One of my new goals this year and beyond is to switch to all-natural products as much as possible. Maybe it started when my childhood dog got nose cancer and I started reading online about the possible causes only to discover that maybe it was the strong cleaning products we use at home, the lawn care or pest control. Next, I read about some ingredients found in some every-day products used in my home. Guess what? A lot of them are carcinogenic or are toxic to our environment and our bodies.

I learned that just because there are no side effects tomorrow, doesn’t mean it’s not bad for me. So I decided to switch to natural products and what is better place to start than your own skin? It’s our largest organ and everything you layer on, will get absorbed into your body. Now, you don’t need to go bankrupt and toss all of the stuff you already have. I decided that only when I run out of something, I would go ahead and buy an all-natural product.

It’s quite overwhelming to choose what natural product is best and that is why I am recommending you a couple that I have bought and approved. I have researched all of the products below on the EWG Skin Database (check it out!), and I have been loving them. Definitely approved by my skin! - Pati

perfume / lip balm / blush / moisturizer / lipstick / foundation / cleanser

Happy new year to you! I can’t believe it’s been nearly a decade since I’ve moved to the U.S. I feel like my internal clock has frozen in the 2000s era and suddenly, 2004 was ten years ago and I am still singing space jam. It’s exciting, but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t also a little frightening. Every year, we hear our internal voices listing all of the resolutions we made last year, some accomplished, some not and we are unsure of how much progress was made.

Well, when this happens, grab your old resolutions and throw out the window. Write goals. Not necessarily accomplishable in a year, but write what or where you want to be and steps to get there. Resolutions are intense, short-lived, fad diets while goals are long-term lifestyle changes that take you to where you want to be. And don’t forget to think about what went right and just sit and be thankful for that.

Instead of writing my favorite posts of last year, I decided to think 0f 2014 as a blank page yet to be filled. (*BUT of course i have my favorite posts, see here) My goal this year is to meet new clients and get some good design going on. What are some of your goals? - Pati

Hello blogosphere, finally the time of the year we were all waiting for: christmas! cookies! pie! I am done with school, papers, layouts, illustrations for this year, and all I got is white snow everywhere i look. It’s true winter bliss :) I am sharing with you a little personal project that I started. I am planning on making an alphabet of postcards and (hopefully) sell them on etsy. The ones above are my first letters. I still have a long way to go, but hey who knew there were about a million ways you could draw the letter A?

What inspired me to do this was the Drop Cap project by Jessica Hische, my favorite letterer to date! And the video below is my current state of happiness. Merry christmas to you! - Pati

I was talking to my boyfriend the other day about something that hits everyone in their 20s or maybe even in their 30s which is the question of ‘What should I be?’ When I was little, there were those endless possibilities that would change every time you watched a movie or cartoon. “I want to be an actor! I want to go to the olympics!” And the exclamation points keep going without you seriously thinking that one day, this will ACTUALLY be a choice you’ll have to make in order to make a living. We also don’t think about the fact that we will spend A LOT of time doing what we chose earlier.

I have very high-standards that I set up for myself, and I think we all sort of do. It’s funny that we are usually so nice and understanding to others, but when it comes to ourselves, we are like mini Napoleons on battle day. So today I am writing this post to my other self, the one that is bitchy and demanding and wants me to be and do everything well. This is a note for her. The first thing I realized is that you have to accept that you can’t be great at everything. Nobody is. Not even Jennifer Lawrence or Beyonce or Obama or anyone you admire a lot. There is a reason why we are all interconnected in a deep web of services and interactions. It’s because we need each other to do stuff. So stop beating yourself up for not being good like someone else you admire.

You should never feel sad for not being good, you should understand that the world needs you too, just the way you are. I realized this the other day when I was listening to a Lana Del Rey song, I thought ‘Why anyone (myself included) listen to a song that makes them feel sad and nostalgic?’ Well, that’s because they enjoy it and they need it just the same as they need upbeat, happy songs. It turns out that I’m pretty much over at the expectations set for me, for my age, gender. It’s one of those things: you have to accept what you are not in order to move forward, and develop what you are good at.

Any thoughts? - Pati

Lettering from Daily Dishonesty (Check it out if you love lettering!)

Not everything turns out how you have in mind – a little something I learned from this shoot. This is a picture I didn’t end up using for the style post, ha. The real challenge is to make do with what you have and in the end, it’s always surprising to see the results :) Happy weekend! – Pati

photo by Tyler Schappe

This is a little sneak preview of my latest project for blogger/friend Izzy Darby, my favorite vegan cook. I am working on redesigning her blog right now and for this project, I really took on illustration and calligraphy to contribute to the overall easy look-and-feel of her blog. As a result, you always find me with my fingers and elbows dirty of black ink and more often than ever, I catch myself spotting calligraphy crimes on the street. I mean, how could they?!?!

I’ve also been writing with brushes and water color. It’s much less controlled than with a calligraphy pen, but that effect gives the writing a lot of personality. I started doing calligraphy officially with a pen and black ink, after having taken this online course on Skillshare. It’s much easier than it looks and once you start…well, you’ve seen what happened with me. I’m excited to implement handwriting into different projects from now on. - Pati

lettering by Pati Mo

I absolutely loved this quote. I realize that I tend to follow that philosophy of why not a lot when doing something creatively. You gotta risk it. Hope you have a lovely weekend. - Pati

instagram pic by Pati Mo