Dreams and Zombies

But not dreams of zombies. Last night, my sister and I were looking for something and stumbled across our other little sister's notebook in which she wrote this about zombies:

So I am sure you read books about vampires and werewolves but what about zombies. You probably have seen the Hollywood version, but we really aren’t that creepy. I mean, we are probably the most human like monster.

Anyway, zombies look ordinary, act ordinary, an nobody but other monsters can tell we are what we are. The only thing is we live or “eat” on human happiness.

Yeah, so I guess you could say we kill people by making them so depressed.

I will tell you this, if you know my sisters it is not the one you think. She also had an entry that talked about how everyone in our house hates her except, "My kind loving sister Kirsten." So sweet!

Then I fell asleep on the couch while watching The Bishop's Wife, and had the strangest dream. I was with one of my friends and we were maybe temporarily homeless or something, because I had a crush on this boy (I think he was a celebrity, but can't remember who) and we kept sneaking into his house so we could brush our teeth and were trying not to get caught breaking in.

Then my mom is trying to drop me off at my cousins, but I don't want to go and we end up going to the mall instead where the salespeople are being extremely aggressive with their advertising. I am getting frustrated when my mom says, "Advertising causes people to buy, just as lack of sleep causes..."

And then I wake up at 3:30 AM in the basement, fully clothed where I drifted off to sleep.

Again, our minds are fascinating things.

Saturday is a Special Day

Even when it's not Christmas. But today was extra special. I got a pair of button up pajamas that are just like Slughorn's from Harry Potter, and I learned how to polish shoes. Truth be told, I have always wanted to know how, especially since my dad has this shoe polishing kit that used to be my Grandpa's.

(Sorry the picture is backwards, but I used photobooth since my camera is still broken, but I bet you can figure out what it says--and there is my shoe on the right!)

I fell in my purple leather booties on my way to Church, when I was at school many months ago (Geneva should remember the fall and the resulting purple streak on the sidewalk). I scuffed the shoes pretty badly and kept meaning to ask my dad if polish could cover it up but never did.

I asked him tonight, since my sister wants to borrow the shoes, he took one look at the shoes and said, "Yeah, that's cordovan."

Baffled, I said "No, they're purple."

My dad then explained that mens shoes come in three colors: black, brown, and cordovan (which is a rich shade of burgundy--kind of purple). I love that my dad knows all about these things, and it demonstrated one of the reasons I love menswear so much, it has so much history. While women's fashion changes quite rapidly (also most women wear mainly sportswear these days) but menswear has changed very little, and especially having made a mens dress shirt I know that quality mens clothing is very intricate and interesting.

My dad also told me how when he was a kid his dad would pay him 25 cents for each shoe he polished.

I now know all about shoe polishing, my shoes look great, and I love this shoe brush. I couldn't get a good picture because I was using Photobooth--but it is metal and looks like it could be from the 1800's.

If you need me to polish your shoes let me know, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

It came

without packages, boxes or bags.

{via scribterror}

But I stayed up way too late wrapping and finishing these anyway. Merry Christmas

The Telescope

Here are some close-ups of the newspaper I did for the 826 Seattle Newspaper club. It was a lot of fun but crazy, since I put together a lot of it in only a couple days. I had to blur out all of the names but one, can you spot me on the front page?

Also, my first interview is up on the Colette blog, {here}! You should go check it out and comment so it's not so lonely. This first interview was with Lady Danburry of dear Provo, and in the near future you can expect to see interviews with: Kate Towers, Dace, Malinka, Janessa Bautista, and Emerson Made.

Now, I have to get back to crafting some last minute Christmas presents!

For Cheltsy (because I love dedicating posts to people)

OK, this first part isn't really for you Chelsey, but I'm pretty positive you will get the part that is meant for you when it comes up.

1. See the fruits of my labor at 826 Seattle! A newspaper called "The Telescope" for the newspaper club. This is the first issue and it went to print today! I basically put the whole thing together, and it was a lot of fun! The PDF is corrupted, so I don't have close-ups yet--but here is a teaser!

2. I keep seeing advertisements for the Rat City Rollergirls, and some roller derby competition, and guess who just picked 826 Seattle to be a sponsor for said event?

30. Who are you?,

I am Kirsten, I am dark, I am light, I am a song unsung, a story untold, an enigma shrouded in a mystery, the loneliest chime in the house, I'm a picker, I'm a grinner, I'm a lover, and I'm a sinner. And I'm going to stop this before I break into song.

Because really I can't tell you who I am, and I think this was not a good question to end on. I am going to make one of these up myself and spread it around, and it will be awesome.

I liked the question from yesterday about something I've learned, because I think you find what you look for. So today I looked, and saw that a tagger has left his mark all along my bus route. The graffiti just says "urself", and I wondered all the way to work what he or she meant my that. It feels like there should be another word in front of that--but who knows, they could have meant something else by it.

I also learned that there is a company called "Graffiti Busters" which was funny enough, but then I found this when I was googling it:

Now I guess I have to find other things to write about. T-minus 10 days!

29. In this past month, what have you learned

Just yesterday, I learned that Poinsettias are not poisonous--urban myth.

(Don't they look good enough to eat?)

Also, apparently there were cats at Jesus' birth. Because at the dinner table my cousins kids were deciding who was going to play what part in the nativity, and one of them said "I am going to be the cat, MEOW!"

Tomorrow is my last day of this, I guess it better be good!

28. A picture of you a year ago, and now, and how you've changed

A year ago, I was spending a lot of time with Jack in her little yellow house with raised beds and a little white picket fence. Such a happy time! Here is me recently:
I think I have grown in a lot of ways, and have learned a lot of things about myself. But let's not dwell on that, because I have a long ways to go in the next year!

27: Why are you doing this 30 day challenge?

Because I am bored and you are interested (words pilfered from Jack). But mostly because I am bored. I am in a new place surrounded by new people, and it has been nice some days to have these questions to think about, sometimes having questions in mind help you to notice little things around you that you wouldn't otherwise see.

Let me tell you about one of my first extensive Seattle exploration down on Fremont. It is pretty close to where I work, and I went there specifically to visit Lamb's Ear Shoes to try on some beautiful Rachel Comey shoes and am now in love with them. But let me tell you, the girl at Lamb's Ear was so nice and helpful! She was right there along side me gushing over the shoes and I could tell, she was a kindred spirit. I loved the experience so much I am tempted to buy the shoes there, even though I found them significantly reduced somewhere else (and that is a big deal for me).

Oh, and speaking of deals, after wandering around Fremont, for what seemed like forever (since I stupidly thought I would be find finding all the places I wanted to go without writing down their addresses) I found Les Amis. Les Amis, has a very Anthro-esque vibe. Just look at it:

And the clothes are just as beautiful: Rebbecca Taylor, Isabel Marant, Steven Alan, tons of cozy knits. And then I found them. Remember this post about classic dressing? Well, I found a pair of the exact same Trina Turk pants-- for 4 times the price! I'm pretty sure I did a little dance in the store.

After Les Amis I wandered around and saw a dozen places I wanted to stop and eat, before hanging with my pal, the huge Lenin Statue who was festively dressed with a Christmas banner and a blue star of David on his head. I was sad I didn't have my "Young Leninist" pin. Overall Fremont, reminded me of of some of my favorite places in Portland--urban, but not crowded.

Hopefully I will get my camera repaired over Christmas, so my future adventures will be more exciting!

25 & 26

Wow, this week has been crazy, but frenzied is my pace of choice though it has led to me being behind once again in my blogging.

25. What you would find in my bag.

Oh, hey let me show you:

This is my record bag that I take to work with me, and here are it's contents.

1. Waterbottle

2. A penny (this is just a small representation of the change found in the bottom of my bag)

3. One bobby pin

4. One York peppermint patty wrapper, from three Sundays ago

5. Sunglasses, just because it's winter doesn't meant he sun doesn't shine.

6. ipod, a bus essential (both so you can drown out other people, and also so you can pretend you aren't listening when you really are).

7. wallet/cigarette case which hold all my cards

8. book of bus tickets

9. In a similar vein, the bazillion bus transfers I never threw away.

10. Moleskin notebook

11. YSL lipgloss, Burt's Bees, and stick foundation for touch ups

12. Jack will not believe this so I had to put both of them in the picture--TWO pens!

13. Keys

14. Anna Karenina (as you can see it's well loved)

15. My draft of the 826 Newspaper that is being printed on Monday!

16. My little red bag, that has my cash and feminine essentials

17. Also, I had knitting, but it is a surprise so I left it out of the picture.

I liked this question, since it got me to clean out my purse.

26. What do you think of your friends?

I think that doing these questions in two's works better because every other question bugs me, like this one.

I like my friends, duh, if I did not like them they wouldn't be my friends. They would be people with whom I am acquainted, but do not have amiable feelings towards.

I think the only other thing I could say is that I am a firm believer that people come into your life for a reason, and I'm just glad that those people in my life had the patience to really get to know me, which I know isn't always easy, because I am so glad to know you. I am excited to new adventures with new and old friends to come.

Morgan Freeman

Today's bus ride was very enjoyable, unlike yesterday's--which was in the pouring rain and my bus was 45 minutes late! The only issue was this creepy guy standing at the bus stop with me (I'm pretty sure he was peeing against the side of the building when I first walked up, but it was dark and I kept my distance). I really like the guy who drives one of the buses I ride, he's a familiar face now so that's nice, but he's also black and looks sort of like Morgan Freeman, he's even got the Morgan Freeman voice so when he says "Roosevelt and 15th" over the speakers it is so, so soothing--at least when I can hear it over my music.

I am so tired, but I guess I will probably catch up on my posts tonight!

23 & 24

23. Something you crave for--less serious answer:

Craisins!

More serious answer: a role. Since I am done with school, and my life is pretty up in the air right now I feel quite a bit lost, like I don't know my place in this adult world yet.

24. Letter to your parents

Dear Mom & Dad,

Love, Kirsten

I don't want to seem flippant, but really this is pretty accurate of how I feel. I don't think there are words to describe how much I love my parents--they have given me everything. But at the same time it is easy to say that here on my blog and it's true, I have awesome parents, but we still fight like crazy.

21 & 22

21. A picture of something that makes you happy

haha this picture makes me really happy in general, but Swedish Fish also make me happy, except when I eat to many of them, because I have sweet teeth!

22. What makes you different from everyone else.

My "freakishly short" legs (as my dad called them the other week).

Also, every tiny little thing that has happened to me up to this point in my life.

See this one seems like a trick question, because I can think of lots of things I do that not a lot of other people do, but I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I am the only person inside my head experiencing my life. So even though a lot of my experience falls into that typical of the arguably homogeneous middle-class white/LDS culture, the way I experience them is entirely my own--although the point of this question was probably just to talk about how unique you are.

The Knight of Wands

It seems that interactive music videos may be the new "it" tool that allows musicians to connect with their audience, and I'm not complaining. A while ago I posted the Html5 music video Arcade Fire put our for their new song "We Used to Wait", and now Au Revoire Simone has release an "interactive comic book" music video for the song "The Knight of Wands" off their newly released record. "Still Night, Still Light". Here's my first attempt:

It's really fun, especially since some of the creatures and objects come to life when you color them. My only complaint against these types of videos is that their is no pause button--so if it needs to buffer you can't stop and let it load. But otherwise I'm sold! I will probably go back and do this again after I finish this, and it left me wanting to here more of the record. Mission Accomplished.

You can watch the video at: theknightofwands.com

ps. I just have to put this one up, because I love Scala & Kolacny Brothers, so haunting.

20. In which Kirsten answers a dumb question

Today's question is someone I could see myself marrying/being with in the future, hmmmm:

James Franco?

An Asian pop star? (Oh hey, Kyuhyun)

I think the only thing I could put down here with any kind of certainty is a puppy.

Only 10 of these left to go!

19. Nicknames I have and why I have them

Kirs, Kirst & Sten--called by friends, because they are all abbreviations of my name

Kirstiebirstie--family nickname

Cracker--in High School my friend and I called each other "cheese" and "cracker", because we went together just like that.

Kirstie-von-bickerbocker--another family name, that only one of my uncles uses and I really don't know why.

Princess Smelly whomper--a childhood nickname from my parents.

18. Plans/dreams/goals you have

First, tonight I had to bake Christmas cookies for enrichment, and I had a very difficult time deciding what to make. I thought long and hard about making sugar cookies because they definitely say Christmas to me, but I was not excited about it. But then I came across this recipe in Sunset Magazine and it is a new favorite. Allow me to introduce you to "Lemon Rosemary Buttons"

Yes, that's right, a lemon rosemary shortbread cookie with lemon icing and a sprig of rosemary on top! They are delicious, really easy to make, and are pretty too! Here is the recipe {Via Sunset} so you can try them! The recipe is part of a story in this month's issue where they take four basic doughs: shortbread, chocolate, sugar cookie, and gingerbread and then give you four twists on each--the result 16 delicious cookie recipes.

Time: 1 1/4 hours. Rich, buttery shortbread gets a subtle, savory twist from the rosemary.

Yield: Makes 32 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Zest of 2 lemons, divided
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 32 small fresh rosemary sprigs

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Put flour, butter, granulated sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the zest of 1 lemon and rosemary. Mix on low speed, then increase to medium and mix until dough is no longer crumbly and just comes together.

2. Form dough into a disk and chill 30 minutes. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough until 1/2 in. thick. Cut dough into circles with a 1 1/2-in. cookie cutter. Reroll scraps as needed. Arrange on baking sheets 1 in. apart and chill 15 minutes.

3. Bake until light golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

4. Mix powdered sugar, lemon juice, and the remaining zest until smooth. Spoon 1/2 tsp. glaze over each cooled cookie, spreading with the back of the spoon; then press 1 rosemary sprig into center of each cookie.

--So, I had this whole awesome post typed up last night, and then blogger logger me out and this was all that remained. It was terrible, and I'm sorry to say that means you only get one goal and that is to someday watch the Northern Lights from here:

17. Someone you would like to switch lives with for a day

This is another one of those vague questions. Does the person have to be living? Would I still have my own consciousness or would my mind be theirs too? Or is this just that I would get to live there lifestyle?

If this were lifestyle I would choose someone really rich and go shopping, if I could be inside there head I would choose someone very smart--but I would want to have my own personal consciousness.

Can you tell I'm bored of this question?

And tired.

And I have a zit on my septum, which if you didn't know is the space between tour nostrils. It's not visible, but it hurts. I just spent ten minutes trying to pop it and ease my pain, but now everyone will just wonder why my septum is so red.

16. Another Picture of yourself

Ok, I am not sure whether this is supposed to be a candid, of the moment sort of picture or just any picture. Since just about all the pictures I have of myself on this computer are on fecalbook, we'll go with candid. Taken only moments ago:

this is where I am now. Back from work, bobby pin in mouth, and lying in bed with my laptop. As you may or may not be able to see, there is bit of collar showing--this whole 50's prepschool boy could be my official uniform of Seattle. I am waiting to watch "The Phantom Tollbooth"--the one from the 70's. I highly recommend it! Ok, I m listening to the song about Milo, and you seriously need to watch this movie if you haven't.

Speaking of highly recommended, I recommend learning practical skills. I have been so glad that I did the editing minor and therefore learned InDesign. Because while some of the other interns are doing all the same jobs as the volunteers, I get to create chapbooks and newsletters that are going to make awesome portfolio pieces, and it's a lot of fun.

Today my bus came almost on time (only 10 minutes late!) which was awesome, and I had this song on repeat--along with some Christmas tunes of course!

15. Put your ipod on shuffle, first 10 songs that play

1. Bug Eyes-Dredg
2. Girl With One Eye-Florence and the Machine
3. Stall Out-Mute Math
4. Run For Me-Amy Milan
5. Jammin'-Bob Marley
6. It Only Takes One Night-Dum Dum Girls
7. When the War Came-The Decemberists
8. Vessels-Freelance Whales
9. Keep Quiet-Hot Chip
10. Imprint After-Toro Y Moi

14. A picture of you and your family

So I already put up the only recent picture I have of my family from graduation, and it didn't say it had to be my entire family so here's one from Thanksgiving!

Also, I am loving this song by Rosie Thomas feat. dear Sufjan,

And this week I was playing this game that is like apples to apples but each person rank things they like, and one of the things I got was "Elvis" which led to a discussion about whether I had seen any of his movies--and I hadn't! So tonight I watched "Viva Las Vegas" with Ann-margret from "Bye bye birdie" and loved it! I particularly liked this number:

11, 12, 13

11. Another Picture(s) of you and your friends

I love and admire all of these people, and am so grateful to have them as friends. Oh, and Happy Birthday Chels!! I have so much I could say about each and every one, but it will suffice to say: thank you for being my friend!

12. How you found out about blogs and why you made one

I don't remember how I found blogs, but it was in college, and I barely wrote on mine for the first year I had it and then all my friends got them.

13. A letter to someone who had hurt you recently.

Dear ______,

Love, Kirsten

WH-iskey

I finally completed my hat! I went through more than one craft-fail to get there, but I love it! Remember in the previous picture how it was super fuzzy? Well it was still really fuzzy after I shaped it and let it dry, but after one short haircut--Voila!

I also spent forever hand sewing the band down, as per the instructions, which makes sense since the band is mainly stockinette and curled up. But the band is also shorter than the hat, so after being frustrated that I couldn't seem to sew it on straight I finally took out the stitches and discovered there is really no need to sew down the band at all.

I used the Whiskey Felted Cap pattern from Laura Irwin's book "Boutique Knits" which I have already talked about. I copied her colors because I think they are great, but I have some great ideas on different colors and am excited to make some more now that I have the kinks worked out! I highly recommend this pattern, felting is really fun, and I know I will wear this hat a lot!

10. Epic Snow Day Fail

Dear King County Metro,

I have two things to say. First, is that Martin Luther King Jr. on you logo? That confuses me? I know this is "King" county, but I was not aware of any ties between the two. Okay, Wikipedia just informed me that the county was originally named for one of it's founders, William R. King, but then a black democrat and white republican got together and decided it should be named after MLKj in the 80s. Interesting.

But my second issue is the more pressing matter that I have received at least 200 text messages from you today. I know it's snowing and all, but was that really necessary? Eventually I decided to turn off my phone and occupy my time with things that did not involve public transportation.

You are lucky that I have unlimited texts,

Kirsten

OK, that's a couple days early for my letter to someone who's hurt you recently, but really 200?

Today I am supposed to tell you about songs that I listen to when I am: sad, bored, hyped, and mad.

Four strange categories, especially hyped, but I'll do my best (these are all hyperlinked to the song).

Sad

Bored

(I don't consider the fact that i put this under bored to be a bad thing, I love this song--especially when I sing it to Bridget and we change the words so the song is about sisters.)

Hyped

Mad

(Really, this is a prime example of one that needs to be more specific, because if I were sad-mad I would be listening to something folksy and completely different. I still had a hard time picking a song, but if I were a more aggressive type of mad, I would definitely be listening to something loud--oh and if I'm talking mental illness mad...the possibilities are endless.)

Also, I have hit a creative goldmine today, and am excited about all my ideas--but you'll have to wait for those!

9.

Earlier today, I couldn't think of something I was proud of that happened in the last month--but now I have it! Remember the hat I talked about here?Behold, right out of the wash, my newly felted hat sans elf point!

Here let me give you a 360 view:

Readers please take note:

1. Okay, that was not quite 360

2. Yes, the hat is super fuzzy right now, it will be less so once it's done drying, etc.

3. Check out my brows, I haven't touched a hair on them for over a month and I love it!

Recently I have also felt like making anything and everything I talk about my raison d'etre (or for you non french speakers--my reason for being).

Making hats may just be one of my raison d'etres.

This is the Laura Irwin "Whiskey Hat" and I will post pictures when I am completely done!

Two Much!

So the video to "Too Much" by Sufjan Stevens that I referenced earlier just came out. He didn't use all of the video in his live performance and I think I still prefer his live performance, but it's still cool.

But, it also reminded me of this video, which is about how most people dance: 1. Alone and 2. In their underwear, and 3. Not many people look beautiful while doing this dancing, but somehow this video is.

And since I'm on a video streak I might as well share this Decemberists video of their new single (which I lOVE). I emailed it to my Dad who then emailed Nate Query, the bass player of the band with all sorts of questions about the bass he plays, and Nate emailed him back. Those Decemberists are so polite! (ok I can't embed the vid, but here's the song!)

I think this is my favorite song of the bunch.

Showering

1. Doesn't this look like a cool shower?

2. On the Lucky magazine website there is a list of 100 things the Lucky editors have learned. This list of 100 was broken down into different categories, like shoes, handbags, etc. One of the beauty categories talked about the best thing you could do to improve shiny, healthy look of your hair was to end your shower by rinsing your hair in cold water. I decided to try it out, and tonight as I felt the frigid water tumble down my back I felt sure that someone over at the Lucky office was laughing hysterically at my expense.

Jack! Do not read this!

But to all my eager readers, I would like to share some Thanksgiving monstrosities that I have discovered, and may be trying sometime in the not-so-distant future.

1. What kind of cake does this look like?

{via Chow}

My dad and I both thought this was carrot cake at first. What is it really? Two layers of turkey, with a layer of stuffing and cranberry sauce in the middle. The frosting is really mashed potatoes and the cake it topped with sweet potato and marshmallow. You can find the recipe by clicking on the link under the picture!

2. Appropriately dubbed, "The turducken of desserts". I present the "Cherpumple"

{Via WSJ}

A cherry, apple, and pumpkin pie baked into a three layer cake. As you can see they also use complimentary cake flavors on each layer--pairing the pumpkin with spice cake, apple with yellow, and cherry with plain vanilla. I'm trying to convince my mom to make this one.

Neither of these options could be as bad as the Thanksgiving we had the seasonal Jones soda. Have you ever tried gravy flavored soda? It isn't good, I can tell you that!