Thursday, July 31, 2008

New Design: Bellydancer Queenie



Queenie is a belly dance instructor in the Netherlands. She is beautiful, fun and elegant and we wanted that to reflect in her design.

We added many plugins including English/ Dutch language switcher, a gallery slide show and a great schedule/ class sign-up form.

I absolutely love how it turned out. If I am ever in the Netherlands, I am totally taking a class from her :)

New Design: Penelope's Pitstop



I just finished a cute new design over at Penelope's Pitstop.

Penelope has a great blog full of fun items she finds while shopping. She is such a nice person and was great to work with.

Go check out her site :)

Monday, July 28, 2008

New Design: Ovolina



Ovolina means little mozzarella in Italian which is appropriate because Anita is Italian and has six children! Anita is originally from Rome Italy and has her own radio show. She is also a wonderfully sweet lady who was very easy to work with.

I went with an old-world Italian feel for her site and incorporated her six little ones in the design. We are still working on uploading all of her work, magazine articles and videos, but thought I'd share the site with you all anyway :)

Saturday, July 26, 2008

S.O.S.

I had just left Jen’s office and was on my way to wash our fuel efficient Prius (yes, in these days of four plus dollars a gallon for fuel, we are happy to say that we are averaging just over 50 mpg).

I was south-bound on Cuyamaca, when I noticed (I use that word in the most understated sense) a large Chevy Silverado stalled in the left lane. Now this ain’t your off-the-lot, normal pick-up truck. This was your double cab, long bed, 12” lift kit, 38” tires, gas-guzzling, he-man-woman-haters-club kind of truck. Of course, it was, at this point in time, being pushed, or at least attempting to be pushed, by a five foot, three inch women wearing a black pant suit and stiletto high heels.

I courteously make a u-turn and pull back around to help this poor lady out. I bravely dash across several lanes of speeding traffic and tell her to get in and steer while I push. I briefly entertained the idea of having me steer and her push, but the Catalde moment quickly passed…thank you Tonita.

We finally manage to get “the beast” to the curb, only after three angry honks and one person showing us their tall finger.

I ask the lady if she knew why the truck died and if she needed any help. She proceeds to tell me that, and I swear this is the honest truth, that she and her husband had just bought a new Toyota Camry from the local dealer and she was on her way to meet her husband there. As part of an incentive to get them to buy the new car, the salesman enticed them with two free tanks of gas for their cars. Well, who wouldn’t drive their 3 mpg truck with a 39 gallon tank to the very bottom of its tank in hopes of eeking out every last ounce of free gas? (and yes, I borrowed her owner’s manual to look confirm the tank size).

So, I drove her down the street to the gas station where she purchased a seven dollar gas can and four dollars and thirty-five cents worth of gas. Yes, a single gallon.

I told her that if she ran out of gas again on her way to the dealership, she was on her own.

Flappin' Fish

In moving into the sixth stage of my grieving process, hope, I decided to wander back into the pet store in hopes of finding a replacement for my dear lost friend, Fiddle.

You may remember my tragic story of loss with Fiddle, details of which I am not yet comfortable with, nor able to recount at this time… dramatic pause and moment of silence before moving onto next paragraph please.

I slowly worked my way past the cute hamsters and creepy reptiles, working on my courage to brave into the aquarium section. After fifteen minutes, I finally mustered up the cahones to stop looking at the horny toads and ball pythons and decided to turn the corner into the fish department.

As I rounded the end cap, a rush of emotions filled my soul: loss, sorry, and maybe even… anticipation? I did have a good run with Fiddle, and maybe, just maybe, I could love again.

As the enormous wall of aquariums and their aquatic guests stared down at me, my attention was immediately diverted when the teenage employee lifted a five gallon clear plastic bag from a shopping cart.

The bag held in it several hundred gold fish… for about three seconds!

As the girl lifted the bag from the cart, the bottom seam split open and 300+ tiny gold fish and five gallons of water introduced themselves to the floor.

The girl turned to me, a clear look of panic on her face. I calmly reached into the “employees only” area and withdrew two little green fish nets and offered them to the girl along with my assistance. She gladly accepted both.

We started scooping and plopping. More scooping, more plopping. Fish after net-full of fish. Finally, some backup arrived and we had some help cleaning up the floor of all those flappin’ fish.

Looking back, I am proud to say that I single-handedly rescued over 150 fish that day. Fish that will be eagerly purchased by mom and her 6 year old daughter. Fish that will all die next week in the small bowl left too close to bedroom window in the heat of summer.

Some would call me a hero, but not me. I would call my self, well, angry. Angry because all I really want is some free fish from the pet store. Is that too much to ask from a hero?

Friday, July 25, 2008

New Design: Espresso His Love

A few months ago I did web designs for Not-so-Deep Denise and In the Grip of Grace Tammy. Last week I received an email from them wanting me to revamp their women's group blog... Espresso His Love

These ladies are so funny and great to work with. They wanted a site that was fun with a header picture that had characitures of all five of them!

I absolutely love the way it turned out and had a great time working with all of them.



P.S. Denise is the second from the right with the fun reading glasses and Tammy is the one on the far right with the red hair :)

Need a little romance?

I just did two sites for romance authors/ publishers. Now, I personally don't read romance novels... except for the rare Christian romance (I still remember when I read my first Janette Oke book... Love Comes Softly... ahh) but these two ladies I worked with were so sweet and I am very happy with their sites, so I figured I'd show them off here :)



Monday, July 21, 2008

REWARD: Missing Crab


MISSING: Crab
Answers to the name "Fiddle"

Escaped from tank
May have been eaten by a little black dog (AKA "Pilot")




Last night after Kenny got back from a weekend trip to Aspen, we shot over to Walmart and picked up a cute new addition to our fish tank. Fiddle settled right in and didn't even seem to mind the fish. This morning when we checked on the tank we noticed we were missing the newest member of our aquatic family.

Kenny searched the house high and low, but Fiddle is officially gone. Hopefully we don't find him in a few days... after wondering why our house smelled like rotten sea food...

Goodbye Fiddle, we hardly knew you :(

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Notes from Kenny

Kenny was gone this last week in Dallas for training. Here are a few funny notes he sent me while he was gone... As you can tell, he really doesn't like flying commercial :)


On his way there... in the airport...

Arg!

"Son of a freaking monkey, stinky perfume lady with huge stinkin hat sitting next me. And she brought half of all her personal belongings to store at her... and my feet."


***


"Oh No!

Now she has a cd player and is humming to it. That will stop real soon I guarantee."




On his way home... waiting for his flight...

"Ah Dallas in the summer!

There is a thunderstorm nearby and they had a bolt hit the ground within 10 miles of the airport so the ramps are frozen till it passes.

Gotta love DFW in the summer."


***


"Ah Man!

This lady is popping "it" out cause her kid is hungry. And yes, he is way too old for that!"



***


"Yeah!

The plane is in the terminal!

Should leave in 15 to 20 minutes they say!

We'll see." (He actually didn't leave until about 2 hours later)


We got home that night around 10:00pm... it was supposed to be 6:00pm. At least he is home and won't have to go back for training for another 6 months :)

New Design: Mary R Snyder



Christian author and speaker, Mary R. Snyder, just had me redesign her website and blog. She wanted something fun and retro. Her new book comes out early next year... check her out!

Jen Rocks! Armed with only my rambling ideas, she created this amazing website and it's perfect. Anyone who sees this will think of me. I can't believe with only a few words, some color ideas and a couple of pictures that Jen could create exactly the site I'd been looking for. (Believe it's one of a kind!) Her talent, creativity and sweet spirit make her a joy to work with.


Awww ;)

New Design: Jillian, Inc.



Jill over at Jillian, Inc. wanted something bright and fun... I think we got it, don't you? :)

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Day 2....

Well, they have me working again, but I guess it ain't that bad...

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Requiescat in Pace

Well, it is the beginning of the end. I am a real, full-time, salaried slave....er, "employee" as of today, Tuesday, July 1, 2008.

I took the plunge and am now flying my jet job as a full-timer and not as a contractor anymore. Good news, I get paid when I don't work. Bad news, they don't like it when you don't work.

I was really hoping that I would not have to work on my first day, but I got the call and had to fly to New Mexico. Left at 7am, back by 1pm. I guess I cannot really complain about having to fly a jet on my first day!

Jen knew of my struggle to accept becoming a lowly employee rather then being the boss and decorated the house appropriately for my return - black balloons, black streamers and a sympathy card which read "Much sympathy...thinking of you during this difficult time."

I have the coolest wife ever! (no offense to you other wives out there.)