Hamster Hampster

I'll be honest, wasn't really feeling the doodling today. Drew a hamster on a hamster wheel. Didn't turn out how I wanted. I wanted him running, but it kind of looks like he's on his stomach. The background also ended up being super muddy. Wah wah. Can't wind every doodle every day. I may be going back to pen outlines and watercolor instead of all watercolors. We'll see.

Also, dunno the last time you checked out hampsterdance.com, but it's not what it used to be. Kind of disappointed in its overcomplication. 

Happy Presidents Day!

I'd trade a Snack Pack for Cheetohs. Especially to ol' Abe. Wouldn't you? Then again, I don't know how well Cheetohs would do with George's wooden teeth and all. It's a presidential lunchtime quandary.

Nashville Post Post

I spent a chunk of time this weekend working up some illustrations for an article that's going to be coming out in the Nashville Post. It's featuring the company I work for and I was asked to provide the illustrations.. on Wednesday... due today. So it was a mildly stressful project, but a thoroughly enjoyable one! I'm pretty happy with how these turned out and can't wait to see them in print! Even if they will be on the tiny side.

No, You're the BEST

Really. YOU are the best. Because you're here, reading this right now. Just want you to know I appreciate ya! Have yourself a Very Merry Valentine's Day!

*Also, I'm apparently not the best at teeny tiny watercolor lettering with a travel watercolor brush. Oh well.

Kitty and Rex

If you know me, you know I love cats and dinosaurs. But really, who doesn't love the two? They're inseparable in my book. And since I LOVE them both so much, why not make today's VDay-themed lunchdoodle a little homage to kitty and rex. BFFs forever!

A Clementine and his Muse

Clementines are my favorite and, IMO, the most adorable fruits. If clementines came to life, I bet they'd be the happiest, most in-love fruits ever. They'd probably hang out in their box being all cute like they do. Just adoring the peels off each other. Telling each other how cute they are.. until someone comes along and eats them. But until they become a snack, you can't deny they're totes adorbs. You can even buy a "Cuties" brand of Clementines. They have commercials with cute little kids eating cute little clementines. I rest my case.

I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do for VDay, whether I'll be cooking myself a dinner or taking myself out. Valentine or not, I never miss an opportunity to celebrate the holiday. Loving friends, family, significant others and YOURSELF is important! Maybe I'll make myself a Clementine-y dessert. Hmmm.

I would lick your eyeball

In celebration of Valentine's Day week, I'll be posting VDay themed lunchdoodles. It's gonna be cheesy. Deal with it. If you're a Valentine's hater, it's cool, you just might want to wait til next week to check back in. :-)

Anywho, I was at PetSmart this weekend and was mesmerized by a wall of various lizards/geckos/salamanders, etc. They're so cute! The one kept licking its eyeball, which I found totally fascinating. If I were a gecko, and had a gecko boyfriend, I'd totally lick his eyeball for him. Out of true gecko love. ::slurp::

Shy Little Oreo

Today's lunchdoodle is animated! I haven't been able to get Vine app to work and today it was updated. So exciting! 

Also, I had Oreos. They were Double Stuf.

Dancing Cheetohs

Two Lunchdoodles today! I had a little extra space on two sheets of my lunchdoodle sketchbook. Perfect for some snack dancing. I wish I had time to paint a cheeseball dancing too. I'll bet you'll enjoy eating Cheetohs so much more now that you know how much they love to get down! I'll bet they like to crunch to some dubstep.. wub wub.

It's Take Your Avocado to Work Day

I've had a lonely avocado hanging out in my kitchen for awhile. And not being one to want to waste something so delicious, I brought the little guy into work. Can't have him turning my other vegetables bad too! 

Nashville: Bring me your Nerds

A friend of a friend of mine recently opened a store here in Nashville called The Nerdery, which I happened to check out last night on a quest for birthday presents. I have to say I'm pretty impressed, despite the fact that they don't carry Star Trek merch yet claim to cater to nerds. They DO have plenty of Star Wars stuff, Dr. Who stuff, some other nerd things I'm unfamiliar with, T-Shirts, a Twilight Zone bobblehead of the library episode character (which I plan to go back and purchase) and TONS of strategy games!

Being that I'm a fan of games like Scrabble, Spades, Monopoly Deal, Settlers of Catan and anything else that required thinking, a board, a deck of cards, dice, score-keeping.. this has me pretty happy. And even more exciting, they are hosting a Dominion demo on Saturday! A game I've been told by several people that I would love. A game that involves victory points! I definitely plan to attend.

ONE: Guaranteed people to play games with! and

TWO: NERDS! BONUS!

I'm so excited to meet some new folks! This is much more my scene than bars and shows. I know nothing about music, but I do know a bit about nerdery. And while I have never played things like D&D or Magic the Gathering, I get along with PLENTY of people who do (and I would not be opposed to learning either game). According to my friend of the friend, I'll be "the most popular girl in the room." As long as I'm not the only girl, OR the only person under the age of 40 who lives independently and is in good health, I'll be excited. If any of them happen to be male, smart, and/or mildly attractive, this girl will be all smiles. All in all though, as "most popular" is NOT a superlative that I'm familiar with, I'll just be happy to learn a new game and meet some fun people. 

Scanner Time

Today's lunchdoodle is a bit more punctual, but I forgot ALL of my fancy pens, watercolors, and sketchbook at home. So handy Post-Its and a ballpoint to the rescue.

The Design Team moved buildings and desks today at work and as part of the move we're getting some new stuff! Including a new scanner! Which I can't wait to hook up and actually put to use. Monday's lunchdoodle is gonna be off the hook!

Bologna Sandwich

Tried uploading yesterday's lunchdoodle from my phone as I was waiting at home for some family to arrive. Just didn't have time for taking out my laptop, signing in, uploading, editing, etc. etc. etc. Unfortunately, my Squarespace iPhone app doesn't seem to work. Sadface.

My aunt, uncle, and a family friend stopped by Nashville en route to FL to drop off some furniture and a NEW TV from my parents in NH. I played tour guide, showed them the Honky Tonks, the new convention center, LOTS of construction, the American Pickers Store (they're fans)... oh, and just happened to get us a sneak-peak behind the scenes of the TV show Nashville. NBD.

Asparagus

• I had asparagus for dinner last night.
• I'm über busy at work today.
• I love ümlauts.
• It's süper dark in the office because the weather is sad and miserable.
• I wish I had a scanner at my desk and not my crappy iPhone.
• I'm going to have asparagus for dinner AGAIN tonight. And I can't wait. 
• ÜMLAUTS.

Happy Day

Sometimes days are just really good ones. Like a Diana Ross song kind of day. Today's one of those.

ONE: went to lunch with a good friend I hadn't seen in a long time, which is ALWAYS a good time (and also why this lunchdoodle is late). She's one of those people who is genuinely cheerful, making it impossible to spend time with her and not leave in a good mood.

TWO: This friend also said it looks like I've lost a little weight (which I have! Not a lot, but a little bit, more than a few LB's. So I was pretty happy to hear her say that).

THREE: It's 70º outside. Seven-Ty Degrees. Outside. In January.

FOUR: I've gotten SO MUCH stuff done today. Just obliterating my to-dos. Feels fairly awesome.

FIVE AND THE COOLEST. Chris Guillebeau re-tweeted my sketchnotes from his event last night!!!! !!!!!! !!!!! I maybe squealed a little with excitement. So happy they were well-received.. by the author himself! I am too delighted. :-)

And the day isn't even over! I plan on making and eating an awesome dinner. Might go for a long walk. Might draw stuff. Or work on some side stuff. Or read some books and snuggle my cats. Or also clean, which isn't exciting. BUT maybe when I'm done cleaning, my living room will magically fill up with puppies! Lots and lots of puppies. 

Man. Puppies are the jam.

$100 Startup Sketchnotes

Sketchnotes ROUND TWO! This time I felt the process went more easily. I still need a LOT more practice, but am much happier with these than the ones I did on Saturday. Having a quality, LIVE talk to sketchnote is considerably more favorable. I'll post more about the event sometime this week, but wanted to get these and a few notes about, well, the notes, online before going to bed. So real quick:

• I like the felt tip pen I used better than the last, but I know I have better.
• I pay more attention while making sketchnotes, but I LOOK like I'm paying waaaay less attention.
• There is no room for tweets and instagrams in the process of sketchnoting. This makes me feel like I get SO MUCH more out of a presentation, but lose touch with the group itself. Overall I consider that a big bonus.
• Being social wears. me. out. Also, I generally feel awkward always. < I realize these aren't notes about the Sketchnotes, but it DOES explain why I'm going to bed. Now.

Ps. This was a phenomenal talk and I got SO MUCH out of it. I am going to need a minute to process it all, but will for sure be posting a real post about the actual content sometime soon.

Echidna + Doritos 4E

Today's lunchdoodle was requests by my friend Marc Sexton. His theme: echinda. And he even included a Ze Frank video which is definitely worth watching. They're an interesting animal. Cute? Creepy? Like a baby version of a mix between a raw chicken and this guy? The part in Ze Frank's video where he says that God created Doritos about 10 seconds after he created the baby echidna, which was about 54 seconds after God created marijuana lead me to think that baby echidnas would love Doritos. But none of that Cool Ranch garbage. Just the straight up nacho cheese variety. The baby echidna is nothing if not one to stick with a classic masterpiece. Damnit. Now I want Doritos. 

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This is the second requested lunchdoodle I've done and it's a fun switch. If you'd like to make a request, go to taylorrific.com/contact and shoot me a 1-2 word theme. That's the important part. Just a word or two so I still have the creative leeway to come up with something fun.

Sketchnotes Take One

I was recently (and awesomely) gifted the Sketchnotes Handbook and love it! I don't think I've wanted to go to conferences, watch videos, and TAKE NOTES as much as I do since finishing this book. The book itself, regardless of content, is a lovely experience. The paper quality and illustration style (even the copy-type is hand-drawn!) makes for such an enjoyable reading experience. Mike Rohde, the author, explained and motivated with ease. I ate up the book in about a week. While I still haven't watched the video, I plan to soon.

In finishing the book, I decided to try my hand at Sketchnoting yesterday. I started with a TED talk online: David Kelley: How to build your creative confidence. My verdict? Sketchnoting is HARD! Sketchnoting is NOT easy, but it is kind of fun. And I definitely paid more attention to the video. Some notes on the (my personal) process/take after the first round:

• Find a better, less bleedy pen. Which is a shame because I love the feel of the felt tip.
• Write down what is compelling TO ME. Not every single idea and story that is presented.
• Start writing in lowercase and not all-caps.
• Work on playing with type more.
• Figure out how to illustrate AND listen simultaneously. It's a lot harder doing that when I'm illustrating something that pertains to the talk rather than my usual, unrelated doodles (strange how that is).

So. I'm not 100% satisfied with my first go round. I did cheat and rewound the video a couple times, but I think I'll get better the more I do it. Practice, practice, practice!

What? What.

Walruses are goofy, cheerful and make funny sounds. Cats are only cheerful when they want to be, and not often. And are way too dignified to be goofy. Plus, the only funny sounds they make usually involve thrown-up kibble and hairballs. Walruses have the best senses of humor. Unless you're a cat. Then walruses are straight-up jerk faces. But so are cats. So I say, go Mr. Walrus!!

Scaredy Bunnies

MOAR BUNNIES. I love bunnies. Part of the reason I started doing lunchdoodles again was to improve my color/watercolor skills along with sharpening my drawing/doodle/idea-creating skills so I thought it would be fun to try a doodle that plays with light and dark. I need to get bolder and more experimental with colors, but overall I like this one. Plus, it was fun. Cause anything involving bunnies is probably going to be fun. Just sayin.

Also, I wouldn't mind investing in a small scanner for my desk. Working with iPhone photos isn't the greatest.