Midwest Modern

Hi. I'm up at the crack of dawn again, on a Saturday. One of my best friend's is supposed to be here right now visiting and she's having a heck of a time getting here (sigh). I feel bad, I've been in her shoes where you either just want to turn around and go home or finally get to your blessed destination. Hopefully this weekend will start looking up later in the day.

I have been reading this book called Midwest Modern by Amy Butler. Another one of my girls sent it to me for my 30th birthday. (I love it when your friends know you so well that they can send you something that you've never seen before in your life and know that you will love it.) I had never heard of Amy Butler. She leads one inspiring life and her book is BEAUTIFUL. I love some of her design/life philosophies. Here is a quote from the book about their studio:

We have a mantra: Work is CHAOS. And if you understand that, every ounce of forward momentum makes you feel like you're in complete control. Pace and balance. Moderation, in all things. Taking our work and our art seriously, but not ourselves. After all, we're still an art studio. If we fail in some way, nobody dies.

When I read this part originally I just had to close my eyes and smile. I think that most design studios need to have this mantra. I worked in the corporate creative world for 7 years and I can't tell you how many days, evenings and nights that I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get to the next thing. Like the world would fall out of balance if we didn't meet this deadline. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for organization and have a great understanding of the fact that things have to get done. But there has to be a balance. For the longest time I ran around with my scales tipped, completely unbalanced. I hope that you are feeling balanced today on whatever scale it is that you work or live. Check out Amy's book, you won't be disappointed.