Hi Kelsey, it's Kelsey...

I know you are feeling a little PMS'y right now, so I thought I'd just send you a quick little reminder about how awesome you are.
First, you need to stop being jealous of other people who get to go on vacations and buy houses and spend lots of money on expensive things. Remember that you and Warren are working your butts off full time, making good money and are saving up for your own house. Remember that the average home price in Calgary $460,000 and that you need 5% down in order to qualify. In the US, house prices are a quarter of that, and don't require the same down payment. You are doing awesome! And, don't forget this little important piece of information... about how you don't have ANY DEBT what. so. ever. You guys go on vacations to see family because it's what is important to you, which just shows how unselfish you are, and that you care more about seeing those you love than escaping the real world. Not that vacations for yourself are bad, but it just shows what a considerate person you are. So don't feel bad, you should feel AWESOME!

Second, you need to more patient, especially with your husband and your pet. I know, I know... sometimes you can't tell who's the pet and who's the husband, but you need to remember that they can't read your mind. And no one likes doing the dishes. Sometimes you just need to let things go. But to be honest, they both need a spray bottle spray in the face sometimes...

Third, you need to have a more grateful attitude. It goes a long way.

Just remember that you are awesome. You are on your way to success and no one should bring you down. Your hair is so pretty and long right now, and it's working for you! Your friends all love you, and think you're funny. There's no reason to feel bad about yourself.

Love,
Kelsey

That one time when I learned how to read this graph

I am the worlds biggest nerd lately. It's becoming apparent to me that I should have taken more science classes while in school. I hated science, but sadly I excelled... I loved doing math, but sadly, it's the reason I dropped out of university. To each their own, I guess.

Anyways, I have recently become INFATUATED with hunting the auroras (northern lights). As some of you may recall from my previous post about this, things didn't exactly happen as I had wanted the last time I went in search of them. I tried not to give up hope, though. I did more research (probably more than I had ever done in my entire educational career) and I joined a forum hosted by University of Alaska Fairbanks (I'm not bias or anything). Ultimate nerd! Nothing is more nerdy-er than a forum!
BUT...
I learned a lot, and became fascinated all over again. And now I feel super smart. Basically, this is the run down on the pheonomenon that is the northern lights.

The Earth has a positive (or northward facing) magnetic field around our atmosphere. The sun often gives off solar flares, also known as CME's (coronal mass ejections) from active sunspots. The sun also has series of solar streams that come from coronal holes on the surface. Both CME's and solar streams from coronal holes carry with them, a magnetic field from the sun. This graph is represented as the red line in the graph above, also known as the Bz. This tells us if the current wind from the sun is either positive (north) or negative (south). Because Earth is north facing Bz, in order to make a 'connection' with the solar wind, the sun's field needs to be pointing south. The farther south, the better. Think of a bar magnet, opposite fields attract otherwise they repel. What this does, is it opens up the magnetic field on Earth to let in the solar wind.

The next thing we need to look at is, the orange line. This is the particle density. Auroras are light partcles that are bursting within our atmosphere... the different types of particles they are, dictates the different colors. We want a higher density, 2-10 should be good, but obviously higher wont hurt!

After that, we look at the yellow line, which is the wind speed. The info on this graph is taken from a satelite that is about an hour away from Earth. So if the wind speed is high around 700-800, it will get to our atmosphere quicker than an hour, but if it's slower around 400-500 it can take a little longer.

The last thing to really look at is the Kp index, which is a general estimate of what the geomagetic field is. Example, the yellow means it's unsettled around a 4. A 5 or higher means there is a storm warning issued, and the auroras can be seen farther south from the pole. In Calgary, I need about a 5 or 6 to be able to clearly see them. Those of you in Utah, you'll need probably a 7 or higher. It does happen, so it is possible. The yellow bars indicated above are solely from a solar wind stream, not a solar flare. I have seen pictures from Thatcher, Utah... so I know it's possible. This view might also be of some help.

One last tip... obviously, it needs to be a clear sky. If you can't see stars clearly, your chances may be pretty low. Depending on how strong everything is, all things being equal you can probably see them from within the city, but light pollution can drastically hinder things... so always as a rule of thumb, drive out from city limits, just so you can see actual darkness. Haha!

And that's all she wrote!

I fashion Kate Middleton

Lately I have been admiring my new favorite person... Kate Middleton! I've been slowly trying to start to dress like her. She's so classy and fabulous... and modest which makes it easy to replicate her fashion. Bonus! I love everything she wears... I even want to wear one of those big fancy British hats. So far, I've two dresses that I call my 'Kate Middleton' dresses.

Kate's blue dress

 My blue dress

Kate's navy patterned dress

My navy patterned dress

I'm on my way. It's a work in progress and I am VERY excited to research her fashion some more, and see what else I can come up with. Sometimes this just makes me feel like a princess.

Day of Birth

A little late... considering it's now my sisters birthday.

This year my birthday was a rather emotional one. I know I sound like a broken record here, but I can't be any worse than people who talk non-stop about their kids. Losing your mother so tragically is easily just as emotional as having a kid.

Anyways. The days leading up to my birthday I was a frantic disaster. Last year was supposed to my golden year. I turned 23 on the 23rd... but it was anything but golden. Burnt sienna maybe, haha! Being the first birthday where I knew I wasn't going to speak to my mom, was a lot to really comprehend and it was difficult to put in the back of mind.

My co-workers really went well out of their way to show appreciation for me, what I do for them, and how much they care about me and my fragile state (though I put on a really good fake smile). I really didn't deserve it all! The first surprise was lunch... I thought it was odd that they didn't invite me to go out since it was my birthday day and all, and that's what they usually do for everyone. Afterwards though, they all came out into the lobby and just stood around.. then I heard the singing begin... and they put an ice cream cake in front of me! I was surprised to see so many realtors there! Later in the day, this was delivered for me:

 I was ecstatic! I never get things delivered for me, and I've always wanted a fruit bouquet! Thank you Shari, Lauren and Sandra! It was so yummy!

When I got home, I got to do whatever I wanted to do. Since it was a week night, I thought just staying in would be good. So we ordered pizza! Warren got me Taylor Swift's perfume Wonderstruck, which I have been swooning over for a few weeks. Here's all my birthday swag:

It was a really great day, and I didn't have much time to think about anything depressing. It was great! And we were babysitting our friends John and Allison's cat Scout... they loved the balloon.

Here's to a new year... and hopefully, a little happier one! Thank everyone who made my birthday so great!