August, 2006

Can I claim a deduction for an imaginary child? It occurred to me the other night as I tucked AJ into bed that we really should be getting something in return for our caring for this extra child. So here’s our typical day:

7am AJ wakes up, yawns, stretches and says, “Mom, Annie wants magic lucky [...]

it’s you who brightens the darkest sign you, the one with the straightest line soft and harsh, both traits you boast it’s the blind ones who will miss you most

!(nb)/images/archives/298.gif! As if I didn’t have enough going on, now I’m doing ANOTHER site redesign HERE. Sheesh. Oh wait, there’s more. It’s going to be pink (again) – AND – I’m going to bug all of you to go pink too! Okay, but it’s for a great cause. “Matthew Oliphant](http://usabilityworks.org/ is heading up “Pink for [...]

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I have an idea. Maybe you’ve had it too, maybe it’s out there already and I’m just clueless. I would love to have a search function, like Google Blog Search that will search by category. So… I could go and search all design blogs or all religion blogs, or knitting blogs, whatever, but it would [...]

When I moved to Indiana 6 years ago I had a yard sale of all my junk back in California. I couldn’t believe how much stuff I’d been able to fit into my tiny bedroom at my parents’ house. There were journals and sketchbooks unused, CDs and floppys with one file on them, a few [...]

I had some free time just now to actually play, which I never get to do. A friend was asking me how to make a bulleted list in basecamp and I pointed her toward the “Textile link](http://textism.com/tools/textile/ at the bottom of the page, when I realized I’ve never taken the time to see all that [...]

For those unfamiliar with “Godly Creative People](http://godlycreatives.com, it is a community site I’ve been working with for almost a year now. I’ve recently moved it to a new address and restructured the site from scratch using “Wordpress](http://wordpress.org this time instead of “Drupal](http://drupal.org. I enjoyed getting to know Drupal and might still recommend it for certain [...]

!(nb)/images/archives/293.png! While the “web 2.0 buzz dies down](http://warpspire.com/journal/ia-usability/the-state-of-the-web-august-2006/, and “fashion is becoming more conservative](http://www.newyorkmetro.com/fashion/blog/2006/02/08/luca-luca-from-sexy-to-conservative/, we are beginning to see a more conservative set of colors coming for Fall. In fact, Pantone has just released their “Fashion Color Report](http://pantone.com/products/products.asp?idArticle=834&idArea=14 for the coming season, which boasts some rich neutrals like taupe, khaki, and mahogany.

Personally, I’ve been happily [...]

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You know, I’ve always been aware of scams, being the internet-savvy gal I have to be in order to stay in business. I’m all over the Paypal and other bank scams, especially when it involves phishing. I’ve posted “about phishing and other fraud](http://nataliejost.com/articles/fraud before, but I never expected to be hit with this on the [...]

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When I turned 15 I had this crazy idea that my life was determined by fifths. I was nearing the rocky slope in my depression where it looked as though the trail would veer up but just around the corner was a treacherous embankment sneering as I approached.

The five-year swing

I believed my life could be [...]

Oreos: Regular or Double Stuffed?

My groom likes more cream and I like more cookie, so we’re always “fighting” over which kind to get. So I’m curious, which do you prefer?

Okay, here’s just a silly game to spark some creativity. I do this when I’m stuck with writing sometimes. “I usually do it with a photograph](http://godlycreatives.com/natalie/one-word-slide/, but sometimes I do it with a whole concept. This is how it works… find ONE word that describes what you get from the photograph (or in this case [...]

That coat is $29.99 Go ahead, tell yourself you’re saving money over that $30 coat. You’re not.

A 20-piece set of plastic containers is a great deal It’s really 10 pieces with lids.

“Separation of church and state” is a firm part of the constitution

Nope. It was just a small piece of a letter in which a forefather expressed [...]

Simple biblical list of instructions for how to be a perfect person (assuming that’s even possible)