Comments (18)

By kilax, October 5, 2012 7:13 am

Do you have an ICE (in case of emergency) contact listed in your phone? Who is it?

I’ve had Steven listed as my ICE in my phone since college. Recently though, I realized if something happened to me and someone had my phone, there would be no way to unlock it to see my ICE without knowing my passcode (unless there is an app or setting for that that I don’t know about!). So I added him to my lock screen:

Ha ha. Hopefully people won’t think they are calling Luca when they see his number!

When I am running, I have a ROAD ID on my shoe that has Steven and Erin‘s number on it, but it doesn’t hurt to have that along with the phone contact!

Comments (19)

By kilax, September 28, 2012 6:27 am

Do you use Groupon/Living Social/similar deals? Why or why not? What are the best deals you’ve purchased?

We have actually done a lot of cool things through Groupon: flight lesson,

Intro to Road-Racing Class through the DriveTech Racing School, Exotic Car Driving in Jersey (photo by Gina, and gift from Gina!),

kickboxing class… and we have an exciting upcoming Groupon we will use in October!

We’ve also gotten coupons for grocery stores ($10 for $20 worth of groceries), Starbucks (was that one $5 for $10) and so on.

But I try not to look at the Groupon emails too much. I get all these ideas of things I want to do and it makes me anxious to know I spent the money, and it’s just sitting there, waiting for me to do it. I know the money you spent is always good for that amount of money at the venue if you don’t use the Groupon in time, but I just feel so anxious knowing I have unused Groupons (more for activities then giftcards in stores)!

The Thriller in Schiller Giveaway winner is Queenie! Queenie, please email me (kilax@ilaxstudio.com) and I will send you the coupon code!

Thanks to everyone who entered! Like I said, I am not sure if I can make it since we might be out of town, but I think the bloggers who can should totally do a costume themed meetup!!! Registration is only $25 and you get a t-shirt and pint glass!

Comments (17)

By kilax, September 21, 2012 6:09 am

Do you prefer a certain type of pillow? Or are you able to sleep on any kind?

Somewhere along the road, I developed a preference for big, fluffy pillows. But not the kind your head sinks down to the bed on – it has to hold my head up. And if it doesn’t, I put another pillow underneath it. I also like my head elevated a bit. 

I’ve thought about this a lot in the past few years, especially as I have traveled more and sometimes stayed in hotels with awful pillows. Whenever I can now, I bring my pillow with me for travel (a synthetic down one from Bed Bath & Beyond). 

First World Problem for sure! But it does really affect how well I sleep. We have a lot of pillows in our house, so that guests can choose the type they like… although I think everyone is usually so tired they just go to bed and use the ones on the guest bed.*

*And nearly everyone HATES our guest bed. Sigh. We can only fit a double in our guest bedroom. Yeah. It sucks. I know. I’m sorry, I truly am!

Comments (18)

By kilax, September 14, 2012 8:10 am

What is your ideal day?

Molly wrote a beautiful ideal day post, and asked me if I wanted to participate in writing my own as part of the Ideal Day Campaign. The idea is that visualizing your ideal day will help you recognize it when you are having it – make it more likely to come true.

I felt a lot of pressure though! How could I imagine what an ideal day is like?! I have never had an ideal day.

Then the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had. My ideal days are when I go to the river with my family/friends and have not a care in the world. So for now, work is left out of my ideal day.

My ideal day:

I wake up early, naturally. I’ve gone to bed early the night before and feel well rested. I have nothing to do – the day is mine, with no obligations. So I start it with a long run. I run all over town and people are friendly when I pass them. The weather is nice and overcast for my run. 

After my run I eat a bagel with peanut butter, and despite it still being early in the morning, miraculously, everyone is ready to go to the beach! So we all head out on one of Dad’s boats, which is running perfectly and hasn’t had an issue in years. We find a great spot to park on the beach and set up camp. The clouds have left and the sun is shining!

We spend the day eating, playing games and hanging out. There may even be a nap on the beach involved.

We take the long way back home to enjoy a nice boat ride. 

We go back, quickly clean up and make a simple dinner that does not take much time to prepare. We eat dinner and spend the rest of the night playing games and hanging out. 

Then repeat the next day!

Comments (21)

By kilax, September 7, 2012 7:23 am

How many email addresses do you have, and what is the purpose of each?

I read an article this week that said you should have four email addresses – personal, work, spam and security. I definitely have the first three, plus an extra one for the blog. I don’t have a “security” email though. The article recommended that that one be for storing secure personal information and information about the other email accounts. Hmm.  I’m fairly certain I don’t need another account right now. Email is already such a high anxiety point for me (what isn’t?!). I stress about unread/un-responded-to emails. So much that I turned off the unread email count on my phone:

That’s Steven’s phone on the right. If I had that unread email count staring at me all day I would go bonkers. Does anyone else fret about their unread/un-responded-to emails?

Comments (10)

By kilax, August 31, 2012 4:40 pm

What’s your favorite thing to get at an ice cream stand? (it doesn’t have to be ice cream – any treat your favorite stand sells)

Slushies!

Nom nom nom. The stranger the color, the better.

It’s so hot here today, I think I am going to ask Steven to take me to our favorite place – Dairy Dream!

Comments (31)

By kilax, August 24, 2012 6:28 am

Do you think the top bed sheet is necessary or unnecessary? (not the fitted sheet, but the one on top of that – the loose one)

This photo is totally posed. I mean, besides the fact that it was after I got back from a run and had taken a shower (I told Steven to hurry up and take the photo, because I felt so nice and comfy that I may fall asleep for real) – I don’t use the top sheet. I sleep on top of it. Or, with it bunched up between me and Steven. I just use a fleece blanket and the fitted sheet below.

I don’t get rid of my top sheets though! That is what prompted me to ask this question. I was talking to my mom and Erin about people we know that do not use top sheets, and my mom said that she knows someone who sold all of theirs at a garage sale because they had no use for them!

Thank you to everyone who entered the SockGuy Giveaway!!! The winner was #24 – Molly, who chose the Channel Air Pink Lime socks. Molly, please send me your mailing address (kilax@ilaxstudio.com) and I will order the socks for you! 

Comments (15)

By kilax, August 3, 2012 11:47 am

Did you have a comfort object/security blanket that you carried around as a child?

I had a little stuffed cat that my mom’s mom made me. It was really small, and kind of flat, but I loved that thing. I carried it around until it fell apart. Then I just carried its limbs. There is also a rumor that I put parts of it in my nose but that sounds disgusting so it must be untrue. 

I don’t have a photo of it (or even remember its name!) but here is my and my brother, probably about that age where I was still carrying it:

Guess what? I still have an actual blanket now, that I take with me when I travel, if I can. I made it with Steven’s mom before I went to Rome in the summer of 2005. I used it as my blanket when I lived in Rome. You’ve seen it on the blog many times:

It’s silly, but I really cherish that blanket, since I made it when Steven’s mom, and she is no longer with us. It reminds me of how generous and loving she was toward me. I casually mentioned I had been thinking of making a blanket to take to Rome and she was excited, took me out to buy supplies for me and helped me make it at their house in Kansas City. 

Comments (26)

By kilax, July 27, 2012 6:43 am

What is your most vivid Olympic memory? Or if you don’t have one, which event are you most looking forward to seeing this year? Or if you don’t give a crap about the Olympics, tell me why!

Woo hoo, Opening Ceremony today! We’re having a party (for two) at our house. 

My most vivid memory is from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. I think it’s because that is the only summer Olympic year I was old enough to comprehend what was going on and actually spent time watching TV. In 2008, all I did was hear about Michael Phelps and his 2,478 gold medals. I remember sitting in a bad Chinese restaurant in Stockton, IL, hearing it on the TV.

Way too detailed, Kim. Way too detailed. Well, there will be a lot of that in this post. First, I will answer my own damn question though.

I most vividly remember the USA Women’s Gymnastic Team of 1996. The Magnificent Seven! For some reason, I knew the name of every woman on the team. And I watched A LOT of it on TV – I think I saw most of the events, and of course, Kerri Strug’s vault on her injured ankle! Who can forget that?! And the team gold medal! Woo hoo!

This year I hope to catch as many events as possible – particularly track & field, soccer, gymnastics, shooting, and diving. We’ll see what happens. We don’t have a DVR, and I am not home that much to watch TV – I will be relying on the internets – that means you (okay, and websites) – to figure out what is going on. 

So, I was wondering what photo I should used for this post and decided I had to share a picture of the MOST AWESOME PANTS I EVER OWNED:

How’s that for being patriotic?! American Flag pants?! Aww yeah. I got them at Old Navy, summer of ’01 or ’02. Some man once offered to buy them from me. When I was wearing them. WEIRD.

I used to wear them with this sweet 2008 Olympics shirt, to be SUPER PATRIOTIC. Sadly, my pictures of that are not that great. So just imagine it. 

Also sadly, I do not have either item to wear now. What will I wear? WHAT. WILL. I. WEAR?!?!!?

Anyway, I was looking at this picture and wondering why I have pajama pants on when Steven and Christina are dressed normally. 

Oh yes. 

That was the time I decided I needed to give my sister a piggy-back ride, slipped on a transition strip, landed on it, and had a nail rip through my pants and skin. I still have a scar on my knee. We sure know how to have fun!

And also totally not related, these pictures are of my freshman year of college, and are dated 2002. I have been out of high school for ten years. Craziness. 

Comments (22)

By kilax, July 13, 2012 3:43 am

Have you ever been stung by a bee?

Super boring question, but I  never have, so I am curious. Steven actually recently told me this horror story from his childhood where he was attached and stung by a lot of bees at once. When they were picking all the stingers out, they found another bee flying around in his shirt. SCARY!

Also scary? What comes up when you google “stung by bees.” So you get this picture instead:

It’s National French Fry Day, folks. Don’t let me down; eat some fries. We had two kinds of fries last night at Red Robin. And I plan to get fries at my favorite place in NYC today (which is actually the third point in the article I lined to!)…