Aufedersein 2010!

2010 was a pretty insane year and the last few days I've been trying to think of a way to sum it up for a blog post and have been coming up sort of short. A drunken conversation with a friend on New Year's Eve sort of helped me put the last two years of my life into perspective for me... so here it goes.

As I think everyone in my life knows - 2009 was an equally sucky and awesome year. 2009 was all about self discovery and learning how to navigate and live happily within the confines of joblessness. It was frustrating, taxing, and surprisingly awesome all at once. At the end of the year I was hoping that I would have the courage to reinvent myself, after learning who I actually am, and what stuff I'm made up of. I think I really did need that time to say to myself - hey, you can do things! you'll be okay!

I think that 2010 was the year that I grew up.

I'm not sure when or why it happened, but I decided somewhere in the first couple of months of the year, that this lady of leisure routine that I've got going on is awesome - but not very productive. So this year I've been balancing this "free time" to play with something productive and a bit more grown up.

I certainly got my play time in this year - I took a three week trip to Scotland and England with two of my best friends; had one fantastic trip to Death Valley with Lindsey and Kylise; I spend as many weekends as I can in LA and at Disneyland with the group of friends there; the rest of my weekends I spend enjoying time with my wonderful group of friends in SD; I spent a much needed weekend in SF in May; and I've gone on several family trips (camping for a week in Sequoia, Utah for Thanksgiving, Texas in the Fall, Arizona for Spring Training).

Salena & Taylore at breakfast in Edinburgh, Scotland

There has been a great deal of celebrating, from my 25th birthday to my roommates' 7-year anniversary, to friends getting promotions/new jobs (like my sister, moving to Indonesia for 6 months to work with Orangutans!) and many friends buying houses! I've made some new friends this year (some of the neatest through Etsy), and certainly cemented and celebrated friendships with all of the amazing people who are in my life too. I've spent SO much time with so many of the members of my family this year, its a darn good thing I like them all!

And Jenelle and I got a cat (Dinah)!

Its also been a tough year. A dear friend that I used to volunteer with passed away, and then less than a month later my Uncle Tim passed away. My sister has been gone during all of this, and not having her here has been hard for me, and hard for her to have to process these events on her own. In addition to that, some of my friends have had some difficulties spring up this year, and my heart goes out to them, especially to one of my closest friends, who's Mom was just diagnosed with Breast Cancer in the Fall.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure Walk - Balboa Park

And in the midst of all of this I'm starting up two little businesses. They both started up as just a thing to do, but I'm really enjoying them both. I started an Etsy jewelry shop (Rabbitwerks) at the end of 2009, but really got into it this year (its actually starting to pay for itself!). Between spreadsheets of costs and sales, having modeling photo shoots, putting in the time on Etsy, and creating the jewelry is turning into a very fun, time sink of a hobby.

The real business, Aeonium Design Studio, is the thing that I think I have this year to be most proud of. I am actually starting a company, where people are paying me to design their yards! Its really exciting. It took me some time to do this because I lacked the confidence to think I really could do this landscape design thing on my own, and from a practical perspective, I lacked a solo portfolio of built projects.

I mentioned earlier that several friends have been buying houses - and luckily for me, they all need landscaping done, and they like me. This, and some other key connections, have landed me several clients. I have two houses completely done, 2 yards under construction, and 4 in planning stages. I also am working on an entry way to a housing community for an HOA. Right now I'm being paid in meals, honey, and massages (3 clients are paying/paid me with cash money tho!) - but I am building up a portfolio, and its already leading me to new clients!

Chris building the deck at his new condo!

Aeonium's First Finished Residence

At the beginning of the post I said that 2010 was the year I grew up. Maybe its more appropriate to say its the year I took control of my own destiny. I am really happy to be where I'm at right now, at the beginning of 2011, and I'm looking forward to how all of this continues to move forward through the year. So here's to progress and growing, but not necessarily growing up!

And the Beat Goes On

As some of you may or may not know, I'm trying to get my feet on the ground and start my own landscape design business. I frequently think to myself that this is insanity. Outside of school, I haven't run an entire design project and my only solo built project is my parent's garden. Its overwhelming to me to think that I actually have the skills and talent to convert someone's yard into a play area or kitchen garden or an outdoor living room.

At some point though, you have to get over yourself and do something. So here I find myself, working on my friends' new house, getting paid for it, and before it even gets built getting a request from one of their friends to do work on their home.

So begins Aeonium Design Studio. I'm really excited for this, and we're breaking ground on my first house in a matter of a week or so. Its been really fun getting back into design work, drawing and rendering plans, setting up my contractor's account at my favorite nursery, and doing research on California native gardens. I think I'll be blogging about the state of garden design in California in addition to my usual ramblings, so be on the look out if that's your kind of thing.

In addition to starting Aeonium, I'm taking a Landscape Water Practitioner class at Cuyamaca College as a grant student through the American Recovery Act. We had our first two classes this week and its fantastic. We're doing soils, plants, and irrigation. Its like the best parts of a landscape architecture degree, but without grades or tests, and with far more field instruction. Its really exciting. The class is mostly focused on becoming a California Landscape Irrigation Auditor, a Certified Landscape Contractor, and understanding and working with Assembly Bill 1881 - so needless to say, its a lot of information, and I'll be writing about that here too!

Well off to pack for my next adventure - roller derby in L.A...

One in Seven

Did you know that one in seven people on this planet live in slum settlements?

Designers around the world are coming together to help provide underprivileged people with homes with roofs, schools for their children, and clean water systems, but at this rate, by 2020 it is estimated that one in three people in this world will live in slums.

I feel like now is a perfect time to highlight one of my favorite non-profits (and the one I'd most like to work for): Architecture for Humanity.

Check out their website: www.architectureforhumanity.org

Their book, Design Like You Give a Damn, is sort of my bible for design. Of all of the books in my bookcase its the one I find most inspiring (thank you Lindz), the one that pushes me to think that design really can change the world, and that I can be a part of that.

Please check out Architecture for Humanity, and if you're on twitter follow them @archforhumanity for loads of updates, lecture links, and a whole ton of other things.

Urban parks need help!

And you can help out by going onto the American Society of Landscape Architect's page here:

ASLA Advocacy for Urban Parks

Thanks!