Looking Back & 10 for 2010!

If you had told me a year ago that I would be living back in Bay City, have bought a house and be working at Delta College. I would not have believed you. Not a chance. I wouldn't have been surprised to be back in Bay City, because I'd made the decision to move home just over a year ago. The rest of it, you've got to be kidding me.

This year has been fantastic. I thouroughly enjoyed the first five months in New York. I wrapped up my time at Corra, volunteered at the ASPCA and The Reading Time, explored the city more, saw great shows on Broadway, and many more amazing things.

Now it's New Year's Eve of 2009. We're about to enter a new decade. I'm going with twenty-x if anyone was wondering ie. twenty-ten. Welcome twenty-ten!! I hope you are a wonderful year! I can't imagine it not being one. That's my style.

Every NYE I tend to get the feeling that it will be a reflection of my year to come. We could go back to 2000 with this, my earliest memory of looking back and saying, wow my year was a lot like how I spent NYE. That will be my post for tomorrow.

I've never been good at making resolutions, probably because I don't keep them. Inspired by other bloggers though I'm going to just that this year.

10 things for 2010!

1. Wear more orange! This is totally random, but as I was picking the color for the title of this orange definitely popped in my head. obsessed. without reason. embrace it.

kotikey

2. Embrace life. Don't chicken out. Put yourself out there. Be strong and laugh loud.

3. Rock the crafty nerd that's inside. The end of the year approached that nerd started to creep out, and why not grab it and have fun. Who knows where it could take me...

4. Take more pictures. With the gift of the camera this should be easy!

5. Keep my home organized. It will be a more peaceful and homey place if you do. Willie wouldn't appreciate choas in her house.

lovelydesign

6. Strip all the wood downstairs and pull the carpets! Restore the original beauty to the house.

7. Create a history of the house to have for the library.

8. Cook more yummy food and be a more focused cook.

source 

9. Compile all of Grandma's recipes for a book with photos for the family, or just have it online. Also finally have EIW journal printed!

10. Get fit! This has been on my "resolution" list since I quit playing basketball at 14. That was 45lbs and 10 years ago. It's time to get serious and get active. (oh that's cheesy) I'm serious though, little steps each day and I can do it. I work 100 feet from a Fitness Center for goodness sakes!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Happy Christmas Eve all! Tomorrow through Sunday is all about family and really so was today but thought I'd throw up some beautiful Christmas shots! Today I received a sweet little point and shoot camera so soon I'll be able to add more of my very own!

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Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful holiday celebration with your family and friends! I hope you get everything you wish for. love, kate.

kitties and decorations

Yesterday evening was sort of perfect! After a successful day of shopping, hanging out with the kitties, wrapping presents, listening to the holiday/New York   Home Companion, lights sparkling on the tree, and a bit of crafty finger knitting while watching LOST. All things that made me quite happy!

The kitties like sleeping under the love seat so there wasn't any snuggling during the show. They'll learn! Oh! as I typed that Sammy jumped up here! :

GTTTT0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000BLV ; (thanks sam)

lulu/lucy & sam/sammy

finally got a chance to take some pics of my holiday decorating and crafting:

 
a tree with sparkles.

a pretty reindeer plate.

put together a bowl of ornaments.

the finishing touch: the tree! love.

i made trees. and garland. so fun to work in my craft room.
really excited for style school now.

my xmas list!

Mom and I went shopping today and I had a great, successful day. Lots of things crossed off my gift list and many Style School supplies purchased.

Finally getting in the xmas "shopping" spirit.

I used to make these amazing Christmas lists, all categorized and ridiculous. What is a seven-year-old going to do with a copy machine?! Make copies of course, ridiculous. As I got out of high school and into the family drawing I had a harder time making my lists and totally stopped doing them on the computer after the first year. Now, though I think it's time to get back in touch with that spirit of childhood and post my 2009 xmas list! (color coded of course!

 Kate's 2009 Christmas Wishlist!

miscellaneous:

A new camera! (or two)

a simple point and shoot please

& a fancy artsier one.

gloves for my new garden

clothes:

cozy things for loungin at home

(or out and about)

lovelovelove this color

for the home:

I want to do something fun in my bathroom inspired by these cute individual letters.

movies:

(some of my favorites and I don't own them!)

a million books that I can never think to list...

a special thing for my kitties:

and soooo much more!!

oh, that was fun!

Guess what, I'm finger knitting! omg I'm turning into such a crafty nerd. good or bad?!

Tomorrow I will be back with a post about the fabulous munchkittens and my holiday decorations!

orange

today I'm wearing red but I've had the word orange running through my head for days.

enjoy.

update 3/3/13: this is how this post looked a few minutes ago.

Why Tumblr or jacked flickr photos aren't a source.

link with love

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danske/2212002561/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pensiero/131919594/

the original links:

http://www.wetbehindthears.com/search?updated-max=2009-06-30T20:39:00-06:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecheshiresmile/3372858109/in/set-72157616190922528/

http://weheartit.com/entry/301492

http://weheartit.com/entry/283921

http://www.flickr.com/photos/enamor/175532290/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/challiyan/2795151758/

wishes & pretty things

original source?

368 Reasons to L-O-V-E winter.  http://colormekatie.blogspot.com/2009/12/winter-is-coming.html

My Reason: I could read the reasons you all love winter all day long. I love winter because I break out my hats, gloves and scarves, the way winter light can make everything just beautiful instead of gray, the outlines of tree branches in said light, walks in crisp snowy air, cups of hot chocolate, blankets, thick sock, christmas music and movies. Oh and sooo much more! :)

I had the best hot chocolate today, so yummy. Did I stop at one glass? No. I had 3. worth it.

credit  / original source?

I wish I had someone to hold my hand. One of the rare times I will comment on the bits of loneliness I encounter. The Family Stone is one of my favorite films. I love that giant family and all the layers they offer. There is something magical about how they fit together, learn about themselves, and in some cases fall in love. It's one of those films that can really make me go, I wish I had that. But I have a great family and friends and enjoy the time I have on my own. (12/5)

I wish for a camera to capture the beauty of my drive home. The beautiful lines of a bare tree, early winter light. Perfect. (12/6)

I wish there had been more hours in the day to decorate my wonderful house for the holidays. I bought the tree, first one I checked out, the most efficient shop ever!, and decorated it. perfect. (12/7)

I wish I had more confidence during my presentation. It's just a discussion of my job. Why so nervous? (12/8)

credit / original source?

credit 

I'm a strong believer in link with love now. You can see when I started I wasn't, my apologies. I hope someone can let me know what the original source of the photos above are. 

wishes: a day late & on time

I had an odd day yesterday, all meetings, craft fair, a bit of traction thanks to the PTA students, then bowling*, so I never got a chance to post my wish for the day.

*see cute stripe-y knee highs w/ bowling shoes. love.

I think it's actually harder to come up with wishes than things that I'm thankful for, which I pretty surprising because I'm a pretty wish filled person. So what was one thing I wished for today...

I wish that the craft fair had more contemporary crafters. Are there many in the area? This is definitely something to explore. (12/3)

Today, I wish for a wonderful weekend with one of my best friends, her hubby and their friends. We're making Fuzzy Navels so that's a good start! (12/4)

Happy December

We are two days into to one of the best months. There's the hope for snow, the anticipation of beautiful Christmas celebrations, truly wonderful family gatherings and at the end of it we start a new year. The new year is full of possibilities. Let's stay here in Dec 2nd for now though.

Last week I signed up to be a Style School student (see cute badge). I hope that it helps focus my inspiration and creativity, since I have a whole craft room to myself now! One of our early-bird projects was to start saving photos that inspire you:

http://www.pistache.tumblr.com (via weheartit.com)

Originally uploaded by ColorMeKatie

Love. So there's that. Then of course I found something else that I'm totally excited about. 31 Days of Wishes for December. I tried to do days of thanks on facebook but failed, I shall try again.

For December 1st I wish that there had been a glaze of snow to welcome the new month.
Today, Dec 2nd I wish that this pain in my shoulder would go away.

Happy December!

Here I am again!

After a nearly five month hiatus I *hope* that I'm here to stay. I've been obsessed with these crafty, pretty, beautiful blogs that inspire me to be and make crafty, pretty and beautiful things! My first project: (hopefully!) http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/11/10-thing.html. (the trees) love

Also in searching for that link it crossed my mind that maybe I should move my blog to tumblr. That way as I find things I love I'll post them more readily. maybe.

Where I've been: There have been various times I wanted to blog in the time since I last did and a lot has to do with all the changes that have happened. I wanted to chronicle my job hunt & finding the balance of summer fun. I wasn't a very exciting job hunter. I just put my nose to the grindstone every day and did my thing, pretty boring. It worked though and I found a job! I love it! Delta College really is a fantastic place to work. I thought about blogging that, but it is really just a job (no matter how fabulous it is!) and once I got into my routine it wasn't that exciting. Now here it is three months after the successful job start and ... oh wait! There's something else I could have written about. I BOUGHT a house, a house! After looking at something like 30 houses I found the right one. Now I'm there and I'm getting settled in. I might retrospectively blog about painting and settling in.

recent weeks

Last week I was excited.
This week I'm overwhelmed.
Next week I pack in as much as possible.

The week after that I'm back in Michigan.

six word resume

Thanks to twitter and wonderful world of blogging I'm provided with opportunities to do things I might not think of on my own such as the Elevator Pitch in the previous post and now a six word resume thanks to @GLHoffman of What Would Dad Say?

So here it is my 6 Word Resume:

Production Assistant pursuing film/tv career!

http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/2008/12/30/the-six-word-resume-contest-its-a-meme/

An Elevator Pitch or Two

I joined the 31 day blogging challenge knowing I would immediately fall behind. I had a fabulous visitor, Santiago, who I'm trying to convince to start blogging because he writes amazing things daily, coming to spend a few days in New York with me and then I was going home for the Easter holiday. It was a great way to spend a week!

Now it's time to start catching up on the blogging challenge.

Challenge #1: Write an Elevator Pitch

As I read about what an Elevator Pitch is, I realized that over the past two months of job hunting I've been developing one! It's so nice to realize that you're already prepared for something that you weren't previously aware of.

Self: As a young professional in the video production industry, I'm excited to take an integral part in the workforce. I've worked as a Production Office Assistant for one year and have five additional years of office experience. I am an effective professional with strong organizational and communication skills and a talent for building strong relationships.

The challenge though was to write an Elevator Pitch for my blog not myself. I need to think about how my personal, professional pitch relates to my blog.

Blog: This is the blog of a young professional in the video production industry-- It will bring you a variety of topics from the job hunting journey to creating my online brand and beyond!

It's quick and to the point which was recommended. I think it could intrigue people to see what I have to say about both topics and leaves them wanting more. What's beyond? Well, we shall see!

beautiful new york day!

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day and I was excited to take some time and go to Central Park for a long walk and people watching.

A friend recently asked, what do you do in Central Park? What isn't there to do?! There were people with families, others just wandering around, some were roller skating and dancing! The Sheep Meadow was jammed packed with people, I wouldn't have dared to try and find a place to lay out but more people were.

It was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect. The sun felt amazing on my pale skin, I'm happy to report no sunburn, and the air was warm and it felt like it wrapped around your body. It was an awesome day out enjoying the weather and the people.


The Reservoir, in the photo above, was probably my favorite part of the day. The water was so calm and peaceful, it just put me ease. It was a wonderful feeling to have after my long walk and a reminder of how much I enjoy the water. I really need to make an effort to get to see the water more, it really is so close. (Just a mile in one direction and a half mile in the other!)

A New Leaf?

I just deleted my last two posts because all they were were random thoughts on why I'm not very good at blogging. Well today, finally, I'm turning over a new leaf, I'm ready to write this b-l-o-g for real. A month ago I jotted down some topics that I could write about, I've been bookmarking links like a fiend that people tweet on a variety of topics that I can comment on, and I'm 12 days behind on the blogging challenge I signed up for!

Kate's b-l-o-g Topics

* TV/Video/Media (I'm such a tv junkie why not post a thought or two on the shows I watch throughout the week. Additionally, since video is my career I should do research on the topic and post something related to it at least once a week.)

* Operation Nice (I've been following this blog since it October and I've never completed a Nice Assignment.)

*Unemployment (Today marks two months of unemployment for me. I need to find inspiration from others, share great new links, and comment on the job hunt.)

*New York (I live in an amazing city. What's out there for me to see?)

*Teach For America (On Monday I will know if I've been accepted or not. I'm holding my breath!)

*Social Networking (How am I working to build my online brand? Have I followed anyone new on twitter that I should share? Have I improved on my blogging regularity and started commenting on others?)

*Create Something (I need to start stimulating my brain in a variety of ways)

isn't here

I've always liked personality quizzes, starting with the ones in YM and Seventeen at 12 and sometimes going a little out of control. (Now that I tracked down that link I want to do them all again and see where I am a year later. Many of them will be the same but some will have changed. haha)

That's not my point though, I actually did an online quiz I'd like to comment on. I'm planning a little day trip to Philadelphia in a couple of weeks, after visiting my cousin in Lancaster for the weekend!, and I need a place to keep my bags while wandering the city. I was scouring the Visit Phila website and found this cute, what should you do in Philadelphia quiz. I took it and this is what I was told:


How frustrating. But I think it says a lot about me, not just right now, but in general, my answers to the questions were a little random. I mean my favorite thing in my apartment is my tv but I'd want a fishing rod if stranded on an island plus if it were raining outside I'd "take a stroll, think about the rain, stop in a restaurant you’ve never heard of, maybe a bookstore." Yes, those were a few of my answers. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the answers aren't right in front of me and I need to find them out for myself.

Update: Any answers you submit result in the same answer, meaning the quiz is broken. I look forward to when they fix it and see how I should spend my rainy day in Philly with a dog named Daisy and no Big Lebowski fix.

just

I was doing a little web surfing/job hunting and someone, NPR I think, had run the President's "Address to Congress" through Woordle. So, of course, I spent the next couple of minutes running different things through it, my cover letter, other people's blogs, and then my own. What I found is that I write JUST a lot! I couldn't quite believe it at first and and I went through and counted the number of times I've typed just in my short time blogging. Can you believe it, 18 times in just 11 blogs!!?



Everything else just pales in comparison. (posted and comments appear larger also because I just copied all)