I just discovered friends of type and I’m a little obsessed. I would love to have a print of this “Hola” type for my office.

Recently, the awesome Victoria Smith over at sfgirbybay came up with a wonderful idea to pull together 300 bloggers in her first ever “Blog it Forward” mash-up. The idea is for a few bloggers a day to blog about what inspires them, and then pass the blogging torch to the next few bloggers, until all 300 have shared their inspirations. I’m so excited to be a part of this inspirational blog it forward. I hope you enjoy the things I find most inspirational!

1. Adventure Traveling

about to jump of a bridge in Ecuador

When I travel, more than anything else, I like to seek out adventure! Sure, I like to sit on a beautiful sandy beach as much as the next person, but for me, nothing is more exhilarating than taking on the unknown and pushing myself to do whatever comes my way. Swinging on vines in the jungle, jumping off bridges in the rainforest, joining protests in Argentina, riding a camel through a Nubian village, making friends with the local animals, climbing all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower (no elevators for me), crawling through Pyramids, riding scary amusement park rides after one too many at Oktoberfest, dancing in the streets of Rio… you name it, I’ve done it. I find that nothing is more inspiring than pushing myself to my own limits and then finding my way back. I always come home feeling like I can take on the world!

2. Game Changers

photo via sfgate

The people that create products and technology that fundamentally change the way we interact with the world and live our lives. These people inspire me to push beyond my personal best. Some of my current favorites include Steve Jobs (apple),  Mark Zuckerberg (facebook), Max Levchin (paypal), Evan Williams (twitter), Rob Kalin (etsy), Bill Gates (microsoft), Shigeru Miyamoto (nintendo wii), Jeff Bezos (amazon), Caterina Fake (flickr), and so many more… I could go on forever.

3. Music and Lyrics

photo via gawker

Music has been there for me in the best of times and the worst. It has been such an instrumental (pun completely intended) part of my life. It’s my constant companion, my motivation, my escape, my passion, my everything. Some of my favorite things to read are lyrics. I adore the fanciful and clever use of language to convey stories and everyday emotions. My favorite lyricsts of all time is Robert Smith of The Cure. I have never come across another song writer who is able to conjure up his type of imagery to convey the most basic yet profound of feelings. Often times when I’m listening to lyrics, certain messages will jump out at me in a really significant way. A few years back I was listening to “The Food” by Common. The line “slow motion is better than no motion” has stuck with me ever since. I keep it in mind on a daily basis and find a tremendous amount of comfort and hope in that simple phrase.

4. Cultivators of Style

photo via ashleygtucker.com

For me, there is nothing I admire more than individuals and companies who are able to select and curate in a way that creates a strong brand, a defined sense of style, and a deliberate point of view. I am so inspired by people and companies who thoughtfully pull together products, music, photos, etc. and are able to create a world that the rest of us want to step into. From a retail perspective, I think Anthropologie does this exceptionally well.

photo via viva cinema

On a personal level, Sophia Coppola successfully achieves this through film. Every aspect of her films, from the music, the wardrobe, the saturation of color, to the subject matter she explores are so highly stylized that, once you have entered, you know it’s Sophia’s world. She truly inspires me to be my own cultivator of style.

5. Self Affirming Poster Art

When you work alone most of the time, you find your own ways of coping, keeping yourself in check, focused, motivated, and (most importantly) inspired. I like to cover my office walls with what I call “self affirming poster art.” This “Don’t Give Up” poster by Print Liberation inspires me to keep going everyday. Something about those large red letters and straight forward message really kicks me in the butt. Other words of encouragement on my office walls include “Smile” and “Live What You Love” ( Hijiri K), “Get Your Sh*t Together” (Orange Beautiful), “Mind You Manners” (Roll and Tumble Press), and, of course, “Keep Calm and Carry On” (sfgirlbybay).

6. My Big Brothers

From one I have learned how to love and appreciate art, design, film, writing, and Brit-Pop. From the other I picked up my love of playing sports, a sense of fearlessness and adventure, silly humor, yoga, and rap music. They have helped me become a well rounded person, constantly introduce me to new things, and enthusiastically support everything I do. Even though we live far apart, they’re always just a phone call, email, or iChat conversation away. All of that and, they’re just incredibly fun to be around.

Thank you again for organizing Blog it Forward! This was a lot of fun and I’ve had the best time reading about what inspires other bloggers. I’m passing the blogging torch off to Lana de Lanna so be sure to check out her post!

This year I decided to make a Valentine’s Day card for my boyfriend based on our mutual love for the Wii. It’s so comforting to know that at the end of even the most stressful days, he and I can sit down and rock out on Guitar Hero, crash into each other on Mario Cart, and turn some tables with (our new favorite) DJ Hero! The couple that plays together definitely stays together. I hope he loves the card I made! Something tells me he will.

Wishing you all tons of love on this Valentine’s Day!!

Just wanted to say hello on this busy Monday with a gorgeous image by PinkFlor. Stay tuned to meet one our newest LAMA designers later this week! Happy Monday!

The week before last I had the good fortune to attend Altitude Design Summit in Salt Lake City. If you follow all the wonderful design blogs I do, I’m sure you have read all of the gushing, unrestrained loving, and endless Alt praising by now. Some of you may be thinking, “Really? Was it really that amazing? Maybe if you’re a blogging rock star it was. What about everyone else?” To those that wonder, my answer is an emphatic YES! Yes, it really was that incredible. So I thought (finally) I would share my own Alt story:

First, I would like to thank twitter. Without twitter, I may not have heard of this wonderful event before it was too late. So thank you twitter. You are SO not a waste of time. As soon as my curiosity was peaked by all the Alt tweets, I clicked over to the Alt site, read the homepage, checked out the list of speakers and was sold. Three days in gorgeous Salt Lake City with my blogging heros? Where do I sign?! The next best thing that happened was receiving an IM from my good friend Ben Silbermann which read,”i was thinking about going to that conference you twittered about.” From there, we bought our plane tickets, booked a hotel and headed over (grateful that I had a travel buddy to keep me company and calm… I think I may have social anxiety disorder and a definite flying phobia).

It didn’t take long for my fears and anxiety to start melting away. Right off the bat I got to listen to Nicole Balch of Making it Lovely, Allison Czarnecki of Petit Elefant, Jaime Derringer of Design Milk and Karey Mackin of Mackin Ink speak about their favorite design sites. Something about the way they spoke about their own love and admiration for other blogs and bloggers (some they knew personally, others they did not) made me realize some important things. These women are just like me! They admire the work of others and sometimes wish they had so and so’s great eye or writing style or photoshop abilities. They don’t have superhuman powers or large teams of people working for them. They do what they do because they love it and they do it at the highest level possible for them.

Lesson 1: You don’t have to have superhuman powers to excel at what you do. Passion will get you far.

That night began with some speed networking and ended with a glamourous opening party that included delicious food (I should say delicious looking, I was too nervous to eat), live music, and an open bar (dangerous!) I arrived to the speed networking session at the same time as Jean Aw from NotCot. In fact, we chatted a bit about how we were both very unsure of what we were supposed to do there. I decided to play it cool (like I didn’t know that it was Jean Aw from NotCot) even though I was thinking, “omg! I’m talking to Jean Aw from NotCot!” I know, I’m such a dork. The opening party was tons of fun! I got to meet the people that would  become my “Alt clique” for the remainder of the time: Mackenzi Farquer (Site Design NYC), Sara Jensen (Lost Bird Found), Aaron De Simone (I Heart Media Inc.), Mat “with one T” Thorne (who was there to speak on behalf of Blurb but is also a very talented artist), and of course my travel buddy Ben (Pinterest). With them, I was able to courageously approach Joy from Oh! Joy (Aaron was so red) and eventually make my way over to Maxwell of Apartment Therapy (who, btw, I had a a big Alt crush on). It’s comforting to know that he probably doesn’t remember the slightly tipsy little Latina girl that was stumbling over her words and staring way too wide-eyed at him. Maxwell, if you ever read this, will you consider my apartment for your next Apartment Therapy book? It’s worth a shot, right?

Lesson 2: Everyone has someone that makes them nervous. Generally, most people are actually quite approachable. Trust in your friends to get you through the uncomfortable times.

The remainder of the time was a huge blur of excitement and inspiration. Keynote breakfast with Grace (Design Sponge), Heather (Dooce), Jean (NotCot), and Maxwell (Apartment Therapy)… inspiring! Panel after panel listening to my blogging heros talk about how they do it… inspiring! Lunch with DJ Earworm… inspiring! Wait, this is starting to sound like that Priceless Mastercard campaign. Maybe because I actually got to hang out in the Alt Lounge having casual conversation about the time I lived in Berlin with Jeroen Bours, genius marketer and creator of the “Priceless” campaign! And yes, chatting about Europe in a beautiful room with Jeroen Bours… PRICELESS!! Did I mention I stopped in the doorway on my way out to chat (again) with Jean Aw and she actually remembered a post I had contributed to NotCot? Priceless! (geeking out again)

Lesson 3: Opening yourself up to inspiration can help you do things you never imagined you would and sometimes, you can even inspire yourself.

I have to say, some of the best experiences I had at Alt took place during the downtime. The little moments in between chatting with some of the most interesting people I have ever met, the dinner I had with my Alt clique, the evening I spent sitting in the lobby with my new friends listening to an awesome string quartet playing Kids by MGMT, and the conversations in the hotel’s Gibson Girl Lounge. I got to share a cab to the airport with Joy from Oh! Joy and laugh THE ENTIRE way home with Victoria of sfgirlbybay (I think we were high on Alt) and my amazing friend Ben whose energy and brilliance inspires me everyday. Ben, btw, won the ultimate grand prize of the weekend… drumroll… a trip back to Salt Lake City! Awesome.

Lesson 4: Always enjoy the little moments in between. They’re the BEST!

Thank you to all the hard-working, kind and generous people that made Altitude Design Summit possible. This experience was exactly what I needed to finally make some big decisions and commitments to my own business, LAMA. My newfound motivation has enabled me to make some enormous progress since I have been back to work. I have finally made the decision to take LAMA in a new and amazing direction (details to come at another time).

I can’t wait to go back to Alt next year!

Lesson 5: If you think it might be worth doing, DO IT.

** all photos taken from the Altitude Design Summit flickr page Next year I’ll bring a camera! **

Adorable video sent over by the lovely Sara Jensen. (Btw, check out this awesome project Sara was a part of on Design Sponge today here. OMG! I just realized that I’m going to be that girl that everyone buys llama paraphernalia for. Good thing I love it all!

A sweet and lovely gift created by my dear friend and graphic designer Hijiri K Shepherd. This is definitely going up in my office as a constant reminder. :)

How much do I LOVE that she used Friend in a Nut to stage this shot?! Awesome! Thank you Hijiri!!

Happy 2010 everyone! It’s so great to be back and slowly (but surely) getting into the swing of things again. I hope Santa brought everyone exactly what they wanted for Christmas… a big high five to Santa if that something happened to be from LAMA! I hope everything was delivered on-time. We certainly did our best this year and it seemed to go pretty smoothly. Yay for experience!

This year I had no idea what I wanted for Christmas. I generally have a big list with price ranges, favorites and links/directions to everything. This year I can honestly say that there was very little I felt I needed and even less I actually wanted. I think I was just overly tired and feeling like nothing could possibly top a little rest and relaxation. To my delight, despite my request for nothing, my friends and family came through in a BIG way. It was so touching to know that my loved ones know me so well and were able to get me the best gifts I never knew I wanted. One of those amazing gifts came from my very own family and was a collective effort between my big brothers and my parents. Here’s what they got me:

Entitled “We Are All Kings” by Los Angeles based artist Amanda Visell, this print spoke to me in a very obvious way. I actually teared up a little when I opened it. It’s so amazing to know how proud and supportive my family is of what I do and what I love. It’s something I will keep in mind as I enter into a new year with LAMA.

Thank you to all of our wonderful customers for making 2009 a great year! A big thank you to all the amazing bloggers out there who have been so kind and have written so many beautiful things about LAMA. I can’t wait to show everyone this year what LAMA has cooking.

On Sunday I decided to head out bright and early with some friends to check out Oakland’s Dia de los Muertos celebration in Fruitvale. It was a little difficult to shake off the previous night’s Halloween festivities but after polishing off a yummy pupusa, I was good to go. Although the Oakland celebration was scaled down a bit from previous years due to the nasty “R” word we don’t speak of here at LAMA HQ, spirits were high, food was fantastic and we had a great time. Check out some of the gorgeous sites from Sundays festivities!

Over the weekend I got together with my neighbors to make some Sugar Skulls to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. Sugar skulls are traditionally made to commemorate deceased family members during the Dia de los Muertos celebration. Check out this site for some more sugar skull history. It was a process that took us two days to complete but it was tons of fun. Here’s what happened on the first night:

1. With our instructions in hand, we were ready to go. Click here for instructions.

2. The first step was to create the sugar skull mixture in a large bowl.

3. Next we had to fill the skull molds with the sugar mix.

4. Pressing the sugar mix firmly into the molds was essential.

5. The molds came in two parts, the skull tops and the skull bottoms.

6. After all of our skull tops and bottoms were done. We laid them out on large pieces of cardboard to start the 12 hour drying process.

Day 2

7. We took the dry sugar skulls out to the backyard for the “glueing” process.

8. That’s me glueing the sugar sugar skull tops and bottoms together with the sticky frosting we prepared.

9. Once the skulls were dry and ready for the best part (decorating!), we placed the color frosting we had made earlier in the day into ziplock bags. We cut tiny holes on the bag corners and used them as frosting dispensers.

10. That’s us concentrating VERY hard on decorating our skulls. It’s was a bit more difficult than we anticipated and I think we were in silent competition with one another to make the best skulls.

11. Here they are! The final product of all our labor. The sugar skulls are done!

12. It was quite a process but it was so much fun! We were all very proud of our sugar skulls.

13. My personal favorite. My neighbor made this one which he called, “The LAMA Skull.” Looks like LAMA blue to me!

14. This is my neighbor Ernesto eating the leftover frosting. I don’t recommend doing this. I think he seriously regretted it.

Afterward, we celebrated with several rounds of Guitar Hero. I was the band photographer for the evening. If you make it all the way through the entire two day process of making sugar skulls, I highly recommend blowing off some steam. HAPPY DIA DE LOS MUERTOS EVERYONE!!