Milligan Massage

Wow... tomorrow it will be a whole week already. Hard to believe. Oh well, so far so good. I just thought for all 5 of my loyal readers I would toss up my first finished project (since going freelance).


This is a logo I designed for a friend who is in a similar boat as myself. She just recently decided to take the plunge to go on her own and start her own massage business. I've never had one of her massages, but I'm sure they are top notch, and I wanted her to have a logo that would give that impression. We're working on some business cards, a postcard, and hopefully a website too. But if you're in Nashville and need a massage give her a call 615-542-8005.

Changin' and Rearrangin'

Following a somewhat unexpected (but also somewhat welcome) turn of events that went down yesterday, I will now be putting most of my energy, 85% or so, to developing a full time freelance graphic design business. This has actually been in the back of my mind for a while now, and it just so happens that I technically don't have a normal job anymore. So... perfect time to get started I say. I mean all the cool kids are doin it. Armin and Bryrony of the famed Underconsideration, Speak Up, and Brand New have jumped on this scary self-reliant band wagon, so why can't I. Ok, yes they are awesome designers that live in New York city and probably have ridiculous hookups, but... I gots the charm. Hopefully that will carry me.

I really want to focus on typography. I have always had a fondness for it, and have just recently realized that I love it. Spending countless hours finessing curves and lines in all its monotony is quite pleasant and relaxing.

My newly discovered love of type is due in part to a designer I've been following for over a year now, Marian Bantjes. Needless to say she's awesome (that's her work below, not mine).



So look out Nashville Design Scene, here I come.

An Article Unearthed by one Steven Matthew Turner

An excerpt from the Sep. 20th Shaftesbury Mountain Herald - Arts and Leisure Section:

It may come as somewhat of a surprise to the residents of Nashville Tennessee that we have stolen the hearts of two of your city's young travelers. Once again.

The events that transpired in the late evening on the 17th of September 2007 have in fact been well documented here in the colonies of the United Kingdom.

Americans Steven Turner and Alex Pearson arrived in a most timely fashion and soon after stepping off the aircraft decided to procure a fine ale, stout. At which point Mr. Turner and Mr. Pearson, before their speech was corrected by the superior English wit and charm, were heard saying, "it only goin up from here y'all" and "this here is dang ol downright coo man." To which they both knocked cowboy boots and spit an utterly alarming amount of mouth fluid into a large metal tin producing what can only be described as a resounding "ting".

What soon followed was a blissful day filled with the meeting of fine folk all around. Yes folk of the finest quality indeed. The following days were filled with being whisked away to various cottages, abbeys, castles, sea-side country and pubs of the highest esteem and regard. These adventures of course continuing the young men's happiness.

But it was late on the 17th of Sep. that the two decided to never return to their homeland America. Yes turning their back on heritage, possessions and honor all the like.

When asked for a statement one Alex Pearson had this to say. "We have grown weary of the heat. Here we have cappuccinos, scarves, mittens and above all rosy cheeked women at our disposal at anytime. It is rather nice, we are staying."

Steven continued saying, "At first, and this of course goes without saying, the lack of honky tonk saloons was quite upsetting, heck, downright abhorrent and detestable, but once one gets by this fact the hilly mountain pathways and lush greenery is equally if not more beautiful."

The two continued, "What a blast so far. The Fanthorpes have treated us with the utmost generosities and kindnesses, indeed. Our friends back home will be missed, true, but this is our decision. We are sorry."

Soon after this interview Steven and Alex were accosted by a group of English Hooligans (slang term chavs) and died on the morning of Sep. 19th.

By Teven Surner - Staff Writer

Blog... stands for Back Log

Yes I know I'm way behind on filling you in on this awesome trip. But here's the deal it's too awesome to take time out of it to sit down for an hour every night and write about it. But trust me, there are many stories to be told and way too many pictures. Today was especially awesome. No spoilers... but Steve and I took an unplanned sidetrip, that was well worth the 4 hour train trip.

Day 2: Zombie Flight

I guess this is still technically part of Day 1, but who cares? We get to the airport and arrive at our gate which is absolutely packed. There aren't even any seats in the waiting area. We go up to the desk and tell them we have standby tickets. The unnamed and misshaped woman with a man's haircut looks at us and says "The flight is full, there are no seats," in a tone that would make Ghandi resort to fisticuffs. So we sit down, and hope that we can either upgrade to first class or some poor sucker dies on the way to the airport.

We wait.. zones are being called for boarding, people look excited that they are getting on a plane, and we are imagining being stuck in Philadelphia for even longer. Sitting next to some annoying looking 20-somethings from Denmark wearing way too much cologne, I was jealous of their confirmed seats. After about 30 minutes, the other desk girl called our names. We walked up and without a word she handed us two tickets. We were beaming.

I was tired, really tired, and fell asleep almost right away. The odd thing about this flight is that it is a six hour flight, and Manchester is 6 hours later than home, so after sleeping what felt like 10 minutes, being randomly awoken by vomiting, a meal landing in my lap, and trying to get comfortable on a postage stamp sized pillow, the sun came up.

After we landed, we were immediately corraled into a huge line right off of the boarding gate. It didn't look that bad, but customs took 2 hours. You are required to fill out an arrival card with some personal information upon arrival to the UK. One of the lines was for the address of where you will be staying. I did not know Jason and Helen's address so we left it blank. At the customs desk Steve and I both were harrassed and made to feel stupid for not knowing this ahead of time. The woman at Steve's desk told him to "go sit down and think about it" like a misbehaving 8 year old. But they let us through anyway.

I felt really bad for my friend Jason, he had been there since 8:30 and we didn't even see him until 10:30. But he was cheerful and friendly nonetheless as he greeted us.

The drive from Manchester to Hull is about 1.5 hours, and absolutely beautiful. It is filled with pastures and farm land of rolling hills. It felt really good to get to the Fanthorpes and sit down in a normal and relaxing setting. Their home is part of a quaint 100 year old building of many units of the size. They have done it up very nice and their bathroom looks like it came out of a magazine.

Jason called his friend "Jimbo" and we went and played ping-pong in a used car lot office surrounded by old MGs and motorcycles. It was very dream like at this point, I could barely keep my eyes open and kept falling asleep every time I sat down.