What's up?
I'm senior art director at tms agency in Chicago. I use my design skills to craft all sorts of graphic pieces and make information sing for McDonald's. I've mastered tools beyond the design staples Photoshop and Illustrator, using Figma + Airtable, and Sketch + Abstract daily to streamline my workflow.
What I'm currently reading
Last week I discovered an author called Simon Sinek. He chatted with TRevor Noah in his YouTube podcast. Intrigued by their talk, I started reading "Start with Why" - a book that fleshes out concepts like "commoditization", opposing "cause".
Intrigued by the disparity between the northern and southern hemispheres - particularly in terms of politics and society - I stumbled upon this captivating book by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson: "Why nations fail". Even just reading the introduction, I was struck by its enlightening insights. Unfortunately, it also reinforced a disheartening belief that Brazil and Mexico (or most poor countries, for that matter) are unlikely to experience significant positive change in the next half-century - despite efforts of their people.
I'm learning a lot about US housing market history (particularly during World War II, the Great Depression, and the New Deal era), through "Escaping the housing trap" by C. Marohn Jr. and D. Herriges (authors I discovered on the @StrongTowns Instagram, which I started following in 2021).
And I have just finished John Ajvide Lindqvist's "Little star". What a crazy story - it is both easy and hard to read, as we empathize with one of the characters. He is the author of "Let the right one in", so I expected some supernatural twist and I was not disappointed.
A family of friends from Mexico came to visit us for Christmas and New Year's!
We became close during our time living there, so it was amazing to reunite and spend quality time together.
We planned these two weeks well in advance, putting together a detailed itinerary—including when to rent a car and when it wasn’t necessary. We also booked attraction tickets ahead of time to avoid last-minute costs, especially since paying in US dollars would have been expensive for them coming from Mexican pesos.
In the end, we managed to check off most of the touristy spots while also giving them a glimpse into our everyday life. At the same time, their visit gave us the chance to experience some attractions we wouldn’t normally do on our own.
The bean
Limestone coffeehouse in Batavia
Chicago Botanic Garden's "Lightscape"
Weird food, 1 vegan option
Christmas
360 observation deck
Since we moved to our new home in 2022, I've been more diligent with meditation.
Still keeping up 🙂
. I wake up at 4:45 am, meditate for 50 minutes. Always using Insight Timer App to track it.
In 2020, when we moved to the U.S., I started a Google Photos album titled 'Illinois Skies'. This album serves as a continuation of my 'Mexican Skies' collection, which I began in 2018 upon moving from Brazil to Metepec, a charming town just outside Mexico City.
Geneva, IL
Metepec, Mexico
To recapture the healthy lifestyle we enjoyed in Mexico, we opted to settle an hour outside Chicago, trading the gray high-rises and traffic jams for a quieter pace of life.
Geneva is now our home, and we see ourselves staying here through our daughter's high school years.
My time in Mexico really sparked my interest in unique drinks. I started taking pictures of the bottles before trying them out, and it's become a bit of a habit. Strangely enough, here in the US, I seem to find even more unusual beverages to explore.
Suzu: our cat.
> Moving abroad with a cat is a real pain. It's time-consuming, expensive, and involves a ton of paperwork.
Besides Portuguese, now she's able to meow in Spanish and English
Thanks for stopping by!
🙂
Exploring Chicago for a long weekend