New Website Under Way

I downloaded trial versions of Dreamweaver and photoshop. While I have used them both before, lets say I feel like I did the first time I had to cook for myself. I was in Germany, it was a communal kitchen. I knew what all the tools were, I knew how to turn on a stove, but I was slow and a bit freaked out. I had eaten good food, I knew what the final product was supposed to be and yet I managed to somehow burn raviolli. Hurray.

In a similar way I am now doing my own website. Thank goodness Joey knows photoshop and could give me some pointers, and I am getting a hang of Dreamweaver. Especially since I have DreamTemplates which I bought for Artistic Tributes.

So the promise that went out with yesterday's Newsletter that by the March newsletter I would have a new website now has to come true because both trials are only for 30 days.

Here is what I have so far:
The website Header




And a button, which i have to re-make to say "Contact Us" And not "Contacts"

Another Typo to squirm about

The February newsletter just went out. I was quite happy with it. Aaand then, since my own personal email address is in the list of contacts, I received the email and realized that the subject line has a typo: "A New Blog, public appearaces and more! "

Hurray. The "n" on my keyboard gets stuck sometimes but this time it screwed me over. So now what do I do? Send it again with that correction and annoy people because they got two emails? Get filed a Spam?



Sigh. I guess I am going to just have to grin and bear it. Unless anyone suggests any different?

There was also the time that I sent out a bunch of resumes that said that I had plenty of experience in "pubic relations" instead of "public relations"...

Fresh off the Press

Just a quick post to show the new logo for Adventurous Stranger, LLC. Finally created the proper way in photoshop:

Ok, let us dream a little. You know how Tristar/Columbia have a black and white logo and then a kickass full-colored one?
I case you didn't, there they are:











So what I am going to do is coerse my mother the artist (see her work here) to paint the logo for me. I think Owen, my little cousin, pose for me.
I should get a better shot of him though...

Spread the Word!

I just added a Twitter and Facebook gadget. So share my blog on your social networking page!

Websites and Exposure

Ok... so last blog entry was a little depressing. Here are a few better news


I have been asked to speak at an NYU Colloquium. While it is a conversation with the Freshmen for a class I used to fall asleep in, it is still my first public appearance and I plan to film it and put snippets of it on my website, which by then will hopefully be new and improved.

To help me with my website, I have taken on Nitzan Rotschild. He needed to know in advance that I would need his help in the future so I could be included in his schedule of projects to hand to his immigration lawyer. Happy to help, now I have an extra hand. He is going to edit together a trailer (much needed) and my reel (also much needed) so they can be posted on my new personal site.

I now own www.TheViewFromBellasLuces.com, www.ChristaBoarini.com and soon will own www.AdventurousStranger.com

I am slowly working on uploading content to ChristaBoarini.com so that it can be included in my new profile page in www.TheViewFromBellasLuces.com and both need to be featured on AdventurousStrager.com which I have not even started. Jonathan is too busy to finish my website these days and so that is one more thing i have to figure out. Fun times.

The Status of Things...

I was recently in Florida, which is why I have not been updating this blog as often as I should. Shame on me, I know. But it I wanted to be with family. New York was cold and I had no job and I was getting lonely.

Going to see my mom, my dad and my sister really reminded me of just how we are all in the same position we were a year ago. Of how our lives changed and have not quite settled.

My dad just got back from a trip to St. Lucia. He went there for a potential project he could start and be employed at. Meanwhile, since he is jobless, he is probably going to work for the US 2010 Census. Nothing to be ashamed of, it puts food on the table and pays rent.

My mom is painting. That is all she is doing. Which is great. It really really is because, as I said in an interview, when mom is happy she paints and when she paints she is happy.

And Jessica. Jessica's whole life and career got hit with a gigantic monkey wrench. Will she go to Guate to study? Will she study here? If she goes to Guate where will she live? Alone? With Luis Pedro? With a bodyguard? With a maid? Can she even go back to where she left off in her rotations? Does she even want to stay in Medicine? Did her grades drop too low after mom was kidnapped to ever repair her academic record to the point that she could get accepted in the US? Will she be safe in Guate? What if something happens? What if what if what if. I sometimes think I should have made a documentary just about my sister's Med-School issues after the kidnapping.

Anyway, just some thoughts...

Logo

Yay, Adventurous Stranger has the beginning of a logo. My brother, who has been working on this, finally sent me the first draft of the logo:I must say, a very good start. I said I wanted something that was mysterious but somewhat magical and had a boy and a bell. As you can see, the bell is missing. So i sent him a very very rough version of an alternative:

Ok, the bell corners are not supposed to be blotchy, but since I do not have photoshop or paint on my computer, I had to use an online verison of paint called Sumo.

That is as far as the logo has come so far. Jonathan, my brother, is currently getting his Masters in Graphic Design from Miami Art Institute, and also working full time at Carnival Cruises. He is busy and has not gotten back to me on the change.

It is a really minor thing, this logo. My company isn't even published in the journal publication or whatever that the New York State Office of Something requires because, up until recently, I could not afford the $1500 cost of this little technicality. But it is a small step, this logo, that makes the company more real to me, and a small step that I can take while other things have slowed down.