King of the cube

Who is following my flickr-page knows that I have recently changed my job and office. The new ambience is really electrifying and stimulating, I am working a lot to dig myself into it. My new working place is really luminous, for the first time I have a real window, yay! I have a nice view on the motorway (haha) and the Tuscan Hills behind it – which is wonderful, every day they are different and they are similar to the hills in Germany where I lived (in fact they call them “the German Tuscany”), so I already feel connected to them.

Obviously I have so much to do, everything is new. My coffee rate rose from 2 a day to three, first because I am tired, second because a lot of coworkers offered me coffee to know me better and I don’t feel to refuse.
That reminds me of another starbucks commercial, which I so love.



I found the text unwillingly funny:
Glen, Glen Glen Glen
Glen Glen Glen
Glen Glen Glen
Glen's the man, going to work
Got his tie, got ambition
Middle management is right in his grasp
It's a dream he will never let die
Glen's the man of the hour
He's the king of his cube
Status call reports have finally met their rival
Burning the candle at both ends on his way to the top
He knows one day he just could become, supervisor

Luckily my new company as a good mensa where I don’t pay a lot for lunch. But I am seriously considering having my lunches in the nearby park in future.



Get instructions here.

But it isn't all roses and fun, hey, it is work. Even if all my superiors and coworkers are very supportive the last days I felt a huge pressure on my shoulders, waking up in the middle of the night caused by all the adrenaline that runs through my body (or maybe it's the coffee ;-)).
After touching a miserable low in self esteem I re-found my peace in focusing on things that matter much more than work, still promising to myself I would do my best to succeed. A day later I found this article, which says it much better than me, so I thought I would share it with you.

Personal Satisfaction
Doing Our Best

We often come into contact with the idea that our best isn’t good enough, as if this were actually possible. If you examine this notion, you will begin to see that it doesn’t make much sense. Your best is always good enough, because it comes from you, and you are always good enough. You may not be able to deliver someone else’s idea of the best, but the good news is that’s not your burden. You only need to fulfill your own potential, and as long as you remain true to that calling, and always do your best to fulfill your purpose, you don’t need to expect anything more from yourself...

Read here

It even helps me to know, that others have bad days, too ;-)



And in the end: celebrate the art of letting go. After all, the weekend is here.



by Marthawrites

Have a good Friday and a better weekend, Belle

Vintage

When I was younger old things were used to be called "second hand" and didn't cost anything. Now these things are called "Vintage" and cost twice the price the item did cost originally - wow, that's what I call a good incentive for recycling! :-)

I like things that combine old and something personal, that creates a third different level of meaning.
Wilhelm Staehle does exactly that, playing with our commen memory of old prints and paintings adding silhouettes and witty phrases and voilà: awesomeness!





Get more here and find your personal favourit.

Feeling inspired? See Operina, which offers old illustration books for free download.
I am already thinking about how to use these two beautiful illustrations this weekend!



And a piece from Alice in Wonderland:



Have a good Friday and a better weekend, Belle

Things I am leaving behind.

Today is the last day at my current job and the whole week was like a devil’s ride on a roller coaster. Wuau… what a speed!
I am cleaning up my work pc, burning down all my personal files – I didn’t expect they would count up to 13 DVDs and still counting. I packed my personal stuff to bring it home, a typical scene from movies: you put everything in a box and sadly hold it in your arms while moving downwards in the elevator. Not so.. with me it was 4 boxes. Aw! (One box is paper samples, another box is Photostock, no officejunk)
I had to decide, too, what I would leave.
I am leaving behind “my” bone folder – the company paid it. I am leaving a kick-ass Screensaver that I uploaded just some days ago. Actually, I did that for the IT who will have to “check” my pc after I have left.
It’s an awesome geeky screensaver – that works on BOTH of my monitors with different views and has sound.



I don’t know if Screensavers really save screens, but this one at least makes me smile every time I see it.

http://www.mewho.com/system47/


If this is not really your style, there is this one that made me really laugh!



http://technet.microsoft.com/it-it/sysinternals/bb897558(en-us).aspx

I am sure your curious office neighbor will never dare to touch your pc when you are in lunch break, ah ah.

I am leaving as well a pimped up Mozilla Firefox with two really “useful” applications:
First try “MorningCoffee”
It’s an application that add a little button to your browser with which you can organize all your daily bookmarks. Every morning you are going to read the same sites online? MorningCoffee is for you!

The other one I really enjoyed is Add-Art. That is what the makers say about it:
“Add-Art is a free FireFox add-on which replaces advertising on websites with curated art images. The art shows are updated every two weeks and feature contemporary artists and curators.”

Have a good Friday and a better weekend, Belle

Update:
The IT saw the screensaver already yesterday after I have left the office. He thought it was so cool that he called everybody to see it and an hour ago he asked me to get it for him. So funny. Happy that once in a while I am a step ahead (never happened before, ha!).

Bond is for lovers

Last year an Italian sport magazine sold all James Bond films, one after the other, on a weekly term. And I got them all (except Casino Royal). Nearly every Friday night it was me and Mr. Bond. First I fell in love with the fascinating Connery but then a witty Moore made it. Call me old-fashioned.

So, you can imagine how delighted I was about this anniversary set of hardback books, published by Penguin U.K., celebrating Ian Fleming’s 100th birthday.



Just for the covers I would buy them. Designed by Michael Gillette, these covers are eye candy, beautifully capturing the spirit and lush of the classic James Bond.



We girls know, Bond is not really a spy. He's a handsome, rich, playful man, who - travelling around the world - sips Martini, drives fast cars and saves the world from the crazy super villain. But the Villain is just a detail. ;-) That's why it's all about style and not about explosions.



Since from the first Bond, producers thought about every detail, specially caring for opening titles, which until today became Design-classics.

Here is a very good collection of Bond openings.

Have a good Friday and a better weekend, Belle

The secret life of Grafitti

Some days ago, taking a virtual stroll in the www, I stumbled over “Blu”, an Italian Graffiti/Streetart Artist from Bologna, Italy.
He has an incredible and sometimes creepy drawing style and I really admire his ability with the black line.
His Sketchbooks are awesome!



Apparently he is working all over the world, painting his art on walls of Berlin, London and South America.



The most amazing thing is that he is even animating his Art. And he is doing it on walls. I have never seen something more crazy/beautiful.


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Have a good Friday and a better weekend, Belle

Hey Blu, se leggi questo e un giorno passi per Firenze, permettimi di offrirti un drink di tua scelta.

Look, it's different now!

I am a big fan of things that have a twist. Things that can do different things or change. In fact I love everything that folds like chairs and tables, I would never buy a sofa that cannot open into a bed.

So stunned by this great Ad. When you look at is the first time you would probably see nothing special in it.



But, once you look at it with the help of mirror, it makes sense. Awesome! This made me think of Alice, who saw the Wonderland passing through a Mirror.



I am always surprised how our mind just wipes out “unimportant” things: years ago I had my desk next to the Fire extinguisher. I really noticed that after months working there. For a day I asked everybody that passed my desk “I am sorry, do you know where the Fire extinguisher is in this company?” Nobody knew. Probably everybody walked by it 50 times a day…



This weekend I cannot walk through a mirror, but I will try and live in an impressionistic painting. What about you?



Have a good Friday and a better weekend, Belle

May has come

Just to start off the new shiny month, you may want some change, something new. I found this series of great calendar wallpapers, here my personal favorite.



I was always thinking of creating one by myself, and ta-tah! Here it is!



Click here to download.


Yesterday was Labor Day in Italy (and Germany, too), which is traditionally a day you don’t work. That’s a cool working logic.
I had a wonderful lunch with friends and later we went to a park, see some green and get some sun. And at some point this relaxed atmosphere lead into a hot discussion about how taxes should be spend. This was interesting, because it remembered me that work doesn’t only pay my rent, but pays other things, too, regardless if I agree with it or not. Work produces stuff, that others pay for. It’s a huge global economic cycle you’ve probably already heard about and I don’t want you to bore you with my opinion about all that. But I would like to share with you this extraordinary site made by Annie Leonhard.
The story of stuff.



It made me think a lot and changed my shopping habits. Quiet happy about that! :-)

Have a good Friday (if you didn’t take this day off, as everybody except me) and a better weekend, Belle