wil and kris (and gracie and ava)

i did it! graduated o’more college of design, with a bachelor of fine arts in the discipline of interior design, with summa cum laude honors on saturday! wil and i have been a bit out of commission the last few days due to the family being in town (which i guess shouldn’t matter since we are with most all of you who read the blog anyways).

but had to at least make the announcement!

so i know i may have complained once or twice about how easy my science class has been…but in reality, although we’ve breezed assignment-wise through the semester, i’ve enjoyed learning a few little things here or there from my teacher.

but what’s more exciting than our lessons is hearing about different developments in space from his point of view…an astrobiologist highly involved with TSU & NASA. but until today, i didn’t realize the caliber of his background until he showed a recent news interview of himself and a recent discovery.

check out the little two minute interview (click on the picture…i couldn’t get the video to show on our page) and see my teacher and his discovery of water on a new planet outside of our solar system!!!

of course, he revealed to us that some of that information was skewed by the interviewer, but you and the public gets the idea. pretty cool!

oh, and for our final- we will be making ice cream with liquid nitrogen. : )

upon the end of my project (which i am still meaning to take pictures of and post) we had our “studio in review” at the factory on friday night. although i was worried it might be awkward, uncomfortably standing in front of my boards, but it ended up being a nice, low key wine and cheese evening, mingling around one another’s boards and celebrating the end of the semester.

it was wonderful seeing wil show up with laura at his side…introducing her to all the important people in my life, showing her my makeshift classroom space and giggling with her and my local friends combined.

^ all the girls from work…from left to right: carolyn, my boss, isabella, her daughter and our afternoon cheerleader, cass, me, kim, and amy.
fortunately, although the event ended around 8, the three of us took our rumbly tummies to a mexican restaurant for some good food, drinks and catching up on lost time. and to top the night off, cassie and mike joined us for some late night train…i don’t know how well of a game it really was, since we were all so tired- we basically just deliriously shuffled the tiles around the table while laughing at what sound effects we could make each turn. thanks mike…

last tuesday i had a “design development” presentation. to give an idea of what that means, in the industry there are specific titled phases of a project: programming (gathering info), schematic design (rough conceptual ideas), design development (the meat of the project- developing the beginning ideas into a real applicable design for the client), contract documents (once the developed design is accepted- the production of drawings for it to be built), and contract administration (installation, overview, payment, etc).

since none of our school projects would actually be built, our semesters end with the design development presentation of our ideas. this senior studio is a bit different- we had an interim presentation to our teachers with the same level of work done as we would at the end. it actually was nice because it pushed us to finish things earlier than we would have- allowing us time to correct the design, produce more drawings/models and make a more thorough presentation for the end with the jury.

anyways, with all that said (you have just complete design 101!), here are two photos of boards of my senior project at that point (just the fluffy stuff since the architectural drawings wouldn’t photo well). my final presentation will be a second design development pres. of the same stuff- even with some of the same materials and drawings but just more elaborate.

background info on my project: i am designing a church- a young, nondenominational church- using an existing building in nashville. although hard to see in just this without poring through all my drawings and architectural features, my concept is based on the human figure and it’s proportions (organic and mathematical at the same time). you can click on the thumbnails to see the photos.

as i sit on the couch, munching on an ice cream cone and watching reruns of the office (september 21st!), i figured i’d update everyone on life…

• our little madam spirit of grace is growing like a weed… i stood on the scale with her a couple days ago and she is already 35 pounds, at a few days shy of 3 months old! she’s been great at learning new commands and tricks, with sit, down and shake basically figured out. we still have come, stay and heel to tackle…in time, i guess. she’s definitely in the toddler stage- she goes “deaf” when she chooses not to pay attention to us, she goes bonkers a few times a day running circles around the house, and she totally feels the need to have her mouth on EVERYTHING. we’ll take her to the vet on saturday for her puppy check up. *also, i’ve put some new pictures in her album.

• just before the wedding in fresno, i finished my thesis, wrapping up my summer class (i got an a!), and after not much time, i am already in class again with the fall semester starting today. my schedule is fairly open, with only 3 classes, but one of those is my senior major studio which will definitely consume my mind, time and energy for the next few months. hopefully once i start making some progress on the project i’ll have sketches, designs or photos to share.

• wil’s been working hard, almost full time, but still loving it. starbucks had an event called “open forum” on tuesday, for all the supervisors, managers and higher in the nashville district (and farther), and i tagged along. the afternoon consisted of presentations by the district managers, q&a, and awards/recognitions, and then a company-provided banquet and bowling, all at dave & busters. what i thought could be awkward or boring, ended up being really interesting. being a fly on the wall, i got to see the parts of the innerworkings of starbucks…as many times as i have heard how great starbucks is to it’s employees and customers, this meeting made it obvious to me in a few ways that people really are the driving force of the company. it was also great, personally, to find a new sense of pride in my husband’s job there…whether it’s pursuing management in a store, working in corporate or even in a coffee plant (a new sense of interest for him)

• it looks like we might be getting new windows and a slider door installed. after speaking with a man from the company and seeing the models, we had a guy come out and measure for a quote (this all being done due to the other construction in the development). it will probably be a big chunk of money for us to to spend so early on, in addition to the new siding (we didn’t really have a choice in that), but it will be so helpful when we decide to move and sell the place. our current windows are old, metal and difficult to use. the new ones will look great, work smoothly, clean easily (they tilt in and out), and maybe even save a bit on heating and cooling by being better insulated. even if it pinches to spend money on something like that, i know it will be so worth it in the long run, plus make our house that much nicer to live in.

that’s it for now. i guess i should get up and make this afternoon off worthwhile by running a few errands while grace snoozes in her crate (ahh the temporary, but quiet solitude!). have a great weekend, and please email me (or wil) if we haven’t spoken in a while… i’ve allowed too much time to pass between correspondence with a few of you out there!

-kris

well, similar to wil’s site… over a week has passed and there has been nothing to speak of. i guess that’s what happens when all we have to talk about is just each other, and neither of us have been up to anything recently.

as of right now i am in the thick of my thesis (actually, not quite since i haven’t even started writing yet!). for some reason i have had the hardest time getting myself to actually work on this project. one day after another goes by and i just can’t get motivated or inspired to work on the researching, compiling and writing of this thing. and not only do i have a paper to write by the end of the summer, but i also have to find a building in nashville, gather all the information (architectural plans, photos, codes, etc) and be happy enough with it to spend the entire next term working on it.

maybe it’s because it’s the summer, i’m newly married, or just lazy, but sitting down and doing this is like pulling teeth. plus, it’s so self driven that the class doesn’t meet all the time, so i don’t really have the accountability or weekly deadlines. now past the point of “pressure” from my procrastination (nice alliteration!), i am honestly just scared for myself. to combat the fear and light the fire under myself, i have made myself just work as hard as i can to get some stuff accomplished tonight. i’ve done pretty good so far this evening, starting at 5 and not even breaking for dinner (unless you count a bowl of ice cream as a well-rounded meal), until now. and don’t you worry, i promise to get back to it.

i’ve set up camp in the office (wil’s working for the night) and have spilled over onto everything. got my note cards lined up by subject matter (credit to mama d!), but the books are sprawled and papers are flown. it’s madness i tell you!