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I've been busy this month, so I've taken a bit of a break from beading and just made these few items. The fossils in the yellow-tan stone form little flower petal shapes. I am also in love with the fire agate in the double strand necklace - I might add another piece of turquoise to the necklace as well.
Every year, graphic designer Nick Felton prepares a booklet detailing the statistics of his past year. I've been inspired by it the past couple years, and have just started using the daily personal stat site he made, which is quite fun. I'm tracking the pages I read by genre, what I eat for dinner, how many pieces of jewelry I make and post on Etsy, my daily method of commute, and free time activities (top entry so far: napping). I know I could set this up in excel, but daytum is easier and generates pretty graphics for me.
Continuing on the projects theme, I've laid out a detailed plan of 2010 goals and quarterly "action items" to achieve them (since I seem to have failed at completing my 2009 goals since my last 'goal check-in'). I tried to follow all that advice about making goals specific and quantifiable (e.g. 'drop a pant size by June' instead of 'lose weight'). A few goals I'm excited about: backpack from Snoqualmie Pass to Stevens Pass in August, compete in an orienteering meet this fall, earn $1000 profit through etsy, and create a seasonal recipe database. So far this year I've mostly tackled other goals (improve naturalist skills, manage my $ for retirement and specific purchases, expand my graphic design portfolio to include 10+ solid pieces), but now it's February it's time to step up the pace.
I am so excited and relieved to finally be finished with my website overhaul for work! I started work on it in earnest in mid July, with many breaks in between as I had to switch to other projects.
The old website used tables and ugly out of date code with a bland layout, tiny project photos, ugly feature images, colors that didn't complement the company's logo and identity, and an unclear focus that confused potential clients. Left, old homepage, right, old service page.
My goals were to:
I got to try a bunch of things I hadn't gotten to before, including sIFR text replacement, using php to construct the pages, and a little bit of fine-tuning javascript add ons (gallery slideshow and scrollable project list).
I started off thinking about the site's structure, and reorganized the division of projects to be more logical to laypeople like myself. We discussed what new pages we wanted to add - a blog and a page about our sustainable practices.
To begin, I designed the homepage, which grew from the selected option (below) to the final page at watershedco.com. Funnily, I got stuck around permutation 4 for quite a while while I moved on to designing the service and project pages.
Final homepage (screen capture in firefox 3):
When I had a good feel for how the homepage would look, I started designing the subpages. I divided the meat of the site into sections - wetlands, streams, planning, etc, and each of those sections has a landing page listing services and projects.
Final service page (screen capture in firefox 3):
I started gathering content, since I wanted a description, statistics, and photo slideshow for each project. I wound up writing more myself than I thought I would at first. Also, I had to research options for the features I wanted - photo slideshow, text replacement, and a way to display projects. Originally we had been going to stick with our old webhost, which support asp - but not, I discovered after spending hours teaching myself about master pages, asp.net. Terrible, ancient hosting. Thankfully I convinced my boss to upgrade our hosting. That way I got to use .php instead, which I hadn't used before but now wholeheartedly embrace.
Finally, writing the code (which I prefer to do from scratch), testing, creating styles for print, mobile, and iphone viewing, and the launch!
The old website used tables and ugly out of date code with a bland layout, tiny project photos, ugly feature images, colors that didn't complement the company's logo and identity, and an unclear focus that confused potential clients. Left, old homepage, right, old service page.
My goals were to:
- improve SEO,
- develop a style complementary to the company's identity,
- refocus content to more accurately reflect our work,
- update the code to be cleaner, easier to update, and adherent to current webstandards.
I got to try a bunch of things I hadn't gotten to before, including sIFR text replacement, using php to construct the pages, and a little bit of fine-tuning javascript add ons (gallery slideshow and scrollable project list).
I started off thinking about the site's structure, and reorganized the division of projects to be more logical to laypeople like myself. We discussed what new pages we wanted to add - a blog and a page about our sustainable practices.
To begin, I designed the homepage, which grew from the selected option (below) to the final page at watershedco.com. Funnily, I got stuck around permutation 4 for quite a while while I moved on to designing the service and project pages.
Final homepage (screen capture in firefox 3):
When I had a good feel for how the homepage would look, I started designing the subpages. I divided the meat of the site into sections - wetlands, streams, planning, etc, and each of those sections has a landing page listing services and projects.
Final service page (screen capture in firefox 3):
I started gathering content, since I wanted a description, statistics, and photo slideshow for each project. I wound up writing more myself than I thought I would at first. Also, I had to research options for the features I wanted - photo slideshow, text replacement, and a way to display projects. Originally we had been going to stick with our old webhost, which support asp - but not, I discovered after spending hours teaching myself about master pages, asp.net. Terrible, ancient hosting. Thankfully I convinced my boss to upgrade our hosting. That way I got to use .php instead, which I hadn't used before but now wholeheartedly embrace.
Finally, writing the code (which I prefer to do from scratch), testing, creating styles for print, mobile, and iphone viewing, and the launch!
For Winter Solstice this year, Mom and Dad took Robin, Daniel, CJ and me to Kauai for a week long trip. Hiking, snorkeling, lounging, and hot tubbing was enjoyed by all.
I'm volunteering doing snowtracking with Conservation Northwest again this year, and we had our first day on Saturday, hiking at Snoqualmie Pass.
Our transects went quickly, so we hiked cross country for a bit, then took a well groomed trail up to the top of the ridge, then back down.
At one point we spotted squirrel tracks in the snow traveling down one hill and up another, and determined that it was traveling north. Then, on closer inspection, we realized it was actually traveling south - the distance between groupings of four tracks would be longer going downhill!
Labels: adventure, environment, photos
Back from Hawaii - pictures to come! For now, a peek at a few of the pieces I made in December:
Labels: jewelry
I hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving - we just hung out at home and I prepared a feast for the two of us!
My main course, wild rice stuffed butternut squash, was a flop. But, the wine-glazed brussel sprouts are super delicious and EASY! Plus, you get to drink the rest of the wine ;D
Purportedly serves 8 - the two of us mostly polished them off!
2 pounds Brussels sprouts
1/2 cup dry red wine
3 T honey, agave nectar, or maple syrup
1 1/2 T soy sauce
1/2 c water
1 1/2 t cornstarch
Prepare brussel sprouts: trim the stems, remove outer leaves, and cut a 1/4 inch deep X into the base.
Prepare sauce: in a small bowl, combine the wine, honey, and soy sauce.
Cook: combine brussels, sauce, and water in a 3-quart saucepan. Cook, covered, at a gentle simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 10 minutes.
Finish: dissolve the cornstarch in a small amount of water. Stir into the saucepan quickly and cook for another 5 minutes.
My main course, wild rice stuffed butternut squash, was a flop. But, the wine-glazed brussel sprouts are super delicious and EASY! Plus, you get to drink the rest of the wine ;D
Wine-Glazed Brussel Sprouts
Purportedly serves 8 - the two of us mostly polished them off!
2 pounds Brussels sprouts
1/2 cup dry red wine
3 T honey, agave nectar, or maple syrup
1 1/2 T soy sauce
1/2 c water
1 1/2 t cornstarch
Prepare brussel sprouts: trim the stems, remove outer leaves, and cut a 1/4 inch deep X into the base.
Prepare sauce: in a small bowl, combine the wine, honey, and soy sauce.
Cook: combine brussels, sauce, and water in a 3-quart saucepan. Cook, covered, at a gentle simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 10 minutes.
Finish: dissolve the cornstarch in a small amount of water. Stir into the saucepan quickly and cook for another 5 minutes.
I went to the international gem and bead show in Seattle this weekend, and exchanged many hours worth of money for many hours worth of beads!
Some of the beads: agate, unpolished agate, fire agate, wonder agate, onyx, freshwater pearl coins and sticks, brass spacers and chain, turquoise, crystal, geodes, etc.
So, I made a couple new pieces of jewelry last night too!
Some of the beads: agate, unpolished agate, fire agate, wonder agate, onyx, freshwater pearl coins and sticks, brass spacers and chain, turquoise, crystal, geodes, etc.
So, I made a couple new pieces of jewelry last night too!
Labels: jewelry
