wil and kris (and gracie and ava)

over a dinner of some hearty italian food with bill and leila, wil and i came to a realization: we really want to go to europe, someday. one day later, as we got into bed we got a crazy idea: we really want to go to europe, for real…about an hour later (past my bedtime, mind you!) with both our laptops on full speed, we decided that next summer, we want to fling ourselves over to europe for a month.

crazy, i know, but we’re in our early twenties, newly married, with no kids…why not now? we discussed our calendar, and saw that with a bit of foresight, we could shift around some transitions to take place then, allowing us a small break in the weave of a young person’s life. i will have just graduated and wil would finish spring semester. he’d postpone his change to assistant management until after (you can push it as far as you want), and i’d plan my career change around then, giving us both a sliver of time between positions and jobs. we’d find a friend (or a few!) that gracie could live with, we’d pack our bags and whisk ourselves off to explore italy, france, spain, and more.

easy? not entirely, but we are really excited to start thinking about the possibilities and attempting to plan our lives to make this happen. cheap? not exactly, but we’d love to rent a place for a long period to save money, maybe stay at a hostel or two. we’ll begin saving immediately, as well as asking for nothing else but money for our upcoming birthdays and christmas.

there’s a lot of stuff to consider and figure out, but it’s something we are seriously going to consider. i can’t stop thinking about the things we could see, the cities we’d explore and the experiences we could share together. so, if you have been there and have any advice, tips, or stories that could help us in the process, send them our way!

(that’s happy birthday in swedish, cause you know, i’m totally fluent)…a very big happy birthday goes out to my beloved mom today. we won’t say how old she is on this very day, but just in case, bring out the fire extinguisher!

i love you very much and can’t wait to celebrate with you in a few weeks…

after a great life of ten years, we had to put down our beloved friend, victoria.

i just got a call about the news while at work, but i had to take a few minutes and pass along the info.

victoria was an absolutely amazing dog, who i loved growing up with. i will miss her very much when i come home for the holidays and not hear the jingle of her collar and the pattering of her paws. i love you “poopers”!

i have had the hardest time figuring out what to write for the last few days…life has progressed basically the same for the two of us. although my fall break is wrapping up, i am still working a normal week and have lots of homework to do at home with an upcoming presentation. wil is still working normal. and gracie is still a nerd, as usual. so, i figured i’d post a few of our most recent pictures (all including our child…we are pathetic!)

^ i think it’s great that i can call this ‘wil & grace’… : )

love to everyone and we are counting down the days till the next time we see you…be it next weekend, my birthday, or christmas!

-kristen

i figure, its a good time to talk about work. everyone’s been pretty up to date on wil’s job…he loves it, they love him, and the title of assistant manager is in his upcoming future. but i realized i haven’t shared much about what’s going on in my job…although there only 20 hours a week, i feel like it consumes so much more of my life (in a good way).

although the segment of my o’more credited internship ended long ago (i fulfilled the required hours much before the wedding), i have continued to work as an intern at alcott. (this concept seems to confuse a lot of people…yes i am an intern without being enrolled in an internship). in november it will have already been a year! upon realizing how fast the time that has gone, i am able to see that a lot has really changed.

when i first started, it was me, our owner/designer carolyn, and her assistant designer, kim. since my arrival to the company, we’ve seen a lot of growth- hiring an intern from belmont for our accounting and soon after another two more interns from o’more. kim, now moving to the west, has been *replaced (tear! a good friend!)…

due to recent advice from carolyn’s accountant, she put her house on the market, with plans to move into one of the homes her husband is developing right now…which means all of us girls are moving too (as opposed to finding a separate office we’ll move into the lower level of the new 3 story house). it’s a very exciting prospect. we are all caught up in the blissful thoughts of having enough desks for each of us, each having a computer, storage for samples and files, and room to breathe! right now, when 5 of us are at work at once, we are fighting over the 3 desks and 3 computers…

besides the craziness of moving (and having to desert the office every time the realtor comes to show a buyer around), we’ve been pretty consumed with the vernon project. every day is usually filled with lots of different tasks for different clients, but with one huge mcmansion and pressuring move in dates, our days have been basically been devoted to working on their house. although very different from my personal tastes, it’s kind of exciting to think that i am “in charge” of the entirety of their window treatments. don’t get me wrong- i am completely under carolyn’s design supervision- carrying out many of her ideas and taking inspiration from other resources, but at the same time, it is definitely something i can take ownership of. it will be pretty cool to see them come together when fabrics are selected, ordered and later installed!

the lingering thoughts of pursuing a large commercial architecture firm are still on the horizon…i’m just waiting for god’s timing i guess.