Bitte and a Blog Update

So I can't believe I'm only now getting around to posting here about Bitte the new business I started with my mom! I talked a little bit about it way back in January but since then a lot has happened! You might have seen some of it if you follow me on instagram, which is where I post most of my life updates these days. We officially launched in August and we've been so blown away by the response. We've had customers from far and wide and been featured in some of my favorite blogs and publications, like Oh Joy!, Sf Girl by Bay and Wit & Delight to name a few. It's been exhilarating, fun and stressful to say the least. Because I also am working as the art director at Rue magazine and taking on occasional social media consulting jobs I really haven't had time for Design Conundrum. It's crazy for me to look back and remember when I used to post here sometimes twice a day! It hasn't been that way in a long time. With sites like pinterest and then instagram, I started to not need this space as much to share and connect with fellow creatives and bloggers. So over the years the posts have dwindled quite a bit. I really don't think it ever will get back to what it once was but I'm excited for the new path I'm on with Bitte and my other projects, and hopefully you will all follow along. You can follow Bitte on instagram, facebook and pinterest. You can also learn more about how Bitte got started on the Bitte blog here. And of course shop all our offerings at bitteshop.com!

My Birth Story

Those of you who follow me on instagram are probably already aware that my husband and I welcomed our sweet, baby girl, Ingrid Madeline Smith, into the world 3 months ago today. I have been meaning to share her birth story here for awhile, but it has taken me some time to come around to it, partly because even though it was one of the best days of my life it was also really intense and there were parts of it I kind of wanted to block out. So, I needed a little time and distance to be able to revisit it.

I also want to mention that I am usually pretty private and don’t often share super personal aspects of my life here on the blog. But, I found reading other bloggers’ birth stories during my pregnancy very encouraging so, I knew I wanted to do the same.

*warning for those who may be uncomfortable hearing about some of the intimate details of childbirth, if you think that may bother you, you probably want to skip this post.

My Baby Shower

I know it's been forever since my last post. This pregnancy has really thrown me, it's ended up being a lot harder than I ever expected, so the blog ended up being a last priority. I'm almost done now, only a few more weeks to go which is both super exciting and terrifying, but I'll be happy to not be pregnant anymore and finally be able to meet this little girl.

Until then I thought I would share a few photos from my baby shower. Crystal, my dear friend and boss at Rue Magazine threw it for me and it was the most beautiful baby shower I've ever been to, I couldn't believe it was mine. To see more images and get Crystal's tips for hosting such an amazing event check out the full post at Rue Daily. (photos by Edyta Szyszlo)

Baby on Board

After a long absence here on the blog, today I can finally share some HUGE news that I've been keeping secret - I’m pregnant!! 

We are ecstatic!! And looking forward to adding a little munchkin to our family, but to be honest, the pregnancy has been a bit of a nightmare so far. I’ve never been so ill in my life and was really unprepared for how difficult this has been. We found out we were pregnant about 7 weeks ago and around 6 weeks ago I started getting really ill. Within 2 weeks I had lost almost 10 pounds and ended up in the emergency room for an IV for severe dehydration. I’ll spare you all the gory details but what this has meant is I’ve spent about 6 weeks in bed barely able to eat anything and just trying to feel well enough to sit up and answer a few emails. I’ve had to take a huge step back from a lot of my responsibilities, including blogging, which is why you haven’t seen much of me here. Also with my design and art direction work, where I ended up turning away jobs, which has been really hard for me. I want to particularly thank everyone on the Rue team and all the extra hands that helped me with the last issue. The amount of extra help and support they have given me in the last several weeks has been amazing and very much appreciated.

I’m about to enter my 2nd trimester and from everything I’ve heard I will hopefully start feeling better soon. Until that happens I just hope you can all be patient with me. These first 12 weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions and hormonal changes :) It’s hard to explain how I can feel so terrible but also so happy at the same time. I’m sure those of you who have been pregnant can relate. Which is one of the reasons I’m so excited to be able to announce my news - I can finally get advice from other moms! One thing that has been so hard for me emotionally is feeling like I’m dealing with it alone and not being able to reach out to other mothers and ask them, did you go through this? what did you do? will I ever feel better?

I know I will eventually feel better and I know the light at the end of this tunnel will be one of the most amazing new chapters in my life, but for now I would appreciate your support and encouragement. My presence here will probably still be somewhat sporadic but I plan on being back soon.

Sincerely Maia

Design Conundrum is Hiring!

I've put a lot of thought into it and I've decided that to really give 100% to everything I'm working on I need a little help. Which is why I've decided to hire a part time editorial intern for the blog. If you read my post from last week you know things are shifting a little here, and I want someone who can help take the blog to where I want it to be.

I am looking for someone who is passionate about design, photography, food and fashion. Who is familiar with blogging and social media, particularly the blogger platform. Can easily mutlitask on jobs such as handling advertising and press inquiries, write and edit copy, assist on putting together photo shoots, etc.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in and you are located in the San Francisco / Bay Area please contact me at maiamcdonald@gmail.com I’ll be happy to provide more details or answer questions.

Changes

Some of you might have noticed the long lapse in posts here on the blog. The main reason for this is because I was on my honeymoon in the Philippines, but, the other reason is I really needed a break from blogging. A longer break than I expected. At first I thought I’d queue up posts for while I was gone and set it all up before I left, but, I didn't. Then I thought maybe I could get a couple of my wonderful blogging friends to fill in for me while I was gone, but, I didn't. Then I thought, I will at least write a quick post before I leave to give everyone a heads up, but, yet again, I didn't. I was feeling really guilty about this, but then it hit me when I was skimming over the turquoise waters of the Philippines, delighting in the abundant sunshine: I am burnt out on blogging.

This year has been amazing but also hectic and overwhelming. It's been almost a year now since I quit my corporate job to strike out on my own. In that time not only was I brought on to be the new Freelance Art Director of Rue Magazine, but I've also been doing some amazing work for other great clients such as, Cuyana and Apartment34 to name a just a couple. Through these jobs I've met amazing new friends and produced some really fulfilling work. But, I have to admit, starting my own freelance business has been tough, and the blog is often my lowest priority. It's crazy to me that I used to produce 8-10 posts a week, and now I'm down to maybe 2-3. This blog used to be a creative outlet for me, I could share everything that was inspiring me and build a community around design, photography and everything else that I love. However, I don't have the same time I used to have to dedicate to the blog, and honestly, Pinterest, Instagram and twitter have fulfilled many of the rolls I used to need the blog for.

This all got me thinking while I was on vacation, what do I want this blog to be? I haven't found the answer quite yet, but I have some ideas that I'm really excited about. In the meantime expect fewer blog posts, but, hopefully better ones. Thank you for your interest in this blog, it has opened up so many new opportunities for me, I hope you will continue to check in with Design Conundrum to see what new direction it takes.

photo by me in El Nido, Philippines

Happy Friday + Link-o-rama

Happy Friday everyone! Today was exciting for me because a feature I did with Refinery29 came out this morning. It highlights some of the top Bay Area pinners and I was honored to be included with some of my favorite local ladies including Jeanne Chan, Vanessa Correa, Victoria Smith and Christine Martinez. It was so fun having Angela and Maria from the Refinery29 team come to my apartment a few weeks ago and now to final see the outcome, I couldn't be happier!
Now I leave you for the weekend with a few of my favorite reads this week, here, and across the web. 

ON CONUNDRUM

I started a new series on the blog, sharing the creative spaces of people that inspire me. Don't miss the inaugural post featuring the amazing Sarah Swell.
A sunny, springtime Smitten List this week!
Don't forget you can now sign up for news and updates from Conundrum?

ELSEWHERE

A fun interview with One Kings Lane buyer Courtney Grace over at Rue Daily.
I'm in love with this DIY knitted snood as featured over on Park & Cube, next weekend project perhaps?

I'm sure many of you have already seen and read all about the Susy Menkes article hoopla and the responses, but if not I highly recommend reading the original piece and some of the well articulated responses.

This week I went into Smitten Kitchens archives and made these delicious cocoa brownies, and they of course, did not disappoint.

Happy Friday + New Year's Resolutions!

Happy first Friday of the year! So I wasn't planning on doing New Year's resolutions this year, I usually don't. But I found myself so inspired by many of the lists I was reading by fellow bloggers, such as this one by Joy of Oh Joy! or this one by Kate over at JetKat photography that I decided, I would try to come up with my own list. So here it goes, in no particular order. Also a look back at some of my favorite people, places and moments from 2012 thanks to instagram.

1. Slow down and enjoy things
2. Be ok with saying NO!
3. Create more with my hands
4. Be less judgmental of myself
5. Don't let my anxiety control me as much!
6. Be more active and get outdoors
7. Stay committed to eating healthy
8. Pay more attention to the hubby :)
9. Recognize and celebrate my accomplishments
10. Travel more

I could probably go on and on, but I'd love to hear what some of your resolutions are this year?! Let me know in the comments.

Happy New Year!

A quick post to wish everyone a healthy, happy and inspiring 2013! I'm so excited for the year to come and getting the chance to reflect on 2012 a little. Last year was such a crazy, amazing year, below is one of my favorite moments from last year, our wedding day! Photo by the talented Kate Skogen. What was one of your precious moments from 2012 and what do you hope for in 2013?

Friday

The news today is just so sad I don't even have words, except to express my deepest sympathies to the families in Connecticut. I leave you for the weekend with this beautiful photo by Jennifer Young.

Our Wedding Album

I'm so excited to finally share a few of the images from our wedding, shot by the amazing Kate Skogen, she perfectly captured the day and the feeling of joy we both had. I also want to give an extra thank you to my sister who designed the textiles for the napkins and banners, and my mom who sewed them all. I really couldn't have done it without all the amazing support and help I had that week and the day of. Another major star of the day that I want to mention was my gorgeous BHLDN dress, which floated and fluttered so beautifully in the wind and was the perfect dancing dress (stay tuned fora little BHLDN surprise later this afternoon). Everything came together perfectly and now without further ado, our wedding day album.

Happy Friday + Link-o-rama

So I feel like every week in my happy Friday post I talk about taking the weekend easy, and relaxing, but to be honest that rarely happens. I've realized I'm not very good at it, but I want to be, frankly I need to be better at it. I'm always so stressed out, that time to decompress is critical. But a lot of the time I don't know how to say no, or turn off or just be done with a project. So I thought I would ask all of my lovely readers, do you have a hard time taking time for yourself? If so do you have any tricks or tips? 

And now while you ponder that I will leave you for the weekend with a few of my favorite reads this week, here, and across the web.

Image by Martin Wunderwald via Etsy

ON CONUNDRUM
It was election time this week, check out the fun graphic I did to remind people to vote.

A cozy fall themed smitten list round-up this week.
Did you guys see you can now sign up for news and updates from Conundrum?

ELSEWHERE
Did you guys see my picks in this weeks Refinery29 holiday decor round-up? Also see amazing finds from Crystal of Rue Magazine and Victoria Smith of SFGirlbyBay among others.
Camille Styles shows you how to make the perfect Thanksgiving buffet.

I'm loving this very chic black & white round-up over at Sacramento Street.

Williams-Sonoma just launched it's newest brand called Mark & Graham, focusing on the most beautiful personalized gifts. Read more about it over at Apartment34.

What were some you your favorite blog reads this week?

Vote!

Just a little reminder.

Happy Halloween + Rue Launch

Happy Halloween everyone!! This Halloween is extra exciting for me because it coincides with the launch of our newest Rue issue. It turned out so great, if I do say so myself :) so check it out. Also have a super fun, safe and candylicious halloween tonight.

Inspired Office Space

Just a quick little post this afternoon since I'm hard at work with the finishing touches on the next Rue issue which comes out tomorrow!! I can't wait for you all to see it. But speaking of hard at work I thought I would share this super inspiring office space via Design Sponge that I instantly fell in love with recently. Enjoy!

An Afternoon in Oakland

As much as I hate to admit it, since our wedding I've been so busy that Travis and I haven't had many chances to enjoy being newlyweds. And with my recent partnership with Buick on my mind I was inspired to carve out some time for a local getaway. So this past weekend we decided to take the afternoon for ourselves and spend it visiting some of our favorite Oakland places. We started by heading over to the Grand Lake Farmers Market. Oakland has a different farmers market almost every day but Grand Lake is probably the biggest. It's also great because it has food trucks parked around the edges so we grabbed some lunch and then meandered around the stalls picking up fresh produce, bread, jam and some cured meats. From there we headed to Lake Merritt park to sit and enjoy the weather and nibble on the goodies we had purchased. It was a simple afternoon but that is almost always my favorite way to spend a day in our lovely city.

This post is sponsored by Buick Encore, the opinions shared in this post are 100% my own.
All photos by myself.

Wedding Sneak Peek

I usually don't post on Sundays, but now that the haze of wedding week has dissipated I wanted to share just a little sneak peek from our beautiful day. I will be sharing more photos by our amazing photographer Kate Skogen in the next week or two but here's just a little snippet from the day in beautiful Tilden park with my BHLDN dress blowing in the wind. So happy at this moment. I also wanted to thank all of my dear friends for filling in for me on the blog! I could not have done it without every single one of you.

Our Engagement Photos!

I recently got our engagement photos back and was so excited to be able to share a few here. Shot by the amazing Kate Skogen, I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out. I love that we look like were having so much fun. Here's to a lifetime of that :)
P.S. Kate is also shooting our wedding, so look forward to those in a couple weeks after the wedding!!

Happy Friday & Link-o-rama

This week has been crazy busy, but also a lot of fun. I got to see so many friends at the Curiosity Shoppe + Target event earlier this week and then two of my favorite San Franciscans, Erin Hiemstra of Apartment34 and Jeanne Chan of Shop Sweet Things came to visit me for a shopping day in Oakland today. And to top it off, tomorrow I get to have brunch with Christine Martinez of Miles to Style and Aaron De Simone of I Heart Luxe. Days like these remind me why I love living here so much, it's such an amazing community of creative people, I could literally go on and on about the friendships I have made since living here, and this week has really made me realize how much I appreciate them all. Which is why I wanted to take a minute to give them a little shout-out! Thank you guys, you inspire me and make me so happy!

Now I'll leave you for the weekend with a few of my favorite blog reads from this past week, enjoy!

1. The perfect casual outfit inspiration for a freelancer like me from Ahn at 9 to 5 Chic.

2. A refreshing drink trio concocted by Colleen at Inspired to Share.

3. Get a peak into the adorable apartment of the amazing Jennifer Chong at Apartment Therapy.

4. I'm in love with this Marie Claire Australia Editorial featured over at Coco + Kelley.

5. The most scrumptious looking breakfast sandwich ever featured over at Sacramento Street.

6. DesignSponge did a feature on one of my favorite Oakland neighborhood shops, Umami Mart! It's always so exciting to see Oakland highlighted, and especially on such an amazing and high profile blog!!

All images taken by me. Don't forget to follow me on twitter & instagram both @designconundrum to see what I'm up to during the week :)

Happy Friday & Rue Sneak Peek

You might have noticed that I’ve made very few posts lately, but I have a good excuse: for the past two weeks I've been working overtime with Crystal and the Rue team to create Rue's “Texas” issue which launches this Tuesday, the 7th!! I can't believe it's almost done, and I can't wait for you all to see the finished product. And, let me tell you, this issue is insane! Every single feature is so beautiful and uniquely Texas. It's been so great to be a part of this project and I have especially loved the time Crystal and I have spent huddled around my computer, pouring over the details, to make sure it's the best it can be. Also, I’ll admit, I'm a little nervous for my first issue as creative director, to launch. The challenge of adding a bit of my personality while keeping the essence of Rue intact has been daunting, but I hope that our hard work has paid off and you all enjoy reading it as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it!

Below are a few snippets from our week together, as well as a few sneak peeks!
Images one, five and nine are from the August issue. The rest are from Crystal or my Instagram.