Greetings Cleveland!

So I'm two weeks into a stint at American Greetings in Cleveland, OH and so far it's been great. Gotta say my preconceived image of a greeting card creative studio being overrun with old ladies painting watercolor flowers and dogs was way off...it's inspiring being surrounded by many talented and contemporary illustrators and designers. I'm working in humor illustration in the creative studio and lovin' it so far. My very first card is a Valentine's Day card that should be out on shelves next year.

American Greetings is in the greater Cleveland area, though I'm staying in the city of North Olmstead west of downtown Cleveland. One of the first things I noticed arriving up north here is how messed up the roads are, surely a result of the harsh winter ice and snow so prevalent here. The best thing though I've discovered about the Cleveland area is the Metroparks, an amazing park reserve system that runs through 7 cities of greater Cleveland. It's not an urban park like NY Central Park...it's pretty much wilderness in the middle of the city the way it once was, set aside for preservation, education, and enjoyment. In my opinion, every city should've done something like this.

So far so good...