46 | MAJOR LIFE CHANGES

Well, hello. I'm Ashling. Nice to meet you. (Doesn't it seem like it's been ages since we last spoke? It's my fault, really. I have been the stranger in the relationship.)

There have been some major life changes in the L&A life ... which I will happily be chronicling (blitzkreig style) over the next few weeks.

• Moving (permanently) to the Bay Area!
• Signing my first lease on an Apartment!
• Decorating my first apartment!
• Starting my first "real" job!
• Beginning work on my first Bat Mitzvah and Wedding Invitations!
• Expanding my web design skills with clients across the nation!
• Drifting to the Vegetarian side of being an Omnivore!

It has been...  a lot. And I am very excited to share it all with you.

FIRST:

Speaking of major life changes... it's always amazing how quickly it can change (for better or worse).

This is the 3rd year that L&A has been involved with the MUSIC for MATT charity concert, hosted in New Orleans every October. Due to the tremendous effort of Matthew Costa's mother and his closest friends, the show keeps his spirit alive despite his premature death, and L&A is always honored to be a part of the concert.

This year, L&A Designed a shirt to commemorate Matt's time in Africa and his love for music.

L&A invites you to support the concert by purchasing a shirt. With your shirt order, you are making a donation to the Costa Memorial Scholarship and the Peace Corps Partnership Program in Mali (plus looking damn good in an organic cotton shirt).

PREVIOUS YEARS:

2008:

| T-SHIRT DESIGN |

2009:

| POSTER DESIGN |

45 | MAKANAN&SURAT*

Selamat! For the second summer in a row, LOTUS&ASH has traveled around the world to colorful&delicious Malaysia. Eyes peeled, tastebuds perked, and Rebel loaded, L&A has found beautiful typography (*surat) and delicious food (*makanan) on every street.

Inspirational colors and text can be spotted on the Colonial buildings of Penang island, which is one of the top culinary destinations in the world.  Needless to say, a trip to Penang island is a must for any adventurous culture lover's bucket list.

| SURAT |

| MAKANAN |

| street market satay |

| fresh post-run coconut water |

| market bounty |

| steamed rice cake with coconut |

44 | Palindromes are Good Luck

Today, I was told that palindromes were good luck. I'd like to think this is true since during my palindrome age, there have been some nice celebrations and surprises... like: getting a job! graduating! and defining love, friendship, and family in entirely different ways.

speaking of friendship, here is a recent set of stationery I designed for a guy, and his best mate:

| TOM & WILL correspondence letters . designed 06.2010 |

and what's an envelopes' best mate? a liner, of course.

| TOM . lined envelope stationery set . designed 06.2010 |

In between paper and design projects, L&A has had plenty of time for culinary exploits to prepare herself for apartment living in a month or so...

| wannabe ^ chef |

some keepers

| GLUTEN FREE RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE CITRUS CAKE |

take your favorite gluten free muffin recipe (i love this one!) replace any fruity ingredients with fresh raspberries, dark chocolate, and a cup of orange juice with some orange zest... and you have yourself a delicious any-time-of-day treat!

| FARMERS MARKET ARUGULA SALAD |

Arugula and Spinach make a great green couple - the butteriness of the spinach is the perfect complement to the spicy bite of the arugula. Paired with some avocado, roma tomatoes, and fresh squeezed lemon + 1/2 cup of olive oil.. and you have yourself an easy, and delicious summer salad!

and when you're done with this gluten-free, farmer's market fresh business... head to FREEBIRDS in Santa Barbara for some custom-made nachos.

{ and as everyone knows...LOTUS&ASH loves speaking the custom-made language. }

| FREEBIRDS NACHOS |

43 | Celebrate Creativity & Beans

| SPREAD CREATIVITY . designed 06.2010 |

By far, the best class I ever took at Stanford was CREATIVITY&INNOVATION. Besides the amazing teachers, my enthusiastic peers, and the awesome Stanford d.school building, one of the assignments was to design a line of greeting cards for "national creativity day" - the brainchild of neuroscientist, creativextraordinaire, and one of my personal heroes - Tina Seelig.

After a class-long brainstorm, prototyping and presentation of the new line of greeting cards, I threatened to make a line of LOTUS&ASH greeting cards inspired by the class. That threat has become a reality with a set of 4 greeting cards that are intended to ignite creativity between two people, or an entire group of people...

| SENTENCE STRUCTURE . designed 06.2010 |

| ODE TO CREATIVITY (fold it poem exercise) . designed 06.2010 |

| CREATIVE NOTE . designed 06.2010 |

~

the life of L&A:

Graduation celebrations continued last night at AXE restaurant in Venice.

I highly recommend the Vegetable Pistou - even on a hot summer night, the soup was a delight. WARNING: Do not order it if you do not intend to soak up the garlicy broth with the chunks of rustic bread accompanying.

The night was a double celebration for myself and a very good friend, who got into a very good grad school. To commemorate her achievements, nothing less than a semi-inappropriate greeting card was in order:

| BRA*VO . designed 04.2009 |

~

Graduation celebrations, part 1002030:

Congrats to Erica & Teddy on their beautiful new home.

{ taking a page out of erica's book }

celebration made easy

add one part prosecco, two parts sweet lady jane cake, and good company, and you have yourself the perfect post-dinner plans.

| CUSTOM DESIGNED hanging MANTEL PIECES by ERICA . 06.2010 |

42 | L&A Graduates

CON-GRAD-ULATIONS!!!* (get it? it's like congratulations... but for a grad!)

It's not too often that I post anything other than paper-obsessions, but posting about graduation seemed like the appropriate deviation from the norm since it marks a very important new chapter in the LOTUS&ASH life.

*this might be my least favorite greeting card play on words.

| "THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE STANFORD" MORTAR BOARDS . designed 06.2010 |

Reason #2010 I love Stanford? Graduation includes an opportunity to get creative with costumes for the Wacky Walk tradition. My friends and I dressed up like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (complete with ruby red slippers!), because there really is no place like Stanford.

However, graduation also meant the end of the amazing design opportunities that L&A got to have on Stanford Campus. Appropriately, my last project was the poster design for the Studio Art Major / Minor show, which featured Binary Press as well as some of my linocut and collage work.

| SENIOR SHOW POSTER DESIGN . designed 05.2010 |

It's true - L&A is no longer dorm room operation... and it's time for the real world.

But! I'm happy to announce that the real world is going to include more L&A updates about paper and the L&A lifestyle. So follow along as I document life post-graduation with a new obsession... my Canon REBEL T1i.

| BEAUTIFUL MORNING BOWL . created 06.2010 |

Another new obsession? Quinoa for breakfast.

Mix Quinoa, Fage Greek Yogurt, Flax Seed, Cinnamon, Espresso Beans (yes, Espresso Beans!), Puffins, and Raspberry jam together and you have yourself a jam-packed bowl of goodness to sustain you throughout your morning.

| FATHER'S DAY 2010 |

Father's Day Card "They say a picture is worth a 1000 words..."

Beringer Alluvium Merlot, 2006 - goes perfectly with a Harris Ranch steak... or a Balsamic Quinoa Beet & Tofu Bowl.

Domo Arigato Letterpress Card from Tiselle.

~

STAY TUNED for more Paper Updates coming your way...

&&& CONGRATS to ALL THE OTHER 2010 GRADS and HAPPY SUMMER!