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mass email 4 january 2007
Enjoy the Ride
Hello, everyone! :)
Special greetings to the people who are new to this list because we've
recently connected or reconnected and to all the people who have said to
me something along the lines of, "Kirsten! I want another mass email
update! It's been entirely too long, and I miss reading those notes that
provide endless hours of entertainment!" ;)
I hope this letter finds you well. It has been about 7 months since I
last took some time out to write one of these long life-update emails that
you have come to love so much. I know! I cannot believe it's been that
long, either! What have I been up to??? Well, lucky for you, you're
about to find out. I don't think I'll go back quite 7 months, but I'll
fill you in on the most recent or most exciting things, whichever first
come to mind. Anyway, here it goes...
.:Everyday America:.
Work has been going really well lately. It's kind of madness a lot of the
time, but not generally in a bad way. Let's see. Currently I'm working
with 4 guys in the Art Department: Jason (my boss), Barry (the new guy
graphic designer), Marke (web guy #1), and Brian (web guy #2 and Marke's
partner in crime... or was that my partner in crime?). Since I last wrote,
a few people have moved on, all of whom I think are awesome and am trying
to stay in touch with: Jenna (my old boss and artist extraordinaire), Jan
(the. best. photographer.), and Melissa (my previous partner in crime and
soon-to-be full-time nursing student). Anyway, so now Marke and I are the
oldies, which has its perks. :) Then there are all the other crazy
characters, including
Marina (wacky Afghani), Diana (the pregnant lady), and Lea (the grumpy --
in the best way -- one). So it's been fun around there!
Anyway, I've been working on so many projects, some of which I really
love. Because of some interesting circumstances, I ended up as the sole
person responsible for writing and designing three media kits for our
publications. This is a huge responsibility, as they are basically the
premiere design piece our department produces each year, as well as the
premiere selling piece all the salespeople use with all their favorite
clients. Anyway, those have been such a joy to work on, even under crazy
circumstances that forced late nights and tons of work on top of my normal
heavy workload. But now two of them are totally complete (the third is
less of a priority and still in the works but coming along quite nicely)
and I'm proud of how they turned out. :) Also, I've had the chance to
design some brochures and redesign some old pieces. Basically, my point
is that there's a lot of design work for me there, stuff I didn't know I'd
get to do at this point in my life, so it's really exciting! And we've
just acquired a new magazine that'll get a whole new look, as well,
another fun project!
And on top of all that, I have a little side project. I'm working with
my hairdresser, Bobby, as he starts up a new clothing company, Lusk. (http://www.myspace.com/projectlusk)
I designed their logo and pretty much everything else they've done, and
I've had a blast! It's so different than my work at RTC, so it's always
fun. Can you believe I'm designing clothes?!? How crazy is that? People
are actually buying shirts I designed (and there are more shirts to come).
It's pretty cool stuff! Cooler than I am! ;)
.:These Are the Days:.
When I'm not busy with all of this work, I'm managing to keep myself quite
busy with fun things, too! There's a lot to do around Laguna, as you
might know. I'm finding my way to the theatre as often as I find good
tickets on GoldStar. Most recently, a group of us from work went to see
"The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." It was my 3rd time seeing
that show, but it's SO good! (Okay, technically 4th if you count the time
I saw the adult version in SF.)
And I'm finding sporting events to attend, as well, though most of the
teams I love are elsewhere. There's always TV to fill that void, though!
I'm so addicted to the college basketball. Hooked! And I'm loving how
good the Pac-10 is this year. Also, my Kansas City Chiefs miraculously
made it into the NFL playoffs, so that's coming up this weekend. :)
And of course, there are the movies. I do love to go. I especially
love it in the winter when all the Oscar-worthy movies come out. I saw
almost all of them last year and had (have?) hopes to do the same this
year. I'm kind of behind, however. But I'll try and catch up where I
can. It helps that I have an art house movie theatre right down the
street from me, basically. Also, I just joined the 21st century and
subscribed to NetFlix. We'll see how it goes, but I love that they have
movies I want to see in stock. Anyone have any recommendations for things
I should rent? I'm still building a decent-sized queue.
.:One Blue Sky:.
And speaking of me and what I do in my free time, there's the music. One
of my very favorite life experiences happened recently, and the whole
story centers around music. I'll try to keep it brief enough that you'll
read it but long enough that you don't get too lost, so here it goes.
I love "Nashville Star" winner Chris Young. Okay, GIANT celebrity crush
is probably a better description, but I promise he really is very
talented. So anyway, when the "Nashville Star" Tour came through the
House of Blues in Anaheim, I went. And I went by myself because I didn't
really know anyone else who wanted to go and I figured it'd be mellow
enough. And I requested a meet-and-greet pass from the Chris Young Fan
Club (which I was not a member of at the time) and was amazingly granted
one. So I showed up early as instructed. They took away my camera, gave
me a meet-and-greet pass, and put me in a line with 29 other people.
Finally, it was time to go meet all 4 singers on the tour (Chris, Casey
Rivers, Nicole Jamrose, and Matt Mason). I was next in line when a door
next to me opened and a camera crew came out and set up to film a portion
of the meet-and-greet. Weird and cool. And then curious, I looked into
the doorway after the crew came out and saw what looked like Evan
Lowenstein of Evan and Jaron (they were pop stars in 2000 with that song
"Crazy for This Girl") and a moment later confirmed it was him when I saw
his twin brother, Jaron. What were they doing here?!? How neat! I love
them and still keep up with them even now because their other music is
really, really good. Then they disappeared and it was my turn to meet the
Nashville Stars! All of them were nice, and Chris is even more adorable
in person. Anyway, as I was leaving the meet-and-greet, a man stopped me
and asked me to sign a waiver because they filmed me meeting Chris Young
for the USA Network. So I obliged, of course. It was dark, so I couldn't
really read what I signed. :) Anyway, as I was doing this, I asked the
man if what they were filming involved Evan and Jaron and he said yes,
plus Chris Young. Awesome! So then I kept walking and about two steps
later there stood Evan and Jaron just hanging out talking to each other as
they kind of looked down on the crowd on the lower floor of the House of
Blues. Anyway, I was by myself, had nowhere else to be and no one else to
talk to, and figured this was my chance. I'd talk to Evan and Jaron
because they were not going to get harassed all night because, honestly,
they're not famous. I love them, but there are like 10 fans left. So
anyway, I stopped where they were, apologized for interrupting them, and
told them I was a big fan. Geeky, I know! :) And they proceeded to
introduce themselves to me (like I needed that) and start a conversation
with me! A real one! I was flipping out inside and they were so cool and
nice and funny (and hott)! And then! They called their camera crew over
and had me re-do the whole thing with them but on camera. And now I am a
part of their episode of "Character Road Trip" featuring Chris Young. You
can watch the whole episode (it's like 5 minutes) online at:
http://www.usanetwork.com/movies/characterroadtrip/theshow/guestvideos.html
if you click on the one with the guy in the cowboy hat (that's Chris
Young). The part with me chatting with the twins didn't make the cut, but
I am in there meeting Chris at about the 1:18 mark (it counts the time
down). So fun!
Oh, and needless to say, the show was a.m.a.z.i.n.g.! Chris is awesome!
The others were, too, which was like a bonus! And I met them all again
after the show and got a big old hug from Chris. Gah! I'm a dork. You
already knew!
.:Stay:.
I had a really special Thanksgiving this year. :) Mom, Dad, Adam, and I
went to Maui for a week. We stayed in Kaanapali and had a wonderful time
just lying around on the beach and not doing a whole lot. It was perfect
there. :) Just my style -- hot sun, gorgeous ocean, and a
good book. Oh, and of course there was the college basketball. We went
for the Maui Invitational, an 8-team early-season tournament in the tiny
little Lahaina Civic Center. The games were awesome, and it's hard to
find tickets to games of that quality that are that close to the action.
Plus, Maui! :) So Thanksgiving was a blast! We even had a proper
Thanksgiving dinner at David Paul's, the best restaurant on the island.
Okay, Dad and Adam actually had traditional turkey, and I had really good
manicotti. :) So my whole Thanksgiving was wonderful, and I'm hoping
we'll celebrate like that often!
.:County Line:.
I did, however, make it all the way home to San Carlos for Christmas and
New Year's. :) I even drove all 475 miles. I must say, it was an
excellent break. I'm not sure I could have asked for more, except for
maybe weather that's not so winter-like. I got to see lots of family
members and way more friends than I had even anticipated, so I had a
blast.
We spent Christmas at Auntie Lily and Uncle Ken's house, to which I am
quite allergic. Okay, so I'm actually allergic to their cats, but still.
I pretty much spent the entire time there on allergy medication, which
makes me really drowsy. So besides eating lunch and opening presents, I
was on the couch watching football and mostly just sleeping. I have no
idea how many hours I was asleep, but no one else seemed to mind too much.
:)
I also spent three days in San Francisco proper. This hardly happens
because it does seem a bit indulgent to stay in a hotel that's 30 miles
from home. But it was such a treat, and I had so much fun. Mom, Adam,
Dad, and I stayed there one night and did some shopping and such. And
then they all went home and Sarah met me there and we shopped until we
dropped and ate delicious meals. We even found an excuse to get all
dressed up! We had a really nice dinner at Kuleto's, right in Union
Square. :) And I definitely came home with more bags than I left with.
Hooray!
I got together with some friends from high school while I was home, as
well, including on New Year's Eve. Jessica, Jackie, Katherine, Stephane
(for a moment), and I had an amazing dinner at A Tavola. Then Kath and I
did dessert and sparkling apple cider to ring in the new year at my house.
So fun! I love ringing in the new year in a way that's nice but still me
and still mellow. Plus, I drove all the way back to Laguna the next day,
so I couldn't be too out of it.
.:Happy Ending:.
There was one other really big event during the holidays. A St. Charles
reunion. In case you aren't familiar, a group of about 35 of us went to
St. Charles together from kindergarten through 8th grade. Those are
formative years, and we were a very close class. Well, it's been about 10
years since we graduated from there, so Katherine found everyone and put
together a big reunion dinner for all of us. I helped a little, but she
did most of the work.
So we met for a nice dinner at Gordon Biersch Brewery in Palo Alto,
though we ended up talking way more than eating because we were all so
excited to see each other. And then we moved our party from there to a
bar called the Old Pro just a couple blocks away. In all, about 25 of us
were there, and I must say it was both a trip and a blast to see everyone
again. Everyone's still as wonderful as ever (some people more so), and I
wish we could all hang out more often. Anyway, it was a thoroughly
successful reunion and the highlight of my holidays.
Special hello to all the St. Charles people I included on this email
list! It was so great to see you, we're not waiting another 10 years to
see each other, and do stay in touch! Seriously, I'm very
easy to find. :)
.:Want To:.
What's in store for the coming year? More work, of course. Also more
traveling. More fun and more friends and more family. And more staying
in touch with everyone. So I'll work on contacting you more (both in mass
emails like this and in more personal ways), and do write or call and let
me know how you are.
So now it's your turn. Say hello! You know you want to! And if you're
around here, let's do dinner or something else fun!
And one more thing. Besides just talking to me, you can keep up with me
via my website (where I keep a journal) and my flickr (where I post tons
of photos all the time). Both of the links are below.
I hope you had wonderful holidays, and have a great 2007! Hope to hear
from you soon!
<3 Kirsten
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*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
you're never hard to find, 'cause you're always on my mind, no matter
where i am
[email protected]
www.geocities.com/missywyatt
www.flickr.com/photos/missywyatt
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