Lifestyle & Aesthetic

This summer, my husband traveled with the Army Reserve — like he has most summers. (For those who say AT is only supposed to be 2 weeks, I can't recall such a summer since he joined.) When he told me the schedule, I marked it on our shared Outlook calendar and began planning. Most of my son's and I's life is already arranged around my husband's time away. I have childcare in place while I work and a play area set up beside my desk for emergency edits. I have family members with keys in case my five-year-old accidentally locks [...]

This post is for anyone who needs help with their store. Whether you're selling online, through events, or in a brick-and-mortar location, our Lynchburg Marketing Agency can help. What is The Shop Shop? In short, The Shop Shop is a Lynchburg Marketing Agency for makers, estores, and retailers. I'm Danielle Verderame, and this is my agency. The Shop Shop turns things up a notch for me. This agency focuses my 15-year marketing career and 5-year freelance business (Verderame, LLC) into a boutique agency. And it’s all focused on retail. I’ve brought together a small team that specializes in marketing services [...]

I'm constantly editing my playlists with new, old songs — especially ones from artists that I may have overlooked. Like most people, I'm aware of Sixpence None the Richer's hit songs. But, I've never listened to any of their albums before. Starting at the beginning, I was surprised to find a consistent, pleasant sound for over a decade. The Fatherless and the Widow (1994) This album has a pure 90s vibe like it could be the soundtrack for any grainy TV show where a manic pixie dream girl plunges headfirst into a dreamy, hopeful adventure. I was actually surprised at [...]

I tend to read with a notebook nearby. It's a habit I formed as a pre-teen. I always had notebooks as gifts from people who weren't sure what to get an artsy, bookish kid. I didn't journal consistently but, I loved saving up ideas. If I found a good quote, I would jot it down. Soon, I had notebooks full of my favorite quotes. I still do this, although now I just mark them in the pages between my daily activities. You'll see a quote from Kafka in the margin beside my grocery run. Such is life. Here are 52 [...]

I find myself wishing for something old and something blue as I research fall 2023 color trends. Our visual world (OK. The Instagram world.) seems fixated on two colorways: desert sunsets and rainbow explosions. Obviously, there are color moments that dominate for a season like the pink-on-pink surrounding the Barbie Movie. Yet, I'm always seeking out inspiration with nuance. The inky Blue Iris Pantone chip is the color moment I want to see this fall. Building a Better Blue In 2008, Pantone declared Blue Iris color of the year. At the time, these releases were a niche event. Few people [...]

If I ever go back to my birth month flower project, I want to do the other flowers listed for each month. In my research, I found two options and picked my favorite to sketch. I was disappointed when I realized I picked the Daffodil for March and the Narcissus for December because they're actually members of the same family. So the narcissus flower meaning is similar to that of a daffodil. About Narcissus Flowers Part of the amaryllis plant family, these blooms have six petals with a trumpet-shaped corona. They grow from a flat stem with flat leaves. They're [...]

I've written about red before and how I painted one wall of my room red as a teenager. Red is roses and lipstick. It's rich velvet dresses and patent leather pumps. It's wine and pomegranates. If red is anything, it's lust and salivating. From a color theory perspective, red exudes confidence. We all know about that mythological study where men rated women in red as the most attractive. Red is the tone of a mid-life hair dye to rejuvenate your senses and bring you back to that color of teen rebellion. Its patches are stitched onto the back of a [...]

Always on the hunt for not-orange autumn colors, I pulled these hues from my camera roll. Over the past few years, the pampas grass resurgence brought back those soft, fade-to-beige tones of the 70s alongside complex textures and natural shapes. That aesthetic trend— plus desert-inspired motifs— leaves room for pastel shades in the fall color palette. I expect desaturated coral tones to continue their rise up the fall-color ranks — think fairy pumpkins, hand-made sweets, and vintage costumes. https://www.instagram.com/p/CGFycMaHpYi/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CGavkVEndvX/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Byno_PYCYzd/ I've been pairing those soft oranges with dusty browns and minty greens. Together, they create a quirky, yet calm [...]

Search for Dark Academia on Pinterest and you'll find limitless inspiration similar to these pulpy brown shades. They're dusty and rich, with the buzzing warmth of things well-made and long-used. It's fashion, it's aesthetic, it's a lifestyle. I've been slowly gathering props and backgrounds inspired by this aesthetic — in preparation for my client's fall shoots. They're mixing really well with warm metallics too. In color theory, brands usually use brown to signal the outdoors and rugged masculinity. Think that lumberjack, raw edge wood aesthetic. You'll see it on logos for beard products or mixed with plaid flannel patterns. But [...]