I have gallery walls in both my home and office, and I’m always adding and switching out frames.
I’ve been seeing a lot of these oversized mats. They’re $76 at Pottery Barn, but I found this one for $23.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond (Don’t forget your coupon).
I also love these brass frames from Target.
The closest I’ve found is this mini one from TJMaxx.
This account is exactly what it says it is – beautifully straight-forward. Her About Me simply reads, “Here is how this works. I buy it and if I like it, you will see it here. Just things I bought and liked.”
I loved getting to write about Carrie Walters and Paper Rose Co. for B Side Collective!
Ja’Nai Frederick started B Side Collective in 2017 to highlight “the ground-breaking, the risk-taking, the unconventional, and often the less celebrated women” of Richmond and Charlottesville. For their third issue, they posted a Call for Writers in a Boss Babes Community Group that I’m a part of. I thought it was so cool that they were an independent publication with all female writers and immediately jumped on the opportunity.
Once I found out that I would be covering Carrie, I was excited because she has been a friend of mine and I have supported her business Paper Rose Co. since it started in 2016. I have even been able to collaborate with Carrie in the past by using some of her custom floral arrangements as gifts for my newly signed clients, which she highlighted on her website. She also made us several gorgeous arrangements for a Tiramisu for Breakfast Party we had at Kendra Scott.
Check out the issue here!
Read More
“You don’t necessarily have to be good at something to be good at something.”
One of my favorite podcasts, Happier, with Gretchen Rubin referenced this quote and it really stuck with me (and not just because I love Dolly Parton). You see, Dolly Parton doesn’t read music; neither does Paul McCartney, and neither did Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, or Jimi Hendrix.
“These musicians didn’t have a thorough education in music, they lacked arguably crucial skills—but that didn’t stop them. They loved music, they wanted to play, create, and perform, and they figured out how to do that.”
Tiramisu For Breakfast is all about doing things in your own way. People often ask us how long their video should be, what’s the best time of day to post. The truth is, there are a million ways to do something. The details are often not what’s important.
DESIGN TOOLS & INSPIRATION
APPLE NEWS+
I LOVE this app. The $14.95/month fee includes current and back issues of a huge selection of magazines.
I screenshot layouts and colors I like from magazines, websites and email newsletters and add them into a Google slides document I call “Design Inspo.”
FLAT ICON
Camden told me about this one and it’s awesome! Edit the icons right within the site and download as PNGs. I used this to create Insta Stories covers for At Your Door Pediatrics.
GOOGLE SLIDES:
I screenshot layouts and colors I like from magazines, websites and email newsletters and add them into a Google slides document I call “Design Inspo.” I use this to help me store ideas. I send screenshots, iPhone photos and forward branded emails to my virtual assistant, I loved the look of this newsletter from Gal Meets Glam, and it immediately thought about the photos C’estlabree took of me with a pink background. I combined this with a pink text background I saw on something else to make this page of my pitch deck.
PINTEREST: There is SO much good stuff on here. I started a board called “Design for Non-Designers” to house my inspiration. Check it out here.
FLAT ICON: Camden told me about this one and it’s awesome! Edit the icons right within the site and download as PNGs. I used this to create Insta Stories covers for At Your Door Pediatrics.
The most exciting part, I think, is seeing how the designs have evolved. I started sending monthly emails in MailChimp (a program I highly recommend), in January. Here’s a look at my very first newsletter.
Here’s a look at how that design has evolved.
CREATIVE MARKET: My friend Arshan told me about this one.
BEAVER BUILDER: One of the most frequently asked questions from my students is “What should I use to build my website?” There are countless options, but Wix, Squarespace, and Adobe . Portfolio are some of the most popular.
FONT BUREAU & WHAT THE FONT
Beaver Builder: I still source out. I bought the upgraded version.
A big learning for me has been buying pre-made designs instead of trying to work with a designer to make everything from scratch.
I’m a big fan of doing what I can on my own and then getting help to take it to the next level. Inspiration can come from anywhere.
Read More
If you want to see Christina Dick serious, get her on a balance beam.
The social media marketer and blogger behind TFB Agency and Tiramisu for Breakfast is better known around town for the enthusiasm and laughter she brings to her work. But when she’s not cracking jokes and connecting with clients, the 30-year-old does what she describes as both fun but also the one thing that puts a serious look on her face: gymnastics.
“The only time I’m serious-looking is when I’m on the beam,” she said, between the occasional laughs. “That’s the only time I’m truly super-focused on something, because you have to be.
“In our industry, PR and advertising, there’s a lot of fluff. You can look at something and you don’t really know what it is,” she said. “You’ve heard about influencer marketing and all these people who have a million followers; it can be frustrating, because you don’t know what’s real, what’s not. But anything with your body and with sports, there’s no faking it. Either you can do it or you can’t.”
The Portsmouth native has been doing gymnastics most of her life, since she first took a class when she was 12. Today, she gets her fix at Gym Quest Gymnastics in Rockville, where she and a group of fellow adult gymnasts keep up their skills through classes and competitions.
While the majority of gymnasts there are more than 10 years her junior, Dick said her love for the sport hasn’t changed with age – nor, really, has her skill level, which she said is the trick.“I never got so good that I can’t keep up with all the things I used to be able to do,” she said. “Even though I’m older and larger than I used to be when I was in high school, I can still do everything I could do then, because it’s not like I was Olympic-level.
“My skill level is not impressive at all when everyone else is doing it in high school, but now, since I’ve kept up with it, it’s kind of like the tortoise and the hare. Now it’s like: ‘Oh, that’s awesome that you can still do that,’ and I’m like, ‘This is always what I could do,’” she said, laughing. “If you just never get really good, then there’s no pressure!”
With age also has come a different dynamic with her colleagues and coaches, Dick said, referring to peers in her age group who include an area attorney, a teacher, a PR rep, and social media and brand strategists at Capital One.
“It’s funny, because now we’re adults in the gym and we’re peers with the coaches, but we’re used to being the kids and hearing, ‘Christina, stop talking. Now it’s like, ‘Christina, what do you think we should do about our marketing?’”
ChristinaDick4Dick, second from left, with fellow Gym Quest gymnasts Morgan Lubking, Elizabeth Thomson, Emily Bayer, Rachel Bremer and Nerissa Rouzer, from left.
Others who hone their skills at Gym Quest include Nerissa Rouzer, a former state assistant attorney general who now works as assistant counsel for JMU; Capital One’s Rachel Bremer and Elizabeth Thomson, a senior brand strategist and social engagement strategist, respectively; Emily Bayer, a middle school math teacher; and Cameron MacPherson, an associate at PR firm The Hodges Partnership.
Dick said she’s been going to the gymnastics center since she was 19, soon after she moved to Richmond for VCU, which she learned didn’t have a gymnastics team or club. She and others started a group that evolved into a VCU gymnastics club, and Dick said she also taught younger gymnasts part time.
“It wasn’t anything serious. I’m not very good,” she said. “And I’m not trying to be humble. I’m not a super-good gymnast. This is a fun hobby I try to keep up with.”
Dick said she keeps up with gymnastics because it’s a fun way to work out and extends to other exercise such as yoga and barre. She said her best moves are the pistol squat, an aerial (a cartwheel with no hands) and maneuvers on the balance beam, where she said she finds a focus that can elude her outside the gym.
On the balance beam at Gym Quest.
“With gymnastics and other things with your body, it’s a natural thing and you just can’t force it,” she said. “It’s just a routine and all of a sudden you can do something, and it’s because you’ve had that consistency. That’s not a strength that I have or something I do in other areas.”
While her aerials send her spinning through air and the balance beam takes her to even greater heights, Dick said gymnastics helps keep her life grounded, the concentration she gets from the balance beam literally keeping her balanced.
With her work, Dick said, “There’s so much up and down, where I’m like, ‘Do I suck? Am I awesome? I don’t know.’ Every day is different. But in gymnastics, it’s not like that. Either your body can do it or it can’t.”
Read More
Read MoreMeet @tiramisuforbreakfastagency this week on the podcast 🎙! If you’re in need of some inspiration, this is your episode! We’re chatting with Christina Dick, Founder of the Public Relations Agency and Adjunct Professor of Advertising at VCU.
.
Christina’s positive energy and plethora of #truthbombs will make you feel like you can tackle everything on your to-do list 💯.
.
There is so much magic to this convo like: why it’s important to “obsess over your customers and not your competitors”, that “everyone you meet knows something you don’t”, and that “you can always lose something you have, but you can never lose something you are”. 🙌🏼💓 Christina shares her down to earth approach on business and encourages us to consider our intention behind every action and interaction. Tune in now 🎧here.
This month, the craveable and delicious McRib returns for a limited time to Richmond, VA. A sandwich that has had fans clamoring for more than 35 years, the McRib is made with seasoned boneless pork and slathered in tangy, delicious barbecue sauce – it’s topped with slivered onions and tart pickles on a hoagie-style bun. The iconic sandwich last appeared in participating Richmond restaurants in November 2014. Learn more at mcribrva.com
Read More
I joined my colleagues and international guests on the panel for the International Business Forum. The topic was “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.” (I talked about the good, of course)
“Looking outside of our own group is really trying to understand people who think differently than us,” she said. “[Social media provides the opportunity] to learn from other people, to talk about what you are hearing around you, what you’re putting out there and what you’re taking in.”
“A lot of people think that we have become a nation of people who are constantly staring down at our phones and not paying attention to the world around us,” Dick said. “But social media is allowing us the capability to reach people not just on the other side of America, but also to spread ideas across the globe.”
Read the full recap from VCU News and The Commonwealth Times.
Read More
