Happy Sunday! Even though I’m deep in work mode I decided it was necessary to take a little time away from the computer. Why that always seems to involve spending money I’m not quite sure. I took Friday morning & afternoon off and I’m embarrassed to admit that it crossed my mind that might have missed the apartment singer’s Friday afternoom performance. It’s as if now that I’ve aired my grievances and put them out into the universe I’ve been released from the uncontrollable urge to storm out onto my balcony and holler expletives.

I was home on Saturday but alas no music.

Perhaps it’s strictly a weekday thing.

Perhaps someone else complained.

Only time will tell.

I hadn’t intended to take today off as well but Bed Bath & Beyond was having a clearance sale so….whatcha gonna do?

I got this fantastic framed print for my bedroom (regular $109 down to $69.99).

And I picked up some thin velvet hangers. Have you seen these?

I think the originals are called Huggable Hangers. They are super thin so they take up a lot less space in your closet and the velvet lining keeps your clothes from slipping off. I don’t know about you but that happens to me ALL the time. And check it out, little notches for straps. They have become so popular there are now knock offs everywhere.  My mom gave me a set of 20 of the original Huggable Hangers and I liked them so much I decided to change my entire closet over. I picked up this set (above) from Winners on Friday but I found a great deal at Bed Bath & Beyond today so I’m going to return these.

I grabbed a value box of 50 hangers from Real Simple for $24.99.

Can someone say BARGOON???!

Ok, I picked up TWO boxes.

Well, I don’t want to run out in 6 months and have to scour the city to find a matching set.

I hate mismatched stuff.

Unless it’s purposely mismatched for creative effect.

Like chairs.

Or teacups.

I don’t want an eclectic collection of hangers in my closet.

I decided to go for black. I really like the way it looks, they kind of disappear and you see your clothes first instead of the hangers. I was going to order the originals from HSN but it was a headache and a half to click through their ‘packages’ that all seemed to include hooks and shoe things and other junk I didn’t really want…and I don’t even know if they ship to Canada.

Anywho…now my closet is soooo purdy and more importantly I have room for more STUFF!! ;)

Here’s the BEFORE shot. Ew, it’s like hanger hell. I actually had taken a bunch of clothes/hangers out already before this shot but it was wall to wall white plastic. I barely had room for another hanger.

And now here is the AFTER…with ALL the clothes back in the closet:

Now I’ve still got the pants on the white hangers because I was worried that the weight of the jeans would warp the thin hangers. The only downside of the knock offs is that I noticed they aren’t as sturdy as the originals. It makes no difference for tops but I’m not sure about the jeans. Maybe I’ll test one pair or find an alternative in black. I’d like to get that white out of there.

Ahhhhh SPACE.

But seriously, isn’t that sooo much better? Can you believe it’s the same amount of clothes? I’m in hanger heaven!

Is it wrong that I just go open the closet and look inside because it makes me so happy?

Now I know you’re all excited about these hangers so if you decide to run out and grab some save some cash because you won’t want to miss the new goodies coming to Peppermint Creative!

I’ve got some work to finish up before it gets too late. Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for Mint-spirational Monday. ;)

… going to look at my closet first.

What is wrong with the people in my apartment building?

I mean seriously?

If you’ve been following my Twitter for the last few days (and I know you have, what else do you have to do all day than to read my tweets – seriously) than you already know that I’ve been blessed with the sounds of  some dude in my building singing along to Wilson Phillips’ – ‘Hold On’ ON REPEAT every day for the last few days.

Oh joy.

My desk happens to be situated right beside my patio doors and I like to keep them open during to day to let the fresh summer air in (plus the cat likes to watch the birds). Unfortunately, the calming sounds of the trees swishing in the wind have been hijacked every morning this week some time between 10am-12 with the sounds of someone singing select parts of the same song over and over again  – very badly.

It’s not loud enough to record or complain. Nope, it’s JUST loud enough to be super annoying. He must also have his window or patio door open. Hey, I love music just as much as the next guy but why must we play the same song over and over and OVER again? To be honest I’m not even completely sure he is playing the whole entire song. I keep hearing the chorus. I try and tune it out but I can’t.

Just as hit my Twitter account to bitch about it, it stopped.

The next day, same time. Wilson Phillips on repeat. Again. At least 5 times.

The following day I caught a break. The song changed to Sting – ‘If I Ever Lose My Faith In You’ x5 times on repeat.

This is a REALLY annoying song to hear on repeat. Even more annoying than ‘Hold On’.

I decided to take action and went out to the balcony to see if I could figure out which apartment it was coming from. I couldn’t. Nobody outside. The weird thing was that the music seemed to be coming from one direction and the singing seemed to be coming from another. Could this be a two man operation?

Today a couple rounds of Hold On and another Sting song: Desert Rose. Too many times to count.

I was about to lose my shit when it stopped. I’ve been contemplating leaving a note in the lobby. “To the resident who insists on playing Wilson Phillips on repeat every morning,  please STOP IT – or close your window.”

Too bitchy?

I had also drafted a very polite note for the dude who parks beside me.

PARK BETWEEN THE LINES ASSHOLE. It’s not that hard.

That’s not what the note said. Just what I was thinking.

He likes to park right ON the line between us. There is a cement post on either side so there isn’t much room to compensate when he does this. I had my very polite note in my purse but ever since I wrote it, a different car has parked in that spot and he/she has been parking between the lines. However, I was reminded of that note when I came across this on Pinterest:

So despite my musical domestic disturbances, I’ve managed to design some new goodies that I’m pretty excited about. Posting a sneak peek below at some of the things coming very soon!!

Hooray for new products. ;) Off to finish up. I almost wonder what song I’ll be blessed with tomorrow.

Cheers!

Last weekend we decided to check out the Beaches International Jazz Festival. It’s an annual street festival in Toronto and I’d never been so I thought it would a good opportunity to channel my inner photographer and have some fun taking pictures. Maybe put some of our weekly Click-a-Pic Challenge lessons and Photography Tutorials to use.  I was especially excited to attempt some night photography but it rained and rained..and RAINED so I put the camera away after about an hour. I thought I would share the few shots I managed to catch before it started to pour.

They shut down the entire street for the night and all the local restaurants set up food tents. Local vendors sell their goodies and bands set up at random up and down the street and just play. When we first headed out the cops were busy closing down the street.

I love a man in uniform but this is so not sexy.

Shorts + Bicycle = Not hot.

This was the scene when it first got started (above) but within about a half hour it turned into this (below).

The bands were all just starting to set up when I had my camera so unfortunately I didn’t get to photograph the action but I had a pretty good time shooting the goods!

The sign on the front of this Gourmet Lollipop booth was boasting Pineapple Bacon and Maple Bacon Lollipops. Not sure if the sign was meant to lure customers in or scare them away.

Pass.

The hit of the festival was definitely the roasted corn stand.

Just trying to make a buck. LOL.

Right before I headed back to drop off my camera we stopped to get Apple Fritters which look from the pictures like they would have been delicious but they turned out to be apple slices deep fried in batter and coated with cinnamon and sugar. Now I LOVE apples and I LOVE dessert. But these were a huge disappointment. It tasted literally like a warm raw apple slice, flavorless dough and sugar.

After this point it rained on and off all night. Several bands played into the night and we walked up and down the street in the rain and got soaked but it was so hot nobody cared. I walked for 5 and half hours in rubber flip flops and I’ve got the blisters to prove it (don’t worry I didn’t take any pictures). My feet still kill but it was totally worth it.

In scrappy news, lots of goodies coming very very soon.

Thanks for visiting. ;)

It’s funny cause it’s true.

I wish procrastination was a marketable skill.

I’d totally rock it.

I’ve been blogging a bit about the adventures and frustrations of moving from a PC to a Mac and I am pleased as punch to report that for all intents and purposes the transfer is now COMPLETE.

[Insert big sigh of relief here.]

I’m embarrassed to tell you that I got my Mac around November…of last year. It sat on my desk all through Christmas, into the new year, through Valentine’s Day, my birthday, the spring and a massive computer crash at the beginning of the summer which was the TRUE catalyst for the switch.

I had wanted to get to it as soon as I got the computer but with Christmas right around the corner I knew I wouldn’t have the time to stop designing for a week or two and adjust to a new machine. Well the holidays and the excuses just kept coming and procrastination set in until one day I caught a nasty computer virus and I decided..well, I was forced to make the switch.

I know some of you have been contemplating, or are also in the process of making the move to the Mac so I thought I’d report back to you. I’m not going to lie, it was a chore. It took a while to move all my files over but it was very simple to do using an external hard drive to transfer all the data. I’ve come across a few files here and there that didn’t transfer correctly or are unreadable for some reason so I’ll try to  copy those over again. Email was the biggest pain in the butt mostly because there is SO MUCH conflicting information out there but it wasn’t too bad in the end. I was switching from Outlook Express on the PC to Thunderbird on the Mac and then ended up moving to Mac Mail and then decided to go with Entourage. I’ll admit that was NOT a fun day. The good news is that the whole thing took a lot LESS time than I had anticipated and I’ve adapted a lot quicker than I thought I would. I had envisioned weeks of frustration, feelings of regret, several angry outbursts and at least a couple moments of uncontrollable sobbing.

I am an optimist.

Truth be told, I only ALMOST cried once…ok, maybe twice.

Not too shabby.

I was convinced that the switch would be a really tough adjustment for me at the beginning…and it was, for several days. But thanks in no small part to YouTube, Google and some helpful friends I’ve been able to quickly solve every road block I’ve encountered and now I’m ready to roll.

I have to admit, I’m feeling pretty fancy.

But now that I’ve gotten over that initial hump I’m VERY relieved and very proud of myself for actually getting it done and so far I’m really enjoying the Mac. There are some Windows features that I miss but I have to say that overall, Mac is a much smoother and simpler ride particularly if you are not a computer whiz. Everything just works easier and better. Installing fonts, actions and applications is a million times easier on Mac. There are some awesome desktop features like Spaces and Expose that help you make the most of your desktop space. You can pretty much drag and drop just about anything and several things that were tasking on the PC are SO easy on Mac that I was baffled when I discovered them. With all the help available online it’s pretty hard to stay stumped for very long.

So the moral of the story is, don’t procrastinate kids because I’m loving my Mac and I wish I would have had the chance to make the move sooner.

Back to work!
xo.

06/22/2011 – Operation ‘Moving to a Mac’ is 99.5% complete.

It is shaping up to be another productive day. I feel encouraged after reading some of the blog comments on my last post. As it turns out I am not alone in my journey to the Mac. It looks like at least a few of you are also in the process of moving or are seriously contemplating it. It is indeed a daunting task. Kind of like moving to a new city but you quickly find your way around. Maybe we should start a support group:

www.creativeladiesmovingtoamacbecauseeveryonesaysits
betterandtheybetterberightorI’llkicksomeass.org.

Overall it’s going well. I feel confident that I will adapt quickly despite the fact that I don’t like change. Last night I decided to read up on my Mac history. I learn that releases of Mac OS X are named after big cats; the current version of Mac OS X is nicknamed “Snow Leopard”. I believe ‘Lion’ is set to release sometime soon.

Here’s the breakdown:
10.0 ‘Cheetah’
10.1 ‘Puma’
10.2 ‘Jaguar
10.3 ‘Panther’
10.4 ‘Tiger’
10.5 ‘Leopard’
10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’
10.7 ‘Lion’

It’s all starting to make sense. I had no idea what people were talking about before when they said ‘Snow Leopard’. It’s a pleasure to finally be on a computer that functions. Installing and uninstalling programs is so easy I thought it was a joke the first time I saw it done. No more fishing through your computer for c:/directory/user/filesyouwillneverfind it’s all drag and drop. To install a new program you just drop the application into your applications folder and to remove it you delete it or pull it out. It’s all so neat and clean which inspires me to keep it that way.

I vow to keep my files well organized!

I promise not to name my work files akjaseojfrgfr.psd or leave them as Untitled-1.psd because I’m in a rush or just too lazy to make an effort.

There is plenty of incentive to do so. Meet my new best friend, ‘Spotlight’. I know that PC has a search function but it’s clumsy and slow. Spotlight is amazing at finding just about ANYTHING on your computer quickly and efficiently. I’ve already used it a handful of times. You don’t have to fish through your files, spotlight will pull it up for you.

Other things that I am LOVING so far..

1- The Dock – I love having my desktop icons out of the way and I get a real kick out of watching them pop up when I mouse over them at the bottom of my screen.

2- iPhoto – It’s a pretty nifty program. Suddenly I can actually FIND my pictures…easily. I love all the easy to use features. LOVE, love, love the Slideshow feature.

3-Firefox – Ok, I could have had this on my PC but I didn’t. My bad.

4- Thunderbird – Again, apparently there is a PC version but I missed the boat on that one as well. I love the tagging system among other things. Still to new to it to give a full review.

5- iTunes – Yey, it finally works properly. It would not update my iPhone properly on the PC.

6-Polite Errors – I admit that I’ve already encountered an error or two but they are so much more plesasant. It’s more of an “Oopsie, this program is going to close, but don’t worry it will not effect your other programs. Everything is fine.” As opposed to the typical PC error: “OMFG! FATAL ERROR. The sky is falling, your computer is crashing, your anti-virus software can’t help you now. Restart your computer and hope for the best. I hope you know a good tech guy.”

That being said. There are still some bumps in the road. I seem to have enabled something that I *think* is called Hot Corners. When you move your mouse to the corner of your screen it activates a pre-defined action. Apparently mine is set up to either scatter all my open windows across my screen so that I can see everything that’s currently open OR wipe all my open screens right out of view. Both of which are useful if you do them on purpose but turns out to be quite irritating when done accidentally. It’s happened 4 times while typing this post. One accidental nudge of the mouse and windows are flying all over the place. Clearly I don’t have it set up correctly or understand how to use it. Or both.

MOFO, it just happened again…right on cue.

As I open Photoshop for the first time to actually work on a project I am confident. For if there is one thing I know, it’s my way around Photoshop. I open my file and begin.

2 microseconds later…

WTF.

NEW KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS?! What the shit. My fingers are lost on the keyboard. I try my hardest to calculate what the Mac equivalent shortcut would be (factoring in that new COMMAND button) but I CAN’T! I pause in confusion. I can’t even recall what the PC shortcuts are. I realize it’s because I never really had to think about it, my fingers instinctively knew where to go.

Damn you COMMAND button. DAMN YOU.

Thank goodness for Google.

I find this site with a wicked list of keyboard shortcuts for Photoshop CS4 on Mac.

Ok. Crisis averted.

I think I overreacted a little on that one.

I hope to start designing some new products tomorrow. That will be an exciting/frusterating task. We shall see how it goes. All things considered it’s been a much easier transition than I anticipated.

Famous last words…

06/21/2011 – Today is a monumental day.

Operation ‘Moving to a Mac’ is almost complete. I must trust the words of my friends and colleagues when they report with confidence that I will not regret this change. At present time while I can appreciate the clean, modern interface and ease of use, I long for the comforts of my half functioning PC. I can’t help by wonder if I brand new PC would have been an easier and cheaper solution. BUT NO! I must not cave to the desire to revert to what is comfortable. I must push forward and brave unfamiliar terrain. I must feel the fear and do it anyways.

As I type the fire alarm shrieks at a volume so loud it should be illegal. I’m shocked that you can’t hear it right now through the internet. The monthly fire alarm testing is getting old. My ears continue to ring for several minutes after it stops.

A child cries in the distance.

A crazy old man sings the chorus of some 80′s rock song I recognize but can’t identify for about 2 minutes every morning at precisely 9:30am.

That last part is very true.

I successfully transferred my email to my Mac. I’ve been introduced to the wonders of a font manager and I’m blogging to you now using a whole new blogging software. Yes, it is a new day.

Goodbye Internet Explorer.

Hello Firefox.

Goodbye Outlook Express.

Hello Thunderbird.

Goodbye Windows BlogWriter.

Hello MarsEdit.

With each passing hour I grow more and more comfortable with this foreign machine. Applications appear to function where they didn’t before. I can now enjoy the pleasures of PINTEREST without my machine freezing. I can PIN with ease.

I see a light at the end of the tunnel.

I can’t wait to be ORGANIZED and not have to shuffle between computers. With half my life on one computer and half on the other I feel quite unsettled. It’s like living in a new house with moving boxes stacked around me.

I can’t wait to be fully unpacked.

Until then, I will rejoice in my small accomplishments.

(1) transferring and organizing over 1TB of files from the PC
(2) exporting and importing 5 years worth of emails all by myself with relative ease
(3) figuring out what the h*ll to do with a font manager
(4) updating my iphone and ipods on my mac instead of PC
(5) making my first slideshow (and exporting it as a cross-platform .MOV) in iphoto
(6) importing all bookmarks and favorites from IE on PC to Firefox on Mac
(7) downloading and installing new drivers for all my junk! (tablet, Silhouette, mouse)
(8) POSTING MY FIRST BLOG POST FROM MY MAC!

Hopefully by the time I post again I will fully Mac-ified.

(FINGERS CROSSED THIS ACTUALLY POSTS)