After an unintentional hiatus from blogging, I have returned—and with freebies!

I've always wanted to try my hand at hand lettering (ha!) and I gave it my first shot today! I was pretty pleased with the results (am I allowed to compliment my own work?) so I decided to share it with you all.

Enjoy these free computer and iPhone (and iPad) wallpapers!

Apple has finally realized that audiobooks aren't music. 

This morning, I wanted to continue listening to my audiobook of "The Book Thief" but I couldn't seem to figure out how to access it with the new Apple Music app. I finally found it hidden in plain sight—in the iBooks app where it rightfully belongs. But even though this change has me praising Apple, I have found more cons than pros when it comes to the new Apple Music app. But let's start with the pros.


What I dislike about Apple Music:

1. Value for money - Considering it isn't as exhaustive as they make it seem, it isn't worth the price they are charging

While the free trial period is 3 months long (longer than most free trials), the service doesn't appear to be worth the money.

This service is supposed to let you listen to all music sold on iTunes, but I've found that a lot of albums I want to listen to have half the songs greyed out! And there have also been some albums that I am unable to find on Apple Music that ARE on iTunes! For the single membership cost of $9.99/month, I think I'd rather go with Spotify Premium which is the same price!

2. iOS app - The iOS app has MANY flaws. These are the ones I've found so far:

• When I click the plus sign to add songs or albums to My Music, it removes what I've added within seconds.
• When connected to my car with a USB cable or with bluetooth, albums just keep playing the same song rather than playing the next song. (This is because up next is apparently not compatible with my car.) BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY.
• "Up Next" seems to have problems remembering what has been added to it at times! It forgets often
• Radio stations (not Beats 1) aren't working with my UK Apple ID, but the option is still given... (UPDATE - NOW WORKING!)
• The ability to add music to My Music without using iCloud Music Library (which seems to delete playlists I've added)

3. Too many apps - iTunes, Apple Music, iTunes Store, App Store...you get the picture!

Why can't everything be consolidated to the new Apple Music app? Why do I need a separate iTunes Store iOS app and iTunes OSX app? (And WHY do I purchase audiobooks from the iTunes OSX app, manage them with the iTunes OSX app, but then find them in the iBooks iOS app but not in the iBooks OSX app? WAY TOO CONFUSING.)

4. Consistency between OSX and iOS - What you do on your iPhone doesn't seem to copy over to your Mac, even if you are logged into the same iCloud account on both devices

You'd think this feature would be seamless, especially since Apple is constantly improving it for other apps (example: Messages, Continuity, etc.) but it definitely is NOT. None of the music that I've added to "My Music" on iTunes on my mac has shown in My Music on my iPhone. 

(Updated Dec. 3)

I post a Christmas Lust List about a month ago but I felt the need to give it an update, just in case any of you were feeling ultra generous this year.

Believe it or not, I received an iPhone 6 already! :-D :-D :-D

Also, Monsters Inc. is now on Netflix.

So here ya go! The updated version!

See updated version here!

A few days before my birthday, I posted my Lust List. In light of Christmas coming up in 63 days (I love countdowns!) I figured I'd post another one: The Christmas Edition.

http://wordmark.it = a designer's best friend!

This site is incredible! It lets you type whatever text you like and preview it in a bunch of fonts! Why did I not know about this site until today?!

Dafont does something similar...but this site does it with common fonts and lets you see them all side by side! EVERY designer needs to check this out!!

My church's website was a little bit outdated. I decided it was about time to give it a facelift so I spent a good part of the day yesterday working on it, and I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Right now, we just have some filler pictures until we get our new ones, but the fillers aren't too bad!

What do you think??

I'm a sucker for pretty branding!

Villa Roma is a pizzeria in Brazil! I want to visit Brazil now just to go to this place!

Look at their lovely new branding designed by Sweety Branding Studio!

Today, we have friends coming over for a barbecue. (Haha, does anyone else have trouble spelling this word? I usually just type "BBQ" to be safe.) Problem is, it's 52 degrees (that's 11 degrees celcius for you English folk) and raining. It's been raining all night.

Don't get me wrong. I love the rain. It's soothing and therapeutic. But not when you're supposed to have a barbecue. Sorry, I digress. Back to the MAIN purpose for this post...

I was scrolling through my iPhone trying to find apps to delete. I always have a space issue on my 16gb iPhone 4S. They need to make one with macho storage for app hoarders like me. Anyways, I came across Hipstamatic Disposable.

Does anyone else remember this app?? It was one of the greatest! You can share "disposable" cameras with friends. And just like proper disposable cameras, you can't see the pictures until you finish the whole roll and get it developed. I remember the anticipation that came with sharing a camera with friends, eager to see the excitement everyone captured.

Sadly, this app disappeared off of the iTunes store. Life in LoFi posted a blog about its disappearance as well. It makes me so sad. I know this happened close to two years ago, but I just can't bring myself to delete it from my phone (even though I'm one of the lucky few that has it backed up to my computer). I guess the fun is just minimized now that most of my friends no longer have it. Most of the fun was in sharing the cameras.

I hope that this app someday returns. I'm not very hopeful though.

You, your, you're.

There, their, they're.

It's practically second grade English, is it not? WHY can't people just learn?!

#majorpetpeeve

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Lately, I've been trying to promote my blog. I absolutely love reading and following blogs and I would love if my own blogosphere can grow to be like the blogs that I follow. I recently signed up for Bloglovin' and it has the cuuuutest iPhone app to go with the site. So, for those of you out there that are into blogs, I highly recommend checking this site out, downloading the iPhone app, and following my blog! Hehe. Happy blogging! :)

Nerd Alert!!

If I were a millionaire, this would definitely be something I'd invest in! It would be suuuuper cool to have original Apple signage hanging in my living room!

I always complained that I hate web design. Print design has forever been my preference. But I think I actually do gain some enjoyment from problem solving on the web.

After some toil, I have solved the problem with my Disqus commenting system. You can once again leave comments on my blog!

1. You thought nail polish was only for your nails, huh? Nope, not anymore!

2. I remember when I first saw the Periodic Table of Typefaces and I thought it was soooo cool! This is pretty cool too, but if they made one with Typefaces, it would be cool²!!

3. How smart and chic is this idea?? A vase on a bookshelf—and it blends right in too!

4. I'd love to visit this Victorian mansion someday!

5. Dreamy color grading puts me in the mood to travel! I need to start editing my pictures just like this! :)

6. If only all honey was sold in pretty packages like this! I'm a sucker for pretty packaging...I'd buy anything!

7. I'm not one to typically brag about my own photography, but I love the way this photo came out...and the edible product wasn't too shabby either!

8. I'm a bit sad that Blogtacular is so expensive! It's only a couple hours away from me too!! Oh well, I guess I'll have to learn the fine art of super-blogging on my own! How do you all think I am doing?

9. I know this is in a store, not in a house, but I reeeeeally want bookshelves like this in my house!!

I want to do this someday. I just love everything Pantone. This seems like such a fun project! :-D

There are so many pretty things online. I love artsy blogs and I hope to someday have a repertoire of blog readers like some of my favorite blogs have! In the meantime, I will refer you to those blogs. Here are some pretty finds for the day!

Happy Wednesday!

This is SO cool! I would love to see this actual book if I ever go to France again!

I saw this on Pinterest this morning and I don't know if all of this is true, but I can only hope. I don't drink nearly as much coffee as some people, but I have a hard time functioning without it!

I have a board on pinterest called Lust List. Occasionally, I pin things I want.

Today, I decided to do something a little different. My birthday is in 5 days...so I thought I'd make a little compilation. Just in case you wanted to buy me something, but weren't sure what to buy, I've made it very easy for you.

This is one of my most favorite logos I have ever seen.