purekatherine http://www.purekatherine.com finding my voice, please hold Tue, 08 May 2012 06:12:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 I need to give myself more credit for the things that I do. http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/05/i-need-to-give-myself-more-credit-for-the-things-that-i-do/ http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/05/i-need-to-give-myself-more-credit-for-the-things-that-i-do/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 06:12:09 +0000 purekatherine http://www.purekatherine.com/?p=1467 I know that you guys all know that I’m awesome, just like I know that each of you is damn awesome, but often, when I have a moment to think about things that I need to get done, all I can see is the not-some stuff. A messy room, bad diet, lack of exercise, the many things on my to-do list that I don’t end up getting around to doing, hair that I don’t like, you get the idea. I seriously doubt that I’m alone in the practice of being relatively hard on myself, but in many ways I hope that I am.

This is an intervention for myself.

This weekend I remembered a tweet I posted last weekend about all of the things that I’d done, and then I thought about what I did this weekend.

Last weekend:
Made mozzarella sticks (as in breaded and baked them and they were delicious)
Rode a bull at a friend’s birthday bar crawl
Hennaed my hair (which took 6 hours!)
Got a bit of a tan
Read almost as much as I would on a perfect weekend

This weekend:
Made a pillow case for my niece in a method I’ve never tried before.
Copied a standard pillowcase just from looking at one that I made in a sewing class five years ago.
Went to another friend’s birthday party, at which I hula hooped for probably half an hour and had some killer conversations about books and nerd stuff
Made brunch for a friend that was a recipe I’d never tried and I’m very happy with how it turned out!
Actually went out and bought the matching thread colors I need to finish two more pillows for my niece tonight.
Did ALL of my laundry and folded it right away!
Prepped fabric to make a curtain for my closet tonight
Babysat my niece on a semi-crabby night, but danced around to Tangled and got some snuggles out of her anyway
Wrote two overdue emails that were difficult for me, another that those two help prepare me for and wasn’t so difficult, and two more that are so minimal and simple that I shouldn’t give myself credit for them, but I did them!

So why is it that I feel like I did nothing all weekend?

That’s nine things. NINE things that I’m proud of, and all I can think about is that I didn’t do a bunch of other things on my weekend to-do list. I think I might be insane. Especially since some of the things on that list are clearly things that prep me for more stuff to do after work today. So I’m getting shit done, I’m just not getting all of it done.

What’s with this desire to get everything done though? If I got everything on my list done, I probably wouldn’t actually get any sleep, which would then lead to getting nothing done that wasn’t on my list. By the way, many of the things that I did this weekend, were not originally on my list, they just needed to get done, so I did them.

I need to start letting go of the guilt I have over not getting my to-do lists completed, I’m obviously getting things done, I’m just not planning properly. There really is only so much that I can do in one day, if my list isn’t completely done, then I don’t have to write another one for the next day, see that’s actually being productive right there!

Tell me, are you hard on yourself for not being able to cross those tasks off, or are you able to see the things that you have done? Or are you maybe just lazy and comfortable with that? (I’m totes jealous if you are, btw!)

]]> http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/05/i-need-to-give-myself-more-credit-for-the-things-that-i-do/feed/ 7 Tuesdays are my Mondays http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/05/tuesdays-are-my-mondays/ http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/05/tuesdays-are-my-mondays/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 07:08:29 +0000 purekatherine http://www.purekatherine.com/?p=1463 I now have a “normal” Monday through Friday schedule, so I was totally ready to hate Mondays again with so much of Twitter, but they aren’t so bad. I go from usually pretty quiet, or even active weekends with lots of jumping and dancing and squealing and leaping with my niece, so a day of streaming NPR and getting back into the book I might not have made time for over the weekend. The traffic is the biggest downside, and everyone seems to be late to work on Mondays, so traffic is actually a bit lighter.

Tuesdays though.

Tuesdays can just suck it.

Nothing special seems to make Tuesdays bad, but for the past several weeks, I’ve either been sick or in so much pain that Tuesdays just haven’t gone right. I’m writing this now on a Tuesday night after saying home from work because I pulled something in my shoulder this weekend. Monday was no fun, but I could get by at work. Tuesday morning was awful, I couldn’t even turn my head enough to be able to drive, and when my brother took me to the grocery store, I couldn’t reach my arm up to grab a 2 liter bottle of heaven (read: Dr Pepper).

For half of the day I thought, well, at least I got through Tuesday yesterday. Then I realized that was the muscle relaxer talking, it was just another Terrible Tuesday.

Hey Susanna Hoffs, could I get a kind of sequel to Manic Monday? I have plenty of material if you’d just like to follow me around on Tuesdays.

]]> http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/05/tuesdays-are-my-mondays/feed/ 1 I didn’t die! http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/i-didnt-die/ http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/i-didnt-die/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 06:10:53 +0000 purekatherine http://www.purekatherine.com/?p=1459 Last Thursday I successfully did not die during my first real 5K. (I’ve done a few walks for Juvenile Diabetes and Breast Cancer research, but those were more than 10 years ago and there was never any doubt that I would do anything but walk them.)

Kelly and Anna were awesome enough to be cool with talking, which meant not so much running. The conversation was great and I can’t wait to continue it in a few weeks with Kelly on the plane to Vegas!

Going into this “run,” I was pretty sure that it was going to be my last. And then I got a time.

I’m not telling you the time, I’ve already pretty much said that we walked almost all of it, so what does the time matter?

The important part is that now I want to beat that time.

This is not in any way a lofty goal. But I think I see more runs in my future.

]]> http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/i-didnt-die/feed/ 5 Fun Run? http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/fun-run/ http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/fun-run/#comments Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:09:27 +0000 purekatherine http://www.purekatherine.com/?p=1456 Tomorrow I participate in my first 5K.

I only made it halfway through the Couch to 5K program because of the stupid blister I got at my cousin’s wedding a month ago, so as of right now I’m good to run in 5 minute increments and I get about 2 miles in half an hour on a fast day.

I hope that Kelly doesn’t expect a lot of talking and running. I’ll give her either of the two, but they don’t work well together.

If I don’t post again by Saturday night, get in touch with Kelly, she probably watched me die trying to pass as an athlete.

*Side note: How is it that I can dance for like 3 gajillion years, but running starts to kill me about 37 seconds in?*

]]> http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/fun-run/feed/ 5 Precipice http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/precipice/ http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/precipice/#comments Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:20:51 +0000 purekatherine http://www.purekatherine.com/?p=1454 I have so many things I want to write about, so many thing that I’m about to start, or that I’ve just started to work on. I have this tendency though to celebrate early, and then never actually follow through.

All the things that I’m doing lately, I want to finish them!

So for now, mum’s the word. When I’m done with something, bird will go back to being the word and I’ll sing all about how awesome I am for doing it. (Yeah, I know that’s kind of a stretch, but I’m tired.)

It’s a little weird to me to be writing about this on a day that Cuyler and I used accountability to get both of us to post. You’d think that I’d also want to use accountability to get through the things I’ve got going on, right?

Well I’m not. I don’t trust myself to do that.

Do you have stuff you’re working on?

]]> http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/precipice/feed/ 3 Definitely worth $10 http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/definitely-worth-10/ http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/definitely-worth-10/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:31:58 +0000 purekatherine http://www.purekatherine.com/?p=1446 I almost never go out to see movies anymore. I like to snack during the showing, and the ridiculous ticket prices with even more ridiculous snack bar pricing (not to mention the fact that there isn’t a theatre in town with Dr Pepper available), it’s really just more fun to rent a movie and watch it at home. And I don’t even have a great TV or anything.

Tonight I got to go to the movies though. I had a pass to a screening of The Five-Year Engagement, so San and I got to see it a week early.

There are so many wonderful actors in this movie, not only Jason Segel and Emily Blunt, the stars, but also Chris Pratt and Alison Brie are awesome. Really though, the entire supporting cast is great.

As far as the writing, Jason Segel just needs to be given all of the awards ever. I’m being lazy and not looking up the other guy who wrote it with him, but it’s the same guy as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I believe. So if you liked that, I’m thinking this will be pretty safe for you.

I don’t like to give anything away when talking about movies, nor do I like to gush and over sell it, but this movie would be worth a $20 ticket. I plan on going to see it again. That’s right, I already saw it free of charge, and I’m going to go see it again.

Plus, it taught me that C is for condom.

Seriously, go see it.

]]> http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/definitely-worth-10/feed/ 1 Sometimes it’s good to ask. http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/sometimes-its-good-to-ask/ http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/sometimes-its-good-to-ask/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:52:46 +0000 purekatherine http://www.purekatherine.com/?p=1443 While I love vacation and time off, I can be really bad about asking for time. There’s something in me that feels guilty about wanting time away from work if I don’t feel that I have somehow earned it.

This is why I was all sorts of nervous when asking my new job about going to BiSC and then on my family vacation in July, which I kind of lumped VidCon into as well.

In the next 13 weeks I just asked for 12 days off. Since I’m through a temp agency and not actually hired with the company I’m working for, I won’t be getting paid for those days, but it’d be worth it. I mean, a week of that time is a trip to Hawaii that I don’t have to pay for!

I ran into a slight snag when someone else in my department was off for a few key days that would’ve stopped most of the trips, but then I just had to ask the big boss, and he said yes!

I definitely get to go to BiSC, and VidCon, and Hawaii!

For about half of those days, I will be seeing both Ashley and Treavor every day. I’m so not even going to attempt to track down all off the people I’m seeing, because listing that kind of awesome in one place would probs just make something explode.

Just thinking about it tends to get me a little giddy, so instead I’m focused on getting rid of the jiggle that I’ve put on in this new desk job. If you are at VidCon or BiSC, please don’t stare long if I don’t manage to shed it all.

]]> http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/sometimes-its-good-to-ask/feed/ 7 No baby fever. http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/no-baby-fever/ http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/no-baby-fever/#comments Wed, 18 Apr 2012 07:48:18 +0000 purekatherine http://www.purekatherine.com/?p=1439 I’ve never really been one for the whole baby fever thing. It’s probably mostly that I’ve never been in a position that I could actually support a child, and the idea of having one I can’t support is one of the least appealing things in the world, but that’s beside the point. I know plenty of girls who have had some level of baby fever in circumstances plenty similar to my own.

My first nephew was born today. Now, technically I’m not actually related to him, but his dad and grandparents have lived next door to my family for more than 15 years, so I’m the kid’s aunt, got it?

I have a couple of nieces (one being this boy’s sister and one being my brother’s daughter) and they are awesome, but other than the beautiful boys that Kaci and Danielle generously share pictures of regularly, and John Green‘s kid (who I swear it’s not creepy that I pretend I’m his aunt), I don’t have any super cute little boys in my life. I’m excited now to have little Joshua in my life and to see what kind of fun they are to see grow into a little person.

When visiting him at the hospital, he gave me a little squeak, which was like, the absolute cutest thing ever. I had this interesting feeling though while holding him.

I had no desire to have one of my own at the sacrifice of sleep and my own time. I’m sure this will change at some point, but for right now, being an aunt is so much more than enough.

So who can I come visit and be an aunt to your kid(s)?

(Also, complete side note, after the hospital we went to Ulta and I got nail polish that’s the same color as the sweater in the picture. I’m surprised by how much I love the orange on my nails. Go Giants!)

]]> http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/no-baby-fever/feed/ 5 Too much to say http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/too-much-to-say/ http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/too-much-to-say/#comments Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:56:36 +0000 purekatherine http://www.purekatherine.com/?p=1437 Have you ever felt like you had so many different things that you wanted to write about that you couldn’t actually focus on any of them to write?

That’s where I am right now.

I get all sorts of ideas to write about while I’m at work, and I write them down, but then I don’t know where I want to go once I get home.

I’m okay with not writing, but I feel like all of these things are swimming in my head and I need the pensieve quality of blogging to get some of them out.

I hope I can whip out my wand and free up some space in my mind soon.

]]> http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/too-much-to-say/feed/ 5 And then it was April. http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/and-then-it-was-april/ http://www.purekatherine.com/2012/04/and-then-it-was-april/#comments Sun, 15 Apr 2012 06:42:39 +0000 purekatherine http://www.purekatherine.com/?p=1434 Anyone remember when I was going to write every day in March?

That doesn’t work so well when I start a new job 6 days in and try to keep my part time retail job as well. I also pretended that I was going to vlog every day in April. I should have known that would go about as well as my blogging attempt, but I do tend to be optimistic about these things.

Last Thursday was my last day working at Barnes & Noble, and it was a little bit bittersweet. The night was kind of a perfect snapshot of the nearly 2 years I spent there.

The resident crazy customer, as in he is literally crazy, actually made an appearance instead of only calling 12 times, and he asked if I was new, which was wonderfully ironic to me. I got relatively bitched out by a customer when the problem he was having with his Nook Tablet was a problem with the app developer and while I did all that I could, there wasn’t actually anything that I could do to fix the issue.

I was also approached by a Mary Kay representative because she wanted to give me a makeover. I of course left the small goodie bag she gave me at work, like I regularly did with my water cup.

One of the regularly not-so-creepy, but for some reason creepy to me customers stopped by and randomly said some quote that I don’t even remember, but of course he wanted me to actually hear it, so he repeated it when I didn’t understand his first recitation.

The Sunday before, I’d had a really great conversation with a customer about The Hunger Games and Ender’s Game. The kind of conversation that I would have had in my favorite professor’s class last year. I’m going to miss that stuff, but the crazies and the creepers, not so much.

I’m seriously looking forward to this week, the first week in a long time that I will get to come home at a decent time every night and I’ve got my weekend open! I see nothing but good things in my future!

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