Bridesmaid Experience #2

Jamie (Gracie) and I had a little 24 hour date a couple of weeks ago....to Jenna's Wedding! We got away from the boys for a bit and had a little girl party (not that we ever want to get away from our "boys"). Jamie was such a tropper being 7 months pregnant and all..and Grace totally kicked me, she is getting so big (I've been told). The wedding was beautiful with the pink and brown decor/theme. Even the dreaded head band turned out cute. Jenna you really had the vision and I'm glad we all finally saw the light. Congrats to Steve and Jenna Hull!!

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I Went To Cancun!!

I went to Cancun, and it was pretty sweet. It was the "Last Family Vacation"...but, my mom has been saying that for the past 4 years (I think so my dad will feel like its REALLY necessary for us to go on exotic trips). So, we went on our fourth "last vacation". It was very fun filled and as brett says, I stayed at the Tai Mahal, so I wasn't roughing it by any means (which is secretly my favorite kind of vacation). Here are a few pics to really give you a good feel for the extravaganza.....

Ok, FINE......

Here's what you really want, I know you (my five readers). You really just want pictures of Brett. You'll try to be nice and say "No Krystle we like hearing about your disease or other humorous things that happen to you." But, I know the truth, you really just want pictures of my adorable boyfriend. I have facts to back this up. The post with Brett in the picture got 13 comments!!!! As apposed to my usual average of 3. So, that means you care about Brett about three times as much as you care about me.....thanks. I don't blame you though, he is attractive and a pretty fun guy :)
(Actually since he's in Hong Kong right now, this is pretty much the only thing I want to see or post on my blog)
(below is our sad attempt to mimic the famous "farm couple" painting)

....and please do not comment on how pale/pastey I am....I am very much aware :)

GROSS!!!!

!!!WARNING!!!

What you are about to see is pretty darn gross and not for you "weak stomached" people.
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Don't say I didn't warn you.......

This is the face of MONO!!! Thats right, mono. Luckily I made the doctor take a blood test on Wednesday for mono. Then, I found out the next day that it was official, I had this horrible disease.
Let me just say this is ALMOST as bad as my food poisoning experience. My tonsils have been sooooo swollen and the only thing I can do is eat popsicles and soup. Also, the best part is that no medicine even touches mono. All I can do is pop a few advil and hope for the best. I'm just glad I was able to document this pain and suffering for my fellow bloggers and for future generations. I pray that none of you will ever have to go through this......

Do I Have a Messed Up Punnett Square?

So, as many of you know I have the very rare, and dare I say exotic, combination of blond hair and brown eyes. But, some people (brett montgomery) seem to think that because of this interesting combination my genes are all messed up. Actually the direct quote from this person is, "Krystle, you have a messed up punnett square."

Upon further research of punnett squares and dominant and recessive genes, I have found that brown eyes usually always trump blue eyes. This would be unfortunate for someone who believes that blue eyes are always better then brown. I submit that they are NOT.

However, I believe that I have a dominant recessive gene for brown eyes, so it would be possible for my children to have blue eyes (pretty much a 50/50 chance). Not that I care, maybe I WANT ALL my children to have brown eyes!

Blue eyes are fine, but really would I want to deprive my future children of my exotic combination? No, I think NOT.

But, if any of my readers have better knowledge of punnett squares and genes, PLEASE share your knowledge, so this blue vs. brown debate can end!!!

Mommie and Me.......

The long awaited movie of my mom and I in Hawaii.
Background:
-We went for a few days for a family friend's wedding.
-Luckily I made it to the sealing
-Unfortunately right before the reception I "let it all go" in a plant
-I was deathly ill from food poisoning for 2-3 days

Blame This Man.......

All five of you have probably been desperately missing my, attempting to be hilarious, blog posts. Well I'm here to tell you not to blame me, blame the guy in this picture. This adorable man has been taking pretty much all of my spare time for the last 3 months. I mean the only reason I am even able to write this post is because "he" is working at the temple tonight, otherwise this probably would not have happened. Of course this time taken away from my blog has been well spent filled with laughter, joy, fun etc. But I have missed the blog....sort of :) I'm sure all sorts of crazy and hilarious things have happened in the past three months, but I cannot recall them. But, I would like to officially rededicate myself to my blog. I will try not keep my five fans hanging for another month!

My Mommie!!!

For the last little while my mom has been quietly and very sweetly inquiring why her adorable face has not made an appearance on my blog. So, her patience has finally paid off and this whole post is dedicated to her. My mom was nice enough to let me go to Hawaii with her for our family friends wedding. This trip was amazing (insert sarcastic tone). Hawaii and the wedding was beautiful, BUT I got FOOD POISONING!!! To put it lightly I completely ruined the trip. I may be the only person in the world that went to Hawaii never touched the water, never ate, and came back whiter than when I left. My mom put up with me during this whole ordeal...and in the mist of me acting like a cancer patient this conversation was recorded (with my super cool "flip video" that Santa brought me)...OH, how I love me and my mom's relationship!

These are a few of my favorite things...

#1 Waffle Night @ The Walton House

Well, Sunday is pretty much my favorite day of the week, because I know that half of them are going to be spent with the Waltons (and various couple friends) eating waffles with syrup (of various types)!

#2 The Sensor Shooting Game at Dave and Busters

I LOVE this game, I think I wasted about 37% of my "tokens" on it! Its THAT cool! It makes me feel like I should be a secret agent or something.

Angela...Is that you?

I attempted to be "Angela" from The Office this year for Halloween. Several people have unfortunately told me that I look like her, so I thought why not embrace it? (above, please note the cat button of the late sprinkles, I worked hard on that :)

(Halloween at HED...me and my cubicle neighbor Chris)

We LOVE Sea Creatures!

I spent the past week and half with my fam. It was awesome, as usual. I escaped the fires and the constant smell of bbq, so I am very lucky. Before the unfortunate fires, my sister Kassidy and I went to Sea World. I have always loved sea creatures, as evident by the variously display of them throughout my house. However, we discovered this past week that my sister is what we like to call a "starfish whisperer"...I could not pull her away from that stinken tide pool!

This post however, would not be complete without mentioning my dad's birthday. This special day for my dad consists of dragging the whole family down to Tony Roma's for all you can eat ribs (yes there is usually a bib involved)...enough said. The picture below is very telling, of what i'm not quite sure but...
Note 1: the signs behind us. This is a tradition in which we all write down random stuff about the birthday person and tape them up around the house...usually fairly entertaining.
Note 2: the hallowed out powder horn slung around my father...enough said :)

My celebrity Morph....

Watch me turn into Robin Wright Penn (aka Jenny in Forest Gump)
Thanks TJ!

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NOOOOOOO!!!

This was my first reaction to being "tagged" by my dear friend Christy. Being "tagged" requires me (kind of in the same way you are "required" to forward those annoying emails to 10 friends and your wish will come true) to list 6 random unknown fun facts about myself. So, I decided not to fight this "tagging"...enjoy!

1. I have Hair OCD. Honestly, my hair has only been seriously messed up etc., ONCE in my life. I think there is a picture somewhere of this one time occurrence.(The sequel to this sad confession, is that I don't really enjoy my hair being touched...ever)

2. I love breakfast food! I have no problem eating this meal for dinner or lunch, any day of the week. If I had to pick a food to live off of for the rest of my life, it would be cereal.

3. I despise cantaloupe. You would have to pay me A LOT to eat it. As a child I refused to eat it, and was sentenced to "sit at the table until you finish." I spent an hour at the dinner table mashing it in my hands. My parents finally decided that I meant business, and have never forced me to eat this disgusting melon again.

4. I shed a few embarrassing tears during a "sanctioned" game of Settlers of Catan. I was loosing big time, and was simply trying to end the game with a respectable score....well, really there is no excuse I was a poor sport/competitive baby. The worst part is, this was LAST YEAR!

5. I have a white robe and slippers that I wear around the house all the time when the weather drops below 75 degrees. I probably look kinda like an angel :)

6. "Dog the Bounty Hunter" is one of my favorite TV shows! There is something so magnetic about the mixture of bleached hair, leather boots, and mace that I just can't resist!

POP!! Goes My Heart

Where do I begin?! A couple of weeks ago I was at a movie night at Julia's. We decided to watch the movie "Music and Lyrics". After the movie we were totally fired up about the 80s, dancing etc. I said "Wouldn't it be fun to do a remake of the 80s music video in the movie?" Julia said, "Yeah it would!" I said, "I'm serious we should do it." Then she said she was serious too.
So, the next day we went thrift store shopping to obtain our "80s music video outfits"...which was amazing, I hadn't really been before. In this pic, it may be hard to see but I am in fact wearing a beautiful satin "puffy pirate" shirt (similar to the pirate shirt on Seinfeld). You may also be confused about if Julia's outfit is a one-piece....Yes it is! She actually was getting compliments on that dress from older ladies in the store (she also wore this out to dinner with her sister....man I have fun friends)!
So, the music video "POP Goes My Heart" will becoming to a YouTube near you very shortly....I know you all can't wait :) My mom wonders what I missed out on in my childhood!

I did a 360....On a Knee Board!

I went home this past weekend (to Palm Springs). I always love going home, because I do really fun things....like boating. My family has a little boat, that we call shamu (because it sort of looks like a killer whale), and we go boating and perfect our skills. Knee boarding skills, wake boarding skills, eating junk food skills, water skiing skills, flag holding skills(I am guaranteed to be called "stupid flag girl" at least once every boating trip...family joke). On this particular trip I perfected my 360 skills. Which means I did a 360 degree turn while on a knee board, being pulled behind a boat, at I'm sure a very high speed.
I love going home because lets be honest, I get a little spoiled. Even more since my brother went to college (They miss him more I think, but since he can't come home they decide that seeing me is the next best thing.). So, I wouldn't want anyone to get jealous by the list of things that I did while home this last time. But, here it is anyway: a day at the spa (which means messages and other wonderful things), shopping, lunch, ping pong, movies etc. Yes, my family is awesome...they have thought about adopting a little Chinese girl(since we are all leaving), but maybe I could put a good word in for one of you!

This is Going to Blow Your Mind!

A very big moment in my life occurred last week. I purchased my very first sleeping bag! HUGE! It is amazing (so amazing that i am willing to blog about it). I would tell you all the features it has, but that would probably take way more time then you would like....but let me try anyway:

-cooling vents on both sides
-central, front zipper
-"mummy" feature
-removable air pillow...with memory foam pillow liner
-built-in memory foam base "comfort liner"
-and...a 20 degreeF rating

(I don't even want to tell you the other amazing features...you may not be ready for them, because i'm pretty sure that list just blew your mind)

Question: "Krystle where do I purchase such an amazing "go-go-gadget" sleeping bag? It must have cost you a fortune?!"

Answer: "You would think so with all the sweet features and low temperature rating. However, this wonderful camping gear can be purchased at Wal-Mart for a mere $15.00!!! It has pretty much changed my life...I don't even know who I am anymore."


I also just got back from the Mexican orphanage trip. It was incredible. Here are the pics:
(AWHH...Maren and Bryan)

kaiizen 9-07

Where's Designing Woman's Design Stuff?

So many of you may have wondered, if only subconsciously, "Where is the design stuff on this blog titled 'Designing Woman'"? Well, that is a great question. One I am going to answer right now. This link design sponge* has the COOLEST design stuff, so enjoy wasting a few minutes of your day scrolling through:



(*disclaimer- peter recommended this link to me)

What makes you cry in a fetal position?

Well...the answer to that question, for me, is losing my flash drive...twice!!! I decided that this was "blog worthy" pretty much the same minute I lost my second flash drive in 1 week. My little story goes like this...

Background: I am an interior design major. This means that I spend hours and hours on a project (AutoCAD, Photoshop etc.), then I save ALL this work on a flash drive. I truly mean ALL of my work (3 years of work). I usually try to back all of this work up on a second flash drive, but you never really know what you backed up, or at what point in the project.

Crisis: I lost my primary or "favorite" flash drive last week. It is usually attached to a lanyard but, when I went to get it out of my bag I only found the lanyard, no flash drive. Of course at this point I did not freak out. I checked the lost and found at school etc. I did not find it.

Breakdown: So, after searching everywhere and everything, what did I do next? I went home and cried like a little baby in a fetal position for about 20 minutes. I would compare the this feeling to losing a family member or friend that you aren't extremely close to, but you are going to miss...a lot!

Recovery: After a few hours I realized that my fate was not that bad, I had saved most of my important stuff on the back-up flash drive!!!

Prevention: I decided to back-up all of my stuff on my work computer, as to avert a future break-down. However, I wanted to scope out the market first and compare prices for a new back-up flash drive.

Crisis: Yes, it did in fact happen again. Message to everyone with a flash drive, "If you lose a flash drive once, you can in fact lose another one in the same week" (I did not realize this was possible).

Breakdown: Yes, I cried in a fetal position again. I know it's embarrassing just typing it.

Prevention #2: Luckily my mom realized that I needed help, my "flash drive system" was clearly not working. Her solution is seen below (my new flash drives are now attached to my bag with little cords...lets just hope I don't loose my bag :)

NEW YEAR OF LIFE, NEW GOALS

Well, I'm a year older now and it has made me reflect on what I want to accomplish at this point in my life. So I made a little list (and I have it laminated inside my agenda), and I thought I would share it. Perhaps, one of you might be able help me with a goal, or two (said with a sarcastic british accent).

1. Learn how to rock climb (real mountains)
2. Go to Boston, MA
3. Paintball
4. Tour Europe ("back packing style")2-3 weeks
5. Read a book for fun
6. Become a good wake boarder
7. Go to the temple twice a month
8. Ski three times this winter
9. Buy a new surfboard and surf more
10. Paint something (a picture etc.)

*(goal making inspired by friend Jamie...see "Jamie and Steve")

8-8-07.....EXTRAORDINARY!

Well, it was my 22nd Birthday, and it was fabulous! I mean who doesn't love having everybody tell them happy birthday, all day long. It just makes everything great. I went to work for 6 hours, and school (to do homework) for 3 hours, but it was still great, because it was MY Birthday! (Flowers and e-cards didn't hurt either).

To end my "special day" some friends and I went to Extraordinary Desserts. Which, is always extraordinary. I got a little piece of heaven called "Apple Tart Cheesecake" (It was not my first choice, but after yelling "How Dare They on MY Birthday", I sucked it up and made another choice, which ended up being a blessing in disguise).

Thanks to everyone who made 8-8-07 one of my best birthday's yet!

Krystle Camped in Mexico?...YES She Did!!

This past weekend I went with the Kaiizen group to an Orphanage in Mexico (I can't pronounce or spell it very well). It was a blast! This was my second trip, and I felt a lot more prepared this time. Here is a list of things I would strongly suggest if you camp/go to an orphanage in Mexico: 1. Tylenol pm 2. Hand sanitizer 3. Eye mask 4. Ear plugs 5. Compact/inflatable mattress (these will pretty much save your life if you wouldn't classify yourself as a "camper").

The kids were of course great, and you could tell loved having us there. It is such an amazing experience that you don't even notice that you haven't showered. Its awesome to see the people that just get right in there and play with the kids like they've been best friends forever.

Of course this post would not be complete without mentioning some of the good times us volunteers had, whilst serving. Here are a few:
-Pina Coladas in Ensenada (virgin of course...but, heaven)
-the guy who insisted on calling most of the girl volunteers "baby girl"
-Peter driving with his "nacho libre mask"
-Greg "all I need is a hat and some orphans"
-mimicking each others ugliest faces...so fun
-and me personally sanitizing Everything

Man + Capri = "Manpri"

Some of you may have wondered subconsciously as I have, "Why do men wear capri pants." Well honestly there is no real answer. It should NEVER happen but, unfortunately it does, everyday, in every state cross the nation. I got my first live action shot of the "Manpri" while in D.C. and since then I have seen several other offenders. You would be amazed by the number of men that might consider the "Manpri" as their pant of choice. Capri's, are sometimes great for girls, a nice option when you don't want to wear pants or shorts. However, as unfair as it may be this "in-between option" does not apply to the opposite gender. Sorry guys. So, please do us ladies a favor and remove all "Manpri's" from your closet. PLEASE!!!

Washington D.C.!!!

Here is the summary of my first trip to Washington DC: Monuments of all sorts (incredible), tour bus (a little warm for "G" wearers), Georgetown (my fav), fun, Gettysburg Battlefield, Hershey, PA (yep, you read it right...amazing!), Arlington Cemetary, laughter, Smithsonian Museums, Mt. Vernon (Washington's Home=Beautiful), Alexandria, VA (so cute), just good old family fun!

Summer Fun!!!

A few exciting things I did during my 3 week summer break:

1. Boating with The Fam

2. Went to the Architecture Awards "Gala" with my brother

3. Had extremely close proximity with a large pig

4. Went to the San Diego County Fair

5. Had my BFF (Jenny) come visit me










(me and the pig!)

(me and jenny riding beach cruisers)

Blog Name = Struggle Fest

If you want a test to see how funny you really are, try to create a name for your blog. I considered myself a fairly humorous person...until the blog name creation struggle. But I thought you might enjoy the runner-ups:

-I like to picture you in a tuxedo t-shirt

-I Heart Buildings

-Must Love Design

-Krystle California

-Krystle’s Thoughts (boring)

-Arts-y Farts-y

-Krystle, Krystal, Krys, Kreek

-Starter Wife

-Sand and Shopping

-8 lb 6 ounce Baby Krystle