The online training classes I filmed in August are live at xtrain.com. My classes are listed under Web Design, and are all in the Web Design Process section. These classes outline the general business process used for web design.
Use promo code “wendy” to save 15% off anything at xtrain.com!
This weekend we finally finished a design project I envisioned the moment we first stepped foot into this house. In the living room, there is a wall that always seemed to beg for a series of built-ins. After interviewing several contractors, we selected one and set about finalizing the design. Almost 8 weeks later, the entire room has come together even better than I had hoped. The walls are venetian plaster in a warm butter yellow, and the built-ins are painted oak and MDF (color = linen white). The room feels warmer, larger, cozier, and just wonderful. The gas fireplace below the TV really adds to the ambiance, and warms the room on these cold, rainy winter days! Thanks to my friends who helped “paint”, the contractor who built my vision, and my husband for putting up with the whole process!
My close friends (and now everyone else) know I love to shop. But Black Friday’s super long lines are not something I look forward to, which is why I LOVE shopping online on Black Friday!!! You can do it from the comfort of your own home, in cozy pjs, with a cup of steaming hot cocoa (or other more “relaxing” beverages)…
Amazon.com is one of my favorite places to shop on Black Friday because of their hourly deals. And, because of their customer votes section! Everyone votes on which deal we’d most like to buy (umm… I definitely voted for the Nintendo Wii for $79!!!!) and then we get to buy whichever item gets the most votes! Who can buy online the quickest? It’s a virtual race to the checkout! See you there!
A little Friday morning funny: http://www.makemylogobiggercream.com/
Star-burst dust, make my logo cream, white space eliminator… they are SO what the clients are asking for!
As a self-employed freelance designer, I’m used to working odd hours to fulfill client requests. Sometimes I work late into the evening and other times I wake up early to finish a project. While other days, I work only during the day while the kids are in school. But in the end, I limit myself to roughly 30 hours a week to leave time to do everything else that fills my life.
My husband, on the other hand, is a full-time employee elsewhere. He actually works as a systems engineer to support a health-care system, which means he does have some on-call time. He and his co-workers seem to work not just their regular day, but also at night and seemingly whenever they can.
I wondered if his situation was unique, and then I realized how often I have been working late and a client has actually responded! Just last week, I was working as a sub-contractor for an agency who was tasked with creating a web site for a legal organization. I sent an email to both my contact at the agency, and the client representative at 10pm one evening. I was shocked when just five minutes late BOTH men responded to my email! We continued to carry on a work-related email conversation for about 30 minutes before the task at hand was finished.
So when I take all of this in, I realize that even for full-time employees the “normal” work-week seems to have disappeared. PDAs, Email, instant messaging, even new web apps like Twitter keep us connected 24/7–to work as well as to friends and family. We’re so connected, it seems, we don’t ever “log out” of work. I can’t help but wonder if all this connectivity isn’t going to come back to bite us in the end. What do you think?
