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By kilax, December 11, 2009 4:12 am

Tell me all about your holiday gift-giving! To whom to you give gifts? Do you make them or buy them (in stores or online)? Do you have any gift-giving traditions? Do you participate in gift exchanges? Do you share a holiday wishlist with friends and family? Does all of this STRESS YOU OUT?!

We usually buy* gifts (in stores and online) for all of our immediate family and grandparents. But we are cutting back this year. In my family, my three siblings and the three significant others all drew names. Steven is buying a gift for my older brother’s wife and I am buying a gift for my younger brother’s girlfriend. Then, we are only buying gifts for our parents and Steven’s brother. I thought I would feel sad about this, but actually, I feel RELIEVED and not stressed at all. Instead of buying a lot of gifts, I get to focus on the one specific person whose name I drew! Edited to add: Steven and I exchange gifts every year, but have not decided if we will this year or not. Not because we don’t want to, but to save money.

And I am ALL ABOUT the wishlists. I created two separate wishlists this year for me and Steven – one for my family and one for his. And we asked for them in return, especially for the people whose names we drew! I know some people think having a wishlist means you don’t get to be creative, but I just think it means you know what the person actually wants. If I am spending money, I want to make sure it’s well spent.

I am participating in Morning Runner’s gift exchange. I got paired with RunningLaur and am sending her gift off today! Here’s a sneak peak, Lauren! You’ll have to guess if you are getting the gray item or the pink item.

*I do LOVE to make people’s favorite treats and give them to them as well.

Comments (13)

By kilax, November 5, 2009 12:17 pm

Note to self: Using a napkin to cover your mouth so you can talk with your mouth full of food is NOT COOL. QUIT DOING THAT.

So, I’ve been eating a lot of salad lately, and for some reason, it takes me forever to chew, and I get anxious when I am eating with other people because I cannot respond as fast. So… yeah. The napkin thing.

That is just so gross.

Do you know anyone (besides now, me) who has gross food habits? Do you?

Steven and I once worked with this guy who always chewed with his mouth open at his desk, and smacked his food so loud… you wanted to smack him. He was always eating something, and would walk around the office smacking his food. Yuck. Oh yeah, and he was a vegetarian who any ate meat if it was free (?). And he cut all of the tops off of the cupcakes I brought into the office because he didn’t like frosting (he ate 6 or so cupcakes though).

Bitter much? Ha. I laugh about it. Now.

My other bad food habits are eating too fast and apparently, Steven says, I do a bit of smacking too. BUT NOTHING LIKE THAT GUY! I am working on it too!

Comments (19)

By kilax, October 21, 2009 7:20 am

Ugh, I have been excited about the holiday season since September. That is just sick! Let’s just blame it on the cooler temperatures we had this year, and move along…

We have a lot to look forward to this year:

• My mom, dad, and grandma are coming to Chicago the week before Thanksgiving for the 2009 Cookie Extravaganza.
• We may host Thanksgiving at our house this year with friends (if any Chicago friends are around)
• My sister will be in town late Thanksgiving Day, and possibly stay until the following Saturday, so we can have another fun meal with her and maybe do some “window shopping”
• Steven’s family is coming to our house this year for the holidays, so we get to decorate (And get a real tree! Data will be so excited when I tell him.), and plan fun meals and activities
• We may go visit some college friends in December
• We will get to see my family for the holidays sometime in December or January
• There is a slight possibility that we will travel to Disney World in January to run a half marathon (if not, we will be looking to get rid of our entries)

Our first real tree, in 2005!

We have fun, busy times ahead to look forward to. And I didn’t even mention that we have sometime planned practically every weekend until the holidays hit. Luckily, those events are close to home, and we don’t have to travel (much).

I think I get so excited about the holidays each year because I love to plan. Even though every year, I realize more and more how things don’t ever turn out exactly as planned (hey, that’s life!).

Do you get excited about the holidays? Do you love to plan things out too?

Do you live in a little fantasy world in your head like I do? Ha ha.

Comments (13)

By kilax, October 19, 2009 12:52 pm

More and more, it’s become aware to me how many people (myself included) will treat the same situation differently, depending on who is involved. I know, I know, it’s obvious. I guess what I should say is, it has become more aware as to how UNFAIR it is. Why give one person leeway when you won’t to another?

I’ll give you an example (I wish I could give you my really good ones, but it wouldn’t be appropriate). In college, one of my close friends NEVER answered my calls or texts. NEVER! I had to wait for her to call me. If anyone else did that to me (now, then, ever) it would piss me off to no end, and I would just quit trying to communicate with them. But with her, for some reason, I didn’t really care.*

I still notice myself doing this now. If person A does X, I get more upset than if person B does X. And in the future, I may act differently around person A entirely.

I think I do this because I subconsciously evaluate who I think people are in my head, then expect them to act a certain way. Here’s another example – my mother is often late… so I’ve come to expect that as part of her character. Now, if anyone else is late? Boy, I am not happy.

It’s not fair to expect people to act a certain way or do a certain thing, especially if you don’t have the opportunity to talk to them about it. Everyone gets to live life their own way, and dealing with different types of people is part of the fun (right… right?).

Of course, there’s more to it than all this. Sometimes it’s better to expect more of someone (like in a work situation) so they improve. Sometimes the reason you treat someone differently is because there is a history between you or some sort of communication breakdown.

But sometimes, it’s just because you’re being unreasonable.

Do you do this? Has it happened to you? It has certainly happened to me – that is what inspired me to write this. I kind of had an “Aha!” moment today. But I can’t be too upset about it, because I do it myself!

(And just so you know, I’m talking about people I’ve had multiple encounters with here, not people I’ve just met.)

P.S. Does this make ANY sense?

*Actually, there were a lot of things about her that bothered me, but we had the most fun together. I think it is because when something bothered me about her, I just told her (Like her gum smacking, hated it. I made her spit out her gum when she was in my house if she couldn’t close her mouth. Bitchy much?), and she did the same for me.

Comments (17)

By kilax, October 15, 2009 5:31 am

I don’t need total privacy when I am using a public restroom – I don’t care if someone is in the stall next to me. However, if I am walking to the restroom, say, at work, and I realize I am going to go into the restroom at the same time as someone else, I will likely let them go in then wait a bit before I do (unless I really have to drop it). I know, it’s weird.

But here’s what weirds me out even more. Let’s say hypothetically (winky face) that you encounter a coworker in the hallway right in front of the bathroom. You are obviously both going in. They start to talk to you about a project. You try to stay in the hallway, but they walk in… so you try to linger a bit in the powder room. But they are going to the stall. They want to have a stall-to-stall conversation.

This just does not fly with me. I don’t know why! I love being crude and telling poop jokes and I am totally down with bodily functions*, but talking about work while on the pot? Not cool!

What do you think (see poll below)? Have you had any encounters like this that made you uncomfortable, or are you fine with it? Am I just being weird about this? I would be especially interested to hear if males ever do this! Ha!

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*I had a friend in college who always left the door open and  it never phased me, and I always barged in on my mom using the bathroom when I was very young… uh, is that normal? (the second thing, not the first)

Comments (32)

By kilax, October 9, 2009 5:50 am

Are you friends with your coworkers on Facebook? Have you found this to be beneficial (fun) or detrimental (annoying)?

Yesterday I mentioned that I was talking to a coworker about Facebook, and told her I don’t have any drunk pictures of myself on there. Well, on Wednesday she asked me if we were friends on Facebook. I told her no, that I am not friends with any coworkers on Facebook. She then added me to a list she was making (I assume of people to friend on Facebook?). I told her if she sent me a friend request I would decline it, because I am trying to keep my work and private life SOMEWHAT separate. Of course, she then had a thousand questions… and had to mention how she knew the reason I didn’t want to be her friend wasn’t because of drunk pictures, because I DON’T DRINK (ever, according to her).

Anyway, this got me thinking, am I being bitchy by telling her I would decline her request (and is that why she seemed so put off about the alcohol discussion Wednesday)? Is it selfish of me to want to keep Facebook more private and personal?

I really am not hiding anything on Facebook, except those awful bathing suit photos my sister posted of me. I don’t have any sort of secret life on there. I think… I have just exposed myself so much on my blog (which I keep from my coworkers, and link to on Facebook), that I want one place to keep for myself. I don’t want to have to censor the things I say on Facebook because I think coworkers might be reading.

It irks me when people want to be Facebook friends, but don’t even communicate with you. Sometimes, it feels like a popularity contest to me. I usually just get on to use the chat to talk to my sister. I sometimes think about deleting my account.

Anyway, I am thinking about creating a separate “work” Facebook account. Kind of. I’m kind of also thinking that I don’t really care.

As a side note, my sister created a Facebook account for my mom last week! I wish she would use it. We have been bugging her to get on Facebook for awhile.

Comments (11)

By kilax, September 13, 2009 8:20 am

I need a schedule. I need planned workouts to follow. Since the doctor has told me I can’t run (or use the elliptical) my workouts have been pretty lame, and infrequent. And it doesn’t help that they told me NOT to push myself when riding a bike. What is the point of working out if I am not going to feel all tired and drained and sore?! I’m so frustrated. I miss the ease of running. Hauling my workout clothes to and from the city, so I can use the office gym, is not convenient. But, it’s FREE.

At least I was able to get a little running fix from meeting up with a fellow running blogger, Mica, on Friday.

Kim + Mica + the Flamingo

I have to admit, I’ve had a pretty big girl crush on Mica since I started reading her blog. Her hilarious entries have caused me to laugh out loud on the train (where I always try to follow the rule “silence is golden”), and I may be guilty of talking about her a bit to Steven, as in, “Steven, you have to read what she wrote, it’s so funny, ha ha, snort snort, giggle.”

The meet-up was exactly how I hoped it would be! Mica was just as funny, honest, and real in person. I discovered I relate to her on a lot of levels, and that immediately made me feel comfortable around her. I love making connections like that. Plus, her boyfriend, Harrison, was nice enough to put up with me as well. He was just as friendly and open. Damn. Why can’t I meet more people like this who live here?

Thanks for meeting with me, Mica and Harrison!

And, thank you to all of you running bloggers whose stories I follow and keep me excited about running while I am healing!

Comments (20)

By kilax, August 24, 2009 7:04 pm

Yesterday my sister told me she couldn’t wait for school to start (today) because she was bored and sick of summer.

My sister is popular and in a sorority. I think she is looking forward to seeing all of her friends (and all of that exciting school work, of course!).

But wow. I never looked forward to the start of school and I never got sick of summer. Summer was my freedom. I had a somewhat reliable schedule that I could plan around. I knew when I would get to see Steven (we were in a long-distance relationship for four years). I knew I would get enough sleep. I knew I would feel sane.

College was the opposite*. My schedule meant nothing. Everything was up in the air. I had no stability. Teachers would slam us with ridiculous assignments. I felt like I had no control over my schedule. I felt like I had no free-time, until my (first) senior year.

I felt extremely anxious ALL THE TIME.

So now, when it’s “back to school” time, I think about how lucky I am to work somewhere where I get paid salary and don’t have to work overtime, and have all of my weekends off. My schedule is respected. I am in control – even if me being in control means I still overbook myself.

But that doesn’t mean I am not excited for everyone who is going back! I am. I wish I wouldn’t have let anxiety be such a huge part of my life then.

*I feel it is necessary to mention that I was in the architecture program, which practically requires marrying your projects if you want to be successful. Most students end up spending most of their free time in the studio, getting by on 3 hours of sleep or less for days and days on end. I had to cancel weekend plans a lot because I had so much to do.

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By kilax, July 27, 2009 5:34 am

Last night’s meet-up with Nilsa, Tori, Kevin and Sizzle was a total blast! It was my first time meeting both Nilsa and Sizzle. Nilsa and her husband were gracious enough to host us in their beautiful Chicago home and feed us wonderful food! Nilsa is so fresh and down to earth. I can imagine having lots of long conversations with her. And sizzle is so animated! She is a wonderful story teller and so much fun! I always feel refreshed and excited after meeting up with bloggers. I wish I could do it more often!

Tori, Me, Sizzle, Nilsa and Kevin in the front.

Steven chatted with SoMi all night. Just kidding. He loves meeting other bloggers too!

We had college friends over two weekends ago that made me feel the same way – stimulated by discussion, excited, and energetic. The thing is, we hardly EVER see them. Coordinating a visit with them takes a lot – it’s kind of stressful. But we always have so much fun with them then say, “Why don’t we see each other more often?!”

It is because we are also so busy and wrapped up in our own lives. We don’t always make the time to do fun get-togethers like this. We let our crazy schedules get in the way. Well, I do anyway.

I don’t want to be like this. But I don’t want to have a super packed schedule either. The month of July has been really stressful for me because all of our weekends have been packed with activities. Balance. It’s always about balance…

Comments (12)

By kilax, July 16, 2009 5:35 pm

I hate that I wear my heart on my sleeve, therefore making every emotion I am feeling obvious.

Last week, a coworker said, “Hey! You seem happy today.” I was happy that day. The last few times she’d seen me, I’d been very stressed or sad.

Yesterday, I ran into my mentor in the hallway of my building. I just said hello, and from that, he asked “what’s wrong?” He could hear the stress and panic in my voice.

And the worst example – a few of my college friends are visiting this weekend, and one just called me and said, “It seemed like you are kind of stressed out in the last few emails you sent. You seem worried about what we will do while we are there and what we will eat. We just want to see you and relax! We can just sit on the couch all weekend and eat whatever, it doesn’t matter!”

I wanted to cry when she called. She was trying to reassure me, but knowing that my stress was so obvious just made me feel worse.