Cicada Invasion!

06/06/2011

Run for your lives!

Seriously, we have a bizarre and fascinating, also annoying and disgusting, phenomenon going on in Nashville right now. Every 13 years by Divine clockwork, hundreds, thousands, millions? of cicadas (Magicicadas to be exact) emerge from the ground, sing, mate, lay eggs and die. All in the span of 4-6 weeks. We’re about 3 weeks into the madness right now. It’s not just a few cicadas here and there; it’s ear-piercing loud at 3pm. It’s crunchy steps through the parking lot. It’s swatting and yelping every time we’re outside. It’s cleaning splatters off the windshield several times a day. They don’t call it an invasion for nothing.

This guy (or girl) is one of the many that likes hanging out on our bamboo. Smile!

The whole event is really quite strange and I’m glad it’s almost over. Thankfully, the bugs are pretty harmless. They don’t bite. They don’t prey on other creatures. They don’t eat crops or plants. They drink the sap from trees and blades of grass. The only harm they do is cutting slits into small tree branches when the females lay their eggs. But in the grand scheme of things, this is actually a benefit — this process prunes trees and aerates the ground, so I’m told. Here’s our newly planted pear tree. Can you see the cicadas?

How about now? Can you see them?

Oh, there they are. And… this is when Lucy and I got creeped out and ran for the house. She’s OK with them until they squawk. Then she gets freaked out. And boy to they squawk. And chirp. And buzz.

The posters below (and a few others) are designed by Anderson Design Group to commemorate this crazy occasion. Anyone need a birthday gift idea for me? They’re available at CicadaInvasion.com.

If you haven’t had enough yet, check out this video I shot through the window of the conference room at work last week. My office is on the 4th floor so it’s right in the tree tops. The cicadas are so loud that I can hear them from my desk which is through a cubicle wall, a hallway, an office and a thick glass window. In the video you can hear them pinging and ponging off the window. They’re pretty clumsy.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Where Children Sleep

03/28/2011

I saw a link to this amazing photo documentary book called Where Children Sleep by James Mollison on the blog Design Mom. It’s a powerful and heart-breaking with photos of children from all over the world and the places they sleep. I guarantee it will change you.

Here’s a sampling:

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Back to School

03/17/2011

Last winter wrote about how using an over-the-shoulder tote bag for my laptop was hurting my back. I used my old high school LL Bean backpack for a while until I forgot about the back pains and then stitched to a messenger bag again. When the back pain returned, I decided it would be worth the investment to get a nice, adult, laptop-friendly backpack for carting my macbook pro to and from work. After reading about the super-smart backpack that zips onto a carry on suitcase on Design Mom’s blog, I decided to check out FUL’s offerings. I ordered this gray Concrete Jungle:

I was thrilled about the padded laptop compartment and all the zipper pockets. When the bag arrived, however, I immediately realized it was too chunky and masculine for my taste. Bummer. I decided to give it a test drive anyway but was disappointed to discover that my laptop was too big for the sleeve. Double bummer. I also had some reservations about committing to a gray bag since I often wear brown. I sent the backpack back and started a new search.

Enter backpack number 2: The Victorinox Curb from Buy.com. This pack also boasted a padded laptop compartment (big enough this time) and various other zipper pockets. The simplistic design in rust colored canvas seemed to be just delicate enough for my style and would work with a brown coat or a black coat. I’ve been using it for about a week now and I’m very pleased. It’s light and comfortable with thick padded straps. It has more pockets than I know what to do with. And, I know it sounds corny but it somehow makes my laptop feel lighter.

A new backpack makes me feel like it’s time to start back to school shopping. Perhaps I should splurge on some new shoes, too?

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Expecting

02/02/2011

On Saturday I had the privilege of snapping some last minute pregnancy pictures of my brother- and sister-in-law. They were going to have a photographer friend of ours do some portraits but it never worked out and we’re down to the wire (2.5 weeks to due today) so I offered my free but mediocre photography skills. I was happy to try out my new Nikon in a portrait setting and I’m pleased that a few good ones emerged. Not bad for a point and shoot.

I played with some different photo treatments in Photoshop. Mama-to-be requested some black & white and some without her face in the shot. (Full term pregnant women are always a bit self-conscious about looking puffy in the face. I think Ginger looks radiant!) Photographer friends – feel free to offer your constructive criticism on my skillz (or lack of skills).

I think she looks so lovely in this one:

They’re silly. I’m glad I captured this moment because I don’t think it could be reproduced. Their house is always full of laughs and I know they’ll be super fun parents.

This is one of my favorite shots because Dan didn’t know I was taking it. I was setting up for the next shot while Ginger when to change clothes.

This is the only shot that I actually had a vision of creating the night before. I think it works and captures them fairly well. Daddy Dan, the thinker, a man of few words, a planner. Mama Ginger, always rubbing her baby bump and speaking sweetly to her daughter, lovely and content.

Marty can’t wait to have another master to lick…

Jason and I are so excited for them and excited to meet our niece. It’s been really cool to see how Dan and Ginger have grown so much the past 9 months in maturity and spiritually. I know that they will be great parents. I’ve been so encouraged and inspired by how positive Ginger has been through the entire pregnancy. She hasn’t had any complaints and has enjoyed every moment of carrying a baby (except maybe for that couple of hours early on when the mid-wife said she couldn’t find the heartbeat, but that all worked out). Her pure love and joy for their baby girl is contagious. Or maybe it’s just that as her auntie, I already have a lot of love and joy for her, too.

We love you guys and are looking forward to walking with you into this new adventure!

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Home Office Part 5: The Cloffice (or Offet)

01/12/2011

What do you get when you cross a closet and an office? A cloffice? An offet? The latter is cute but we’ve been calling it a cloffice ever since a friend made the suggestion. I’m happy to report that this home renovation project is FINISHED. DONE. COMPLETE. We’re undecided about adding bi-fold doors at some point. I kind of like it open but covering it up might be nice too.

Since my last post about the hall-coat-closet-turned-home-office here is what has been done: Jason re-hung my upper monitor (straight and centered this time; I’m a mess without him…), installed an electric outlet, removed the door and widened the doorway, finished my desktop, reframed the doorway and painted the trim, baseboards, hall wall and shelves. Oh, and he also painted a stripe on the floor for me. It was necessary because part of the wood flooring was missing when we removed the wall. But I like that it’s kind of funky and helps to define the space. I touched the cloffice wall paint, cleaned up the top shelf with new matching storage boxes and hung some Command hooks for my bulletin board and computer satchel.

I’m kicking myself for not taking a before picture. POO. Anyway… here are the first four parts of this series in case you missed them:

Home Office Part 1: Small Homes Require/Inspire Creativity

Home Office Part 2: Closet Offices & Inspiration

Home Office Part 3: The Coat Closet

Home Office Part 4: Decorating & Customizing

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Nikon CoolPix and a Handmade Wool Felt Case

01/11/2011

Jason got me a new digital camera for Christmas. It’s a Nikon CoolPix S205 that we snagged at Target’s Black Friday sale. I LOVE it!

Someday I’d like a nice, fancy DSLR but the truth is that I don’t really know enough about photography to use anything other than auto-mode most of the time anyway. I love that this camera is 12 mega pixels and it’s smaller than my cell phone. My brother-n-law swears by Nikon cameras and so far I’m really pleased with the photo quality, even with the flash. My old Kodak EasyShare DX6490 was terrible with indoor pictures. The flash blew everything out and without it the pictures were almost always dark and grainy.

It didn’t come with a case or protective sleeve or anything so to protect my little baby, I decided to make a cute little pocket pouch for it. I used olive green wool felt for the outside and light green fleece for the inside. (By the way, this is my first time working with wool felt and I love it! I bought it almost 2 years ago and I’m finally getting around to using it for something!)

I found a big gray button in my stash that matched the gray contrast stitching (really I was just too lazy to change the thread in my sewing machine) and some green ribbon to make a loop to close it up.

I’m happy with how it turned out and I’m confident it will protect my tiny, slippery little camera. That and making sure I utilize the wrist strap!

Sidenote: I was using a 128 MB memory card with my 7 year old 4 MP camera. It was sufficient for about 100 pictures or 10-15 minutes of video. With my new 12 MP camera, it was only enough for about 30 pictures or a 1.5 minutes of video. I just ordered a new 16 GB memory card (for only $25 on Amazon.com, by the way!) and now I can take over 2,000 pictures or 25 minutes of video. Yay! Also, my 4 MP camera cost over $400 in 2004 but this 12 MP cost less than $100 in 2010.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

12/24/2010

One of my fellow graphic designers surprised me with an Angry Bird for Christmas!

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Merry Christmas All! Thanks for reading my everyday ramblings and leaving me comment love just often enough to keep me from quitting. 😉  Hope you have a great weekend celebrating with your loved ones!

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Wishing You a Shiny Brite Christmas, Again

12/14/2010

OK, last time I’m going to mention this, I promise. Wishing You a Shiny Brite Christmas poster and postcards are available for sale in my Etsy shop, Light Hand. (Sorry, the poster sold out already! Let me know if you want one and I can order more from the printer if there is enough interest.)

What can I say, I love my Shiny Brite ornaments!

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Shiny Brite in the Mailbox

12/09/2010

As I was brainstorming ideas for our Christmas cards this year, I decided that the Shiny Brite Christmas ornaments poster design could translate to a postcard. (Hopefully I’m not spoiling the surprise for anyone … I mailed these out on Monday so, my family and friends, you should be receiving one soon if you haven’t already!) When I ordered these from the print shop I decided to get some extras to sell in my Etsy shop. Have you bought your Christmas cards yet? I’m selling these as sets and as individual cards. 🙂

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Wishing You a Shiny Brite Christmas

12/08/2010

Last year I was inspired by the old cardboard boxes from my Granny’s Shiny Brite ornaments and I decided to make a small Christmas poster. This year I have a few available for sale in my Etsy Shop in case anyone else would like to add one to their holiday decor. Sold out! If you are interested in one, leave a comment. I can order more from the printer, however it may take a couple weeks to get it to you.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

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