As promised, I’ve been documenting our move to California. It’s day 2 and we made it to Kansas to hang out with my family.

So far we’ve enjoyed 11 hours in a car, ice skating, tearing down wallpaper, painting my parent’s kitchen, and lots of raucous conversation with my over-opinionated, fun-loving family. We’re looking forward to at least 24 more hours of driving, possibly meeting a friend in Salt Lake City, and our brand new home sweet home!

If the rest of the trip is this action-packed, we’ll be completely out of it by the time we hit California.

We made the mistake of a very early 5:30AM departure. Yowza!

A trip through Kansas City wouldn’t be complete without a stop at Sheridan’s.

My gorgeous sister is killer with a trim brush

My brother admiring his addition to my parent’s home – a dimmer switch

As most of you are already aware, it’s been a ridiculously crazy holiday season in the Francesi household…and it’s not even Christmas! We’ve gotten this far so dare I say we’ve nearly survived?

Posting this requires me to admit yet another of my blunders. My blunder being that I didn’t order nearly enough Christmas cards this year. So few that I was having to choose between good friends and family. Yikes!

That being said, I’ve decided to bite my tongue and post our card for those who weren’t fortunate enough to receive it. I’m really sorry if you typically receive a card from us and didn’t get one. I promise I’ll order more next year!

Well folks – it’s done! Three days early in fact. We were planning to pack everything into our U-Pack moving pod this Friday once my husband was back in town. But in true Francesi style, it didn’t necessarily go as planned.

My sleeping quarters for the next couple of days

Monday evening I found out that U-Pack (who was ah-mazing to work with, by the way) needed to pick up our moving pod today in order for it to arrive on in California the day we needed. Needless to say, Monday night and Tuesday morning consisted of me frantically packing the last of our items and deconstructing furniture…which includes our 200 lb. solid wood bed.

However, as I type this, I’m proud to say that our moving pod was picked up on schedule. And we now have an address in Cali, thanks to my relentless, apartment-searching husband. Amazing! (and can I mention how proud I am that we fit our entire life into a 6ft x 7ft x 8ft moving pod?!)

All will be merry and bright in this little family for Christmas.

One of my most favorite parts of what I do at Aptera is designing the Christmas cards, and I’ve been lucky enough to snag that gig three out of the four Christmas’s I’ve been there. This year, we sent out a mass Thanksgiving card and decided to ramp up our efforts for an all-out holiday package for our “VIP” clients.

There wasn’t a specific budget for the packages, but we wanted to stay as inexpensive as possible while still sending out something memorable…and what’s more memorable than a four-pack of Aptera-branded beer?

All of the printing, assembly, and label-scrubbing was done in-house, so the only major cost was the beer.

For the second year in a row, I decided to participate in the Brooklyn Bride Holiday Handmade Card Swap. Last year, I repurposed our personal Christmas cards and created a custom cut, typographic card. This year, however, I wanted to use materials that I had on hand.

I printed my design on old magazine spreads, cut them into 5 x 7 pieces, and sewed them onto chipboard using red thread. My favorite part about these cards is that each and every one of them is completely different. Is it conceited to say that I’m completely obsessed with the result?

I’ve got a couple of extras on hand if you want one for yourself – just shoot me an email with your name and address. At the same time, I have to admit, it may be January before I can send them (we’re in the middle of moving across the country).

Last Thursday my husband accepted a job at Apple in Cupertino, California. The past couple of days have been a complete whirlwind of planning, packing, downsizing, and dreaming of a warmer place (as I write this it’s 23 Fahrenheit and near whiteout conditions outside).

We’ll be moving over Christmas and I plan to document the 3-4 days of pure awesomeness right here!

Last year I was asked lead the capstone course required by all Visual Communication and Design majors at IPFW (Indiana-University Purdue-University, Fort Wayne). As you might guess it was an amazing opportunity that I did not decline.

The course runs for two semesters, so my first class is preparing to exhibit this Friday, December 10 at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. We’ll be kicking things off at 6:30pm with an awards ceremony and exhibition opening to follow from 7:00 – 9:00pm.

We’re honored that Carla Tedeschi, Communication Design coordinator at Texas Tech University, has agreed to juror the show and will be presenting the awards during the ceremony. I’m proud of all the hard work that has been put into the show and would love to see you there!

* The exhibition opening will be catered by Chops Wine Bar if that’s any incentive

In the meantime, check out the students’ website at or visit the teaser show at IPFW.