the superfriends

what is a superfriend?

superfriends is a term a group of my closest peeps and i have created for ourselves.

i have several close friends i can call my best, but this particular group of friends are just weird enough to indulge in such self-naming.

it all started with the iphone's group texting feature. yes, we are indeed apple nerds. once we discovered this amazing invention of chatroom-like texting, we quickly became obsessed and pretty soon it turned into us knowing each other's every move throughout any given day. chris sends pics of run-down houses he's fixing up. hanna shows us the story she's working on at wsaz. jenn and andy chime in with random dirty jokes and kristin -- she's usually asleep. ;) jk. kinda. we even send each other pics of what we are eating. we. are. weird.

sometimes it's annoying when my phone is constantly buzz-buzzing at all hours of the day/night, but that's when you just turn it off. and then you wake up to 147 texts. literally. i won't even tell you how many texts we all send a month now. it's enough that we have to go through and delete some before our phones explode.

anyway -- the point of all this is that i love these people. i love that they're crazy and they accept my craziness. i love that we laugh at each other and don't take offense. i love that we teach each other things and get each other through tough times. i love that we are all so different, but essentially, the same.

three members of the superfriends got to come visit kyle and i over the weekend, and i wish now more than ever that we all lived in the same city, preferably in the same building across the hall from each other and that we had a favorite coffee shop named central perk we can all go to when we are sick of sitting in each other's apartments.

i don't just want this for the superfriends, but all my friends. no, that's never going to happen, because in my real life, there are two monicas and chandlers about to get married, phoebe hasn't written "smelly cat" yet, ross and rachel are still just dating, and there are quite a few joeys still looking for jobs.

friends are so important to me, superfriend or not. i have so many wonderful friends, more wonderful than i probably deserve, and being with some of them this past weekend really made me realize how badly i want us all to be in each others' lives. always.

love&friendship.

krq.

meet lily

this little doll is my second job. and let me just tell you, babysitting her beats working the fitting room at old navy any day. she's such a good baby and so much fun -- not to mention i can read a book while she naps. :) i am seriously in love with her. her mother is also great, and i'm so lucky to have stumbled upon them. go ahead -- try not to smile at that face.

fun&love.

krq.

when i grow up

soooooo here's the deal.

i literally have no idea what i want to do with my life. ok, well, that's not entirely true. here are some things i do know i want:

- to marry kjd

- to travel to amazing places

- to have some cute kids

- to do something creative every. day. of. my. life.

- to live the perfect distance from home -- not too far, not next door to my parents

- to own a kitchenaid standing mixer -- red or mint green

the important one for this post would be the one about always being creative. while in journalism school, my creativity came through when i worked for the parthenon. i also have a minor in graphic design, so i was taking a lot of art classes. some people didn't like my way of designing the paper -- some people hated it actually -- but i kept trying new things, trying to make our college newspaper appealing to college students. i won a few awards, so i feel like i did a pretty bangin' job.

but now, today, this moment -- i want more. i want more than graphic design, more than newspapers or magazines. i want to work in a place where all the people are creative/crazy like me, passionate like me, excited for new things like me, in love with interesting things like me. and i want to be able to BE me.

basically -- i want to work at etsy. or somewhere like that. where ideas get you paid and give you satisfaction and happiness. where ideas run the world. where ideas are everywhere.

is that too much to ask?

love love love, i want your love

during this time of year, you can be one of two ways.

one -- you can be one of those people who hate red, pink and all things about valentine's day. you hate even going to target because all the pink makes your eyes bleed, and who the hell even made up this dumb holiday? or...

two -- you can celebrate love. all forms of it. because that's what this is really all about.

as you can tell, i am the number two kind of person. i love valentine's day, but not just because i'm in love with a wonderful man. for me, valentine's day is just a time to celebrate all the love in my life. there's sibling love, parental love, baby cousin love, best friend love, new friend love, family love -- it goes on. it's just a time to stop and recognize how much people mean to you -- and show them, no matter who it is.

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here are some things i did to show people i love them. i made this "countdown to the oscars" advent calendar for kyle. each little envelope counts down to the big day and has an academy awards trivia question inside. all those orange post its are kyle's school work -- the calendar is the garland that's hanging above. ha!
i made this little mustache valentine for someone special -- don't want to tell yet so it doesn't ruin the surprise! ;)

i bought these little owls and peace hearts for my sister and i -- i gave her some when she was in town a couple weeks ago.

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like i said, valentine's day is about showing and sharing love with everyone around you. it's not just about the hallmark cards and heart-shaped necklaces. bake something for your family. write a nice note and hang it on the fridge. make valentines for your friends. and if you're single on this seemingly "couples" holiday -- so what? do what i do. celebrate all your love.

"love actually is all around."

krq.

more decorating

so kyle and i worked on some more decorating. just adding here and there. we actually did this a few weeks ago, but i'm just now posting it.

i made these embroidery hoop decorations months ago before i even moved here, and now, finally, here they are. :)

kyle hung up our letters and some other things above our mantel. we rearranged some things up there, too. looks quite nice. :)

i hung up my K and Q letters from anthropologie on my side of the bed above my jewelry.

i also bought these hooks at urban outfitters when my dad and sister were visiting. they were on clearance and i loved the blue color and how nice they look up against our bare white walls. however, i didn't measure properly so they are uneven, and the nails aren't big enough so they fall off the wall if you try to hang more than a tshirt. so we're gonna have to work on those.

kyle put up the other four corkboards above mine, and added some stuff of his own, including pictures of meeee. :)

i'm sure you've seen these little creatures in previous pictures, but i found my other little owl that my sister got me, and added him to the bunch. :)

i moved my vases to the bookshelf, along with the wooden flower pencil my aunt got me. this isn't a very good picture to see all three items, but you get the idea.

and last but not least, kyle put up a few things above his computer. two prints he made in printmaking class (so fun) and a framed album cover of frank sinatra. the print at the top is of a repeating image of his grandmother, and the other one is a big weird eyeball thing that someone else designed, but he used as practice in class for printing. i'll post my valentine he made me when it comes back after being graded. :)

that's it for the decorating now. it's not the most riveting stuff to read about, but i like to share the evolution of my new residence.

love.

krq.

etsy update

i have finally updated my etsy with some new items and a new look. it's been on my to-do list for months now! these are some new pieces i've created.

i'm really trying to get some orders placed, so spread the word!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/KaylaQueen

sewmuchlove.

krq.

solitary&togetherness

on wednesday, the weather was pretty near perfect. not too hot, not too cold, sunny. after spending most of the morning inside, i finally made my way out into the beautiful weather for a short walk and a long read. kyle was at school, so i packed some snacks, a book, a blanket and a pillow, and put my headphones in for some mumford and sons. there's a park literally across the street from our apartment, so i walked over until i found the perfect tree to sit under. i stayed for a couple of hours, reading, snacking and people watching. it was just what i needed, i think. sometimes, you just need to spend some time alone...

...and then sometimes, you need to be with the ones you love.

kyle and i miss a lot of people lately (all the time, really). we're both praying for a time we can be with all of you, always.

love.

krq.

more visitors, more growing up

leaving home was especially hard because of my dad -- i knew how upset he was that i was moving out of my childhood home, but even more devastated that i'd grown up. this was something he's dreaded since the day i was born, he said, and i knew going into this whole "being an adult" nonsense was going to be really tough for him, which in turn, made it tough(er) for me. however, i knew that if he could come see savannah for himself, he would feel a little better. everything is beautiful in savannah, so that's a start. plus i live right across the street from a catholic church and school, for pete's sake, and across the other street is daffin park. there are children constantly playing outside, lots of nice neighbors and pets -- seriously, how bad could it be, right? so after a month of me being down south, my dad and sister/best friend came for a visit. yay! we had a really good time, and it was so great to see family again. here's a look at their visit.

tybee island -- it was such a beautiful day. perfect weather. i wish we had planned better so we could have stayed longer!

on their last day here, we went to river street in the evening to walk around before we ate dinner at rocks on the river. it was nice out again, so walking up and down the street looking at little shops was a lot of fun with my sister. my dad usually just hangs back and does his own thing. :)

here are some purchases i made at a hippie store my sister and i found on river street. :) we also bought some really cool vintage posters, but i'll post pictures of those when i hang them up!

we ate at mellow mushroom, uncle bubba's oyster house and rocks on the river -- three great places! there is a new gelato place downtown so my sister definitely wanted to hit it up -- greatest. idea. ever. we miss having real gelato like in italy, and this place was really close to what we had there. can't wait to go again! we did some shopping and sight-seeing, too. just a relaxed, fun weekend. :)

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i know it was hard for my dad to have to say goodbye to me again, but i think he feels better having seen what a beautiful city i live in, and that we really are safe. it may sounds silly or overly dramatic to some people that it's so hard to say goodbye to my family and for them to say goodbye to me -- because i will see them again (and probably soon) and i probably won't live far away forever -- but it's not about that. it's not about the distance or the days without seeing each other. it's about growing up and becoming your own person with your own life and knowing you have to do that for yourself even if it sucks in the meantime. it's about my parents having to face the fact that their oldest child won't be coming home every night to sleep in her bed -- she's sleeping in a different bed. with a BOY. seriously though -- it's just about growing up. and it's hard for both parties. and it sucks. period. but it's all just a part of it, right? one day i won't go to sleep missing my own bed because kyle's mattress is just a liiittle bit too firm for me, and everything that seems so different right now will become normal. it feels a little more normal each day. and one day it won't be hard at all. one day.

love&family.

krq.