hello.

i’ve been busy reading “The Power of Less” by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits and thoroughly enjoying it. most of the advice are things you’d think, “well, of course!”, but for some reason aren’t things i put into practice in every day life. i’m slowly making some changes, and hopefully creating some new (better) habits. one thing it has made me realise is that i need to focus. i have a lot of interests – design, photography, illustration, interiors, cooking etc. – and i enjoy a lot of different creative outlets, but the truth is that when i do too much, i spread myself too thin.

so, now i need to make a plan to focus. part of starting to focus includes decluttering and minimising. this past weekend i spent most of the time going through the apartment and getting rid of things we just don’t need, use or want. we now have two huge bags of clothes and two bags of books to donate to oxfam, and we have cleared away a lot of additional stuff we just don’t need. it feels good to have less clutter around, especially since our apartment is pretty small.

next, i will be “decluttering” my online life: emails, feeds i read, people i follow on twitter and projects i am involved in. this is actually where the hard part starts. it’s difficult to let go of projects that you have invested a lot of time and effort, and love. all things girl is one of those projects. i started it in 2001 and it’s been going strong, but when i sit down and honestly look at it, it no longer holds the same interest for me. i need to let go, hand it over to others who can really work with it, and move on. i don’t really like change much, i don’t like to let go of things i guess but i am hoping i’m moving in the right direction. change can be good. right?

i often get quite irked at the idea that just because someone is quiet they have no personality. you see it all the time on tv shows. the quiet person is usually considered the “dull” person. i’m a quiet person. and yes, i do, in fact have a personality. sometimes, if i haven’t had coffee, i can have quite the bitchy sort of personality. when did being loud, obnoxious, arrogant and extroverted become the default for having a personality?

it annoys me in the design world as well. just because i don’t use every opportunity to brag about my work, or hype a project, or project some air of superior confidence, doesn’t mean i’m not proud of the work we do. we are a small team and we do really good work. we don’t yell about it every day from every social network outlet, because, well, we don’t feel we have to. our clients like us and we like our clients.

btw, just because you do brag, hype or act overtly confident, doesn’t mean you are any good. i see many people exceptionally proud of some really sub-par work.

and now, i will quietly get back to work.

my new niece, savannah, was born on june 7th. she is a cutie-pie. i now have 3 nephews and 2 nieces, although i am a rather feeble aunt to be honest. for anyone wondering: my “contribution” to the family tree will be the adoption of dogs. many, many dogs.

recently i’ve seen 3 very well done and effective ads. it seems that good advertising is rare these days so it is refreshing to see that not all ads are boring, ridiculous or annoying. if i have to hear one more stupid jingle for a directory service, or see another 20 seconds of some moron cologne/perfume ad with some stick insect on a beach, i may have to consider never watching tv again. the horror!

at least there are a few rare gems to find in amongst the hours of mundane crap ads. these are my current 3 faves:

humour. it works wonders for a good ad. how can you not love this?

(Intel)

honest and touching. ok, i’m usually not one to promote pulling at the heart-strings since i cry at ads all the time, BUT, this one was more inspiring than depressing, so it’s an absolute win for me.

(VW Golf 6 ad via cherryflava)

sweet, fun and a good soundtrack. a recipe right there for an effective ad.

(Virgin trains)

it’s a huge day in SA today as the nation goes out to cast their vote. or, at least i hope they do. i’ve got mixed feelings about things in SA at the moment politically. i love my country. to me, it is the most beautiful, vibrant and promising country in the world. however, we have a long way to go in some areas, and sadly i fear that a man like zuma won’t take us in the right direction. actually, the fact that zuma will, in all likelihood (unless some major upset occurs), be president is terrifying and saddening to me. eish!

i’m extremely proud to be south african. i’m just not going to be at all proud to have him as our president.