Potato Diet

In college I thought I was poor... Katie and I used to go to extreme lengths to stretch a dollar, and using El Carreton for their free chips + water + $1.25 soft taco was one of them.  However... that doesn't even compare to the budget I'm on now.  Why am I so restricted?  Because after I graduated I had too much fun... and I'm paying for it now.

Funny how I choose my time here in the city with the most expensive cost of living (for me so far) to try to pay down my credit cards...  Someday I will do it, and I'll be able to cut them up and start fresh.  For now, back to a potato diet.

From kelleybozarth.com

Is it 2012 yet??

I really, really, really miss the olympics.  Watching the news, without interviews of medal winners and covering the highlights, stinks in the mornings.  It's really depressing... I know there's a lot going on that we (as an international community) need to pay attention to, but we (as an international community) sure had fun watching the athletes compete for the oh-so-lovely medals in vancouver this year. 

From kelleybozarth.com

Panther, Round 2

Ahhhh I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a while.  I promise that I HAVE been sketching - which was the original motivation behind starting this blog - it just isn't stuff that I can post online for the masses (or all five people that might check this site from time to time) to see.  Translation, it's for work, and I don't take my chances with projects still in progress / not public / etc. 

Last year Meagen asked me to draw a yearbook cover for the elementary school she was working at in Ohio.  I was unemployed and jumped at the chance to do something for someone other than myself.  This year kori asked me if I wanted to do it again... duhhhhh yes.

Best part of this project : I didn't scan anything.  Yes, I sketched by hand to visually figure out what an olympic panther looks like, but then drew the entire thing with a pen tablet.  Love it :)

From kelleybozarth.com

Family Trip 2010!

So... my family takes trips together, for which I am EXTREMELY grateful.  We're not a small group, though - 12 of us will be going on the next one this July to the Galapagos Islands, right after my twin sister's wedding / honeymoon!  I am so, so, so excited about this trip!

As we've traveled together, we've developed a method and (in my opinion) each trip goes a little bit smoother than the last one.  This time, my Granddad sent out an email (5 months before the trip) assigning tasks / duties to each person.  Reading through them and imagining each person fulfilling his / her task, I had to sketch.  You'd have to know the fam to be able to picture them in these roles, but it will be hilarious.  I know it. 

From left to right, as I'm imagining them :


My grandmother : "enjoy position of high princess and be waited upon"
My granddad : "final word on all matters."
Ryan : "cruise manager"
Erin : "Grandmother gopher" (I'm picturing a hat... with teeth and ears... and erin texting...)
Adam : "Grandmother gopher" (also in the hat.)
Me : "historian and book publisher" (they want photo books made summarizing the trip - for this i am THRILLED)
Meagen : "tour director" (BEST. ASSIGNMENT. EVER.  Meagen will exceed everyone's expectations... she was made for this job.)
My Aunt + My Mom : "Group mothers, settle all disputes...keep tour broods in line, etc"  (Yes.)
My Uncle, Meagen's Fiance, My Stepdad : "Luggage locators."  (We don't travel lightly - this is not an easy job.)

This is going to be amazing...

From kelleybozarth.com

Olympic Medals

I'm sure I'll post more, but can we please talk about how cool the medals are for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics?  In fact, I PROMISE I'll post more about these Olympics because I spend so much of my little free time watching them, the graphics are amazing, and the athletes are insane, but the medals... so cool.

PS: One of my first digital ONLY sketches.  No scanner in my living room means I had to give it a try... I still prefer the old-fashioned way :)

From kelleybozarth.com

Heather @ Mannington

My friend / sorority sister / peer in the design world has entered a carpet design competition at Mannington.  She's one of the more talented / creatively out-of-the-box people I know, and last year she made it to the finals, showing her work at Neocon here in Chicago.  If anyone was made for a competition like this, it's Heather... Check out her work, and if you're so inclined vote for her (x10)!  I think she said today is the last day to vote, so get a move on.

Happy Valentine's Weekend!

Today is just about the best day I've had in quite a long time.  It's Friday = jeans to work, I dropped-off paper with the letter-presser so she's going to start the invitations today!, I kind of took my time getting into work this morning (still in by 9:20), they were handing out free cookies as i walked-in this morning, i got a card from my sister for valentine's day AND a giftcard to starbucks (she knows me so well..), it's pay day and I got my tax return direct deposit, went out to lunch with the ladies, met our deadline and wished the boss lady farewell, and get to watch the opening ceremonies for the olympics tonight!  I love today.  Not too shabby for a valentine's weekend - nice work, 2010.

Suzanne always does these sketch-collage kinds of things that convey this kind of rambling so well in visual form... I had to try it :) 

From kelleybozarth.com

Day in the Life

I've said before that the primary function of this blog is for sketches (mine, your's, whoever's) but this video is so amazing I have to share.

"This video features a day in the life of a woman working in the London's Square Mile solely through infographics; this includes labelled close-ups of everyday objects, product lifecycles, schematic diagrams, charts and is generally illustrated in a simple isometric visual style."

Mrs. O

Ya know who has the best style EVER??  Mrs. Obama.  I would say the entire family, but Barack has had a few days that have put that statement in question...  The girls are always well-dressed, but are they old enough to take responsibility for that?  No.  It's all her :)

She wears the best dresses... belts... cardigans... shoes... and for a lady who is almost as tall as her husband, I love that she's not afraid to wear flats with something fancy.  Dressed-up doesn't always mean a 4" heel.  Anyways, I follow her style daily and would love if she would realize that we could be great friends and should share clothes. 

From kelleybozarth.com

My name is Kelley. I have a problem.

Over the weekend I didn't have a chance to get some stuff done that I've worked into my Sunday routine, because I was in Ohio.  I didn't make lunches for the week (who doesn't love a crock pot??), I didn't go to the grocery store, and I didn't bring home my coffee mugs from work on Friday (forgot / knew I was leaving for the weekend).  Come Monday morning, I was super crabby.  I even considered emptying the jar of spaghetti sauce so that I could fill it with coffee to bring to work, but the idea of marinara-scented coffee just didn't do it for me.

Point blank : this is my addiction.  Someday my liver will fail, and instead of alcohol, the doctors will lecture me on the consequences of caffeine overdoses.  There will be support groups and 12-step processes.  I will have to avoid coffee shops at all costs.  Maybe they'll develop a patch.  For now, it is my one true love in life.

From kelleybozarth.com

The Jewel.

I had some sweet goals for things I could get done while I was in Ohio this weekend.  Reading, outlining, sketching, etc.  Then we rented XMen Wolverine, and none of that happened.  So, here I am on a Sunday night, just now back in town, with a LOT of stuff to get done in the next three or four days, almost no food in my apartment, with a pile of dirty clothes and a suitcase still packed.

If someone were to draw a cross-section of my typical weekly grocery run right now, this is what they would see:

english muffins, cereal, sweet potato, veggies, cream cheese, grapes (red and green..), peaches, snow peas, carrots, and soup / veggie stock depending on the crock-pot project of the weekend.  i'm pretty thorough in the produce section these days.  i would loooooove to do all of this shopping at whole foods, but instead i frequent the jewel.  it's just about half as expensive and if you're patient and go to the right location (lincoln ave - NOT broadway, not grand) the fruit isn't so bad.  learning little by little.

From kelleybozarth.com

Resolution Generator

I think I might have mentioned this before, either on here, to a friend, or in a facebook link, but please look at the New Year's Resolution Generator here.  Yes, I made resolutions independent of a website.  Some of those I've had to postpone until further in the decade, though... so I'm on the hunt for FUN resolutions. 

The first time I clicked on this website today, this is what I got.  I didn't keep refreshing until something fun came-up... it's a sign :)

While we're posting fun links, please keep an eye on BMD Love Blog by Bruce Mau Design.  The quotes and design pieces they feature are wonderful and I had to cut myself off yesterday so that I wouldn't spend hours going through everything they've ever shared here.  This one, captured from their blog?  My new motto.  Thanks, Bruce.

Karnak

For Christmas I got a desk calendar of "1000 Places to See Before You Die," and the other day the Karnak Temple was shown... can you imagine standing in a complex this huge?  Some of the columns have diameters of over three meters, and can be 21 meters tall.  Whaaaat?  Someday...

From kelleybozarth.com

My weekends :)

Okay, here's the problem : there aren't enough hours in the day and there isn't enough money in the bank.  Someday I will be better at getting past "getting by" but for now, no such luck.

I've spent a lot of time right here, on the couch, working on this that AND the other.  Papers are spread out allllll around... and on the weekends, I make a conscious effort to sit on both sides of the couch.  Its like flipping the mattress, right?

From kelleybozarth.com

the3six5

I posted a while back about a new project for 2010, where a different author writes an entry in a block (the3six5) everyday, telling the story of that particular day from their individual point of view.  After hearing about the project I wanted to be involved, so I volunteered to take-on a day and was assigned January 27.... yesterday!

The instructions were to send something in about your take on the day, 750 word limit (which I didn't even come close-to for once - update : word limit is 365... don't know where I got 750... either way, I still met it!), by 9pm my time.  Given how hectic yesterday ended up being it was actually a struggle to meet yet another deadline, but I made it and my entry was promptly posted on the site!  How sweet is that?!  So, check it :)