purekatherine

You deserve happiness.

You deserve happiness.

I just wrote an email to a friend and in it I wrote that phrase. As I typed it, I realized that I was telling myself as much as I was telling that friend.

Then I thought that I might have some other friends who needed the reminder.

You deserve happiness.

Are you doing something for someone else out of an obligation that you are actually kind of imagining?

Do you work somewhere that you don’t actually like, but have some reason that you wouldn’t take another job, or flat out aren’t looking for another?

Are you still being a fantastic friend to someone who isn’t being the same for you? Should you be either dropping that friend or reevaluating the amount of effort you put into the relationship?

Are you stalling on starting something that you know you want to do because you’re afraid of it not being what you’re expecting, or you not being as amazing at it as you are in your head?

Stop all of that right now.

You deserve happiness.

Please go get it. Even if you have to take it in small little increments, please take that step every time you get the chance.

To the friend who got that email, thanks for the inspiration.

You deserve happiness.

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Comments on routine

Tonight I got to meet a new blogging friend. Someone I’ve known on Twitter for a few months, who I really respect and admire. The topic of blogging of course came up, and it reminded me that I have something specific that I’ve wanted to share here for a while.

I don’t remember the last time that I was really able to read other people’s blogs. I really hate it, but it’s true.

San and I got to talking about how awesome it is to get comments from people on your blog, and how commenting really is a two way street.

The blogging community is a community after all, so how can any blogger really expect to be getting a lot of comments without responding to them, or commenting on other blogs? Yet here I am, not only not commenting on other blogs, but not even finding the time to READ them!

I really hope that this is something that can and will change soon. The thing that will bring that change the best would be a new job. I currently have no routine, I get scheduled around 20 hours a week for relatively random 4 hour shifts. This means that I don’t have a set schedule for when I’m waking up because I don’t have a set schedule for when I’m going to bed.

I know I just wrote about getting into a great sleep routine, but with my current job, there are some days that I will be scheduled until 11PM, so it’s hard to find a way to get to bed by 10:30 on those nights.

So let’s get me a new job. If there’s anywhere in the Sacramento area that any of you know of who needs a cute and competent receptionist*, send ‘em my way. Or better yet, let me know where I can go to wow them without them having to do anything.

Really, I’m doing this all for you, because like I said before, I can’t read blogs or comment until this kind of thing happens. So get me a job and YOU get more views and comments. Really, this isn’t for me at all.

*I’m also a great file clerk, general office technician, paper clip collector, or overall office badass!

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Shoes for a cause!

Just a heads up that a pair of my shoes are in a pretty awesome raffle over at a happy girl!

Tahnie is raising money for the Cystinosis Research Network. I’ll admit that I don’t know a whole lot about Cystinosis, but Tahnie is one of actually relatively few people who are living with the disease. It’s really rare and because of the specifics of it, her daughter is actually only 1 of 10 children born to people with cystinosis.

There’s a lot more information to be found on her blog, but go right on over to her post today and you’ll get to see all the goodies that are up for grabs for only a $10 raffle ticket!

I mean, you could win a pair of my shoes, which I personally think is definitely worth the ticket on its own!

I think I’m going to cheat the system a little at work for my next few shifts to get an extra $10 to be able to enter myself!

What are you waiting for? Go now!

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More changes

Back in December I told you guys about this great project that I’d be starting in the new year. I was super stoked for it then and had lots of support from twitter. I’m happy to say that, that support has stayed pretty constant and 12 Changes 12 Months is doing pretty well!

January was awesome for me.

I wanted to increase the amount of water that I drink and I did just that. I basically did it with positive reinforcement. I wasn’t allowed to have any Dr Pepper until I had a glass of water. So every time that I had a glass of water, I pretty much got stoked to be able to have my favorite drink after that. By the end of the month, even on the sleepiest of days, I started wanting water in the morning instead of my caffeine fix.

See, awesome!

At just under a week into February and my second change, things aren’t quite so good. I mean, my change was to get into a better routine/sleep schedule and here I am at 2:24 in the morning, typing up a blog because I can’t sleep.

To be fair to myself, I’ve been sick, so I’ve been sleeping a lot in the mornings and during the day, which is probably what got me onto a crazy schedule to begin with. That doesn’t mean though that I don’t wish I was doing better with this.

The other day I came up with a hopeful solution. I grabbed my awesome Life Planner and wrote 10:30 at the bottom of February 29. That is my goal bedtime by the end of the month. I then worked backwards and changed the time every 3-4 days by 15 minutes. That turned out to give me until midnight to get to bed for tonight (or last night) and the next few nights.

Tonight it didn’t happen. Obviously. I did get to catch up with a friend I’ve been missing though, so I’m ok with it. Also, there’s that whole sick and my pattern is super off from that, so I’ll just go ahead and really be 100% comfortable with missing today.

I have two more days to get this midnight thing down, and my alarm is set for 8:30 in the morning, so maybe I’ll get to make this happen. I have hope, plans tend to do that for me.

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I can’t find the Words

I’ve never been one for the whole “Word for the Year” thing. I think it can be great for people who want to focus on something and have a goal, but it’s always felt to me that if I did it, it would be a little hokey.

Maybe I just don’t know how to label things before they happen, which doesn’t really make sense because I rarely start writing a blog post until I have a title to go with it. But then again, now that I’ve started to rewrite and edit my posts, I have tended to rename them afterward anyway, so I guess I was right in the first place and I don’t know how to label things before they’ve happened.

Take last year for example. At the beginning of the year I would have had no way of knowing the kind of emotional growth and learning that I would have done. I ended 2010 in a lot of pain, but without ways to process that. 2011 I held onto that pain much longer than I probably should have. (Hell, there are still some remnants of that pain here with me in 2012!) I did some processing though.

I did a lot of learning about myself and about the ways that I interact with people. Some of those things I don’t actually like. But really, I’m actually super happy that I went through that process. In the last month or so, I have done a lot of reflecting, and while 2011 held some things that I’m not so proud of, I’m really ok with leaving them there and continuing on to where I’d like to be in 2012.

I made a lot of new friends in the last 12 months. Friends who saw a lot of the pain that I was going through and have been there to lend an ear, or offer some advice, or even just distract me with silly talk about anything else. One of the things that I’m not so proud of is that I kind of took advantage of some of those friends.

This year I plan on utilizing them.

With this network of support behind me, I plan on becoming unstoppable. Seriously, I have big plans this year. Some of them I will be sharing (because someone pretty awesome explained that sharing makes me accountable for more). Some of them I’ll only be unveiling once I’ve got something to show.

I don’t know what word to put on the upcoming year, so I don’t think I’m going to. Instead I think I’m just going to say that I’ve got a new spirit for the year. A spirit of adventure, a spirit of going for things. A spirit of gratitude and thanks.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably a part of what gave me this spirit. I want to thank you for that now and I hope that you will continue with me through this year and live through the spirit as it continues to fuel me.

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Kitchen MacGyver

Ever try to cook someone dinner in their house, without their help? How about when you realize that they are a law student who doesn’t really cook?

A few weeks ago I made a lasagna spinoff and twice baked potatoes in someone else’s kitchen.

The previously mentioned law student lives with his adult aunt, so I didn’t think there would be a problem when I planned to make something pretty basic. All I really needed would be something to grate the cheese and a vegetable brush of some sort to wash the potatoes.

Neither of these things were anywhere to be found.

This is when it clicked for me that the law student lives in his aunt’s weekday home. She works in the city, but her home is 2 hours away in the same town I live in. She goes back home every weekend, so why would she have serious cooking stuff in both places?

Had I realized this in the grocery store, it wouldn’t have been much of an issue. Vegetable brushes aren’t so expensive, and cheese comes pregrated if you want that (though it’s not as good and it’s more expensive). It wasn’t until I was starting to cook though that I started to really think about the tools I needed.

That’s when the confusion to a level just this side of panic started to set in. I’ve got all this food, but no way to clean half of it, and I really don’t want to just slice up the cheese because it doesn’t melt the same way as it does when it’s grated. (Apparently I actually kind of care about stuff in the kitchen, I didn’t know this before.)

This is one of the times that I’m really glad to have my Pinterest obsession. I once repinned a blog post about cleaning tips. One of them was to use the foil that you had just cooked with, balled up to clean the pans that you’re washing.

soucre

First off, I don’t know why you’re needing to scrub that hard on a pan you used foil on unless it was covering the top of the dish while baking, not lining the pan. Second, I feel like this would scratch the shit out of whatever kind of baking dish or tray you just used. Is it really that difficult to soak something for a little while and then get back to it?

Back to my issues though, I realized that there was foil in the house and if it was effective enough to supposedly clean pans, why couldn’t I just ball up some of that shit and use it on these two potatoes?

As it turns out, you totally can do that! It actually worked pretty well, though I probably wouldn’t do it again if I had a brush handy because I’m a hippie and it seems wasteful. It’s really good to know for future cases like this though. Who knows where I might be cooking next?

Do you know of any other MacGyver kitchen menuvers? There’s a chance I’m going back there to cook again relatively soon, I might need them!

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11 rules

I was tagged by Cait to do this a little while ago, and it’s kind of cute. Plus, I’ve got a bunch of posts that I can’t seem to finish and I need to have my fingers on the keyboard right now, so here’s a chance for me to type!

Here’s the rules.
1. You must post these rules.
2. Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
4. You have to choose 11 people to tag and link them on the post. Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her.
5. No tag backs and you legitimately have to tag 11 people.

11 Facts
1. I call myself a swing dancer even though I rarely actually go out dancing. I miss it terribly, but it’s just one expense that I can’t justify right now.
2. I connect random things to people based on the most inane conversations that we’ve had at some point.
3. I am far more insecure than most people will ever believe.
4. I don’t believe in guilty pleasures. If I like something, I will probably own up to it. Even if I know that you’ll judge me for it.
5. I’m an idea person. I’m not so great at implementing those ideas.
6. I’m trying, rather unsuccessfully, to become more of a minimalist. (Pun intended.) Some of my hoarding tendencies make this difficult.
7. The feeling of typing is often as soothing to me as getting the words and thoughts out of my head.
8. For the first time in my life, even while acknowledging things I don’t like about my appearance, I am truly starting to believe and feel that I am beautiful.
9. I would love to start practicing yoga, but there are two reasons I don’t. 1, Same reason I don’t get out to swing dance so often, 2, I’m scared I won’t be any good at it!
10. Potatoes are really, like, the best things ever. Ever.
11. I will cook every meal for you if you just do the dishes for me.

11 Questions for Me
1. What do you wash first when you’re in the shower?
My hair. Mostly because I leave the shampoo and conditioner on for a few minutes each, so I do other stuff while those “set.”
2. Favorite birthday celebration?
Last year’s trip to Chicago and seeing all the people who I didn’t even really know come together to help me celebrate was awesome!
3. What’s your favorite movie? (Or top 3, because I know I couldn’t pick a favorite.)
Shit, I don’t know. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the Harry Potter series are my go-tos for having something on while I need to get something done.
4. Who changed your life the most?
I have! But Lexi and Ashley have had more of an impact than I think I can ever really express to them.
5. What’s your shoe size?
8-9 ½ depending on the brand. 8 ½ is the safest bet.
6. If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you’d buy?
I’d pay down my debt first, and then buy a loft in Chicago so I could go to school there and have the best apartment ever. Hopefully with Nico, Bob and Erini living with me. (Totes rent-free guys, just y’all do the dishes, ok?)
7. What trait/skill do you have that you’re most proud of?
My creativity. I really think that my mind works differently than a lot of people’s. Sometimes this is an asset, sometimes it’s actually not so helpful.
8. Do you have a favorite scent of lotion/perfume/cologne/body wash? If so, what is it?
I really love Bath & Body Works’ Twisted Peppermint, so of course they are discontinuing it. They’ve done that with 3 scents on me now!
9. Which celebrity would you love to meet?
Josh Groban. He seems like a lot of fun and he’s got to fall in love with me at some point!
10. When was the last time you cried? What was it about (if you’re comfortable sharing)?
Last Friday evening. A friend offered me something I could have never imagined. That friend knows who she is and I hope she knows how much I appreciate what she did. It means a lot to me.
11. What position do you normally sleep in? (On your stomach, on your back, etc.)
I always start out on my side, but I roll over before I fall asleep and I stretch my back out. It just feels so good!

11 Questions for You
1. What is it that you most want to do? Are you doing it?
2. If you have a favorite holiday, what is it and what makes it that?
3. What’s your favorite TV show? (Doesn’t have to be currently on the air.)
4. If you could live in the fictional world of any book, which world/book would that be?
5. What’s your favorite way to eat ice cream?
6. If you could cast the movie about your life, who would you have play you?
7. Do you own slippers? Do they look like an animal?
8. What are you most looking forward to in the next year?
9. What’s your favorite Disney movie?
10. If you do karaoke, do you have a go-to song?
11. What is your cocktail of choice?

Tag! You’re It!
This is for anyone who wants to do it. Really, you interested? You’re tagged!

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Grimm Fantasies

I’m going to keep going on the Once Upon A Time thing, but this time I’m going to talk a little bit more about Grimm. There was a bit of buzz about the two fairy tale shows coming out at the same time, and I couldn’t have been more excited about either of them.

I don’t know that I’ve talked about it much here, but I’m kind of a Science Fiction and Fantasy fan. I mean, my last semester at Sacramento State was planned around being able to take the Science Fiction option of my senior portfolio course. And I’ve come to terms with possibly dating a guy who is shorter than me by relating the situation to Battlestar Gallactica. Do I really need to say any more?

Both of these shows are definitely Fantasy, and it’s just awesome.

Once Upon A Time has a lot more happening in the fantasy world, what with the town of Storybrook being under a spell that keeps the entire town from knowing that they are all characters in fairytales. There are lots of flashbacks to tell their original stories, which then play out in current times. Oh, and none of the people in Storybrook age I guess.

It’s not a perfect show, it occasionally borders on campy and I don’t think that’s the intention at all, but I still enjoy it. There are plenty of different fairy tale stories to tell, and while those unfold, the curse that keeps them in the dark about their identities is being explored.

The one that I really can’t get enough of though? Grimm!

First off, this is what you’re forced to look at during the episode.

Image Source

I know that’s just awful, but if you can get past that, there’s this awesome combination of the fantasy world and a crime show that is just perfect.

It’s like they took the Law part of Law & Order, and just moved it into the fantasy world with a really attractive man. It’s Law & Fantasy and I want more!

Since I initially wrote this, Grimm has been given a short break that worried me, when I factor in the fact that the shows I really like rarely get picked up. Fortunately, that break was followed up by a special Thursday episode and a regular Friday schedule. I’d totes be down for some Thursday Grimm action. Crossed fingers that they make the move!

If you haven’t watched either show, I recommend trying each of them out, but I have the feeling that Grimm is going to have a wider type of audience. If you have seen them, what do you think?

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The Business of Cards

One of the things that I’m planning on working on the New Year is growing that whole glitter shoe business I’ve got going on. So I’m learning to be more comfortable talking them up and handing out my business cards. I’ve got some interesting ones for free, which I actually get complimented on all the time, but I’m not completely sold on them.

My problem is that I don’t really know what to have on my cards.

Once upon a time it was super easy, name, business address, phone number. Is that still the standard? I’m sure that replacing the physical address with a URL is cool, but what about the phone number?

Sure it would be great to be able to hand out to guys, but that’s not what the card is about, right?

I’m also looking forward to finding someone to help me with pictures of the shoes so I might be able to use those as a background or maybe a full color photo on one side, with my info on the other? Is that a thing now? Can I do that?

Or is that even a good idea? I would like to expand into other things, would putting shoes and the phrase, “glitterer of shoes” on the card pigeonhole me into only shoes? If you think it would, do you have a suggestion as to something else I should include?

I’ve been thinking that things besides business cards might be fun to have too. As luck would have it, Overnight Prints has provided me with a gift card to check out what they’ve got, and I think I’m going to do just that with some postcard printing! I’m digging their prices, so I think I’m going to try a few different designs.

Do you have a business card? What do you use them for and what do you have on them? What do you think of the postcards? What would you put on those? And do you want one?

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Making this DailyBooth actually Daily!

I’m not terribly active on DailyBooth. I follow friends, and I check in every day to see what they’re up to, but I don’t actually post myself very often. It’s something that I’m hoping to change in the new year.

It’s called DailyBooth, so why not take one daily?

Anyway, that’s not what I want to write about right now.

Tonight I DID post. It was kind of a lame picture, I look pretty blah in it, but I’m drinking my Dr Pepper, so I don’t really mind.

The picture did earn me a new follower though, as well as a fantastic new message from a wonderful young gentleman asking me if I wanted him to follow me, in return for following him.

He was also kind enough to tell me about another site that’s similar to DB, but with GIFs instead. If I wanted to follow him on there, he’d follow me there as well.

Isn’t that nice?

It’s people like him who make me want to write back and just say, excuse me, but you’re doing it wrong. Social media is not about following someone because they are following you. You should follow someone because you like what they are posting and want to see what that is.

I’ve never understood the follow for follow idea. Followers to me mean nothing if they are only following me because I’m following them. Plus, those usually aren’t actually people I care to follow.

Can someone please explain the follow for follow idea to me? Or is it really just a way to grow numbers?

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