We develop professional and creative websites for small to medium sized businesses, firms, non-profits, churches and even individuals. Feel free to browse our portfolio, see what services we provide and read more about who we are. If you are interested in a consultation, call us at 971-226-2752, email us, or fill out the contact form.
We visited a nice coffee shop while in Bellingham and even got to visit Larabee State Park on the Coast. On the way home, we stopped in Seattle and hung out at Pikes Place Market Downtown, and Olivia rode the Macy’s Carousel.
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The museum is located in the South Park Blocks, near Portland State University. My personal opinion is that it was fantastic; however we walked away with one slightly unfortunate result. Olivia now has a fascination with drawing naked people!
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The Path Less Traveled
It’s been a crazy year, and now I’ve finally convinced someone to pick up my slack!
We’re snowed in, so I actually have a chance to write.
I’ve been continuously working on my website for several years now, and as many of you well know, it has changed over and over again! Of course when I finally settle on a nice design, I change it all over again!
Last year when one of my former co-workers came to me with the idea to design her new company website, I thought it was a nice idea, because I was interested in building websites to earn an extra little bit of income, but was not really making much effort to get clients. I did do a free website for a Networking and Consulting firm in Portland in 2006, but that never materialized into much. So when Kathy contacted me, I was excited. Although that project still has yet to fully materialize, it lead me to build my portfolio, so that I could start building a business.
I advertised on Craigslist in Portland, and literally gave away my first few websites for what seems like pennies on the dollar! That was okay though, because I literally had nothing to show any potential client. Also, all the web knowledge that I thought I had was noticeably out of date! That lead me to retrain myself and got me started building websites in a much different way.
My portfolio eventually grew in 2008 as I used newer and different methods of gaining and retaining clientele. As a sole proprietor of sorts, I have to do everything for the client so there are times when I feel a little burned out and need to step away from the computer for a few nights to watch TV, play with my kid, watch sports, or simply… sleep.
That leads to the main point of this post. The one thing that has probably suffered the most because of my web design is my frequency of posting personal stuff. I used to post news and photos, and all types of goodies; mostly because I didn’t have anything else to talk about.
After much prodding, Brenda decided that she would start a blog of her own. She has her own interests that are somewhat different than my own, and definitely sees the world through her own unique and special lens. She has a different style than I do, but posts much more regularly than I do. Plus, all the latest news and pictures are there too. So, if you feel like you’ve been missing something here, go on over to her site and check it out, leave a comment or two, and tell her where you came from. Her site A Path Less Traveled - the Urban Divide, is a nice collection of stories, recipes, recommendations, and literature from her perspective.
Don’t forget that I still take just as many pictures as I always have, and the four pictures at the bottom of the page are just a sampling. All the pictures, whether on her site or mine, are at the Flickr page.
So here’s to hoping that 2009 will be a little more sane, and just as exciting as 2008. Having a business of your own is a lot of work for lots of reasons. It has been incredibly successful and for that I am thankful. Now if I could just factor in some zzzz’s every once in a while I’d be perfect!
Be sure to check back in the coming weeks as I add to my portfolio. There are at least 5 or 6 recent clients to add, all of whom I am very proud to be working with. They have great businesses and hopefully I can showcase my work that I’ve done for them here very soon.
Finally, tell me what you think about the new logo (at the top). Chad Brown from Chado Design developed the logo for me which is supposed to be a DA - in case you couldn’t tell. Here is what he had to say about it.
“I’ve done a lot of sketches and looked at what you sent me and feel this falls in the realm of BOLDNESS, SIMPLICITY AND ASYMMETRICAL. Also the readability is very easy for the web and very clean. I went for … easily recognizable and creativity in typography.”
I had to request a few minor changes to it, but overall I was very pleased. My site may seem boring to some, but to me it exemplifies simplicity and gets straight to the point. Like I said earlier, it’s a work in progress!
