Category Archives: work

interview with kiersten

I first met Kiersten over two years ago when I started working at Liberty Market. She has more energy than most people reminding me of a hummingbird. She constantly injects puns into her speech, and she forgets to eat often. You had better be ready to eat big though if you ever go to a restaurant with her and her husband because they will order EVERYTHING on the menu. They want to try it all!

(photo credit Jen of kreatid photography)

JM: Tell us a little about yourself.

KT: I grew up in Bozeman, Montana….the oldest of 4 kids.  My Dad is a potter, and he and my Mom have owned and operated Mountain Arts Pottery since I was a kid. I grew up in a family where my parents were (and still are) very supportive and encouraging.  Christianity was the foundation of all we did but we all knew our faith had to be ours…not just because Dad and Mom said so.

I did pretty well as a track athlete in high school and decided to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to run.  I wasn’t very good at the check sheets in college and as such, ended up taking so many classes I have a Double Major in Elementary Education and Special Education as well as a minor in Deaf Education and a Master’s in Special Education/Learning Disabilities – and now I own a restaurant….go figure!

I moved to Arizona to work at ASU and met my husband at a dinner he was cooking for.  Long story short…we got married and work together as co-owners of Liberty Market in Gilbert.


JM: How did you get involved with Special and Deaf Education?

KT: My younger sister, Becky, who is, as she likes to point out, exactly four years and eleven months younger than I am, was diagnosed with a learning disability soon after she was born.  Referred to as Global Retardation, her disability affects each aspect of her life in different ways.  Becky has a difficult time with her fine motor skills including printing and tying her shoes but reads at a college level.

She didn’t talk for the first three years of her life, and I remember with absolute distinction when she said her very first words….”Indian hat”.  We were traveling to an art show and had stopped somewhere to fill up for gas.  They must have had one of those plastic Indian hats with fake red, green and blue feathers sticking out of the top and when she pointed at it and said, “Indian hat”, my parents purchased it in absolute shock.  Since then, I don’t think she’s stopped talking!!! 🙂

She has a job at Fuddruckers making the guacamole and helping in the kitchen and has told David more than once that he needs to learn the recipe she has memorized.  Her memory is one that baffles all of our family.  She has always corrected us when we would say something like, “Remember when we went to visit Grandma in 1985?”  by saying, “It wasn’t 1985, it was 1984, and it was a Tuesday.”  We would laugh it off until we started checking her dates and she was correct.  She has more Civil War knowledge than the guides she used to drive with when visiting Gettysburg and her bible study teacher has stopped checking facts when Becky brings something up from the bible, because she’s always right.

The deaf education part of my life came into being as a result of my cousin Courtney’s deafness.  I loved sign language and started learning it to communicate with her when she would visit in the summer.  I would practice with my brothers on Sundays after church when my grandparents would take us out to lunch.  We had no ipod, itouch, ipad, phone….etc. and would have to self-entertain. Practicing the alphabet forwards and backwards was ingrained in my head and in college I quickly learned I could forego the foreign language component by taking sign language!

It sat dormant in my mind between college and the opening of Liberty Market when we hired two employees who are deaf. Having a glassed-in kitchen is the greatest thing because I can communicate across the restaurant and into the kitchen! It does confuse guests, however, when I ask them if everything is alright or explain something to them and realize I haven’t said anything!!!


JM: You grew up in Montana. What’s it like? Do you see yourself moving back there?

KT: You hear a lot about people from small towns itching to leave never to return, but I never felt that.  God has allowed some amazing opportunities to insert themselves into my life that have moved me to the next chapter in my life but never because I didn’t like the one I had just finished.

Bozeman is located in a valley surrounded by five mountain ranges and is amazingly beautiful. It’s cold and snows for half the year but there are three ski hills within thirty minutes of my house, the sledding hill is literally over the creek, through the park and across the street.  I spent a lot of my summers in the Gallatin National Forest at our cabin.  The back door opens up to the forest and the running water is connected to an underground spring so if you want it any warmer than ice cold, you have to heat it up on the stove.

It’s definitely a different world than Arizona.  More REI-ish and less Fashion Square-ish.  The magnitude of open space and sky is such a difference in comparison to Phoenix.  It SMELLS….not bad….it just has a smell.  When you get off the plane and walk out onto the tarmac (it’s a pretty little airport) it smells clean and clear, brisk and like pine.  It’s one of the best parts of the whole area!!!

Will I ever move back….probably not permanently.  David and I have this small little thing going on here that takes up a lot of our time – Liberty Market – however, we’d love to get to a place where we could spend time there over the summers.  I’m not sure what that looks like but I can guarantee you that summer in Montana is significantly more enjoyable than summer in Phoenix!!!


JM: You trained a work dog once-what was that like?

KT: We raised a service dog through an organization here in Phoenix, and it was amazing.  Johnny was a Golden Retriever that we trained as a “hearing dog” to work with an individual who was deaf.  I only recommend doing this if you have TONS of time.  We were in the process of opening Liberty Market and I had no set location at which I needed to work, so I was able to take him everywhere with me.  As a result, he became extremely social which made him a better trained service dog.

The day David and I turned him in, we went and watched the tail end of the Iron Man Triathlon because we figured they were the only people more miserable than we were!  If we ever do it again, I think we’ll do a dog with hospice.  Even though we knew giving him up was in both ours and his best interest (we spent the first month of the restaurant opening working eighteen hours a day without a day off), it was the most ridiculously hard thing I’ve ever done!!!


JM: Your family is full of creativity-your dad and you knit, your parents have a ceramics studio and bakery, your brother is a photographer (what else am I missing?)-was creativity something your parents fostered?

KT: My brother Tim is amazingly musically inclined, and my sister Becky who has a learning disability has moved socialization with people to a whole new level!

My parents made us take piano lessons from Kindergarten through our senior year in High School and I say “made” because I am not gifted in that realm in any way!  🙂  Other than that, they just encouraged and loved us.  More and more, I see that the family I thought “normal” growing up was and is anything but normal.  My parents are together, they love us, they support us, they let us be us.

I hesitate to express how amazing it is to have a shelter to come back to during good and bad because there is no way to give it the credit it deserves without sounding goofy!  When you see kids (and I see a lot of them in the restaurant, at church, in stores) you can tell those kids who don’t have to worry about the love of their family – whatever that family looks like.  They are secure in the fact that they are loved and accepted.  That was the world I grew up in.  It wasn’t perfect…I can list my fair share of fights!!….but it was safe.

So….back to your question, did they foster creativity….not so much as they fostered us and creativity came out of that!


JM: Give us a list of some of your favorite restaurants and why you love them.

KT:

1 – El Pollo Supremo – Beef or Chicken? Flour or Corn?  Those are your only options…great, inexpensive Mexican!

2 – Pizzeria Bianco – It’s our favorite because it affords us, as a couple, of at least 3 hours of uninterrupted “us” time.  But….we always eat something first!

3 – Matt’s Big Breakfast – I hope my trainer doesn’t read this but I get the Hog + Chick with the ham steak, eggs scrambled on the side (and I give them to David) sourdough toast, hash browns and a waffle with bacon….but…I then don’t eat for the rest of the day.  Mainly, because I can’t move.

4 – Houston’s/Chelsea’s Kitchen – in the vein of a little more costly, either of these two.  Houston’s is the best chain/non-chain.  They do a great job with everything and the service is impeccable!  Chelsea’s Kitchen has the best Rib-eye Tacos I’ve ever had but I have a hard time justifying the price if I don’t split them!

5 – Café Wasabi – A little Japanese place on Southern and McClintock.  It’s a nice place to get sushi at a reasonable price.  You can get a salad and ten piece California Roll for $7 or $8.



JM: Is there an internet link you’d like to share?

KT: As a plug for how really great my parent’s pottery is….www.mtartspottery.com

I really recommend looking at the history behind the Blessing Jar!

coffee table before and after!

here’s my thrift store coffee table.

poor thing-needs some love! and when i say love, i mean spray paint! <3 wheeee!

here’s what i did…

first, she got a little loving…some light sanding to smooth out the bad nicks and rough edges.

then, i wiped her down with a damp cloth.

after that, she got her first coat of white primer.

followed by a coat or two of white semi-gloss.

(yes, you should prime. don’t argue. it really does turn out better.)

you may recall, that got us to this point. i asked if i should leave it white or paint it gold.

susan had a fantastic idea of GOLD DETAILS!!!! Heck yes!

so…stencil time! i went to the craft store to try to find something i liked, but craft stores still haven’t quite figured out that we are looking for something a bit more not lame.

so i decided to make my own stencil out of shelf liner. because it peels off easily. mostly.

at least it does when you really want it to stay lined to your shelf.

and let me just tell you, this whole ‘make your own stencil’ thing involves a lot more swear words than you think.

here’s some advice from one who went before…let the shelf paper uncurl.

iron the stuff if you have to because IT WILL CURL UP AND STICK TO ITSELF.

<end rant>

okay! grab a permanent marker, a sharp razor knife, and your paper.

draw your design…

cut out your design, peel that frakking backing off without getting it stuck to itself, and stick it to your project.

COVER EVERY SURFACE.

i also highly recommend gloves at this point, especially with the metallic spray paints.

and open the garage door. use a fan if you’ve got one.

spray paint.

peel off stencil.

once dry, spray or roll with a protective coat of a clear acrylic.

enjoy!

november community dinner

I finally attended a community dinner at Liberty Market (instead of working it).

It was so delicious!

The food was fantastic, and so was the sangria service.

I had a great time hanging out with my co-workers.

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this is willy and ashley-they’re married.

willy is silly.

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a picture of ashley. she’s pretty.

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this is my boss joe. (we also ride scooters together.)

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travis and taylor. (travis is also known as prickly pete during no shave november.)

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this is me and becca. she was the one who did my wedding hair.

she more pictures of the rest of the night and the food here.

burger daze

I’ve been photographing the burgers that Chef Traina’s been creating at the Liberty Market where I work. It’s been a great way to play with my new lens! I’ve been having a blast doing it, and I even was able to create my own burger which will be featured on August 26th. The original burger was supposed to be The Ostrich Burger, but apparently, it’s ostrich breeding season. Which means you can’t get ostrich meat. Weird, I know. Anyhow, mine will feature mushrooms, a demiglace, and a special cheese that’s a cross between a blue and a brie. Chef’s really excited.

agritopia commercial corner

I’ve been part of a group that Joe Johnston has invited to brainstorm the idea of developing the commercial corner at Higley and Ray in Agritopia.  It’s been an interesting time to say the least, full of interesting people-I’m grateful for the chance to get to know all of them: Joe Johnston, Jeff Moriarty, Erich Schultz, Jessica Cuff, and James Johnston.

We brainstorm, mindmap, meet outside the group then come back together and share ideas again…hopefully, the development of the corner will begin soon because I can’t wait to visit it!

Here’s some portraits I recently took of Jessica and Jeff.

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health care

I believe the people of this country are holding back their creativity.  I believe that many never follow their dreams because they are held back in fear of lack of health insurance.  I know so many fathers and mothers who don’t strike out that idea for their personal passion whether it is a t-shirt company, a restaurant, or a music career. Instead, they take a “safe” job which deadens their heart and leaves them feeling as though they have betrayed themselves.

When I  travel to other countries, I am always delighted by the individual shops and businesses.  The small flower shops, the chocolatiers, the music stores.  The restaurants! The small food carts!  We are being robbed!

I believe that we as a country had more than enough money to pay for health insurance for all.  At least for all the children.  Instead we squandered it on war and bad loans.  We could rebuild our economy with actual dreams this time around.  I hope that this is something that happens in my lifetime.

And here’s a link that got me all fired up about this topic again.

it’s open

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Well, the market finally opened.  I think everything’s been going well.  I am proud of the work that I’ve put into it.  The retail area looks great; hopefully, the rest of my products will be in soon.  I have photos on the wall across from the community board.  Mine are the three on the left and the center one.  In the second bathroom stall, about half of the photos are mine too.

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It’s also been really cool getting to know the people that work there.  I was also able to get two of my friends jobs at the espresso bar.  And the food…mmm…

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