photo by Kaity Lynch of Photography by Kait
My son John married Bridget on Saturday. We celebrated a lovely, traditional wedding mass at St. Barnabas Church in Mazomanie, followed by a reception at the Baraboo Arts Banquet Hall. My family came from Tennessee and Montana to help celebrate! It’s the first time we’ve all been together since my sister’s wedding in 1986.
By our family’s standards, it was an intimate wedding with only about 150 in attendance. The size of the party made it seem very cozy and friendly. The fun was enhanced by great food, great wine, and a great DJ.
Also, great couple. I gave a toast that went something like this:
John and Bridget are both accomplished people in their work and school lives – they are both honors students at UW-Madison pursuing the honorable professions of education (John) and nursing (Bridget).
But they also both have a genius for relationship. I think that’s what makes them remarkable.
They are compassionate and kind, and good listeners. They draw people together. They understand how important it is to do that, and they make time for it. I think this genius will make them brilliant in their chosen professions. It has certainly made me feel lucky to being a part of their lives.
I’m so happy that they’re married today. It’s a privilege and a joy to be one of their parents.
This is my mom, Loretta Lauer Foley, with my sister and me, circa about 1964ish. I think we lived in Denver then, but we didn’t stay there long. My dad was in the oil business and Humble (which later was Enco and later still was Exxon) moved us around a lot.
My sister Peggy has a funny look on her face in this picture, but she turned out ok. Very cute, actually, and she’s a CPA as well.
And my mom! She is the prettiest thing ever. Still is. Everything she touches turns out nice, beautiful, put-together. She had a huge influence on me as a designer because she created a home and a world where things were beautiful and done well.
See the ceramic vase on the mantle? She had a couple of these pieces when I was a kid. A few years ago she sent me the ashtray from the set because I mentioned how much I love vintage ashtrays, which are relics of a lost civilization, of my childhood.
I did a bit of Google research on the piece she sent me and found out about the artist who made it, Sascha Brastoff. He was the Jonathan Adler of the 1950s, a hot item. If there were a Design Sponge in 1960, there would have been more than one post about Sascha.
His pieces are collectibles these days, for those of us who are Mid-Century Modern fans. I’ve picked up a few on Ebay. They still look great. Some stuff never goes out of style.
As a designer, I’m always reaching for something that won’t go out of style. I want to create brochures and websites that will not be ridiculous in five years.
That’s a problematic goal, because graphic design is 80% fashion. It’s largely the art (or more accurately, practice) of dangling shiny things in front of the faces of teenagers to trick them into dropping their money.
So where do timelessness and elegance and balance come in? I have yet to figure that out, but I will keep you posted.
And at least, thanks to Loretta, I’ll know it when I see it.
My friend Enrique Ramirez, who by day owns a Puroclean franchise, is also in charge of a One Lap of America team. One Lap is an annual car race. People drive souped-up street cars through multiple states, stopping from time to time to race the cars even more around various racetracks along the way.
Enrique’s racing team is Racing for the Children. I recently finished developing a website for the team.
When Enrique approached me with the project, I thought “Hmmm…that car race sounds familiar.” And it is! In the early 1980s, when I was young and tasteless and not always sober, I went to see both of the awesome and horrible Burt Reynolds Cannonball Run movies. And loved them. One Lap of America is the actual descendant of the actual Cannonball Run. How cool is that?
These days the race is structured and publicized and safety-oriented, which allows Enrique to compete in it annually and use his racing team to raise money for Save the Children. Very cool project for him.
The website was a cool project for me, too. I got to illustrate a map, which I love to do.
My dad is a geologist. He often worked at home (and still does), drawing maps with tech pens and prismacolor pencils. I used to sit in his office, in a visitor chair, copying the maps he had pinned to his walls into a little spiral notebook with a ballpoint pen. I coveted his colored pencils.
Enrique starts the One Lap on Saturday in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. You can follow his progress on his blog, and you can also Like This on Facebook.
March means basketball, hours and hours of it, and hours and hours of commercials for manly things.
I caught one for Dove Men+Care Body wash and was amazed by the pitch line “for total skin comfort.”
Because you rarely (and by rarely, I mean never) see a product sold to women on the basis that it would make the user’s skin feel more comfortable from the inside. Products are sold to women on the basis that they make skin feel softer. To other people.
Check the ads for Dove body washes for women – you’ll see what I mean.
