My Parent's Trip to Albuquerque

A post by the youngest Jung…Carrie

It took some convincing, but after 6 months, I finally got both of my parents to visit me in Albuquerque. Mom was an easy sell. After her trip here last August, she knew just how much fun Albuquerque and the land of enchantment could be…but my dad, was a different story. It seemed that work and various other things always seemed to get in the way, but soon my unrelenting pestering got the best of him and before Mom and Dad had a chance to say no…I booked them a ticket to Albuquerque. They arrived in the ABQ late on a Thursday night…but after a good night’s sleep we began what was to be a power packed and green chile packed weekend. (For those of you not from New Mexico…New Mexicans LOVE green chile and it can be found atop most any entree you order out here) One of our first plans was to head up Sandia Peak via the tram…but said plans were foiled by an unusual rain storm (it doesn’t rain much here in the desert). We took it in stride though, and headed to Old Town Albuquerque instead. Which…as you can see, turned out to be a lot of fun.

A gargantuan lunch at El Pinto was on the docket next, which was to be our first of many doses of the New Mexico Green Chile. Pretty soon, it was time to head back to the house. Even though the gang had solid plans to take naps next, I still had to head into KUNM to host All Things Considered. And while the idea of work while my family visited seamed like a buzz kill, we managed to turn it into an activity…as Mom, Dad, and Jon showed up at the station to watch me host the last half hour of the show (ok, so that idea was partly mine too). And I think that everyone was pretty excited to check out the control room. Mom was sure to whip out her camera to document the whole experience as soon as my mic was off.

The next day was Santa Fe! After another huge lunch FILLED with green chiles, we headed off to check out the various street vendors and shops. I know the trip to Santa Fe was especially useful for Mom as she was sure to snap pictures of Native American art we found, all of the colorful tiles that line the shops, all of the beautiful ceramics at our favorite shop, The Rainbow Man.

Hmm…Perhaps we could have expensed this trip because it provided mom with so much pattern inspiration???

It was a power packed day of shopping, but before we left the area, my husband Jon and I took a detour up the mountain to check out the Aspen trees…whose leaves were supposed to be in full Fall colors.

We indeed found the colorful Aspens we were looking for, but we also found snow! And the combination of snow and colorful leaves made for some awesome pictures.

It was early to bed that night because we had to be up bright and early the next day for Balloon Fiesta! And I have to hand it to my parents, they were good sports and agreed to get up at 4am for this event. And after we took care of some digestive issues from all of the green chiles we’d eaten that weekend, and a little bit of traffic, we made it to Balloon Fiesta Park with enough time to get coffee and hot chocolate. We also managed to find the Albuquerque Quilt Guild’s stand! Which was decked out with lots of beautiful hot air balloon themed quilts. What a great find! They were also raffling off one particularly awesome Balloon Fiesta quilt. At first, I wasn’t sure if my parents were having fun that morning (it was quite the early morning and we Jungs aren’t morning people), but as soon as they saw all of the special shapes and realized that they could actually touch the balloons, I could tell that they were having a lot of fun. It really is like a flying Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade.

It’s safe to say that we all had a great weekend…but before we knew it, it was time to head back to the airport and send Mom and Dad home. I’m so glad my parents managed to make it out to visit me…And I think my mom left the state with enough inspiration to last her at least a line or two.

Two Rednecks in Hatboro

When I finished up grad school, the economic problems were in full swing, and it took me quite a while to find a job.

At the time, I was interested in an interactive agency in Manhattan called G2 Interactive. I wrote back and forth with them for months about a potential position as a Junior Web Designer. Then, four months into my job search, they offered me the opportunity to work in their PA office... and I jumped at the chance!

No, it wasn't quite New York City, but it was a job...

Last year in the middle of March, I left the beautiful city of Atlanta to move up to the town of Hatboro, Pennsylvania... a tiny little crumb of a city who's claim to fame (I've been told) is its wind.

Having braved only the tail end of last year's winter, I am experiencing what a Northern Winter actually means for the first time this year... The last round of snow added another 15 inches to a base of at least 10. (See below.)

So why are there TWO rednecks in Hatboro (as implied by the title)...  

Well, my sister ran into the same luck as I did when she began her job search, shortly after getting her Masters in Marketing...  

I suggested that she look for an internship somewhere... in order to gain some experience...  To which she responded "Well, How about an internship at G2 with you!"

For people who didn't witness the two of us growing up, this would sound sweet, but to those who know us, they feared for our safety...  and hair...  a lot of hair pulling goes on between the Jung girls....

Kidding, sort of.

To make a long story short, she got the job and moved up here on December 2nd.  

Two days later I put in my notice at G2 because I happened to get two job offers from companies in Princeton, NJ!!!  And Princeton is lightyears cooler than Hatboro so I really didn't have a choice in the matter!  I wound up choosing the offer from a software interface company that creates web components, where I was very pleasantly surprised on my first day to find out that they are in the process of rebranding their ENTIRE company... and that I would be in charge of the website and product branding! I've always wanted to take a monster of a project... and this opportunity is giving me everything I could ever ask for in that respect!

And now I'm going to steer myself back towards my original topic...  

With Carrie being up here in Hatboro now, I've been trying to give her little projects to keep her busy.  

(I don't have cable right now because I was sinfully underpaid for the last nine months...)  So I gave her my stack of Botany fabric and my mom's old sewing machine... and after a day and a night she made this little messenger bag! (See below.)

Kudos to Carrie!  

That next weekend, we experienced our first big snow storm. It was a big day for us and rather than bundling up and staying indoors, we decided to go galavanting about outside... taking photos... because that's what rednecks like to do in the snow!

Carrie Jung Is Getting Married

Carrie is my younger sister by two years, so we were all a little surprised when she was the first one to get engaged...

Those who knew her well, back in her high school years of dating, refer to that time period as her "dumpster diving phase". She dated a few guys here and there, but each relationship ended quickly and tragically for Little Carrie...

Then in the summer following graduation, she began working at Brusters, an icecream shop in our home town of Spartanburg, SC. She became fast friends with her manager, Inbal, and started hanging out with her on the weekends...

It was on one of these weekend outings that she met Inbal's boyfriend, Andrew... AND it just so happened... that on this SAME weekend outing, Andrew decided to bring his brother, Jon, along.

Jon fell madly in love with Carrie... Carrie fell madly in love with Jon, and the rest is history.

This wonderful happy ending was made even happier by the fact that while I was living in Atlanta, my boyfriend, Beau decided to move in with Jon. The two of them later moved into my same apartment complex, and the three of us, along with their third roommate, Kevin, became the best of friends!

So, I suppose it works out well for everyone... Carrie's getting married... Jon was in my "Atlanta gang" so I approve of the decision... my friend, Megan, took these awesome engagement photos (see below)... Beau and I both get to be in the wedding... my bride's maid dress is ADORABLE...

AND... I was put in charge of the wedding invitations! (...or I might have demanded to be in charge of them, but that's neither here nor there.) We've just finished producing her set of Save the Dates and those will be going out tomorrow. (See above.)

And those are just a small taste of the interactive experience that is to come with the invitation itself!

Carrie's wedding is in June and she decided to go with a very natural, garden inspired wedding... I used this organic inspiration as my jumping off point for the design... My first attempt with these produced a wild and crazy mass of plantlife that wound its way across the four page, accordion-fold invitation... But there was something about the illustration's lack of structure that didn't sit well with me. So I began again, and even though I kept the same flowers and vines, I let the structure of the vines take on the shape of an intricate wrought iron gate. Which produced this very structured, garden-themed drawing that we all LOVE!

Carrie's starting to love them a little less, because she's in charge printing, cutting, stickermaking, gluing, and round-corner punching each piece of her wedding invitation suite.

The Infamous "Minibook" Fiasco of 2008

Moderation has never really been my strong suit... I'm not sure why that is exactly, but it began sometime in my early childhood... and... I think I'm going to go ahead and blame my parents.

Kidding... sort of.

Anyway, I've recently experienced a wicked bout of déjà vu as my mom and I were frantically assembling our 133 promotional packets before this year's Fall Market... The following entry describes the source of this déjà vu.

Exactly 1 year ago, immediately following my graduation from the Portfolio Center, our entire class, flew to New York City for a Portfolio Review. The night before my flight, I was frantically trying to design, print, and assemble 10 "minibooks" to hand out at the review. After months of sleep deprivation... I found that I wasn't in the correct state of mind to begin this task 7 hours before my flight.

After the panic set in, I cried for a few minutes, then called and woke-up a team of helpers at 3:00 in the morning: my boyfriend, Beau, my sister, Carrie, and her boyfriend, Jon. Over the next two hours, we all printed, folded, and cut out the first three pages of sed minibooks, at which point, I came to terms with my inevitable defeat... the minibooks had won.

Carrie and Jon volunteered to make a Kinko's Run... it was 5:00 AM.

Kinko's did an amazing job for the minimal fee of $400, but I still had to cut, fold, and assemble these books once arriving at the hotel in New York... Thankfully, I had Carrie with me, who turned out to be quite the little trooper...

She stayed up with me until midnight in order to finish these before the review the next morning... even after being rudely awakened at 3:00 AM to help me the night before... AND despite her plans to wake up at 4:00 the next morning in order to stand outside of the Today Show with a "Please Hire Me" sign.

And, my story doesn't end there... after not having slept more than 5 hours in the last three days, my phone alarm wasn't quite enough to get the job done the next morning... Carrie had to leave her much anticipated Today Show at 8:00 that morning, and walk the 26 blocks back to hotel, in order to wake me up in time for the Portfolio Review. I'm a terrible sister.

Carrie fondly refers to this course of events as the "Infamous Minibook Fiasco of 2008"... and rightfully so. I'm still trying to make it up to her!

And on a more positive note... I'm happy to report that I must be getting better at these last minute projects from hell... because my mom and I finished up our promotional packets at 11:30 the night before our flight... we had a full 3 hours of sleep before having to wake up and go to the airport the next morning!

A Little Bit of Background

We're the Jungs (pronounced "young"), and we love to quilt, create, and inspire!

If you've read the About Us Section of either this blog or our website, you can probably skip this entry... it's pretty much copied and pasted, verbatim.

1 / Lauren:

• Born and raised in Spartanburg, SC • Studied abroad in Cortona, Italy • Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts—Furman University • Graduate Degree in Graphic Design—Portfolio Center, Atlanta • Currently a web designer—G2 Interactive • Living in Philadelphia, 818 miles away from her sweet boyfriend, Beau

2 / Jessi:

• Born and raised in Amish country—Pennsylvania • Bachelor's Degree in Sociology—Clemson University • Master's Degree in Deaf Education—Converse College • Currently a quilter and pattern designer • Living in Spartanburg, SC with her husband, Chip, a cute dog named Rudy, and nearby to her youngest daughter, Carrie.

3 / Why We Work

(a little bit of a pun) • Team work certainly has its merits, especially when coming into this with two completely different backgrounds and skill sets. We do all of our brainstorming together. First, we develop a central concept for the main fabric, then we decide how this will be carried out through each of the supporting fabrics. • Jessi is in charge of all of the initial sketches, which Lauren takes and recreates on her Mac. • Together we refine, tweek, arrange, and choose colors. • Once the line is complete, we divide and conquer... Lauren is in charge of everything web related... designing, programming, blogging, etc., while Jessi is busy designing patterns. She managed to design and write six patterns for our first line!

4 / Our First Line

• Botany attempts to reveal an intricacy and delicacy found within the natural world, while drawing its inspiration from traditional botanical illustrations (as can be seen in the main fabric, Flora.) • The largest print, Wildlife, takes on a free flowing organic style, and includes elements from each of our nine supporting fabrics, thus unifying the series.