At A Glance

nido-zine represents the collective lessons learned from too many years of Murphyisms, dumpster diving, moral editing, fashion faux pas, professional procrastination, pack-ratting, Ramen noodles, construction-zone living, trial-by-error, and plain old urban survival tactics.


We don't claim to be experts in anything, but with your help, we can sure look like we are, and maybe in the process, we can all live richer, more creative lives.

Our Pet Loves

Recycling (EVERYTHING), open-mindedness, courage in the face of an empty wallet, junk stores, found objects, new ideas, imagination in all its glorious forms and flavors, anything unusual, unique, or off-the-wall, handmade gifts, the precotiousness of children.

Our Pet Peeves

Political correctness, bigotry in any form, litterbugs, conventional wisdom, fear (and those who market it), war (and those who wage it), wanton stupidity, game shows, cd packaging, people who stop in the middle of the aisle in grocery stores.

the world of nido

Nido. Nest. A place of refuge, family, comfort. Home.

We all have a vision of what "home" should be. For myself, it has always been very simple: Home is the place where your soul finds its bliss. For many, home is a place for family, but family can mean more than just blood relations. It's those with whom you feel a kinship--friends, partners, pets. Those with whom you enjoy spending time. Who you depend on, and know that they depend on you.

Home is the place where your soul finds its bliss

For several years now I've been kicking around the idea of creating such a place. A place that everyone who wants to can call home. A place where all ideas are welcome and everyone is accepted for who or what they are. Where everyone feels free to create, express, and try new things without fear of failure, because just making the effort to try is a success in itself.

So why "nido?" We wanted something short and sweet, but at the same time, unique. Nido is the Italian word for "nest," a fitting description for the place where we make our homes. And nest has become a part of our daily lives--we feather them, we launch our lives from them, we retreat to them when we're tired or sad or simply need to relax and recharge. What better synonym for home?

And with an Italian heritage in our family, nido was a perfect fit.

It may take us years to establish the real-life world of nido, so we created nido-zine as a cyber version of that world. A place where creative people can come together and share their ideas, accomplishments, inspiration, and friendship with each other. We want all our visitors to feel welcome here, to feel like they're home.

In the months to come, we will be adding more features to nido-zine, and hopefully make the entire experience more interactive. In the meantime, look around and let us know what you think. We'd appreciate any feedback to make the site more user-friendly and receptive to our cyber family.

who we are

nido-zine is a spin-off of another family venture, Nytshadow Designs, a small freelance web & graphic design company operated by myself, Amanda, and my son, Anthony. Nytshadow was begun in 1999 as a portfolio site for my own and various other artists' and writers' work, but in developing the site, I discovered a love for graphic and web design. After a downsizing lay-off pushed me (thankfully) out of the corporate world in 2002, Nytshadow Designs became a full-time enterprise, along with gardening, spoiling my cats, and junking for material for Yummies Hand-Painted Furniture & Design.

little mandy

Over the years, I've had my hand in a number of major DIY projects, all on a shoestring budget, not the least of which was buying and renovating four old bungalows. Anthony and my other two sons, Seth and Jesse, plus my best buddy Sue (another DIY warrior), were usually my only help there. We became experts at dreaming up ways to get high end results with sweat, imagination, and next to no budget.

Anthony started doing web and graphic design in high school, and before that was done, he was one of the gurus of the fabulously popular Buffy fan site, Buffy's Domain of Delight. For 7 years the site garnered the attention of thousands of fans, creators of the show and future web design clients. In 2004 he did his first paid freelance job for 'Would You Recognize Me?' Media. Since then he's done several freelance web and graphic design projects.

little antony

After Anthony flew from our nest and created his own, he realized a passion for decorating, cooking, and perusing thrift stores for hidden gems. Living in a big city on a tight budget doesn't allow room for a lot of frivolous spending, so he learned how to create a comfortable space with nothing but hand-me-downs, thrift store discoveries, and equal parts creativity and panache.

We wanted to share our collective experiences with like-minded people and hope to pass on our "wisdom" (and share some of yours). nido-zine is a new nest for our creative minds. Welcome home!