Most Recent "Branding" Projects

Here are some Logos and Package design I did for my company Gaskets Unlimited. The last one is an instructional sheet. I did all the illustrations and a coworker wrote the copy. 

Update New Digital Paintings - Some new works from my class at AIA

Progress of My Digital Painting Skills

All created in Photoshop. I continue my practices. 

Castle Perspective

Sketch before really focusing on perspective

I just got the Pencil 53 for my birthday. I'm super excited!

I'm loving this thing. It has it's ups and downs but ultimately it's the best stylus I've used so far.  I'll post a review in a bit. I just want to upload some silly illustrations I made right away.

Two Days of Juice Fasting Completed

Well I have to say not eating for two days was hard but totally doable. And of course I did have my juice from Arden's Garden. The label on the jugs recommend that you drink a gallon a day, no food, and as much distilled water that you want. This isn't the first time I've tried this particular diet. The last two times I've done it, I really killed myself trying to down a gallon of juice in one day, and I have to say: IT IS HARD! I've come to the conclusion that if you are a person under 200 pounds, drinking a gallon a day is unnecessary. I think that mixing a half gallon juice with 6-8 fluid oz of distilled water 8 times a day is plenty of juice and liquids to have a healthy fast. Would it be even worse for me to say that maybe the Arden's Garden brand markets the diet so that you feel like you must buy both gallons? And at 15.00$ a pop, that ain't cheap! Plus, people who are buying juice are sometimes naive about juice fasts and just go along with what's written on the jugs. 

So this time around, I decided to not kill myself and returned the second gallon. I still feel great and vibrant. I lost 5 pounds! Of course I know the weight will come back, but it will be easy to eat healthy. I would tell those people who haven't had much lessons in eating green to focus on your body, not your tastes. When (or if) you decide to have something... let's say, subpar in the healthy area after your fast, focus on that first bite. If you really listen to your taste buds, you'll find that it doesn't really taste that good. That's because your tastebuds rewire themselves. The longer you go without refined sugars and all that other bad stuff, the worse it tastes. Well for me, my first meal after juicing was a mixed greens salad with some lentil soup. Since you haven't fed your stomach anything for two days, eating light is key. I ordered book from amazon called "The 30 Minute Vegan". I plan to eat as healthy as I can for the month of May while I'm doing my running goal. 

Arden's Garden Juice Fast

May's Running Goal: The Beginning 

I'm starting the month of May with a two day juice fast. I chose to do the Arden's Garden detox. If you don't mind Grapefruit juice, it's a great start to loosing weight. I'm not really trying to loose weight. I just want to feel lighter and healthier since I ate horribly last week. (Cookies, Cheezits, eating chicken fingers from work... and so on). Fasting for two days will make you loose weight, but it's not true pounds since as soon as you begin eating again you'll gain it back. It is however, perfect for rebooting your digestive system and your taste buds.

 The Arden's Garden juice features grapefruit which is one of the strongest detox fruits available. Have you ever taken medicine that says "Do not take with grapefruit"? It's because this citrus will cleanse your system so hard and fast it will push out your pills before they even get a chance to work! How cool IS that?! 

After fasting for two days, I'll feel light on my feet and ready to take on this 41 mile running challenge!

May Goals

 I'm thinking of starting some May Goals. I read in an article 'training for your first 10K' about trying to run 50 miles in one month. While that goal seems pretty lofty to me I decided to go back into my Runkeeper account and look at my best month. I found that in July of 2011 I ran 40 miles. So, in the month of May 2013 I plan to run 41 miles. In June I'd like to run a 10K. There. It's out there. Now I have to do it! I'll blog about the process throughout the month. You can also watch me on my Runkeeper account 
http://runkeeper.com/user/abaret/profile