I apologize for the brief interruption in blog posts! Christmas was sneaky this year and left me *almost* unprepared. I was scouting out stocking stuffers on the 24th… so last minute I am at times. Picking up where I left off…

I skipped a few prompts and move right on to ‘Packaging” last time I blogged. I was so excited to talk about the Francie Pants packaging, I whirled right past a few.

Album of the year… unfortunately, most days, you will find me listening to the Backyardigans, Mickey Mouse, and on good days, the Shrek 2 soundtrack (which is actually REALLY good… I like to put Holding Out for a Hero on repeat play and watch the kids dance like maniacs) I don’t get much time to listed to the stuff I enjoy, but I’m cool with that. I love to watch my kids dance and sing. But, if I had to choose, I would choose the Newsboys latest album, “In The Hands Of God” — Love it.

The best place… Home with the fam, of course!

New food… I have not tried anything new in quite some time. I am a Filet Mignon, cooked rare with long grain and wild rice, asparagus and a little hollandaise on the side kinda girl. I could eat that *every* day. seriously. However, I have really been wanting to try Thai food for a while now. Perhaps in the new year.

Change you made to the place you live… Definitely without a doubt, organizing our “loft” area. This is where the kids play, where I work, etc. Every day it would turn to shambles with toys everywhere. So, I spent about $100 and got a bunch of organizing bins, buckets, etc and viola! serenity.

Rush… well, that would be every Sunday morn, trying to get all the kids dressed and out the door to go to Church. We are always RUSHING! LOL. Seriously though… I get a rush every time I hear great things about my designs. Makes me want to keep on keeping on. Love it.

Packaging… see last post.

Tea of the year… I’m a coffee girl.. and I love lattes. I think I have a *small* addiction to coffee. I crave it. But, alas, it keeps me going.

Word or phrase… Bring it! BRING IT! I am ready.. so just bring it.

Shop… this is really an unfair question since I design mostly ecommerce sites. I can’t mention one and not the other.. so if you want to find some A M A Z I N G shops.. check out my portfolio.

Car ride… there is this stretch of road here that I like to drive down. I call it a short cut to several places around town.. but the speed limit on the road is 25mph, so it actually takes longer. Why do I like this stretch or road? It reminds me of home. It reminds me of where I grew up… my roots. It brings back so many memories.

New person… There are so many new people that I met this year.. both IRL and virtually. I can’t possibly name them all. The all made impressions on me in so many different ways.

Project… I am still working on this one.. it’s top secret for now. But, I am so in love with it.. it’s a personal project and it grows each day. Soon, you will know about it.

Startup… I would have to go with my Hubby’s consulting biz on this one. Semper Consulting Group. While he has had a side consulting biz for a while, he really ramped it up this year and I am so proud of him.

Web Tool… Picnik for sure. While I don’t use very much at all… Picnik has made my life SOOOOOO much easier. Picnik is so user friendly. It has been a breeze for my customers to use and create fab pics, etc. It helps make the websites I create look fab. Thanks Picnik!

Learning Experience… what you want, and what you need are often 2 very different things.

Gift… Lucy… she was the best gift this year. By far.

Insight or aha! moment… see “Learning Experience”

Social web moment… I found twitter. yes, that’s right.. I did not find twitter until THIS year… 2009. while I registered my username in 2008, I did not start using twitter until this year. And holy heck WHERE HAVE I BEEN??? Twitter has been so amazing for me and for my business. I can tell you that I would have been totally lost at Blogher without twitter. I can tell you that it has enabled me to meet (virtually) so many new people. I can tell you that I have worked on so many new projects, all because of twitter.

Stationery… I am soooo an email girl. Stationery is just not my thing. Paper on the other hand… there is this store, Archivers. It’s a scrapbook store. I don’t scrapbook at all. but I go to this store.. I buy scrapbook paper like a mad woman. Why? Because it’s awesome. it’s inspiring.. it’s colorful, beautiful, amazing. This is where a lot of my inspiration come from.

Laugh… The Office. I know, sad, right? I took a year off from watching The Office. I just got busy, and TV was not a priority (gasp!) But lately, I have been watching re-runs and LMAO. So, I think I might squeeze in those episodes I missed. Watching them makes me grateful for my job, and the fact that it is sooo not like that.

Ad… I was totally in love with Comcast’s ad campaign this year

Resolution… I don’t recall making any last year. eeeep. But this year, I want to get in shape. Like really get in shape… while I am still young. (35 is young, right???)

Happy New Year Friends!

I would really like to thank Gwen for hosting this challenge. Gwen, you are so very inspiring. I am so glad to have met you virtually.. and hope to meet you IRL some day. You are a true rockstar lady! Thanks so much for pushing the limits and keeping us on our feet. It was wonderful to reflect on this past year, and also start thinking about next year!

-Shan

*** Disclaimer***
This post was written with lots of LOVE and a bottle of WINE. Sorry for any typos… I will fix them in the morning!
******************

My most favorite packaging this year is 100% for sure the Francie Pants Packaging! I am so so happy with the way it turned out. This was my first stab at packaging design, and working together with Ciaran and Patrick from Francie Pants, we totally nailed it. I keep a box on my desk and look at it from time to time. Reminds me that hard work really pays off.

Check it out!

So fun!

-S

This one had to be a combined post for me. This year has been a whirlwind. Lucy (aka #8) arrived in June. Since then it has been non stop. I had to unexpectedly backburner a few things as Lucy was sick over the summer. Some face-time with the hospital was necessary and that forced me to postpone a few huge personal projects in order to work on other freelance stuff. Paying customers come first!

Peace came for me knowing that Lucy would be OK eventually… knowing all the other kids and my hubs were healthy.

The challenge, I’ve yet to overcome, it will have to wait until the new year. In the new year, I WILL finish those personal projects. Great thing will be happening around here… just wait and see.

-S

I have to pick just one??? I have 3 blogs that I have recently added to Google Reader and I truly look forward to new post each week.

Gwen Bell

Design Mom

IS•LY

Happy Reading!

-S

Blogher for sure! I met so many cool people there and just had a great time. It was especially nice to meet a couple of my own customers.. Whitney from Mommies With Style and Ciaran. I was there simply to network, etc. Being a designer, I thought this would be a great networking event. I had Lucy 4 weeks prior, so naturally she was with me. My mom and my other daughter joined me for the trip as well! So fun. Oh and um hello.. the best party.. Social Luxe
!

October 31st.. trick or treating of course… My kids all decided to dress up as Lord of the Rings characters. Only my oldest has seen the movie thus far. He and my 2nd oldest have read the books and of course told and retold the story to the younger kids. So fun to see them hatch this little plan to dress up as a group!

My LOTR crew:

Best book I have read this year – Gary Vaynerchuk’s CRUSH IT! Why? Being an entrepreneur, naturally I was drawn to this book… I pre-ordered it. I waited and waited for it to come. Something unexpected happened after I read it though… awesomeness. I realized that not only will this book help me kick ass and take names.. but my customers as well. This is the advice I should be passing to my customers too.

So, yeah, if you have not read it…. GO… BUY… READ. Worth every penny.

-S

I can’t think of a favorite article. I have lots of boring articles that I have bookmarked and reference from time to time… mostly design stuff and freelance stuff. My favorite reads lately have been from my kids. With school in full swing, there are plenty of papers being written around this homeschooling house.

A few weeks ago, my 3rd grader wrote a report on Koala Bears. I actually learned quite a bit. And it was fun helping her formulate interesting sentences. Today, my 7th grader wrote a 4 paragraph reflection of “A Christmas Carol” and what he thought about each visit to Scrooge. It was very neat to see how he described each visit. My 5th grader… he also wrote a report this week. He is probably my most creative writer in the house (so far.) His report was about the Revolutionary War. And, while I don’t remember specifically what he was talking about in the last paragraph, I do remember his last sentence… “What’s up with that?” That’s how he ended it. With my red pen in hand, I *almost* corrected him and said HELLO??? you can’t end a report like that. But, I didn’t… because, it was kind of cool.. and, he’s only in 5th grade. He made it personal… that made me smile.

-S

You know, the thing I like most about Gwen’s challenge is I have to reflect on this past year. I have to sit down and think about all the fun, exciting, crazy, wonderful things I did over this last year. Being a mom to 8 wonderful children.. married to a fabulous husband, working a day job, freelancing on weekends and nights, I don’t often have time to reflect on all the fun times.

I had a few awesome dinner/lunch outings this past year. One of me favs was Lunch at Blogher with my dear friend Ciaran and some new (amazing) girls, Jo (and her mom), Melissa and Alma. My kids still play with Alma’s memory game made out of her awesome patterns.

During that same trip, My mom, my 2 daughters and I were able to meet up with the Godmother of all of my kids. It was a very special treat, because this was the first time she was able to meet Lucy (who was only 4 weeks old) in person. We had such a fun time eating and chatting.

I think my fav was my anniversary dinner with my hubs last January. He surprised me, took me to Smith and Wollensky Steakhouse sans kids. It was wonderful. He even had a little extra surprise.. a beautiful bracelet with a letter charm for each of our kids. So very sweet.

I do have to have to give mention to this salad below. This was by far my favorite dish over this past year. I made this one day during my pregnancy… total craving. It was delicious. You can find the recipe over at my moms blog. I just had to share the recipe with everyone. I used a pomegranate vinaigrette! It was just amazing.

until tomorrow…..
-S

In an effort to start blogging more, I have decided to take on Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge.

First, before I start, let me tell you what little I know about Gwen. She is
A M A Z I N G. Seriously, google this lady.. she’s a rockstar, no doubt about it. I have never met Gwen in person. I saw her at Blogher ’09, but never got around to meeting her. Since then, I had the pleasure of working on a small project with her and she is just awesome! And get this.. her hubby is 1 of 7… I think she thinks I am somewhat normal. (hehe) Seriously though, Gwen is a total inspiration.

Soooooo… my best trip of 2009? Well, we don’t travel much at all (ya know, the 8 kid thing). I had a blast with my mom and my 2 girls in Chicago this past summer. The whole fam travelled to DC over Easter this past year as well. I visited NYC (for the first time!) last November, but that was in ’08.

I think that my best trip of 2009 was in June… the 23rd to be exact. It was slightly unplanned, meaning that this trip was not supposed to take place until July, but due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to travel a bit early. It all worked out for the best though. Where did I go you ask? I went to the hospital, and 2 days later came home with Lucy.

Yes, that was for sure the best trip of 2009!

Thanks Gwen for challenging us! This will be fun.

-S