If I could go back to college, I’d change very little — except my majors. I doubled in journalism and psychology, but now I wish that second major was design or art. More and more I’m fascinated by typography, lettering and graphic design, and since college is a somewhat distant memory (yikes), I feed my curiosity with tons of design-minded blogs, like Maggie’s Waller’s Type & Title, which curates all things cool in typography and hand lettering. Maggie, a recent San Diego transplant by way of Iowa and Texas, also owns her own design studio, where she offers paper goods, temporary tattoos and custom projects. I love how her blog acts like a peek into the creative process with glimpses of inspiration and mid-stage projects.
Today Maggie tells us why she’s armed with a million notebooks, what she does for 30 minutes each day and coffee–always coffee.
Name: Maggie Waller Age: 26 Hometown: Boonville, MO Current city: San Diego, CA Profession: Freelance graphic designer & letterer // type & titleread more
Boy, that was fun. Last Monday I taped a segment for The Queen LatifahShow that involved food, the Queen, Curtis Stone and two other wonderful bloggers, Daniela Galarza of Los Angeles magazine and LAist food writer/TV personality, Krista Simmons (she was a judge on season 4 of Top Chef Masters). The challenge was to make a dish with a citrus theme, as Stone’s new seasonally focused Beverly Hills restaurant, Maude, is offering all sorts of citrus delights this month. The bigger challenge was that I had to make this dish during my Cosmopolitan Grammys assignment and in the kitchen of my friend’s apartment, where I was crashing all weekend.
I freaked out.
Then my mom put it all in perspective: My favorite dish growing up was, in fact, lemon-themed. Yes! I decided to make lemon rice sticks, a traditional South Indian noodle dish that incorporates turmeric, chilies and cilantro. It’s incredibly easy, which would help with my short-on-time conundrum, and represents my culture.
Teddy turns 1 today, and while a lot of people may think it’s ridiculous to commemorate an animal’s birthday, if you read my post about why having a dog is so important to me, then maybe you’d understand why I’m getting a wee bit emotional.
Most people talk about only the good stuff, but I’m here to tell you very honestly that Year One was hard as hell.
This new year is off to an incredible start. I know the video will make you think that January was all Teddy, but that’s only because Eaman and I have been working so hard that playing with him has been a major stress reliever. But don’t get it twisted; the stress stems from totally awesome work, like covering the Grammys for Cosmopolitan, taping a segment forThe Queen Latifah Show (airing next Tuesday!) and crossing other major career goals off the list. (The first two didn’t make the video; I was too frazzled to catch them on camera.) To top it off, Eaman’s business is going incredibly well. Hooray!
I know it sounds corny, but when I was heading back from L.A. earlier this week, I almost started crying (tears of joy) about all the good fortune that’s come my way so quickly in 2014. Last year sucked in a lot of ways, but I felt a positive energy coming from 2014. And if everything else goes to hell this year, at least I’ll know that January was crazy in the best possible way.
Here’s a look at January — a trip up to L.A. to see one of my best friends, San Diego visitors and plenty of cute dogs. Enjoy!
I hate most salads. The ones with leafy greens, chopped tomatoes, lentils, etc.? I just hate them. They’re not satisfying, they’re not filling and they honestly make me unhappy about life. I’m not saying I need pounds of carbs in my meal, but there’s something about salads that makes me feel like I’m eating rabbit food.
But I did do a double take when I saw 101 Cookbooks‘ recipe for a California barley bowl, which seemed to be a salad for salad-haters. Beyond greens, nuts and avocado — typical salad staples — there were grains! Catchy name aside, this is a salad experiment worth trying. It’s delicious thanks in large part to the different textures — chewy barley, creamy avocado and crunchy nuts — and made for a perfect lunch. Unlike my usual sandwich or taco routine, I felt full but light, which is crucial to being productive the rest of the work day.
You may have seen some exciting news on my Twitter and Instagram feeds this past weekend: I got to attend the Grammys for Cosmopolitan! It was an incredible weekend that included a backstage tour, major glam makeover session with Cover Girl, Herbal Essences and Olay, and of course the big show. Imagine going to the best concert of your life where Madonna, Beyonce, Pharrell and so many more are the main acts. Oh, and 34 happy couples get married by Queen Latifah. It was incredible. I’m still on a high from it all.
I’ll keep it short because I’m exhausted from being so fabulous working around the clock this weekend, but you can read my scoop on behind-the-scenes Grammy fun right here and my recap of what it felt like to play celebrity for the day.
I’m so excited to welcome magazine editor, beauty blogger and my dear friend Shyema Azam to my rituals today! I met Shyema during my early years in New York, and we became fast friends probably because she’s one of the kindest, most hardworking and selfless people I know. Shyema was at the forefront of the blogging explosion; I was actually with her the night her blog, Beauty and the Feast, was designed and live! She was also a huge inspiration for my own blogging career — I started my very first blog (which is embarrassing/humbling to look at now) with her encouragement — and thanks to her I finally let my guard down about that weird thing called Twitter.
With her always changing schedule and multiple beauty events throughout the week, no week is ever the same for this gal. Today she talks about four routines that keep her sane, energized and well-kempt.
Last year was the first year of my freelance career. It was shaky, unsure and I rarely saw the light at the end of the tunnel. But what was perhaps even harder was figuring out how to successfully work from home. Can I wear yoga pants? Is it awful to sleep in? Is it weird to take the morning off and work at night?
Over the course of a year I’ve figured out a few things about what works for me (dressing up — maybe not in sequin leggings) and what doesn’t (heavy lunches), but I still have my fair share to learn. So I turned to three fabulous freelancer friends who are imparting their words of wisdom on what it’s like to be an at-home worker bee. Read on for their thoughts on sleeping in, separating work from home and watching Bravo.
