Take a journey back in time to the year 1990. I was a fourth grader ready to join band. With excitement, I announced to my parents that I wanted to play the drums, when they said I could choose any instrument and join band. They rephrased the question: besides drums, you can play any instrument you want. I asked, “how about flute?” No. Saxophone? No. “You can play the clarinet like your sister,” my parents demanded, “That way, you can share her sheet music.” Bummer dude. Needless to say, band was short lived, I participated for two years.

I’ve never forgotten percussion instruments. I believe NBC was my favorite network because of their great 3 note sound tag line, played on bells. Ding, Ding, Ding.

Fast forward to about a year ago. At the wonderful Minneapolis store “I Like You,” I stumbled across a tongue drum. I had to have it. With no parents present to deny my purchase of a superfluous musical instrument, I brought it home.

I began dancing to the beat of my own drum (although many would argue I had already been doing this all my life). I played the drum daily after work and fell in love with its earthy sound.

Now, thanks to my extremely talented musician friend, Noah Hoehn, I have the opportunity to play on a real album, with a real musician’s credit to my name. Sure, I am purchasing this right on kickstarter, but my dream of becoming a real percussionist may be coming true.

This dream is only a maybe because in order for the album to become reality, Noah Hoehn needs his kickstarter to be fully funded by December 2, 2012. He is getting close! Please visit his kickstarter page, watch the video and consider backing the project.

With your help, I just might become a real percussionist.

My Grandpa was a joyful man—quick to smile, crack a joke or give a little tease. Grandpa never missed an opportunity to poke a little fun at me!

My favorite memories of my Grandpa revolve around camping—definitely a Timmerman family pastime. Each summer, like clockwork, the Timmerman family gathered at a campground near Marshall, MN. We shared many campfires, s’mores and stories. I remember being a young child perched on Grandpa’s lap while he was sitting on a lawn chair beside the campfire.

On camping trips, it was very special to visit Grandma and Grandpa’s camper. It was fancy and large—like a house on wheels. It was great to duck into during an afternoon rain for a game of cards. I’m sure Grandpa would rather be playing bridge but he’d play a hand of UNO with the grand kids. The best (and most coveted) trips to Grandma and Grandpa’s camper involved breakfast. They always had single serving boxes of sugar-filled cereal stocked up. Frosted Flakes. Corn Pops. Apple Jacks. Oh yeah! It was a treat to eat breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa—and not just for the sugar rush!

My Grandpa was a hard-working, God-loving, family man. Nothing was more important than family to him. On Saturday—my last visit with Grandpa—he said, “I have the best group of grand kids.” And I think all of us would agree—we had the best Grandpa.

2011 Family Picnic. Grandpa with his signature look: slightly askew baseball cap.

Get ready for the E-X-T-E-N-D-E-D version re-cap of AIGA Minnesota’s Design Camp 2011!

Most of us live in a word of traffic jams, deadlines, undue stress, and hours upon hours of staring at a glowing screen. We keep many hours at work and we work them hard. We compartmentalize our life and leave the smallest containers for leisure, free thinking and enjoying other people’s company. We book our friends and families into our calendars, like a stadium reserves sports games or concerts. We don’t wait for life to happen, we orchestrate it.

The more I think about it, something tells me that, perchance, this isn’t quite how the universe wanted us to spend our limited time on this amazing planet. Generally speaking, it takes a major life event for us to slow down, smell the pine trees, and feel grateful for our lives. We might experience an accident that leaves us immobile. Or we lose a loved one. Or we simply escape to the woods, to nature, to connect to something deeper, which reminds us to slow down. To pause and reflect. And then, like perfectly engineered gears, we revert back—back to traffic jams, deadlines, stress, and work.

In my post-camp bliss, I’m reflecting on my notes and memories from the keynote speakers and the activities of a most glorious of weekends. My thoughts center on two themes: time and choices. How we spend time and what we get out of it.

Jamie Koval of VSA Partners shared this quote from his childhood days at camp: “Take what you want, but eat what you take.” Direct link to the dinner table? Yes. But it also totally applies to how we choose to spend our time. Do you want to gorge and binge on work or do you enjoy it in bite size amounts? Life isn’t about efficiency and working all the time. Work is necessary to live in modern society, but we should remember to do it in moderation, balancing it with the other aspects of our life. This will allow us to experience all the parts, like in a chef-crafted meal: smell, temperature, visual, texture, taste, aftertaste. Sometimes I barely have time to enjoy the euphoria of having finished a project before I’ve already started thinking about what’s next.

Jamie said, “Whatever projects we get, we make them great.”

As a Converse devotee, I enjoyed hearing Jamie speak about his work at VSA in turning around the brand after Nike purchased it eight years ago. VSA Partners: thank you for helping save the "t-shirt for your feet!"

Jan Wilker takes the time to experiment with his designs, even using the liquify tool in photoshop! It may not be profitable to spend so much time “playing,” but if life isn’t a little about playing, what’s there to live for? He describes this playful way of working as “enjoyable but inefficient.”

Jan is the coolest designer ever. His company Karlsson Wilker has worked on some awesome projects, including the MTV motion orb you see pictured here. Now, Jan is a celebrity in both MN and Serbia. Loved hearing about his calendar project for the country Serbia.

Michael Osborne of Mod SF provided a good reminder to choose to spend our time and resources doing something worthwhile. In addition to running his own design firm, Michael owns a letterpress studio and runs a 501c3 non-profit design studio providing design services to other non-profits. Check out Joey’s Corner here.

Michael Osborne Design re-branded Archer Farms for Target, creating a new logo, brand style guidelines and package designs. Michael praised the Target in House team for how well they implemented the brand across hundreds of SKUs. Good lesson: give credit where credit is due.

Peter Buchanan-Smith lives in Manhattan but is alive in the wilderness. He turned in his 9–5 design job for an entrepreneurial opportunity he’s passionate about—Best Made Co. Best Made is known for axes. If you’d like to know more about how Best Made Co came to be, read my blog post on Peter’s presentation at the 2009 Insights Lecture Series. Peter’s words have encouraged me to meditate on finding out what makes me tick in the same way Best Made Co does for him. He also inspired me to set a goal and make a plan. See, Peter adds one new product to his website each and every week. If we wait to do something, we miss out. So set a goal and start right away.

Best Made Co sells high quality goods. I have always loved the painted axes, but LOVE the new products he is adding to his website all the time. The steel enamel cups are great. And I love the message of the patches. This stuff would make great Holiday gifts.

Jolby is design studio collaboration between Josh Kenyon and Colby Nichols. They reminded me why the people in our lives are important. Even though we arrive and leave earth naked and by ourselves, the journey on earth is all about companionship. Collaboration is important and two heads are always better than one. As I “ooo-ed and ahhh-ed” over the fun, fresh visuals they shared, some of their illustrations reminded me of my husband’s style of drawing. I felt the urge to come together with my husband (that’s what she said!) and collaborate. I want to collaborate on an art project, one that is not photography related.

I could browse Jolby's website for HOURS. I see joy when I look at their work.

Shel Perkins taught me many legal lessons and reminded me to always have solid footing before leaping into the unknown. Solid footing and excellent use of contracts will allow you to live freer, free from the fear of scary legal problems. Shel’s book Talent is Not Enough: Business Secrets for Designers is super great. I’ve already polished off two chapters! Buy it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Time to slow down for just a minute and appreciate a well crafted object. We already learned this from Peter’s axes, but the craft of letterpress teaches the same lesson. Who doesn’t love running their fingers across the depression in a thick paper stock formed by the kiss of a letterpress plate? I’d like to send a shout out to Studio on Fire for printing the design camp materials and also to Spark Letterpress for teaching the letterpress workshop.

If you read the abridged version of my Design Camp 2011 re-cap, you learned that the board did indeed call a 3 am (unofficial) board meeting. The AIGA board is filled with talented, interesting and extremely fun people. I’m so glad for all the conversations: some centered on design, others were just crazy and silly and some were really deep conversations about our lives. I feel a deep camaraderie among my teammates on the board and I look forward to serving another year with this wonderful crew.

It was, indeed, another great Design Camp. While sitting in stopped traffic on they way to camp, I cursed the time it took to travel to the woods. But the woods provide an amazing backdrop for taking time away from design work to reflect on design thinking.

My maternal grandparents moved out of their house into an apartment last year. I inherited my Grandma Timmerman’s sewing machine! It is awesome! It sits in its own table, and even folds down into the table when not in use. I’m loving it!

My friend Sarah went to Sweden last summer. She came home with a furry pillow made from sheepskin. I fell in love with it. Then I had a dream that IKEA started selling pillows made from sheepskin. I believed my dream (sometimes my dreams are very life like). So I went to IKEA last weekend to buy a pillow. I asked an IKEA associate where I could find the pillows made out of sheepskin. He told me they had never sold sheepskin pillows. So I purchased a grey sheepskin and made two pillows out of it. Thanks to Sarah’s adorable pillow from Sweden for the inspiration!

I consider these pillows an IKEA hack, since I started with LUDDE Sheepskin!

Okay, speaking of IKEA hacks, I never shared my desk IKEA hack!! A long time ago (like five years ago, when we first bought our house) I purchased some shelves similar to the EKBY shelves. I never used the shelves and they sat in my basement. When I rediscovered the shelves in my basement, they were still in their original packaging, so I tried to return them, but it had been too long and IKEA had changed the product name. So I put the shelves back in the basement, until last year when I re-purposed the shelves into my desk! My computer was moving from the office to the guest bedroom. It’s a small room and I didn’t want to fill the room with a giant desk. Also, since I have a LCD monitor, it didn’t take up that much space. I took two of the shelves, painted them white, then bracketed them together from the bottom. I bought 4 legs from IKEA. (I love that I can go to that store and buy parts!) Presto change-o, a new desk!

I was very crafty for Christmas 2010. The first things I made were these monsters for my two year old niece for Christmas:

I got the idea for them from these Antropologie gift card holders:

Other hi-lights include the Conan “CoCo” t-shirt I designed and printed for Jesse. And necklaces for my mother-in-law and sister-in-law made using skeleton keys that belonged to Jesse’s grandfather.

I also made my two year old niece a Christmas ornament. I made her a similar one last year as well, so this might be an annual tradition. Talia photos are by Jesse Valley Photography.

That’s all I have to share for now!

In December, I purchased an awesome pair of mittens from Holly Magner of GroveCraft at the No Coast Craft O Rama. I was so excited to find a good warm pair! And they are hand made in Minnesota! However, my excitement was cut short when only after wearing for one month, both thumbs got holes. Thank goodness the story doesn’t end there! I contacted Holly, sharing my disappointment over the holes and asked if she could repair them. She responded promptly asking me to send her the pair. Soon there after, I received a package in the mail. Holly could not make the repair, but instead she sent me TWO new pairs of mittens! If that isn’t customer service, I don’t know what is!

So here’s my shout from the roof tops thanking Holly for the new mittens! I receive compliments on the mittens a lot, so hopefully you will have many new clients in the future!

Holly has an etsy page, and hopefully will have more mittens in her shoppe come fall! And hopefully she returns to the No Coast Craft O Rama this December!

My favorite memories of my Grandma go back to childhood, when Grandma and Grandpa lived in Salina, KS and I visited for weeks at a time during the summer. We spent our time crafting, going to the “Y” and in the afternoon we’d always go for a swim in their giant “L” shaped pool. I’d host pool parties for Grandma and her friends, complete with “appetizers,” Twizzlers and fruit loops. My Grandma would buy me all the sugary cereals that my mom seldom did. Every day in Salina, I would call the phone number to get the local time and temperature. As you can imagine, I wanted to call ALL THE TIME! I had the phone number memorized! Grandma just let me do it, easy entertainment.

On my first summer trip to Salina, when I was five years old, Grandma taught me to sew. (You can imagine how much patience she possessed!) I made an outfit out of loud, crazy yellow fabric, shorts and a button up top. My seams were crooked, because Grandma let me do the whole thing myself. I was very proud of the outfit, and I remember while wearing the outfit, my friends gave me compliments on it. And I’d proudly tell them, “My Grandma helped me make this!” She also taught me to cross stitch and crochet. She helped me make many things, but the Halloween costumes were always a favorite. She helped me make a cat costume and an Indian costume. The Indian costume was awesome, and Grandma had to help A LOT because we sewed on a lot of fringe and Native American themed ribbon. I wore that costume in sixth grade, the year of the big Halloween blizzard! I believe that was my last visit down to Salina because Grandma and Grandpa moved up to Eagan, MN, just a hop skip and a jump away from my parent’s house in Savage.

Christmas time was always fun with Grandma Ricke. She always had delicious home-made sweets, including Belgium cookies. Her home was always decorated festively, even with a Christmas tree that rotated on it’s base. (thanks to Grandpa Ricke’s innovation on the tree stand!) She made Christmas stockings with each grandchild’s name on it.

A more recent favorite memory was this fall when I took my Grandma to Juut Salon. They had an entire day of salon services just for cancer patients. I took my Grandma to her appointment and she so enjoyed getting a pedicure and her hair washed and styled. She seemed proud to be with me, pointing out to all the Juut artists that her granddaughter brought her. It’s a really wonderful memory to have spent that time with my Grandma, and I thank Juut Salon for the services they gave.

The thing that I remember most about my Grandma was she seemed to always have a smile on her face and a positive outlook. When she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, she said she was going to fight it. She was a woman of faith, and when I was a child, she always encouraged me to sing the hymns and psalms at church. Grandma lived her life loving those around her and she will be missed by all of us. I find some comfort in remembering that death is not the end, but the beginning of everlasting life for those who believe. Grandma believed.

Tonight I did something that isn’t fun or comfortable, but it was necessary. I attended a “Not Me!” safety training class. One in five women will be assaulted in this lifetime. It’s not fun to think about the possibility of being the victim of assault (or worse) but now I have the knowledge, skills and belief that I will never be a victim.

The class teaches how attackers think and provides stories and statistics. Additionally, it’s important to keep your awareness in the moment in order to listen to your intuition (your personal threat alarm). For example, it’s important to stay off your cell phone if you are in public by yourself because your ability to observe your surroundings is severely stunted. And if you get attacked, the person on the other end of the phone call is powerless to help you. Dru Sjodin was on her cell phone with her boyfriend as she walked from her job in the mall to her car. Her boyfriend called the police, but Dru was long gone by the time the police arrived.

The most important part of the class was learning only four self defense moves. It’s important to limit the number of maneuvers learned in order to remember them. Everyone in the class was able to practice them, repeatedly, creating muscle memory—meaning we each will know how to react, should we need to.

The “Not Me!” safety training class has been featured on Kare11. Click here to watch the video (the video is hidden in the side bar under the advertisement). And check out the Not Me! book here.

The class should be taken by all women, all ages. If you’re interested in taking a class or having Not Me! teach a class at your work/place of worship/home, contact Alison James at 612.483.4783 by email: alisonsjames@comcast.net

After an amazing sunset walk around Lake Calhoun on Friday night, Jesse and I drove home to our St. Louis Park abode. While pulling into the driveway, I spied two gray, fluffy creatures on my deck, flanking the steps. I immediately thought it must be squirrels facing away from me with their poofy tails pointed toward the sky.

(Now, you need to understand that I have a hate/hate relationship with the squirrels who live in my tree because they dig up my potted plants and pluck leaves off my maple tree!)

While Jesse took a photograph of the symmetry of the animals to our deck stair case, I was determined to chase them away. As I moved closer to the deck, my eyes adjusted to the dark. And to my surprise, I realized that I was staring into two sets of owl eyes!! The birds flew into the maple tree. I curiously observed the maple tree and spotted another owl. After about 5 minutes of playing “Where’s Waldo,” Jesse and I counted five little owls in our yard!

I think (but I’m not sure) the owls are adolescent screech owls. Photos below by Jesse.

My $10 Target cowboy boots served me well. I wore them for a good 3 years. I say goodbye to the boots not because I no longer like them but because they have simply worn out. I wish my $10 Target boots were made out of leather instead of faux man-made materials, because I still love the style, but I don’t like how the faux material is crumbling off the surface.

I’ve been wanting to replace the Target boots for a while, in fact I received birthday money from my parents with the intention of purchasing some good quality leather cowboy boots (which don’t come cheap). Last night Jesse informed me that he noticed Ragstock in Uptown has a huge window display showing off their collection of cowboy boots. Naturally, it was our mission to find some new boots tonight after work.

I had my doubts about finding a good pair of boots for a variety of reasons:

1. My feet are size five. I have a hard time finding new shoes in my size.
2. Do I want to wear boots that have been broken in by another?
3. And finally, will I even find a pair that I could love as I have my beloved Target boots?

Amazingly, Ragstock had a few pairs of boots in my size! And when I laid eyes on this pair, they spoke to me. Two-toned leather. Awesome stitching. While the boots are definitely broken in, they look awesome. In a similar way to how a $200 pair of jeans can look weathered and ripped up in a cool “I broke these in,” kind of way. But these boots were not $200, they were $20! If you are pining for a pair of awesome cowboy boots but don’t have $200-300 to drop on a new pair, go to Ragstock Uptown. STAT!

I imagine that my “new” old boots have an amazing back story. Living on a ranch in Wyoming near to Yellowstone National Park was a charmed existence. Roping goats, riding horses, feeding pigs. Planting the summer garden and frolicking in the fields. These boots have done it all. As I washed away the caked-on wild west mud (or worse, manure?), I thought to myself, “Welcome to the city, cowboy boots.”

Art Buddies is my favorite non-profit organization. I started as a volunteer for the fall 2009 session and have since been asked to join the advisory board.

What is Art Buddies? It’s a mentor program that pairs creative mentors from the world of graphic design, advertising, architecture and interior design with children from low-income families in south Minneapolis. Art buddies is designed to help kids discover their creative gifts, build confidence and dream big dreams. Throughout the six-week program, mentors work one-on-one to help kids create something fanciful, unique and more ambitious than they may have imagined. At the end of the six-week sessions there’s a parade giving the kids the opportunity to show off their creations to the whole school!

We created animal costumes in the last two sessions. In the fall, I helped Sabrina make a dog costume because she is a loyal friend, likes to cuddle and is smart.

Sabrina dreams of being a web designer someday!

We had a lot of fun working together!

In the spring, I helped Erikc create his costume. Erikc is a super creative kid. His costume is a creature made up of 1/3 dog, 1/3 monkey and 1/3 beaver. Erikc loves to build stuff and dreams of becoming an architect.

Erikc followed a strict color palette in designing his costume.

Erikc wrote a story about his costume, which he's illustrating here.

Last week we had a fundraiser at Carmichael Lynch to raise money for Art Buddies. Art Buddies supporters sent letters to their contacts asking for contributions. I’d like to thank Carmichael Lynch for both hosting the event and sponsoring the dinner from Brasa.

Art Buddies is a non-profit which runs on grants and donations—from people like you. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Art Buddies. Visit artbuddies.org to donate. If you’re interested in becoming an Art Buddy for the fall session, please visit artbuddies.org and fill out the application.

We took a break from our letter writing at the fundraiser to see the sunset from the Carmichael Lynch rooftop. Here’s what it looks like:

The brand new Twin's ballpark: Target Field

I love rusted metal!

The Minneapolis Skyline