ciao!

ciao friends!

it's about time i updated, huh? SORRY! these past seven days have been sheer CRAZINESS!! i was traveling, and then landed back stateside to commence my apartment hunt and start getting my life in order. i wanted to thank all of you guys who have left me comments and forwarded the blog on to your friends! i really appreciate it!

i will be back in california for a few days next week, and if all goes to plan i should be updating soon with store locations that you will find carrying jujuisgoodluck! EXCITING STUFF!!

thanks again, and remember to check back often... i am going to make it my job to have new things up for y'all to see. plus, there are still some more cards to be posted.

lots of love!!

juju

this week!

what i am reading: inés of my soul [isabel allende]

what i am listening to: mgmt, time to pretend

photo of the week: 

i finished up my travels and have headed back to pursue some sort of real life! this picture makes it up as my photo of the week because this pursuit of a real life has consisted solely of apartment hunting in new york city. maybe i should just live in this news stand shack.

lyric: i'm gunna quit my job and move to new york

cuz someone told me that's where dreamers should go

i'm gunna quit my job and move to new york

and tattoo my body with every broadway

last thing i wrote in my journal: the what is not so important, but that we should remember. it is the act of remembering, the process of remembrance, the recognition of our past... memories are small prayers to God, if we believed in that sort of thing....

card designer of the week: tori higa

this week!

what i am reading: everything is iluminated

what i am listening to: joshua james, b-sides it's dark outside

photo of the week:

i have been traveling, so it was pretty difficult for me to choose my favorite photograph this week. i chose this one because it is closest to how i feel... standing in an art museum, nose in a book, while the rest of the world blurs by.

last thing i wrote in my journal: (from everything is illuminated) i used to think [writing] was what i was born to do. no, i never really thought that. it's just something people say. [perhaps you were born to write?] i don't know. maybe. it sounds terrible to say. cheap. it's so hard to express yourself. i want to express myself. i'm looking for my voice. i want to do something i'm not ashamed of. [something that you are proud of?] not even. i just don't want to be ashamed.

song lyric of the week: once upon a day i set off on a journey, wishing on the wind- take me far frm home. now i'm on the waves and i'm taking on water, hard to see i won't always be alone.

greeting card designer of the week: curly girl designs

about my favorite things...

hiya!

so, i think that one of the coolest things about the blog world is being able to share things that other people are doing that you might find interesting and exciting. i am often awestruck by the cool things that my friends, loved ones, and people that i wish were my friends are doing, so i figure this is a good place to spread the word. i'll be writing often about the discoveries i make, posting links and photos and songs and art and cards etc. that inspire me, but for now, i want to point your attention to the links that i have listed permanently on the left as my favorite things.

1. ps what i forgot to say

ps... is an excellent project that was started only a few weeks (months?) ago by some of my favorite ladies. they are collecting messages that YOU write in your post script with the intention of turning them into a fun book. for now they have created a blog which they update regularly by adding PS's that are sent in by friends and readers. i read their blog pretty much every day, always humored by the interesting, intriguing, incredibly loving or just plain strange post scripts. check it out and send them your ps's!

2. sliding liberia

"conceived of by stanford fimmaker britton caillouette and stanford phd student nicholai lidow, this surf film/social documentary follows a group of young surfers to iberia in search of more than perfect waves. as they travel through the west african country, devastated by decades of brutal civil war, they record the stories of the people they meet along the way- people like alfred, a young boy who became liberia's first surfer after finding a bodyboard while fleeing from rebels. besides rediscovering a world-class point break that could be the best-kept secret in the surfing world, the surfers find something much more important-- a way to travel responsibly in the 21st century." sliding liberia is my older brother's first film, and i am very proud of his success! it is now available on dvd, check it out on the website or at your local surf shop!

3. brewer and chase

another project by those that are near and dear to my heart. check 'em out, the music speaks for itself. these boys are extremely talented, and they are young, so watch out because they are going places!

4. cotton idea studio

jujuisgoodluck would be nothing without mindy at cotton idea studio. check out her online boutique and for those of you in orange county, check out her shop in laguna beach. (it's on pch, right across from the guitar shop) it is one of my favorite card stores out there-- mindy has quite a knack for picking out merch. she also designs personal stationary, business cards, invitations and holiday cards. check her out!

5. chris ayer

a music shout out to my friend chris... his music inspires me daily. his lyrics are both brutally honest and beautiful. he manages to always sound intelligent and passionate, and sometimes lost but always trying to figure it out. chris is out there in the world putting his whole heart into what he loves, and trust me, if you make your way to a chris ayer show sometime not only will you not be disappointed but you will definitely leave wanting to buy the guy a drink.

6. Clo-Mor printing

lisa from clo-mor printing not only did all of the pressing for jujuisgoodluck but she helped me every step of the way as i am just figuring this whole thing out. i would be nothing without lisa!

7. the passionate collector

i recently had the privilege of accompanying susan (of the passionate collector) and her most valuable consultant (my good friend kate) on one of their buying missions. before that night i had no idea how much thought goes into every single piece that is for sale on the passionate collector. i also didn't realize that she has a whole line of eco-friendly things! awesome! check 'em out, and go green!

8. finally... my guilty pleasure... john mayer's blog

i wouldn't be honest with you if i didn't list this under my favorite things and key influences. you can judge me... i already admitted to not being cool.

alrighty, have i given you enough homework for the day? yay!

feel free to email me, jujuisgoodluck@gmail.com, and let me know what sorts of exciting things you are upto these days, and i would love to share them with whoever might be reading.

xoxo!

juju

in your eyes i am complete

this is the original... and yes, i do listen to peter gabriel on my ipod.

i've got a little buzz...

i've got a little buzz... so there's that

and i like you... so there's that

i guess i have that.

garden state

who didn't want to be natalie portman when zack braff said that to her?

WHOA!

first you were all like, "whoa"

and we were like "whoa"

and you were like "whoa...."

-the sea turtles, finding nemo

my brother likes this one.

a few things about blogging

bonsoir! (oh yeah, another silly fact about me... i enjoy speaking in other languages...)

some facts about blogs:

start at the bottom and work your way up

click on the pictures to enlarge them (that way you get a better view of each card)

check out the links that i post on the left... they are websites that i find interesting, and i hope that you do too..

i will be updating often, so check back often!

i read your comments, so write away!

if you have a suggestion for a card that should be made, let me know!

questions and concerns? please send them to me at jujuisgoodluck@gmail.com

some more facts about me:

i really like ferris wheels.

i keep all different colored pens, my journal, and my digital camera with me all times.

tokyo is number one on my where to travel list.

i enjoy photographing bicycles. i'm not sure why.

i am a pisces and yes, i believe in that stuff.

bisous,

juju

i am never as good as when you are here

no one likes being alone all the time, right russell hammond? (almost famous again)

when and where does this real world occur?

exactly how i feel right now.

there is more to life than being really really ridiculously good looking.

zoolander.

nice set of hooters you've got there!

dumb and dumber. no, i am not above quoting dumb and dumber, nor am i above making a greeting card that objectifies women's breasts. i mean, owls. clearly this card refers to owls. 

photo credit: people magazine, another guilty pleasure.

uncool

the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool. - the great wisdom of lester bangs. (almost famous, remember?).

i've been thinking a lot about the triumph of the uncool. i often think of myself as uncool. not even in the cool uncool sense, just in the awkward goonies sense. does everyone feel that way? in keeping with my honesty about my uncool-ness, i read john mayer's blog. there, i admitted it, it's one of my guilty pleasures. i think he's a pretty great writer, and i find him more than mildly entertaining. anyway, the point to admitting that, is he once wrote about this whole paradox of being uncool or being cool... if you are interested, read what he had to say...goonies switcharoo

a bunch of caramels...

juju fact: will hunting was my first true love, and i am pretty sure that the moment he brings up caramels to skyler is the moment that i fell for him. thank you matt damon.

you taste like a burger

if you haven't seen the movie wet hot american summer add it immediately to your netflicks cue. you will not be disappointed.

Hello!

greetings, friends!

welcome to the official blog for jujuisgoodluck designs! thank you guys for checking it out, i do hope that you will stay and we can become friends!

i guess the best way to begin this is to tell you all a little about my project and about myself...

jujuisgoodluck is a brand new line of high end letter press greeting cards tailored towards generation y and the iGeneration. 

the inspiration? here's the spiel:

as i got older i became increasingly aware of the fact that the way that i speak, the way that i relate, and the way that i write had been dramatically shaped by pop culture. pretty obvious realization, right? that's the thing! it's not just me, it's my friends, it's my brothers, it's the times...OUR times. our vocabularies do not consist solely of words like the vocabularies of our parents or our grandparents, but instead of catch phrases and quotations-- rhetorical pastiche (if you will) of things we have heard and seen before. we do not draw from our experiences to express ourselves to our peers-- instead we draw from the collective bank of movies we have seen and songs we have heard. we mine the internet movie data base of our memories to pull out comebacks we deem relevant for specific emotional situations. we scroll through funny movies to make our friends laugh, sappy movies to make them cry, cameron crowe movies to coyly show our love. jujuisgoodluck plays off of this trend, creating greeting cards out of relatable lines drawn from our generation's classics. after all, we COULD come up with the copy ourselves, but as penny lane in almost famous said, "famous people are just more interesting".

why greeting cards? well, first you would have to know a little bit about me....

i have been engaged in a deep love affair with fine greeting cards for as long as i can remember. my mom is an artist, and ever since i was little she had a great talent for choosing the perfect card for every occasion. this trait was passed down to me, along with her brown hair and love of travel, and i became a greeting card connoisseur at a very young age. the relationship began simply with searching for great birthday cards and has progressed to constantly keeping and replenishing a box of wonderful cards at all times. my friends will tell you that my love of the perfect card runs deep. while some people might say that we are entering a paperless age, i will argue to my grave over the value of old fashion snail mail. as one of my favorite card designers, tori higa (check her out! torihiga.com), writes on one of her cards, "mail is fun"! just because our generation has e-mail and blogging does not mean that we have forgotten to write by hand. 

so... the exact moment of inception for jujuisgoodluck? well, i was rocking out to some peter gabriel in my best friend's bedroom in new york city as we were preparing for a girls night on the town, (who doesn't get pumped up when he sings "in your eyes, the light, the heat, in your eyes i am complete" ?) when it struck me (!): that moment in say anything, (you know, when john cusack (lloyd) holds the boombox over his head under diane's window blasting in your eyes), would make an excellent greeting card. what's more romantic than cheesy 80's mellow drama? if you answered NOTHING, then we should definitely be friends. 

so my best friend's bedroom lead to sketches in my journal, which lead to the approval of my most valued critics (my friends and family) and finally to getting a business license and printer. it has been a long, stumbling journey, but the first 14 designs have been printed and slowly but surely jujuisgoodluck is getting up and running!

thank you so much for your interest in the project, i hope that you enjoy the cards as much as i have enjoyed making them. buy them for yourself (as i often do when i find a card that i like) or send them to your friends and loved ones. hopefully they hit the spot!

that's all for now!

bisous,

juju