December 11th, 2009 by Kateastrophe

Where have I been???  Sheesh!

Last time I was around here was Thanksgiving!  That’s like a million years in Blog time.  B

Our Thanksgiving was awesome.  I spent almost an entire week cooking and prepping and then literally spent the whole day cooking.  The food was amazing and I was tired.  I made several recipes from Luisa Perkins’ AMAZING cookbook, Comfortably Yum and they were a huge hit.  I’ve been meaning to give her a shout-out for months now.  That woman?  Can cook.  Everything in that cookbook is drool worthy delicious.  If you like to cook even a little bit, do yourself a favor and go buy it now.  My #1 recommendation thus far is the cranberry chutney.  Or the applie pie.  Or the lasagna.  Or the shepherd’s pie.  Ok fine I can’t choose a favorite.

I am somehow super on top of life right now and by December 3rd I had 99% of my Christmas shopping complete and all the decorations but the tree up, and that wasn’t far behind.  We have big old lights on the outside (which I LOVE) and 27 strands of twinkle lights on the 9′ Christmas tree.  That’s right, I said TWENTY-SEVEN.  Let’s all pray I can keep that sucker hydrated.  And don’t worry electricians (cough*Steve*cough), I bought power strips and no more than three (ok maybe four) strands are hooked together.  I’m not going to start a fire THAT way.  I’m going to start it the OTHER way when the tree dies and dries out and the lights are too hot.  I’m a responsible fire starter.  Duh.

All that’s left are a few presents for friends (RHONDA - so hard to shop for) and small neighbor/work gifts and I’m dunzo.  Which means I’m not sure what to do with the rest of December.  Which is weird because I think I’m so used to chaos I don’t know what to do when I don’t have it.  I won’t be relaxing, that’s for sure, because I belong to Anxieties-r-us and will find some way to make myself have a Christmas melt-down.  Hello, Xanax.

We’re staying home for Christmas due to the fact that I have a 90-day probationary period at the new j-o-b which means (as I believe I’ve mentioned before) no days off for me.  I think this is the longest I’ve gone without a non-holiday day off and I’m pretty sure my vacation brain cells are exploding.  When that 90 days are up I’m going to throw myself a HUGE party.  Either that or take a day off.  Because I can. 

We’re having our second annual New Year’s Eve/My Birthday party and I’m SO EXCITED.  I maybe invited too many people, but that’s OK.  It’s going to be even more fun than last year’s party which, if I do say so myself, was awesome. 

My dear, creative, amazing friend Julia designed the cutest.invitation.ever.  I’m serious.  SEE?

It’s so great.  And I’m going to be 29 and whimsy, which is maybe even more great!  30 here I come!

Now I’m off to get my eyebrows waxed because ohmagosh I look like a yetti.  Seriously.

November 25th, 2009 by Kateastrophe

I tried all day to come up with the words to express how very thankful I am for my life.  I was having a hard time until I started humming the words to one of my favorite songs sung by Brian Stokes Mitchell.  Then I knew I just needed to share them with you.  They say it all:

Grateful

I’ve got a roof over my head
I’ve got a warm place to sleep
Some nights I lie awake counting gifts
Instead of counting sheep

I’ve got a heart that can hold love
I’ve got a mind that can think
There may be times when I lose the light
And let my spirits sink
But I can’t stay depressed
When I remember how I’m blessed

Grateful, grateful
Truly grateful I am
Grateful, grateful
Truly blessed And duly grateful

In a city of strangers
I got a family of friends
No matter what rocks and brambles fill the way
I know that they will stay until the end

I feel a hand holding my hand
It’s not a hand you can see
But on the road to the promised land
This hand will shepherd me
Through delight and despair
Holding tight and always there

Grateful, grateful
Truly grateful I am
Grateful, grateful
Truly blessed And duly grateful

It’s not that I don’t want a lot
Or hope for more, or dream of more
But giving thanks for what I’ve got
Makes me happier than keeping score

In a world that can bring pain
I will still take each chance
For I believe that whatever the terrain
Our feet can learn to dance
Whatever stone life may sling
We can moan or we can sing

Grateful, grateful
Truly grateful I am
Grateful, grateful
Truly blessed And duly grateful
Truly blessed And duly grateful

Performed by Brian Stokes Mitchell (my musical hero)

Music & Lyrics by John Bucchino

Do me a favor this weekend and hold your loved ones tight and remember to tell them how grateful you are for them in your lives. 

 Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.  I’m grateful for your friendship and your attention and I hope you have a wonderful weekend. 

November 23rd, 2009 by Kateastrophe

I know this girl who seriously has more talent in one little finger than I have in my whole body.

Who is this talented person you ask?  She’s my real life bestie, Jewels (aka Julia Jolley).

I have always been in awe of her ability to create.  Whether it’s food, art, decorations, music, vacations or even PEOPLE (seriously, her boys are to-die-for cute) this girl hits a bullseye every time.

So this year when she announced that she was unveiling something awesome and creative, I waited anxiously for the reveal.  Boy oh boy was it worth it.  What was it you ask?? 

Jewels has started her own card company!  RSVP Invites, Cards & More!  Her designs are so so great!  She’s got such an awesome, elegant, retro style.  I just drool over everything.  I think my favorite is the Bird.  Could you die?  Also her banner?  She did that too.  Mmmm lovey.

Also?  She does designed-for-you custom work!  She may or may not be working on a little delicious treat for my New Year’s Eve/29th Birthday Party.  Mmmmm can’t WAIT!

So I’m thinking everyone needs to go check her bad self out.  Get yourself a cute Santa post card!  Or have her make something just for you to send out to your loved ones.  I promise, you will LOVE it!  Just look at her family’s card from last year.  SEE WHAT I MEAN?

 Go now!  What are you still doing here?  GO!

November 10th, 2009 by Kateastrophe

Last night at about 7:30 after cleaning up dinner my newly promoted, overworked and extremely exhausted husband came over and wrapped his arms around his newly jobbed, overstimulated and extremely exhausted wife, and leaned into the counter where we sat for a good fifteen minutes.  Eventually my legs started falling asleep and my neck was kinked so we had to break it up, but it felt so  good just to BE for a few minutes.

I struggle with my calendar because after work there are so few hours in the day. 

I want to exercise every day. 

I need to attend the LDS Temple more often.  I need to pray more often and longer.  I need to really study my scriptures and increase my spiritual knowledge. 

I want to spend more time hanging out with my girlfriends. 

I need to spend time with my husband. 

I want to get more involved in serving the community and giving back. 

I want to cook a delicious meal every day and cut coupons to help save money on groceries.  I want a clean house.  I want a nice yard.  I want clean, folded laundry.  I want to decorate my house and get the guest room finished up.

My new job has a distinct lack of creative work involved so I need to rekindle my creative side.   I want to take up voice and dance lessons again. 

There’s a very cool Yoga/Pilates/Ballet Bar class I want to take and eventually learn how to teach.  

Someday I want to add kids to the mix and I want them to be active and involved and full of joy.   

Shockingly, when I think of all of these things, my head explodes.

I realize nothing I’ve said is anything new to any of us.  Especially at this time of year the whole world seems overwhelmed.  We’re gearing up for the Holidays and the stress/fun that comes with them.  We’re working towards closing the chapter of 2009 and starting fresh in 2010.  I’m very not alone in the head exploding.

Despite feeling like my huge list of things to do will never get done and having moments where I feel like a complete failure, sitting with Matt last night helped me realize that sometimes I just need to just be still.  I need to make realistic goals.  I need to do one thing at a time.  I need to work hard not to overwhelm myself with expectations.  I need to allow life to ebb and flow and go with it a little bit more.  I won’t give up my goals or my expectations of myself, I will just be the boss of them, rather than feeling that they are the boss of me.

Starting tomorrow, I am going to work on BEing.

November 1st, 2009 by Kateastrophe

Fun FAIL:  Went to bed at 9:30 on a Friday night after changing into my pajamas the second I got home.

Cooking FAIL:  We had leftover soup like five nights this week.

Celebration FAIL:  Remember that awesome surprised I referred to like a month ago?  Yeah, my husband got a HUGE promotion at work which went into effect on the 22nd.  We were supposed to celebrate Friday night after his first paycheck with his raise came in.  See “fun fail” for more details on why I suck.

Cleaning FAIL:  I’m not really sure when I last mopped my kitchen floor.  The laundry is piled two basket heights higher than the basket it’s in and my kitchen is still reeling from all the soup I made this week.  And don’t even get me started on the bathrooms.  (Toilets are clean.  It’s just everything else . . . )

Chili FAIL:  I made my awesome chili for a church party/chili cook-off on Monday.  I won third place, which I consider a fail because second place wasn’t even chili.  It was a goulash.

Red hair FAIL:  I dye my hair red because I love it but it’s been over two months since the last time I did it and my blonde roots are coming in making me look like I’m going grey.

Exercise FAIL:  It’s been three weeks since I worked out so yesterday I punished myself by doing an hour of cardio and an hour of Yoga in the morning.  I can’t move my shoulders or legs.

Thanksgiving FAIL:  My entire family on my Dad’s side (all four thousand of them.  Even the one that lives in Brazil) is going to Columbus for Thanksgiving.  And we’re not.  Because I just started a job and don’t have any time off and tickets from Phoenix to Columbus the day before Thanksgiving are like eight million dollars.  We are the only ones who won’t be there.  Lame!

Blog FAIL:  I believe that looking at the list above and realizing I count this as a blog post makes this one self explanatory.

Oui vei.

October 21st, 2009 by Kateastrophe

You know that feeling where you’re so tired you feel all woozy and as though you woke up in a vat of Jell-O (in my case it’s always the green kind, in case you’re wondering.  You can take the girl outa Utah but you can’t take Utah outa the girl)?

Yeah, today I have that feeling combined with a big dose of what I think it would feel like to have your feet run over by a bus *while* you are being beaten with a metal pole.

Woozy Jell-O + Bus Accident + Metal Pole = Party in the USA (noddin’ my head like yeah . . . movin’ my hips like . . . wait.  I hate that song).

“Why dost thou feel this way fair Kate” I know you are all asking.  In Ye Olde English, of course.  Because in my head we all talk that way when we’re tired.  It’s sort of like Kenneth seeing the world as Muppets in 30 Rock.  And even if you’re not asking I’m going to tell you.

{Que explanatory tangent}

About a decade ago when I was in college, I could survive on about four seconds of sleep.  I could stay up all night “studying” with a cute boy, fall into bed for a short couple hour nap and be rearing and ready to go for ballet at 7 AM. Now that I’m all old, I look back on those days with a jealous rage.  I currently need about nine hours of sleep to operate as a human.  NINE.  I love sleeping more than anything except a good macaroni and cheese.  My bed and I are best friends.

{End explanatory tangent}

So I started my new job exactly two weeks ago.  Before that I was unemployed for thirty days and before that for the last several months I traipsed into work around nine-ish and traipsed to an hour and a half-ish lunch at about noon-ish and traipsed back home around four-thirty-ish.  Needless to say there was not a lot to do in the final days of our doomed company.  Ish.  The new job is 8-5.  I have a few minutes leeway here and there, but I really do need to be there by 8.  I have a 45 minute commute which means I have to leave my house at 7:15 which means (as I’ve mentioned before) I have to get up at 6:00 AM.  OHMYGOSH I HATE SIX AM.  I TRULY WANT IT TO DIE A HORRIBLE, PAINFUL DEATH.   Obviously I’m not a morning person which means I’m a night person.  Which means going to bed before 11 PM isn’t really my thing.  Needless to say my sanity requirement of nine hours of sleep is far from being met.  I’m running on about a 20 hour deficit in sleeping hours so far.

All of that is problem #1.

Problem #2 is limited to just this week, but it has been a big old problem.  Matt’s best friend came to town for the U2 concert on Monday night.  We stayed up talking until almost 1 AM.  I still had to get up at 6 AM.  You do the math.  I’ll wait . . . YEAH.  That’s five hours of sleep.

Then the U2 concert was last night.  It was amazing.  AMAZING.  I’ve never seen them live and I’m adding them to the list of my top concerts ever – which is hard to do because I’ve seen some amazing concerts.  If you get the chance, pay the ridiculous amount of money and go.  You won’t regret it.  Unless it’s on a weeknight.  And you’re a person who needs nine hours of sleep.  And you got home at almost 1:30.  AND HAD TO GET UP AT SIX.  In that case you’ll regret it just a little only because you’re using duct tape to hold your eyes open and a ruler taped to your chest and your chin to keep your head up. 

October 12th, 2009 by Kateastrophe

Ummmm hai.  Missing from Bloglandia much?  That’s me!

I have no time for a real post so here’s a quick catch-up list.  Bullet style.

• Started my new job on Wednesday at 9AM
• Brain exploded Wednesday at 10AM
• Brain began oozing out my ears and nose by Wednesday at 12PM
• Went home at 5 PM Wednesday and died.  After Glee, natch
• Resurrected myself Thursday morning at 6 AM.  WHO GETS UP THAT EARLY?  Oh that’s right, now I do.  SHOOT ME NOW.
• Did it all again Thursday and Friday
• Stayed up way late Friday night
• Rinse and repeat Saturday, add a birthday party for my girl JoAnne (henceforth known as JoJo)
• Lots of church on Sunday
• Lots of naps on Sunday
• Return to the top and repeat for all days of this week.

The new job, so far, is a new job.  I won’t give a lot of detail but I’ve moved from the Retail Technology world to Real Estate and from Marketing to . . . something else, title of which I’m unsure.  No, I’m not a real estate agent.  I’m working on the corporate side.  Think big company.  HUUUUGE company.  Lots of Excel spreadsheets.  Hold me.  I’m overwhelmed, stressed and a wee bit freaked out.  The people are awesome, I just have a whole new language to learn.  Luckily I’m getting a month of training during which I can make every mistake known to man and have someone fix it for me.  Bonus round, I have a fifth floor corner office with a view of Camelback Mountain and I’m close to some great shopping and restaurants.  Good-bye, paycheck, hello Louboutins!

October 2nd, 2009 by Kateastrophe

I think I’m mourning the loss of my job.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who has felt this way after getting laid off, but I think it took me a little longer to figure it out.

The day I was let go I was given about twenty minutes to get my stuff and get out.  There was a meeting in the conference room consisting of those who were being hired on and “they” didn’t want those of us who weren’t staying around causing any “trouble” with those who were.  It was absurd, to say the least.

I worked at this company for five years and 22 days.  10,616 hours.  I spent more time there than I spent at home.  The job took me to Hawaii, Florida, New York, California and Nevada.  My taste buds experienced misery and ecstasy on my business trips.  My feet ached at trade shows as I showed off my hard work and helped create new business.  I participated in some of the biggest deals in eCommerce history.  I sweat, cried, bled, screamed, and laughed my way through my time there.  And now it’s over.  I had 20 minutes with which to consolidate five years of my life into a box.  A BOX.

I tried so hard to keep it together as I was madly trying to decide what to keep and what to let go.  I pretty much failed as the tears overflowed out of my eyes.  I tried to hide them from anyone who walked by or offered to help but I’m sure they saw.

Three weeks later, there are still moments where the hurt is so sharp I almost cry out.  I found a pile of business cards in the purse I was cleaning out last week and I had to sit down to cope with the profound loss I felt as I saw my name and title and realized it was mine no more.  My box of crap is still sitting by the front door and I can’t force myself to go through it because I know every piece of paper or small trinket will remind me of a special moment or experience I had at a place that no longer exists.

I know I’ll get over it and, as my Dad says, they were doing me a favor.  And that box isn’t going to sit there reminding me of my loss for much longer.  I got three offers today and I’m pretty sure I’ve decided which job I’ll be taking.

Employment, I hope you’re ready for me.  Because I’m coming at you with a vengeance.

September 23rd, 2009 by Kateastrophe

I just got back from a week away.  I leave to go away again in less than 24 hours.  There is a lot to do and I lack motivation.  I also have very sore feet so they are requesting a break.  I’m hoping I can find the will inside myself to get all the crap done that I have to do tomorrow.  And did I mention my feet hurt?

So, summing up my trips (yes there were two):

Ohio was fantastic.  I loved spending time with my Dad, just the two of us.  We ate delicious food and road tripped it up to Cleveland where we met up with my brother Sean for the Ohio State vs. Toledo game.  My Ohio native neighbor compared the match-up to China attacking Scotland.  He was right.  Toledo, my father’s alma matter, got totally wasted.  I froze my buns off in the shaded upper tier of the Brown’s stadium and went to my first “real” tailgate party.  I also spent like eight million dollars on two hot chocolates and a hot dog.  Oh, and we stayed in the same hotel as my Buckeye football players  All in all I give Cleveland two thumbs WAY up.

Back in Columbus I went to a fancy birthday party for my cousin’s girlfriend.  They both work at Abercrombie & Fitch Corporate and let me tell you, you’ll never feel uglier than when you go to a party with fifty hand selected, gorgeous Abercrombie employees.  Good thing they were nice or I would have had to cut some faces.  And they seriously were SO NICE.  I’d ask my cousin for a job there but I know my big butt doesn’t fit in their clothes and that is a HUGE no-no.  Also, I like visiting Columbus but I’m not EVER moving there. 

We also spent lots of time with my amazing extended family and had a big old breakfast with almost everyone there.  For those of you who don’t know, that’s a lot of everyone’s.  My dad comes from a big Catholic family of seven kids and there are over twenty grandkids and thirty great-grandkids.  We take up a lot of space and eat a LOT of food.  It was bittersweet because one of my favorite uncles is fighting lung and brain cancer and this may have been the last time I see him and I’m so grateful he was feeling well enough to leave the hospital to hang out with us.  Love me some Uncle Murph.  (Yes, that’s really his name.)

From C-bus I went to Vegas to a trade show I attended the last four years.  You know, back when I was employed.  It’s the biggest eCommerce trade show of the year and I had some great friends who hooked me up with free passes and a hotel room in order to help me network and see if I could find some gainful employment.  Then I was introduced to and offered to help a company who was new to the scene with their booth and some of the logistics.

The networking was great.  It’s really exciting when the Presidents of Sears.com and Costco.com offer to make some calls to help you find a job.  I have never had more people offer to help me out or talk to someone they know for me.  It sounds cheesy but my faith in humanity has been restored.  People were SO kind and wonderful. 

The helping at the booth didn’t go so well.  I’ll leave out the gory details and tell that story another day but we’ll just leave it at it sucked and then I cried.  Twice.

Now I’m home and I’ve never been so grateful to see my couch and my TV and Glee and Project Runway and Sons of Anarchy and, and and, yeah.  At some point I have to get off my keister and do some laundry but for now I’m not moving.

Tomorrow is the annual Murphy family ATV sand dune trip.  We always have such a blast and hopefully this year I can keep my butt ON my quad.  My father-in-law would say that’s it’s doubtful, but I’m hoping to prove him wrong.  My amazing M-I-L is bringing me fresh apple cider from my favorite spot back home and I might just lock myself in the camper and drink it until I puke.  Either way you spin it I’m going to have a fabulous time.  We get home Monday night and I have one day to recover then Wednesday I have two interviews and there are two other jobs on the horizon.  Hopefully very soon my biggest problem is choosing WHICH job to accept.

Hope you all have a great weekend and I’ll see you suckers on Tuesday! 

September 10th, 2009 by Kateastrophe

I’m going to state the obvious here and say that unemployment sucks and life is difficult.  I know, almost thirty years for me to figure that out.  I’m so smrt.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks.  The job thing started it all but it sort of snowballed from there.  Broken cars, broken appliances, unexpected bills, family members with strokes . . . yeah, it’s been one of THOSE months.  And I thought August was bad.

Luckily the rest of the month should prove to be different.  We got some awesome news today that perks both Matt and I up quite a bit.  It’s a secret right now but I promise I’ll tell you soon. (SIDENOTE: Um, NO, I’m not pregnant.  That would have gone in the list of things that sucked in September.  Losing half our income, our maternity coverage and finding out we’re birthing a money sucker wouldn’t exactly be exciting right now.  Don’t get me wrong, babies are awesome.  They are just money suckers.  And I don’t have any of that.  Capiche?)  Tonight I’m heading home to Utah for birthday celebrations, Mom hugs, fresh apple cider, hanging out with friends and family and hopefully chilling the hell out.  One could say I’m a wee bit tense.  Fall in Utah is the best and I’m so excited to go.

Next week I’m off to Columbus for some Dad hugs, brother hugs, Ohio State Football (Go Buckeyes!  Oh and let’s try to show up to the USC game and kick some Trojan booty this weekend, no?),  cousins, aunts, uncles and some much needed hilarious Cotter family time.

I fly straight from C-bus to Vegas where I’ve been asked to assist a company exhibiting at the trade show I WOULD have been exhibiting at with my company.  Except they don’t really exist anymore so I’m not.  Anyway, they’re paying for my hotel and plane ticket and I’ll get to network and maybe even make some money if I find them new clients.  We’ll see how that goes.

The day after I get home from Vegas we’re off to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes for some in-law hugs, ATV rides and sand in places you didn’t know you get get stuff stuck.  It’s going to be great.  Hopefully this year I won’t be popping a wheelie on my quad and sliding off the back.  We’ll see how that goes.

And that takes me to the end of September.  Hopefully by then I’ll have a couple more job leads (I have two interviews on Monday.  Both are for positions I’m probably not interested in but I’m not going to not go because of that!  I need the practice of interviewing after five years at one place plus you never know what might present itself!) or else have a plan to keep myself busy.  I’m thinking chore chart (rolling eyes and sighing).

This was just about the lamest post I’ve ever written but I wanted to make sure you guys knew I didn’t open a vein or something after announcing I was incomeless.  Thanks so much for all of your kind words.  I am sending you all hugs and wet kisses.