Living the Creative Life

Besides doing a ton of homework this weekend, I spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos posted of the Sim City 5 closed beta test. A certain amount of lucky people got to test out this new game that comes out in March (unfortunately I was not one of them), so there were a LOT of gameplay videos up on YouTube in the past couple days. It was extremely entertaining and mesmerizing to watch people build the cities, even though not all the buildings and options were available yet in this beta version. If you remember the older versions, the concept is basically the same, but with a lot of the complicated parts (like managing the budget or laying water pipes) simplified so you can focus on overarching city situations like angry citizens and natural disasters. A few things I am going to love about this game Zoning for residential/commercial/industrial is super easy. You literally just paint along any road (whether the road is curved, straight, whatever) and the buildings just bu...

This topic of pricing is always on my mind. Just as soon as I feel like I've figured it out, some other doubt creeps in and convinces me that I'm doing it wrong. Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way. ;) I ran across this article the other day (aimed at graphic designers, but would really work for any creative entrepreneur) that gave some amazing advice in this area! Here's a quick summary, but it'd definitely be worth it read the entire article yourself when you've got a spare 10 minutes. What should I charge? This is the one area that I have the most anxiety about. I'm constantly worried that I'll anger current designers (and therefore come across as amateur) by underbidding on jobs, and also worried that I'll scare off potential clients by overbidding. It makes it even more difficult by the fact that most designers don't share their prices on their websites. (What's up with that anyway?). The advice in this artic...

I've been pondering what to call my design business this week. I have been feeling the urge to push forward into something more official, which would mean registering a business with the proper authorities... which also means having an actual name for my business. It would make sense to stick with something referring to Desert Rose, since that's what I've been using on my Etsy shops for years, but that particular phrase is actually a pretty common business name. I think I'd rather use something else a little more unique and catchy. What do you think? What sort of process did you go through to figure out your business name (if you have one)? Did you do any market research before you settled on something?

It's been extremely gray here in Oregon this week... more than usual even. I kid you not, we haven't seen blue sky (or any sky, for that matter) in probably two weeks. It's been this weird, hazy, oppressive, dull gray, without even a cloud distinction to break up the monotony. Usually at least we have partially clear skies with clouds and rain thrown in for good measure. This week... nothing but flat gray nothingness that consumes all other colors previously viewable. It's like we're living in the black and white version of Kansas from the Wizard of Oz. So... I decided to compensate by brightening up my blog a little! I got a sweet background from Making' Cute Blogs and then simplified my layout a bit also. What do you think?

I've been playing around with the newest expansion pack for The Sims 3... Seasons! So far my favorite season is winter - your Sim can add Christmas lights to their house, make snow angels and snowmen, build igloos, and even ice skate on the rivers and ponds! This expansion adds all the seasons and has a town festival for each one, which is really cute. I didn't get any pics of that, but here are some cute ones of winter!

I took a short walk today and the weather was beautiful! We got a touch of frost last night, but no snow yet. The sun peaked out this afternoon and warmed everything up just enough to make it a pleasant walking temperature!

Well my meeting yesterday with the department dean went well (see Sunday's post , if you have no idea what I'm talking about). At first there didn't seem to be any wiggle room. The dean was sympathetic to my plight, but the financial aid people weren't budging. Then the dean's secretary remembered a department grant that they still had to give out! The grant basically covers tuition and nothing else, but that's more than I had before! From there it pretty much steamrolled. They just needed the department head's approval to give me the grant, and since he's also my advisor and the one who was so adamant that I talk to the dean to find a way to stay... well obviously he was more than willing to okay it. I'm just waiting on the paperwork to go through now, but it looks like all will be well. Now I just need to cover fees and supplies on my own, which is still going to cost me a bit, but it'll be less painful than trying to come up tuition by Frida...