california...

As you can clearly see, time in California came and went. When six weeks hit my two roommates

peaced out to get married and be with their husbands. Lucky for me I got to stay for another

two weeks. At 6 weeks, I wasn't ready to be done. I still felt that I had so much to learn and see

in California. I had nothing super exciting to get back to and as much as I missed my family, I knew that this experience was once in a lifetime.

I gained a lifetime of knowledge about the design world, and myself in only a two month period. I guess sometimes when life gets monotonous it takes getting out of your comfort zone to really

understand what life is about. I discovered that design truly is my passion, that I have a deep love for Salt Lake City, and that the gospel is true everywhere you go.

As much as I loved being at Kelly Wearstler Inc. there came a time to leave. After a flat tire one

day and an earthquake the next, I was ready to be home.

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who made this happen for me. From my professors

who 'forced' us to do it, to Kelly for loving my portfolio, to Jess and Stacy for finding me a

home to live in, and especially my parents. They have always been so understanding of my wants and continually try their best to make my dreams come true. I am so lucky and so grateful to have them be mine.

Here is a quick recap of the last few weeks in California:

I went to the HOLLYHOCK HOUSE by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was magical. His architecture and design will ever inspire me.

Went to the Chinese Theater:

My Mom and Aunt Donna came... and we went to DISNEYLAND:

I am so proud of her.

We also went to Universal Studios and we had "Preferred" passes that made us feel special:

The Grinch Set

The Los Angeles Zoo with Amy and Whitney:

This Koala was named Kylee... awwww

...and I love being a kid. It even came with animal crackers.... clever.

Went to a movie at Hollywood Forever Cemetery:

Then bowling at Lucky Strike... Super fancy

Finished up the weekend with some beach time at Malibu:

week 8: kelly wearstler

My last week in Los Angeles started out with a day off due to the holiday. The rest of the week I finished up on the usual things. I finished working on my jewelry sketches and paintings. I finished working on some shop drawings for the hotels. I finished some photoshopped elevations. I finished up with a greater knowledge of how an Interior design office works. I finished with a greater understanding of how much work goes into a single project. I finished knowing that what I had learned was invaluable and the experiences I had were life changing. I am so grateful to have been a team member at Kelly Wearstler. I have learned so much, even if I wasn’t extremely involved in every aspect of the design process. This experience will be a part of me forever. Back to Utah!

week 7: kelly wearstler

Another week, come and gone, time goes by so fast when you are busy. This week I was able to work with the product department again with making jewelry sketches and paintings. We all know this is not my forte, and I was really nervous to hand things over to them, embarrassed moreover. They loved everything and had me keep doing pieces, and more pieces, and more pieces. Besides doing jewelry I worked on the usual Pos and errands, but I also worked on a FFE schedule, I fixed some CAD shop drawings, had a really long detailed meeting with Kelly, completed a flooring plan, and did some Photoshop elevations. Busy, busy week!

week 6: kelly wearstler

Sixth weeks have come and gone, and I am continually keeping busy for the most part. This week started out with a lighting schedule, Pos, pricing, and the usual errands. This week ended with painting for the product department. In between we had CBS come and film in the office a spotlight on Kelly and how the office works. It was definitely eventful and insightful into how things are filmed and what goes along with that. The best part of this week was getting stuck doing sketches, sigh, but being told that I had a great hand. I guess hundreds of European sketches paid off.

a few things i have learned...

After being on this internship for 6 weeks I have learned a few things about work....California... and more importantly myself. Here they are:

WORK

It is impossible to work as a designer without these things.. in order of importance

1. Post-its

2. A phone

3. A computer that contains Photoshop, AutoCAD, and Excel

4. A Scanner/copier/printer... nothing would get done around here without it

5. Hundreds and Hundreds of samples

CALIFORNIA

1. Roads are extremely confusing and drivers are worse than you can even imagine, you can ask me later how damaged my car really is, for example... yesterday I was sitting in my car parked when a guy decided to parallel park.... into my car. Lovely.

2. It's not what it looks like in the movies... We are currently involved in June Gloom, which is just how it sounds. No sunshine.

3. People express themselves in all sorts of ways... no clothes, hundreds of clothes, crazy outfits, dressing dogs in outfits, and my favorite... the homeless lady who was in the turning lane... with her shopping cart.

4. Everyone here has a dog, even their dogs have dogs. One prime example, we got home from work and 6, I repeat 6, dogs were behind our gate. How that happened I will never really know. I sure do love those cuddly critters though.

5. Traffic is by far the least appealing thing thing about California. I live 15 miles away from work and it consecutively takes 45 minutes to get to work everyday. Not only is it bad in the morning, it continually gets worse during the day... even at midnight. Oh technology, how you have changed our world.

MYSELF

1. Traffic can be handled by two things... shuffle on my ipod and orange juice. That is the cure for all things.

2. I can survive without having a bath every week.

3. It really is a huge problem when my toe nails aren't painted.

4. I get really excited when I can cross things off my list... I love lists... and post its. (You can even ask my roommates how severe this list thing is, and no I'm not crazy, I just like to be organized).

5. I miss my family more than I ever thought I would. I miss my dog. My home. The mountains. and the comfort of my own bed. Not too much longer Salt Lake, I will be home. You will ever remain the most beautiful city to me.

week 5: kelly wearstler

Wow. It’s already week 5. I feel like I am starting to get how the office runs and what is expected of me. I am making personal phone calls with the designers about my tasks, and I feel like part of the team. This week I worked mostly on shop drawings for custom vanities, tables, and beds. It was interesting to learn how they set things up and what details are necessary for a piece to be built. I also ran errands to pick out hardware, fabric, and drop of checks. After designing some doors for a beach house, Kelly picked a few and I put them in CAD to price out for the client. It’s fun to know that one of my designs will be the front door for a celebrity beach house. On a more interesting note, I had to translate foreign design magazines and search for the vendors in the photos. After many hours of searching I had to call and request catalogs. Needless to say it was an adventure and I figured out all of them but one. Been a busy week!

kelly week 4

It seems as though the weeks are just flying by now. I have gotten a feel for the office and how work is done at Kelly Wearstler Inc. This week I was kept really busy. The beginning of the week I rendered a railing for our Seattle client, found and printer lots of CAD drawings, space planned a room for the Kuwait Palace. I also ran to pick up a custom made jacket that is being made for Burberry’s 75^th Anniversary. Keep your eyes posted for pictures of that soon. The next 1,000 hours were filled with endless POs and Pricing. I guess I am the go to girl for Pos. Friday was filled with everyone running to my desk and asking me to do their work. I priced and printed information for three projects which took a long time to call, file information, and print for client presentation. All while doing that I had to fix all the bathroom elevations for a residence here in LA. As much as I was stressed, I loved what I was doing and being busy. That’s how you know you love what you’re doing I suppose.