sweetdogk.com
To take pictures or not to take pictures?
As I've expressed, I'm having a great time enjoying life with my friends. I love to document these moments with pictures. I love to look at pictures from an event and smile or laugh at a memory that was sparked from looking at the picture. Sounds corny I know.
It's not only my pictures and memories I enjoy though. I enjoy other's pictures as well. Especially pictures and stories on my new favorite blog (besides Marya's)
Dooce. She is so great, and she's nominated for best blog. She deserves it!
So, the problem I'm having is that I don't really enjoy the picture taking process. It's uncomfortable. I feel embarrassed interrupting people to take their picture. I feel like I'm bothering them and ruining the moment.
I decided to write a little Pros and Cons - top five for each side on taking pictures. More on this subject later I'm sure.
Top Five Reasons to Take Pictures
1. Memories. As I get older, I find that I don't remember all the details. There are certain events that I wouldn't remember at all if I didn't have any pictures of them. Maybe I should start taking Ginko.
2. Sharing. I love sharing events with friends and family.
3. Humor. There is a rare occasion when I actually capture a funny event, and it's fun to make people laugh by showing off pictures like this.
4. Mirror. It's a good way to see what I look like to other people.
5. Incentive to loose weight. This double chin of mine is driving me crazy.
Top Five Reasons not to Take Pictures
1. Embarrassing. I hate how everyone is looking at me as I take a picture. "Look at me everybody. Smile. Hey."
2. Annoying. Sometimes I feel like I'm ruining the moment trying to capture it.
3. Flash takes too long. The flash on our digital camera takes like 5 minutes. By the time the picture takes people have stopped smiling and are irritated. Sometimes I try to re-take the picture and this is even more embarrassing.
4. Lack of Skills. Most pictures don't end up turning out all that well. I end up making it through the embarrassment and then I look at the picture and it's not even that great.
5. Camera overload. More than two people taking pictures at an event can be overwhelming.
Early Detection vs. Health Paranoia
In this age of online medical assistance and health articles everywhere you look, it's easy to convince yourself that you have a medical emergency when you're really just showing signs of stress. There are so many diseases out there and so often we are told that early detection can save you; so we decide to get every little thing checked out just in case.
I recently experienced something a little out of the ordinary. I decided I woul look up my symptoms on
WebMd. I'm not sure if this was a good idea. I suddenly found that according to my symptoms I could either be having a miscarriage or endometriosis. It seems like if you just look at those symtoms you could have all kinds of diseases.
I was pretty sure that it was just stress, but I decided to go to the Dr. anyway. If I did have some terrible disease I wanted to make sure I caught it early on. That's what health insurance is for, right?
I spent an hour in the waiting room conidering leaving the entire time and finally got in. After I told the Dr. what was going on, she said "This is very normal for someone experiencing a lot of stress". I was sitting there feeling so silly for over-reacting that I was almost hoping that they would do a blood test and find something serious so I wouldn't feel like a paranoid freak. How silly is that? I can't believe I was ready to trade in my good health just to feel better about going to the Dr. when I didn't have to. I wonder if Doctors judge people like me who come in often and don't have anything wrong with them. I guess I assume that they do and this is what makes me feel uncomfortable.
I do feel better now that it's been confirmed by a professional that everything is normal. I should probably just accept that I like to play it safe and GET OVER IT!
Can I have an Atkins Burger and Fries and a Diet Coke please?
What is the deal with all this Atkins stuff everywhere? I feel like I see it everywhere I turn. Atkins beer, Atkins bars. There is a special Atkins menu at Subway and TGIF. Several guys at work went on the Atkins diet and they did actually lose quite a bit of weight. I've considered jumping on the weigt loss band wagon, but I just don't know how healthy it is.
I definately want to lose weight, but I want to make sure I'm taking care of my body. How do you know who to trust? I can't believe how crazy this Atkins fad has gotten. You can even get an Atkins burger at
Carl's Jr.!
I just looked at the Nutritional information for this burger and it has 32 grams of fat. Well, thank goodness it only has 6 grams of carbs. What are you having for dinner tonight?
Good Times
You know how you just roll along with life and you just get into a groove? Then you stop and look at everything that's happening during that phase of your life and you think, "Wow, this is a really cool part of my life. I think I'll look back on this time later in life and think, good times, good times".
I'm definately having that feeling right now. I'm having some really great moments. I have the greatest boyfriend of all times. We have such a great relationship. We've made it through a lot and sometimes I forget what it was like before we "went public". I live next door to one of my closest friends, Marya. All 3 of my blog readers, and she is one of them, already know all about how great that is. My friends are getting married and I spend time on the phone discussing bridal showers and wedding dates. A kitten is coming. Am I forgetting anything? I probably am, but please don't be mad at me. Oh, I remembered something...
I'm almost free.....
It's hard to write a blog and not be able to share everything. I feel like I need to think about everyone else who would read this before writing anything on this blog. I'm constantly thinking about things I want to write here and then I realize I can't because it's work related, too sad, or highly dramatic personal stuff. I have so many blog idols that seem to write whatever they are thinking. I wonder how much is elaborated for the sake of a good story or how much they hold back.
Anyway, tonight was one of those "good times" nights. Dan, Marya, Bret and have started a little Monday night tradition of watching Fear Factor and Average Joe. I'm actually embarrassed to admit this. We seem to have a love/hate relationship with the shows. We're embarrassed to be watching them, but we're hooked on seeing who's going to get cut. Last week we played some poker in between, but tonight was a two hour Fear Factor couples special. We sat around yelling at the people on the show or closing our eyes and ears while the contestants are eating maggot smoothies and rotten fish pies. It was extremely disgusting! I don't think there is one single Fear Factor stunt that has come up where I have thought to myself "I can do that!".
Last week Dan was talking about how hard it is for him to call me, Kristin because he knows a Kirsten and a Christine or something like that. I was telling him he should call me "KB" because that's what Marya and Bret call me. Marya and Bret made up this nickname for me around the same time, but separately. I think that is the cutest thing ever. I love the nickname. Bret's dad and brother call me "KB" too. Anyway, Dan won't call me it. He says, "You're not my KB". That's actually part of another inside joke that I'm not sure I'm allowed to write about.
Tonight Dan was talking about how he hurt his finger and he said "I have a KB finger". HEHEHEHE. He called me KB and Marya and I totally started in on him about it. He pretended like nothing happened. What a dorkus.
I forgot to post pictures of my nail recovery process on my blog. It's amazing how it's healed. It is almost fully back to normal. Very Interesting timing.
Another funny thing that goes on during our evenings is that Bret is very punctual about making sure the commercials are muted right as they begin. Marya is always making comments and gestures to the person holding the remote about making sure the commercials are off mute when the shows come back on. Her new nickname is "Mute Bitch".
If she is "Mute Bitch" then I am "Stress Bitch". Out of all my millions of things to stress about at the moment, the number one thing is....
What to name my kitty!!! I want to meet her before picking out a name so it kinda matches, but I want to have some in mind. I keep running through flowers, nature things, spritiual names that have something to do with being in the present moment ( I actually didn't think of anything in this category, but it sounds nice), a Sex and the City character name (I would choose Charlotte out of all of the names because I like her the best), or food items. I want her to have an original name without sounding too original. Is this what new parents go through? Oh man, I'll never be able to pick a child's name. I'm not pregnant!!! Here I go spreading rumors again.
Tonight I thought of Brownie and Momma II.
Insomnia
I've been known to have bouts of insomnia. It has seemed to have gotten worse over the past couple of months. Luckily I just turned on the TV and SATC was just starting. I did just watch this episode on Sunday night and I have it on tape, but it is still a nice surprise. I can never get enough of SATC. I can't believe there are only 6 episodes left. So Sad!!
So, speaking of insomnia. I had it bad two nights in a row last week; Thursday and Friday. Double wammy. I'm still recovering. Saturday night we were due over at Howard and Carolyn's for dinner. I was so tired I almost didn't go. We have been trying to get together with them for months and they had a baby in November that we hadn't seen since she was born. I made it over and ended up having the most fun. Their baby is so adorable and beautiful. Todd and Rachale came over as well and we played Outburst and Poker. Outburst is kinda like Family Feud. One of the categories we got was "Ways to Cure Insomina". What a great subject for me. Although I haven't figured out a cure for me, I do happen to know several ways to cure it. Obviously they don't work for me. Here are the items I remember:
- Drink Tea
- Sleeping pills
- Read a book
- Count sheep
- Get drunk
- Take a bath
- Exercise
Well, it's too late for exercise or getting drunk. I have been reading a book for an hour, and I don't have any sleeping pills left. I guess I'll try counting sheep.
Spreading Rumors
So I didn't end up wearing the dress to the company party but I managed to spread some rumors. Usually at a party, you are spreading rumors about other people. Well, other people are telling me things, I don't spread the rumors. Well, maybe I do sometimes. Whatever. I did something worse than this on Friday night. I almost started some rumors about myself. Was I projecting? Does this mean that deep down I want these things to be true so I just started telling people without meaning to? I'm not sure, I think I need a filter. Here is what happened.
Before I begin, let me first start by saying that there are going to be 8 babies born this year to wives of men that work at our company with the exception of one woman, who is due next month. Carrie started it off by having a baby in November. We work in a small company and everyone is close and like family, so this is pretty exciting. It seems like every week there is a new announcement. The other day at lunch was "pregnancy confession lunch hour". 3 people revealed that they were having babies out of a group of about 20.
Rumor #1: Kristin is having a baby in August
Kristin (aka Blabber Mouth): When are you due?
Pregnant Wife 1: August
Blabber Mouth: That's me (
I don't know why I said this, I meant to say that I was BORN in August, I can see how this would be misleading)
Pregnant Wife 1: Ohhhhhh, WOW, That's so exciting, Cong......
Blabber Mouth cuts in: NO NO NO NO NO
Rumor #2: Kristin is having a baby - This rumor was started by the CEO Tom, during the awards ceremony. I was holding Carrie's baby Ranier, during the awards. It came time to announce the Employee of the Year and Tom mentioned some things about last year's empolyee of the year, which was me.
Tom announcing this year's Employee of the Year: Blah Blah Blah, last year's Employee of the Year, Kristin is currently with a child right now, blah blah...
Entire Company: Gasp, What?, Wow! Ahaha
Kristin yelling out and interrrupting the speech: NO NO NO NO NO NO - I'm not Pregnant!!!!!
Rumor #3: Kristin and Bret are getting married
Wife 2: We'll miss you, hopefully you'll come back to visit.
Kristin: Oh yah, well I'll be at next year's holiday party as Bret's spouse
Wife 2: WHAT?? OH, Congratulations, I'm going to cry
Kristin: Wait, oh, I meant as Bret's spouse as in significant other/girlfrien not spouse as in wife
What's the rule on wearing the same dress twice?
The company party is tomorrow night. I didn't want to buy a new dress because honestly I have gained so much weight I didn't want to waste money on a dress I would never wear again. I'm going to lose weight this year. I really am, this is going to be the year!! At least I have really great motivation. I'm in two weddings. At least the weddings aren't in March. I have until September to do it.
I've mentally reviewed my closet in my head several times this week. I ruled out the several size 4 dresses - those were the days! I knew there were two that fit. I had the dress I wore to Rob's wedding end of 2002 and the dress I wore to the company party last year. I gained most of my weight in 2002 and mostly just sustained it 2003 ( I can't believe it's 2004) so I thought I would be ok with the one from the wedding.
So, the night before the party at 11:00 at night I decided to try on dresses.
Bad Idea....
I don't think the dress from the wedding is going to work out. So, I'm wondering what the rule is about wearing the same dress to the same party two years in a row. It is just a boringish black dress. Who is really going to remember? There is a picture of me in it in the kitchen.
I can't go. I'll just pretend I'm sick or something. Oh, what to do.
My advice: Don't gain weight and you'll have lots of clothes to choose from in these situations.
Coulda, Shoulda, Wish I Woulda
I've always been mostly good with my money. I create budgets and try to sick to them, try to spend my money wisely, save money, pay off credit card debt, etc... I'm not a Suze Orman Star Student, but I'm decent. The one thing I've always been really bad at and HATE to do is shop around. I hate going from store to store or researching online to find out where the best deal is. Bret tries to help me find the best product with his Consumer Report magazines, but I have a hard time keeping track of all the small details.
I'm especially bad when it comes to researching the best cell phone plan. Roaming charges, free minutes, special plans, 12 cents a minute, off peak minutes - ARGH!!! It all gets so confusing to me. So, when my cell phone bills started coming in at really high amounts (too embarrassed to say how high), I tried to look at the bill to see why, but all the details started to get me all batty. So, instead of calling Cellular One and trying to get on a different plan, I ignored it for a while and then decided what I needed to do was get a home phone. This was on my list for months and I finally just did it. I got a good deal (I think) and I sent out the email to all my friends with my new number. My plan was to just use the cell phone for emergencies.
So, I called CellularOne yesterday and asked to get on an Emergency plan. The person helping me was very nice and helpful by the way. He looked at my cell phone usage and said there was a better plan for my type of calling. This is when I started to get embarrassed at my stupidity for not calling sooner. This is the "Wish I Woulda" part from the subject of this post. Why didn't I call sooner? Why did I ignore this for so long? He ended up switching my plan which will reduce my monthly bill by lots of money. If I called sooner I probably would have saved hundreds of dollars. With my life of having no money ahead of me this is even more irritating.
I guess all I can do is laugh. It's not like it was a health issue that I ignored or a notice from the collection agency. I'm glad I finally called and I know this will NEVER happen again. Now I have to send out the email to my friends and family to ignore the new phone number, blah blah blah. I think I'll wait a few months to make sure I made the right decision and then send out the email.
