I've only been 29 for a few months and have several more to go before hitting the big three zero. In light of this looming milestone, however, I've decided to do some early reflection on life and what I've learned during my tender years on this planet so that I can finish out my twenties in style, with a sense of knowledge, humbleness and gratitude. So here's a list of 29 things I've learned in 29 years:

1. Only boring people are bored.
2. Find work you love - life is too short to do something you hate.
3. Travel - to see the world, experience new cultures, eat new foods.
4. Have fun - go out with girlfriends, hit the parties, get excited about things and have a blast!
5. But not too much fun - it took almost the whole 29 years to learn that fun is even funner when you aren't poppin aspirin in bed all the next day.
6. That craving for chocolate (or pizza or cake), will go away - even if you don't indulge.
7. Reading a good book is far better than watching a shitty tv show.
8. Friendship takes work - but for those that matter, it's worth it.
9. Family matters. Even if you can't stand them or don't like them. Make the effort.
10. Not everything belongs on Facebook, or Instagram, or Twitter.
11. It doesn't matter what other people think, unless they're on your list.
12. You don't always have to be nice. Coming from the South, this was a big part of my identity for a long time, but you don't have to smile and you don't have to be nice. Especially if your having a bad day and/or someone's being rude/annoying/inappropriate.
13. Being nice and being kind are different. And you should always be kind.
14. Love with your whole heart and like there's no tomorrow - it's the best.
15. Credit cards are evil and you should never ever use one, ever. (Unless your partner helps you manage the budget.)
16. Good sleep is everything.
17. You don't have to apologize for being you. Ever.
18. Being sincerely humble, while not always easy, is the best thing you can be.
19. Doing the things you love, even hobbies in your free time, sometimes takes willpower. It's easier to lay on the sofa but much more rewarding to look back on the painting you finished, blanket you knitted or art print you created.
20. DIY haircuts that you found on YouTube are a bad idea. Period. (As is at-home hair color).
21. It's ok to put yourself out there - even if it's scary at first, it usually pays off.
22. Cooking, while sometimes difficult and annoying, can actually be fun, therapeutic and rewarding.
23. Working out, even if it's only once a week, is still working out. It all makes a difference.
24. Practice makes perfect applies to everything. in. your. life. ever.
25. Things are just that: things. Even the two iPhone 5s' that got stolen in 2014. And things are replaceable.
26. It's never too early (or late) to start taking care of your skin. And I don't care what the skeptics say, my anti-aging oils are working - I can see the difference!
27. Eating right pays off. When you eat good, fresh, healthy foods you feel good, fresh and healthy.
28. It was good to wait to have a baby. Even now, I'm still not sure I'm ready. Is anyone ever really ready?
29. Nothing rewards like living intentionally - whatever that means for you. Live intentionally, always.

If you're anything like me you're eager to get your hands on any and all books related to whatever interest you have at the time. Sometimes your Amazon orders hit the mark, but other times not so much. So here's a list of several books I've collected over the last few months that are not only interesting enough to actually read cover to cover, but also include useful things that you can take with you on your own creative journey.


1. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

Austin Kleon delivers the 10 things nobody told you about being creative in this short but brilliant book that is hilariously entertaining and surprisingly insightful. Peppered with inspiring quotes and quirky illustrations, this is a book you're certain to flip through more than once.






2. Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

Brené Brown is an expert on vulnerability, courage, authenticity and shame, and she's the woman behind a great TEDx talk that has nearly 23 million views! Her book is extremely accessible for all readers and applicable to everyone really. Why it's great for new creatives? She talks a lot about how being vulnerable helps you achieve happiness and fulfilment. And for me, that has been one of the hardest part of waking my creative self, being vulnerable.




3. Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton

I could sing Ellen Lupton's praises all the livelong day. This book was the very first book I ordered after becoming interested in design. I did my usual stalker thing and Googled every piece of info about her, watched a lecture I found from her about typography and so on. She is brilliant and entertaining - and knows everything there is to know about typography and graphic design.




4. Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by Tom Kelley & David Kelley

I studied Design Thinking at the Hasso Plattner Institut near Berlin where David Kelley, the creator of IDEO, was a name tossed around on a daily basis. So naturally when he published this book with his brother, I was quick to jump on the bandwagon. It's an inspiring read about the creativity that lies within all of us.




5. Logo Design Love: A guide to creating iconic brand identities by David Airey

David Airey shows you how to create a logo from start to finish through case studies, sketches, tips for working with clients, insider stories and more. It's a must-read for anyone interested in design.







6. Make Your Own Luck: A DIY Attitude to Graphic Design and Illustration by Kate Moross

This book was different than I expected - more of a chronicling of Moross's career and less advice you can actually apply to your own experience. But the beautiful graphics and interesting body of Moross' work, paired with her low tolerance for BS and fresh writing tone, keep this one on the list.






7. Graphic Design The New Basics by Ellen Lupton

Yes, Lupton again. Just read all her books.







8. #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso

Amoruso is the woman behind the wildly successful Nasty Gal. She writes about how she went from being broke and posting things on eBay to one of the most successful female entrepreneurs out there. Whether you're a fan of Nasty Gal or not, her book is worth reading.






9. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

The Heath brothers expand on Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point and the "stickiness" concept of an idea. They explore what makes an idea interesting and memorable. While this book is most likely found on the shelves of the future Mark Zuckerbergs, I found it interesting, easy to read with applicable advice.





What books have you read that inspire your creativity and/or motivate you to do what you love?

As mentioned in my previous post, I'm eager to share tips, tricks and bits of advice I've collected on my year long journey of becoming a self-taught designer. I recently posted about my favorite Skillshare classes and today, I'm launching the first of a series of posts about going from A) wanting to be the thing to Z) actually being the thing. The thing for me is a designer, I've dreamt of being a designer and working on creative projects for years now. I still have a long way to go, and my dreams have evolved a lot over the years - but the following advice has gotten me to this point and are things I still fall back on. Here goes:

DO THE WORK

Rome wasn't built in a day and the same holds true for everything.else.period. You want to be a chef? You have to learn how to boil an egg. You want to be a designer? You have to learn how to design things - by gaining knowledge and using the tools.

Read all that you can whenever you can. Read about logo evolution over the last century, read about the psychology of color, read about typography, designing with a grid, print versus digital design, product design. Read about it all. When I first became interested in design, I went to the college websites of the art schools I would have liked to attend and downloaded the curriculum to see what is being taught in graphic design programs. Then, I sought out books, articles, blog posts, free online classes - everything I could - about those topics.

The best part of this is that it's never ending. There are countless resources, in books and online, people publishing new interesting and helpful things everyday.



Figure out the industry standards for whatever it is you want to do - the tools, the processes - then learn them. Almost all designers I know use Adobe Creative Suite for their projects. Get a subscription for Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign - then learn how to use them. Adobe gives a 30-day free trial which is a great way to get started, plus their monthly payment structure makes it accessible for anyone. Take classes on Lynda.com or Skillshare. Tuts+ is a great resource for free tutorials.  Sign-up for local workshops.

One of the first things I did when I got Illustrator was take a short workshop at a local art studio here in Berlin. I think it was only two meetings and 50 bucks, but it taught me the basics of Illustrator, using the pen tool, outlining text, drawing with Bézier curves. Learning these things can be tedious, but it's imperative for building your knowledge and developing your skills.

IMITATE

Once you've done the work it's time to start practicing, and the best way to practice at first, is to imitate. It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I firmly believe this. But let me be crystal clear, imitation is not copying.

Seek out those doing the work you want to do and use it as a model to create your own work. At first, it will probably be very similar, too similar in fact for anyone's eyes but your own, but that's normal. Keep at it, keep imitating and eventually something new and different will come from it. Something you've created by yourself - without referencing the work of others. Then you're ready to show it off and call it your own.

People say there is a fine line between imitating and copying but there isn't. You've either created something new or you've copied it. And copying is not cool. One of my all time favorite creative inspirations is Rifle Paper Co. I love Anna Bond, her sense of style and how she has created a huge lifestyle product line that is original, beautiful and all her own. I've tried to imitate her work often - to understand her use of color, her digitising process, etc. It usually never turns out pretty, but once it did, really pretty - but that was that. It sits in my sketch book because it isn't really mine.

During a recent scroll through Etsy I found the shop of someone who also pulls inspiration from Rifle Paper Co., but in a very obvious (and illegal) way. I was curious about this and clicked a bit further, only to find out that she had posted in forums asking about how to do certain things like Anna does for Rifle. It's wrong and tacky to steal the work of others and quite honestly, who would want to? I don't even know this girl but I definitely do not respect her as an artist and would not order from her shop - and no one wants to be that person.

With that said, it's important to understand that everyone starts somewhere - even the greats. And it's by imitating what you aspire to be, that you can find your own voice and develop your unique style.

Austin Kleon wrote the book Steal like an Artist - it's a great reference for how to steal art without being a d-bag, or rather, how to imitate others' work that you admire until you've found your own voice to create original work that you love.

CREATE

After you've spent the time doing the work and uncovered your skills and unique point of view through imitation, it's time to start creating. Make stuff. Make lots of stuff.

Create posters, websites, invitations, magazine covers, cards, apps - whatever. Make up projects and run with them. Google design prompts and see what pops up. Go crazy. It's the time in your new design life that you can actually do this. Have fun with it and don't be afraid of what others say or think.

Don't be afraid of what you'll think. I'll be the first one to tell you that I hate a lot of the things I've made. My own wedding invitations are a perfect example of this. They were one of the first things I designed and printed and at the time, they were perfection. I mean, I seriously thought they were the most bomb wedding invitations to ever grace paper - but in hindsight, they were really really bad. But it doesn't matter - I learned a lot creating those hideous things and now I'm making seriously beautiful wedding stationery (that I'll probably hate in 3 months). It's normal.

By creating things - doing the projects you've longed to do, making the work you've dreamed of, you can only get better and better.

Well that's it for now. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Do you have experience with the things above? Or other advice you live by? Let me know in the comments below!

Like it our not, the new year brings an influx of resolutions and big yearly expectations. I've never been one to set big New Year's resolutions aside from your typical live healthier - and the fact that it's always the same can tell how successful I am every year. :)

A while ago a dear friend of mine started adopting a word of the year in lieu of a resolution. A word she'd keep in mind all year and live by. She'd write it on her bathroom mirror and in her planner, referencing it often and mindfully implementing it into her daily life. I always liked this idea and have decided to follow in her steps.

Two-thousand sixteen will be the year of YES. Yes to new opportunities, yes to travel, yes to meeting new people and trying new things, yes to the things that might be intimidating and scary, yes to new projects, yes to things I'd normally say no to out of fear or laziness. Yes to living healthier (ha, like how I snuck it in?). Yes to whatever life throws my way.

Making 2016 the year of yes is a tall order, I know. But I think it's my perfect first word of the year and I look forward to where it will take me. Do you set New Year's resolutions? Or have a word of the year? If so I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.