sunday, november 8

a&c

So, I've made some new (non-university related) friends in the area and they are wonderful! I very much value their company and friendship. A&C are a wonderful couple, originally from this area and are one of those couples that never makes you feel like the 3rd wheel. A and I are like peas from the same pod and it's hard to believe we've only known each other for less than a year. It definitely feels like we've been in one anothers lives for much longer than that. They have the "furry child" that I heart so much, Bella. She is a great black lab that loves to play!

C is a firefighter and works 24-48 hour shifts quite regularly. While I love having him around and spending time with both of them, his shifts do lend themselves to quite a bit of girl time with A which is always nice, and quite rare with my married friends. I love their families and they've kind of adopted me (and my brother) into their family for Thanksgiving this year!

I decided to blog about them since we went to a wine-tasting brunch on Sunday morning. Food and the company were great... and mimosas after a long weekend? A brilliant idea!

saturday, november 7

serial flirting?

It's happened before, and I'm sure it will happen again... there are times when we (err, I) perhaps misinterpret over-friendliness for flirting or perhaps maybe there are just people in the world who are, in fact, serial flirters. Example number 452: So, there is a gentleman that attends this conference and I met him last year or the year before, I don't really remember. We always exchange pleasantries and get along well.

This year, things were different though, we ended up spending quite a bit more time together and getting to know a bit more about the other person. He was, in my book, definitely flirtatious and I'm not gonna lie, so was I. Well, the final session rolls around and I said something to him about the musician that was standing in front of us and suggested (jokingly) that he trim his beard like the musicians' was. This guy leaned in and said "yea, I don't think my fiance' would go for that." Your what? A mere MENTION of a fiance' at some point during the past four days would have been, I don't know, helpful?

catching up...

Well, I'm not off to a great start here. I've missed a few days due to the conference and such, but I have been keeping track of my blog topics for those days. Let's get you caught up here...


friday, november 6

bless her heart.

Isn't that what folks in the south say when they are trying to be nice when someone makes a move that is, well, rather silly?

The conference I was attending was held in Portland, so in the interest in saving some money we decided not to get hotel rooms the first or last night, rather just make the hour-long drive and sleep in our own beds. (This, by the way, might have been my biggest mistake this semester - we should have just forked over the money and gotten more sleep).

Anyway, I digress.... on Friday morning C and I hop into the university van and head over to pick up K from her residence hall area. Now, K is wonderfully sweet, very (book) smart and a complete joy to be around. She is from the "SoCal" region and very much misses her life there. She hasn't really accepted (in 2 years) that she lives in Oregon and it gets a bit colder here - especially in say, the month of NOVEMBER. She has warm clothes, so that's not the issue here. But she comes out to meet the van on this cold, wet morning wearing flip flops, thin white chino pants and a short-sleeved blue shirt. And, oh yea, her hair was still wet from her shower.

She got in the van and C & I were both laughing and said "K - what are you doing? It's cold out and it's supposed to be cold all weekend!" She replied by saying "what? I brought a jacket!"

About 10 minutes into the trip she informs us that she's cold. [shocking]

We then find out that she's packed shorts for the next day at the conference and defends this choice by reminding us that we're indoors for the conference. [Nevermind the 6 block walk between our hotel and the convention center.]

Needless to say, I wouldn't really care all that much except we got to hear about how cold it was from her all weekend long...

a warning...

I'm attending a conference today - Sat. and the days run from 7am - midnight. Ugh. It's a college talent buying conference and is quite fun, but it's exhausting! Just a fair warning that posts might not be happening. They will if I can!
Here was what I wanted to post yesterday.

feeling old

Spending a vast majority of my time with 18-22 year olds sure does have it's pros and cons. Last night I was chatting with two of my students after a program and wanted to share a bit of the conversation...

S 1&2: I'm kinda disappointed that when I leave college I won't have a lot of papers and stuff to keep, everything is electronic - so all I'll have is my external hard drive and/or jump drive.

K: Ha. Most of my stuff from college is saved on 3.5 inch floppy disks or zip drives, but I definitely kept some of the papers. Too bad I don't have a computer that runs those anymore!

S 1&2: WHAT? OH SNAP! You used 3.5 inch floppies in COLLEGE? And zip discs? Those were awesome, but I can't believe you had those....

ugh.

so stinkin' good...

Well, to my two faithful readers/comment posters - you are so stinkin' good! (If there are others out there reading this blog please make yourselves known once in awhile, will ya?) I'm guessing that it was that nice layer of smog that gave the destination away, right? =) I will say visiting the LA area always makes me feel so grateful for the clean/fresh air in Oregon and the other places I've lived!

My friend B (Tacoma, WA) and I flew down to visit our friend T in the LA area. B and T used to work with me here in Oregon and the three of us spent A LOT of time kickin' it before they both left for their new career moves. It was great to be back together again and it ended up being a very fun and relaxing weekend, although it was quite packed full of activity.

I arrived late Friday morning and we went to an amazing Vietnamese restaurant for lunch. We then headed to Tustin and explored the downtown area there before heading on to the Irvine area. That night we met up with a couple of my Semester at Sea friends for dinner. We took a ride on a ferris wheel that night in hopes of seeing the Disneyland fireworks from the top - that didn't work at all. I think we were a bit too far away to see it.

Saturday started with the hike up to the area behind the Hollywood sign (pictured) and then we did a drive down Hollywood Blvd. to see the stars on the sidewalk. We didn't get out and walk around as we were heading to Little Tokyo to meet another friend for lunch. We went to the well-known Daikokuya for some (amazing) authentic ramen. Now, I wasn't terribly excited initially and as we waited on the street (for an hour and a half). I thought there was no way that the wait was going to be worth the noodles and broth we were waiting for, but oh... was I wrong.

After that we took off for Venice Beach (lordy) and rented bikes to ride up to the Santa Monica Pier area. Our ride was at the end of the day, so the beach was clearing out and there wasn't a ton of people out and about... we saw the sunset during our ride and it was gorgeous! When we arrived at Santa Monica, we discovered that Cirque du Soleil had their tent set up and had a show starting in 2 hours.

We ended up getting tickets for and seeing Kooza! Totally unplanned and definitely one of the highlights of the weekend. I'd never seen a Cirque du Soleil show, but have wanted to for a number of years now! My favorite act might have been the "Wheel of Death" (warning: if you have kids around - the masks they are wearing are fairly scary, but the act is crazy awesome!) My other favorite was the tightrope walking/riding/jumping. Totally worth going to see if you get the chance!

Sunday was low-key... we went and had lunch at T's home (her mamma cooked for us) and then went to a park and just laid around in the sun until it was time to go to the airport! So nice... it was hard to come back to work this week, especially because it has the promise of being a busy one!

where in the world?

Getting back to the roots of this blog... you can probably guess where in the world I spent last weekend from this photo! It was a great weekend filled with lots of laughs, good food, fantastic friends, and in traditional kate style - a few surprises along the way. To start you off, this was a snapshot from a hiking adventure on Saturday morning. Know where I was? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

no really, it's November 1.

Hello again. I know its been awhile since the last post (once again) and, as an effort to be better about blogging more often I signed up for NaBloPoMo. Now, naturally, I signed up a day late, but I figure I'm only one day behind, so might as well.

The plan is a post once a day for the duration of November... I've had a few friends take this on over the years and am joining them for the games this year! I always think of things that I want to blog about, and so rarely take the time to sit down and do it. So... here goes...

grrrr......

So you know how "they" always say that the folks who are "dorky" in high school will often grow up to be well, not so much dorky as they are stunning/sexy/fabulous/handsome/beautiful (insert your own adjective here) later in life?

Yea. I got a facebook friend request from one such person the other day. This man was usually sweet, very good-natured and slightly on the side of society's description of "dorky" during those formative years at HHS. However, 10 years later, he is oh so attractive (and seemingly not anywhere close to dorky).

Ten years = great to him. Ten years to me = not so much. Yea... thanks for that reminder Facebook.

letters never sent...

Dear Former Roommate,

I was thinking of you today, on many days really. You know those yankee candles you always used to light in the apartment - in the clean cotton variety? I always loved that smell... I loved that smell so much that I recently purchased a Glade spray of the same fragrance to freshen the air in my current abode.

Every time I spray it, I think of you. =)

Sadly, I keep it in the bathroom, and... really only spray it after I've... well... you know... "dropped the kids off at the pool."

Which means, I usually think of you when I... well... you know...

Maybe I should rethink sending this "hey I thought of you today" e-mail? It's not actually as nice as I would have hoped.

I wonder if Hallmark will hire me as a card writer someday?

curious?

Are mattresses ever NOT on sale?

Seriously.

a little cheese to go with the wine.

So, "Mr. T" brought me a rose to my office on Monday. I was pleasantly surprised by this gesture and, I must say, quite touched. The next day I ran into him on the staircase and as I saw him the conversation was this...

k: I've got the most beautiful rose on my desk today
mr. t: (as he leans in for a great hug) and I've got the most beautiful rose in my arms right now.

cheesy? yes. nice to hear? you betcha.

seriously? seriously.

I've been going to the same Gold's Gym since I moved to S-town two and a half years ago. The quality, cleanliness and customer service has declined over the years, but I kept hoping that one of the (frequent) new managers would get that place in shape [pun definitely intended].

The latest in the myriad of issues with this place... the Gold's sells itself to new members and advertises that it is open for 24 hours a day. Tonight I met two friends a the gym for an evening workout at 7:15 p.m. which is not my normal gym time on the weekends. At 8:00 p.m. we were informed that they were closing for the evening and that they normally close at 8:00 on Sundays and midnight every other day. What? And no...this is not a recent thing in light of the recession. They've always closed at these hours. Anybody else see disconnect here? I'm thinking they need some sign changes...

clearly, I was spent...

Last night, some friends talked me into hanging out - STARTING at 10:30 p.m. [I've recently been going to bed about 10 p.m.] When I got home (at 11:45 p.m.), I brushed my teeth, climbed into bed and then sent S the "I'm home text" that was requested.

I apparently fell asleep before

1) closing my flip phone (as it was open, lying next to my pillow with S's number still on it when I woke)
2) turning the ringer back on
3) setting any of my alarms

Guess it's good I live by a high school and woke up to the kiddos getting to class this morning.

Ugh. I need a nap.

wow.

I must say, this is blog worthy in my book. Yet another example of why we shouldn't judge a book by its cover....

Susan Boyle

lack of blogging?

To my few and faithful readers. I must apologize for the lack of blogging lately. It's not totally shocking to you I know. I have been devoting my blogging efforts and time to managing a blog for a committee I've been working on for the past year. Let me explain a bit...

One of the professional organizations I belong to hosts a job interview fair (of sorts) alongside its national convention. This past weekend at the event we conducted well over 5000 interviews with more than 450 university employers and more than 750 candidates. Eeegads.

Additionally, we are profiling the higher ed job search process of four of these candidates. Each week they post about their process including frustrations, funny stories, mistakes, successes etc. My role in this? To edit each of these posts and to make sure the bloggers stay anonymous. I must say it's been a lot of fun to get to know them (in person this past weekend) and share in their trials and joys. Would love for you to read that blog as well as they are witty and intelligent storytellers. For those of you who might not really understand what I do for a living, this might even help a bit. =)

http://placementexchange.blogspot.com/

Lucky?

I'm getting something from Megan and you can get something from me!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It’ll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it’s going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! If you don't have a blog.... uh, we can work something out. We can post pictures here or something. Or, you could start a blog! Blogs rule (the world!) Bloggers of the world unite!

Also, if you’re already getting something from somebody else’s blog, please give someone else a turn! Thanks!

well now, wasn't that lovely?

My car was in a hit and run crash today. =(

No note. No apology. No number. Sad.

The good news is that I wasn't in it and I wasn't hurt. Right?

But seriously....that's $300 (in a deductible) I sure didn't need [or want] to spend.

Police report is filed, now onto the estimate. eeek.

glittery christmas cards.

You know those Christmas cards that people send that are super sparkly and glittery? Yea... while they are pretty, I am convinced that they should come with a warning on the envelope.

"CAUTION: open this over a sink or trash can. Copious amounts of glitter enclosed. Failure to do so will result in a big mess that you will then have to clean up."

Or perhaps it should say, "BONUS: This is also a rave party pack: open and dump all over your body right before leaving for the club."

cheap entertainment.

I've been at home this past week celebrating Christmas with the family and catching up with some old friends. It's been wonderful and I'm so glad that my job allows for this much time off at the holidays. I have spent a number of hours with a good friend of mine from high school, Laura, and her family.

Laura's daughter, Claire, has to be one of the sweetest and most adorable kids I know. She is 22 months old, very well behaved and super friendly! I only see her once or twice a year and she acts like she knows me right away when I visit and always has hugs and kisses to give. Really, is there anything better than that?

As many of you know, I tend to get a kick out of kids and the random things they say...Claire has been no exception to this lately. The other day we were sitting in the kitchen and Claire was asking if she could watch a bit of a movie while dinner was cooking. [authors note: I am not around kids of this age on a regular basis and sometimes it takes me a bit to translate what they actually say.] I asked Claire which movie was her favorite and she looked up at me with her big eyes and long lashes and said "f*%k." I smiled to myself and said, "what?" Claire responded "f*%k." I looked to my friend Laura for assistance and asked, "what did she say?" Laura looks at me (with this look on her face as though she couldn't believe I hadn't understood Claire) and said, "Shrek."

I cracked up and said "dang, sure sounded like she was dropping the 'f-bomb' there." Claire continued asking for "f*%k" and for "donkey and f*%k" and I tried SO hard not to laugh. Well, when Laura finally realized (and admitted) how much it really did sound like what I was hearing, I was not successful in holding it back and I was laughing so hard I thought I might wet myself! Claire just looked at mommy like she was ready to ask her "who is this crazy lady?"

I wish I could say that I didn't encourage more conversations about that giant green ogre with Claire during our time together, but I can't. =) Laura has since thanked me (rather sarcastically) for ruining the way she hears her daughter saying "Shrek" and, as a language educator, has committed herself to working more on the "shhh" sound with Claire.

To top it off, I made sure that Claire had a nice new (and noisy) toy before I left town. She is now the proud owner of a pint-sized recorder and, I might add, seems to love it. WHAAAT? It's great for motor skills and hand eye coordination. Ha. Let's be real, I am in so much trouble when I have kids... the paybacks from my friends will be severe.

* I did get to go with Laura and Claire for Claire's first haircut at a salon - so fun! I'll post a picture soon so you can see this little cutie!

snow excited...

Well, the weather outside is frightful, and the fire I'm attempting to build in my fireplace could be delightful - if I don't smoke out the house. Today, I am saying, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It is a rarity that we get snow here in the Valley - there's always plenty of it on the mountains, but I've only seen it here about three times down here and even then, it's not much. Needless to say, as much as I complain about cold weather, there is something about seeing snow for the first time a season that makes me SO happy. I love it when it snows like this - big flakes that stick AND I don't have to go anywhere today.

Alright.. I'm off to enjoy the beauty!

Shhh... don't tell my friends in Minnesota how excited I am about the snow... they'll think that I'm going to reconsider my stance on winter and move there.