a half ago, I was hired to create a new identity for a local business that was just starting out. They gave me a guideline of what they were looking for, and I forged ahead. In the end, they were happy and best of all, I was happy to put my name to it. As I had it on screen one day, a friend (and fellow designer) popped in and with a look of concern said, "Who's that logo for? Where did they get it?" I explained - including an in-depth rationale for what I had created, and then all he said was, "Have you seen the logo for Such-and-such company? It's exactly the same." My heart sank...it couldn't be, could it? I went to Such-and-such company's website, and there it was. Glaringly obvious. Well, it wasn't EXACTLY the same - the orange was a shade more yellow and the elements were not completely centred (in copyright terms, that is EXACTLY the same). I stared at it...it stared back. It was a showdown, and epic battle between what I thought was my "original" idea and what already existed for someone else. I ended up changing it...I had to tell my client as neither of us wanted to end up in the Copyright Courts of Justice. The thing is, to this day, I have no idea how that could even happen. Like seriously....SERIOUSLY....how did the client's vague guidelines go from my brain, through dozens, if not hundreds, of thumbnail sketches get transferred in to my computer and end up WHAM! - something someone had already done?

This exact scenario doesn't just happen to me. It happens all the time. I used to work for a large Ad Agency and when I started there, they were in the midst of an actual court battle to prove whether or not a logo they did for their client existed publicly BEFORE a very similar logo for a non-profit company in the U.S. did. It was very real and scary when the designer and Creative Director had to pull out pages and pages of sketches and hard copy proofs to prove that their creative process landed them in a very similar spot as those creatives in the U.S. Turns out, our agency launched almost a full year prior to that of the other. Score!

Regardless, sometimes I wonder if this happens because of the "Creative Brain". Do certain words or ideas conjure up the same image for all of us? Is everything we see or have seen etched in to our subconsious only to burst out when prompted by trigger words/feelings/experiences? Or, could it be that we all share one great pool of ideas -kind of like a collective soul - that we all reach in to without knowing when we create? Or maybe, these same ideas are ingrained in our mitochondrial DNA as a Creative and we regress? OKAY! That's just too much.

All I know, is that it happens. But, it is not always a bad thing. Creativity inspires creativity. Ideas lead to more ideas. If someone or something inspires you, create! Put your mark on it. It was still a product of your thinking, your inspiration and your hard work. Anyone Creative can be a "human photocopier"...the challenge is to throw a twist in. And, if somehow, by some great mysterious power beyond our comprehension, it comes out with a likeness to something else, it must have just been a great idea!

Create it up yo!

Chillax

Stella has the right idea. Instead of running around chasing your tail, jump up on the leather couch and chill-out, watch the TV and reeeeeeeeeelax. I came across this picture this afternoon while frantically searching for something else. It's a dog's life....if you're one of our dogs. Our Puggies may be the only dogs* that can say they have eaten Prime Rib from the Keg (complete with garlic mashed potatoes and au jus) as well as 20 ounces of Porterhouse from 529 Wellington

*This is of course an assumption on my part. There may be other crazy people out there who go out for a nice anniversary dinner and make sure not to finish every last bite because there are two pampered pooches at home wassting away due to lack of Grade A Canadian Beef.

What I also found out while searching through various photos is that Mike and I barely have any photos together. Photos of us I mean. There are only a handful that I can think of and they are almost always posed - the ones at "that dinner" or "that friend's wedding". We don't really have any of us having fun or playing in the snow with the Puggies or anything like that. There are plenty of photos of Mikey, Mikey and the Pugs or the Puggies doing crazy Puggy stuff. But, when I see all of those photos, they all have one thing in common - I am behind the lens. Not that I really WANT to be in pictures, frankly I don't think I am that photogenic, but when our babies ask to see photos of us when we were "dating", what will I have to show them? Maybe a handful of stiff photos? A couple of funny shots while trying to work a timer and get the Puggies to stay still?

I just don't want to get to some point and say, "I wish we had more pictures of us".

It'll have to change....

Chill out!

Countdown 365

I'm back.

Loooong hiatus, I know. I don't know where the time went, but after a few gentle nudges and a much need kick in the pants, I realized I can't put it off anymore. I gotta blog!

Besides, today is a good day to get back at 'er. Tomorrow, Mike and I will have been together two years, it's Halloween and as of today, there are exactly 365 days until our wedding. Halloween wedding? Yes. Like right on the 31st of October. Yes. Like for real? YES!!! Can you tell I've been asked that a lot in the past while? Yes, we are getting married on Halloween - without costumes. No costumes allowed. It may seem silly, but Halloween is only one of my favorite days of the year, it was the day of our first date and it falls on a Saturday next year. All my life I loved Halloween - the lead up to it, the pumpkin carving, the costume picking and of course the Trick-or-Treating. I also thought that all the spookiness and mystery of witches, ghosts, goblins and things-that-go-bump-in-the-night created some wonderful magic that no other time of year could. It is that feeling and excitement accompanied by heightened senses that makes me love Halloween.

Somehow the romantic in me thinks that maybe there was a higher reason as to why I loved Halloween. Maybe I was meant to have my first date, with the man I would marry, on that day...and maybe is it a weird universal blessing to be able to get married on October 31st - a Saturday - in the year we will be married. Maybe some higher power (whoever that may be) made me look forward to that time every year so that when something good happend I would take it as a sign and not brush it off. Maybe, just maybe, I am over analyzing and am starting to sound crazy.

Our decision of the date has, of course, been met with some with some weirdness from others. So far my favorite comment has been, "Well, you may offend some people with children, it is Halloween ya'know". Really? I didn't know that...oh my gosh, I just realized that October 31, 2009 was Halloween, I am so sorry, here, let me change the date for you. I know that sounds snotty, (insert my Mom's voice sternly saying, "Tracy LeeAnne, be a LADY!" here) but I am claiming one Halloween night in all of existing time as mine, for me and us. How I really wanted to respond to this was by saying, "Do don't come then.". But what I said was, "of course I understand that and I will also understand if someone can't make it because of that." Unless, it is someone really important, then I will cast a temporary insanity spell on them.

My Dad seriously had the best comment about the day though. "Halloween, hey?" he said, "That is just so you". He got it. He understood. I didn't know if anyone would, but he did. Not like it suprised me. He's good that way.

So Halloween it is. This Halloween won't be too exciting - unless the Jets win (GO STONEWALL!!!) but next year will be magically fantastic!

Fan-glorious

Glory. Happiness. I’m happy. Tired, but oh so happy. The quote is right - All glory comes from daring to begin. I think it sums up Mike and I and our life together. Every thing we have and built together began with a leap of faith of sorts. We met at work...I vowed I would never date anyone I worked with. BIG NO NO! I took the leap...and was happy for it. Never mind, that Halloween night in 2006, we had our first date AND moved in together. What was I thinking??? I knew what I was thinking, “Take the leap”. I leaped and landed in something so different and comfortable.

We dared to get our first Puggy – Guinness – loss of sleep, issues and trips to the vet with a HUGE pay off of unconditional love and endless laughs.

We dared to get our second Puggy – Stella – again, loss of sleep, loss of fur, more trips to the vet, and the same HUGE pay off. Plus, Ginny was in his glory with his new companion.

We dared to buy a house and move (this is why I am soooooo exhausted and ready to drop). It’s older, built in 1948 compared to our current 1995 model, but with the beautiful floors, awesome kitchen, big yard and 13 minute drive to work, we will make it our own and be happy there.

And the biggest leap, as of yet...we are getting married! As of last Thursday, Mikey and I are engaged. BIG LEAP!!!! BEST LEAP EVER!!!! Excited? YES! Happy? MORE THAN ANYONE COULD KNOW!

I can’t even describe the last week. Rollercoaster. Exhausted. Over-the-moon-happy-in-love and so tired feel nauseous I’m gonna go over the edge if the insanity doesn’t end soon.

The best thing is though, I am happy. We are happy. Happy together all because we dared to being this crazy thing. Imagine that.

We move on Friday. I am not ready. Three-quarters packed and all sanity gone. I am reduced to a pale, ameoba-like state as I move from place to place on auto-pilot. Work to house to other house, back to first house, sleep, up, work to house and all over again. I can’t think and everything that comes out of my mouth makes perfect sense to me, but is a foreign language to everyone else. Perhaps I’ve tapped in to some ancient form of Cave Language that only the extremely exhausted can recover from their cell memory lost through generations of evolution. Something like “Pita lunch good turkey roast” or “Need sleep please Friday”.

So, if the sentences I write are barely comprehensible, I apologize. But, I’m here, happy and ready to leap.

Whirlwind

Delinquent. Yes, I have been a delinquent blogger. But, my only peace of mind regarding this matter comes from the fact that many of the other blogs I read have not been updated in days...yes, days, not WEEKS like mine, but at last, here I am.

The only word I have for the last few weeks of my life is INSANITY. Wait, maybe WHIRLWIND...or CHAOS...okay, so there are a few words, but it all leads to one big word. GOOD. All GOOD. So since returning after May long weekend, Mikey and I looked at a whack of houses, bought a house, did overhaul cleaning on our current house, listed our house, showed our house aaaannnnd sold our house. Meanwhile, aside from all that, I ran around with the Puggies, reconnected with an old friend I haven’t seen in 10 years and a long-lost cousin on my Dad’s side who I haven’t seen in 22 years! I also did hours of not-for-profit design work and held down a full-time job (which I don’t think I have time for anymore)! Oh, and Mike’s friends Kirstie and Ross are arriving tomorrow from England to stay with us for a week! Everyday over the past while, I thought, “Ooh! I could blog about this.” or “That would be a good post.” but it never got posted. I guess the only reason I listed all of that is to make myself feel better about the things I’ve dropped the ball on (like sending a Father’s Day card or an anniversary card for my parents) and realize that I was going through a ton of crap and was legitimately busy. So, if I’ve missed any of you, made you feel ignored or looked-over, I really apologize.

So yes, Mikey and I are leaving the Republic of Transcona (R.O.T.). We realized we were spending too much time in the car commuting to and from work and that that time could be better spend at home, with friends, with the Puggies, or together. It was getting to the point that we would leave the house at 8:20 in the morning and not get home until 5:50 at night. It sucked. We also realized that, even though we have a fuel-efficient Honda Element, that we were spending at least $300 on gas every month. Yikes! Like do we really REALLY need to pay so much for gas in a country that produces so much oil? Maybe we should realize that as a country we should stop exporting so much of our resources and keep them here while passing on valuable savings to our citizens? Ah...I digress...

St. James/Silver Heights here we come. As Mike likes to say, “The Dumkas are coming to town”. I am not a Dumka (his last name) yet, but I just let him go. He said he is going to “roll” up to the new house blasting “Straight Outta Compton” by N.W.A in a yellow jumpsuit the likes of Rza (rizz-ah) from the Wu-Tang Clan. REALLY?! No, REALLY?! Like they won’t kick us out. The new house is nice...older, but nice. It’s a 1.5 story on a 50’ x 112’ lot. LOTS of room for gardening, Puggy running and BBQs! The hardwoods are nice, the kitchen is completely redone and the rooms are big. I think my favorite part is the street. Beautiful, huge trees canopy the boulevards and front street. People walk their dogs and wave, the lawns are green and manicured and everything has that richness and history of an older, well-developed neighborhood. It’s peaceful.

I am still a bit sad to leave our house. The little things I/we did to make it ours...the fence, the quotes on the walls, the fence and the gardens. But, I am super happy that the young couple who bought it are over-the-moon crazy happy to get it. They love it, they will love it...it will have love.

New beginnings and fresh starts are good. There is nothing wrong with the way it is now, but it will be BETTER.

Breeeeaaatthhheee aaaannnnd.....PACK, MOVE, GO!

Big Girls Do Cry

I am not afraid to admit, I still cry when I leave my Mom and Dad. Every time. Not because I need to be with them all the time and not because I can’t deal with things on my own. I cry because I miss them. I cry because I have fun when I am with them and because they are two of my best friends and my biggest fans...yes, I like them too. Here’s the thing, I don’t think it is bad.

I think crying is just one of those things I do and it doesn’t make me weak, whiney or fragile. It is just part of me. It’s a way I deal with things. I don’t yell, I don’t stomp around, I don’t tell people off...I cry. If I am leaving my parents after a long weekend and I won’t see them for a while, I cry. If I get frustrated and angry, I don’t yell, I cry. If I am feeling anxious or even super happy, I cry. I don’t think it is necessarily a weakness, but rather a release of emotion. It’s just a way to get out and let go of the stuff that’s inside. Emotions are OKAY!

Which leads me to another point. We really discourage anyone from showing any emotion. I mean, if you are too happy, people are wondering what you have to be so “overly happy” about. If you are kind of melancholy, you must be “depressed” or “have something going on”. I really don’t get it. For anyone who knows me, you know that I am an emotional sleeve wearer. I guess it’s the proverbial heart on your sleeve kinda thing, but that’s just me. The down side to being having emotional sleeves is that you get hurt more easily, everyone knows if you are mad/sad/happy/hurt or whatever. They may even refer to you as crazy or difficult or, heaven forbid, emotional. Oh no, not EMMOOOOTIONAL! Really? Should we all walk around like Monotone Zombies, arms straight out grunting one tone and seeking out monotony and the ability to be average? That sounds like fun! YAY!

I don’t want to be a zombie (I don’t think I would like the taste of brains anyway). I want to be have the ability to show emotion. I want people to know they made me happy, or that I love them. Emotions are good, people! Oh, and I can’t lie...there’s one positive for y’all. It is absolutely impossible for me to lie (it leaves a stain next to the heart on my sleeve).

I will continue to cry -if I need to. And, I won’t tell you not to -if you need to. Why do you think everyone in the movies is running from the zombies (besides the having your brains eaten by the living dead thing)? They can’t be happy, they can’t be sad, they just are. That’s it, that’s all. Why wouldn’t you run from something like that?

Beaver Boy and the hats

Check out this new magazine I found...right next to the Weekly World News at the grocery store. Beaver Boy is sure giving Bat Boy a run for his money!

Just kidding. This isn't a real magazine, (naw, really?). This is my brother being his usual immature self after my dad's birthday dinner.

I went home last weekend to surprise my dad for his birthday. I have to say, every time I go back to Regina, there is something new - something being built, a new store, a new sub-division...something. That city is growing like crazy and is so much nicer than when I left there 11 years ago.

My dad ordered himself a hat (called a squashy-roo) from New Zeland. It was a bit small, so he ordered another one. Now, there are two Sqaushy-Roos in their house and we HAD to goof-off a bit with them. My sister in-law, Elisha, must feel like she won the biggest lottery by marrying in to the insanity that is the Guest Family!


I had an awesome time...good food, good family and Guitar Hero. What more could I ask for? It was a nice break away from the norm....far, far away from ANYTHING normal!