Balloon Festival

The city of Driggs, about half an hour from Jackson, WY and about 50 minutes from Rexburg where I live had a balloon festival the 4th of July. My roommate Dorthy mentioned that she wanted to go, and I thought it would be a fun activity to go to... the only downside was we had to leave around 4am to get there on time.
Our intentions for going were just to see the balloons but soon we were recruited to be the balloon chasing crew for a man named Greg Ashton. At first we were a little concerned over the fact we knew nothing about hot air balloons except that they land in crazy spots and that our job was to follow the balloon and pick it up where it landed. Greg handed us the keys to his car and some gloves... he was really trusting.

There were about 12 balloons there that day, not as many as some balloon shows but enough to make it spectacular. Bryce and Dorthy held the balloon open so it could fill with air, while I had the all important job of watching, taking pictures, and turning off the fan. It was a cool process to watch. Then we carried the balloon further into the field for lift off and bid adieu to our balloon. We hopped into the suburban and followed them.

Greg landed in some family's front yard. Thankfully the kids were uber excited to have a hot air balloon land in their front yard, it doesn't happen that often. The whole neighborhood helped us back the balloon up and we drove back to the fairgrounds where we were treated to a "Wine and Cheese" meet and greet, where we had some cider and delicious cheese snacks.

It was a super fun experience. I loved how fun it was to actually be apart of the show instead of just watching. It made it all the more fun.

After we went to Victor, ID and watched a parade. It was full of candy and I thought it was good. My Design and Color teacher drove his old restored truck and it helped me to finally remember his name... Tim Tanner. I couldn't remember it for the life of me.

We visited a antique show and looked at some nice stuff. I think I want to collect porcelain dog figurines. I already have one.

We went to Idaho Falls for the Fireworks. We went with our friends Johnny & Danielle, and Andy & Holly and a few others. The wait was fun and I enjoyed socializing. It was a nice end to our extended weekend.

We also went to American Falls to visit Bryce's cousins Pat and Marshall. It was a fun visit and I loved sleeping in and just relaxing. We had some good food and great conversation.

Pigeon

Today I saw a skinny pigeon I think it was a baby. It scared me at first it was so weird looking. I looked at it for a good thirty seconds to figure out what it was. For some reason it never occurred to me that pigeons laid eggs. I know that would be completely natural. But I never have heard of a pigeon nest before.

I wonder what their eggs look like... Sewer Green? Smog Black? Brick Red? Perhaps they are covered in poo... just because those birds poo everywhere... why not on their own young.

I didn't see a baby monkey. I just thought it hugging the pigeon was cute.

Graduation

The end is coming... a lot faster then I would like. In the next few weeks I will finish up my education at BYU-Idaho and move on into the wide world of commerce. I don't know what I am going to do sadly. I thought it would all get easier once I got out of school for some reason.

I'm graduating with no job, no money, and no career prospects. Ugh.

I am realizing quickly that I need like three more years of experience before I can get any job at all. My work is improving, which gives me hope, but until I have a job secured I am sure I'll live in a constant state of anxiety. I have worked my butt off at school and can't figure out where I went wrong. I always put in insane hours to make my designs a step above, but I think I missed the how to get a job part.

The economy is a little in the dumps and a lot of design firms are downsizing. They don't have the work for the lowly junior designers to do because they have fewer contracts. I am debating going on to school, but as all my teachers have said, "Graphic Designers who go to grad school... go because they don't know how to design." So... if I did go back to school I have no idea what I would study.

I've been thinking of starting my own small business and have brainstorming ideas. Nothing seems like it would make money and finding investors would scare me to death. I'm not a bold individual.

So, with the end coming, and Idaho disappearing from my sights I am in a tight spot and am not looking forward to the future.

San Francisco-Picture log

I went to San Francisco for my Art Travel class. We visited a variety of museums and got to see some famous works of art. It was a super fun trip. I loved getting out of Rexburg and seeing the world again.

We had some cool adventures. I got to ride on a fishing boat through the bay and we traveled on, and under the Golden Gate Bridge. I ate some delicious clam chowder in a sourdough bowl! We toured China Town and saw some cool sites. I bought some souvenirs, one was an engraved stamp of an ox, another the first sword in the world...

We made a stop in Reno and ate dinner at a Casino.

I also lost my cell phone at the Muir Woods. Thankfully someone found and turned it in. But now I can't call anyone because I am waiting for it to arrive. My roommate gave me her old phone and I got a new SIM card so at least I can be contacted.

Hidden Treasures

My roommate made a magical discovery underneath our hearth. Little did I know that underneath all of the ledges in the Greenbriar Apt. living rooms is a signature wall!
It was fun exploring and reading. There are names on it that date back to the early 90's.

I had to include myself so I drew a little Cloud 9 and wrote our apartment slogan, "Elitism, Zionism." We know they are oxymorons but within Cloud 9 is Zionism... and for anyone on the outside... sadly it is just Elitism.

A trip to Mesa Falls... kinda

We (Bryce and I) decided to take a weekend trip to Mesa Falls in Idaho. It isn't to far from Yellowstone. Sadly we started our trip with hope and were met with fear, anxiety, flesh wounds, and no waterfall. Basically our map sucked and didn't have the right directions.

At one point we were driving along this dirt road in my Buick century and I thought we were going to scratch up the sides and get stuck in the mud. I was thrilled when Bryce finally found a place to turn around. If we were in my brother Jon's jeep it would be a different story... but my little Grandma car couldn't take it, and to quote Pride and Prejudice... "Neither could my poor nerves."

We decided to stop along the way and explore near the river... on a safer road. After an hour of searching for the right turn off we gave up. This is where we ended up:

Bjorn on a rock

I was picking flowers when the guys decided to pee in the river. So out of courtesy I turned my back and refused to look down... I was on the hill. Well bad judgement because I slipped and slide down some rocks. Cutting my hand. Thus a flesh wound.

I like this picture. It's like a Madonna from a catholic painting.

Bryce and I cheesing it up for the camera! I love this picture of us.

Washington DC

So I am going to start my post by making excuses as to why I haven't been updating... to put it simply I haven't had anytime because I was having too much fun. So I'll start with the beginning of my travels.
BYU-Idaho offers a internship expedition to major cities in the US. On of the cities was Washington DC. I had never been there so I thought, Why not? It was $200 for air and boarding and it was worth every penny.
I was amazed at how clean Washington was. I was expecting typical big city crime, graffiti and homelessness... but Washington can sure put on an act if those things exsist. It was easy to get around and I felt comfortable traveling alone. The one plus of the city is everything is free! All the national monuments and museums are free to enter and it was amazing the collections they had.

Jefferson Memorial
Washington Monument

Union Square: Christopher Columbus Statue

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

I would love to travel here again. It was so fun... but next time, I'm bringing friends.

Crab Rangoon

Look Mom I can cook!
Honestly Bryce is the better cook in the relationship. I feel like I am constantly making him things that are frozen and come from a bag. Poor guy. I have to assure him over in over that I can cook for my own sanity!
I absolutly love Crab Rangoon. I buy it every time I go to my favorite Thai food place her in Rexburg. I thought I would try and make some of my own delicious bites of heaven, not to be confused with the snowballs. So Bryce and I found a recipe and fried them up. They were rediculously easy to make, so if you are ever in the mood! Make a batch.



Crab Rangoon Recipe
50 -60 individual appitizers

Ingredients
1/4 cup sour cream
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temp
3/4-1 cup crabmeat, picked
2 green onions, sliced thin
1 clove garlic, minced (large clove)
1 teaspoon ginger, minced
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
wonton wrapper
oil (for frying)

Directions
1. Whip together the sour cream, cream cheese and soy sauce and sugar until smooth.
2. Fold in remaining ingredients (except wrappers) Heat oil to med-high and you want it around 1 1/2-2 inches deep.
3. Place a small bowl of water on your work surface and lay out 6 wrappers, and place around 1 1 1/2 t's in the center of each wrapper.
4. Moisten edges, bring up corners and pinch together, along with sides-you dont want filling to float away.
5. Place all 6 in the hot oil and repeat process.
6. By the time you have the next set of 6 ready to crimp it should be time to turn the rangoon's.
7. You want them a nice golden color.
8. When done remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towells.
9. Repeat until done.
10. Try to share.

Swissmiss

Today we celebrated Swissmiss, a non-traditional festive occasion to commemorate all things Swiss. To celebrate we made fondue, from Scratch! I used a crockpot instead of a Fondue pot since we don't own one.

The Recipe:

12 oz. Chicken Broth, (as a replacement for beer)
8 oz. Sharp Chedder Cheese
8 oz. Aged Swiss Cheese
1 tsp. of Salt
1/4 Tsp Pepper
2 tbls. Flour
Dash of Garlic Powder

Shred all the cheese and throw everything into the crockpot. Let it simmer for about and hour and a half. Stir often.

I used slices of polish sausages and sourdough bread to dip in the Fondue. It was delicious! The Chicken Broth was a delicious alternative for Beer. Which we felt guilty buying.

I also made Chicken Divan. Which is a great meal that I always requested as a child. The boys really like this. It makes for a simple and yummy casserole.

Ingrediants:

3 lbs Boneless Chicken Breast
2 cans Cream of Chicken
1 cup Mayonaise
2 TBLS. Curry Powder
1 Bag of Frozen Broccoli
2 cups shredded Chedder Cheese
1 cup bread crumbs

Heat oven to 375. Mix Cream of Chicken, Mayo, and Curry together to create sauce. Cube and place thawed chicken into a 9x13 oven safe pan. Mix Sauce, Chicken and Broccoli together in pan. When mixed, place a layer of cheese and bread crumbs on top for "crust." Bake for 1 hour. Then eat!

For more wonderful recipes check out my Mom's cooking blog!

Tribute

This isn't the worst fight scene in the world. It is only a tribute.

Greenbrier had a talent show. We thought we were talented enough to participate. My roommate Melissa is the Narrator, Megan is Capt. Kirk, and I am the lizard. We based it off of our love for a Youtube video of the same title, minus the tribute... because we tributed the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1eFdUSnaQM

THIS TAKES THE CAKE

lol. I love my bunny cake. I forgot to get a shot of the snowball tail... but you get the picture.

We had our weekly Sunday dinner with another apartment. This week we invited our FHE brothers. We had taco salad. It was probably our best dinner yet. The guys stayed for a few hours and we played twister, I went and talked on the phone for a half hour, came back and then we had the cake. They thought it was kinda creepy. Especially when I divided the head in half.

I am pretty proud of myself.

Weekend

I decided to make a bunny cake for myself. I'll tell you how it goes.

Life has been flying by for me. It's like I haven't had a break in a while. Before I know it the weekend is here again. Then the weekend flies by and it is school again. I think what I need is a day when I sleep in. Like until noon. Who knows when that will happen.

Snowball Effect

[ Snowball effect ] : is a figurative term for a process that starts from an initial state of small significance and builds upon itself, becoming larger (graver, more serious), and perhaps potentially dangerous or disastrous (a vicious circle, a "spiral of decline"), though it might be beneficial instead (a virtuous circle).

[ Snowball effect on Kristen] : is a "figurative" term for a process that starts from an initial state of smallness and builds upon herself becoming larger.

Let me begin with Walmart is evil. Why on earth would they tempt me with the dessert of the Gods all wrapped up in a package of 12 for $3? Serious. The temptation was too much. Now I have eaten 6 in two days. My innards are screaming for more. They can't help it. The thought of delicious cream filled chocolate cake, enveloped in a marshmallow shell and topped with pink coconut. Heavenly.

I am grateful my wonderful, fabulous and awesome roommate Natalie bought some too. I'm at least not alone in this conquest of deliciousness.

Half my family is utterly disgusted by coconut. It makes me sad. I see no reason why they can't enjoy it. As a child I had to listen to complaint after complaint of "why someone would put coconut in dessert?" I was the child in the baking cabinet eating the shredded coconut by the handful. I loved it.

My love of pink snowballs began at an early age. My Mom used to take us to the Hostess/Wonderbread discount store. A reward for us acting properly was that she would allow us to choose one hostess snack to take home. I loved the Hostess Store. It has so many good memories. I can picture it now. The wall of bread, the cart section as you enter the store.... and the metal crates, filled with pies, ho hos, cupcakes, and my beloved Snowballs. I always got the snowballs, without fail. I couldn't wait till my Mom "finally" approached the cash register. The woman would slide my snowballs across the scanner and I would be in heaven.

My first recollection of pink snowballs occurred when I was about 4 or 5. My Mom, who is very creative, had made this birthday cake. It was a pink bunny with green grass around it... and a pink snowball tail. That was my first taste, and that is what has driven my love of snowballs my whole life. Whenever I look at snowballs I remember that cake. How delicious it was and how that tail was a changing point in my life.

I think I'm addicted.

Silly Me

Background to my odd situation: Yesterday Grandpa Olsen came to visit with Marva. They had been in Island Park visiting with my Uncle Alan. I saw my Aunt at the career fair and knew that Grandpa and Marva were probably in town also so I expected a call from them that day. Low and behold while I was at work in the computer lab my cell phone started buzzing. The Lab was unusually busy that day so I had to wait to call them back.

We arranged to go out to dinner before my night class. Craigos and Pizza were on my mind... so we went there. Well as we were walking into Craigos I looked at the sign. Memphis. I didn't see the words, I saw the typeface. The angled t, the slab serif, the geometric modernist design. The A with a serif on the point.

A weird thing has occured in my life recently. I have become obsessed with type. Fonts, fonts fonts. 26 letters, glyphs, punctuation. It fasinates me.

Well we sat down and enjoyed a nice meal... me thinking about how much I was in love with Memphis.

Grandpa and Marva invited me to go hot tubbing that night and I met them after my class and their concert. Well I showed up after the concert and then they invited me to stay the night at the hotel with them. It was fun. I miss having a huge bed to stretch out in. Plus I couldn't pass up spending more time with them or a free breakfast in the morning.

Well I enjoyed my bagel, muffin, cereal, orange juice, and danish... then they drove me to work. The funny thing about my job is that I don't do much. I sit around most the time running updates on the computer and telling people they can't do something because they are in the wrong program or they haven't even selected the right layer. But at 7 in the morning there is no one. So I sit alone. I have a lot of time to browse the internet. Well as I sat there thinking of things to look up I remembered... Memphis.

I started looking up the price to purchase Memphis. $135.99. That is what stands in my way of true font love. I then sat reasoning that if I was willing to spend that much for one type face... why not $99 more for Helvetica.

Why all of a sudden have I become totally irrational? 26 letters for $135.99. That is $5 something per letter. I need help. I do not need Memphis... even if he is beautiful.

Tribute to 2008

I thought I would make a video of my life this past year. I've had some amazing changes and firsts. I had my first kiss, I know it took long enough. I also came home from the mission.

It was a difficult transition for me. I spent many a night dreaming of returning to Norway, crying over not being there and wishing I never left. The dreams stopped about four months ago. I think the last one was the worst. It ended with me dreaming of driving down the freeway in Bodo Norway, looking at the people in the car telling them, "I was so happy here." I woke up crying. I am finally leaving that stage in my life and trying to find happiness where I am.

Returning to school was a challenge at first. I had to drop a class because I couldn't take the work load. It was the first time I took under 16 credits. I was physically and mentally exhausted. I didn't have time for church activities, and it was the first time I never attended even one ward social in a semester. I loved living with Meagan. It was good to have a close friend I could trust in and just dance and be myself with. She is a spiritual giant, I love going to the temple with her and listening to her philosophy of life. She is so deep.

My internship was great this summer. I learned a whole bunch about business, design, and how to work with clients and senior designers. I think it gave me a taste of what to expect when I graduate. (Which is in July!)

I finally started dating this year. I had gone on a handful of dates before my mission. Dating has proven to be difficult for me. I am super sensitive and have anxiety about how others think. I really want to find someone to love, but I still have a lot of growing to do first. I just need to settle on a boy and not get scared when they come after me.

My family has been good to me this year. They are still my biggest source of anxiety, but that's what family is for. You can get frustrated enough to forgive them. My Mom got me a cat. It stressed me out at first, but I love the little thing. I really wish I had her with me. Both my Mom and the Cat. :)

This next year hopefully will be better then the last. I hope there are some more positive changes in my life

My New Apartment

So I am pretty impressed with my new apartment's decorations. I worked really hard to make them look semi nice. I am living in Greenbriar Apts, which is a weird coincidence because I grew up on Greenbriar Dr. They are pretty ghetto, but have been remodeled in the last four years so they are presentable. Plus they got new couches and flooring. New couches up the condition of student housing by like 50%. I made half the stuff on the shelf myself. I am quite proud of it.

Most of the decorations were purchased at Ikea. I love Ikea. I would live there if I could. They have enough model rooms I probably could... and eat meatballs all day at the cafe. That would be the life.

This is my room. I sleep on the left. My Mom sewed my quilt for me three Christmas's ago. It is a cute safari theme. I love the colors on it. I put one of my dad's posters he got on his mission on my wall. I hope he doesn't mind. They've been sitting in the garage for years and I think they look retro and cool.

This is my room-roommate. Her name is Melissa Ewing. She is wicked awesome. I couldn't ask for anyone better. She is 19 and from Orem. I think we are going to have a great semester.

I am like 90% sure I got my old job at the Spori Computer lab back. Which is fantastic. I called the guy today and he was like, I'll talk with you in a week, but I remember you were a good lab assistant and that means you pretty much can get the job back. Wahoo.