So this “scroll to the right” little baby has been in the works for a while now. I’ve been working out the kinks and I finally landed on something I’m really happy with. I’ll be adding projects along the way, so be sure to check back often.

If you aren’t aware that I’m also a freelance graphic designer, now you do. A portfolio site kind of makes it official, don’t ya think? Please contact me with any design questions or needs and let’s see if we can figure it out together. I specialize is branding, color theory, logo design, blog design, and really have a passion for traditional print media such a booklet design, invitations, posters & prints. If you’re interested in a design collaboration or sorts, I’d love to chat. Need a guest blogger while you’re on vaca…I’d down for that to.

Contact me with any questions you may have. Want to read more about me? Try here–>
thevedahouse@gmail.com

Danni from Hello, Friend has put together 12 by 2012, which encourages everyone to get those final items marked off your 2011 To Do lists. I’d determined and hope this digital list will keep me motivated. Click on the image above to stop by Danni’s blog and submit your own 12 by 2012 lists!

1 // Organize blog content and post structure. Make blogging more streamlined
2 // Full Etsy shop update before the shopping holiday
3 // Finish putting together office area and do an office tour on the blog
4 // Start taking on freelance blog designs (email me if you are interested)
5 // Finish 3 more books from my “to read” list
6 // Start a new Thanksgiving tradition with the boy
7 // Send out Christmas cards to family (I really going to do this!!)
8 // Go to yoga class more consistently
9 // Get my portfolio up to date
10 // Try 5 NEW recipes (I’m attempting to broaden my horizons)
11 // Have real evergreens in my home this holiday season!
12 // Reconnect with pen pals 🙂

* photos by : the veda house

I’m really horrible at rolling with the punches. It must be a skill only the most talented have the ability to do. Either that or I’m challenged in this department (most likely). What I mean by rolling with the punches is to be able to go with the flow. To not get upset and majorly discouraged when things don’t go as planned. Most of all, I think it means being strong and confident in your abilities to make things alright.

I’m a planner, an obsessive planner to put it lightly. I like to organize my life in a way that I know I’ll be pleased with the outcome. I have good intentions for my actions, but when things don’t go as planned I hope you’re wearing boxing gloves. Recently I’ve noticed that even the smallest of mishaps tend to push me off my rocker. I usually take the easy way out and blame it on daily stressor and my slightly crazy personality, but I must say…it’s hard living life like this.

My boyfriend is extremely good at rolling with the punches. All things, big or small, don’t seem to phase him. He’s shrugs it off and says things like “shit happens” and then he’s back to playing video games or watching YouTube videos. How does he do it? How can your dog barfing in the back seat of the car be a learning experience? Whaa? To me it’s more like an experience from hell! I know for a fact that it’s not a lack of passion on his part or a “who gives a fluff”  kind of attitude, because he’s one of the most passionate/dedicated people I know. It baffles me how he thinks the glass can always be half full while I’m sitting here debating with him about how I know for sure that it’s half empty. ( I have proof, y’all)

I hate this about myself. I’m becoming more aware of my flaws as I grow into my skin. I see things in myself that I don’t like, strive to change them, but out of bad habit and comfort I go back to doing things they way “I do things”. I have a hard time seeing when I’ve been successful and when I’m just missed the mark by a hair like smig. To the boy everything is a “mini-win” and nothing is a failure. Really??? Says who???

The boy reminds me on a daily basis that getting a single sale in my etsy shop or 3 people to comment on a blog post is a “mini win”. What would I do without him….oh I know. I’d go around telling myself that one etsy sale is pitiful and that 3 blog comments is nothing compared to this or that. I’m looney and I know it. I’m working on it, so don’t judge.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you see things as mini wins and how you strive to see the positive in the simple things. I’m trying to change my attitude around, but it’s been challenging. It’s kind of like working magic turning a glass half empty into a glass half full, ya know?

* please visit my pinterest workspace board for original image sources. Note: the desk and blow glass bottles are my images. (desk bought at Rocket Century in St. Louis)

I’ve been taking my time putting my workspace together with collected pieces that are spot on to the looking I was trying to achieve. (See my original mood board here!) I’ve recently purchased my Mid-Century stanley desk that I’ve been waiting patiently to find. Now everything is starting to fall in place because everything was going to be based on the desk I was able to find.

I’ve been visiting my Pinterest on a daily basis collecting workspaces for inspiration. I love the look of the spaces with controlled chaos, but I know I’m more of a person that likes things REALLY organized. We’ll see what I end up with.

My desk will site in a corner of our city loft and I have the surrounding walls to work with. The space is small, but very open.

Things that I’ve got so far:
Desk, standing lamp (task lighting)
Overhead barn style hanging pendant
Old black lunchbox to store mail
A vintage kitchen scale to weigh market203 product
My mint green typewriter
Amber glass bottles as book ends
Tall 2 column file cabinet
All my design books and magazine subscriptions
Vintage hanger to hang artwork
Table top clock
My new iMac desktop computer
Vintage stapler

Things I’m still trying to track down:
An industrial stool
A wire trash bin

So you can see from my list that I’m moving right along. This was a project I started months ago, but I’m so glad I’ve taken the time to slowly craft something perfect. (totally not my normal way of doing things 😉

I’d love to see your workspaces. Leave me a link in the comments section if you’d like to share! 

I’m not one to talk about religion on my bloggity blog, but I do feel comfortable talking about spirituality when the time’s right. I know everyone has their own very personal opinions about what keeps us going, what makes us tick, who/what we came from and this and that. It can get messy quick if you start talking logistical details, so I’ll leave that for another rainy day.

I like to think that we have souls that are contained without our shells of a body. That our body is there to serve a functional need and that our soul is the part that’s doing the traveling. I like to think that there are new souls, old souls, and growing souls, that this life we are living now is only one of the many lives we will be a part of. Each life is a small section of our greater existence. Interesting concept, right? Whether we share this belief or not doesn’t mean anything.

What I’m trying to blab about is that we are always growing, always evolving, and always learning from previous events. As we move forward it’s important to remember that every single little aspect of life is special and means something. We need to remember to take nothing for granted and have open eyes to everything around us. Be observant. Be a sponge!

Note: This whole blog post spawned from the fact that I feel my golden retriever pup is DEFINITELY a new soul. The way he’s staring at me while I write this post with those clueless gorgeous eyes, the way he sits all goofy and awkward, the way he’s insanely spontaneous and unpredictable leads me to believe our pup is for sure a new soul. Let’s just say he’s got some growing to do;)

Just last week, the boy and I were walking out pup around our lovely neighborhood and saw a “For Rent” sign in front of one of the row home duplexes with blue shutters. It’s extremely rare for a home to come up for lease in our neighborhood. Most are for sale and WAY out of our price range. The “For Rent” sign stopped us in our tracks. We stood there looking at the beauty, took one of the sheets of paper that outlines the details of the home, and continued to ooooo and ahhh as we read what was included in the property. It had everything we wanted in our next place, including a larger space for less rent money (can’t get better than that right?).

We took the paper home and continued to talk about how great it would be to be able to rent a larger space WITH WOOD FLOORS! The bummer thing is we JUST resigned our year lease in our current loft building and breaking that lease would mean we would be out some moolah. There is also a good possibility that the boy will have a job relocation over the next year and breaking a lease and signing a new one just because we like that place better, doesn’t justify the logistics.

I fought hard. I didn’t really care that we’d have to move all our stuff literally across the street, that we’d lose out on some money, that we’d most likely break 2 leases and be moving within the year. I was just excited for the possibility of having ‘easy to clean up pet fur’ wood floors, built in book cases, free parking, in-unit washer & dryer, 2 bedrooms/2 baths, and a fireplace, yo!!!!

The boy had his ‘I’m all grown up pants on’ and told me the whole thing was 95% a bad idea. Let’s just say that’s a good way to kill the spirit. So now we walk past our dream place on a daily basis and I pout for a good long while.

Have you guys had a dream place slip out from under you recently? 

I’m taking a mini- break.  A break to sit back and think, assess, reassess, and to get inspired again. When I got back from my trip to Portland this summer I had over a month’s worth of content I wanted to share with you guys. Of course I interspersed my normal “Love This” posts and “Friday Finds & Favorites”, but the majority of my sharing was from our trip. Blogging was almost effortless for an entire month. All I had to do was edit some photos of pretty things and then tell you a little bit about them. Easy peezy and fun.

I’ve now exhausted all Portland content (I bet some of you are saying, thank goodness…haha) and now I am kind of at a loss. I know I have things to blog about because I’m thinking about stuff all the time. The thing I’m lacking is time to compile the posts in a meaningful way and to share those posts with you.

Starting today I am taking a one week blogging break to kind of catch up on my to do list. I’m going to take this time to get inspired again and come back with some great content to share. September is going to be exciting. I have almost every weekend booked with family and friends weekend visits, lots of shop updates, new design opportunities, and a pile of DIYs to share. This all means there will be lots of fun stuff to be blogging about.

I’ve never taken more than a weekend break and the thought of a whole week is super scary. As a new blogger I’m scared I’m going to lose all you sweet souled readers I have coming back on a daily basis and that’s terrifying. I hope everyone understands everyone needs a break once and while and because this blog is ultimately for ME, I need to pay it a little respect and not post crap.

Some things to look at while I’m away. I’m a Pinning queen on Pinterestand will be updating my boards with some pretty pretties. I’m also on Twitter if you’d like to chat 🙂

Last note. I’ve been sponsoring some other amazing bloggers this month. Go check them out! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
1// The sweet ladies of Oh So Lovely Vintage
2// Elycia of Love Elycia
3// Katie of Skunkboy Creatures
4// Leigh-Ann of Freckled Nest
5// Amanda of Here’s Looking at Me Kid
6// Kyla of Kyla Roma
7//  Katie of I Go By Katie

* click images to take you to source images

WHAT THE HUBUB IS THE BIG DEAL. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told by the creepy guy behind the counter that I need to put my camera away and not to take pictures inside the shop. WHAAA???

This is the oddest thing to me. Vintage is so one of a kind that if I’m coming in to sneak up on his inventory, I’m still going to have to do the leg work to track down all the items. I’ve been in so many shops where the shop owners almost follow you around the story stalking your every movement. It’s rude, it’s unwelcoming, and it’s definitely not vintage spirit (whatever that means).

I wanted to see if any of you were having this same problem or is it just me. I know I’m completely intimidating and have the intentions of stealing every item they have in stock, but COME ON!!

Ok….I’m done with my little hissy fit…..discuss amongst yourselves…..

So I’ve been jumping from design to design over the past month searching for something that represents by design style as a designer as well as how I want my blog content displayed. I feel like I’m finally heading into the right direction and would love to hear your thoughts.

This new design pluses up the content area with a major focus on photography. I feel the images can speak for themselves, so I’m trying to get rid of the extra fluff.

I’m in the process of converting some of my old posts to the new image format, but it will take some time for everything to look consistent. Please hang in there and let me know if something isn’t working.