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!

8. Short Term Goals For the Month

1. Get a seasonal job.

2. At least feign some interest in getting to know people from the Singles Ward here.

3. Hmmm, the month is almost over, but I would like to read the next four books on my list!

My Elf Hat

I finally rectified the craft fail of a knitted hat (it involved me completely unraveling and re-knitting). This hat is going to be felted and this is what it looks like pre-felting:

I'm not sure if I should be worried that it's pointy like an elf hat on top! Hopefully it will be fine after I wash it--wish me luck!

7. Someone who has had the biggest impact on your life

Ok, all the answers I have to this question seem super cheesy. But honestly,

at this point in my life it would have to be these two. Although I may not always get along with them I am grateful for good parents who taught (and continue to teach) me all of the most important things in life.

6. Favorite superhero and why

Batman, because he is a superhero that (granted he does have cool gadget) does it all on his own. No superpowers needed.

Day 4--a picture of somewhere you've been.

I'm going to take this quite literally and say--King Country Metro.

Day 3 & 4

Whoops, I was busy yesterday and missed my blog post, so now you get to enjoy two!

Day 3: A picture of me and my friends

This was a hard one, since I decided only to choose one picture. So I tried to go for the picture with the most of my friends in it instead of the best looking. I also really like this picture because it is from the summer we first mer (except for me and Kait, but we weren't really good friends before so I think it still counts). Allow me to present, my yogurlzzz:

These girls will forever be a huge part of college memories (at least the good ones), and I can't speak highly enough of each of them. We were all on the same floor the summer of our freshman year, and have been friends ever since. I think that in order to have a really good group of friends you have to be diverse--and that is definitely true of this group, I feel like I have individual relationships with each of them that are different, but we have so much fun together too! I'll start on the left.

Me!

Candy: When I first met Candy I think I mostly liked her because she is really funny and friendly, but as I've gotten to know her we have come to share our love of clothing, interior design, and all things artistic--as well of our mutual love of being the first to hear about things! I have lots of good memories of just chatting with her at the Candy Counter, making crepe paper flowers on her floor, and going to Disneyland!

Jack: What can I say about Jack, except that she is truly a kindred spirit and that I am eternally grateful that I can call her my friend. When I first met her I thought that she was probably rich, snobby, and too cool for school--and for me. I even remember pretending not to see her because I was sure she wasn't going to say "hi" to me only to look over and see her waving like she was landing a plane. Jack is smart, exuberance, and so full of life. I spent a lot of time with her over the last year in her cute little yellow house, and I will always remember it.

Kait: The only person I knew going into BYU, and we weren't even very good friends. But I am so glad that I was able to get to know her. Kait is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, and has helped me out a lot. She's always late for everything, but she always has time for others and is a great listener.

Lauren: My first and maybe favorite roommate. I wish I saw her more these days. She is one of the funniest people I know. She was also someone I wasn't sure I would be friends with when I first met her, but I feel like no matter how long it's been since I've seen her I feel so comfortable and close with her.

I love all these people, and all my other friends out there too!

Day 4: A habit I wish I didn't have.

I think my life would be a whole lot better and I would be a much awesomer person if I stopped procrastinating.

Ps. Biggest craft fail ever today. I was almost done with a hat when I realized the whole thing was twisted :(

Day 2 (Or the meaning behind my blog name)

{via piyushaggarwa}

I meant to do a post about this when I first started this blog but never did. No one has every asked me why url is tired mirrors (I'm going to talk about this since the title at the top f the page is always some form or my name) but I"m going to tell you the story.

I was writing a poem where I used "tired" to describe a room. I really liked the way it sounded, and the idea of applying that adjective to something inanimate. I am also fascinated by the mind and the fact that nothing is really objective. In writing you learn about how the mind remembers bits and pieces and creates narrative out of those, but it's a lot of smoke and mirrors. A lot of things are left out in our memories. As Sufjan says: "words are futile devices". I can never completely share myself with you--because in the mirror certain things are reflected and others are lost. But this is my attempt to share who I am, and what is bouncing around in the mirrors in my mind.

Day 1

I am stealing this 30-day thing my friend Jack is doing. So you get to look forward to blogs from me (hopefully) everyday. And hopefully it will motivate me to write about some of the other adventures I have been having.

Today you get a picture of me and 15 interesting facts about myself:

1. This picture (from yesterday, when I meant to do this) highlights how my style has (d)evolved into me dressing like a schoolboy almost everyday. You can't see too well, but I am wearing a long-sleeved white polo under a grey lambswool sweater and a black peacoat.

2. Guess how much this top-half ensemble set me back? (answer: $0.00)

3. If my cheeks and ears look awfully pink in this picture, that is because I had just returned from an equestrian fashion show--in a barn. It was extremely cold!

4. At the barn fashion show I learned that you aren't supposed to be nice to barn cats--they are there as cold blooded mouse killers.

5. The interesting fact I always share during get-to-know-you games is that I used to live down the street from Bill Nye the Science Guy (but really he lived down the street from the church, that just seems more complicated to explain somehow).

6. I love to crafty things like: sewing, embroidery, knitting etc. Right now I am especially into knitting because there is a yarn shop down the street from my internship. It was sad because I ran out of yarn this weekend--so this is what my hat is going to look like until Monday when I can get new yarn!

7. Right now I am really into watching Freaks & Geeks. James Franco, mmmmm.

8. I'm also into watching this:

{Via Wanderlust}

9. I make really weird noises in my sleep. I have been told this my a few reliable sources. Mostly I just make moaning noises and make noises like the girl from the Grudge, but sometimes somewhat coherent words come out, words like "summer beans".

10. Speaking of grudges, I have been apparently double-whammied in the grudge holding department through both my parents, which kind of leads into a lot of other things. But basically I love my friends, and really care about people a lot in general--I can be very patient and it takes a lot for me to lose that, but when I do you better watch out. As, my friend once told me, "I've never seen you kick back, but I know that if you did it would be in high heels."

11. I'm staying with my cousins right now, and just yesterday my uncle called me a hermit. Part of that is because I'm new here and don't know anyone yet. But I am also a lot shyer than a lot of people probably think. Most people seem to think I am really disinterested, because I try really hard not to show it, but I really have social anxiety.

12. I think I have the best family.

13. I HATE cilantro.

14. As I get older I think I am getting more sentimental.

15. I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up.

classic dressing

last week I went shopping for working girl pants here in Bellevue with my mother. After seeing all the ladies of Belle Square all dressed up in their furs ready to go shopping we stopped at J. Crew where my mom declared that short skirts "work" on me and I bought one.

Then we went to another store where she tried to force oodles of short skirts on me. I also tried on some Michael Kors pants that my mom announced made my butt look good--but I just stood there and started to describe the pants I wanted.

I explained how "classic dressing" for women is very in and that I wanted some pleated front pants. My mom gave me a confused look and exclaimed,

"You mean like the ones Dad wears?"

"Well yeah, kind of."

"oh, ok."

Here is Garance Dore in the pants I'm describing {via The Sartorialist which I am too lazy to link!}

She changed her mind when she saw me in them, but you should have seen the appalled look on her face when we had this conversation. It was in itself, classic.

Weird Science

This is getting out of hand.

And "this" refers to two things.

1. The fact that I have about 3 posts that I have recently drafted, but failed to finish...I will finish them tomorrow...(OK, maybe tonight).

2. My insane dreams all of this week! (Somewhat disgusting picture has been removed courtesy of Jack). I have literally had a crazy dream every night this week, and while some are of a sensitive nature and cannot be shared here (ask me about them in person and I might tell you), here are some of the highlights:

11/1/10

I dreamt that my mother convinced me to get this piercing (but with just metal ends) in my arm

Ow. Then it was night so we went to sleep, but I woke up in the middle of the night and the piercing had come out of my arm. Then I woke up my mom and started freaking out about it.

11/5/10

I was at an old friend's wedding (although she's already married and was marrying her current husband) and my friends band was playing. My sister and my cousins were there. After the party we walked back to the house we were staying, but we had to walk through a cemetery to get there. We get to the old house and one of my cousins shows me this old box he picked up in the cemetery. He opens it up and shows us that there's a skull inside. We're in the bathroom and all these starfish start popping up around the sink.

Some other strange (but not scary) thinks happen and I intuitively know that bad things will continue to happen as long as the skull is there. We're on the second floor and I run to the window ledge and swan-dive out.

On my way down I realize that I'm in Denmark. I dive into a lake then climb out and walk around Denmark.

Fin.

Adventure time

I have a post to finish about the Sufjan Stevens concert, but here's the summary: Sufjan Stevens is extremely talented, attractive, and funny (in that order) and that he can even make auto tune cool--which reminded me of this:

My adventure has begun, and as I prepared to leave I had the reoccurring thought: "I wish I had a suckier family so I wouldn't miss them so much." I mean I will be staying with family up here and I"m sure that will be fun too--but what am I going to do without the Bridget and Martha comedy hour, and daily boxing matches as well as my father--the ancient hipster and my surprisingly funny mother.

UPDATE: OF COURSE I MISS MY NOT-SO-SUCKY FAMILY!!

Rodents

Remember {this} post from back in June, about my middle school paper? And how I never uploaded the cover page--well here it is! I added it on the original post if you didn't get to read it as well. You can barely see the knees in the top corners that are being leeched--that's why there is blood dripping down the side.

This also reminded me of a book I recently purchased:

It's really cute, with watercolor pictures and descriptions of all the different rodents. I bought it from one of my favorite stores in Portland--Flutter on Mississippi ave. I think that if I was to choose a store to describe me it might be this one because it's so eclectic. But I could be biased because I was just there when their Halloween display was up so it seemed more me.

There website is appropriately called {flutterclutter} since as you can see the shop is packed with all sorts of things. I heard Flutter described as being akin to the best curated estate sale you will ever go to. There are all sort of books, candle, old fashioned games and toys, old stamps, antique furniture, and vintage clothing. There are even live birds fluttering around in cage. I could browse for hours, and it's a great place to look for gifts!