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November 29, 2007

November 29, 2007


November 29, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I bought myself a new winter coat. I keep hearing how *cold* it is in Chicago, and I'm shivery just thinking about it! I am admittedly a cold weather wuss, despite having grown up in Chicago. I realized that my other winter coat is coming up on a decade old, and is actually not as warm as I'd like. I had a coat in mind going into the store, found it almost immediately, and didn't look any further. That never happens! And it was a good price, too. I'm all ready for winter in Chicago (don't mind the pajama pants there). Bring on the snow!

Posted by kate at 09:05 PM | | Comments (0)

November 28, 2007


November 28, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Admire my beautiful birthday flowers. Aren't they just lovely? They keep getting prettier every day, with more buds blooming.

November 28th is the day for birthdays, as I know at least five people born on the day, including my own dad and two close friends. Not that any of them will see this, but happy birthday, y'all! The celebrations will continue into next week, giving the illusion of my actually keeping a social calendar. *g*

Posted by kate at 09:01 PM | | Comments (0)

November 27, 2007

November 27, 2007


November 27, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! You made my day, seriously.

I had a really nice day! My coworkers made me balloon animals, I got gorgeous flowers from KC, I went to dinner with S and Little A (who gave me the flower in the picture, and was so excited about it!), and then stopped by C's for dessert. I got phone calls from most of my favorite people, and my mom's sixth grade class even sang to me. Hee! All in all, a great golden birthday.

I do wonder, though... three bottles of wine. A hint? Lol! Not that I'm complaining. I just need to find an excuse to drink them.

Posted by kate at 10:43 PM | | Comments (1)

November 26, 2007

November 26, 2007


November 26, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Meet our Christmas Shrub. Isn't it cute? Fitting a full-sized tree in our little apartment would take some serious rearranging, and with the fact neither of us will actually be here for Christmas, it seemed silly to go to all the trouble. So, a tabletop version. I think it's festive. And it smells really nice.

I can't really get over the wrongness of strolling through a parking lot, wearing little more than a t-shirt and jeans, to pick out a Christmas tree. No, Christmas-tree-getting should involve approximately 32 layers of wool under a nice, fluffy parka, a good, long trudge through snow, a saw, and a healthy dose of manual labor.

The result, I suppose, is the same. And this might possibly be my first ever November Christmas tree!

Posted by kate at 10:00 PM | | Comments (0)

November 25, 2007

November 25, 2007


November 25, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Okay, not actually my birthday, but in a world of busy schedules, this was the only day available to celebrate. Gen, C, and S took me to dinner at my favorite Indian restaurant. It's the one day of the year I can get C to step foot in the place (and even then not without protest). Then we went to see Enchanted, which was absolutely fantastic! Totally adorable! Two thumbs up, fine holiday fun! Even S enjoyed it, I think, although he may never admit to it.

Then back to the house for birthday cake (made vegan, even though our resident vegan couldn't make it tonight). Delicious. Thanks, Gen! All in all, a lovely birthday celebration on my not-birthday. *g*

Posted by kate at 11:00 PM | | Comments (0)

November 24, 2007

November 24, 2007 (1)


November 24, 2007 (1)
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Thanksgiving the Second. I got together with all my California roommates, past and present, for Family Thanksgiving. It was really nice, and we ate WAY TOO MUCH, OMG. There were three kinds of pie. Three.

After dinner, we settled in to watch a tape of Christmas specials from 1987, complete with commercials. Holy cow, the commercials! Truly amazing. And the funny thing is that I remember most of them. Lots of fun! After that 80's flashback, R decided to be a dork and go all Rockstar in front of C's Wall 'o Records. And then we decorated the Christmas tree. Let the Christmas season begin!


November 24, 2007 (2)
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I just thought this was a really pretty picture of C, decorating her tree. So, bonus picture!

Posted by kate at 11:07 PM | | Comments (0)

November 23, 2007

November 23, 2007


November 23, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
A kitchen in utter chaos! You would think that, with the holiday having been yesterday, everything would be back to normal. Today, however, brought even more meal preparations! Tomorrow is our "Family Thanksgiving" with my old roommates, and we actually had to prepare more dishes than we did for actual Thanksgiving. I made vegan garlic mashed potatoes, Gen made a vegan version of her fancy pumpkin pie, and I made my very, very not vegan pretzel jello. Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without pretzel jello!

This is the kitchen mid-cooking. You can see the pie on the one counter, the potatoes boiling on the stove, and the pretzel jello fixin's along the other counter. We are not the neatest of cooks, Gen and I.

Posted by kate at 10:18 PM | | Comments (0)

November 22, 2007


November 22, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Thanksgiving dinner! Gen and I went down to her aunt's house in San Diego. The company was very enjoyable, and the meal excellent! Everyone even liked my pretzel jello, however dubious they may have been at mention of the name. *g* I love watching people's reaction to it before they actually taste it. Aunt D was very thoughtful in her preparations, serving licorice and a special homemade herbal ginger-mint-etc tea, both helpful in digestion.

If I couldn't be with my family at Thanksgiving, I'm glad have been with part of Gen's. They made me feel like a part of the family, which was so nice! I hope to see all of them again soon.

Posted by kate at 10:13 PM | | Comments (0)

November 21, 2007


November 21, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
It looks like she's going all ninja on those pie crust pieces, doesn't it? Gen makes a gorgeous pumpkin pie, complete with leaves and vines made of sugared pie crust. Delicious, and nearly too pretty to eat.

Posted by kate at 10:06 PM | | Comments (0)

November 20, 2007


November 20, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Preparing to prepare portions of the Thanksgiving meal. Only the massive grocery trip was accomplished, and ingredients laid out. Promises of yummy food to come!

Posted by kate at 10:03 PM | | Comments (0)

November 19, 2007


November 19, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
This is a little bit of my organized chaos. Books and knick-knacks and pictures and stuff. On its good days, this shelving unit is neat and orderly, but most days it looks like this.

Posted by kate at 09:58 PM | | Comments (0)

November 18, 2007

November 18, 2007


November 18, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Our assignment for class over the last several weeks has been to create a series of four greeting cards. We had to take our own original artwork or photographs, reduce them in Photoshop to handful of colors, trace the resulting image in Illustrator, assemble them in InDesign, and then print them out as cards. My theme, as you can tell, is mouths. All I need to do before Wednesday is make the envelopes, which have to go along with the cards in some way.

It was an extremely time-consuming project and is due, inconveniently, the night before Thanksgiving (so no skipping for holiday preparations). But I like how they came out!

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

November 17, 2007


November 17, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
We have these new apartment managers who are, so far, freaking fabulous. Things that have needed fixing for *years* are getting done all of a sudden. Our names are on the doorbell! And on the mailboxes! (We're on our third year in this place, and had never had our names officially printed on either of those two things.) We have a Maintenance Request box in the laundry room! A recycling bin by the front gate!

I guess I never really noticed the little things that were slipping by undone, but yay for cleaning the place up!

Posted by kate at 04:11 PM | | Comments (0)

November 17, 2007

November 16, 2007


November 16, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Let there be light! This little light in the shower makes a huge difference. Without it, the shower feels a bit like a cave.

Our apartment has this unfortunate paint problem, wherein the last tenants had painted every. single. surface a different, vibrant color. When they moved out, the managers repainted everything this neutral almost-white, and used as many coats as it took to cover up the rainbow. As a result, many doors and cabinets don't really close as they should, and some things, such as the light fixture in the shower, are painted shut.

Because of that, it was a much bigger ordeal when the light bulb finally, after two years, burned out. Believe it or not, we actually had to have an electrician come to replace it. I mean, !!! Nuts. We'd only asked the new managers because of the fact the fixture was entirely painted shut, but apparently shower light fixtures are very delicate things. He scheduled the electrician, and now we have light! Lovely.

Also, let me not forget: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMILY!!! Miss you!

Posted by kate at 04:15 PM | | Comments (0)

November 15, 2007

November 15, 2007


November 15, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
And... post-haircut! I did keep my haircut appointment, despite having to work on my day off. I just took my lunch a little early. (Highlights will have to wait for another day, however.) This picture is both after hairdresser styling--which is never really the way I do it--and a long day at work. I'm excited to see how it comes out tomorrow! It's a lot shorter. My ponytail's so wee! I think I like the change, though. It's SO much healthier.

Posted by kate at 07:46 PM | | Comments (1)

November 14, 2007


November 14, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Pre-haircut.

Posted by kate at 07:42 PM | | Comments (0)

November 13, 2007


November 13, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I am not a fan of the time change. Ever since we 'fall back'-ed the clocks, I'm sleepy earlier, and my evening commute seems to be worse. Somehow, people seem to forget how to drive in the dark. Go figure. (I used to complain in Illinois that people forgot how to drive in the snow, but here, darkness is the culprit. I would cringe to see the impact snow would have on traffic.) But! The sky is oftentimes quite pretty as I'm leaving work. A silver lining!

Posted by kate at 07:40 PM | | Comments (0)

November 12, 2007


November 12, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I used to go walking in my little park quite a bit, but summer heat and general busy-ness kept me away. I finally took the opportunity of a work holiday to resume my park-strolling. It's so pleasant there, with grass and empty sports fields and small children frolicking about!

Posted by kate at 07:35 PM | | Comments (0)

November 11, 2007


November 11, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
This is the story of my life. This drawer was once an organized thing, and now look at it! It's a jumbled mess! It's part of a desk I also put together myself, and I constructed it to be left-handed by mistake. I'm not much one for reading directions if I don't have to, and it wasn't until the entire thing was assembled that I realized it could be put together in two different configurations. The drawer should probably be on the right. Woops!

Posted by kate at 07:30 PM | | Comments (0)

November 10, 2007


November 10, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I was talking to a friend about all the furniture I put together when I moved out here. This dresser was on sale at Ikea during a time when I was buying everything. It isn't my favorite look, but the price was right and hey, it's a sturdy little thing. It's survived quite a bit in the last three years! I put these handles on myself, and I still kinda like 'em.

Posted by kate at 07:26 PM | | Comments (0)

November 09, 2007

November 9, 2007


November 9, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Somehow, I've ended up with an entire multi-screen set-up in my living room. I have a big project due for class using Adobe Illustrator, which I do not own. So I borrowed the tower from a friend's computer, and hooked up my own monitor. (Did you know a computer--at least this computer--cannot boot up without a keyboard?) I realized the files I need are on my laptop, so I moved that out here to transfer back and forth. It's become a bit ridiculous! But I've gotten a lot done and I'm just about all caught up on TV, so it works out.

It also kind of works out that I have a good portion of the weekend to work on this massive assignment. My friends T and D were supposed to be visiting this weekend, which would have been wonderful. As it turns out, they accidentally booked their flight for next weekend. It's unfortunate, as I have this weekend off and will have to work next weekend, but I feel better about the homework, at least.

Posted by kate at 11:52 PM | | Comments (0)

November 8. 2007


November 8. 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
It has been so foggy lately! You can't even see the valley alongside the freeway in the mornings. It's made traffic slightly worse, which is unfortunate, but it's kind of cool and creepy looking.

Posted by kate at 11:31 PM | | Comments (0)

November 08, 2007

November 7, 2007


November 7, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
K (11:23pm): I haven’t taken a picture today! Today cannot be The Day I Don’t Take a Picture!
G: Don’t let today be The Day!
K: Do you know shadow puppets? Come here. I don’t know any shadow puppets!
G: I know the butterfly. And the dog. I *think* I know the dog.
K: …I don’t even know what mine is.
G: It’s Diplodocus. We have a dog about to be eaten by Diplodocus.

Come to think of it, wasn’t Diplodocus an herbivore? I think the dog was safe.

Posted by kate at 06:38 AM | | Comments (0)

November 06, 2007

November 6, 2007


November 6, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
About a week ago, a customer I help a lot brought a loaf of zucchini bread. I thanked her, and put it back in the break room for everyone to share. Everyone shared, everyone enjoyed, and everyone thanked her. On Saturday, she came back with another loaf of delicious zucchini bread. She slid it across the desk to me and said, "I brought that other loaf for you. Why did you share? Take this one home. It's just for you." It's a big loaf! What's pictured is only about half of it. It is yummy, but I don't mind sharing.

Today, she brought me a small pumpkin loaf. I think she's trying to fatten me up for the holidays, and possibly butter me up so I'll waive her fees. I might be onto her, but I do enjoy the bread. *g*

Posted by kate at 09:44 PM | | Comments (0)

November 5, 2007


November 5, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
This tower of blankets and such, the reminder of weekend houseguests, is balanced on the arm of the love seat. It's pretty amazing. We wouldn't have needed most of it if the cats hadn't poked holes in our brand new air mattress with their (freshly trimmed, even!) little claws. =/

Posted by kate at 09:38 PM | | Comments (0)

November 4, 2007


November 4, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
It was just her feet, and then when I went to take the picture, she poked her head out. Silly cat.

I spent Sunday doing laundry and running errands, mostly. I also met Akarui, her sister J, and J's boyfriend down in Hollywood at (follow this) J's boyfriend's cousin's restaurant. It was a neat place, if not a little swankier than I'd expected. I ate ox-tail bruschetta (sp?), smoked-trout-on-potato... thingies, and lamb-and-pumpkin sausage. It was all quite tasty, despite my initial hesitation.

Dinner ran late (really late), and I only ended up with about four hours of sleep that night. Other than that, it was a grand Sunday!

Posted by kate at 09:35 PM | | Comments (0)

November 03, 2007

November 3, 2007


November 3, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
This is what I felt like after work this afternoon. I didn't actually sleep, but I wanted to. Oh, I wanted to!

We're doing some kind of big conversion this weekend, and for reasons I completely understand, but very much dislike, we had to operate offline today. To complicate matters even more, our entire system went down about halfway through the morning, giving us absolutely NO access to customer information. We probably should not have been open, as there seems to be a lot of opportunity for mistakes and potential losses when we're doing transactions without any information, but y'know. That's bad for business. Or something. It was probably the single busiest day I have encountered, with lines out the door, made all that much worse by the fact that every transaction took about twice as long.

Anyway. We made it, and I just wanted to come home and *crash*. I sort of passed through my exhausted stage and entered a lethargic-but-awake stage, which I will take full advantage of as Monday's going to be a real treat for sure, with reentering all of today's work once the system's back in online mode. Yippee!

Posted by kate at 07:00 PM | | Comments (0)

November 2, 2007


November 2, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Gen's sister is in town visiting for the weekend. I had a coveted Friday off, so we went to the Getty Center. I really love it there! We took the Garden tour and the Architecture tour, both of which I've been on before, and they're never the same twice. We then went through the Zuccaro brothers' drawings exhibit (which was, as far as I could tell, Federico drawing Taddeo drawing... whatever Taddeo was drawing) and the Weston photography exhibit. There's so much to see at the Getty that it's impossible to do all in one trip.

After that, we went to dinner at Yamato's. I hadn't been there in a very long time, and it was delicious!
I took a few more pictures at the Getty, which can be seen by clicking the extended entry link below. :)


The 405 Freeway does have "good traffic" times, after all!

Posted by kate at 06:49 PM | | Comments (0)

November 01, 2007

November 1, 2007


November 1, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
So, this is when I resigned myself to the fact I wasn't sleeping any longer this morning. I woke up around 3:00 and realized there was something at work I might not have done correctly, and if our annual surprise audit happened today, I'd be screwed. I couldn't remember, and there was nothing I could do until I physically got to work and found out for sure one way or another, anyway, but I'm a worrier. By 3:30, I had myself absolutely *convinced* the auditors would be there today, and that was the end of my sleeping.

There were no auditors, and everything was fine at work. But I had myself sick over it! It took a couple hours yet to calm down and relax (not helped by the fact today was busy, crazy in general, and I didn't even get to take a lunch). Ugh. And now I'm totally, completely exhausted.

Posted by kate at 07:06 PM | | Comments (0)

October 31, 2007


October 31, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
Halloween was a success! I think everyone had fun. The witch on the far left won our costume contest. We had dared A, the bald guy, to dress as a woman, but he chickened out. Instead, he dressed as 'Lex Luthor' (he dressed as himself, without the tie. And I'm sorry, A, but you're no Lex! *g*). I was a 'tourist'. Can you tell? *laugh* It was an enjoyable day. Now we need to just get rid of all the extra candy and take down the decorations. It's always so sad and empty-looking when you take down decorations!

Posted by kate at 06:23 AM | | Comments (0)

October 30, 2007


October 30, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
I bought these little buckets for my staff probably two months ago, if not more. But I never bought anything to fill the buckets with! So I found myself, the night before Halloween, in the Halloween aisle at Target with the rest of the San Fernando Valley. Aren't they cute buckets, though?

Posted by kate at 06:13 AM | | Comments (0)

October 29, 2007


October 29, 2007
Originally uploaded by kayay1
The second in a series called 'C with Sushi'. C loooooves her sushi.

Posted by kate at 06:10 AM | | Comments (0)