last night brian and i volunteered our time to help out at the care and One "take a stand against poverty" fundraiser here in atlanta.

it's really the first time i've done such a thing - always been too timid in the past for some reason - well shyness issue, confidence issues etc.
it was a great experience for many reasons.

we feel like we hardly did anything, but we just helped where ever they needed help - making boutonniere's for the vip guests, setting up the market table and selling the market stuff (all things handmade by women from around the world) and then cleaning up afterward.

some notable thoughts i wanted to jot down before they became too faded by time because the more i think about them the more incredible, special and significant the night turned out to be!

even though i should be thinking in terms of helping causes on a grander scale, there were some personal successes i really want to write about because even though i feel a little selfish about doing so, i think it'll make me a more effective and better networker in the future.

( looong entry about david lane and zach hanson ahead )

I FINALLY finished the new African Well Fund design for the 360 Tour tshirts.
Gawd, it was so much harder than it should've been, but luckily everyone was patient and helped art direct and I think we ended up with something eye-catching and affective.

Anyways, if anyone would like to purchase this on a shirt or mug or bag you can visit the African Well Fund Zazzle Store. Proceeds go to AWF :D

bono's card arrived in dublin last thursday ...

wonder if and when he'll see it.

This is very cool and humbling.
African Well Fund thought enough of the Bono card to do a little Q&A about it...

http://www.africanwellfund.org/archives/2009/08/bonos-birthday-card-leaves-a-mark.html

As a side note, i Fed Ex'd the card Tuesday ... wonder if and when he'll get it ....

A quick little project this week.
I think it looks pretty nice - super fast and fun to make - maybe i'll "mass produce" and sell around the holidays?

It is a card for U2.com which helped publicize the Bono Fundraiser this year and we are very excited to have in "our corner"

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Finally got Bono's card done!
This was so hard to do, and I have to say I'm just ultimately not really feeling it :(
And this was the third version of the card I made!
If i waited until i could feel it, it would probably be time to make his 50th birthday card :)

Anyways, it was still fun making it - as I tried some new techniques.
I took inspiration from their new album cover - black and white and greys and no real lines - i tried to integrate everything with no real lines anywhere.

Oh ya! And I was just reminded not everyone knows the background of this! HAHAHAHA, my bad.
Every year African Well Fund holds a fundraiser in honor of Bono's birthday raising money for clean water projects. We invite U2/Bono fans to donate and sign an online card which we then send to Bono through his management company. The first couple of years we just would send a print out of the messages, then I started crafting more seriously and the last 4 years have been handmaking cards that incorporate the messages. It's an honor to do and even more of an honor to be involved in such an amazing grassroots organization that literally started by "dreaming out loud."

Here's last years card btw
Here's 2007 card

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can't go to africa
won't be going to africa

medical reasons

i'm gutted

that is all.

I just found this quote:

"When we are dreaming alone it is only a dream. When we are dreaming with others, it is the beginning of reality."
-Dom Helder Camara

I've been talking about and thinking about AWF alot more these days, returning to the excitement of when we first started back in 2002. Anyways, for more reasons that one this quote is so perfect for the evolution of the fund! Especially since we were all U2 fans coming together to make it happen and we all, i believe, in one way or another live by Bono's famous 1989(i think that's when he first uttered them? on the Lovetown tour?) words "dream out loud at high volume!"

The 10 of us who started the fund had lots of dreams for the fund and so many have come true! And i know the best is yet to come, we just need to find a way to grow more, and we will because we still have dreams....

Finally got my photos from DC downloaded from my camera and resized.
Here they are for any interested parties :D

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So, here's the card for Bono I've been obsessed with since July 3.
It took hours and hours of complete meditation and love.
I think its probably the most beautiful thing I've ever made!!!
And it feels so good holding it in my hands - the size and the weight and the texture.
I wish these pictures could convey even an iota of that.
but oh well.
I hope it feels as nice to him when he holds it in his hands.
Even if for a sec.

Without further ado, pictures:

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I had a WONDERFUL dream involving Bono last night.
It's been awhile since he's visited my unconscious!
Which is weird cause I haven't been listening to U2 or anything.
But the first song I heard on the radio this morning as I got in my car was 'The Sweetest Thing'.
On 99Sux - Alternative Rock station.
Huh?!!

Anyways, the dream took place at some awards ceremony in a courtyard that Bono was being honored at. After he got his award, which by the way, was a golden guitar, he went into a brick building off to the side of the courtyard. Of course there were throngs of people following him but I stayed where I was standing because I know enough from my Muse "stalking" days not to be in that throng of people. Besides, I really didn't feel a need to try and meet him.

So, I was looking around and people watching and looked at the brick building Bono had gone into and there were windows with screens on them and there was Bono in a room with a screen. No one else seemed to notice he was in there. I walked over nonchalantly and he had his back to the window. I quietly called out his name and he turned around. He wasn't wearing his glasses either.

He came over to the window and leaned down and said hello. I instinctively put my hand on the screen wanting to touch him and at first he put his whole hand open wide on the screen in front of my open hand, and I could feel the warmth, but then he took all but his index finger off the screen and i did the same so we were touching tips of our fingers (like ET). And it was in slow motion and I remember in the dream not breathing while this was happening. And I also remember feeling this jolt of energy when our fingertips touched through the screen.

Then I said "Bono, thank you for guiding my life"
and he looked a little perplexed and said something like "pardon?"
and then I said "because of you i helped start African Well Fund"
and his eyes got super wide and I noticed the blue was sparkling and piercing me and making me want to keep talking and he said "oh? you guys are doing a very good thing"
and I said "yes, we were a group of rock fans that saw how a small group of people could change the world"
and he said "what do you do?" What is your part in all of this?"
and I said "i create the graphics and help with the website"
and he said "you are how the rest of the world views the well fund ... you are how the fund communicates to the world"
and I was super taken a back and overwhelmed and I said "well, there are many of us playing our parts... but i just need to thank you for bringing attention to the clean water crisis and what one individual can do"
and he smiled, blue eyes sparkling
and then I woke up.


It was so real.
The dream.
Like it's things I used to dream about happening when I was awake.
And I could actually talk sensibly in the dream - usually in real life when i talk to people i admire or about things that are super important to me i get super tongue tied and trip over my words because my mouth can't move as fast as my brain.
But not in the dream.
But I haven't thought about Bono in such a long long time.

I wonder if it has anything to do with my guilt over not spending enough time on the AWF? I've been so overwhelmed by work and my diet and my fussing about losing my creative mojo I just haven't been giving the attention to the Well Fund I want to and that it deserves and that my Board of Director status expects. I logged onto the forum last night and there like 15 active topics and I just couldn't deal with it.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
OK, onward and upward.

Bono just sent us (African Well Fund) a thank you note:



SO COOL!
Warm fuzzies :D

AWF new story:
http://www.africanwellfund.org/blog/archives/2007_07.html#000316

i'm sorry diane...
but she sent me a message that she had sent the pictures of bono's gift to patricia at africare and now patricia wants me to call her about it and my head is going 1000 miles per minute obsessing.
cause obsessing is what i do.
and there are many things to obsess about - even though diane assured me it was nothing bad.
cause, interestingly enough, the first thing i did when i read the message was rack my brain trying to think of ways i used the words africare (in case that was wrong) or if i used any images from africare (which i didnt) or if i didn't use their name enough.... my oh my.
so i message her back - is this a good or bad thing?
then she said, no, it's a good thing.

so now i'm racking my brain - is it just a kudos call?
is it more?
if it's more, how much more?
i had an idea when i was making the photo tags that it would be a neat idea to sell, maybe she had that idea too?
if i send her the box can she guarantee bono will get it?

i guess we'll find out tommorrow morning...

/obsessing.

nope can't do that.
damn.
but i just poured myself 2 fingers of scotch on the rocks.

on another rather humourous note, fischerspooner has switched over all their web stuff to a new server - off of Capitol servers and they've upgraded their forum software (finally).
Anyway, the guy who did it made me, groovcat, a moderator (which i wasn't before).
So casey emailed both us of and asked me if thats what i wanted cause then i may lose my "fan cred" LOL i thought that was funny. And true.
i got fan cred.

Aight -

I don't know if this looks like it took me nearly 10 hours to do, but it did!
Most of the time was spent figuring out measurements for the box I made.
Then waiting for the super glue to dry.
Math confuses me and everything had to be to the 1/16" of an inch cause that was the thickness of the board I used. OY!
But, I'm so proud of this - if not for teaching myself how to make the "drop spine box" (holla at http://www.crafttvweekly.com one of my new favorite websites!) and coming up with the photo fan.

I'm glad it's done and hope Bono actually looks at it (and not some assistant who throws it into a room full of other gifts) and that everyone who contributed to the fundraiser loves it.

The only thing missing is the "well share" for we have yet to get the total from the fundraiser. once we get that, I'll print out the certificate and ship it off to Dublin.

Tech specs: It's a custom made box with stamped paper (Fancy Pants clear pollen stamps). The fundraiser logo on the front was made with shrinky dinks. The birthday card itself is 13 - 2 sided sheets held together with a brad. The photo tag fan is 12 pictures and each picture has a story and a couple of appropro blog entries with them. I lined the box with a canvas material and threw in some crumpled up brown paper.




OH - and this is a full size version you have to clicky to: http://www.slide.com/r/TMVKGfXK4T_3cmLgVAJ9ZYcS9RkEmD09?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

Warning:
this post is convoluted and a swirling mess of thoughts.

So, granted I went to bed at 11pm last night, and pretty much sober, I woke up wide eyed and bushy tailed at 7am. I was actually unable to stay in bed and still am unable to sit my ass still. So i have scrapbooked for an hour (finishing a layout i started last night before my brother called and coerced me to go out to dinner with him) and now my mind is buzzing and I see this in my email:

Here is your horoscope for February 24:

Expand your vision of who you are and what your life could be. If you can imagine it, it can happen. It sounds like a fairy tale, but only to cynics or those who have given up. The trick is to ask for the right things.
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I'm quite proud and excited about these!
On one hand I'm hoping I'll be busy making more, on the other hand i hope not too busy! :)


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DAMN my horoscope is workin' it overtime again.
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The African Well Fund is preparing for our second annual Got Water? Virtual auction for Africa.This year, we hope to offer celebrity designed water bottles for auction and we are looking for celebrities who would be willing to participate.

It’s easy! We’ll send you the water bottle along with markers to decorate AND a addressed envelope to return the bottle. Decorate the bottle however you like - or just autograph it!

All proceeds from the auction will be used to fund clean water and sanitation projects in Africa.

If you can help us with this project or know someone who can, just contact Paola Palumbi at
ppalumbi@africanwellfund.org

god damn, where to start?

ummm, my birthday ended up being fun as hell! Had dinner with my bestest friends in the world then went dancing and drinking with matthew which was fun as hell. took my shirt off on the dancefloor scaring the soccor moms off and getting spanked by a group of lesbians.

last night i had a dream i woke up in africa in some hotel sleeping under mosquito netting. awf is going to africa next spring and although i decided this summer i wasn't going to go after this dream i think i might have to. it seemed very prophetic. like sometimes my dreams leave me with this overwhelming feeling of not symbolism but realism.
the main reasons for me deciding not to go were my phobia of snakes (not just phobia - i really freak out, like the whole can't breathe or move thing) and the emotional overwhelmingness of the trip - but the dream was basically me going to a village with a ton of AIDS orphans and I woke myself up crying around 4am. I think I need to go. I am too American - ignoring the reality of the rest of the world. I need to go to reaffirm why I have dedicated my free time to making lives better in parts of the world they don't have the resources to help themselves. more so than the pain i hope to go to villages where i have helped to bring clean water too and learning the stories that inspire.

OK, shhh. Arrested Development is on. Last 3 episodes :(

So, my AWF friends already know about this and I've pretty much copied and pasted from my tirade at the message board there. But I'm putting it here for future reference so i can look back next year and laugh.

I know this about myself. I am a HUGE design snob. Extremely quality conscious and overly critical of anything to do with fonts/layout/printing. It's been my occupation for nearly 10 years. I take HUGE pride in what I create and how it is ultimately presented. It causes undue stress at times, sure, but at least i can say I always try my best. I toil for hours over laying out flyers or brochures and picking paper to print on.

So, up until this year we at AWF have always done our own work - mailings in particular. My former employee was very generous about offering us discounts or short runs of copies for free. I lost my job at about the time we were gearing up for our annual Bono's Birthday Well mailing. So, we asked out partner organization Africare if they would help defray the costs. They volunteered to do it for us - the printing, the envelope stuffing, the mailing. Wheeee! We've never been given reason not to trust them or doubt anything. But, apparently they've had some cutbacks and once our letter was ready to go we got a feeling things were a little wrong - mostly the person doing the mailing was buried over her head with other work and seemed extremely overwhelmed. She still told us she would do it for us. In the meantime we picked up a new volunteer in the DC area who volunteered to do the envelope stuffing. He works in PR as well.
So we got the PDF of the letter to Africare about 3 weeks in advance and relinquished control.

Fast forward to today. I received my copy of the letter in the mail. Funny thing is, i am not feeling PMS or emotional, but this felt like a blow to my gut. My eyes immediately welled up and I kind of fell back from the punch. Like all time stopped for a moment and the world around me caved in on me. The letter looks like utter and complete SHIT. Like worse than anything I ever saw at my 6 years at Kinkos. Worse than grandma's handwritten xmas letter written on January 10th, worse than the quarterly neighborhood watch newsletter, worse than a 6th graders half-assed done the night before book report. Being in the business, I can see all the problems with the copier they used - all fixable problems usually covered under a contract and fixed for free by the copier company with a phone call. The letter looks so unprofessional I can't even begin to explain my disappointment. The toner is all smudged - even on the back of the paper after it had been folded, there are lines across the entire thing, the black lines aren't solid whatsoever. I am just so disappointed that this organzation we work with, have put our trust in for nearly 4 years now, thinks they can get away with this. People donate upwards of $1000 to us - do you think they'll feel comfortable giving their money to an organzation who can't even afford to use a working copier to put their letters on? We worked for weeks on the content and appearance. This new volunteer, a PR person himself, didn't say anything about this to us, even though he for sure had to have seen it stuffing the envelopes.

i could go on and on, but the basic shit of it is, is another lesson learned - one I have been preaching to myself for a long time - want it done right, do it yourself. I don't care if that makes me to be a control freak, so be it. Appearance is a huge factor to most people. That's why I've always enjoyed pushing the envelope with hair color and tattoos and clothing. What's done is done but I'll be damned if I don't learn a lesson from this.

***************
Speaking of lessons, I can now, unequivabocly (sp?) say i don't like techno and will never go to another "techno" DJ set again unless I'm there - i.e. not drive all the way to chicago getting home at 5am. BORING. This is what I figure - the repetition bores the hell out of me - I like bands - with interesting musicians with songs with choruses and versus. There are some DJs I really like - Tommie Sunshine, Carlos D. - they spin actual music, not just repetitve noise. I remember the first time hearing T.S. - he mixed in White Stripes with Styx, Carlos D - Nitzer Ebb with Franz Ferdinand. Maybe if I still did hallucinigons or even smoked pot i'd feel different, but I much rather would've gotten a good night sleep last night than waste $5 on a tiny bottle of water, $35 on gas, $10 on tolls, watching anorexic girls parade around and fucked up people falling over themselves, and me at times.

WOW, I sound bitter today.