It's the end of the world as we know it - Patti's Recap Part V1

Happy Tuesday! Muahaha! Okay. I know some of you are all like "Tuesday? It's not Tuesday," and you're all confused, but this is a trick I've learned and it really works, so get on the train already!!

You know how, for some inexplicable reason, 4 day weeks seem to take forEVER To pass? Like, seriously. Is this a joke? I have a theory on how time warps work, but I've found a way to beat it on short weeks, and voila! It's like a fancy party at the end of the week.

I tell myself it's Monday on the day back from work. It feels like a Monday. It looks like a Monday. So I call it Monday. And then I tell myself all week, "oh my goodness... four whole sleeps until weekened" or, on 'Wednesday', "thank goodness it's hump day.. only two more days." Then, all of a sudden you find yourself at the end of the week and it's all "wait! I don't have to come in tomorrow?" It's like a SURPRISE day off! Which DOUBLES the benefit of the long weekend prior! Winning in every sense of the word! It makes the week fly by, really. Try it! And even though I've spent some time explaining this concept to you now - Happy Tuesday. I'm sooo good at tricking myself. 

I should market this train of thought. Really.

Anywho - back to the recap, and HAPPY TUESDAY!

Fact: As a graphic designer, I've encountered many different types of clients. Many clients who could be described as difficult. But throughout this process, I quickly learned that I was, in fact, the most difficult client I have ever encountered.

The pressure I put on myself! I figured that everyone would have an expectation of something super fancy because I'm a designer. That I could ruin my reputation and career if the design elements were not perfect. That the world would end if everything wasn't absolutely fantastically amazing!

I was stuck. Totally stuck. And not for a lack of ideas. In this case, my first-world problem was that I had way, way, WAY toooooo many ideas. So many ideas. Sewing! Glueing! Typography! Illustrations! Textures! Paper! Posters! Twine! Wood! Die-cuts! I didn't know where to begin, I had way too many different concepts in my head, and since I was the client, I couldn't decide what I liked most, and so, didn't know where to begin.

TheGuy was a champ. He tried to console me as I shared my devastation with him. I was going to have to change careers. I was a hack of a designer if I couldn't even design my Save-the-dates without a bazillion meltdowns. I may as well hand in an application to McDonald's, except that I was paralyzed by options and HAVE YOU SEEN ALL THE TOPPINGS YOU CAN CHOOSE FROM at McDonald's? The moment I'd been looking forward to for my entire graphic design career: designing my wedding invitations to the love of my life, became a crippling, game of: "that might look nice! NO, that's stupid! What about this? That's dumb, too." And time was running out.

In my career, I'm usually able to manage stress. I adore working under pressure, I do my best work when under the gun. I like being able to manage my time, prioritizing the needs of others - it's a thrill, really. And I've never missed a deadline. But this was just nuts.

TheGuy said that I couldn't postpone the wedding because I was over-inspired, and that the show must go on. He also let me know how sad he was that I wasn't having fun with it, because, really, shouldn't it be fun? I was finally able to regroup. After weeks of agonizing (ok - actually months, because I'd been thinking of marrying him for a long time.)(Okay, actually - years), I decided to just go for it. To design something for Ryan and I, and not for anyone else. And a Save the Date could be whatever I wanted to be - simple, easy. As the initial panic of the blank paper in front of me wore off, I figured to go with what I loved - typography, and hand rendered typography. So I did it. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't award winning, but it was us. And that was the most important thing.

So, I didn't actually have time to take a photo - so I just made this in photoshop. And that's not our real website address, because I feel like being sneaky.