Committed

My friend Dafni "won" a free website design from a photographer who put up a contest on her blog. (This photographer decided she wanted to get into designing websites in conjunction with her photography. So she decided to design four FREE websites to get her portfolio started.)

Unfortunately—and may I say, as predicted—she had no idea what she was getting into. After Dafni had already purchased a domain, spent time finding a Word Press template and going through several rounds of logo designs with the photographer—we could tell said photographer might be stalling. Sure enough a few days later Dafni received an email saying the project was a "bad" fit and that she decided she "didn't have time" to do web design after all. This left my friend with no logo, a non functioning site, and a few months of lost time = "lost money" during the interim.

First, I am absolutely disgusted with said photographer. What she did to my friend was completely unprofessional and lacked integrity. Had she any honor she'd have found some way to finish her commitment or offer some compensation (I'm not talking monetarily here.)  No harm, no foul. If I were to liken it to HER own profession, would she EVER say "sorry, I got in over my head…working on your wedding photos is too much work and you were a bad fit anyway. I'm not going to give you your wedding photos after all." Can you imagine? I don't care if money wasn't exchanged—find a way keep your commitments or compensate one way or another.

So what's an Anna do? I've muddled through Word Press once before so I figured I could muddle through again. So this is what I've been working on for the past several weeks. After rounds of design and code tweaking (still a few issues to iron out but…)—Dafni has gone live!

Again, some rough, rejected logos. She wanted something clean, organic, feminine but not girly.

I am actually glad for this experience. I have been feeling sorry that I didn't go into web design earlier and take more courses for it. Not knowing how to write code, use Dreamweaver, Flash etc. pigeon holes me. But after working on this site, I am reminded that I don't like it. I think I went a little crazy actually. Can you see my eye twitching? I'll design a website sure…just don't ask me to build it.

Above is a mock up of the landing page.

Ultrim Finishes

Adam decided to start a business with a friend—legally it's called a joint venture, it's not a partnership. (Had to clarify for all you Dave Ramsey fans out there.)

Lot's of brainstorming and throwing out names like "Nail'd it" and "Kilwood" finally landed them a keeper in "Ultrim Finishes."

They've registered with the sate, signed legal documents, and it's been official for a couple of months. It's exciting! I'll be posting some of their projects soon. One of them is currently taking up parking space in our garage….

Naturally I was roped into doing their logo. The guys wanted the mark to be simple, bold, and feel west coast—almost west coast skater. SO MUCH WORK goes into creating a mark, it's a shame no one ever sees the ones that get kicked out and don't make it to the final rounds. So I figured I'd put up some of the rejected ones—it's kinda fun to see.

Below is one they picked. Ultimately I think it was a great choice, it's strong and very versatile too. We've printed off a couple hundred cards and the guys are working on getting the word out. Here's to the entrepreneurial spirit!

Donating to the Ronald McDonald House

Our youth wanted to do a service project at the children's hospital—but I ran into a considerable amount of difficulty setting it up. There were certain age requirements, paper work to fill out, employees who worked at the hospital couldn't figure out who to talk to…so I changed gears and called the Ronald McDonald House. (Place for families to stay while a loved one is recuperating from injury or illness.)

They make donating so easy!!! So for youth group we put together care packages for kids. We had four stations set up.

• A cat ear making station.
• A Batman mask making station.
• A stuffing station (we stuffed the rest of my left over inventory of plushies)
• And a drawing station (they wrote and drew on the paper gift bags)

We also included other items in the gift bags like stickers and glow sticks.

I found it necessary to throw together a couple of "How to" papers for the Batman and cat station. They're almost too easy. I hate putting directions to waste so I posted everything here and here.

Adam and I delivered 17 gift bags two weeks later. We wheeled them in, signed their book and that was it. No paperwork, no appointment, nothing. So completely easy.

At the time I wasn't sure if the kids liked the activity it or not, but subsequently I've heard good things. So yay!

Little Herb Garden

Since last year's garden was a failure, I decided to go with herbs this year, and it went very well! We've had fresh rosemary, thyme, sage, and as you know plenty of basil. I've really liked it…it makes me feel French and sophisticated every time I go out in my apron to clip some for a meal I'm cooking.

Just after taking these photos I harvested the herbs and dried them on a very low setting in the oven. (I dried them on silpats…and now my cookies taste like rosemary, so I won't do that again.)

This has been our first year growing sage and I have to say, I liked it. I started it from seed. It's not a quick grower, but that's ok. It smells wonderful.  I've put it in some mayonnaise with a little lemon juice and used it for a sandwich spread (which Adam practically eats alone). It was divine. And we use it in homemade ground turkey sausage. But other than that I don't really use it. Do you have any recipes where sage is the spotlight? I'd love to try it.