something sad. something important.

Play this and read on:  

Get More: Iron & Wine, Flightless Bird, American Mouth (Wedding Version), Flightless Bird, American Mouth (Wedding Version), Free Music Videos

Ever hear a song you don't really know what the lyrics mean or what the song is about but it just evokes this crazy emotion from you?  Iron and Wine's  Flightless Bird...I really don't know what this song is about and it doesn't really matter at this point. (there are boat loads of discussion boards on the internet about this meaning of this song) It could be the most romantic happiest song in the world but to me this song brings up nothing but sadness in my heart.  His voice sounds venerable and alone but there is a sense of hope within this song.  As I listen to this song memories, events, emotions push forward in my mind:   

parents divorce

first taste of unrequited love

Bekah died.  Catherine and I were going to see a movie with her that night after a year of being away at college.

Lara died.  She gave birth to her second child only a few months before that day. 

  

laid off 

There are 24,5620(give or take a lil)amazing wonderful memories and events that have happened to me during those years that have shaped me to the person I love and have become today.  However it is these events that have also made me the person I know and it is important to recognize those too. 

2012. thank you for showing up

15 min (it's my blog and I'm going to start sentences improperly) to midnight December 31st I put on my winter boots over my sweatpants, grabbed my cough drops and headed out into the snow filled streets that I have longed for all year.

As I stomped through the snow I looked around and found I had the place all to myself.  It was not cold enough for the snow to stay in place instead it jumped off the branches onto my bare head...I loved it.  It was as if the snow itself was a reflection of 2011, unpredictable, and a mess.  I saw couples and friends in windows laughing and cheering "happy new year"  I smiled to myself and just as I was about to head home the sky filled with the booming sounds of fireworks.  

I looked up and saw nothing. 

I walked further towards downtown and knew I wouldn't be able to see them through the clouds but just knowing they were happening and hearing it made me smile to myself.  I can not see what 2012 holds for me but knowing that it is here makes me really happy.  

May 2012 bring new memories and experiences to you.  

-Kirsten   

Dan & Pat's Ladies

For Black Keys fans/bored faithful readers: 

If you listen to their songs there are a slew of them written over time about crazy women with titles to match.  

When love songs are written a question may come up in your head as to who this song is about.  However when it is a song about a crazy gal/guy the question of who the hell is this person? arises.  
This got me to thinking what type of girls are Dan and Patrick dating? 

A Collection of Crazies I think Dan and Patrick Have Dated

By Song Title

No Trust 

A girl who left for her personal banker..who plays in a cover band on the weekends

So He Won't Break

A girl who texted "we need to break up and I took the dog" 
and then text "hey wanna get a drink" 3 days later

Run Me Down

A girl went to go pick up taco bell for her guy and made out with the cashier instead.

Never Gonna Give You Up

A girl who was moron for treating guys like crap


Ten Cent Pistol
A girl with a gun.  Kinda your falt on this one boys

Psychotic Girl

A girl who was psychotic

Next Girl

A girl who ate only salads and talked about her daddy issues at every opportun moment

If some girl reads this and ends up to be one of these ladies:

1) Did you get to try on Pat's glasses?

2)How does it feel to be immortalized?

3) What love song of theirs is written about you :D ? 

  

courage the cowardly kirsten

Cowardly seems like a harsh word but it fits.

Fear is in everyone (topical:especially those Twighlight charters.  Even if you haven't seen those movies in the previews everyone looks nervous and shaky 24/7)

There are different degrees of fears, these are mine:

LITTLE

It's Always Sunny not being funny anymore this season

the future for polar bears

not getting enough laugh lines on my face as i age

killer whales

LOT 

But the one that tops it all is not having the courage to say what is on my mind.  Passive agressive Minnesotans has only coddled this horrible trate.  Way too often have strangers, and even friends, said something where I wanted to come out and say what was on my mind but it always escaped me before I could just come out with it.  When that happens, that lost emotion trickles into others such as sadness, bitterness,and resentment.  
I first thought about this visually, it was this post actually that was the later of the two.
  

I referenced Twighlight and talked about my misplaced emotions on a public forem, guess everyone has some amount of courage in them.
side bar:

While I have you I encourage you not to give up on 
It's Always Sunny (...well till this season is done at least) 

with a little help from my friends

The only way I am getting by right now is with a little help from my friends. Everyone already knows this past year has been the hardest one for me thus far.  Two months ago with still no permeant job and after my lease was up the ladies of Badlass Manor (yes they named their house) welcomed me into their home happily without any hesitation (or maybe I just ignored it).  

It is because of their generosity I am able to still live in Minneapolis and it seems with recent developments in my life that the possibility of me moving out and living on my own is happening! (hopefully this March, stay tuned)     

The ladies at Badlass Manor named the loft Kirsten's Kubby

(they think they are sooo kute)

To list all of my friends and how they have helped me this past year would be the longest blog post you will ever read.    

I don't know how I became this lucky and blessed but I am.

thank you friends

-kirsten

nf gets on my nerves

It has been months sense I have had a freelance gig so I packed up my backpack and biked over to a local coffee house itching to design something...anything.  I sat down with a lemon ice tea clueless as to what to do exactly and then remembered this month is the NF Fundraiser Walk. 

As I mentioned in a previous post my little cousin Stone has Neurofibromatosis (NF).  His father Aron so cleverly came up with a slogan "NF Gets On My Nerves"  The MN NF board clearly was iffy on using this as it might cause some controversy but I found it to be a great way to make this all a little more light hearted and with a little bit of humor create some hope in finding a cure for NF.  

The org poster is a bright red...when this uploaded it turned into a depressing maroon; but I wanted to explore type and push the viewer to take notice and to learn more about NF.

Till there's a cure.  

14,030 things to be happy about

A former friend of mine recently faced with the statement of my life being full of pathetic-ness and I took a step back and only found my life full of explorations,  happiness and transitions which is something completely different in my eyes.  While a different friend of mine out of the blue mailed me a book titled 14,000 Things To Be Happy About.  These last few days I have come up with a few more and have realized that my life great as is.  


coffee drinks at night
using all the characters up in a twitter status
prepaid bills
the sound of ice cracking from coldness in a glass
photo editing

short cuts on macs
lamps that look like trees
cold snicker bars
lavender mint hair conditioner
flipping an upside down cake right side up
carving a pumpkin
following Colbert's orders
finding not a penny but a dime on the ground
a well designed free font
michael jackson dancing
random old people complementing me on my smile
smiling at old people holding hands
petting a dog
putting on blush 
developing a MN accent
a call from my older sister
a call from my lil sister
being in the middle
whistling in tune with a song perfectly 
actually doing a card trick correctly 
smoking a cigar with an ice tea (thanks grandpa)
strutting when no one is looking 
The Simpsons theme song
spelling 'awkward' correct the first time around (i did it!)
a self check out at a grocery store that goes flawlessly 

turn design ons. ons turn design.

design turn ons: 

3:00AM

packaging

 any vinyl section at cheapo

nicely plotted text (see in rainbows vinyl)

anything found on here We Made This

uncomfortable unfamiliar? imagery

right justification

awk ward kerning

allen peters

type writers

old upholstery furniture patters 

when i hit a break through (see first thing listed)

all designers should be writers

I once read that all designers should be writers while all writers should be artists.  Artists visually communicate their ideas and visions while writes obviously communicate with their words.  The point is that as an artis if you get your mind to start thinking differently the results may change (hopefuly for the better best..however my poor grammar will never go away I am afraid) 

I love the idea of writing poetry.  Always have.  
My younger sister is amazing at it and I envy and respect the hell for her for that gift she was given.  
So here is my first crack at couple lil haikus: 

a calmness is present here

it's comfortable

with time it will cause changes

feathers deflate from heaven

a chill on my neck

but my heart keeps warm after




surrounded by my family
present in photos
i remember that day still




this fan is in my hot face
my hair gets caught up
i miss the days of mittens

poor man's office space

I am broke this week so today I scraped together $1.94 in dimes and nickels to go to my favorite coffee shop (my regular status earned me a free muffin!) Why do I like need to go to coffee houses 3 times a week you ask?

  

Distractions at Home: 

1) Bed ("oh a nap?...you bet-cha!")

2) No comfy desk chair (dumpster diving this week for one)  

3) My house is never clean enough (let's vacuum!) 

4) I am in my boxers 98% of the time at home (feels weird emailing an art director in this fashion) 

Distractions at Coffee Shops:

1) Always one oh-so-hip kid talking about their new life as a vegan

2) Occasionally looking at the other 4 computers open around me and comforted to see that they too are on Career Builder :)   

"UGH! mac kids and their 

photo-booth sessions" - abby rosenberg

three min art work.

each piece i spent less than 3 min on with the help of my scanner.  the only thing i did in Photoshop was change the colors. everything else i just let happen on the glass.  

(radiohead's latest album cover?)

Live it Forward but Understand it Backwards

I recently started a new book and in the first few pages I read this line 

"live it forward but understand it backwards."  

this got me thinking...

When I went to school I didn't join AIGA, I didn't go to networking events, instead I bought a 6 pack and drank with my friends on nights away from school work.  I don't regret how I spent my time in school...hell I had a social life and made friends that I will have in my life forever.  But I do understand now looking back on it why teachers stressed the importance of it.  I'm on my own right now, no contacts no connections in any real form and I put myself in that position. In a way it blows (eloquent) but I know that when a job comes about or an opportunity comes my way I will have earned it on my own...sans connections...all on my own time, my own way.  

I place at least one design book on my desk each day when I'm at work just to remind myself that there will be something else out there for me eventually.

As I live my life doing dead end data entry jobs I am looking back at each one and becoming more humble, more grateful, more broke, more excited, and more determined about finding a design job.  

Till then just live life and understand what comes from it.

First Crack of the Year

The first cracked window of the year. 

The last time my room got fresh air Brad Brett Favre was still slightly respectable as a Viking.  It felt good to feel a warm 30 degree breeze.  March is pretty much a disgusting month...extream St. Patrick gingers in mass on the street, brown grass, and dozens of littered Wendy's burger wrappers..eh at the time of disposal they were covered within 10 min by a new snow storm.  However when the sun is out and your March Madness bracket is looking up (not mine) March can be a good lil month when you got a Shamrock shake in your hand, a record spinning round and a slightly above freezing breeze hitting your face. 

 

heart study .1

I find human organs detached from the body graphically awesome.

(I don't care if that didn't even make sense)

I wanted to try something new so I hand stitched the heart onto the canvas and ripped up the bottom to make it look look like hanging veins....I guess I don't like painting kittens and rainbow. 

 

heart study .1

oil on canvas & string 

Neurofibromatosis

A few months ago my cousins Megan and Aron came to me with the idea of creating a shirt to raise awareness for Neurofibromatosis. (the design is still in progress) Their son Stone has NF and already at such a young age has been through several surgeries, he is a champ and probably one of the coolest kids I know.

This is probably the most rewarding project I have worked on so far in my career as a designer.