#190 Kiss & Make Up

#190 Kiss & Make Up
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August 25 is National Kiss & Make Up Day

If you’re read­ing this a day or two before August 25, you have plen­ty of time & no excus­es to not kiss & make up.

Accord­ing to Jacque­line Mil­gate of Hilton, New York, who found­ed Nation­al Kiss & Make Up Day, & the good folks at Nation­al Day Cal­en­dar (who also offi­cial­ized Nation­al Amper­sand Day, com­ing up in just a cou­ple weeks), here is some advice to make things bet­ter between those peo­ple you real­ly want in your life:

This Nation­al Day gives us a chance to make amends. Each one of us has had a fight with a loved one at some point in our lives. Whether it is between you & a friend, fam­i­ly mem­ber, neigh­bor or co-​worker after time has passed, do you remem­ber the cause? Who was even at fault? Do you want the dis­cord to go on any longer? That is prob­a­bly the most impor­tant ques­tion of all.

Offer­ing an apol­o­gy, or sim­ply just break­ing the silence can be enough to begin the heal­ing. Strive to com­pro­mise. Even in a no-​win sit­u­a­tion, if the rela­tion­ship is worth pre­serv­ing agree­ing to dis­agree may be the only res­o­lu­tion. When we talk through issues calm­ly after a seri­ous dis­pute, we often find both sides mis­un­der­stood the oth­er per­son. Look­ing back, hope­ful­ly, we can find some­thing to laugh about & repair the relationship.

Why is the kiss important?

Kiss­ing prompts your brain to release a hap­py elixir of feel-​good chem­i­cals like sero­tonin, dopamine, & oxy­tocin. This isn’t only impor­tant for your hap­pi­ness, it may also help to strength­en your relationship.

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Also by Nation­al Day Cal­en­dar:

What are the best movie make up scenes?

• The Note­book – Allie & Noah reunite after years apart, but they have a firey argu­ment fol­lowed by an epic make up.
• Juno – Juno fills Paulie’s mail­box full of Tic Tacs.
• The Mis­sion – Rodri­go, an indige­nous tribe, & Father Gabriel rec­on­cile after a penance for Rodrigo’s sin­ful acts.
• Hap­py Gilmore – Hap­py Gilmore apolo­gies to Chubbs by say­ing, “I’m stu­pid. You’re smart. I was wrong. You were right. You’re the best. I’m the worst. You’re very good-​looking. I’m not attractive.”
• Jer­ry Maguire – Jerry’s “I love you” speech to Dorothy hits the mark when he says, “You com­plete me.”

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Anyone else on the list?

Even if you’ve had a squab­ble with your boss, bud­dy or barista, you can still make up — kiss­ing is entire­ly optional.

I was upset that my cat woke me up at 4am. I think I’ll make up with her now & kiss her too.

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Concept & design

I got the idea (which I should have thought of years ago) to sim­ply vis­it nation​al​day​cal​en​dar​.com to see if any spe­cial cel­e­bra­tions were on the hori­zon with an amper­sand (or “and” or “+”), & sure enough two days away was Nation­al Kiss & Make Up Day. 

Imme­di­ate­ly I visu­al­ized a big red pair of lips in the cen­ter of the piece, with noth­ing all that clever about the text, orig­i­nal­ly intend­ing “Kiss &” to be the top line & “Make Up” being the bot­tom. But while perus­ing the images at deposit​pho​tos​.com for a “kiss” I came across the per­fect con­cept for an amper­sand: a lip ring (or two). That was fun to put togeth­er — once I did my research as to where the actu­al­ly pierc­ing occurs. (I like to keep my work as authen­tic as fea­si­ble, lest cre­ative license intervenes.)

Turns out, rarely is the lip actu­al­ly pierced; it’s usu­al­ly above &/or below, although there are times when it’s right through the smack­er. Here are the two arti­cles that helped me cre­ate the art­work, which I found inter­est­ing: freshtrends​.com & the​list​.com. If you’re con­sid­er­ing a pierc­ing, these are excel­lent arti­cles. (Truth be told, the sec­ond one scared me off. What a wuss, I know.)

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Chaz DeS­i­mone is the cre­ator of Amper­Art & own­er of Des­i­mone Design. He was adding ser­ifs to let­ters when he was just a lit­tle brat scrib­bling on walls. Now he’s a big brat & his entire career is design for clients who desire the most sophis­ti­cat­ed, log­i­cal, cap­ti­vat­ing cre­ative. Con­tact him at chaz@​desimonedesign.​com to dis­cuss your project, pick his brain, or just talk shop.

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