It's Official!

This magic little newspaper clipping from the News Gazette here in Champaign was created with a lot of sweaty armpits & nervous twitches. For some reason (fear of the unknown) I have always hesitated at making Jessie Marie Studio an official business.

Well, I read The War of Art & decided to fight Resistance head on. I had learned back in December that I needed an Assumed Name Certificate to accomplish anything. So, one lunch hour I went on an adventure to find the County Clerk's office in Urbana. I got the paperwork I needed to publish in the local newspaper. A couple days later, I headed to the News Gazette to run the attached ad for three consecutive weeks to declare my business name to the community. Now, I have to get back to the County Clerk's office, before August 11th, to get my Assumed Name Certificate. Then, I can set up a business account at my bank & my clients will finally be able to write checks out to Jessie Marie Studio. Phew.

Making Jessie Marie Studio an official business has made me realize - this is for real. I do freelance on the side. Which scares the daylights out of me. Why? What if Jessie Marie Studio grows bigger? Or collapses? I am just scared of the unknown. Things I can't control. Well, now I have a newspaper clipping to stick on the fridge to remind me that I can conquer the unknown.

Current Books

Jarrod's summer book list:
Monkey Wrench Gang
by Edward Abbey

Desert Solitaire
by Edward Abbey

The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture
by Wendell Berry

Jayber Crow
by Wendell Berry

The Worst Hard Time
by Timothy Egan

Jessie's summer book list:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
by J.K. Rowling
I've moved to reading the books rather than listening.
And, I finished this book just in time to go to the movie.

The War of Art
by Steven Pressfield
Amazing. Check out podcast AC#162: Die Empty on Accidental Creative for a snippet of one of the theories in the book.

Jessie is currently reading...
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - the British version.
by J.K. Rowling

New Inspiration

I stumbled upon the following fellows work while in search for inspiration for an upcoming project:

Jarrod Andrew Schorr
Works with detailed paper cuts. Pretty sweet stuff.

Shaw Nielsen
Fun, whimsical illustrations. He was featured in the Fresh section of the current Communication Arts.

Success

When asked when I will consider myself successful I answer, "when I have a deck & a dog." Now, I'm not that picky, a porch would work. Maybe one like Mount Washington Hotel's with the views of Mount Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Now, if only I could decide on the kind of dog I want.

Back from Maine.

Filling the Mom role while on vacation was quite a challenge. Come to think of it the last six months have been pretty challenging. The learning curve of becoming a parent is the biggest one I've tackled to date. Cadence, on the other hand, has been kicking the Kid role's butt. On the trip east she cut two teeth, checked out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, went through another growth spurt, enjoyed the crashing waves of the Atlantic ocean, hung out with whales & puffins, went on multiple hikes, was a princess for a night at Mount Washington Hotel & survived multiple long days in her car seat. She is going to have a rock star life - I can sense it.