Happy Friday, sweet things! I have a lovely surprise for you today: another Daily! Kristyna Litten lives in Edinburgh and draws the sweetest little animals. She also manages to juggle school and her super creative life, and today, we’re joining her over the pond!

Take it away, Kristyna!:

(more…)

We haven’t had a Daily here in awhile, and that’s my fault, as this goodie has been sitting in my inbox and collecting dust. In the spirit of spring cleaning and my love for Kris Atomic (this girl is INSPIRING!), I introduce a Day in the Life of Kris below!

Enjoy (and thank you, Kris! I love having you here!)

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7.10
Good morning! The alarm goes off and I snooze for 10 minutes, then lie in bed reading emails on my iphone and waking up. It’s taken me about 10 years to work out that I’m an early bird and not a night owl. I get my best work done in the mornings, so I try to be up by 7am. My boyfriend Andrew and our cat Matilda sleep on.

7.35
Brush teeth, wash face, get dressed yadda yadda. Even though I work from home and don’t leave the house some days, I try to put on proper clothes and make myself presentable otherwise I can’t really get in the mindset of work.

07.55
Breakfast. Realise we don’t have any bread so no toast, settle for some fruit and tea. Lady Grey tea is my favourite, with milk/no sugar.

07.59
Sit down to work. Watch the latest episode of House and write to-dos in my filofax, reply to some emails and work out what I need to do today. I’m useless without my lists!

08.32
Work on colouring an illustration for a print. I usually draw on paper, then colour digitally so I spend a lot of time staring at the screen. I worry about my poor eyes.

11.00
Matilda starts running around and making a racket which means she wants to play so I drag her favourite feather toy around for a bit.

11.05
Andrew is up and working. He’s a photographer and programmer (and definitely a night owl!) but he works from home too, so we see a lot of each other. He works really hard so it’s very motivating to have him sitting next to me, because I’m a natural procrastinator.

11.08
Matilda hangs out on the rug next to us while we work. I wish I was a cat.

12.15
Since I didn’t have a very substantial breakfast, I’m going to have an early lunch. I’ve been trying to perfect my home made hummus this week and this one seems the best yet. I also make a godawful mess of the kitchen, blessed as I am with the ability to use every pan, dish and utensil in the house when making anything. I’m a pretty rubbish cook, but I do try.

12.32
Lunch of hummus, pitta bread and mint tea while I read the new issue of Vogue that just arrived in the mail.

12.35
Matilda is peeved that I’m using “her” table, so she sits next to me trying to sabotage my food by sticking her tail in it.

13.41
A bit more drawing, then I get ready to go to the gym. It’s sunny outside but still very cold, so I wrap up in my duffle coat and scarf.

13.42
I’m also wearing my favourite chinos from COS and a whole bunch of layers to battle the cold.

13.53
I live in Brighton, right by the sea. I’m looking forward to the summer when it’ll be really lovely.

14.00
There are lots of nice little shops and restaurants…

14.01
…most of which I haven’t been in since I moved here in october! Until last month I was working full time in London, so I was never really around. Now that I’m freelance I’m trying to explore the area a little at a time.

16.00
I didn’t take photos at the gym, but now I’m on my way back. I try to go running 3 times a week and do yoga on the other days. Today I did 10km in an hour and 20 minutes, which is pretty slow. I watched Gilmore Girls while I ran though, which is always a bonus!

16.10
It’s good to get out of the house a little bit every day, or I start to feel like a hermit.

16.21
I love the colours of the houses in Brighton, so much nicer than boring beige.

16.33
Stop off at the grocery (I buy a courgette, red pepper, chai tea and udon noodles) on the way back home. I’m wearing my new heeled brogues today. I love them!

16.45
Back to the workstation. As you can see we basically live in an apple store. All those cables and wires drive me mad, but it’s necessary. I work on colouring another illustration, read twitter, reply to emails and prepare some blog posts for the next few days.

17.55
A break to lounge with some blankets and cushions while I read (Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel). Matilda sleeps like the dead next to me.

18.30
Dinner. Sorry it’s not very photogenic! It’s thai green curry with green beans and baby corn, leftovers from last night. Andrew was feeling a bit anaemic so he had a steak and some spinach instead. I eat in front of the computer while I catch up on blog feeds and look at photos from Paris fashion week.

19.04
Back to work again! I draw some looks from the autumn/winter shows, this one is from Lanvin. Then I sketch some ideas for the launch of my new online shop next month, while listening to The Brothers Karamazov audiobook.

23.20
Bedtime! I get into my pjs and read Three Cups of Tea and try not to cry. I’m always crying at books! Hopefully, I’m asleep by 12am. Night night!

You’re familiar with Christine, yes? Of Small Magazine and Little Bean shop? I certainly don’t have children, but if I did? Whoa.

Also, can we talk about how adorable her children’s names are? Amelie and Miette? Get out of town.

Also again? Cutest tooth fairy story EVER below.

Anyway, Christine is here to share her inspirational day with us — from her home to yours! Enjoy, and thank you, Christine!:
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6:49 Wake up. The girls always sneak into our bed at some point in the night. I manage to crawl out of bed, grab some coffee and make the girls lunches.

7:17 Sit on the couch with my 3 year old, Amelie and check my email. Well, try to. Instead we have a blank Word Document up and Amelie is randomly tapping letters and making me sound them out into crazy sentences. She laughs. I laugh. Amelie has the BEST laugh.

7:30 Amelie, Miette, Steven (my husband) and I eat breakfast. Help my 6 year old, Miette get dressed for school. My husband takes her to school.

8:05 Amelie and Steven have a dance party. I applaud and check my email. Shower and get ready for work. It’s a battle this morning to get Amelie dressed. It’s very cold and she wants to wear a sundress and hot pink sandals. She keeps asking us “When are we going to the beach house?” This girl LOVES the beach, dislikes winter. Just like her mama. Steven takes Amelie to school.

9:22 Drive to work and think about what I am going to work on first today. Organize the shop; get right to sewing or work on Small Magazine.  Decisions, decisions…

9:45 Open the shop. Get some music on. This morning I am in the mood for Miike Snow. Organize the shop. Clean a bit. Check email. Organize all of our advertising for the Spring Issue of Small Magazine.  My studio is right behind my shop so I get back there and figure out what orders I need to get started on.

10:44 Finish cutting out 19 dresses for a wholesale order.  I really enjoy this part of production. It’s a calming task. I help a few customers who come into the shop.

12:20 Eat lunch and read blogs. There is a great café next to the shop but today opted for brown rice and broccoli. I work on a few layouts for Small. Check the time in Australia where Olivia my co-editor lives to see if she’s home or awake yet to chat about the next issue. I love that we can still work on the magazine even though we are currently in different time zones. It’s still too early there…

1:15 Sew.

2:00 Sew some more. Some customers come into the shop.

2:45 Still sewing.

3:35 Steven and Miette come to the shop. Steven is a photographer (also the photo editor of Small) so I take advantage of that daily on all my projects. Miette is also my favorite model. Today we are photographing my Fall/Winter 2010 collection. I need to get it out to my showroom for an upcoming market. Steven has a little photo studio behind mine.

5:00 Close up shop. Drive home and look forward to dinner. Steven is cooking tonight. He is an excellent cook!

6:00 Eat dinner. This usually consists of the girls taking a bite of their food, getting up and dancing and Steven and I telling them they must sit and eat. We wonder if we will ever have a meal where everyone just SITS and eats.

6:30 Homework. Miette has to fill in the missing numbers from 1 to 100. Kindergarten is pretty intense. Remember when the only thing expected from kindergarteners was to color inside the lines? She’s done and she is off to the playroom with Amelie to dress up and play. Steven and I talk a bit about our day.

7:05 I promised Amelie this morning that we would make cupcakes tonight. She loves to cook. In fact Steven said she made the meatballs for tonight’s dinner all by herself.  I give the girls the task of getting the pans ready. I have to distract them after we finish mixing the batter otherwise they will eat spoonfuls of it.

7:30 Miette lost her second tooth today. She does not want the tooth fairy to take it so we write her a note to please leave the tooth AND the money.

7:40 Cupcakes are done. We each eat a cupcake with some milk. Amelie only likes the icing and Miette only likes the cake. A match made in heaven. I like the whole cupcake.

7:50 The girls and I take a bath. This is my favorite time of the day. We relax, talk about our day and laugh. A lot.  Unless I have to wash their hair…

8:15 Read a few library books to Miette. She brushes her teeth and I tuck her into bed. Steven goes in to tell her a story. Amelie and I hang on the couch and watch some SpongeBob. I check my email.

8:40 I read Amelie some books, help her brush her teeth and get her into bed.  I work on Small Magazine on my laptop on the couch. Most nights are devoted to working on the magazine. But tonight I just want to watch some television.

9:00 Steven and I watch Chopped. I love this show.

10:00 Brush my teeth and go read in bed. I make it through about four sentences into an article in the New Yorker.

10:05 Fall asleep.
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For more fun-filled dailies where we follow our favorite creatives, click over to The Dailies!

Time for another Daily! I’m going to give you the day off to let this one soak in, b/c whoa. Today we’re following the day of Rubyellen of My Cakies fame (blog / etsy)! Such a sweet gal with an even sweeter family. Take it away, Rubyellen!
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7:20am :: Sit down and eat some oatmeal. I hated eating oatmeal when I was pregnant, but since I gave birth, oatmeal for breakfast is all I want. Well, maybe along with some chocolate chip cookies.

7:30am :: Get ready to make Ben’s lunch, so I go outside to our garden to get some swiss chard, which I put in Ben’s sandwich. I then put together Ben’s sandwich, wrap up his fruits and vegetables and pack up his lunch for the day. I have to make sure he has a nice balanced meal, he is a dietitian after all.

8:00am :: Say goodbye to Ben as he leaves for another day at work. Then, I get the girls dressed and ready for their day.

8:30am :: True and Brave sit down to eat their oatmeal and blueberries.

9:00am :: Hear Soul crying, so I go upstairs and she is wide awake. True, Brave, and I talk to her a bit and Soul smiles back at her big sisters.

9:10am :: Change Soul’s stinky diaper.

9:15am :: Change Brave’s wet diaper. Then, let the girls lay down together and laugh a bit as I take pictures.

9:30am :: Time to feed Soul. True and Brave are off to make a mess in their rooms.

9:40am :: Brave comes marching in as I am feeding Soul and exclaims that True is not sharing, so I tell her to stay and hang out with me and Soul. She proceeds to jump and spin on the bed as Soul is feeding.

9:58am :: Soul is put to nap and us girls go downstairs as I am ready to pop in my video and do a workout. I have been going strong for one month, but we will see how long this lasts. It is hard to find time with three little ones. True and Brave sit on the couch and read while I do the first portion of my workout.

10:30am :: I pause my workout video as I see the girls are done (bored) reading as they have now joined me in my workout, so I take out the play dough for them to play with as I finish up exercising.

11:00am :: I am done exercising. We all get our sketchbooks and sit together drawing and doodling.

11:30am :: True and Brave say they want to continue working on their painting that we started the day before, so I get out their canvases and paints and we all continue to work on their paintings.

12:00pm :: As the girls are painting, I go to see my little Soul is still sound asleep.

1:00pm :: We take a break from painting and we all eat lunch together. Lunch for today is some tacos with ground turkey, mixed with corn on a hard shell tortilla, and for greens, I use the swiss chard grown in our garden. They also have carrots on the side to munch on.

1:30pm :: The girls go back to painting another color on their canvas as I clean up the kitchen. It is amazing how such little girls can make such a big mess!

2:00pm :: I am beat and glad that it is their nap time. We all go upstairs and I put them in their own rooms for a nap.

2:05pm :: By this time, Soul has a fully loaded diaper and ready for another change.

2:15pm :: Time to feed Soul again, so we lay down together and I check emails and do some blog reading.

2:30pm :: I play with Soul a bit and then put her down for another nap.

2:35pm :: Alas! Time for myself. I finally take a shower and get dressed up for the day (or what’s left of it anyways).

3:00pm :: I sit near Soul as she sleeps. This is when I have my quiet time and work on my various projects, or things for the shop. On this particular day, I was crocheting some bows for the shop.

3:45pm :: I go downstairs to have a little snack and sketch as I enjoy eating my Japanese mochi. After which, I go back to crocheting. My quiet times are such a treasure as it helps clear my head.

5:00pm :: Time to wake up True and Brave from their naps.

5:30pm :: Ben finally comes home from work. He tells me all about his stressful day and I try my best be a good listener because sometimes I am a very bad listener. After work talk, we are both too exhausted and don’t know what we should make for dinner.

6:30pm :: We all sit down together to eat dinner. We pray, the girls insist on clanging our glasses to do “cheers,” and we all indulge in our yummy, simple made food.

7:15pm :: I take the girls upstairs, bathe them, and get them ready for bed.

10:26pm :: We finally say goodnight (with a kiss) and get rest to do it all over again the next day. Goodnight!

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For more inspiring days, enjoy our Dailies archives!

You guys have been begging for more Dailies (and I don’t blame you!), so it’s time to deliver. My sweet intern Marisa lined up this goodie for us, and whoa. Seriously. Say it again. Whoa.

If you’re not familiar with The Dailies, it’s a series where we stalk follow a day in the life of a creative individual, from dusk ’til dawn. Everyone loves The Dailies, and if you don’t… well, then. Crap.

Anyway. Color Me Katie. I swear, you guys — this girl has mad talent. A card-carrying member of Improv Everywhere, Katie Sokoler has the most colorful perspective on the world than anyone I know. She has an awesome photo wall, plays with sidewalk chalk and turns snow into sno-cones.

Anyway, I’ll let Katie’s schedule speak for itself. Read on!:

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OK Great is one of my daily go-to blogs, as they find the BEST goodies around the web. I asked my friend Dylan of OK Great to star in a Daily of his own, and better yet, he agreed to showcase a day in the life of the entire OK Great team! Such creative folk under one roof— take it away, guys!
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8:58am:

Goooood morning, Durham. It’s approximately one million degrees out today.  (Most) everyone is up and ready for work.  Five minutes from now, the mad dash to the coffee maker ensues.  Let the workday begin…

9:05am:

…and the workday has begun.  Most of us spend this early morning time catching up on emails, doing the rounds with our daily blog reads, preparing for our morning meeting or updating OK Great.

9:45am:

Steve pops the giant Swiss ball he uses as a chair.  Because he’s morbidly obese.    This wakes everyone up a bit.

10:00am:

Monday morning meeting!  Every Monday at ten(ish), we all grab a coffee and gather around our conference table to regroup and go over the week’s projects.

This week it’s a handful of logos we’re developing, a book layout and a seriously complex architecture website.

11:15am:

Puppy timeeeeeee.  We have two dogs in the office today (there are four altogether) and they need their legs stretched.  Time to go out to the “Itsnota” park (it’s not a park, technically) next to our building and play some fetch.  Asa is crazy.

11:29am:

The grind kicks in.  Kristy’s on the phone with clients, designers are tweaking logo concepts for a creative session/review we’re having later in the day, Joe’s relentlessly draining Diet Pepsi and coding like a madman and the Shins are playing on an extra computer.
12:37pm:

Lunchtime(ish)!  We all went our separate ways for lunch but here are the highlights: a turkey & swiss sandwich, a Veggie Deluxe Burrito from the Cosmic Cantina, juice boxes, hard boiled eggs, apples, turkey & ham at Subway, soup, a veggie burger, peppers and feta on a pita and some cheese pizza!

1:10pm:

After lunch, we all head down the block to Locopops (ilovelocopops.com) for some afternoon popsicles.  Locopops is arguably everyone’s favorite place to take our team field trips (Locopops is a local phenomenon.  It’s a traditional Mexican popsicle shop.  So excellent!)

Woody gets a Mexican Chocolate, Ellie gets Toasted Sesame Seed, Kristy gets Chocolate Brownie, Steve & Yoli get Pomegranite Tangerine, Brendan gets a Grape Apple, Nicole gets Pineapple Lime and Dylan orders a Cucumber and Ginger. Viva Locopops!

1:30pm:

Brendan has been working on logo concepts for a human rights center that focuses on civil and international human rights and their interconnectedness.  Through an extremely complicated system of moderation, facilitation and consensus that we like to call “talking it out”, we hash through the various aesthetic approaches and select a handful to develop.

Some employ gritty, deteriorated looks with a conservative concept and some lean towards a more corporate, polished feel while the underlying message is much more polarizing and raw.   And there are pretty colors!

3:15pm:

K-N-O-C-K-O-U-T!  Three o’clock means serious basketball at Flywheel — a ritual we partake in almost everyday.  It’s a great way to blow off some steam and clear our heads.  Brendan wins the first game,  Nicole wins the second and Kristy wins the third.  Steve’s too busy pulling off ridiculous dunks to actually win.

4:00pm:

Ellie and Nicole take a fieldtrip to Garner for a press check on a fluorescent brochure we’ve been working on. After somehow finding the completely unmarked building, we’re given a grand tour, during which Ellie tested the extent of our printing rep’s knowledge by quizzing him about the mechanics of the press. We saw lots of machines and even got to crawl up on the big press and see the insides. It was neat, and our piece looked great!

5:30pm:

By 5:30, we’re all filtering out of the office and back to our respective homes.  Joe heads down to the Pinhook, an excellent bar across the street, (& our favorite watering hole) to imbibe in a post-workday bourbon.  Mmm.

Thank you, goodnight.

Several of you have requested a new Daily, and I haven’t forgotten you! [In case you're unfamiliar with The Dailies, check out our fantastic archives here where we follow artists/designers on an average day--- morning to night!]

Today’s Daily is a dear e-friend Liss Winnel who pens the ever-so-pretty Melbourne-based blog Daydream Lily. A talent and a beauty! I’m so excited!

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Living in Melbourne and having once come from a country town, I find that I have a lot of my friends and family who still live interstate often come to the big smoke for a visit. This particular day I had my brother and his girlfriend Noshin staying. I spent a fair chunk of the day driving about and sight seeing; I hope you enjoy reading along. So here we go…

Link:  DAYDREAM LILY

Another Flickr fave of mine, from Sandra Juto’s daily right here. You know I’m a Sandra fan, and this photo is particularly striking a chord today b/c this is what I will be doing ALLLLLL next week in NYC.

Yes, coffee, hosiery and chocolate. Eek!

Link: Sandra Juto Flickr

It’s Monday morning and I hold in my inbox quite possibly the best and most serene Dailies ever. So— I’m cutting to the chase. You can thank me later.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, you can find a fun little archive of Dailies right here, where we virtually follow our favorite artists/designers/bloggers throughout the day— we’re almost up to 50 at this point and hope to bring you a lot more stalking inspiration for the year of 09!

Up for today is dear Sally Shim, owner of one of my favorite e-shoppes, Shim + Sons. Currently on hiatus until March, her shoppe is empty, but no worries— she has plenty of visual treats on her online journal right here.

I’m so excited to have the sweet Sally grace our site, so I’ll let her take it away. Thank you, dear Sally!

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5:54 am :: I wake up and turn off the alarm so it doesn’t wake up my husband. I’m a morning person and usually the first one up in our family. I look outside our bedroom window and see the twinkling lights on the Gwangan Bridge. We sleep with the curtains open since we love the view of the East Sea from our apartment.

5:58 am :: I go into the bathroom to take a shower and the water is not working. I check the kitchen and same thing, no running water. I’m wondering if the water will be turned on soon. I make myself a bowl of plain yogurt and homemade granola. I sit down in front of the computer and check my three email accounts—business + personal + junk. I respond to a few emails and make a note of the emails that require a timely response. I review my “to do” list for the day, which I write every evening before I go to bed. I post an entry on my online journal and upload a few photographs on to Flickr.

6:32 am ::  I’m in the mood for a hearty breakfast. I whip up some homemade waffle batter and start boiling a small pot of eggs.

6:55 am :: My youngest son wakes up and five minutes later my oldest son is awake. The boys share a room now so the first one up will often wake up the other sleeping brother. They go into their playroom and fiddle around with some legos while I finish up breakfast.

7:10 am :: The boys eat their breakfast while I go into their room and make their beds and lay out their clothes. I go back into the kitchen and eat a few waffles and bacon strips with the boys. I pack Big J’s snack for school—yogurt, strawberries and rice cakes.

7:34 am :: I check the water again. Yay, it is working! I hop into the shower. We have no curtains in our bathroom, but we’re high enough that no one can see us in there [at least I hope]. I can see several octopus boats in the distance. My husband gets up and takes a shower while I get dressed. The boys have finished eating so I ask them to clear the table. They go back into the playroom to resume their lego building.

7:55 am :: I tell my boys to put on their jackets, hats and shoes. I do the same.

8:05 am :: We head downstairs to wait for the bus. It is a little chilly outside but thankfully we are the first stop so our bus driver is always on time.

8:10 am :: The boys are buckled into their seats and we’re off to pick up the five other children who ride our bus. We drive down the main street in Haeundae, past the aquarium.

8:32 am :: We’re technically late for school, but the children are still in the play yard waiting to line up. The head teacher rings her hand bell which signals the children to line up by class. I wave goodbye to Big J and tell him to have a good day. I chat with a few mothers and arrange for Big J to have a play date with one of his classmates after school. I go upstairs to Big J’s classroom to tell him and his teacher about the play date since this means I won’t be picking him up after school.

8:45 am :: Baby J and I get back on the bus. I chat with one of the other mothers on the ride home.

8:55 am :: We are back home. I open up all the windows in the living room. We normally enjoy clear blue skies here in Busan, but today is a bit overcast. I clean up the breakfast dishes while Baby J goes into the playroom to read some books.

10:02 am :: I need to pick up some art supplies for the boys. We head to Kyobo bookstore in Seomyeon. We hit a little bit of traffic.

10:30 am :: At Kyobo I find some supplies for the boys’ craft toolboxes. My husband and I are leaving for Tokyo [sans boys] in a few days and I want to make sure they have some new goodies at their disposal.

11:02 am :: We leave the bookstore and go down the street. Baby J spots a phone booth and is fascinated that you can talk to someone on this “telephone machine” [apparently the boy has never seen a non-cordless telephone in his entire life]. We stop by Uniqlo. This is one of the stores I wanted to visit in Tokyo, but recently discovered there is a store in Busan. I am disappointed they don’t carry the children’s line in this particular store, but I find several things to try on. Baby J entertains himself by playing a counting game on my iPod and munching on some sliced apples. I settle on two cotton dress/tunics, a turtleneck and an umbrella.

11:55 am :: I was planning to eat lunch at home but Baby J is really hungry. There is a Japanese restaurant located next door to Uniqlo so we end up eating tonkatsu and udon.

12:30 pm :: Our bellies are full and it is time to head home. We see these crazy big balloons floating in the sky. Baby J thinks there is a big party going on across town.

12:52 pm :: When we arrive home I unpack the bags while Baby J goes into the playroom to pick out some puzzles. We sit in the living room and work on some word puzzles together. Actually I sit while he puts the puzzles together since he doesn’t want my help. We talk about the sound each letter makes and Baby J starts coming up with words that rhyme with each puzzle word. He has a hard time coming up with words that rhyme with zebra. So do I.

1:39 pm :: We move on to a dinosaur world map puzzle. Baby J needs me to help him a bit. We talk about the different dinosaurs and the countries where they were discovered. It is amazing how much Baby J knows about dinosaurs. He has absorbed so much information from his future paleontologist brother.

2:07 pm :: Baby J wants to draw in my studio. He loves to draw and will go through a big stack of paper if left alone for an extended period of time. He sits down at my worktable and begins drawing with his favorite black Sharpie. He goes into the playroom to find a lego man. He wants to draw a picture of him. I sit down at the computer to respond to some work-related emails and read a few blogs. I check my watch and remember that Big J has a play date after school so I don’t need to pick him up.

2:32 pm :: I start printing a few 2009 calendars I designed earlier in the week. I print one for my studio and a “year of the ox” calendar for the boys. I jot down a few notes in my sketchbook regarding making Chinese zodiac prints and stationery—year of the ox, year of the rabbit, etc.—for gifts and possibly for my online shoppe.

2:43 pm :: I write in the last stack of new year cards. I’m finished! I work on a few more stationery designs that have been floating around in my head since last week. I start thinking about the balloons I saw on the way home today. I decide to frame the calendar for the boys since I have an extra white Ikea frame in my closet. I also find a spot in the boys’ room for Baby J’s painting.

3:08 pm :: I fix a snack. Baby J eats waffles + fruit [his choice] and I munch on apples + peanut butter. My husband is home early today [he’s a bit under the weather] so he sits down with Baby J to watch a movie together. This means I have some extra free time. Hooray!

3:18 pm :: I’ve been putting together little gifts for the boys while my husband and I are in Tokyo. This is our first trip without them and I want to make sure they have a good time with their grandmother and great aunt. I decide to make them shark appliqué shirts for one of their gifts. I print out a shark picture and trace it on to some fusible web. I finish up the shirts and wrap them up in boxes with handmade tags.

4:24 pm :: The sun is shining brightly in to our apartment. I walk over to the window to take in the view. I enjoy living by the water, a nice contrast to the hilly and mountainous landscape back in Portland.

4:28 pm :: I look at some fabric swatches and start sketching out a few quilt designs. I’m determined to make quilts for the boys this year.

5:05 pm :: It is starting to get dark outside. I leave to pick up Big J from his play date. When I arrive at his friend’s house all the boys look run down and ragged. We stop by the grocery store on the way home. [Grocery shopping in Korea is an experience. There are always people handing out samples and shouting to you about this and that product at this and that price. For someone who likes to shop in relative silence, this has taken me awhile to get used to.] Big J eats some samples [fried wontons + tofu + black bean noodles] while I quickly grab the food on my list.

6:11 pm :: We fix dinner [Korean barbecued beef + vegetables, soup, rice and kimchi], eat and clean up. Everyone is a bit tired since it is the end of the week and we’ve all taken turns battling a bug the past several days.

7:00 pm :: I clean up the kitchen while my husband gets the boys washed up and ready for bed. The boys pick out a few books and Big J reads two books to us. My husband and I each read a book and then it is lights out.

7:30 pm :: The boys are asleep and I tidy up a bit around the house.

7:58 pm :: I revisit the quilt sketches. I’m a bit torn on what size to make the quilts. Their beds here in Korea are super singles, but Big J has a queen size bed back in to the States. I hem and haw—super single or queen.

8:32 pm :: My husband decides to go to bed early since he still isn’t feeling well. I change into some running pants and my husband’s t-shirt, grab my iPod and head downstairs to the gym. I spend the next 25 minutes on the elliptical. I really want to start working out in the mornings but find it difficult to get myself motivated.

9:02 pm :: I take a quick shower and get ready for bed. I hop onto the computer to do some research for our trip to Tokyo. I read through all the great recommendations for sites + shops left for me on my online journal, jotting down shop names and addresses in my notebook. I write my “to do” list for tomorrow.

10:44 pm ::  I yawn. Time for bed. I lay down and read a few pages from my Korean language book. My eyes get really heavy. Lights out. Good night!

Eek! Another year, another set of smashing Dailies. For those of you who are new to Design for Mankind, The Dailies are [hands down!] our readers’ favorite feature. Basically, we follow [read: stalk] a day in the life of some of today’s most talented artists, designers, bloggers and the like!  And face it— everyone loves a good voyeuristic journey now and again.

Today’s Daily is from a dear friend— Martha McQuade, designer/owner of Uniform Studio, which hosts the most elegant ensembles and organic textiles. In fact, stay tuned later today for a special surprise giveaway of one of my favorite Uniform pieces! But for now, the Daily must go on… take it away, Martha!
–

5:03
I wake up without the alarm. I’m a morning person and usually wake up around 5. On the weekend I might go back
to sleep for an hour, but on weekdays I get up so that I can have some time alone before everyone else gets up
and chaos ensues.
I open up the windows so the cats can sit in the window sill and then I make coffee and sit down at the computer to
check email and read the news headlines.

5:32
I begin making lunches for my two sons. The light at this time of morning is beautiful. Dusk and dawn are my
favorite times of day. While I’m making lunches I start thinking about light and how it effects our perception of
space. I am in the middle of preparing the curriculum for an architectural design studio I teach and I file this
thought away for work on that later.

5:45
I wake up my husband, who needs to iron his clothes for work, make his own lunch and take a shower. I finish up
the lunches and empty the dishwasher.

5:52
My 4 year old comes into the living room complaining that Fritz (our black cat) has jumped into his bed and woken
him up. I remove the cat and tuck him back in.

5:57
My son comes out again, this time crying that Louis (the tiger cat) has now jumped into his bed. I remove Louis
and shut my sons door firmly. Those cats spend their day dreaming up new ways to get into that room to bug my
son. As I shut the door, my 7 year old comes out of his room asking what’s going on. I tell him to go back to bed.
So much for my alone time:)

6:04
I assemble the kids clothes, backpacks, sunscreen, water bottles, etc. -everything for their day at school and camp.

6:15
The 4 year old comes out again. He’s done sleeping. I give up and get his breakfast. Then the other one gets up
too. I guess we’re having an early morning. I get his breakfast, lay out their clothes and then head in to the
bathroom to take my shower. After that I get dressed. Even though I design clothes, I rarely wear what I make. I
don’t like to stand out too much and often wear my own “uniform” of jeans and a button up shirt. I do like to add a
little something though to make it unique, like this silicone bracelet.

7:15
My husband leaves to walk up to his bus stop. Until recently he would drive the kids and I would take the bus but
the architecture firm I work for closed down a few weeks ago and now I’m working on projects on my own. In a few
weeks when I start teaching again our schedules will change, but for now I’m the driver.

7:45
The boys are both reading in the living room and everything is so peaceful and quiet I almost hate to disturb them.
But it’s time to leave. As we head out to the car the boys notice that they can still see the moon in the early
morning sky. I drop my older son off at his day camp and then head over to the U of M campus to take the 4 year
old to his Montessori school. Once I start teaching in the fall, I’ll be able to take him on the bus with me and drop
him off before my class.

On the way we drive past the “big shiny building”, aka the Weisman Art Museum. My younger son is excited
because today they are going on a walking field trip to see it. The location of his school on campus is ideal as they
can take advantage of so many things like the museum, summer concerts on the campus mall and walking through
the little commercial area of the Dinkytown neighborhood.

When we arrive at his school I wish I could stay and “work” too. The Montessori method makes work so fun and
the materials they use are so beautiful.

8:27
I arrive home and eat a quick bowl of granola. I usually take an hour in the morning to have breakfast while I
respond to email and read through blogs and flickr but today I have a 9:00 meeting with an architecture client so I
eat quickly. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I eat the same breakfast almost every day. In the winter I make my
own granola, but in the summer it’s too hot to have the oven on that long. I top it with whatever fruit is in season.

Before I leave, I rummage through some material samples to find a piece of glass I need to bring to the meeting.

At the house I notice how pretty the morning light looks shining through the cast glass light fixture and I snap a
picture.

10:12
Back home I start in on some sewing. I try to use the morning, which is my most productive time, to do things that
can become boring, like production sewing. Later in the day when my mind tends to wander I’ll move back and
forth between tasks that take smaller amounts of time and concentration. Right now I’m filling wholesale orders
and I need to sew set in sleeves into coats.

12:35
I take a break to eat lunch while I look at the new Domino magazine which has an article with Jenny Gordy from
Wiksten in it. How exciting to see an online friend featured! As with breakfast, I also eat the same type of lunch
every day. I love to eat a little of a lot of different things, so I never feel satisfied if I have something like a
sandwich. The little piles change daily, based on what we have and what’s in season, but there is always a fruit,
vegetable, cheese and some kind of bread or cracker.

1:10
After lunch I take a break from sewing to do some organizing. I have a small workspace in our basement but end
up doing the majority of pattern development, layout and cutting in my dining room. I need to clear this out at the
end of each day so that we can use it for things like dining, so I end up carrying stuff downstairs and dumping it.
Needless to say, my workspace is usually a huge mess. This afternoon I’m rolling up fabric I’ve washed to store in
these flexible storage bins from IKEA.

1:49
I have run out of package stickers, hang tags and labels, so I work on printing some more. I like to keep a big
supply of these on hand so I don’t run out when I’m busy packing things up and need them.

3:08
Time for a snack!

3:23
I need to work on the curriculum for the fall studio I’ll be teaching but I don’t feel like sitting down at the computer.
It’s a beautiful sunny day and wonderful light is coming in to the house making beautiful patterns everywhere. I
decide to pick up my camera and document the light and shadows. Nothing like procrastination….

4:35
Time to go pick up the boys. We’ve planned to go to Wagner’s drive in for dinner, which is an annual summer
outing for us.

6:00
My husband comes home on the bus and we all head over to Wagner’s, which is a drive in diner. I love the simple
style of the canopy, which hasn’t been changed since they opened in the 1960′s. They still have car service with
the trays that fit on the window, but we usually sit at a picnic table so the boys can play with the board games they
have outside stacked up in a metal cabinet.

There is nothing better than greasy fries in little paper bags and milkshakes on a hot summer night.
[editor's note: And yes, this is a Daily from last August. Can you tell both Martha and I are rabid procrastinators?]

7:30
Back at home it’s time for my younger son to go to bed. My older son and I have time for a quick game (quoridor
and he wins as usual) which Louis tries to sabotage and then it’s bedtime for him as well.

8:20
After reading him a story I come back into the living room and notice the fading evening light. Summer is indeed
almost over. I snap one last picture and then start in on curriculum planning while my husband starts some
laundry.

10:00
I can’t concentrate on work any longer so I answer a few emails and then peruse flickr for awhile while my husband
heads off to bed. I have quite a few blogs I read, but find that I’m really addicted to flickr. It’s so much easier and
quicker to leave comments and that makes the dialog more dynamic. And I’m continuously inspired by the images.
I can’t do this too long though or it’s visual overload. Time for bed.

11:00
goodnight.