Comments (12)

By kilax, June 15, 2017 6:22 am

• I made it to a 1,000 day streak in DuoLingo (in Spanish)! And… that means nothing other than that. I finished the app so long ago that I’ve just been repeating the lessons over and over. If I really want to improve, I should practice speaking with someone in Spanish!

• I forgot to mention in my training recap that a few students said really nice things about me to my mom when she was at Fitness Boxing. That made me feel good!
• We had a great time with my parents! They arrived on Friday (my mom’s birthday!) and stayed until Tuesday am. We ate (cooked and went out), played games, did projects, worked out, went to the beach, went to NeoCon, and hung out. It was a fun visit and a treat to have them visit for so long!

“Usie” in front of someone else’s car

• I am so tired after their visit, though! I woke up early (to workout) and stayed up late (to have fun!) every day they were here. And I wasn’t sleeping well because Khali played most of the night after hiding all day long (that has nothing to do with my parents – Khali still has her stray cat instincts to hide from people she doesn’t know!). I finally got (more than!) eight hours of sleep last night!

Just chillin’ with my slippers

• The whole purpose of my parent’s visit was that my mom wanted to go to NeoCon (National Exposition of Contract Furnishings) – a huge design trade show at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. I go for work each year, and generally don’t enjoy it (crowded, sales-y, overwhelming, etc.). It was completely different with my mom. I loved experiencing it through her excited, fresh eyes! And she LOVED it and is already talking about coming back for it next year! I’ll write a separate post about our NeoCon day!

Us and the Merchandise Mart

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 136

Comments (16)

By kilax, June 2, 2017 8:27 am

• Lap swims outside – I did my first one this morning with Anne! It was refreshing to swim outside!

• Meeting Rachel for a run
• Finishing some spring cleaning I started last weekend – it will feel good to have it done!
• [Broken Record] Outdoor rides! Weather permitting, I have three planned for the month.
• Lots of Fitness Boxing classes
• My parent’s visit next weekend!
• An Olympic Triathlon relay with friends! (And the massage I will get before it!)
• Eating outside… until it gets too muggy and gross
• Maybe meeting my fave coworker’s baby?!?! (he was born last week!)
• Fresh peaches
• Staying home for the month – this will be the first month of the year without any overnight travel (personal travel… there may be work travel).

What’s on your list?

Comments (21)

By kilax, June 1, 2017 6:22 am

• I’m having a hard time getting in to the Starbucks book after reading the Rockefeller one. The Rockefeller book required so much concentration. The Starbucks one does not and I find my mind wandering more!
• I hate the phrasing “we apologize for any inconvenience.” Just say “we apologize for the inconvenience,” because if you are saying the first phrase, there probably was one.
• I love getting my teeth cleaned. I love the process and the way they feel after! I had a cleaning on Tuesday and elected to get the fluoride treatment… which completely ruins that fresh, clean teeth feeling, by making your teeth all tacky. Wah.
• My mom and Steven and I had a fun discussion about our interpretation of yesterday’s quote. What do you think it means?

• I’ve been busting my butt at work with special requests, and the recipients aren’t acknowledging them. It makes me feel extremely frustrated. I’d LOVE a thank you, but ANY response would be great. I suppose I will receive one in a few weeks when they finally look at my work and decide they want something else done.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 135

Comments (12)

By kilax, May 25, 2017 7:25 am

• We finished the Rockefeller book! I will eventually post the long list of words I had to look up. There are only a few I recall without looking at my list: sobriquet, scion, and platitudinous, and only one I am using daily: scuttlebutt.
• Next up in the “book club for two” rotation is Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time and if we like that, Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul.
• Last weekend was our quick trip to Dallas! We had a great time with our otra familia, and got super pumped planning our next trip together (a week long summer vacation)! The Dallas trip almost didn’t happen though – our flight out of Milwaukee was canceled and there weren’t any other options out of there. Luckily American Airlines hooked me up with flights at the same times out of Chicago and back. American Airlines was so helpful and pleasant! I was stressing the eff out and they calmed me down. (Well, that, and a quick run.)

• I mentioned I tried a spin style class at Gina’s gym on Saturday. What I didn’t mention is that a lady was sitting on the bike I reserved when I got there. You use an app to reserve a seat in advance, then all your bike data from class is linked to your account. Cool, right? Gina politely told the lady the seats are reserved and that if she sat there, all her hard work would be credited to someone else (me). The lady responded with “I’ll make your friend look good.” Ha. Ha ha ha. The lady had major beef with getting off the bike and finding another open one, even though there were other options, and we were helping her by looking at the app and telling her what was available. When we told her about the app (because Gina didn’t also didn’t know about it when she started taking the classes, and wanted to be helpful!) she said “I just work out, I don’t use computers.” OMG. It was so funny… but not really. She finally got off. She was probably annoyed she had to set up a new bike, and that I wanted to sit by my friend that I traveled 1,000 miles to see, but… sorry? I really did want to see my stats! Geesh.
• I finally signed up for the Saturday RABGRAI ride yesterday. I am not sure what took me so long. I saw my dad this week and we discussed signing up, and when we looked at the website, we saw there is a June 1 registration deadline! Eek! I would have been so mad if I missed it. Dad and Gina signed up too!
• Two of our kitties aren’t feeling well. Data has some strange eye booger leakage going on (I have a picture but I’ll spare ya) and Snow has a cut on his chin. Data is seeing the vet tomorrow, and I will ask them what to do about Snow. These kids. They just can’t stay out of trouble.

Data & Khali

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 134

Comments (17)

By kilax, May 18, 2017 6:23 am

• It would be inappropriate (and boring) to talk about the stuff at work that makes me nuts, but a lot of times, I make a list of it and imagine posting about it here. Ha. Doing that, along with venting with coworkers, helps!

Awesome picture, right?!

• More vagueposting – it feels ironic, that as someone who shares personal information on the internet, there are people out there I don’t want knowing mundane information about my life. It’s not because of knowledge reasons, but what they do with the information – hold it against me, overreact, or gossip about it. It’s hard for me to NOT share things, but I know it’s better off in the long run, with certain people. Ugh. (Most of it’s harmless, just annoying. Example – somehow other people have information I only told YOU, that I would have liked to share with them myself.)
• On to the mundane! Steven and I are always looking for a show to watch during our lunch breaks. We watched Parks and Recreation, then tried to watch Extant, then watched Big Little Lies. Now we’ve decided to rewatch Game of Thrones. We’re catching a lot more watching it the second time, which is fun! Sometimes Khaleesi watches the TV when her namesake is on, which always makes me laugh. I haven’t grabbed a photo of that, but here she is watching The Secret Life of Pets:

• My parents are visiting in June and this will be their FIRST trip to our “new” home without an entire weekend of labor involved (they’ve been here twice but once was for the move and the other time was to help with the second floor attic work). I am looking forward to them being here with the house put together and having more “free” time… along with a few projects, of course. Ha ha.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 133

Comments (14)

By kilax, May 11, 2017 7:45 am

• I forgot to mention in my race report that I like the design on the Wisconsin Marathon/Half/5K shirt this year!

• We’re having a generator installed in a few weeks! We’re mostly getting it for backup for the sump pumps, but I’m excited about the other things we’ll be able to continue using if the power goes out. Steven did a lot of work a few weeks ago moving the air conditioners (and putting down pea gravel underneath) to get the area ready for the generator!

• I am loving the sun being up so early (today sunrise was 5:35 am)! Since we’ve been going to bed at a decent hour, some days, I can just let the sun wake me up. Okay, and these two:

• I think this opinion article – “How I Learned to Shut Up About Running” (pdf here) – is not very well written or easy to follow (so how I read the whole thing I’m not sure) but I really like this statement: “But I’ve also made a realization: a lot of my pushing of others comes from the assumption that what’s good for me will also be good for everyone else, and also from my need to try to regulate or dictate other people’s lives.” YES. THIS. PEOPLE. Quit thinking you are the authority on how other people should live their lives. Gawd, if people would stop doing this, it would solve SO MANY problems. SO MANY.
• The blogosphere has been dull lately, here included. It’s interesting how a lot of us have stepped back a bit, at the same time. I wonder if the bubble has burst and we’ll all get back to more story telling and connecting (as opposed to product shilling and “how to” lists). One can hope!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 132

Comments (12)

By kilax, May 2, 2017 6:22 am

• Getting my car back from the shop
• A pre-race massage!
• Friends staying over before the Wisconsin Half
• Two races
• Actually riding my bike outside
• Finishing Titan. Maybe I will post a list of all the words I had to look up. Most of them are words I’ve never heard before. Some of them are words being used in ways I am not familiar (example: “betray” to mean “reveal unconsciously”). And some of them are words I should know but don’t remember.
• Writing about the outdoor cat house
• Seeing baby goslings! First sighting yesterday:
  
• The leaves filling out on the trees. They all started to fill out when I was in Dallas two weekends ago:
  
• Another trip to Dallas!
• Figuring out when we’ll see William next!
• A graduation party for a friend’s kid
• CPR class (it’s time to renew my certification)
• Getting over this cold – I am feeling better today, yay!

What’s on your list?

Comments (4)

By kilax, April 28, 2017 6:44 pm

I was in Dallas last weekend for Luca’s 6th birthday!

Steven and I have celebrated Luca’s 2nd, 3rd, and 5th birthdays in person with him! Steven wasn’t able to make this trip because of work though. Sad face. Luckily, I found affordable tickets for both of us to go for a weekend trip in May that won’t interfere with work. Yay! Better late than never!

Family pic minus Steven

We had a chill weekend <— my favorite kind! On Saturday am, Steve and I ran, then we volunteered at a 5K put on by the PTA at Luca’s school. Then we got lunch, did some shopping downtown, TOOK NAPS!, watched Luca open his presents (while we Facetimed Steven), and went out for dinner.

I found a cute Iowa decoration while we were out shopping!

On Sunday Gina and I ran, then we all chilled before going to Luca’s birthday party. He had a bowling, pizza, and arcade games party, and the kids were so well behaved! We went home for a bit after, then went out to dinner. On Monday Gina and I ran then I had to head home. Short but great trip!

The title of this picture is “Tan=delicious.” Clockwise from top left: custom vegan pizza at Mellow Mushroom, nachos from Frankies, Pad See-ew from Silk Road Thai (not pictured: super strong Mai Thai), and our traditional homemade pancakes (we try to make them each time we’re together!)

Even though we see our otra familia several times a year, I’ll always wish we had MORE time together, so I am happy for the chill times when we can hang out, catch up, and be ridiculous together. And I am happy Steven will get to be a part of that in May!

Comments (13)

By kilax, April 21, 2017 3:20 pm

On my train ride home this week, I was surprised to see my ticket wasn’t out when the conductor came around calling for them. I always put my ticket out after I sit down! Where did it go?

I checked in my purse and I had a brand new ticket. The ticket I used that morning had punches on it. So I must have put it out. Did someone take it? Did it fall?

I tried not to get worked up about it and just used my other ticket. And made a note to myself to keep track of my ticket in the future!

Fast forward to today when I get a random call from a local number. Of course I didn’t answer (does anyone?) and they left a message – they found my ticket on their seat and wanted to mail it to me! How kind! I will definitely have to send her a thank you note.

And remember to write my name and number on all future tickets – I am happy I had on this one!

(A picture of my ticket would be boring, so enjoy this picture of the children playing. Any guesses as to who started the fight?)

Comments (12)

By kilax, April 20, 2017 7:23 am

• Ha, my snister is so much smarter than me. She pointed out that the title Fate of the Furious, sounds like “eight,” and it’s the eighth movie in the The Fast & the Furious series. They so clever. Also, duh-town, Kim.

• I LOVED the movie! I was entertained the whole time and sad when it was over! I might go see it again in the theater.
• It’s been almost ten years since I graduated from college (in May 2007). My classmates are having a ten-year reunion in October. I may actually try to go!
• I am itching to write a post about all the work Steven put in to the outdoor cat house. We just need to get a few more photos of it (which involves moving it a bit on a day when the sun is right for taking photos).

• Ugh. Someone rear-ended me when I was sitting in traffic on Saturday (I’m fine, they just bumped me) and I have to take the car to get a quote on the bumper repairs today. Totally not in the mood to adult this week! At. All.
• When I went outside on Tuesday, I noticed our log pile looked a little different. Last time we saw that tree in the middle, it was standing up! It just fell over, luckily, in to the woods (it was dead and we already had it marked to cut down). I am surprised we didn’t hear it!

What it looked like before

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 131