Those Crazy Schuberts » International

Vintage ads as inspiration

Amy — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:56:55 +0000

I love love love pretty much anything mid-century.

Let’s face it. I pretty much wish I was born in 1934 like my grandparents so I could have lived through mid-century America.

I have been waiting my whole life (not an exaggeration) for mid-century style to come back.

I got a new soundtrack on CD the other day — Promises, Promises — and I really love the album design. It’s a musical based on the 1960s movie The Apartment, and so has a delicious mid-century feel.

love love

Add that to … I have been thinking about the direction I want the design of Lemon and Raspberry to go.

The site officially launched in May, with a free Wordpress template that I customized to the best of my limited ability, with photos I took of lemons and raspberries for the visuals.

I’ve also got an ebook half written, with the layout roughly started by my marketing partner, and I’m aiming for a mid-September release.

So, yeah, I should start thinking about what I want to do design-wise for real.

Vintage-inspired, mid-century awesomeness.

So I thought that a mid-century, vintage inspired branding of Lemon and Raspberry would be so fun! Something that *feels* contemporary (not old/vintage) but still inspired by mid-century style.

In order to get some ideas of what I like, I thought the best place to look for mid-century contemporary design was probably Vintage Ad Browser.

Good-bye hours and hours of my life.

I literally only got about 1/3 through 1 decade of 1 category.

This is going to take awhile ….

Here are some fun ones (all from the 1950s):

I started with the travel ads (love) and got more ideas for more projects ….

How much fun would it be to use vintage ads for a location in your scrapbook/travel journal for a trip?!

Like this one when you go to Oregon, or this one when you go to Switzerland, or the Arizona Biltmore or this other one for your trip to the Bahamas (Kaitlin)?

Fun ephemera to stick in whenever you need a transition, or as background to journaling or a title page …

But wait! there’s more!

TWA had this fantastic series of ads …. all with the exact same layout but with different stories …

[View with PicLens]

And, my personal favorite …. Southern California:

SoCal vintage ad (1950s)

I even found one for Rome …. And I’m sure I can find one for London and maybe even Alaska (next year’s vacation)

Super excited to set aside a Saturday to just immerse myself …. There are so so so so sso oooo many vintage ads uploaded to this site! I can’t wait!

Vintage Ad Browser

Take a look!

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Today I have a guest post up at My Sundry Musings – a blog friend of mine (Catherine) who is taking herself on an Hawaiian vacation and asked me to fill in a post for her!

So fun … (so jealous)

I’ve blogged 5 tips for better summer vacation photos! Take a look, leave a comment and let me know if you have questions!

Mexico Cruise – Sunday

Amy — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:44:00 +0000

Sunday Sunday!

Our last day on the cruise …

Once again, the other girls were out until 5a or so, while I went to bed at a reasonable Midnight the night before.

Which means when I woke up, got showered, left, ate breakfast and was out on the pool deck by 9:30a – I was pretty much the only one there …..

Except for the families with little kids. Which, by the way, why on earth would you bring a 6 year old on a party cruise? No idea.

So, Sunday morning was lovely and overcast and even a little bit cold …. I sat up on the pool deck and read my trashy true crime for several hours. All by myself. … It was lovely!

After a few hours I went back down to the cabin to get some socks and put on jeans (I had been wearing a dress). It was just too cold!

Then back up to the deck for lunch and more reading …. but this time I ran into the other bridesmaids …

Up by the pool, they had a ‘hairiest chest’ contest. So, um. That was cool.

I had what I think was the best meal of the weekend : Mongolian BBQ from the pool-side grill. I finally got my fill of vegetables ..

But around 2p or so it started to get too sunny for me.

I am NOT a sunbather (can you tell?) … and too much heat makes me feel sick. So, what did I do?

I embraced hanging out by myself for the day and went back into our cabin to read (and/or nap) ….

visited by Kaitlin …. and my cabin mates …

… and a nice, peaceful afternoon ….

Until Heather came back to the cabin.

She sings loudly and not too well when she’s been drinking

Sunday night before dinner we did a little lingerie shower for Kaitlin in one of the lounges ….

And Kaitlin gifted the rest of us with super cute, personalized glasses and some other goodies …

Sweet girl.

“diamond” ring shot glasses …

On to dinner …. more dancing (Macarena) and entertainment by the waiters …

AND! THEN!

GUESS WHAT I DID!

That’s right. I went to bed. Around 1130p or so.

Big big partier.

We had to be out of our cabin by 8a on Monday morning … and I like sleep …

Again, the other girls were out til God knows how long.

On Monday morning, I was taking something over to Kaitlin’s cabin … and when I got to the door their alarm was still going off. And apparently had been for close to 10 minutes.

So I pounded on the door to wake them up.

Yea, I’m not really afraid of annoying people that way.

But, I had to pound so long and so hard that I bruised my hand.

True story.

The end.

Mexico Cruise – Saturday

Amy — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:43:39 +0000

Saturday of our cruise was “in port” in Ensenada, Mexico.

Since many of our fellow cruisers were off the ship, breakfast/pool deck/etc was delightfully un-crowded.

We all got up, ate, and took our sweet time about it …

Getting off the ship, there is a little building *right* away to buy junk souvenirs. Shot glasses, magnets, sun glasses, etc. There’s also a shuttle to take you into town if you don’t want to walk …

The shuttle dropped us off in this dingy run down parking lot/alley … just a couple blocks away from this metropolitan center (sense the sarcasm):

OK. Again. This is NOT a *real* cruise. This 3-day-to-Ensenada cruise is just a 3 day party.

Ensenada is apparently only in existence to take money from American tourists. Everyone speaks English. Everyone takes U.S. dollars. Everyone is *hustling* to get your attention and get your money.

I guess I can say that I’ve been to Mexico now, but not really. I want to go to REAL Mexico … old colonial sites and broken attempts at Spanish and such.

We went to Papas & Beer and got these (extremely watered-down) margaritas …. Maria, Sarah and Kaitlin got shots too …. and Heather, Nichole and Cambria were hounded by street vendors. Ah, tourism

We ended up back on the ship after maybe only an hour or so in port …. And I spent the afternoon reading on deck …

Lovely. Really, all I want to do is read …

Dinner Saturday night was “formal” night …. although all the girls (except me) were dressing up nice each night …

Friday night, Katie got a table-neighbor to promise to buy us all shots if she got up and danced with the waiters (that may sound crazy, but you’ll see when you go on a cruise. The wait staff in the dining room is ALWAYS entertaining us with choreography) …

So Saturday night, they delivered 16 ‘lemon drops’ (15 for us, and one for Katie’s new friend) …. Pretty sure this is limoncello and a little bit of sugar, because it tasted like gasoline.

I didn’t drink mine.

After dinner … we went to see a stand-up comedian in one of the lounges …

The bridesmaids got us all these black/pink boas to wear (I love a good diva-boa)! And we found pink feathers EVERYWHERE the next day

Like I mentioned before, there were many many more bachelorette parties on the cruise. We did boas, these girls did wigs! Super cute …

The comedian (I forget his name) was *kind of* funny … Really he was more angry at his ex-wife and made all kinds of anti-marriage jokes. Which I don’t really find funny.

But I’m happily married, so maybe it’s just me.

Um, and then, guess what I did!

That’s right! I went to bed … around midnight …. and everyone else was out til 3 or 5a again ….

But I got a good night sleep …. which is really one of my favorite things

Mexico cruise – Friday

Amy — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:30:39 +0000

Why are “vacations” always so exhausting???

A couple weeks ago, I went on a 3-day cruise with Kaitlin, a bunch of her friends and cousins to celebrate Kaitlin’s bachelorette-ness…

FYI: For those of you who have never been on a cruise, this is NOT what most cruises are like. Every other cruise, no matter the cruise line, has a much older clientele, stops at ports and serves as an actual vacation. Not a 3-day-party-on-a-ship. I made Heather and Nichole both promise they’d go on a *real* cruise someday …

The Lido deck (deck 10 almost at the top) is where the cafeteria/grill is, where the pool lives along with this crazy water slide ….

I shared teeny tiny window-less cabin with Andrew’s cousins Nichole (pictured below), Heather and Cambria…

Some of the girls tried to sneak alcohol in with their luggage, but I don’t know why they bothered …literally *as soon as* Katie hit Lido Deck these guys were there ready to buy her a drink ….

While wandering around (and killing time on) the ship Friday afternoon, we came upon the main theater/stage …. that happened to be deserted and just asking for some goofy photos …

And while we were wandering around …. some of the other girls were decorating Katie’s cabin …

We had the *late* dinner (8:10p), and everyone cleaned up so nicely … Heather bought/made veils for Kaitlin to wear to dinner all 3 nights – because every bride needs ATTENTION!

Unfortunately, Katie was one of maybe 10 or 12 bachelorettes on the cruise…. so she had to share the attention with other brides willing to wear underwear on their head …

After dinner, we stopped by karaoke, and then on to the dance club.

…. Ah, yes, the dance club where I only stayed for about 20 minutes because I don’t really dance, I don’t drink, I don’t like getting hit on by strangers, and it was getting hot.

I like reading in bed and falling asleep ….

I’m such an old lady …. I think the others stayed out til 3a or 5a !

another Mexico cruise sneak peek

Amy — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:04:07 +0000

Mexico Cruise : the Instax photos

Amy — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 10:48:16 +0000

In roughly chronological order …

The digital images to come ….

blogs for travelers

Amy — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 10:25:43 +0000

So, you may have heard, but I follow a lot of blogs.

I use Google reader to keep track and organize them, and today – as we have FINALLY ended our series on Italy posts – I thought I’d share some of the travel-related blogs that I follow …

In no particular order ….

Amy’s current picks for travel blogs to follow

(much of the text is taken from their ‘about’ section)

On Montague ….. If you were to visit me in my real home, I’d sit you on the couch, make you a cappuccino, play some sweet music and we’d settle down to chat about all the things we love.
Since i can’t fit you all on my couch, let’s chat here!

I was born and raised in Italy, my family lives all around the world, and I am temporarily calling Brooklyn, New York my home. I do love this city, and write about it quite a bit.

24 09 N 120 40 E ….We are two educators from Portland, Oregon who love to travel, and have decided the best way to see the world on a teacher’s salary, and continue doing what we love, is to teach abroad. We’re starting in Taichung, Taiwan and seeing where we go from there.

Pret a Voyager … This is the blog of a Paris -loving graphic designer with a visual mind , love of travel and desire to explore the everyday world. You can also find me over on design*sponge where I am a contributing editor for the “sneak peek” interiors column.

Rick Steves : Blog Gone Europe … (Ok, so Rick Steves doesn’t have a simple little about blurb for me to copy, but I think you already know about him). Rick blogs about his business (changes they are making to his tours, why his publishers and he have decided to NOT pursue the digital book market) as well as his traveling (he travels about 1/3 of the year, every year). Such good stuff. And he’s a great writer!

Monna McD … I’m a Canadian educator and writer living in Bangkok, Thailand. This blog (formerly Teacher Meets World) is about my life and travels on four continents. My past homes include Spain, Mexico and Colombia; my Spanish ought to be much better than it is.

Lost in Cheeseland … Bienvenue! I’m a Paris transplant from Philadelphia, working in marketing & communications. This collection of musings about my life in Paris is not meant to offend or criticize but serves rather as a forum of expression. I live in the 11th with my husband and cat. These are my stories.

If you have more favorite travel blogs, please link to them in the comments!

and if that’s STILL not enough travel writing for you, Pret a Voyager features travel bloggers on a regular basis in the series called Boarding Pass.

Tons of good stuff there …

Be sure to take a look!

Rome Tourist Scams

Amy — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:58:36 +0000

I fully support those tourists who fly into a city with no plans, just wanting to see where life takes them and who they meet.

HOWEVER!

While it might be an *experience* to get scammed while on vacation in a foreign city, you can still learn what some common crimes and tourist scams are before you go.

Stolen Passport

Our second morning in Rome, we had a bit of a difficult time checking out because Danilo (the hotel proprietor) was busy helping another couple who had just had one of their passports stolen.

On their first morning in Rome.

She had a backpack on, and in the airport (or some other crowded place), she was approached (read: surrounded) by 3 men talking to her very friendly-like. I think they were asking her questions, trying to offer to help her, basically distracting her as much as possible while one of them picked the pocket on her bag.

Moral of the story: PAY ATTENTION to your surroundings.

Gypsy Pickpockets

We actually saw fewer gypsies than I expected. But nevertheless …. assume they are everywhere.

Rick Steves has this great story where he (in doing research for his book), walked up to a gypsy woman to give her money – just to see how she worked her magic.

This gypsy woman was holding a baby in one arm and using the other arm to collect (beg for) change.

Rick Steves walks up to her to put a Euro or something in her cup, and as he walks away realizes his wallet is gone!

How did she do it?

The arm holding the (real) baby is a FAKE! She basically has her real arm underneath, free to pick the pocket, while the begging AND the baby distract you.

Genius, really.

Andrew kept a wallet-sized phrasebook in his pocket just to see if someone would try to steal it.

Questionable Taxis

There are taxi stands for a reason.

Specifically at the airport, people (who see vulnerable American tourists as money trees) will try to waive you into their unlicensed taxi. Telling you that you can skip the line, that they’ll give you a deal, etc.

But when you get INTO the taxi they’ll take you who knows where and charge you any amount they want, *pretend* to not speak English, etc.

The state-authorized, licensed and regulated taxis are all marked, and there are taxi stands EVERYWHERE to pick one up.

*sidenote* A taxi in Rome legally cannot charge more than 40Euros from the airport to the city.

Street Performers

Oh wow – these guys.

These street performers *look* innocent and harmless, but that makes them worse!

Between these guys looking like *statues* and the gladiators at the Colosseum, they are everywhere.

My solution is to just not make eye contact.

As you walk by, he stays mostly still (like a statue, right?) but kindly puts out his hand to shake it. Because you’re a visitor to his city, and he’s a friendly street performer, right?

Wrong.

As soon as you take his hand, he pulls you in tight “for a picture” (like this poor woman in the photo above) and LITERALLY will not let go until you or your friend put money in his cup (on the ground at his feet).

Yup. Gouging you for a tourist photo you don’t even want.

The gladiators can be worse since they have swords!

SO!

Lesson? Pay attention. People know you’re a tourist. Research what scams are common and popular in the place that you’re going so you can best be on the look out for them.

It was actually kind of fun (and sad) to watch this woman get taken in (for who knows how much $) because she just didn’t know better.

Rome, Italy – Hotel Danilo

Amy — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:00:00 +0000

When you are in Rome, if you don’t mind not having the amenities of a typical mainstream hotel, you should think about staying at this bed and breakfast in the Trastevere district (across the river from the ancient center of Rome).

Hotel Danilo is a little bed and breakfast housed in 2 separate (across-the-hall-from-each-other) apartment units in the same building.

Our room was across-the-hall from the main unit, at the end of the apartment unit. It has 3 twin beds in it (but they pushed 2 together for our king size bed). And the bathroom was *technically* across a hallway and not connected, but it was private, which was nice.

our view:

The bathroom : really hot water in the shower which was lovely ….

looking across to our room from the bathroom doorway

and our keys….. 4 of them.

One for the street-level door. One for the apartment building. One for the apartment unit. One for our bedroom door.

Slightly elaborate, but totally cute. Very DIY vs those interchangable credit-card sized “keys” at hotels.

As long as you KNOW you’re not going to get the same amenities as at a hotel (no room service, the breakfast isn’t served until 830a so if you leave before that you’re out of luck, no 24 hour checkin desk), this is a great deal …

Rome, Italy – Night walk part 2 – Friday

Amy — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 10:19:38 +0000

Continuing our night walk through Rome on our last night in the city …

From the Pantheon, we continued through the narrow streets … looking for the Trevi Fountain.

You can hear it before you see it. …. You can hear you’re getting close to a crowd of some kind, and … is that water I hear?

Then you turn the corner and see ….

From Rick Steves:

The Trevi Fountain shows how Rome took full advantage of the abundance of water brought into the city by its great aqueducts. This watery Baroque avalanche was completed in 1762 by Nicola Salvi, hired by a pope who was celebrating the reopening of the ancient aqueduct that powers it. Salvi used the palace behind the fountain as a theatrical backdrop for the figure of “Ocean,” who represents water in every form. The statue surfs through his wet kingdom – with water gushing from 24 spouts and tumbling over 30 different kinds of plants – while Triton blows his conch shell.

From Rick Steves:

The magic of the square is enhanced by the fact that no streets directly approach it. You can hear the excitement as you approach, and then – bam! – you’re there. The scene is always lively, with lucky Romeos clutching dates while unlucky ones clutch beers. Romantics toss a coin over their shoulder thinking it will give them a wish and assure their return to Rome.

OK. I know that sounds a little silly and superstitious. … but Rick Steves always does it – so Andrew and I did too. We can’t WAIT to go back!

For dinner, we decided to actually open up the guidebook to the ‘eating’ section and find something a little bit nicer for our last dinner ….

and we came upon Ristorante Pizzeria Sacro e Profano (Sacred and Profane). This restaurant fills an old church with some fun and a bit exotic dishes.

Ahi-wrapped Zucchini (appetizer)

Grilled veggies

(Amy’s) shells in meat sauce (it was REALLY rich mmmm ….. )

(Andrew’s) Wild Boar (with asparagus covered in cheese on the side)

Well worth our little splurge …. such a great way to end our trip. We probably should have eaten inside (it was pretty cold), but still the BEST. One of my favorite meals on the trip.

The end of the last night.

We walked back through Rome to our bed and breakfast, and fell asleep with the alarm set for something atrocious like 6am.