Passport Panic

Andy Warhol; "Holly Solomon", 1963-1964; Image Source

One of my resolutions this year is to take an international trip and with spring and summer coming up quickly it’s time to get our act in gear! We’ve gotten over the first hurdles of when and where to go (leaning toward early May; probably Croatia via a brief stopover in Southern France – woot!) Now, for the more terrifying hurdle: my passport photo. This is one of those post-marriage, name change boondoggles that I’ve been avoiding for nearly four years, but now there’s an imminent need to have my passport updated. It’s time to bite the bullet, send in the paperwork, and brave the photobooth. Be strong!

In my first passport picture, circa April 2000, I made the cardinal sin of pulling my hair back in a ponytail and the end result was terrible. Add florescent lighting and I looked sort of bald and moon-faced, but it got me back and forth from U.K., Ireland, Australia, and Fiji. So, success I guess? It expired just in time to need renewing the month before we were married.

Mike and I were invited to a wedding in Bermuda literally 2 weeks after our own, so delaying until all the certificates and licenses were filed wasn’t an option. A hasty photo in CVS where I look unaccountably sweaty (eww.) represented me through customs and has been lurking in the ‘Travel Documents’ folder of our filing cabinet ever since. Yikes. That’s 14 years of international-incident level hideousness, people!

This time I’m determined not to look sickly green as if I’ve been on an all-night bender, so I’ve been searching out resources and advice. Here’s my plan of attack:

1. Enlist Mike to take a picture for me and use epassportphoto.com to size it

2. Follow the tips from these articles: Beautylish, Flare, Anywhere-Anywhere, which hit some similar points. In a nutshell: hair down, shoot in natural light, define features with make-up, smile with the eyes (aka: smize.)

3. Do-overs. Lots and lots of do overs.

I’m determined. This time I will slide that little blue book across the podium with confidence! Do you have any passport photo advice? Travel stories? Ideas for things to do in Croatia? I’d love to hear it!

Resolutions

Happy New Year! After a day curled up on the sofa watching Sherlock and recovering after a late night out I am now fully re-charged and ready for 2014. I have a tendency to want to squeeze in just one more thing – hence, I am often 5 minute late. So, in an effort to be focused I’m putting these resolutions down on paper. I hoping you'll hold me to them! And, now for the annual resolution making…

Image via Vogue by Françoise Peretti, Design by Laura Messersmith

For the record this year my goals are:

Document. I would really like to be a better photographer and blog could definitely benefit from better pictures than my iPhone can offer, so this is a big one. I have a shiny new DSLR camera I just need to learn how to use it!

Handletter. I realized as I scrolled through my Design/Lettering Pinterest board that many of the pieces I admire are handlettering or calligraphy. I’d love to learn more about these techniques and incorporate them into my design work.

Travel. It’s been several years since my passport has received any new stamps. We need to do something about that by taking a trip outside the U.S.  I vote for France or Croatia, but we’ll see what Mike says.

Volunteer. There are so many great organizations in New York and it seems like I should be able to find one where I could contribute my time and talents (such as they are).

Entertain. When we moved to the city we were fortunate that several old friends already lived here and we’ve been happy to meet some new people over the last 6 months too. I think extending an invitation to host someone in your home is such a genuine way of demonstrating that you’d like to be friends. We need to do that often in 2014.

What are your resolutions? Are you focusing on personal goals, professional or a combination of the two (hello work-life balance)?