Maps & Raps - Austin & NY

Hey party people,

How was your week? Get to watch any movies or concerts in the park? Enjoying your summer and ice cream season? I'm celebrating my intense week by finalizing a trip to San Diego, and I'm excited to go tubing this weekend with some long-lost friends finding their way into town. I've actually never gone before... so it will be my first time! Here's some neat links for you:

A neat way to see actual wind patterns on a building. 

TIME's pictures of the week.

What an extension of the urban rail in Austin might look like.

Daydreaming makes you more creative.

Movie sounds in pictures.

A few pet friendly happy hours in town (I would add Opa and anything along Barton Springs to that).

Love Jenni Sparks' hand-drawn maps (where above is from).

I've been listening to Lorde's EP all week.

Last day to get your ticket for Texas Style Council next weekend here!

Lastly, I've had on my mind lately to open up a map shop! Lots of details in the works, but I'll keep you posted. Have a wonderful weekend! 

Yesterday was the birthday of my co-founder, Valerie!

The first time we hung out, that wasn't just in passing, was several summers ago where I invited Raps to my place a block away to make pizza with some friends. The pizza was pretty bad, but that was our first "friend date" in a way, and also the first time she met my parakeet, Cloud. 

Some memories I have with Raps include running the 40 acres to Metric's Fantasies on our playlists to prep for races, me calling her about what she's wearing before nights downtown, and one particular time when she told me she tried to sell a fake Marc Jacobs bag (an overseas market relic) to Buffalo Exchange and they were like, "Umm, no thanks." (Haha! I totally know the feeling. Buffalo.) When Val and her boyfriend recently visited, I remember being stressed about my timing for lunch and traffic that I drove us all to Home Slice like a mad, crazy lady, giving her another reason to fear driving. Embarrassing. 

By 24, It has been a cool part of growing up to see how our friendships change and also remain the same after you don't live in the same city anymore, throughout blogging long-distance, having friends getting married, and through new relationships. How neat that M&R has existed for two years of birthdays! 

Happy birthday to the most talented journalist I know who loves travel! Cheers to this next year and a new year of growth, Val! 

(via dschwen)

Wishing you guys a great weekend that is restful and fun! I am reminded this week that I have a lot of freedom in my decisions. I'm not limited by my job, friends, what I do in my free time, but do them because I've chosen to do them. 

I hope your weekend is filled with moments that remind you to appreciate the freedom of choosing! Something that's been on my mind is forming some sort of 5-year-plan thanks to the suggestion of our friend Sean, so perhaps I'll do some work on that this weekend. What would I like to do in the future? 

To inspire you with a little creativity, I wanted to share with you the instagram of dschwen, who always presents such creative and witty content like...

emoji tones, 

pantone pairings,

different types of notifications, 

sweet illustrations,

and overall, just things that make me laugh:

a citrus turtle,

and some loose change. 

What do you want to do in the future, and what would be on your five-year plan to help you get there? 

(P.S. Don't know? Reading over your journal, thinking about what kinds of things you get excited about, or something you could never get sick of can give you a clue.)

(via JBG)

Hey readers!

How much thought do you put into what you spend, and where you spend it?

Jen shared a great post this morning on Purse & Clutch about the intentionality of our purchases and also introduced me to the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes at Johnson's Backyard Garden. They set up shop at the farmers markets around town but I never knew that they offered this for Austin residents! 

As an active yelper, receiving bad or less than standard service at a restaurant influences how likely I'll return or even recommend that others visit. I realized when it comes to buying anything, I generally decide through price, convenience, or aesthetic appeal, hardly considering the practices of that business or their values. I'm learning about putting more thought into what I buy. 

Yesterday I was chatting with my friend Tiffany on what portion of our income we dedicate to certain expenses, and what's even wise to give in light of being financially responsible. Budgeting is tricky and so unique: what's considering "financially responsible" can be different for everyone, let alone those who have thought about it!

My questions for you are: Where do you spend your money? Is it a habit out of convenience, and when you look at your spending at the end of the month, are you happy with what you see? 

If someone were to look at your budgeting, could they tell what is important to you? 

Two weeks ago in London, we had a free day to explore the city on our own without our leaders and didn't have much cell phone reception overseas, so we had to use several paper maps we had. My favorite was a huge and beautiful Olympic map of London that I brought home with me, but unfortunately it was hard to find all the info we needed at the time...

I would have loved to have had one of these zoomable maps! The Olympic map was so large that it was rather cumbersome to use and a burden to fold back up. This zoomable map series by Anne Stauche is a beautiful idea, allowing you to pick which area you'd like to zoom into without having to unfold the entire map. 

I'm all for beautiful paper maps with great design. They've launched a Kickstarter to produce more cities with a video that shows how you'd use it. Would you support it if your city was included? Put in a request for it to be added to the list! Hopefully we'll see Austin on there soon. 

Wouldn't this be a great resource when going on an "unplugged" vacation? Traveling old-school style. 

--Maps

Cathy asked how many times I've moved when I was showing her our new place, and I realized that I've moved every year for the past 5 years!

Since sophomore summer of college, I've lived in west campus, Hyde Park, Mueller, and now back in Hyde Park. Mueller has been a fun adventure with the park nearby and smooth bikeable streets on the east side. The new HEB of the Mueller "town center" is finally up and the bike lanes connecting Mueller to Berkman are finally open, but I love the part of Austin west of I-35 too. 

Last night was my first night spent in my new apartment, and looking at all of the boxes in our living room was overwhelming but good motivation to organize. I'm planning on selling or donating at least half of everything I currently own. I'm finding that it's hard for me to part with some things... but sometimes all you need is a little push, right?

What do you look for in a neighborhood or city to live in? Do you have a lot of items that you don't really need? One reason why I'm reluctant to buy a house is that I may feel like I have to fill it! 

P.S. Last year's joys of moving and motivation to live simply with only 72 personal items. Also, a big thanks to Sean, Eric, Warren, Peter, Isaac, and Paul for their Tetris U-haul assembly this weekend!

I just got back from a weeklong trip to London--my first time in the UK. We took a bus tour, a boat tour, walked around the neighborhoods, conversed with locals and visitors, and learned so much about London history and culture.

We also became familiar with London transit and read many a map of the over and underground (always a great part of a new city). This trip showed me that I'm more open to living in another country... although I do love Texas.

I absolutely love Lakeside ​by Siyu Cao, a typeface which is based on "the language of cartography" with a 3D aspect.

I've been increasingly interested in the dynamics and design of type, and seeing it merged with a topological features familiar to me is dear to my heart. You know me, always looking for the art behind the 8 to 5. It's easy to forget that features represent objects in real life, but they can and do while also looking great. Maybe it's one of the reasons why I'm so intrigued by topological surveys. I mean, typographic surveys. 

If you were to take an aspect of design and something you like about maps and create something from them, what would you combine? Leave a note or tweet me, I'd love to hear what's interesting to you! 

View more details and images on behance. 

Happy Friday, friends! 

May flew by, didn't it? Last night we took our friend Tiara to Barton Springs for the first time. Did you know they have a daily free hour from 9-10 pm, right before closing? Everyone loves the day visits, but the night hour is something you have to try... at least the girl dancing by the drum circle in the grass thought so! Leisurely summer nights are one of my most favorite things. 

I can hardly believe I will be leaving for London in exactly 1 week! I'm both excited and yet can barely believe it's here. I've been working hard on cards to finish up for sending to my supporters this next week that reminded me of how much I love individual, time-intensive crafts which, unfortunately, I've somehow replaced with more commercial, fleeting activities. 

What will your June look like? I've been calculating how much money I would save on rent after moving into our next place and it reminded me that being generous with your money can go a long way and make a big impact. Giving is so great, whether it be money, time, or (fill in the blank)! 

What will you be doing this weekend? If you have Bank of America, you can get into some museums free tomorrow with your card. If you want some ideas, here are some summer things to do in New York and Austin. 

(via woofjakarta, a neat bike blog via johnprolly)

Happy Friday, friends! 

It's been a little quiet on the blog lately--between looking for places to live and a certain foot injury, I've been a little slammed this week. This art is for all the lady friends on their bikes out there, mine of which I already dearly miss and will for the next month or so. We also just applied for a new apartment, so I'm looking forward to moving west of I-35 again (but treasuring the rest of my time on the east side). 

What will you be doing this Memorial weekend--BBQ? Swimming? Shopping? Something I've realized in the past year is that I used to get major social anxiety before social gatherings with strangers. One time Mel and I were sitting in the car before a party and she was like, "Are you ok?" and I was like, "I'm nervous!" 

But what better way to get over it than to just jump in, right? That's also my motto anytime I'm at Barton Springs... 

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Something that has come up in several conversations lately: birth order and how it affects your personality. As the younger daughter, people (including my parents) are constantly drawing comparisons between me and my sister. Though we're close, I always wonder how two people could grow up in the same home and turn out so differently.

Within the past few weeks, I've been having one-on-one's with friends (Gladys above) in the morning before work.

As a night owl, waking up early is painful (regardless of how ambitious I am), but I've experienced that this time in the morning is so rewarding. There's something about mornings before the rush hour craze starts that is so neat, and sharing that time is so fun! It's kind of like a secret world that you miss out on when you sleep in. 

When I just don't want to get out of bed those mornings, I think of the quality time I'm missing out with friends I barely get to see and the value in scheduling those times with intention. These meet-ups also help my natural separation of "work" time and "fun" time become more seamless, which is something I'm always trying to keep fresh. Something else I love is that seeing these friends is so refreshing to start the day with! 

Where would be convenient for you?  We love our local coffee shop, but this past week Helen invited me over and pressed coffee while we talked on her rug. 

Do you meet in the mornings? If you're an early bird, what gets you motivated to get out of bed? If not, would you be open to trying it? 

Happy Friday, all!

Have you experienced that the closer you get to friends, the more of an effect they have on you?

For example, my friend Christine thinks that every girl should have cowboy boots because they're so durable, they become your lifelong friends and share so many memories with you. We were thrilled to appreciate her point of view when we each received a pair! Do you have something tangible like that?

Raps has definitely taught my zippy self to slow down and enjoy taking a breather. Rachel shows me that it's awesome to show your enthusiasm for something you're really excited about, and Helen regularly reminds me that it's important and healthy to take a moment to process how I'm feeling instead of always pushing my feelings away. (Go figure. right?)

My friend Stephanie has taught me that there are always two sides to every story, as much as I fight to be right a lot of the time, and Sarina and Mel show me how to keep weird jokes going on and on because it's fun, and who cares?

Excuse my braggin' about my friends--What kind of quirks do your friends bring out in you, and what have you adapted from being around them? Do you find yourself picking up their habits? 

Let's celebrate people and friendship dynamics today, because ​people are so different, and that is awesome! ​

(Image source: wsj.net)

Sharon shared some fun things to do during the summer in Austin yesterday, so I've rounded up some of my favorite summertime activities in New York! 

I was born in July in arguably one of the hottest places on Earth, so I'm a summer baby at heart. I love the feeling of being outside all day, getting sweaty and jumping into a clear blue pool. New York is a city of extremes, meaning the summers can be miserable and humid, but I still look forward to them after a long, bleak winter, and here's why:

Even though I'm a working gal now, the season of summer is very near to my heart and my favorite time of the year! Even though the days can be pretty scorching, those warm nights are the best.

I'm a night owl and summer reminds me of staying up until I please, the excitement of moving into a new apartment (I've moved every year!), biking all around town, and enjoying the time under the sun. 

Happy Birthday to my dear friend and co-founder, Maps (a.k.a. Sharon)!

I've known Sharon for a long time (we used to be pen pals!) but we didn't start hanging out until the summer before our senior year of college.

Confession: I didn't know how to ride a bike until I was in college. We were both stranded that summer in Austin for internships and classes, and she's actually the one who showed me how to navigate the city on my $25 used mountain bike. One time, I crashed into her at a stoplight and we both toppled over.

Sharon immediately stuck me as someone I wanted to be around. She has the most laidback, fun-loving attitude and killer taste in music/fashion/life. Sharon also has a huge heart and a passion for helping people and investing in her community.

I couldn't ask for a better person to start a blog with.

Enjoy your special day, Maps!