Classes and my Crazy life....but what's new...

Amanda and I's Amazing new Cath Kidston bags!!! We are slightly obsessed...

My new house...in Kensington Gardens...well maybe one day...

Amanda and I being cool like usual...with our new 98p sunglasses...

Making Art at the Tate Britain...this is the outfit that has been banished to the back of my closet...that was the day with all the hooting...being cornered...hit on by gangsters..etc....lol

I know I really am a horrible blogger...but if I can't remember my cell phone everyday how am I suppose to remember a blog that doesn't even beep at me!:) But today was a lucky day and it was in the front of my busy busy mind...

So why is my mind so busy?? Oh maybe b/c my schedule goes a little something like this...

Monday: Wake up 730 leave by 815 arrive at Internship at 9, work all day (I know who would have thought right?) get off at 415, go to photography from 5-9, arrive home at 930, do homework, talk to Amanda, 11-12 fall into bed...

Tuesday: Repeat from 730 but this time work at my internship till 7...head to davies st. to use Illustrator and Photoshop to do homework, arrive home at 9...see Amanda, go to bed

Wednesday: leave flat at 830 get to Draping class at 9...class till one, go run errands, go to the library...walk home around 5...sit for a minute...make dinner, see Amanda, go to bed by 9 :) and every other Wednesday I have photography from 5-9...

Thursday: Repeat of Monday from 730-4 but then go to accessories class all the way over by the Barbican (40 min tube ride) 5-8/815ish, jump on the tube, arrive late to connect group, leave connect group at 1130...arrive home at midnight...go to bed around one...

Friday: leave house at 820, arrive at class at 9...Digital Product Development from 9-530 (yes and 8.5 hour class) work on photoshop or go do research at the library till 7...come home...Amanda and I's hang out night...ex last night we went to the V and A till 10 and then went and got amazing pancakes and then walked home...

Saturday: Sleep in till 9 or 10, get up, clean...go spend the day at a museum.. go somewhere fun for dinner...do laundry...sleep

Sunday: Go to Hillsong Church 10:30 or 12:45 service...eat...go to a museum or do a London thing...go home prep for Monday all over again...

And try to feed the homeless in between...crazy life I tell you...

:) But I am enjoying it. My internship is at Marie-Chantal a children's wear company...they have their own shops in London, NY, Greece, Italy (I think), and LA (I think) then they sell to shops like Harrods...Let's just say at M-C we believe that every new born needs a cashmere sweater and pant set for almost 200 pounds (equal to $400)...lol it is a little ridiculous but there is a market and people buy it! The owner is Marie-Chantal...the princess of Greece...so I guess princesses do need to buy children's wear as well! :) It is nice though b/c we don't have very large budget constraints so we have really high quality clothing, wools from Scotland, exclusive Liberty prints, ect... So it has all been quite fascinating! And now I can say I met a Princess :) pretty cool I guess. :)

My classes are great as well. Digital Photography has been fascinating. I now know how to work my camera on Manual in all different lightings, have learned composition, lighting techniques, and we start on photoshop on Monday! so really quite interesting. :)

Advanced Draping is fun I have the same teacher, Carolyn, as last semester and she is just sooooooooo sweet. I absolutely adore her:). So I'm working on some garments for my photography final project shoot.

Accessories is amazing. Our final project is to make a full leather purse! So I learned how to use the skiving machine (used to thin edges of leather), armed sewing machines (they have a narrow arm and then nothing under it so you can have complete control of your bag while sewing). So I made a coaster and am working on a practice bag, which is made out of fabric but has leather straps and closures (with magnets). And my teacher Dave is hilarious and so much fun. When he was younger he use to make bags for the queen! Very skilled and talented.

My Digital Product Development class is AMAZING! FASCINATING! The first week we were 3D body scanned, which is where you go into this black box and in 15 secs it scans your entire body, in three seconds it produces over 200 measurements and in two seconds makes patterns that perfectly fit your body(but I must warn you it is quite horrifying to see yourself in 3D...and spinning your self around does not help!). You load them on a memory stick take them to the room next store...and out prints your slopers (basic patterns)! It is so amazing. They have a foot scanner as well, where you can scan your foot and design perfectly fit shoes and inserts. The second day we learned about rapid prototyping where you scan in or make a 3D object modify it how ever (they have this amazing machine where you can turn our object into clay and carve it with this electronic arm that has resistance and it feels as if you are carving clay but it's all digital) then you send it to a 3D printer (I'm not going to even try to explain) where using ink, water, and plaster (LCF's machine uses plaster but there are paper, metal, and rubber etc. ones as well). It glues together tinny layers and then after it is complete you go in with a brush, brush the access away and a a 3D model or life size product is in your hand...INCREDIBLE! I can't even warp my mind around it all. They had a piece of chain mail that they have printed. It came out pre-assembled and none of the links were stuck together...it was all freely moving! It was like I was holding real armor chains. And then yesterday we learned about digital printing. We designed digital prints and then next week we get to print them out on fabric (digitally...so cool) and then make swatches and then drop our designs into our shirt patterns we generated the first day and then print out out skirts with our fabric designs on fabric into miniature size skirts, then sew them and add them to our miniature figures of us that we will print out...SO COOL! This class just blows my mind...I can't even comprehend it...:)

Well that's my life in a nutshell. :) I love Hillsong...and never want to leave it...I went to a conference on Tuesday where Sy Rogers spoke...it was amazing. He use to be cross dresser and lived as a woman for 2 years and almost had a sex change but met God and is now a world renowned speaker/pastor and is married with a daughter who is now married. The most incredible speaker and really inspiring. You all should look him up! :) OR try and find a podcast on him!

Ok well I'm off to meet Amanda at the Wallace Collection! Miss you all! Have a wonderful week. xx

Love from London,
KL

Here are some pics of my apt...it actually looks quite large from them! :) I forgot the bathroom ones...those are the winners...I'll get them up soon...Notice apt. 23...we thought we lived next to Harry Potter...then two cute italian boys popped out...We want to ask if their apt is even smaller than ours since they live under the stairs...:)
xx

Sorry...I am alive and back in London :)

So I'm back! It's as if I never left...it's like I lead two secret lives...;) So I'll start at the beginning of the week and work forward...

Friday:
We left Idaho and had a long layover in Seattle that was spent hanging out with Lisa and Anders (my friends from Denmark) and Sherri (Lisa's Idaho mom from when she was on exchange). We rechecked our baggage and then went down to Pike St. and ate at Ivan's. Amanda almost had a heart attack and was hyperventilating b/c we were stuck in traffic on the way there...it felt like 30 mins but was only 7 mins when we checked the time...so on the way home we put her in the middle so she could see the clock and live to make it to London. :) So we made it back in plenty of time and snuggled in for the flight in front of us. We arrived in London Saturday afternoon and jumped on the tube with all our lugage....yuck...but luckily at all the stairs gentlemen magically appeared to take them up..well they usually appeared after I'd sweated up 1/2 the stair case. :) Then Jita was at the flat to meet us with tulips, sandwiches, juice, tarts, and of course some Percy pigs (my favorite...and now Amanda's!)

Sunday:
I went to church and then met Amanda and we went to locate her school and walked around the area.

Monday-Thursday:
Orientation started. I made a few new friends after the first few days, but it was a challenge due to not living at Landward with everyone like last semester. I had my preliminary interviews for my internship that went fabulously! yay! So hopefully by this week I will be at one with a company and handed a job! :)

Thursday:
Was Amanda's Birthday so I decorated the room after she went to sleep and then went and got her a cake whose name was Colin. The next day she wasn't done with class till 9pm so we decided to just go to a pizza place and get her her first US legal drink. :) We ended up sitting next to these Hilarious Iranian men that were pretty drunk who started out the convo by asking me what language we were speaking b/c he'd never heard it before...(it's the voice...) When we told him English he was shocked and then when he found out we were American he was even more shocked. He announced we looked European or Scandinavian and that he hated Americans...but within the next hour he was confessing his love and Amanda had a proposal and left loving Americans...America should pay us to be its PR agents...

Friday:
I stayed in bed till 6pm due to this awful cold I have and then got up and went with Amanda to a new years party for her school as her date :)....And guess who I danced next to? DUDDLY FROM HARRY POTTER!!! Except now he is all trim and fit and pretty darn cute! He goes to Amanda's school. The only down thing was I'm pretty sure he has at least 2 girlfriends already from what we observed....:) lol So that was my first real contact with a celeb....I made sure I accidentally "bumped" into him while I was dancing. :)

Saturday:
Amanda and I realized how we are definitely living the life...we wondered around the sweetest little square and had fish and chips for lunch, then headed over to the Tate Modern to look at art. Amanda and Kelsey went to the Rothko exhibition (I had already been), so I sat out and drew and doodled some ideas. Then we walked along the river and took pictures of the skyline...it was amazing...a picturesque day...:) And that is when we realized we definitely are not your average Janes...

Well and then there is the alternate story of Saturday...the day I found out my super cute outfit was banned to the back of my closet! I got hit on by two homeless people, three Italian men, a musician on the street, a musician in the tube, and two huge scary gangsters at the super market that attempted to follow us home...
OK so here are the high lighted stories of the day...the musician in the tube turned around and then wiggled his butt at me into a corner and some poor guy behind me. Amanda slipped by so I was his main victim and then as soon as I was free I took off running and he yells after me, "shake that booty girl"....it was horrifying...but a little funny. Then there were the gangster guys...I left Amanda for two minutes in line while I ran to grab something I come back and these guys were surrounding her talking to her. I jump in and we went up and payed...I asked, "making new friends?" lol we leave and they pop up out of know where. "So you guys going home? b/c you got all ur groceries, I take it your not going out tonight...""So do you live in the area?""Sorry to bother you but I just wanted to tell you how beautiful you are (as he stares at my butt the entire time)" Amanda looks at them and says, "NO!" I say, "no we're going to a friends house for dinner." He asks, "So do you guys come around here often (still staring at my butt)" Amanda "NO!" He looks at me and goes your probably going on a date huh? I say, "YUP! Well see you later!" (plus it never would have worked out...he asked if bags cost money at Tesco and I said no...and he asked why I wasn't using any then...no conscience for the environment that one...) So we took a few wrong turns ran into our apt and bolt-locked the door.... and put that outfit in the far back of my closet...:)

Sunday:
I went to Church and met a girl that goes to LCF and had coffee and a nice chat. Then I met up with Amanda and shopped a bit and then headed home! So know I'm prepping for the week and off to get inspired. :)

So hope everyone is doing well. Don't worry about me too much...I have my body guard aka Amanda so I should be safe. (you should see her in action...scary...she's really good at NO...:))

Love from London!
over and out...
-KL

ps sorry if there are millions of mistakes...I'm too tired to reread through it....:) xx

I'm heading back!

So I'm off on Friday! So excited, but I did have a lovely break and it was great to see my parents. I'm moving to a new apt. (thanks goodness) and going to live with my friend Amanda from high school, which will be a blast! She is studying Theatre and was studying abroad in London as well so we decided it would be fun to live together and take over Jita's lease in Notting Hill...yes we are living in Notting Hill! :) So hopefully I will have more fun London stories shortly! As for now I am debating when to start packing (:D no I have not started packing...Amanda said she would come pack me...she's packed me for college every year and unpacked me when I got home :) so why ruin the tradition??? Plus she's been packed for a month...she needs something to do this week :) ). Lisa has been here from Denmark with her boyfriend Anders so Estrella is picking them up in town today and we are going to have a sledding party! Tuesday I'm going to hands on Art to paint, Wednesday I am going to Schwitzer to go snowboarding with my cousin, Thursday to see a last few friends for coffee, and then some where in the middle of all that doing all my scholarships! :) I know I really have my priorities set! Luckily I have Estrella to keep me on task.

Ok well I'm off to clean and finish sewing Lisa's present before she gets here...(of course it isn't done...):) Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year! 2009! I'm getting so old! ahhhhhhh

XX
-KAT

Home for the Holidays

Hello! I'm home!! YAY!!!

My agenda since I've been home...Hugged my parents, slept, talked at church with my mom, slept, died my hair blond, slept, went to the RFKC camp Christmas party, drove to Moscow, slept, saw all my friends at Theta, slept, slept, applied for jobs, slept, and applied for my new visa (everyone pray). So let's just say I slept a lot :) When I finally went to bed after I got home it was 8:30 am on my body clock so it's taken some getting changed over :).

Leaving London was an adventure from having to clean my roommates three week old fungus infested dishes, to taking out their 20 bags of trash they so graciously left me, to running (literally) with Jita to Primark to buy a zebra print suitcase so she could bring everything home that I couldn't fit. It was quite the sight...Jita and I sprinting down the road with this suitcase catching air behind us. But it was all worth it b/c we ran into the Vitamin Water van and Jita ran up and asked if he had inside what was printed on the outside...he ended up giving us each one of every flavor for free :). So we energized ourselves and ran up and finished packing Jita with all the stuff that wouldn't fit in my suitcase. :) We then proceeded to take the tube to Heathrow, Emelie and Jita were so sweet and came with me. Only the problem was that we had by now drank at least 5 of the vitamin water between the three of us and were stuck on the tube for 40 mins....with no Loo... So we realize we are on the tube to the wrong terminal and jump off and have to wait for 20 mins while these two adorable old men entertained themselves by watching us chuck all our belongings off onto the platform and fling ourselves out as the doors shut behind us. So we finally get to Heathrow and Jita finds a loo at the platform. So we go to check in and I'm pretty sure my bags are over...so Jita walks up with me and does her little charming act of telling the man about how she just loves this new terminal b/c it has a loo and is going on and on about the loo in terminal 5. Meanwhile he is weighing my bags, putting on the tags, and shipping them off with out a second glance...This girl really works magic lol. Only Jita could keep the ticket counter distracted by talking about the Loo! :) So then once again Jita worked her magic and helped me sneak an extra carry-on on the plane by hiding my backpack from the lady checking my ticket. :) So I said my farewells and was off. I took a bus to my plane and lugged my stuff up the steps and snuggled into my AISLE seat, watched the Duchess, and was off to America. But of course it didn't go that smoothly...look at who we are talking about. Of course I was the only person on the plane whose dinner was forgotten. And when they apologized and asked if their was anything they could do...I froze and didn't have the guts to ask to be upgraded...I needed Jita. lol So then we touch down and I go to recheck in my bags at Southwest. Of course I don't have Jita to distract them...I find I still need to have a few courses of the act of distraction. She asked me to place my first bag which I think is heaviest. So I but my big blue duffel. It's 6lbs under! So off it goes, my next one is 7 lbs over...so I ask her to bring the other bag back. She tells me no it was at full weight I argue and say it was only 46 lbs. so annoyed she brings it back I start moving stuff into it when I realize I must have grabbed Jita's trainers instead of mine b/c these shoes are too big to be mine and then I see all this hiking gear...OMG not my bag...I have some smelly boys bag! Thanks goodness I made her bring that bag back... So then I run to British Airways and try to explain to this rude Korean lady what has happened. She gives me this lecture that makes me feel really stupid, and calls about my bag. It turns out that the bag I picked up (which is identical to mine) happened to be a bag that was shipped w/o a passenger so luckily no one else had picked up my bag...what a God thing. So then I was back up to southwest and weighing my bag that was 9 lbs over...so here I am with three carry-ons and 16 lbs extra...and a mean ticket lady that won't go for the "I'm a student moving home from college and this is my entire life in two bags...will you give me a little break?" And then she didn't get why I wouldn't just pay the extra $20 to get extra weight. I was determined to show my dad that I could get home with in my luggage allowance. So I took one of the clear bags filled with compressed clothes, emptied it, filled it with heavy stuff and strapped another 16 lbs to my carry-ons. I snuck through security, boarded the plane, had them put my one of my carry-ons below in the belly of the plane, and I'm proud to say I got off the plane hugged my parents, went to baggage claim and for the price of two normal weight bags...I picked up three! :) It was great. So I am official a flight con artist :) lol. But even though it was a bit bumpy I made it home in one piece and was sooooooooo excited to see my family. So now I have to find job...uggg

Well I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and I will look forward to posting new adventures next year about London part 2! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

XX (they don't have O's in the UK b/c they don't hug....only kisses)

-KL

(Look I'm blonde!) :)

I'M FINISHED!!! Here's the end of the semester and Paris...

I know I probably win the worst blogger of the month award, but if anyone out there hasn't given up on me...here's everything you've all been missing :).

So I'll start today and work backwards...backwards usually works best for me :)

One word can only describe how I feel at the moment...exhausted. Classes finished today and I have slept a total of three nights out of the last 7 days...so you should feel honored I am cutting into my nap time to write you...

I finished my corset...I'm not sure my figures will recover...or stop bleeding...I guess beauty really is pain.


Ok sorry I didn't last... I went ice skating and then fell asleep...but I'm back. Thanksgiving was good...I ate Domino's pizza and spaghetti. I spent the day working on Costumes for a pantomime theatre for Peter Pan. One of my profs asked Cailin and I to come in and help her, so we went to her house and made animal costumes. I left covered in fur but had a fun day. :) (Who knew there was a pink Monkey in Peter Pan..there was..)

Then I headed to Connect Group for church with Jita and Lauren. It was a lot of fun and good to finally meet people from church my own age. Crazy small world too because I met a girl that goes to WSU and even attended Resonate (my church at school). It was funny we couldn't believe we had sat next to each other the entire night in London and then found out we live 7 miles apart in the States! I really enjoyed being in fellowship again...I had missed it. So Thanksgiving Dinner at connect group was spaghetti and I brought some Thanksgiving decor, but it just wasn't quite the same as being home...:(

Then Friday we had graduation. I had to model my corset and display my draping work. I still can't believe the course is over. I've learned so much, grown and changed so much, and now it is over. A couple of my friends leave in the morning and it's sad to think I may never see them again...but thank goodness for facebook!
(My Final for Draping...it was inspired by an Artichoke)


I feel so behind on my blog that I can't even put any personality in it b/c I have so much to say and no time for the fun little stories :( So I'm sorry if this isn't quite as entertaining. Ok so the last few weeks have been great but so stressful...so much work. I felt as if nothing was expected all semester and then wham your entire grade is your final project, but you're out of the mode of working b/c nothing has been due...so I was a little upset and it was hard to get back in the swing of things...I did probably an entire semester's worth of work in 3 weeks. But I survived :). So now back to what you've all been asking for..PARIS!

It was freezing...rainy...gray...and all the buildings matched the sky...It was quite strange. But still beautiful in only a way that Paris could be in these conditions. I really want to go back and discover it myself...it was hard going with a group of 26 b/c we spent a lot of time waiting and moved really fast through everything. I couldn't just stop and look at things...it was as if everything was blurred. I did have fun in the evenings though when we had free time. Jita and I spent a lot of time at the Louvre and exploring cafes and other museums. I even went to Vespers at Notre Dame. It was beautiful...so incredible...I had never seen anything like it. Some other highlights were:

1. Forgetting my coat and umbrella one day and freezing until one of the girls bought a sweater and then had bought so much she couldn't carry it so she was nice enough to lend it to me. I looked real fab... a nortic sweater with my floral skirt...

2. Pretending to speak french.

3. Getting use to having no idea what people were saying and then being afraid they couldn't understand me when I ordered. It was the strangest thing to be back in England...for the longest time I got nervous before I ordered anything! :)

4. The Eiffel Tower...so amazing but too windy so the top was closed :( but it was beautiful and lit up like the European Union flag.

5. Crepes, Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame, and baguette with jambon et fromage...all day everyday...:)

6. And I developed a taste for wine as well...even the 3 euro Rose was yummy! lol

7. I learned all about perfume and learned how to identify the different ingredients in them...that was quite interesting.

8. I got to go to the top of the Louis Vuitton Headquarters. They have an art gallery up top and we had a private tour of it.

9. I got to see Marine, if only for an hour. We were suppose to meet up earlier but we missed each other :(. But she came over to our apt. and I was able to see her and take a picture :) Hopefully if I go back I can spend more time with her. She's hilarious and I miss her.

10. I went and saw Chanel's original shop!

So now I head home in a few days...I'm packing and getting ready for Idaho...I'm not sure if it's ready for me but we will find out! I'm so excited to see you all and get my hair cut...the water has trashed it. I'm going to eat my last fish and chips for the semester, do some last minute shopping, and then say goodbye to London for a little while...but don't worry I will be back...:)

Love you! -KL

I promise more is coming soon!

(In Denmark Feeding the Deer...I felt as if I was in Idaho)

Dear Friends...I haven't forgotten...I just have been so insanely busy since the moment I set foot on English soil again. I'll have all the news about Paris and being held at the boarder either this coming weekend or the Tuesday after...that is when my last main project is due I believe. Classes are going well I just have sooooooooooooooooo much homework...:( but I did get one of the highest grades in draping for our midterm assessment before break :)...She said I had the best pattern work and the only one with straight lines...:) Wish me luck and say a prayer I survive and find at least a little sleep this weekend...:) Also pray for my roommates...I live with someone ten times as messy as me...who new it was possible...and it's gotten to the point where you can't go in the living room b/c it is filled with her crap...I ended up cleaning it all up today...the Queen of Mess has officially been knocked off her throne...Thanks. Love you all.

Love KL