Just Go

We relived our glory days in Oxford last weekend. I love these girls. Gah...we've had some good times together. I adored every single second at Ole Miss with them, and we've been through a lot since then. I cannot believe it's been 8 years since we graduated (most of us that is! haha) But, some things never change. We always pick up right where we left off. Weekends like this are critical to sanity and to life in general. Not that I hesitated for a minute when I received the email about a girls weekend (quite the opposite!) but I'm always reminded after trips like these that when in doubt — G O. Travel. Visit good friends. Take adventures. Bring back old memories. Go somewhere new. It is almost always worth every minute and penny spent. cheers to that... #treatyoself was the theme of the weekend. We wined and dined and shopped and didn't think twice about it.

We're getting smarter in our old age. This picture was clearly taken before the drinks started pouring (except for one special bday girl)...

It's times like these that give us new energy and inspiration. I have so many "work-related" posts on deck. I hope to find time to blog about them soon. Right now, I'm just trying to keep my head above the water...and to make time for the most important things in life (Bruner + my BEST girlfriend below). Nothing compares to my little boogie.

Handwriting always wins

When in doubt, handwriting always wins...

lately

Lots of fun projects going on!

springtime

Happy Monday everyone. It finally feels like spring here and I can't tell you how grateful we are for that. This is pretty much what our weekend looked like. We played outside, worked in the yard and replanted the herb garden. It. Was. Perfect. And full of much needed downtime. Here's to the start of great week...

the pink carpet

I opened up this month's Access magazine and saw this...

Kinda scary to see yourself on this silly "pink" carpet. But, oh well—it is what it is!

I accepted both ADDY awards for my client, Roberts Brothers, which is the largest real estate company in South Alabama: the first Silver ADDY Award for Product or Service Sales Presentation and Silver ADDY Award for the company’s television commercial, “Finding Your Dreams a Home”.

We recently launched their new website and company intranet. NOT a small feat believe me—both took at least 6 months to complete. Check out there new home search. Our goal was for this site to have the best home search in South Alabama.

View the award-winning TV commercial here.

See this recent post about the ADDY awards, my dreams and what really matters...

Mardi Grassssss

Whew. It's been a fun and crazy few weeks here. We had a blast but looking forward to some much needed down time. Here are a few snapshots of our fancy and not-so-fancy moments this Mardi Gras. Believe me, I prefer the not-so-fancy ones.

My favorite pic of them all is Calder devouring the king cake...although I think I think ate 3/4 of it!

#thereisadollinmycake #weird #ikindaloveit

Have Faith

Happy Friday

Wow. What a great way to start this Friday! Thanks @daily_bibleverses for featuring my design today. This verse will always be one of my very favorites. http://instagram.com/daily_bibleverses

Here's the original post and design in case you want to pin it or print it.

New Branding: Chapel Farm Collection

I just finished this branding board for Chapel Farm Collection. Chapel Farm Collection is a carefully curated assortment of antiques, jewelry, and vintage gifts discovered by a mother and her two daughter-in-laws. Many more details coming soon about this project and lots of surprises ahead.

As a designer, there's nothing more rewarding than stepping back from a project and thinking, Wow, this is so them. After a lot of hard work and several rounds of concepts, that's exactly how I feel about this branding board. I think we finally nailed it. The "Chapel Farm" font was designed by one of the Pilot's close family friends years ago, who has since passed away. It was very important to them to integrate this font into the new design. The steeple is a replication of the beautiful steeple at Chapel Farm (see below). There are many other hidden meanings throughout the entire design, which makes it that much more special.

Check out how gorgeous Chapel Farm is. The entire time I was there during our first brainstorming session, I couldn't help but feel the Lord's presence there—in a very strong way. It only seemed right that He was represented in the identity of this new business. I'm truly honored to work with this fabulous Pilot trio, Jeanna, Jordan and Brooke. Website coming soon, but for now check out their facebook page.

More on this fun project and new business coming soon. Word is that they'll be hosting a show at their fabulous barn the weekend of March 14 during Fairhope's Arts and Crafts weekend. We will be some busy, busy bees until then!

Local Goodness: Sneak peek

I just finished the branding, invitation set and print ads for this Farm-to-Table event, hosted by Local Goodness. All proceeds benefit the USA Women's & Children's Hospital. Despite the time crunch, this has been one of my very favorite projects. Over 1,500 invitation sets were mailed out today! Wait until you see the final product...EACH invitation set was hand wrapped with red and white twine, and a custom designed seed packet (filled with basil seeds) was tied to the top as a favor. The "real" favor will be given to each guest at the event. The seed packets were hand stamped and read "Plant seeds of GOODNESS." More pics coming soon.... What a special event this will be—and all for a great (I mean, GOOD) cause. My job's not over yet...billboards, tickets, menus and many other items to come. Stay tuned for more details.

Musical Therapy

I never (or very rarely) blog about music bands...but I'm a HUGE music junkie and anyone who knows me well, knows this to be true. We went to a concert last night on a whim (last minute bday gift for Bruner) and I can't tell you how freaking awesome Shovels & Rope and Shakey Graves were. I'd bet that in less than 5 years, neither one of these bands will be playing in a small music hall in Mobile, AL and we'll tell everyone about the time we stood a few feet away from them at the Alabama Music Box. Last night's concert seemed to take me back in time for a while. It took me HOME. Back to Chattanooga. This kinda bluegrass/folk/country music is what I love. It's what makes me dance and sing, even though I'm pretty terrible at both. It reminded me of my childhood, the carefree high school days and the beautiful Tennessee mountain land. I felt like I was back in Monteagle swinging on the Wayside porch with my best friends from college. It reminded me of the Mississippi Delta and road trips back to Oxford. It took me back to the good ole days: when it was better to have the windows rolled down than the AC cranked up ... when dinner was cooked for you and we had no real worries at all.

I first discovered Shovels & Rope in 2012, when I read this article in Garden & Gun. See this previous post: Shovels & Rope in 2012. I immediately fell in love their music and their story too. I'm a sucker for a harmonica. Always have been. Always will be. "Lay Low" is my favorite song they sing. I was so bummed they didn't play it other night. Don't think I wasn't requesting it from the front row :)

Shakey Graves is a new fav for this household's pandora station.

I hope this the first of many posts featuring different musicians I love. Oh the ideas I have for this blog are endless. Too bad about 90% of those ideas are never implemented. What I'd give for some free time!

ADDY Awards

Exciting news: Hadley Binion Designs won two ADDY® Awards last week at the AAF Mobile Bay Advertising ADDY® Awards. One award was for a print brochure and one was for a TV commercial. See this post about the commercial I produced for Roberts Brothers—what a special project this was to be a part of. The pretty gal to the right is Karen Sullivan with RSQ. Don't let her single award here fool you—Karen and the RSQ team took home dozens of these bad boys the other night. Check out their site. They are the real deal, no doubt about that.

Sorry if I get a little nostalgic here, but Hadley Binion Designs has been my baby for as long as I can remember. I have learned—as cliché as it may sound—that if you dream big and work your tail off, your dreams can come true. I feel an unbelievable amount of gratitude to be here today DOING WHAT I LOVE. I am by no means the picture of "success" (whatever that is). Lord knows I have A LOT to learn, and have NOT mastered the life of a balanced working mom. At the end of the day, my family comes first, and if I miss a deadline or a meeting gets pushed back, life goes on. I may have to work crazy hours to get my to-do list done, but I also appreciate the flexibility of my job. If I want to take a day off just to play with Calder, I can and I do. That was one of the main motives (among many others) behind pursuing this dream.

That being said, the road to get here has not been easy. At. All.

Flashback: A little over three years ago I was working a full-time/8-5 job as a graphic designer/marketing director for a real estate company. After a long day + a 30 minute commute, I would come home and and continue to work until the wee hours of the night on my freelance design work. I did this for YEARS. My desk was the dining room table. I ate. slept and breathed this dream for many years.

I have definitely learned along the way, and could write a novel about "what I wish I had known." I do hope to post some freelance design/business tips here someday soon. Of course, I don't have all of the answers (not even close), but if I can help one freelance designer out there, that is far more meaningful to me than any award out there.

In the end, awards don't matter at all. What matters is creating work that you're proud of and that you BELIEVE in. It's all about helping people and businesses grow, and being passionate about your work and loving what you do. So to everyone out there with a big dream, I encourage you to follow and pursue it wholeheartedly—even if it requires some sacrificing along the way. It's won't be the easiest road as it requires giant leaps of faith, but looking back now, I wouldn't change it for the world.

Gone Huntin'

What a fun Saturday hunt we had. There's something about being away in the woods—away from it all— that truly soothes your soul. We need more peaceful days like this in our lives. We need more time to sit back and enjoy the little things, because of course we learn that they are the big things.

Pretty sure my black jeans scared all the deer away—or maybe it was a screaming two year old in a nearby tree stand—but regardless of the intensity of the hunt, we did see a bunch of deer. Most of them weren't phased a bit by Calder's loud "outdoor voice" and insistent clapping. Man I tell you what, those deer are dumber than you think.

Should've worn my "real" hunting boots that Mack gave me at our rehearsal dinner (true story)...but I couldn't find them as we were running out the door. Turns out they were in the attic. Go figure! Needless to say, Bruner was back in crocs during our lunch break. The man and his crocs don't part for long. No words can explain how much I love these two shots Mack-daddy surprised Calder her own camo chair for her first hunt. We are so thankful for these two, and Calder is one loved and lucky grandchild that's for sure. Calder was fascinated with everything about it...the dirt, the sticks, the muuuud! Although she likes her baby dolls (we had to bring their bottles with us), she'd prefer mud puddles to jump in or a football to throw, over those dolls ANY day. We have a little tomboy on our hands...which is exactly how I was at her age. Real men carry this and wear that people. This is safe, right?

And this is where the loud screams were coming from...but the deer just sat there and did their thing.

Wise Words + Good Design

These quotes are all over the place, kinda like my life these days. One thing's for sure, I love wise words that are designed well.

I could look at Pinterest quotes all day long. Gah, it's addictive! I took a little hiatus from pinning, but am back in full force these days...

Happy Monday everyone!

Super Commercials

I love me some Super Bowl Commercials. Last year, I found some great inspiration for this commercial I produced for Roberts Brothers, during the Super Bowl ads. I cannot believe that was one year ago. Any favorites here? How can you not get goosebumps watching any commercial honoring our troops, like the Budweiser "A Hero's Welcome" ad?

I liked the Chobani Bear commercial..but was it just the good Bob Dylan song choice? Not sure, but I like it regardless. I also thought the RadioShack ad was pretty clever and funny, given that their name has "Radio" in it. And maybe I'm just a bit emotional tonight, but the "Long Live Dreams" ad from AmFam got my attention. My husband loves Stephen Colbert, so I'll have to mention this commercial too. And I'll end with Coca-cola's "It's Beautiful" commercial...not everyone speaks english, alright?

But, I must admit, I have yet to watch them all! :)

New Branding: Mobile Pediatric Dentistry

I've had so much fun working on the branding for Dr. Stephen Greenleaf's new practice: Mobile Pediatric Dentistry. Dr. Greenleaf has been such a joy to work with, and I know Calder will be visiting him as soon as I can get the courage to schedule her first dentist appointment! Check out the website for more info.

Normal days

I've been MIA on the blog lately, which typically means life has been crazy-busy around here. When my to-do list is overflowing, the blog is always the first thing to go. But, it's so nice to sit back and reflect on "our normal days" and look through some recent moments captured on camera. Time flies—that's for sure—but this is what matters.

I read this quote on one of my favorite blogs, A Cup of Jo: 5 beautiful motherhood tips, and got teary and thankful and sad—all at the same time. Of course, I had to quickly design a print of it. The words were just too good to read and forget. Bottom line is: It's the normalcy of life that we take for granted. We need to try and soak in every minute of it, because before we know it, it will be gone.

So, here's to our "normal" days...

Missing these boat days being our "normal"...hoping the next warm Saturday or Sunday, that's where we'll be...

And many more to come...

2014 here we come

Happy NEW Year! I'm still working on my resolution list...I've never been that big on New Year resolutions, but this year I AM coming up with a list. Just like everyone else, I do have many goals this year—there are some changes I want to make in my life in 2014—both personal and work-related. But one of my #1 goals this year is to slow down. To take a deep breath....this is the GOOD stuff. I want to continue to work with JOY and passion, and to not be overcome by deadlines, emails, to-do lists and STRESS. I want to soak life in slowly. I want to savor it ALL and I want to be full. More details on this coming soon.

That being said, I had to share this picture of our Calder-bear on Christmas morning. She brings such immeasurable, pure JOY to our lives, and I cannot believe she turns TWO in just 4 short days. January 5, 2012 will always be the most special day of our lives thus far. This time last year I was planning Calder's 1st birthday party (see blog post here). I can't believe it's been a year. Time and life for that matter, has been in speed-mode since then. While her 1st bday party was so fun (and let's be honest. exhausting too), we're doing it a little different this year. We're going to have a "Calder-day" with just use 3, and will make sure it's a fun-filled day with our girl. We'll go and do whatever she wants (probably end up at the zoo, the park, coldsnap for yogurt, you name it..it will be a GREAT day), and then we'll have cake and celebrate with our family later in the day. It will be VERY laid-back and perfect for us now.

Here's us on September 13, 2013, celebrating 5 years of marriage ... And flashback to our rehearsal dinner—despite the wrinkles, new hair color (which is currently more like the pic below...I know, I caved!), and darker circles under our eyes, etc.— this night still seems like yesterday. What a fun ride it's been and I pray 2014 is the best yet.

And finally, on an unrelated yet very-related note, our wonderful preacher, Brad Goode, asked me to design several prints featuring this verse from Josh 24:15. Brad and his amazing wife Rachel (check out her blog Heirs with Christ) have been SUCH a blessing to our church and to our family. Brad's always coming up new, fresh ideas and of course, I'm honored to help him every chance I can. Given it was the holidays, I literally threw this together in less than 30 minutes, BUT, It was perfect timing for me, and just what I needed to frame and hang up in our home. I hope your 2014 is full of gratitude and joy. Thank you Lord for a fresh start every morning. You make all things new, all the time.

The best time of the year

My heart is so full tonight. Merry, MERRY Christmas to all!

The girl LOVES to dance  

Merry Merry

Here are a few snapshots of our life lately. I keep reminding myself to soak these moments in because they will gone before we know it... Calder's one fun, busy-bee this time of year!

We just got back from New York and it was FABULOUS. More on our trip coming soon...