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By kilax, October 2, 2015 6:45 am

Most of my favorite memories of high school are of times spent with my younger brother, and don’t necessarily have anything to do with school-sanctioned activities – we just happened to be together, because of school!

I don’t have a good picture of us in high school (Fall 2000-Spring 2002) so here’s a picture of us in 1990! BARBIE TRUCK! 

I was reminded of this this morning when I was talking to a friend about her son’s request to be excused from today’s pep rally. Ha! My brother(s) and I skipped ALL the pep rallies. This started with my older brother (he and I were in school for my first two years of high school, then my younger brother and I were together for my last two years).

When I started high school, and my older brother was a junior, we’d ride together to school. For a bit, anyway. I didn’t understand, for the life of me, why he didn’t want to get there early, to hang out with his friends! We’d get there with a minute or two to spare. Eventually, the upper classmen friends I made would pick me up and drive me to school so we could hang out before. Awww.

However, I figured it out by the time I was a junior and my younger brother was riding with me to school. We had departure and arrival time down to a science, getting there with just enough time to grab our stuff before class started. Why get there early when it’s such a drag to be there all day, anyway? What was I thinking, my freshman and sophomore years?!

So a lot of my fun memories with my younger brother are us riding to school, or home, together. Like the time I decided to let him drive home. Even though he’d never driven a car before. Yeah… that lasted a few blocks.

Or how we’d stop, almost every warm day, after school, for ice cream! And not just any ice cream – Flavor Stop ice cream – where the vanilla cone has swirls of flavor injected in it (like this!). SO GOOD.

Or the days we’d go home and have to change in to our McDonald’s uniforms go work our shifts, together. It’s weird being your brother’s manager. Ha.

Writing this makes me sad I didn’t get to share any high school time with my snister (she’s five years younger). But we do have a kind of horrible story of me picking her up from middle school, on my first day of junior year. I had such a craptastic day, I got a migraine, and had to pull over to throw up, out the car door, when the car was stopped. Of course, a friend of my mom’s saw us.

Fun times, fun times.

Did any of you ride with a sibling to and from school?

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By kilax, October 1, 2015 6:18 am

• Has anyone tried RaceDots? They’re a magnetic alternative to using safety pins to keep your race bib secured on your shirt. I saw them mentioned in the October Competitor magazine and thought they looked cool. It says to keep them away from electronic devices though, so that wouldn’t work if you carry your phone at your waist.
• Also seen in the October issue of Competitor – an interview with Steve Jones (former world marathon record holder) saying: “Mass participation has hurt the sport and racing, in my mind. I don’t believe starting and finishing a marathon makes you a marathoner,” and the running industry is huge and magazines cater to “people who are running 4 hours for a marathon or 25 minutes for a 5K. And that’s not running in my mind.” Ouch, Steve! Tell us how you really feel! I wonder how many modern day elites feel that the masses are ruining the sport, with our slow marathon finish times. We’ve all seen stats that overall marathon finish times have gotten slower, as more people do the sport. But I always say (and it seems like I am saying this a lot, lately) – isn’t it better people are moving, at all? As long as it’s safe for them? If a marathon caters to that finish time and people want to train to do it at that pace, why not let them? What does it matter to you?
• Since I am already ranting… I don’t understand why people pronounce Data’s name wrong, after they’ve heard me say it. He is named after Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which is pronounced Day-tuh, not Dat-uh. I know people say it both ways, when they are talking about information, but this is a proper name! Don’t you want people to say your name right? Ha ha ha, I know, he’s a cat. I’ll stop before I get too crazy cat lady on ya.

He obviously cares, a lot.

• It’s October 1st! I have 31 days to figure out Halloween costumes! I am sure I’ll be scrambling the last week of October, per usual.
• Also, it’s October 1st and a government shutdown was averted! Hurrah! I’m still shocked I couldn’t work for 16 days in October 2013 when we had a shutdown. I really didn’t think it would happen. And that’s all I will say, here! Ha ha.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 76

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By kilax, September 28, 2015 6:23 am

When Gina and I were in the city on Thursday, we stopped by my office* and my boss was in, so I introduced Gina to her. I really like my new (since February/March) boss, and wanted her to meet my best friend, and get to know some of the people in my life.

City view from our run on Thursday!

Which is kind of the opposite of how I’ve felt about mixing personal life with work life, until now, save for ONE coworker I talk to about personal stuff on a regular basis. I mostly keep it light. I’ve had the rudest reactions saying the most basic things about my life, and that’s taught me to keep my mouth shut and say as little as possible.**

And actually, it’s gotten better, but I still feel like I have my guard up, most of the time. So I was surprised when I found myself hoping my boss would be at her desk so Gina and I could say hi.

Then later in the day, I was thinking about it, and realized how lucky I was my boss didn’t ask how Gina and I met, because I don’t tell anyone at work about my blog (except that one coworker, and yes, because I don’t want to share personal information). Oops! What would I have said, if she asked?! I need a cover story. Or an altered version of the truth, heh. “We were both bloggers and we met online” would be mostly true. It would just imply I no longer blog. “We met through a mutual friend” would be true, because another blogger told me about Gina’s blog!

Or, maybe I could just tell the truth, and see how she reacts.

Nah. I still like keeping this little space for myself.

*I worked a few hours in the afternoon while Gina window shopped the Mag Mile
**This is actually a topic I’d love to devote an entire post to – feeling uncomfortable sharing information about yourself with people because of how they react. But… I just shouldn’t go there, because it’s not only at work.

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By kilax, September 22, 2015 6:36 am

Thing 1 | There’s an older gentleman (in his 70s/80s?) I often see riding a bike in our neighborhood. The first time I saw him, I had a similar reaction to when I see anyone working out – “that’s so great he’s being active!” and “where is his helmet?!!??!?!” Ha.

Then I started seeing him time and time again (we must have a similar workout schedule). We started waving to each other. Then, about a month ago, he started wearing a helmet for all his rides (phew)!!! On one ride he was wearing a Cubs jersey – I thought that was really cute.

During my run yesterday, I saw him coming my way, and was getting ready to wave to him. I could tell he was about to turn a corner though, and thought maybe he didn’t see me. But he did! He actually slowed down at the corner, so he could wave, before he turned. Aww. That really made me smile!

Then we saw each other AGAIN (and waved) during my second run! Double feature!

Maybe one day we’ll actually talk to one another. Ha ha.

Thing 2 | There are two sets of sisters who take classes together at Essential Fitness (aka Efit, where I teach strength training classes). Isn’t that fun? I think it would be awesome to take a weekly fitness class with my snis, if we lived in the same town.

One time, we went rock climbing together!

Interestingly, one set of sisters work for the same place, and the other set have the same job, at different places! That’s kind of like me and my snis – we both have the same title of “Interior Designer,” (only one of us really is, and one of us really IS NOT) in different cities.

BONUS Thing 3 |  I get to see my bestie, Gina, tonight! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!

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By kilax, September 21, 2015 6:23 am

Tomorrow is the last day of summer! Hurrah!

It seems like everyone has a different date that feels like the last day of summer for them – when school starts up, the last day of August, Labor Day, etc (is it the actual start of autumn for anyone?!). For me, it’s whenever my last trip to the Mississippi River in Guttenberg, Iowa is. I go there for fun in the sun (and on the sand and in the water) and when I feel like that is no longer an option because the weather will be too cool, I am ready for summer to be over*.

This year, it was Labor Day weekend, again. And it felt odd that Labor Day was so late in the month this year (September 7), but we had really great hot beach weather!

And… we had the same “summer enders” as last year! Yay!

I can’t put in to words how happy the relationship we and our families have with Gina, Steve, and Luca makes me feel. We clicked immediately with Gina and Steve when we first met them (in person**) in August of 2010. We enjoyed our time together so much that we started seeing each other a few times a year – traveling to their place in New York City, or them coming to ours in Chicagoland. We met a lot of their family in NYC. They met my sister and her husband, and Steven’s brother, on trips we took to NYC. They met my mom by chance in the Dallas airport. They met a lot of my family at Christina’s wedding. And more when they came to the river last year. We hung out with their family for the Dallas Marathon. We’ve met a lot of each other’s friends. And the KC trip was so much fun last year, we did it again this year, with our families. And that brings us up to this year’s river trip!

And now… you have a condensed history of our time together, ha ha.

I feel so much joy seeing them fit in seamlessly, with my family, and us, with theirs. I love that we all WANT to spend time with each other, and make sure it happens. And I am blown away that Gina and Steve and Luca drive all the way from Texas to Iowa (900 miles one way!) to hang out with all of us at the river!

Hee, hee, so, the KC trip itinerary was so successful in June, that we made another one for this trip, including activities and meals. We had several beach visits, another golf cart parade, a funicular visit, a half marathon, and lots of goofing around.

Continue reading 'Summer Enders, Fall Beginners!'»

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By kilax, September 17, 2015 6:14 am

• My younger brother and his wife received the blanket for James yesterday and sent me a very nice thank you and a few pictures of James using it!!! Made my day!

• I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but when I show pictures of someone’s kids on here, or write a post that says a lot about something me and another person did, or has pictures of them in I’m not sure if they will like, I get their permission to post it. This is my blog space, not theirs, and I’d totally get if they didn’t want their stuff on here! Everything is not for everyone to see. (And I appreciate my friends and family reviewing the stuff I send them.)
• For my next knitting project, I am making some washcloths and cowls to donate for a silent auction and 5K event Gina’s running club is hosting on October 10 for a young girl in their town (in Texas) battling leukemia. If you are crafty and want to donate something for the auction (or work for a business that can donate online services or gift cards) let me know and I will connect you with her! I finished the washcloths last night! Gina requested Christmassy colors and I like how they turned out!

• (Town)house improvements continue, and we recently replaced an old La-Z-Boy couch with some chairs. I really like the pattern – they’re muted enough but with a tiny pop of color that isn’t obnoxious. And Data likes that they’re gray. Although at first I think he thought he wasn’t supposed to sit on them, and was trying to sneak around to do it, which was humorous!

• As part of an anniversary gift, Gina and Steve gave us the Dallas Starbucks mug! Our collection expands! Ha ha, I know, it’s pretty small (for the Starbucks mugs), but I have a bit of a mug problem in general, so that’s okay!

• I hit a one-year streak in practicing Spanish every day, in the DuoLingo app! Once I completed the app in the spring, I’ve been more in a maintenance mode. I would really like to become fluent in Spanish over the next few years. I think that will require classes, a language partner/tutor, and using Spanish in my community. Which sounds exciting, but like a lot of work, so we’ll see what happens with that! (Probably… not much.)

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 75

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By kilax, September 16, 2015 6:44 am

I like it when…

… I’m brushing my teeth and get toothpaste on the outfit I’m going to wear to work

… I pull things out of the washing machine to put in the dryer, and they fall on the floor

… I reschedule a work meeting to meet a specific person’s schedule (per their request), and they are a no show

… I put something on my desk, and it rolls right off

… I’m serving cous cous and get it all over the counter and floor

… I’m knitting and find a knot in the yarn

… the same guy without a muffler on his car visits our neighbor at 11:00 pm, 1:00 am and 3:00 am (all in the same night) and keeps his car running

… the train conductor punches my ticket, then I (try to) take a nap, then he wakes me up 20 minutes later to ask to punch my ticket again

… I tell someone I don’t want to talk about a specific topic and they keep bringing it up

… I turn off every setting I can find to get my phone to stop playing music off the cloud, and it still does it

Eh, life is pretty good!!!

Sometimes, instead of cursing and getting mad about the small things that bug me, I’ll sarcastically say “I like it when insert whatever meaningless thing is making me mad here” to try to make it … what? Funny? Make me feel like I have some control over things, or at least, how I react?

Ha, sometimes it works. And sometimes I just need to curse. The important thing is knowing when which is appropriate!

What’s your sarcastic “I like it when…”?

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By kilax, September 11, 2015 6:58 am

My younger brother and his wife had their baby at 12:14 am on Saturday August 29th. His name is James Parker, and he was 8 lbs 10 oz, and 22 inches when he was born.

I got to meet him last Friday!!!

My sister-in-law, brother, and James are doing really well, and it made me happy to see them so happy. Although it’s still super crazy to me to think of my younger brother being a dad! We’re all growing up! Sniff, sniff. Ha.

Welcome to the world, James Parker! I love you, and can’t wait to watch you grow, and be a part of your life!

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By kilax, September 3, 2015 6:26 am

I’ve been thinking about the first post I wrote about knitting – NOPE. Not a perfectionist. (For now?). Basically, everything I wrote in it turned out to be true – my first washcloth I knitted looked horrible, but showed progress as I moved along. I did stick with knitting and got better at it*. And I HAVE tried to make the things I knit for people** have as few flaws in them as possible. Not “perfect,” but as close as I can get.

I am not results based by any stretch of the imagination, so caring so much about how something turns out is new territory for me. And honestly, I think it’s good for me. Why not care about it, for once?

Ha, that makes me sound like some sort of jerk who never cares about anything. That’s not true! I’m just more process based for things that have a defined completion. Like training for a race, projects at work, or knitting something.

In racing? Eh, I definitely care how the race turns out, but I don’t get upset if things went to crap. I care more about the training and everything that led up to it. That’s where the joy lies, for me.

My job at work is to assist clients with design requirements and how their space will be laid out. But because of the way our divisions are set up at work, the project moves on to someone else and I rarely see the finished space. This has DEFINITELY made me process based, at work! I often have no idea what the results were! We obviously plan toward an ideal result, when working with the client, but not seeing the outcome*** really skews things for me.

And then knitting. I am still surprised I am doing it, because I’m not crafty at all, but I’ve found it’s something, that again, I immensely enjoy the process of. It’s so satisfying to see whatever I am working on “grow,” row by row. Sometimes a project surprises me – the yarn or pattern looks different than I thought it would – and that’s exciting for me. But… I have found that I am thinking about the end result much more than I tend to, compared to other things I work on.

There have been a few mistakes in the baby blanket but I’ve caught them and fixed them! Phew! I really want that to turn out nice (since it’s taking SO DAYUM LONG… and for my new nephew!!!).

I have to fix mistakes as soon as I find them (which is frustrating, but satisfying when it’s done). I have to plan out how much yarn I will need (ugh, planning). I have to figure out how big the thing will be. I have to constantly tell myself “Kim, this is a gift for someone else, and you don’t want a shoddy end-result with your name attached to it. FOCUS!” Ha ha.

Like I said, it’s good for me, just different.

And truthfully, not caring so much about end results before is probably what has kept me from doing crafty things. I know it’s kept me from doing house projects. And, any projects. I spent so much time in college building things with my hands that I have just been OVER it for a loooooong time. I didn’t want to have to think about how things were going to turn out. I didn’t want to be “graded” on it, anymore.

Maybe I am changing!

*still have so much to learn! yay!
**everything I knit – I haven’t made anything for me, yet!
***one of my current projects is not a typical one at all, and I am acting as the project manager instead of designer, so I will get to see how things turn out!

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By kilax, September 2, 2015 5:07 am

When I was learning the months of the year as a kid, I always forgot September.  I recalled the other months by associating them with holidays and birthdays, but I had nada for September (Labor Day doesn’t mean much to a kid, you know?).

I remember feeling puzzled when the amount of months I remembered didn’t add up to twelve. In my mind, the calendar went straight from August to October! What really happens in September, anyway, for a kid (ugh, except being in school for the full month, blah)?

I eventually starting remembering September (obviously, ha ha), and now, it’s funny to me, that as an adult, it’s one of my favorite months! I think the reason I didn’t remember it as a kid is what I love about it now – September is subtle. It’s when summer slips away to fall (yay!). Your calendar starts to clear up. You have more free time*. It’s the rest before the holiday season starts (earlier and earlier, each year). A time to recharge and refocus!

Ahhh.

Here are two photos from my first September run (yesterday). I knew it would be a foggy morning and ran to my favorite forest preserve for taking fog photos.

Happy September!

*Well, I do. But I don’t have kids going back to school with lots of activities.