Nothing Major

Getting in the groove of working on the magazine Simplified Living, with my partner-in-crime Melissa Anwatin. Working on the third issue now. Between the two of us we have 6 articles already done. Profile and photo shoot to do this weekend. Heading Down to Parry Sound for this one. Ramping up to be another great issue! TR

Hello, hello...

Well this is definitely a long time in coming. I realized this morning that it has been quite some time since I have posted here. Balancing family, work and freelance projects has been keeping me quite busy these days.
For those of you who may not know, a colleague from school and I have partnered to start our own studio MATR Designs, a name made from the combination of the first letters of our names, but with a second meaning of making designs that "MATR." Under this studio we have started producing our own magazine titled "Simplified Living." It's a great magazine promoting: Home, Health and Living; a Martha Stewart meets Good Housekeeping kind of thing. We have interesting and helpful articles and really push large photographic spreads. The idea behind the magazine is to get people to slow down, relax and enjoy life a little bit more than they may be doing currently. Our first issue hit the stands on December 3rd, and our second issue will be hitting stands on February 1st. We publish six times a year, and believe me, it's a rush to get everything done on time.

So if you happen to be in the Near North area of Ontario, keep your eyes open for an issue of it, sit back, relax and enjoy.

Here's a photo of one of the recipes from our first issue, it's a roasted vegetable/bean stew.

Until next time, stay well...

TR

Simplified Living

As I mentioned in my last post, I have good things to discuss! Since my last post I have seen the release of a collaborative project between myself and my studio partner Melissa Anwatin of our first magazine, titled "Simplified Living." In it we discuss health, home and living. It's all about slowing down and taking things slower, eating and living healthier and enjoying life in general in our local communities. Our hope is to eventually cover between Manitoulin Island all the way down to the Muskoka region and many places in between. Our first issue met with resounding success and we ran out. We are contemplating a second printing before our next issue comes out.

Here are a few screen-caps of our first issue.

Long Time No Post

Well, I'd say this is long overdue. Seems like ages since I have blogged, and indeed it has. I have been very busy of late, both with my day job and with a very large side project that will be revealed soon.

It has been a very enjoyable fall so far, spending lots of time with family and friends. I definitely missed that over the last three years while I was in school. Even though I'm almost as busy these days, by being able to set my own deadlines it is much easier to fit in social times.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I'll have a lot more to post soon so stay tuned :)

TR

Finished But Not…

Happy October everyone!

The month seemed to come in like spring, with unseasonably warm weather and lots and lots of sun, rather than like autumn with cool weather and rain... well it seems to be making up for it now. We're on the second or third day of rain, with reports of rain persisting through the weekend. Not that I'm complaining at all, it was very dry and we needed a good dousing.  As fall continues, so to do the freelance projects. I've completed, well almost, the large job I was working on this past summer. I say "almost" because I never got to the website, my clients have put the site on hold until spring. For now then the project is done and I'll attach some screen-caps of a few of the finished products at the end of this post. I have another project that is up and coming but on the down-low right now so I'll talk more about it on a later posting, probably closer to the new year.

My job is going well these days. I received my first raise two weeks ago and I know do estimations, invoicing and printing on top of design work. It remains a nice starter job to get some experience under my belt.

Well that's it for now. I'll post again soon. Take care everyone, and be well.

These were pieces I did for a proposed local retirement living complex.

Just Another Day

Thanksgiving weekend is almost upon us, if you're Canadian that is. A family holiday that isn't really feeling like one this year. I realize that life changes, that things happen that we don't always like, what this means for a holiday with the name "Thanksgiving" is that it becomes a misnomer, at least to me. There are certain things that I am not thankful for currently. Things that make me think more than thank, and pray, a lot. I'm not going to be an Ogre about it (no offense Ogres), I will still definitely enjoy the time with friends and family (that are here), and be thankful for what has been provided.

TR

The Next Stage

Always keep moving forward

If there is one thing that I have learned in my short tenure here on planet Earth, it is that we must never stop moving forward. Experiencing new things, learning, developing, changing; these are all things that help propel us to new points in our lives. There are moments though, some of which seem to take years to get through, that are painful, these too help us to grow and move forward.
I will admit that I am still in one of these "painful" moments. It is taking much longer than I thought it would to rebound from the loss of a child we were going to adopt. This child didn't die, but due to an Ontario policy, children up for adoption are almost always placed with a blood relative of which we are not. So even though we raised him for almost a year, we lost him to a distant relative by marriage, not even a blood relative. I am still reeling from this loss so day by day I deal with the emotions and the stress it has put on my faith.
Life continues to move forward and new possibilities move in to grab at our attention, one of these possibilities has cropped up and in the months to come I will share more about what that is, but not today. Today was/is a great day, a day spent getting closer to my wife and children. We took our yearly romp down to the French River Trading Post for an ice cream, then enjoyed a leisurely drive through the back roads. All in all a great day.