great choice for disposable dinnerware

hi all!! i'm technically on maternity leave, but there's no baby just yet. so i'm spending time getting my home ready for the holidays, since our family members will be here for both christmas eve and christmas day this year. it's our first holiday hosting, and of course it will also be a tricky one since i'm not exactly physically capable of being the consummate hostess.

so we got some of those disposable plates that look like real dinnerware. have you seen these? they're very cool, since you can still have a dressed up table without having to wash the dishes. and frankly, that's necessary, since we don't have a dishwasher.

however, there are two snags in this plan. first, we didn't get soup bowls to match, which is an issue since we have a pasta course to deal with. second, as these plates are plastic, they are not exactly the most ecologically sound. and while i'm far from a perfect "green" hostess, i do regret having to throw away so many plastic dishes.

in my research today for soup bowls, i came across these disposable dishes by verterra. while not the cheapest, they are definitely the coolest! they are organic and compostable, and are made from collected leaves! how amazing is that? to top it all off, they are quite lovely and would suit a modern or classic home perfectly.

while it's too late to order these for the holidays, i do love that the option exists. and for our next party, we'll definitely go this route.

100 Habits -- Cover is out!

some of you might remember that my work will be in a book in the spring. 100 habits of successful freelance designers, published by rockport publishers. well, in checking online today, i noticed that the cover is on the site! how exciting!

don't forget to pre-order the book for may!

happy post thanksgiving...

hey everyone. hope you all had a great thanksgiving!

ours was great -- we spend our time with dave's family for this particular holiday, and we had a lovely weekend.

unfortunately, monday wasn't so great. to make a long story short, i had a stomach flu which led to dehydration, which lead to contractions, which led to me being on an IV in the hospital. everything's fine now, and i'm starting to feel better, but i'm sort of forced to "relax" now. ugh. LOL... i hate that idea.

anyway, just wanted to let you guys out there know that i'm still alive, the baby is still inside, but that i'm going to continue my intermittent posting. i'm sorry! as soon as i can come back on here full time, i will.

holiday card/invitation time!

yay! i love this time of year. i just finished designing my first holiday party invitation of the season, and i can't wait to do my own holiday cards.

enjoy!

crib bedding, custom made!

so exciting! we got in our crib today, and i didn't waste any time dressing it in the bedding that i had custom made. etsy seller swellbystephanie made us a crib skirt and crib blanket from the gray inger fabric from ikea, which i had picked up myself and shipped to her. stephanie then put the items in a registry listing in her etsy shop, and it was purchased for my shower last weekend.

custom crib bedding was the right way to go for us. we spent forever looking for a skirt and blanket that would be gender neutral and right for the room, but that we could also purchase a la carte. unfortunately, most crib bedding comes in a set, and we didn't want the bumpers in the sets. so after talking to stephanie, dave and i picked out the fabric and decided it was perfect for us. it looks amazing on the crib and in the space.


thanks so much for this stephanie!

since the room is both an office and a nursery, i thought i'd show off the rest of the room. enjoy!

a look inside the office/nursery from the living room.

when you open the door, you see my work space directly in front of you. we got a new desk from target to fit in the smaller space, and i scored a great chair that i'm totally in love with. the area rug is made up from floor tiles from FLOR. it worked out perfectly.

if you turn to your right, you'll see the baby's chest of drawers in front of you. the curtains are on both the windows and the closet, since there wasn't enough space to constantly open/close a door. all the curtains and the chest are from ikea.

putting together the items on top of the chest has been fun! the lamp was mine in the space already, and has a fun drawn city scene on it. the piggy bank is from aunt loren, the growth chart is from aunt carrie. the dark basket on the left is filled with books, all of which are from the syracuse girls. and the basket on the right has our froggy and duckie sock puppets in it (thank you uncle howie and aunt helene!) as well as a couple of other fun items from the shower.

sorry...

ok, i know, i've been apologizing a lot lately. i'm sorry i haven't been here! things here get increasingly busy as i try to fit in all my work before going on leave, not to mention all the baby-readying i'm doing. but i swear i'm not ignoring you guys! i'll be back next week with more goodies.

thanks for understanding!

hot paper

a good friend of mine tipped me off to walnut wallpaper today. and i just thought the patterns were so interesting, fun, and refreshing. just the right touch of whimsy with the elegance.

my favorite? the whales above!

happy election day!

my main and first duty today is to vote. i hope you will all join me in casting your vote in this historic and unprecedented election.

happy halloween!

happy halloween everyone! hope you're all having a great evening.



frank n. stein sculpture from etsy seller crescent hill designs.

tagged!

grrr... she got me! erin at adventures in letterpress tagged me... so here we go.

Favorite Artist/Designer: good god... can you just say one? picasso, michelangelo, sebastian kruger, herb lubalin...

stones guitarist suite by sebastian kruger. © sebastian kruger, 2008. all rights reserved.

I love to create using: oil paint, brushes, and a piece of wood to paint on. heaven.

What inspires me: people, my husband, new york city, traveling

Favorite medium besides my own: collage. love it, but can't do it.

Most inspirational city: a tie for me -- florence, italy and fes, morocco

Ideal weekend off: going away with dave, alone, drinking wine and eating great food. sigh... wine... LOL

Favorite color: orange (no surprise there)

Favorite musician: depends on the day. but ben folds is up there.

Favorite movie: of all time? when harry met sally.

Favorite song: ::shrug:: there is no favorite. a good song is a good song.

Favorite song lyric: fa-la-la-la-la la-la-la-laaaaaaa...

If I could have any other job it would be: forensic psychologist. i have a strange thing for the psychology of dangerous minds. would explain why another favorite movie is silence of the lambs.

I wish: i had enough energy to do everything i want to do in life.

Who I'm tagging next: lyndsey hamilton of LHEverything

happy birthday dave!

i love this card, and i wish i had seen it in time for my wonderful husband's birthday...

happy birthday dave! i hope it's everything you want it to be.

card from etsy seller letterary press.

new pepsi?

found on the dieline...i'm surprised at this new design direction for pepsi. and i don't mean "pleasantly surprised". the direction seems odd and disjointed, especially with the differences in the design of "sierra mist" and "mountain dew" in comparison the the basic pepsi cola design.

um, thoughts from the crowd?


i'm all for simplifying the previous look, but why jump this far away?

so sorry...

life has been pretty hectic as of late. and while i did post a bit about one of my recent jobs on friday, i had to take it down because of some possible publication possibilities. LOL... say THAT ten-times fast.

i promise to be around a bit more this week. =D

tuesday giveaway from sunlit letterpress

friend and fellow stationer erin mccall at sunlit letterpress is running a giveaway on her blog, adventures in letterpress! you could win a set of 4 of the gorgeous leaf print cards shown above.

good luck!

happy monday treats

hello all, and happy monday! i hope you guys are enjoying the cool fall weather. i am, sorta... usually i love this weather, but i'm seriously lacking in warm clothes and i don't have a coat that fits correctly. damn pregnancy! =D

just wanted to post a little announcement, via jane hancock papers. rajshel juan, the fabulous designer behind jh papers, is selling off her inventory in her etsy store. all items are 50% off! so run over to her shop now, before every fabulous paper product is gone, and grab yourself something fun.

blogrolls updated!

hey all.

i've just updated my blogrolls. they now include art and design blogs, wedding blogs, parenting blogs, and everything else.

if you don't see your blog listed and would like it to be, feel free to drop me a line!

grosgrain

from the dollhouse frock giveaway.

i have a whole new list of blogs that i need to post up. but all these blogs have come into my world since getting pregnant. they're all kid or parent related, and they are all fabulous.

one of my absolutely favorites is grosgrain. kathleen doherty creates all these great little outfits and offers most of them up to her readers in giveaways every other week. how cool is that? and her little dresses and costumes are so cute.

i always wished i could sew, and grosgrain makes that even more obvious. i won't be able to do this for my daughter (should i have a girl). but there's always someone out there like kathleen to inspire me to things such as this.

thanks kathleen!

sketch on nicillustration blog

since blogger has finally removed its spam warnings from my nicillustration blog (what was that about anyway??), i finally have a sketch up there. it's an early sketch for one of the cards i'm working on. enjoy!!

mel and operation nice get a little coverage

my friend and fellow designer, melissa morris ivone, began operation nice in july (check out the badge to the lower right of this blog). it's a blog where she shares great stories of kindness from her readers, and encourages all those out there to be kind and caring to others. she has also left nice notes in different public spaces that will lift the finder's spirits.

well, her site has caught on FAST. and yesterday operation nice was featured on good morning america. check out the video.



this blog is an effort that i sincerely support. if you ask dave, you would know that i get very frustrated with those that show no sense of kindness, politeness, etc. especially since i go out of my way to be kind to others. i'm so glad melissa started this site, and i hope it catches on like wildfire!

more kid stuff fun -- skip hop's hare

found, as always, on apartment therapy's ohdeeoh...


skip hop has released a new product, which is gender neutral (would work for me!) and so damn cute. it's called the hare, and it's a great brush/comb/mirror set.


what a great product! not only is it useful, but it's an example of great product design for children/baby items -- something i find to be quite rare. and the best part? it's only $20! very reasonable for such a piece.

you can buy it here.

photos courtesy of skiphop.

back from baby shower... fun!

hey everyone!

i'm back from my first baby shower, thrown for me by my mother-in-law barbara and her friend sarah in syracuse, ny. it was so much fun. thanks again ladies!

i just wanted to post photos of the AMAZINGLY cute cupcakes that they got for the party. i loved them!!! i kept the information of the baker too... they were created by much ado about cake in syracuse, ny. honestly, i just couldn't get enough of them. so damn adorable.

before the weekend...

i just wanted to announce the launch of my new blog, the nicillustration blog.

as i previously posted, i'm expanding the umbrella of my business. i wanted to start drawing more often and getting my illustration work out there to my readers. so this blog will hopefully foster an artwork a week, whatever subject matter may come up.

i hope that you guys enjoy what you see! check in at least once a week and keep me going!

happy weekend all. i have my first baby shower this weekend, being thrown for me by my mother--in-law, in syracuse, ny. so i'll be back later on monday. hope you have a great weekend!

UPDATE: for some reason, my new nicillustration blog has been reported as possible spam. don't really know why that has happened, but i'm hoping to get to the bottom of it. you can still get to the blog however -- when you get to the first splash page warning you of dangerous content (um, celebrity illustrations?), just hit continue and it will let you go to the blog.

sorry for the inconvenience.

sweet design

found on the dieline (which has a new look by the way! check it out).

i love this pot design for stanely honey by the partners. the best part is that it's designed, obviously, to be re-used. brilliant all the way around.

had to post it...

you just can't escape politics these days... so i'm giving in.

i'm loving this poster from the upcoming issue of the new yorker. very remniscent of the illustration from the 1976 "view of the world from 9th avenue" cover illustration by saul steinberg that i have framed in my home.

as a new yorker myself, i appreciated the "view of the world from 9th avenue" in the way it makes fun of us new yorkers and our take on our city vs. the rest of the world. you have to know how to laugh at yourself. i sure hope palin knows how to do the same... =)

unconventional bridesmaid dresses -- by color!

in case you missed it last week, here's your chance to see it all!

janice from the bridal wishlist did a week-long look at unconventional bridesmaid dresses. i know most of my girls out there are unconventional, and wanting something unique. well, janice took it up a notch and did the listings by color! yep, the dresses go day-by-day, starting with purple and ending with black.

since i'm a huge color fan, i love this idea. i wish there was a post like this 2.5 years ago!

thanks janice!

political words -- new in my etsy shop!

first in my new line of cards in my DearNic etsy shop, these political words cards are available just in time for the first debate.

i find myself sick of hearing some of the verbage in the campaigns over and over again. so i decided to turn them around and make them something that was more fun than irritating!



yes, LIPSTICK. good god, i don't want to even utter the word in the drugstore anymore when looking for makeup.


i don't know if john mccain is actually the "original maverick" or not, but i am so done with the word -- since it's uttered every 2 minutes.


the theme to the election is CHANGE. though, how much change can we all expect? the word change here is shown small and non-descript -- pretty much what my jaded self actually sees in the future.

i hope you enjoy these! you can purchase them from http://dearnic.etsy.com.

email problem fixed!

so sorry... i know some people had tried to contact me this afternoon, but could not because my inbox was full. it's all fixed now though! so go crazy kids. =D

early announcement...

hey there readers! i hope you enjoyed some fabulous fall weather today.

i just wanted to let you all know that NicEvents will be featured in ""100 Habits of Successful Freelance Graphic Designers," a new book due out in may 2009 from rockport publishers. laurell seville and steve gordon are the co-authors.

i have to thank steve gordon for this opportunity. thanks steve! you've made my year.

UPDATE: you can pre-order it now on amazon!

happy fall!!

ok, ok, so i know i'm a day late. but i'm excited nonetheless. welcome to fall!

lovely image above from etsy seller missavocado.

new apartment pics -- living room and bedroom

my daily view of a vintage chair in the living room. my yellow bag is a daily accessory, donated to me by my friend loren. the rug is from west elm and the ottoman is from overstock.

hey! just thought i'd end the week with photos of our slowly-progressing apartment. we finally made some headway in certain areas. woo-hoo!!

first, our living room is pretty much complete, except for artwork. we finally decided on a cocktail ottoman as our coffee table, mostly because it's nice and soft for the little bundle coming our way shortly. we think it looks great in the space, and adds a different texture that we are actually lacking -- leather.

view into our living and dining spaces from the "library" (which is still under construction!). we're happy with the flow.

how our ottoman looks daily... the trays are from ikea. 4 of them, with a fabulous blue/gold/brown elephant print, are so perfect for our similarly colored living room. and with me and my current thing for elephants?! you couldn't get more perfect.

our bedroom was finally painted over labor day weekend. a fabulous grey to give a backdrop to the black, white, teal and gold. dave was kind enough to do the job himself, since i was sick and laid up on the couch.

we have a bit more to do -- bring in my old rocking chair, get a bookcase for our novels, find artwork, pick up a second bedside lamp -- but it's so much further along than it was. the bedding is finally in, we got a new lampshade for our old bedside lamp, and we found fabulous nightstands! we're so happy with how it's coming together! it's an adult room, which i feel is so important now that there's a baby on the way.

bed! the duvet set is from target. the nightstands are from ikea. the shag rug is from overstock. and the gold throw on the bed? that's from thailand. and it has elephants on it! =)

the two throw pillows on the bed are handmade from my friend and interior designer loren. they were a housewarming gift to us, given before we even moved in! so they were a big influence on the room -- whatever we chose had to go with the pillows.

our lowboy, bought from a going-out-of-business sale. score! the lamp is from fortunoff, and it's just so sexy and beautiful in the room. i think i bought the mirror on ebay about 5 years ago.

my side of the bed. it's a good shot of our nightstands, from ikea -- $20 each! double score! they just go so well in the room. the lamp is from our old place, but goes well in the room now that we dressed it up with a new lampshade. (note the gratuitous HOW mag on my nightstand!)

this shot is just to show off our wonderful chandelier, which was the inspiration behind the color theme in the space. it's such a great fixture. from fortunoff.

politcal portraiture

© ismael roldan

i fell in love with this illustration from ismael roldan of barack obama. the idea behind it may not be a view i share, but as an artist i can completely appreciate the brilliant execution of it.

fake product for a real-ly good show

i was waiting to post about this until after i saw the show. as a vampire fan (hellooo fellow buffy fans out there!), i was happily awaiting the premiere of hbo's new drama, true blood. and one of the best parts of the hype for the show is the fake product cleverly designed for it -- tru blood energy drink.

the bottle and packaging, designed by campfire, is ideal in it's placement. red, black, dark, and gothic, this "new energy drink" even places the blood types on the bottle (A, B, AB, and O). how droll!

found on thedieline.com this past july, dave was even fooled for a short time.

as randy also notes on the dieline, i'm sure that this fake product will soon become a real product, just like bertie botts every flavor beans. and i will buy tru blood the same way i bought the beans. i can guarantee it.