The long weekend

The following pictures are some shots from my camera phone. Though I spent most of the weekend documenting with a dslr for my digital photography. When I’m done uploading/editing them I’ll share some!

ICA hosted a Dim Sum event for freshmen. Delicious!

Kendrick with a noisemaker up his nose. The boys of ICA are obviously very mature. Picture taken at Kaisin’s surprise birthday party.

Tiff and I went to LA Live and watched The American (a huge disappointment. Dad- if you’re reading this, don’t go see it!).

Josh and Char (life mentors and great friends) picked me up and brought me to Pasadena. I helped them unpack and explored Pasadena a little with them and their two precious daughters.

Other things that went down this weekend:
Hiking griffith! and watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (a brother of mine raved about this movie, but I was not impressed).

Have a great week!

Above my desk

Of course the center is this.

Blogging more

It’s a good thing. It means I’m being inspired. I’m thinking, creating, and wanting to share. Often I over think blogging (i’m vain if i blog, i have nothing interesting to say, does anyone even read this thing??, etc. etc.) and end up writing multiple posts that never get published.

Love this polaroid (titled tree dog). A collar-less black german shepherd was wandering campus today. Yes, I very much I wanted to kidnap him and take him home.

Dear Chicago,

I hope you know how lucky you are to get a girl like Bella. She has a huge heart for God and people. Be blessed.

Yours truly,
Helen

Bella on south congress this summer. Pink sunset in the background and sweet leaf tea slush in her hands.

Lately

Do you like how under “In a Nutshell” (on the right), it says Miss Kite is about my daily life?

In a sense it is, the lack of posts sums up my daily life well: busy. way busy.

I was internet-less for a week, but it didn’t even matter because between planning ICA events for freshmen (putting my summer internship to work. woot!), going to all the events (game night, beach day, etc.), and the crazyness of moving in to an apartment (three trips to ikea and target), I didn’t have time to go on the internet anyway.

It was lovely to come back to many beautiful entries (I follow a lot of wedding and design blogs) in my google reader. As for my twitter, I gave up catching up on the days I missed.

I discovered some more indie music thanks to one freshmen I met who has very similar music taste as me (she’s a bon iver and andrew bird fan too). This is currently playing.

God has been beyond faithful these past couple weeks. I am learning a lot and claiming the verse Galatians 1:10 often. It’s weird to serve God first and then people. It messes with my brain and heart sometimes because it’s not a bad thing to serve people, in fact it’s a very good thing to serve people, but I often forget why I’m doing ministry related things in the first place and I get caught up in the motion of doing (I’m a bit of a busybody) and I forget that God desires a Mary attitude not Martha attitude.

Who wants to sit under these lights and eat with me? What a dream. Is design and whimsy only for the wealthy?

Some of my favorite flowers for the ladies who read my blog. Though sometimes it feels like only guys read Miss Kite. Shout out to: James, Benry, Peter (ah hem there’s your mention).

Have a good week!

Girls Night

My Friday night with the greatest friends a girl could ask for:

• dressing up to go to the Driskill to eat fancy dessert (chocolate cake, apple pie, pineapple cake…can you say YUM?).
• coming back to my apartment and talking about going on missions (winter break 2010?!) while snacking on chips and candy
• watching Pride and Prejudice and swooning over Mr. Darcy  (if you follow my twitter you know I was distressed about my DVD skipping. I obviously watch that movie too much)
• lighting sparklers and frolicking outside (it wouldn’t be a girl’s night hosted by me without some whimsy)
• coming inside, lighting some candles, and reading scripture in the glow and drifting to sleep
• in the morning we chatted over bagels and honest tea about the upcoming semester, relationships, and the discipline of solitude and secrecy.

We laughed a lot (as always) and chatted a lot about God throughout the night. We like our share of shopping, heels, makeup, chocolate, and MR. DARCY, but at the end of the day we’re just five girls who are madly in love with Jesus and we’re out to make His name known and we’re grateful we get to walk alongside each other as we do it.

(image via: CLINK)

Meet Bells

My friend Bella got me a plant! Her name is Bells, a variation of Bella. My Bells reminds me of Belle, my friend Jenn’s orchid from her boyfriend. Apparently we like to name plants.

A few things:

• Today I set up my google reader. I found out that a handful of people have subscribed to misskite. How flattering! I was expecting one or two subscribers, but I actually have a few more than that (over ten!). I can’t check the stats on wordpress for some reason, so I often feel like I am writing to the abyss or the few readers that comment (shout out to Benry, James and Yuri). Thanks again for reading faithful followers. I love you all.
• Tomorrow is my last official day at Clink (I’m planning on going into the office a couple times next week, so it’s not good bye quite yet). It has been a huge blessing to work at Clink. I keep thinking about the lengthy process that came with applying for an internship and I thank God for providing this particular learning opportunity at the end of the long process (sending emails, praying, interviewing, praying, stressing, waiting etc. etc.). I can see myself work in the wedding industry in the future. Speaking of Clink, click here to see a wedding I helped out at. I loved the flowers at the wedding! Do you see the succulents in the vase? So pretty! I’m currently obsessed with succulents. PS: The table names were cattle brands. I worked with the stationer to make them possible!

• In a few weeks I go back to California. It is always bittersweet. Here’s a list of things I am looking forward to (I have to make this list or I won’t want to leave Austin. I choked up a little while driving and looking at the skyline tonight).

1. The weather. Biking, wearing jeans and cardigans, and doing devotionals outside.
2. ICA family! I can’t wait to hear the testimonies from my friends who have been overseas this summer and everyone else who God has been faithfully growing and teaching. I am also looking forward to serving alongside my class this coming semester (it will be crazy busy but I know there’s going to be a lot of laughter and good times).
3. My roommates. I can’t wait to hug Jess, Tiff, and Chris.
4. My design classes: Design III, Typography, Digital Photography (how am I going to find time for all these studio classes??)
5. DANCING!!
6. Did I say DANCING?
7. Food dates with Yuri and going to class with Yuri (OH WAIT. This punk signed up for a different Design III class).
8. Deepening my relationship with God. I can rejoice ALWAYS wherever I am because I have a Savior that loves me so. My spiritual theme for the semester? Let Go! and be loved and love much!
9. USC. I love my school. I can’t imagine going anywhere else.
10. and so much more… I am blessed (Thank you God!!)

Have a good weekend all!

Here’s hoping

that before school starts I will have this website redesigned. Summer is coming to a fast end. it’s true what they say, time flies when you’re having fun.

(image via: audreyhepburncomplex)

Bunting

For a friend’s surprise birthday party I made some rainbow bunting! A couple of my friends knew immediately I was in charge of decorations because they know how much I love bunting.

I punched holes in triangles and strung ribbon through it. The tiny circles were sprinkled around this ranunculus (I found a bouquet for the birthday girl at Austin Flower Co on 35th street. Check it out! They have a great selection). I used light green ribbon for the triangles on the fireplace and sparkly gold ribbon (you can’t see it in the picture) through the bigger triangles (below).

I’m posting this picture because it makes me laugh. I totally get in a zone when I do creative-design-related stuff. My friend Betho (who took these pictures, thank you love) captioned the picture on facebook: Helen in her “internship” mode. Look at those eyes. So concentrated. So focused. Haha.

Thanks to my gorgeous girl friends Betho, Em, Alice, and Jenn for helping me put them up.

Top bunk

Last summer I was on a train traveling across China.