Living the Creative Life

via: Runtastic Pedometer According to smart, healthy-type people, it's best to aim for walking 10,000 steps a day. (In other words, 5 miles a day). As a perpetual couch potato myself, that sounds like a tall order! The Walking Site explains that the average sedentary person (sounds like me!) walks about 1000-3000 steps a day, on average. No wonder my metabolism has slowed down post-high-school! I definitely qualify as a sedentary person. So... naturally this information made me curious to see how many steps a day I'm walking. I found an interesting free iPhone app (it's also available for Android phones) that you just turn on and leave in your pocket all day. It tracks not only your steps but also translates that into miles. Yesterday I tried it out and walked about 4000 steps (I went for a 15-20 minute walk in the morning, which I normally don't do). I'm very curious to see over the course of time, how much I walk on average (and whether or not this will m...

Technology is amazing, isn't it? Did you know you can now watch the ball drop live over the internet? Granted, it's not time-delayed, like I'm used to on tv, but in a way, this is even better! Happy New Year, everyone!

I was recently reviewing my GoodReads account and realized I've only finished 22 books this year! Twenty-two!! That's... like... crazy talk. Seriously. When I was 12, I could easily finish 22 books in one month. Granted, my life is busier now and the books I read tend to be longer, but still... If anyone's curious, I read 27 books in 2012, 22 books in 2011, and 13 books in 2010. This is an alarming trend, people! One realization I've been coming to is that I spend far too much time zoning out in front YouTube, television, The Sims, Solitaire... basically anything on my computer or phone that could be considered fun. And while there's nothing wrong with fun, I think perhaps I need to put fun back in it's rightful place. So... I'm going to try an experiment. I'm starting this week, even though it's not the New Year yet, because if I don't start now I never will. This is a modified version of my previous  technology fast , in case you were won...

I was recently asked for a list of my favorite web design tutorials, and... well... I got a little carried away. So, here's my ultimate web design resource list! Merry Christmas! Basic Development Platforms Blogger : This one is free and very versatile, since you have full access to both the HTML structure of the site, as well as the CSS style sheets. They have a WYSIWYG editor, as well as a custom CSS editor, making it extremely easy to customize a basic blog or site very quickly. Wordpress : Though the basic software is free, this one does require you to purchase hosting. I personally find Wordpress cumbersome and annoying to code, but it can be extremely robust and versatile if you know what you're doing. There are many, many free and paid templates to choose from, which can give you a good starting ground for designing a site. (Or if you'd rather design a completely custom site, there are many people who specialize in coding Wordpress sites from scratch, which can b...

I always find it interesting to hear what other people have on their iPhones, so thought you might be interested to hear what's on mine! Here are a few of my favorite apps. Solar This app is pretty fun - it gives you a visual color representation of what the weather for the day will be like. You can scroll up with your thumb to view up to 24 hours of weather data, or pull down with your thumb to view the 3-day forecast. You can have it set to your current location and also store other locations that you like to keep track of. The color of the weather changes based on what the weather is at that time during the day as well as what time of day it is (darker blues for nighttime, etc). (Available on iTunes ) Google Maps If you ever wanted turn-by-turn directions but didn't want to buy a TomTom or other GPS device, then this is the app for you. It's oddly accurate (as I'm sure you would expect if you've ever used Google Maps) and I love that it doesn't yel...

Because of my recent post about de-cluttering your email inbox , I've been thinking more about the process of unsubscribing in general. I mean, it's not particularly hard, but it got me to wondering how many lists I'm actually subscribed to. I could think of a few off the top of my head, because I actually enjoy those newsletters, but every so often I'll get a random email catalog and be like, "When did I sign up for this?" Lol. I stumbled across a very interesting app today that helps clarify this question of "What am I subscribed to?" and makes it very easily to both unsubscribe from them and also to combine all of the subscriptions you do want into one post (instead of the dozen or so posts that you may normally receive from all the various places you've subscribed to). Unroll.me is a free website to sign up for. It scans your (Gmail or Yahoo) inbox in about 20 seconds and then lists out all the subscription lists you're on. It actu...

For today's Blog Every Day in May post, I have to teach you something that I'm good at. I've noticed that for some reason a lot of people have an overflowing email Inbox and I've never really had that problem, so... here's how I accomplish that! Step One: Unsubscribe to Catalogs, Email Newsletters, Etc. Now unless you actually read said catalogs or newsletters, having these clutter your inbox is just pointless. It creates stress by creating extra junk to wade through and it also tempts you to buy things that you may not have been intending to buy. Get rid of all unnecessary mailers like this by clicking on the "Unsubscribe" button at the bottom of the email (which they are required by law to have). Step Two: Banish Spam to the Spam Folder One type of email that you actually don't want to try to "Unsubscribe" to is Spam email. Spam is nothing that you've signed up for and usually takes the form of a chain letter promising good/bad l...

I was reading my blog subscriptions today and ran across a great post over on Alicia's blog about what podcasts she listens to. Which made me think... I listen to podcasts all the time! Why have I never shared about them? Here are five podcasts that I listen to that you just may like too! Do you listen to podcasts? Leave a comment below with your favorites! Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes . The Deeply Graphic Design Cast I love the generally laid-back nature of this podcast, along with the great advice from working designers. They talk about trends in the industry, tips on dealing with clients, and just general advice on running a graphic design business. Even if you're not a designer, you could probably glean from the great small business tips in here. They also have a great blog with more design and business tips, if that's something you're interested in. Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes . MacBreak Weekly I have listened to many podcasts in the Tw...

Oh my goodness. Don't ever buy online from Utrecht Art Supplies . I don't think I've met such poor customer service in a long time. So back on October 15th, I ordered some tech pens that were on sale from them for a project at school. I figured it'd take a week or two to receive, and since our project wasn't starting for about another month, that'd be plenty of time. They're having a great sale and the item states that it's in stock, so... perfect! About three weeks go by, classes are busy, time flies by, and as everyone else in my class is showing off their new pens, I suddenly realize mine have never come. How strange. I go online to check the status of my order... it says "Processing". Processing? Was my card bad? What's the deal? And more importantly, why hadn't they told me about this sooner? I'd expected to receive my item by now and it still hasn't left their warehouse? What's going on? So I email them and ...

Wow... I don't know what to say. I'm kind of in shock. I just found out that Steve Jobs died today. I've only been a Mac for a few years now, but his legacy has still meant so much to me. It blew my mind when I first realized that there was a company out there that actually thought computers and MP3 players could be a work of art. Music to my ears! After years of wrestling with PCs, I finally discovered Apple and, well, the rest is history. The Mac's beautiful elegance made me wonder why I hadn't switched sooner. Design, music, photography... it all works better on a Mac. More seamlessly. More intuitively. The machine gets out of the way so a person's creative process can happen. I have Steve Jobs to thank for this. His story is kind of crazy when you think about it. He was a college dropout who started a computer company in his garage. Now this company could probably pay off the national debt with their petty cash. And he accomplished all of this whil...

Wow! I impressed myself today! ;) I was trying out a software called  Pixelmator , to see if I could create a more professional-looking banner for my site . A few tutorials later... voila !! (Scroll to the top of the page) . While I was at it, I re-designed the banner and logo for my Etsy shop as well. So cool!! I've been wishing I could take some design classes, but haven't really found the time or money to do so. Luckily there are some very helpful Pixelmator tutorials on their website! I learned how to do variant grades and also bubbles. Fun fun! :) Long story short, if you're looking for a Photoshop-esqe graphic design app for the Mac, this one seems like it could do the trick. I really know nothing about Photoshop so have no idea if this could do everything for you that you're used to Photoshop doing... but... for me, it opens up a world of manipulating text and photos that I didn't previously realize I could do! Old Design New Design

So tonight... my iPhone decided to take a bath. Bad iPhone! Bad!! In one heart-stopping moment, my life flashed before my eyes as I watched my iPhone dive it's way gingerly to the bottom of the bathtub. $200 down the drain! Nooooo! Luckily, I listen to about a million geek podcasts , so knew immediately what to do in this situation. Within a nano-second, my save-the-day instinct kicked in; my fingers deft and sure, reached down, saving my drowning iPhone from certain death. I instantly did the only thing that's crucial to do at this point: POWERED IT DOWN! Resisting temptation to turn it back on "just to check and make sure it was alright!", I quickly found my laptop and Googled to make sure I did the next part right. Remove SIM card. Bury in a pile of rice. Wait for 2-7 days. No problem. Except for the fact that I was flying out the next day to California! Great timing, I'll tell you. I feel like I'm missing a limb, traveling without my iPhone, even...