Happy 2012!

Happy New Year! 

This year was a big one, involving many big changes including leaving my job and moving across the country. There have been setbacks and challenges but I have been moving forward and have big goals for 2012, especially for my design work and this blog. I'm excited to continue exploring what community based design means to me and how design can make a difference. There will be more learning sf posts as I explore my adopted home, more recipes, more tumblights and, I truly hope, more conversations.

Looking forward to sharing 2012.

to my next phase

Friday marked the start of fall. My blogroll filled with recipes for chili and tutorials for scarves while I resisted. For East Coast friends, the change was apparent with the first colder days appearing. For me, last week was one of the warmest since I've moved to Berkeley.

A rainy weekend forced me to confront reality and consider why I've been resisting. For the past eighteen of my twenty-four years, fall has signaled the start of a new year, a new phase. Summer off was a wonderful treat but I look forward to my next phase, whatever it may be.

Photo from trip to NYC last November. All rights reserved. 

life update

Posting has been inconsistent over the past month, partially due to my camera being broken and then sent off to repairs but also because there have been some big changes in my life. I've left my job and am preparing for a move to the West Coast. I plan to continue to the blog as I move and settle into my new city, appropriate since it was started as I learned to love Richmond.

I am sad to leave Richmond. I hope I have shown some of the magic of this Southern city that I have discovered. I'll have a few more Richmond posts before I join the Partner-in-Crime in the Bay Area and begin again making a new city home. Over the next month or two as I live in transition, spending time at home and the beach with family, last visits to Richmond, DC and maybe New York posts may be infrequent but there are a few way to keep track of my adventures, musing and just pictures I enjoy.

Twitter: @percentblog
Tumblr: percentblog.tumblr.com
Pintrest: pinterest.com/percentblog
and, of course,
Etsy: percent.etsy.com

sorry for the lack of posts

A broken camera has kept me from posting several events I would have loved to share. There will be no new posts for the next week while I'm home in North Carolina for my brother's wedding but when I return there will be a very exciting update!

making it big time

I have exciting news! Thanks to this little blog, I've been asked to cover the third annual Richmond Fashion Week for GayRVA.com. Last year, I was just starting to explore Richmond so I missed Fashion Week but this year I'll be front and center (or wherever press are. Step one, figure out where press belong...) I'm especially thrilled to be covering the event for GayRVA.com, an great organization who have hosted many events I've enjoyed in the past, including the recent Fashion for a Cause. I won't be the only blogger covering the shows for them; Lindsay aka RVAFashionista will be joining me.

I'm missing this weekend's shows due to work obligations in DC but you can check out all the action starting this Saturday. Be sure to go to gayrva.com for your recaps!



Image from Richmond Fashion Week's website.

more percentblog

I've been a bad blogger lately because I've forgetten my camera or forgotten to take pictures two days in a row. Sorry for the lack of images in this post. So first a shout out to a lovely evening at Sprout with wine and cheese tasting. Wine from Barboursville Winery, a Virginia vineyard I've had a bit around town, and cheese from Sullivan's Pond Farm, who I've gotten cheese from once at the South of the James Market. (Which I am looking forward to the return off. And of lots of local veggies in general.) The son of the cheesemaker, a budding cheesemaker himself, was eager to talk about the process of making the individual cheeses which added to the night.

Tonight I attended SMCRVA, the Social Media Club of Richmond, for the first time. The events have always sounded intriguing but the topic of Tumblr and fashion put the event in the must attend column. Planning on attending, I also started a Tumblr blog to poke around. Since it was a social media focused event, it focused more on Tumblr than on fashion; I would have preferred the reverse but it was good for helping me (somewhat) refine my vision of the difference between this blog and Tumblr. In fact, the speakers from Tumblr seemed to view their platform more similarly to Twitter than Tumblr.

Anyway, I have set up percentblog.tumblr.com. Check it out if you wish, it will be short posts on things I like. Some of the 'quick pic' and 'music of the day' features will likely move over there, and I will push myself to focus on new content for this blog. Like always, both will include design, food, fashion and the things that make like beautiful. Hope you enjoy!

quick pic: paper mache

papier mache peacock jane grey for stray dogs designs at gwg

My paper mache masterpiece, done in 9th grade.

i think i'll float on down to Richmondtown

Today is my last day as a DC (semi-)resident. Work is relocating me to Richmond and in the last weeks, I've found an apartment, acquired a new roommate, signed a lease and tomorrow I move down. I'll still be in DC a lot due to work and also the number of friends I have here but Richmond will be my new home. This blog will become a chronicle for the new places I enjoy in Richmond and also the process of turning my rented apartment into a dream home.

I debated getting a single bedroom apartment, especially since rent is much lower in Richmond than DC but with traveling to see my sweetie taking a large part of my budget, I decided to save the money. My roommate hasn't done too much to the place so I'll have a lot of projects coming up as I make it my home. Plus, I don't know anyone in Richmond so I'll have lots of nights in doing crafts!

intro...

Everyday I read blogs on design, crafts, food and think how much I'd like to chronicle my own journey discovering the beautiful things around me and, more particularly, the beautiful things I can create. I have a job at a nonprofit that I love, love, love but know I have an intense need to be creative and create. Even at design school (a degree I don't particularly put into practice) I needed to do things outside of my projects in order to indulge my creative urges and have tangible objects at the end. I use design thinking at my job all the time, I just don't get to actually make things. That's what this blog is for. The things I create and the inspiration I find that makes me want to create more.