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May 31, 2007

May 31, 2007


May 31, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Now that my Thursday evenings aren't filled with must see TV, I don't know what to do with myself! I thought I'd watch my shows anyway, but Supernatural had to air my least favorite episode of the season, if not of all time. But oo, National Spelling Bee!

Anyway. I was aimlessly sketching while listening to the television, and it turned into Alexandria the Elf. I really hate her ears, so those'll have to be fixed. She's clearly not finished, but I'm totally exhausted tonight for some reason.

Posted by kate at 09:48 PM | | Comments (0)

May 30, 2007

May 30, 2007


May 30, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Geek Night Game Night was moved from our usual Tuesday to tonight, so while I'm waiting for the crew to arrive, how about a Picture of the Day?

This is a pair of slipper-socks I got for Christmas a few years ago. They are very warm and very soft and quite lovely, which is why, I suppose, the cats have adopted them as the Bestest Toy Ever. I have a bag of socks I don't wear often, and this particular pair has been fished out countless times, no matter how deep I bury them. I have other slipper socks made of similar material that don't get *touched*. Just these. There are now a few more holes in them than are altogether necessary, so I guess they're just a cat toy now.

And to prove how beloved this pair of socks is, Monet snuck her nose in the picture just as I was taking it. She couldn't leave the socks alone for two seconds! It's okay, Monet, they're officially yours now.

Posted by kate at 07:38 PM | | Comments (0)

May 29, 2007

May 29, 2007


May 29, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
I was in the process tonight of organizing some of this mess this evening. I'd managed to empty most of the slots in the CD book over the last three years by pulling things out and not putting them back. The cases were almost all empty or holding mismatched CDs. Now? Every case has its own disc, every slot in the book is filled. There isn't a very logical order to any of it, but it's a start!

And someday, I'll have all of that on my ipod. Someday...

Posted by kate at 10:41 PM | | Comments (0)

May 28, 2007

May 28, 2007


May 28, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
What good is Memorial Day Weekend without getting the first sunburn of summer? And that's with sunscreen. Cute, eh? Two of the stripes are from the tank top I was wearing on my walk yesterday (which resulted in the burn), and the third is from my swimsuit.

Sunburn cannot be avoided with a combination of Scottish, Polish, and Swedish blood. I'm just lucky I don't burn in the shade like some of my family. And I suppose it's better I get this out of the way now, rather than on vacation next month. I'd really not like to spend my entire week in pain!

Posted by kate at 04:26 PM | | Comments (0)

May 27, 2007

May 27, 2007


May 27, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Yesterday, my boss's seven-year-old son drew a picture of her next to a tree. The tree had oranges on it. I thought to myself that it was cute that he put oranges, rather than apples, on the tree. All the trees *I* drew as a child had apples. And then I realized, there aren't really apple trees in California! And there certainly aren't orange trees in the Midwest. Kids growing up here automatically think orange tree. And they also probably don't know the fun of going apple picking in the fall and having fresh apple cider and apple donuts at the orchard. Sad!

It's been a lovely Sunday. Went for a walk to the MR Park, and then spent an hour or so at C's by the pool. I got sunburned again, as the SPF30 sunscreen was too little too late (put it on at the pool; got burned on the walk). Went to Best Buy for the sole purpose of obtaining Scrubs season 5 and Smallville season 5. Neither of which they had. For shame! So I ended up with a CD I'd only ever heard part of one song from (Mika, Life in Cartoon Motion). So far, I like it.

Shortly we'll be off to dinner and then Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which I have actually heard *nothing* about. Strangely. Has anyone seen it?

Posted by kate at 05:35 PM | | Comments (0)

May 26, 2007


May 26, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Can you tell what this picture is of? Another in my 'Take a Guess' series. I like it! Reminds me of the Great Beyond, or something. Go into the light!

Tonight I went to Don Cuco's (I think that was the name) with S and G. It was a good time, which I owed them after not feeling like going out last weekend when I had an early morning the next day.

Did you figure out what it's a picture of? Okay, I'll tell ya. It's the inside of a Smirnoff Ice bottle that someone drank on Tuesday. Makes for a pretty cool picture, huh?

Posted by kate at 12:43 AM | | Comments (0)

May 26, 2007

May 25, 2007


May 25, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
This is a Traveling Gift. It goes where it is needed most. This is the first time I've had it (or was even aware it existed), but it's been passed around within my family. It came to me because of the work stupidness of late. The instructions were to put it where it'll be seen often, so it's hanging above my stove in the kitchen. It makes me smile. :o)

Posted by kate at 05:57 PM | | Comments (0)

May 24, 2007

May 24, 2007


May 24, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Today was seriously the longest day ever in the history of days. It was soooooo sloooooooow. Maybe seeming moreso because I thought it was going to be crazy insane busy due to the fact that we were at half-staff again. The biggest excitement was having to do a loan signing, something I hadn't done in more than two years. And while having a mid-morning carrot snack, we found a few baby carrots that looked like fingers. You'd be better off just... not asking. Really.

But then, on this food theme, I went to 's Pampered Chef party tonight, which was quite fun! A delicious summer salad was demonstrated (and eaten), and I bought a couple things I'm looking forward to getting. Yay!

Posted by kate at 09:40 PM | | Comments (0)

May 23, 2007

May 23, 2007


May 23, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
I didn't go to the gym this morning, opting instead to take advantage of the gorgeous day and go for a walk. I went to the park down the street , which is about a 3-minute drive, but a 17-minute power walk. I wound my way around all the sports fields and ended up walking for an hour, not counting the twenty minute break on the bleachers to read the book I'd brought before I headed back home.

The sad thing is that, with the sports fields and the playground area and the picnic area, I think it was the most grass I'd seen all in one place since moving here. It was nice.

Posted by kate at 03:16 PM | | Comments (0)

May 22, 2007


May 22, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
That should say 27, not 72. It's how the candles came out of the bag, and the sentiment seemed to fit. Plus, if you add up all the birthdays we ended up celebrating tonight, the combined ages was a good bit more than that.

Our Game Night crew has shrunk to five, and three of them had birthdays within the last week. Crazy! May is Birthday Month, apparently! One of the birthdays was a surprise to the rest of us, so it worked out to have a celebration. Chinese food from our favorite restaurant and cake. Mmmm, cake.

Posted by kate at 01:11 AM | | Comments (0)

May 21, 2007


May 21, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
So, my day mostly sucked, from the moment I forgot to put in earrings, all the way through a crazy day for which we had only *half* our employees, and right up to stopping for gas just before getting home.

I went to my usual station, the one with the least expensive gas around. [It also happens to be the gas station I was at a year and a half ago when my car just died. Some "helpful" guys tried to jump start it and ended up permanently damaging my radio and remote entry. Whatever.]

So anyway. Dead tired, crazy day, just wanted to get home and watch Dancing With the Stars. Went to put gas in... LOCKED MY KEYS IN MY CAR. Yeah. I'm a GENIUS. I usually carry my keys or leave my door open because my car has a talent for locking its doors all by itself. As I got out and the door shut, I thought sure hope it didn't lock.... YEAH. I had to use the gas station's phone to call AAA, sign up for an account (which took over half an hour, during which I bonded with the cute little customer service boy over DWTS), and waited for the emergency locksmith. I was parked at Pump #5 for more than an hour, freezing in my skirt suit, while the gas station owner scowled at me and pointed out several times that I was blocking a pump. No shit. If I could move my car, I SO WOULD, buddy!

Perfect ending to a perfect day. (The Good: I made it home at 7:49, just in time for DWTS. *g*)

Posted by kate at 01:00 AM | | Comments (0)

May 22, 2007

May 20, 2007


May 20, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Disneyland Sunday for Keri's and Gen's birthdays. I hadn't known about the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End premiere on Saturday until we saw dozens of people with their little passes pinned on. Here is part of the stage that was set up for the premiere. There were pirate ships in the water, presumably a ginormous screen, and stadium seating set up in New Orleans Square. It was pretty cool to see, and I'm sure would have been an EXPERIENCE to attend. Too bad I don't have that unlimited money thing. ;)

Obligatory Silly Hat Picture
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Yes. Everyone who goes to Disneyland MUST take a picture in a silly hat. It's mandatory.

Pirate Mickey's crew
Originally uploaded by kayay.
We gave in to the Pirates hype. We did. We are Pirate Mickey's crew. Pictured: Keri, Jamie, Gen, and me. Ahoy, mateys!

Posted by kate at 07:03 PM | | Comments (0)

May 19, 2007

May 19, 2007


May 19, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
I have discovered that in this city, you must already know where something is in order to find it. This is a prime example of why that's the case. Many road signs are placed right behind trees, bushes, and other signs. Building signs are tiny and inconspicuous. And addresses, as you can see, are covered by plant growth. In my next car, I WILL have a navigation system.

Today has been fairly unexciting. I ran errands and did laundry. Whee! It did take me forever to get the groceries into the house, as the little boy next door was on his 'What's the password?' kick. He stops you, asks for the password, and when you (finally) get it right, he runs ahead and stops you again. It's usually superheroes. I went through all my superheroes, all my supervillains, and then started making things up ("It starts with 'I'." "Incognitoman?" "Noooooooo!" I never did guess that one. He switched gears on me and let me go with the Flash).

Posted by kate at 05:12 PM | | Comments (0)

May 18, 2007


May 18, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
What follows logically from shoes? Purses, of course. I also have a ton of purses, but this is my current one.

Went to see The Ex last night. It was funny, but was missing that something that would have made it great. I do enjoy Zach Braff, though, and Zach Braff snuggling a tiny little peanut of a baby to his chest--often--was worth the price of admission.

Posted by kate at 10:34 AM | | Comments (0)

May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007


May 17, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
This all started because I couldn't find one shoe. The right half of my black flip flops has been missing for weeks. And pulling out almost (yes, almost--there are more) all of the shoes I own? Didn't help. Still can't find that shoe!

I never really thought of myself as a shoe whore (which, clearly, I am). More than that, I'm a pack rat. I don't get rid of anything. There is a pair of shoes in there that I bought in 1998 when I had my first summer office job. I really need to learn to let go.

Posted by kate at 08:34 PM | | Comments (0)

May 16, 2007

May 16, 2007


May 16, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
So. First time, two weeks ago: bought tickets, movie cancelled between ticket purchase and showtime. Second time, last week: not a single theatre in the area showing it. Third time's the charm, apparently. Because we'd tried twice, unsuccessfully, to see this, there was almost a sense of duty involved. Gen and I went tonight to see Kickin' It Old Skool. As anticipated, we were the only two in the theatre. I tried to get a picture of all the empty seats between us and the screen, but it didn't happen.

The movie was... well. There was lots of fun nostalgia and my appreciation for Michael remains. As for the rest of it? My eyes didn't actually bleed (although I did have to cover them more than twice).

Posted by kate at 10:23 PM | | Comments (0)

May 15, 2007


May 15, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
First off, Happy Birthday, Keri!! I hope it's fabulous and wonderful! :) [For the record: the post is for the 15th, the birthday is today. But it relates, I promise.]

A few weeks ago was Ryan's birthday, which we'd never properly celebrated, and today is Keri's. So last night, at our weekly game night, we made a little treat to celebrate. Ryan is vegan, so Gen baked vegan lemon squares, requiring egg replacer and everything. They came out pretty darn good! Taste almost exactly like regular lemon squares! A little harder to get out of the pan, as you can see. The only problem? WE WERE MISSING OUR VEGAN! He didn't show! SEE WHAT YOU MISSED?!? Ah well. We enjoyed them anyway. *g*

Posted by kate at 07:05 PM | | Comments (0)

May 14, 2007


May 14, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Monday was my first day of getting up at 4:30 to go to the gym. It was a crazy day at work, and then I left Simi Valley and rushed (as quickly as one can when driving from Simi Valley to LAX in rush hour traffic) to the airport to pick Gen up from her weekend home. We stopped for dinner (and to pick up Gen's car) in Santa Monica. I took this picture out the restaurant window, kind of intending to take a better one later on. By the time I got home (just in time for DWTS!) I was exhausted and didn't even try again.

That little girl frolicked into the shot. Earlier, she and her two sisters had been lined up inspecting a bush along the street. Scrutinizing the bush. The three of them stared at that bush like it held the secret of life. Maybe there was a cool bug.

Posted by kate at 06:58 PM | | Comments (0)

May 13, 2007

Happy Mother's Day!


3generations
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! This is one of my favorite pictures of my two favorite moms: mine, and her's.

Posted by kate at 12:45 PM | | Comments (0)

May 13, 2007


May 13, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Sometimes, you just have to have a goofy Girls' Night.

Posted by kate at 12:33 PM | | Comments (0)

May 12, 2007

May 12, 2007


May 12, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Today is Little A's first communion, and this here is the frame I made to give her. The intention is to have a picture from today go into it, but (obviously) I don't have one. And my printer ink is running low, so the one that's there is all faded and bad, but it gets the point across.

The quote (thanks, Jessie!) is: John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

And this, folks, is probably the ONLY time you will ever see a quote from the Bible in my journal. ;)

Posted by kate at 02:46 PM | | Comments (0)

May 11, 2007

May 11, 2007


May 11, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Funny I should post a picture of my work keys on a day I didn't work, but there you have it. At my last office, I had seven keys on one little purple coil I could wear around my wrist. No biggie. When I came to this office? TWENTY-FOUR. I was assigned 24 keys. I did some rearranging and consolidating and managed to whittle it down to the thirteen or fourteen you see here. Still, those keys could take a person out! One smart whack to the head, man, that's all it'd take.

Posted by kate at 09:20 PM | | Comments (0)

May 10, 2007

May 10, 2007


May 10, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
I started out trying to get a picture of my ceiling fan with the blades blurred, but I couldn't figure out how to get my camera to do that. So, my fan pull in front of the light. I really wish I had an interesting story to go along with this picture, but I totally don't.

I guess the heart can be because I ♥ Noora, whose birthday it is today. Happy Birthday, sweetie! I know it's long over where you are, but it's still May 10th here. I hope your day was fantabulous! *hugs tight*

Posted by kate at 10:09 PM | | Comments (0)

May 09, 2007

May 9, 2007


May 9, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Had a regional meeting today, which means I was home by 4:15. LOVE IT. I sat outside and read, first on one of the lounge chairs, and then when that got too hot, I sat on the edge of the pool with my feet in the water. It was pretty much perfect. Then the neighbor kids got home, and I generally have a lot of patience for them, but there's only so much "Guess which superhero I am now!" (with much splashing) a person can take. And really, my superhero knowledge only goes so far, and I couldn't remember all the colors of Power Rangers, and I'm pretty sure the boys change their minds just to keep me guessing.

Posted by kate at 06:34 PM | | Comments (0)

May 08, 2007

May 8, 2007


May 8, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
At long last! Gen has been working on her Lolita Mulan cosplay costume for Anime Central for months. And it's finally finished! There's an amazing amount of detail, mostly including tiny beads and lace trim and braided ribbon, and I'm just so impressed that she could create this out of the neatly folded--and precisely chosen--pieces of fabric that found their way home from JoAnn's all those weeks ago. I had one heck of a time just *altering* the infant shirt I had to make smaller to fit Clark!Bear; I can't imagine making an entire costume to wear.

I wish we'd been able to take the picture in the daylight, if not to at least be able to see the cute little purple parasol, but she's leaving straight from work tomorrow so it was now or never.

She also made a Mushu costume for one of her friends, but it's currently being packed. We'll just have to ask for pictures of the whole group (Lolita Disney characters, the lot of 'em) when she gets back. ;)

Posted by kate at 09:55 PM | | Comments (0)

May 07, 2007

May 7, 2007


May 7, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Nadine asked to see the view from my balcony. I live on the first floor, and the view of my back patio is about the most boring thing you could ever think of (someday we'll buy plants that actually survive stifling temperatures and nearly full shade, but for now it's pretty empty). So. Here is the view from my front door. The pool at night. It was actually quite warm out today and the neighbor kids were still swimming at about 7:30 this evening, but all is quiet now.

Posted by kate at 10:47 PM | | Comments (0)

May 05, 2007

May 5, 2007


May 5, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
I'd intended to post a picture of the movie tickets to our Movie Double Feature: Spider-Man 3 and Kickin' It Old Skool. SM3 was playing at 7:00 and KIOS at 9:55, so we bought tickets to both at about 6:30. The guy taking our tickets was amused that we'd bought two sets; I guess most people just... sneak in to the second?

So, we watched SM3. Got refills on our Diet Cokes, went to the theatre for KIOS. On the door, it said Hot Fuzz was playing. Weh? Went back to the ticket-taker guy, and sure enough, KIOS had been cancelled. THEY CANCELLED THE MOVIE! *AFTER* WE BOUGHT TICKETS!! My little heart! It aches! We'd sort of been joking that we'd be the only two people in there tonight, what with the stupid fight and another certain movie playing on EIGHT MILLION SCREENS, but we never dreamed they'd CANCEL it!

So what we have here is a picture of the ticket to SM3 and the receipt for the return of our KIOS tickets. SAD. *sniff* I WILL see that movie, I will! Before it leaves theatres forever. :(

This is just not my week.

Posted by kate at 10:35 PM | | Comments (0)

May 04, 2007

May 4, 2007


May 4, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Today was Not a Good Day. I got to work early, like I do, and was just in my own little world gettin' stuff done. It finally dawned on me at 8:48 that I was the only employee there with ten minutes until we opened. Having only one half of every combo, it's not as if I could have opened alone!

By 8:55, two others had arrived, but not a single teller. I don't use a cash drawer but in extreme emergencies (which this was), so I had NO cash. I had to open the vault and piece count every bill, log it all, before I could use any of it. By some miracle, I got that accomplished by about 9:02. The workday didn't get much better from there.

Came home, went to Borders for new books (yay!!) and to Cold Stone for ice cream (yum!) and sat down with Gen to watch last night's Smallville... which didn't tape. OF COURSE. It's an hour of black screen. Supernatural taped right afterwards, so I don't know what the heck happened. Like I said, BAD DAY.

Anyway. Totally unrelatedly, this picture is the make-up I bought yesterday, the Bare Minerals. I've been existing on my sister's sample set for a few weeks, and it finally ran out. I liked it enough to buy my own. She recommended a darker shade for me than my sister'd had, so we'll see how it works.

Posted by kate at 10:39 PM | | Comments (0)

May 03, 2007

May 3, 2007


May 3, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
The combination of work stupidness this morning and talking about the ever-flattering outfis Disney Costuming offers sent me to my WDW College Program scrapbooks. I spent a good hour sighing and smiling and remembering. Seriously, best experience of my life, WDWCP.

The book with the yellow pages is from my first program in 2000, the blue ones from my second in 2002.

Posted by kate at 01:04 PM | | Comments (0)

May 02, 2007

May 2, 2007


May 2, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Gen had the last session of her on-camera class tonight, to which they were able to bring "network execs" audience members. (For the record, she was the best in the class; everyone laughed and enjoyed her performance, and the people around me who are "in the business" were all very impressed!! She's the only one they whispered about!) The girl next to me had done Pocahontas in a show at Walt Disney World for a few years, and I refrained from piping up with my own working-at-WDW stories. But! It reminded me of Florida.

(Follow my logic here... this all ties together.) This little jar was given to me as a joke by my aunt. I once made the mistake of mentioning that I often did my grocery shopping at the Super Wal*Mart in the middle of the night during my time in Florida, which she found hilarious. But I'd get off work at 11pm or so, sometimes six nights a week, and where else does one go to buy groceries at that hour? You come home, change your clothes, grab some dinner, and head out to the 24-hour Super Wal*Mart at the respectable hour of 2 in the morning. It made sense at the time.

Posted by kate at 10:08 PM | | Comments (0)

May 01, 2007

May 1, 2007


May 1, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay.
Apples to apples: KC is always giving me grief about the apples I eat for dinner. She seems to think an apple does not a complete meal make. But do you see the size of that thing? On the left we have a normal apple. On the right, my dinner apple. It's HUGE! (And delicious, thanks, I took the picture and then proceeded to devour it.)

Tonight, I might actually eat more than the apple. I need some carbs. Or ice cream. Mmmm, ice cream. Stress eating. I signed off on $8.3 million in outgoing transactions today, which is NOT a dollar amount I usually see all in one day.

Speaking of millions, did you know that Cook County, IL has the second-most (LA County is #1) millionaires in the US? Surprising, that. So I went from living among the second-most millionaires to the first. Too bad that doesn't make it any easier for ME to be a millionaire!

Posted by kate at 07:49 PM | | Comments (0)