Over My Head

Oh gosh.
So designing my new layout is going to be so much harder than I had anticipated. I don't have Photoshop (although I took many design classes in my younger years) and what I've worked with previously is just a updated version of Paint. I laugh because I think it sounds really poor!
But I am not a graphic designer and I don't work too much with any particular programs so I just have never had a need for Photoshop and other computer design programs. My little blog will probably end up staying relatively plain. :-)
However with the help of the Internet I found a very nice website that has already pre-made banners and templates that are super adorable. I may just have to take them up on their offer. With the summer started and not too, too many plans made (haha) I'll see how I fare working with the programs I have now. Who knows? Maybe I'll make something decent with Paint. Haha!
In other news, my coworker and I were thinking about starting up a new blog called "Be Our Guest" and it shares the adventures and amazing tales of what we experience at our job together as two single Guest Service Agents in a small town Business Hotel. I may just make it a little weekly thing we write about here on With Yellow Feathers. Just to see how it goes. So many different people walk into our hotel, it amazes me what we tend to experience on a daily basis! I suppose that comes with working with the general public huh?
A good rest of the weekend to everyone!

Warm Regards,
Kristen

Back in the Atmosphere

Hey y'all!

Sooo.. I'm back!
The story goes that I did not have a lot of commitment to this lovely little blog but I'd like to start it back up again. I've certainly missed it to a degree and it is supposedly my last semester of community college before I head out to the big bad world of University. I want to have a little place to talk about my journey to a new area and a new college and how I make it looking for an innkeeping position.
Expect some changes to the blog for sure! Different color scheme and lots of new construction to come. I don't have photoshop (I'm so dated!) so it'll take a little while before I can get my page anywhere close to what I'd like it to look like. Oh well! We'll see how I fare this time. Keep an eye out for changes! :-)

Warm Regards,
Kristen

Dreamer Dreamin'



Fats Waller is my company tonight y'all. He's singing me sweet lullabies while banging out jazz tunes on his piano and singing to me in his rich, husky, jazzy voice.

So a few weeks ago I was talking with my mom. She was asking me about my friends and what they wanted to do with their lives. This is always a really strange topic to talk about because as it is, I hardly have a tight grasp on what I want to do with my own life, let alone my friends.
I always figured I'd major in hospitality management and start working in my own Inn or Bed and Breakfast somewhere off the east coast, where I'd have a forbidden love affair with a Red Socks fan (Angel's girl ;-) ), and live my life in a small, vintage cottage, working in the place I love most. Then maybe I'd run my own Inn with a tea cup pig and a dog I rescued from an alleyway or something like that.
Anyways, I was talking with my mom and she asked, "What does Amanda want to do?"
Amanda, being one of the closest friends I have in life, doesn't really know what she wants to do. She's currently working part time in a fast food restaurant and part time in a small record store down town. We had got to talking one day about what she wanted to do with her life and she honestly said she couldn't think of anything but working in her own business. However, she couldn't imagine it'd thrive because of the economical rut the country is in.
With this being totally understandable, I told my mom that Amanda wanted to start her own business but she was afraid that it wouldn't do so well.
My mom, surprisingly, was incredibly supportive.
There are a few things there are interesting about my mom. For one, she's either completely and totally supportive in whatever my brother and I want to do in life or just whenever. Or she's absolutely against it. There's no in-between with her. And she always makes a really persuasive point about her opinion on anything. (We think it's because she secretly kissed the Blarney Stone.)
When I first graduated high school, I told her I wanted to major in English and become a Creative Writing teacher in a high school. Then I wanted to write part time and work my way up to becoming an author. This was my huge, amazing dream!!
My mom, being on one side of the road or not, flat out said, "No, you're not." when she heard this idea.
And I fought with her on this for forever.
For FOREVERRRR!!
She told me every reason why it was a terrible idea. I will admit that I never accepted that it was a bad idea, I still love my dream idea, but I've grown to like other things as well and I'm not as glued to the author idea as I was. She hasn't won the round but chances are, I wont end up being a teacher after all. (laughs)
Anyhow, she was absolutely supportive of Amanda's idea to the point that she started to include me in it. Somehow, being what Amanda wanted to do, turned into what Kristen and Amanda should do.
And what was even more surprising, was that I was all for it as well.
Yes, I'd love to own my own bed and breakfast one of these days, but it has also always been a dream of mine to own my own business in historic down town. Since the discussion with my mom, I've done nothing but research how to make this small business begin. I ran the idea by Amanda and she absolutely loved it. We decided that we'd save up some money here and there and further our studies before anything is every made official. But we'd like to consider it our dream as of right now and something we'd like to seriously make a goal sometime in the future. :-)
I guess my big question is how do small business owners begin and what tips can they give to aspiring business owners?

-Kristen :-)

A-Maizing Harvest Dress

Good Day everyone!


It's a wonderful day here in SoCal. The clouds have rolled in and there definitely is a threat of rain.
:-) My favorite. Anyways, I'm still recovering from my little cold. I really am sick and tired of being sick. (Laughs) But anyway; a few days before I came down with my cold, I decided to splurge and purchase a few things from a couple of my favorite online shops. Yesterday my package arrived from the one and only Modcloth! I couldn't wait to get home and try on the what I bought.
Here's my first dress from ModCloth..

Ignore my messy room.

Here's some of the detailing on the chest. Sorry for the boob shot haha!

The Poofy Sleeves = <3

Paired with slouchy boots

So this is Modcloth's A-Maizing Harvest Dress. I adore it!
The Pros are that it's really versatile. I could either wear it now during autumn or even late spring/summer. The cons are ( I admit ) mostly just because I'm a larger girl, I can't just throw on the dress and walk out the door. In order to kind of hide all my unwanted bumps and curves, I have to pair it with a slip.
Other than that though, I really love the dress and I plan on wearing it to my families big Thanksgiving dinner.
I do have to apologize about the amateur photography and my lack of really dressing this dress up. Like I said; I'm still sick and it is a cloudy day. ;-) Next time, I'll have something much nicer to show y'all.


Dress- Modcloth
Belt- Thrifted
Boots- Torrid


-Kristen <3

Sniffles Time

Aw man.

I do have to apologize for the lack of posts. Believe it or not; but I have maybe three or four unfinished posts sitting in my drafts right now. It isn't because I don't want to post anything, because I really, really do! It's just that... it's that time of the year.

The time of the year when I get really sick and refuse to do anything.

I hate being sick just like I would hope everyone would. At least once or twice during the fall-winter season, I catch something from either my family, work, or school. Whatever I catch usually tends to dwell in my system for well over a few weeks. It's absolutely annoying. My room is currently littered with balls of tissues, tubs of Vicks Vapor Rub, and empty tea glasses.
When I first realized I might be coming down with something was last Thursday. I was at work and had a little itch in the back of my throat. It was kind of quiet-for the moment at least-at work so I turned to my coworker, cleared my throat and said, "I think I might be getting a sore throat."
He turned and looked at me and with a roll of his eyes said, "You cookie."

So of course I refused to whine the rest of the day because I was sure he'd continue to make fun of me about it. Just like that though, the sore throat began to persist until it was full on discomfort as I left at the ending of my shift that very same day. It was a shame because the next day was the second day of snowboard season. And guess who was invited to learn snowboarding for their very first time?:
This girl!!

I would post pictures but I'm still waiting for my friend to send them to me. I would not have dared to take my camera with me. I'm glad I didn't. I don't think I've ever fallen so much in my life.
Anyways; since that little itch in my throat, I haven't been feeling too hot. The sore throat I was able to overcome within a few days. But the constant coughing, sneezing, sniffling? No. Not even a little.

When I went into work a few days ago, the same coworker who called me a cookie, laughed and asked if I was sick (due to my raspy, crackly voice). I just glared and answered yes. Then he proceeded to wonder when and how.
"How? How could you sick? You're Kristen." were his exact words.
Not sure how that makes a difference but apparently being me is what makes me less likely to be sick.
So for now, I'm just going to take it easy. I really do hate being sick though. The world doesn't stop for you when you're sickly. You have to keep moving with it which is the worst part considering I still have school, work, and other things to focus on. Any cold remedies or secrets you'd like to share? :-)

--Kristen <3

(p.s. I'm so sick and tired that I haven't proofread this yet. Please excuse my mess.)

Happy (late) Halloween

Hello everyone!
I'm hoping the holiday went well for some people. I heard that on the East side of the country, everyone is experiencing Mother Nature at her finest. Boo to having to post-pone Halloween. :-( I never used to understand what the fuss was over for this holiday, but with age; I've come to realize it can be a lot more fun. Mostly just the dressing up part. And no, I don't mean the really "lack of dressing up" costumes either. I-with the help of my relatives-pulled together a really sweet Native American costume for the evening! :-)
My friend, Brent and I decided to hit West Hollywood this Halloween. (Last year we went to a teeny little bar/club in Orange County and it was really fun, but too small for Brent.) Because we were going as a costume duo, we went as a 'cowboy and indian' theme. Personally, I thought our costumes turned out really adorable. Even once we arrived in West Hollywood, we looked at each other and said, "We look really cute." (laughs) No vanity intended.


Last year we went as bunny's. (gags)


Anyhow, we had planned out almost a year in advance the trip to WeHo. We live about an hour and a half away and personally, I despise driving anywhere near LA. I have to do it every now and then and every time it's this total event for me. I am not okay with driving in LA traffic but gradually, I've gotten the hang of it. We always get lost, or freak out in traffic, or...get lost mostly. (Thank God for iPhone because the directions/map app is a lifesaver.) But we've learned just to drive really, really rude. Does that even make sense? It should. Just drive like you're really angry always. Cutting people off gets easier with time. (laughs) I'm kidding. (Sorta.)
Once we paid our fifteen bucks for parking, we were all set. The carnival itself is on Santa Monica Boulevard and by the time we got there, we were maybe an hour late to the original time it was supposed to start. The place wasn't deserted but it definitely was not too busy.
Hard to believe that by the ending of the night it was said on the news that there were over 500,000 (!!!) people there. (shrugs) Go figure.
The costumes people were sporting were unbelievable. Brent reassured me all night long that what we were seeing was actually considered quite conservative. I kept wondering how anyone wasn't freezing. I froze all night long. Brrrr!
Now I think Brent and I had really high expectations for the WeHo carnival. We had an awesome time, don't get me wrong, but I think we just were kind of hoping for more excitement or really, more things to do. Really, I just wanted to dance more. (Boots n' cats? haha) The downside to both of us not quite being twenty-one was that we couldn't get into any of the clubs and bars we wanted to go to on Santa Monican Blvd. But oh well.
Next year, Brent says.
(laughs)
On the upside, the costumes were an attraction in and of themselves. I can understand why people go totally out to make them. People go crazy! It's like they're celebrities. :-)

These guys totally loved Brent.

Picoooo and her undying love! <3

I almost offered up a sweater.
;-)











Hope everyone else had an excellent holiday!! I guess this means we have to start getting ready for Christmas? (laughs) Oh gee.

-Kristen <3

Stepping Out With My Baby

I had an awesome idea this morning.

"I'm going to do something I haven't done since middle school."
That something was tucking in my shirt. See, the only time I tuck in my shirt is at work. So I gave it a shot and surprisingly enough, I liked it far more tucked in than let out.

The tucked in look is kind of a fun, classic twist. I wish I had figured out how much I liked it earlier. (laughs)
I took a look at some celebrities who pulled off the look rather nicely and decided that whatever I planned on leaving the house in for the day, I was going to tuck in the top. I settled with some jeans and a tank top accompanied by a cardigan and sandals.

My friend and I toyed with my camera and here we are!



The last one was just an example of how almost all of the pictures came out. It made us appreciate and admire all the bloggers who can do fashion blogging seriously. I kept laughing, he kept getting his fingers in the way, and overall we could not stop goofing around. Also, I realize I'm not exactly the most fashionable person. I'm in dire need of new clothes. But I wanted to give it a shot so (shrugs); here we are. :-) Any suggestions are welcomed. Next time, I would probably wear a more flared jean.

If interested:
Top: Forever 21
Cardigan: Torrid
Jeans: JC Pennies
Sandals: [gift] Forever 21