The date is Friday, June 19th beginning at 8am, Saturday the 20th and ending Sunday the 21st at 8am (8am your time, wherever you are).  That is a total of 48 hours, of which you should aim high for a total of 18-24 hours spent on the challenge.

I really want to try it. It’s just that I’m shying away from Internet committments at this point (I’m WAY behind on a project) and don’t want to commit to it just to drop out.

So I think I’m going to do it… I’m just not going to “sign up” at the site and say I’m doing it. I’m just going to DO it. But first, I need to get this project out of the way.

But I really do plan on overhauling this site. I really really miss having my blog. Terribly! The only thing really holding me back right this moment is a website I promised to a very close friend… and it’s taking me epic amounts of time to get it done (curses on daily life, I swear).

To Do:

1. Finish the Israel site.
2. Work on this site.
3. Get my portfolio up.
4. Revamp Mom’s site.

I’m awful, I really am. Well, back to work. And by the way, greetings from Pennsylvania!

To be honest, this “Grace in Small Things” challenge has really been… well, challenging so far! I tend to be a complainer when it comes to blogging, so some days it’s kind of a stretch. But it really makes you think about the day that you had and really look for all of those little things that made the day worth it… even on a day like today. You should try it.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of Grace in Small Things.

* you can click with your scrollwheel in most modern browsers to have a link open up in a new tab while you keep reading. I often go through entire articles this way.

Downloads and Resources

400+ High Quality Patterns

Patterns can be found every where. Most commonly we can see them in fabric and wallpaper, but they also make great visual elements for web design. Here is a collection of patterns of all shapes, sizes, and color. Some are images, and some are pattern files for Photoshop and Illustrator.

Fawnt.com

Fawnt is a font resource for designers, developers, and anyone that appreciates the web’s highest quality fonts.

Worn and Torn Edges

A while back I had posted a pack of worn edges on my portfolio site for people to download and use in their designs. Lately, I have noticed that some of them are showing up in designs featured on CSS galleries. Seeing this made me think that they might actually be useful.

BgPatterns

Create seamless backgrounds using a variety of different symbols, textures and colors, or just select one from a gallery of user-created patterns.

Tutorials

ABC To Manipulation (DeviantART)

A lovely 10-part tutorial series on DeviantART which tells you completely everything you need to know to create fantastic manipulations. It includes detailed explanations, large examples, interviews from other artists, recommended brushes and textures, and a complete walkthrough. Link is to part 1.

Create a Wicked-Worn Vintage Pop Art Design

Design a simple but nice vintage pop art piece with some wear and tear. I’m not a huge fan of the dog-man-thing, but the texture and effects are pretty cool.

Colorful Glowing Text Effect

This is a wondeful little style that could easily be integrated into any dark graphic design where some upbeat text is needed.

Snail Race Photo Montage

I don’t know that I’ll need a picture of a snail derby, but it’s got a lot of photomanipulation tips that would come in really handy, like matching the coloring between two different stock photos.

Just for the LOLs

Tee Madness – Sketch :: Life :: Sketch – Hilarious idea for a T-shirt, perfect for any designer with a frustration for that monster known as Internet Explorer. I would completely wear it; it had better come in standard geek-fare black.

Garfield Minus Garfield – A classic. Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb.

Photoshop Disasters – Some people should not be trusted with a copy of Photoshop. Sadly, most of these people work for magazines and make movie covers.

20 Funniest Newspaper Headlines Ever – “Caskets found as workers demolish mausoleum.” No… really?

Well, that’s all for now. Some of these may be a bit old, but only because this is the first post like this I’ve done. I’ll be collecting all through September, and expect it to be an awesome post. Hope you all enjoy these!

I just got this game that came out, Phase, and I’m in love with it. Seriously, I downloaded it last night and I’ve probably played about four hours worth of this silly game. It’s like DDR or Guitar Hero (both of which I’ve never played, mind you) in that it takes your music and turns it into a game. You basically have to keep on beat and “catch” the notes by hitting one of three buttons. Simple… yet really, really addictive. Just wanted to throw that out there for anybody else with a video-capable iPod. You must get this game!

My other newest love (okay, besides Robin Hood, but I won’t drool all over you guys today), is this site called Symbaloo. It’s kind of like Google’s personalized home page, but definitely more graphical. You kind of have to see it to understand it. It’s like playing with blocks, seriously… and it’s just replaced Bloglines.com as my new home page. You should go check it out.

Okay, that’s my shameless advertising for today!

We Messianics have to put our two cents worth in, too!

Click here to register!

• Work (the last two weeks I’ve worked 35 hours a week!)
• Mom’s site (http://its-time.info)
• Trying to keep up with friends and maintain normal everyday life

Life’s been mostly good (and the last time I said “mostly good,” Lisa challenged me)… relatively busy with nothing really exciting going on. Oh, except for my “date” yesterday with Becky. Sorry, Jessyca and Tegan, Becky got to me first! We had no idea where to go, so we ended up going to this Mexican restaurant (which Becky claims is NOT what she was aiming for) and eating nachos with a pound of cheese and just gabbing.

This week I’m opening at five thirty a.m. every day until Shabbat… which is going to seem glorious! I’m so not a morning person!! So anyhow, I can’t promise I’ll update a bunch, but I’ll try. I really will.

No services for me last night because of lack of gas money, and so we had shabbat at home. Dad actually went freestyle on all of the family blessings and ending up crying halfway through. It was very peaceful and very different, being a planned home sabbath instead of a “we’re not going at the last moment” sabbath. We got out the good plates and had a nice dinner and then we had a torah study afterward.

Very, very nice.

OH! Camp Yeshua has been announced, so head over to the Lion & Lamb site and sign up! You must. I’ll be there, junior staff this year. Though I think we’re the sole kitchen cleaners again this year, hey, it’s camp and it’s worth it.

And on other notes, I have chapter four completed. I’ll see if I can upload it directly on here [the new wordpress rocks]. If not, you’ll see it soon enough, because I’m working on a Wordfolio subdomain that has just writing. It’s up but not up, if you know what I mean.  > Seasons: Chapter Four

And my anonymous commenter who has not commented in a while: this is an official note that you do indeed hit “leave a comment” or “# comments” to leave a comment. Love you!