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.

changes for nic

so, between being 6 months pregnant, working on my still-young stationery business, and still attempting to outfit our home, you would think that i have enough on my plate. but no! if you know me, you know i just can't stop myself.

i'm working on expanding my business. since i do other design and illustration work that is not strictly wedding-related, i cannot use NicEvents as my main and sole identity. so i'm expanding my header, and developing NicStudio. NicStudio will be the parent company to all my "divisions", such as NicEvents, NicIllustration, NicDesign, etc. exciting, no?

as you can see, my banner for the blog has changed to reflect my developing new identity. NicEvents will soon undergo a similar change. in the meantime, you can check out the placeholder on my new main site, thenicstudio.com.

additionally, i'm working on a new line of cards for my etsy shop, dearnic. the cards will be available soon (hopefully within the month), and will continue to be sold while i'm on leave. so keep an eye out here for my announcement.

i'm very excited about this change. everything will be ready to launch right before or right after my maternity leave, and will herald a whole new year for my work. i hope to keep seeing you here and in my email, so that i can continue to share my thoughts, work, and influences.

we remember...

i'm always sad on this day. we lost people that we knew and loved -- and everyone we know lost someone. the horrors of the day will live in all of us forever.

please tell your family and friends that you love them today.

photo above from etsy seller newyorknancy. picture taken the month before the fateful day.

makes me smile...

i can't help but smile when i look at this print. from etsy seller laurageorge.

movie poster inspiration

in recent research for a current project, i came across some wonderful movie posters from the 50's. i've decided to post them here. some you may know, some maybe not. but all of the below offer great design solutions, fun illustration, and great color use.

enjoy!



all posters above can be found on movieposter.com.

bklyn pillow

as i sit here with a serious cold today -- oh yes, pregnant woman with a cold, lots of fun -- i get this lovely email from vané of brooklyn bride. she is letting me know (and therefore, all my readers!) that she has officially launched her custom pillow shop, bklyn pillow.

looking at all these cozy pillows, i want to lay my head down on them. on a big pile of them. oh yeah, but they're ring pillows... oh well. guess some lucky bride out there gets to use them for something else!


seriously though, these are some fabulous options for the chic bride. most fabrics used are to-the-trade only, so that makes them even better finds. bklyn pillow will eventually have more things available... as vané put it, "bklynpillow is all about creating ring pillows [and eventually other accessories] for the modern bride."

more blog love: NicEvents featured on lyndsey hamilton's blog

i'm very excited about this. LHEverything.com, lyndsey hamilton's blog, just featured some of my recent wedding work. some here and some here.


lyndsey and i have been working together recently on quite a few projects. she and her staff are incredible people and wonderful to get creative with! i couldn't ask for a better relationship. keep an eye out here for current and upcoming events.

thanks lyndsey (and carrie and daniel and noah)! it's been a blast.

custom bedding... for my kid

while my life is in a constant state of flux these days, it seems as though some things will never change. and one of those things is me being picky about our decor. even our baby's decor.

since lately those in the know have been saying that bumpers are a SIDS risk for babies, i decided to not get a whole crib bedding set. they all come with bumpers, and that's just a waste. however, i would like to get a crib skirt and a lightweight blanket (not a quilt, because that too is a SIDS risk).

clever as these bedding companies are, very few of them offer a la carte bedding options. so it's almost impossible to find a bed skirt separate from a set. and those i can find just don't suit us. we want something gender neutral, and something that easily goes with the orange walls in the office/nursery. since we will be using a lot of white and black in there already, we wanted something in black & white or gray & white.

what's a picky momma to do? well, contact etsy sellers, of course!

after checking around, i decided to go with etsy seller swellbystephanie. there is some great stuff in her store (see below), but nothing that works for my current plans. still, stephanie is a sweetheart, who is willing to do a custom job with any fabric i desire. even better, she's going to set it up as a registry item for me! fabulous!

lotus bedding by swellbystephanie.

right now, we're concentrating on the above fabric. it's the inger fabric from ikea. i hope that they have some in the brooklyn store when i head there this weekend!

thanks stephanie, for making my pickyness that much easier to deal with. =)

spaces that call to me...

i'm very tired as of late. my office is also in flux, so i've been working in our living room. while i love our modest little space, i think these below are fabulous! comfy looking and inspiring.




and since i dream of dreaming throughout the day -- because i never seem to sleep enough these days -- these bedrooms look absolutely heavenly to me.



all photos from architectural digest.

fun art for a fun show

i was checking up on my favorite cable show, dexter (starts sept. 28th, by the way). and i found out that they are now selling these great prints. artist shepard fairey created the piece, and showtime.com is selling it two different ways: a limited edition print for $475.00 and a poster version for $29.99.

i just thought it was a fun piece of poster art, for such a fun show.

image courtesy of showtime.com.

farewell to intern talya -- and thanks!

yes, sadly, my wonderful intern talya has left nicevents. she is returning for her last year at northeastern. i'm so grateful to have had her here this summer. she really was fabulous company, and great help. if only all interns could be like her!

as a parting gift, she actually gave ME something! how cute is this? she surprised me with it on friday. the funny part is that i had just seen it online last week, and thought how great it would be to get for baby block. and reading my mind, she beat me to it!


thanks for the awesome gift talya, and for all your hard work! hope you enjoyed it as much as i did.

found on the blogs -- alice in wonderland cups

these were found on brown sugar design's blog this morning... i loved them so much i had to post about them.

these alice in wonderland tumblers are from urban outfitters, and feature the original illustrations from the book. they are wonderful and whimsical and weird.

great pick, whitney! they really are fabulous.