mmmmmMarmite!!!

I know some, well most people think Marmite is gross. I think you had to have had a large british influence in your home at a very young age to appreciate it. My mom came over from england on a boat when she was 13, sometimes her accent is perceptible enough for us (dad, kev and i) to make fun of, and we pretty much always had a jar of the suff around.

I LOVE the stuff, and it's actually GOOD for you. Now i routinely gross out friends, roommates and coworkers with my nasty little marmite habit (thanx mom). I've been running a bit low so when Joel and I were at the St.Lawrence Market this morning i went to my 'Marmite dealer' (downstairs next to the rice place), only to discover that he's imported LARGER jars!! I was excited a few months ago to get a whole 250g of the stuff (the one you see in grocery stores is usually like 100g).

The jar i bought this morning is a whopping 500g!



Unilever/Best foods, is actually BRILLIANT in their marketing of the stuff. The label has remained for the most part unchanged since the 1920s. They've build a whole website/campaign on people either LOVING or HATING the stuff. There's a fanclub on the site, desktops proclaiming your love and a forum where people post POETRY. I'm not kidding....


Marmite is my favourite spread,
I like to eat it when I'm in bed.
I eat it on toast, and on crackers,
I eat it off my b/firends kna**ers.

I eat it when I'm watching telly,
But not not with ice-cream,
Nor with jelly.

I like it for breakfast most,
That is when its spread on toast.

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I didn't just go to the market for marmite, we also got some gorgeous sushi grade tuna and this killer gouda. I also got an 11 grain loaf of fresh baked bread (excellent source of fibre to add to the B vitamins and iron in...you guessed it...marmite!).

The Accidental Creative

I found Todd Henry's Podcast on iTunes a few weeks ago and i've been listening and relistening to every one of them.
He talks and writes about all kinds of organizational challenges that concern creative companies (all companies really) and individuals. Things like time management, processes and harnessing your creative energy. He has totally pinpointed challenges that i have experienced and am currently experiencing and offers ways to overcome them or just think of them differently.

I have since signed up as a member so that i can have access to his whiteboard sessions, newsletter and member only podcasts and posted articles. Todd is a full time creative director and does all of his podcasting blogging ecoaching etc. after hours and i can imagine how hard it must be to juggle it all, but he has such an amazing outlook.

read the blog too:

www.accidentalcreative.com/blog

Design Matters

On the topic of Podcasts, I have found another AMAZING one on iTunes. Called: "Design Matters with Debbie Millman".
Debbie is a Managing Partner and President of the Design division at Sterling Brands in NYC. She's been working in the industry for 20 years. In her podcasts she interviews mainly graphic designers: Paula Scher, Hillman Curtis, Art Chantry, Milton Glaser, Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Bierut and the list goes on and on. To have an opportunity to listen to these people talk for 30 minutes about their lives and their careers, insights and experiences is so amazing and inspiring.

If you aren't in the design industry you might be asking yourself who a lot of these people are. They are my 'rockstars', people who have done and are doing some of the most inspiring work that i've seen...and they have touched your lives as well, even if you aren't aware of it...here's an example:



You're probably wondering where i'm finding the time to listen to these things...haha. I got an iPod recently and my 50 minute walk to work is the perfect length of time to listen to one or two.

Checkout Debbie's Blog:

http://debbiemillman.blogspot.com/

where you can access some of her podcasts on Voice America Online.

believe me or not.
that's up to you.

yes, the title of my blog is totally cocky, but it's also tongue in cheek. Hey, if i don't say i'm brilliant nobody else will! ha!

Truth be told, i'm really bad at thinking up things like this without a brief and a brainstorming session attached.
So get over the title, read some of my words/rants/ideas/inspiration...and add some of your own.

xo
d.

i broke my mobile phone

i broke my phone a couple of weeks ago. I tried holding it together with tape for a while but it finally gave up and passed away last friday afternoon. I experienced a brief moment of panic....what if i'm out and someone calls and i miss something? what if my freelance clients call? what if my mom calls? how am i going to know where and when to meet people?!

But then something strange happened, after a few days an eerie calm set in. I no longer worried about those things, or thought about them constantly. I KNEW people couldn't get in touch with me at a moments notice, i accepted it, and my mind went on to other things. I noticed after a while that i didn't really miss anything, that people could WAIT to talk to me and things that i may have reacted to immediately were ordered into a space in time that i chose. I really realized how much of my mental energy is taken up just thinking about these things, whether it's checking my email, or having my phone on me at all times 'just in case'. So i've made a promise to myself to leave the phone at home sometimes, to wander out into the world on my own unconnected. To enjoy being unreachable. So, if at anypoint i don't answer...don't worry about me, just leave a message.