Life By Kristen

Go, and embrace your liberty. And see what wonderful things come of it. – Little Women

Archive for the category “Random”

04 May 2015

May

Finally the weather has turned the corner and the lovely month of May has arrived.

It’s a month filled with celebrations- Mother’s Day and five birthdays between family and friends– Hallmark likes me this month!

This month is extra special because my brother is getting married and we’re all so ready for a fun celebration ( and a getaway to Vermont!)

It’s also a month for house projects, busy work schedule, and hopefully some down time to think deeply about next steps in life, work, and planning adventures.

Bring on the May fun!

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11 Mar 2015

Floral Daydreams

I’m headed to Nashville in 11 days for a work-related project. All I can think about is spring time and the flowers I hope to see there. These gorgeous beauties are from my 2013 Amsterdam trip when my mom and I visited Keukenhof to see the tulips.

Spring

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03 Mar 2015
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Short Girl Problems: Pants

This is going to be a bit of a pant-rant, if you will, so if you have no interest in listening to the woes of a short girl, you can stop reading now.

First off, my issue with pants is not limited to my short height- both my mother and soon to be sister in law  are both gorgeously tall, well and gorgeous too, both struggle with similar issues on the opposite end of the spectrum than my short girl problems. Also I know many average sized females who also struggle with pant woes because of changing nature of rise, fit, and the fact that a size 10 in one store is a size 12 somewhere else and so on.

These are not new complaints and the entire style/fashion blog world has weekly complaints, opinions, and manifestos on how to address the woe of proper fitting pants in our modern, consumer, vanity sized world.

My pant rant comes after trying on a pair of pants this weekend at Loft– a store I love and am faithful to for all things pant related, with the exception of denim jeans. I pretty much exclusively shop online because I have no patience for stores; I usually go once or twice a year to try on something I’ve seen online or to make sure I’m still wearing the right size. This recent trip to Loft was prompted by ordering the wrong size of pants online and needing to return. It also turned out to be an awesome opportunity for both my mother and I to try on pants since we’ve both lost some weight in the past few months. I knew I was a size smaller, but because I’ve got a bit of a booty, I’ve always worn the curvy fit there in the regular size, not the petite, even though I’m 5’2″. This always means pants are tailored at least 4 or 5 inches from the original hem in order to work for me- it’s usually more if I don’t plan on wearing heels with the pants.

So on this trip, I thought I’d try the petite sizes on again, to see if this weight loss would push me into that size category, plus get me out of having to spend $5-10 extra on each pair of pants to be tailored to my height. While the pants did fit in the petite size (though the fit in the rise was not super comfy), THEY WERE STILL WAY TOO LONG. Not like 2 inches too long. Like 4 or 5 inches still too long. Sure, petite ladies probably are used to wearing heels, but that doesn’t mean we want all of our pants to be required to be worn with 4-5 inch heels!! The funnier part of this still is that my super tall mother, who usually has to get talls in pants, not only did not need the tall size, but also must wear heels with her pants. What sort of glamazon person are they designing these pants for? It boggles my mind. At least we’re keeping our local tailor busy!

OK pant rant over. More interesting, observant, and deep thinking to come tomorrow.

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02 Mar 2015

Women’s History Month 2015

March is Women’s History Month. I wrote last year about some of the women who I find most interesting in history. Here are a few more interesting women of history that you may or may not know about.

Claire McCardell

If you’re a woman reading this wearing pants or an outfit put together with separates, you have Claire McCardell to thank. This 20th century fashion designer revolutionized the way women dress and even the way we shop. I think her designs are timeless, classic pieces that become staples in a wardrobe. Her work is in many museum collections because of its importance to fashion, cultural, and social history.

 

Julia Child

Julia Child is one of the most amazing people to me, mostly because she didn’t find her passion of food and cooking until she was in her 30s. As a person who is sort of in the middle of a career question mark ( not calling it a crisis, but definitely a transitional period of career and life), this is endlessly inspiring to me. That and her TV show was something I watched as a child that made me laugh, even if I had no idea what she was doing.

 Anne Hutchinson

A member of the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Hutchinson was excommunicated from the group and made her way to more accepting and tolerant Rhode Island, where she would become one of the founders of Portsmouth, RI. She challenged the authority of the leaders and minister of the Puritans and was a leading figure in religious freedom and expression.

 

Nurses of World War II

My senior project in college was working on a small capstone project that included a research project and exhibit on a friend’s aunt who was a nurse in the Army Nurse Corps and later the Navy Nurse Corps. This woman had an incredibly interesting life story, but as I learned more about the nurses involved in World War II, I was captivated and amazed by their stories. If ever I have the time to research and write again, I would most certainly explore this area more.

 

 

 

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17 Nov 2014

Monday Musings

Today my brain can only think in random spurts and bullet points.

  • I think there should be some law that requires employers to give their workers a ‘weather’ day off. In the event of a bad weather day where you don’t want to get out of bed OR a gorgeous, sunny picture-perfect day, you could just call in without any questions asked. I totally would have used it this morning when the rain was putting me to sleep in the amazing comfort of my feather duvet, prompting me to hit snooze 5 times.
  • Thanksgiving is a week and a half away, but it doesn’t quite feel like it yet. Sure, I’ve made the lists of who is bringing what with Mom, ordered the bread for the family stuffing, and written my various to-do items in the planner. Maybe it’s because part of our family won’t be with us, or maybe it’s just the bittersweet feeling of another holiday with Dad, especially since Thanksgiving was the last holiday we had with him and has always been a big deal with us ( we like food!)
  • After all the huge house and closet cleanouts of the past year, we’re not really doing Christmas presents this year. While exciting to think about not stressing for the holidays, it’s also a bit weird. I once again adopted a family to shop for, so I’m looking forward to that again.
  • I’m so over raking leaves. After spending last weekend doing raking, we didn’t do any this weekend because there is still a significant amount of leaves on our trees, so we figured we wait. I fear that may have been an oversight on our part, since I’m pretty sure that means all of next weekend will be spent raking. Love the privacy of so many trees, major dislike on the raking.
  • I’ve fallen into a very bad habit lately of saving articles, recipes, etc. to read on facebook and my blog reader, but never actually getting around to reading them. Or even worse, doing a quick read and deciding to further save them for when I’m ready to read them. Which I know is probably never going to happen. The same thing with all the articles and random things in the folder ‘action items’ I made in my email inbox. I think if all that junk is still there by the end of the year, I should trash and start fresh.
  • About to hit my 50 read books goal of the year! Woo! Though in full disclosure, at least half were audio books and probably a good dozen or so were books read for work projects.
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29 Jul 2014
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If…I Won the Lottery

If I won the lottery….

That would  just be awesome.

Everyone has their list of things they would do if they won the lottery. Trips they would take, big purchases to make.

My list is pretty small and somewhat mundane.

I’d pay off my debts. Provide for my family. Take a vacation. Donate to charities and establish a scholarship of some sort. I’d probably move, but maybe not.

I’d still drive my car. I probably wouldn’t clip coupons as much, but I’d still be frugal and budget conscious. I’d even still work, though depending on how much I won, I would reconsider working full-time.

I would most definitely hire someone to clean my house once a month. And someone to fix my garage and scrape/paint my fence. I’d still probably shop the sales and refuse to pay for expensive coffee.

This doesn’t seem like I’m asking for much. Honestly, I’d be happy with enough just to pay off my debt, mainly my student loans, so we’re not even talking about 6 figures!

Of course, to win the lottery— I have to play!

 

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29 May 2014

Currently…

Currently…

Eating: The last of the banana bread ( with chocolate chips!) I made over the long weekend. I thought it would be one of the last times I used my oven for awhile, but considering it was in the 40s last night, I have a feeling I’ll be baking into June at this rate.

Drinking: Citrus infused water- lemons, limes, an orange. It makes for a much more yummy way to get all my water intake in during the day.

Reading: A LOT. I’m listening in the car to Nothing Daunted, reading Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine, and just finished two others and have two more to pick up from the library on Saturday morning. I get into these spurts where I’m feverishly reading and can’t get enough- love it.

Thinking/Planning: About what to do in my backyard. Q & I did a lot of backyard cleanup over the long weekend, and I’ve been plotting about what to do with the space because we love being outside in the summer and want it to be a spot to hang out with others too. If you follow me on Pinterest, you’ve seen I’ve (somewhat obsessively) been pinning lots of ideas for our patio, good plants/flowers for shady areas, and so on. My current thinking involves either a nice set of chairs/bench or possibly a hammock….

Trying: To not buy clothes/shoes/product/anything for myself in June. I did the closet changeover and was sort of amazed/disgusted at how many items of clothing I have for the summer. I’m making a very conscious effort to not buy anything in the month of June and also trying really hard to get rid of things. The first part I think will be far easier than the second.

Loving: Having a supportive, understanding partner in Q. It’s just really awesome to have someone be on my “team” in life. Also loving that I’ve come to embrace my homebody status- sure I like to go out every now and again, but I’m really proud of the fact that I’ve created a home and life that makes me feel just as good being around the house as it did years ago when I wanted to go out all the time. Oh how life changes.

Watching: Lots of movies. We have 1 or 2 more of the 2013 Oscar Best Picture nominees to watch and then we’re going to start making our way through older movies, AFI lists, etc. It’s the summer and TV isn’t great, so we’re going to make the most of it. Also, we finally watched Game of Thrones  are are HOOKED. I don’t know why we passed on it for so long, but now we’re big fans.

What’s going on currently in your world?

 

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31 Mar 2014

Asbestos Awareness Week

I consider myself a curious person who is aware of a lot of things in the world, reads/watches the news, and seeks out answers when I have questions or don’t understand something. I love learning new things and making connections with people, so when Heather reached out to me about Asbestos Awareness Week, I had to admit I knew very little about it.

I have faint recollections of hearing commercials for class-action settlements regarding asbestos and know from my work that deals with historic preservation that asbestos is found in a lot of old homes. But I’ve never known or been acquainted with anyone who had negative experiences from working with the materials before its adverse effects became known. What’s more fascinating is the Heather’s story- she had exposure secondhand from her father who worked with the materials and was diagnosed with mesothelioma.

It’s crazy to think that this material is still found in so many places still, especially older public buildings such as schools that were built in the 20th century and have never been updated. It seems obvious that this is such a public safety/health issue, but it’s clear that the solution of covering asbestos up or avoiding it is the answer, instead of eliminating it entirely.

I encourage you to click here and watch/read about Heather’s story and her battle with mesothelioma more and check out info about this cause which I suspect not many people know about. In the words of Heather: “From awareness grows hope. Each voice could save a life!”

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24 Mar 2014

Technology Woes

This post is both public service announcement/cautionary tale/brain quandary for me.

In my efforts to get rid of clutter and unwanted items of life, I decided to get rid of my old mac laptop, circa 2005. It got me through grad school and many work travel trips, but it’s quite slow and heavy. About a month ago I sat down to transfer all the photos to jump drive to then transfer to cloud storage. I was so proud of my efficient, proactive attempt at organizing life. My pride and excitement at this action was short-lived to say the least.

I deleted all the files.

I thought everything transferred to the jump drive, but when I plugged it in on the other computer, it was empty. When I went back to the laptop, the entire library of photos was gone because I was ’empty trash’ happy.

Oh this is the second time I’ve done this by the way, except the other time it was right after grad school and I deleted all my documents, papers, and research files. That didn’t seem to matter as much as the photos.

After some research and noodling, it turns out a lot of the data recovery software out there for Macs doesn’t matter for me because my system is OLD and can’t be updated any more and a lot of that software are not compatible. So I did find a software that does the scan for free, but then you pay to actually get the stuff back. I’m able to search through the stuff to see what I want to save, so that’s nice, except it is a hugely time consuming process ( the consequence of being so flippant about deleting is the penance of time to look through the stuff you want back!)

Last night as I was looking through photos seeing if there was anything worth saving, it was a.lot.of. feelings. There were lots of photos of happy times with family ( most of which I know other family members have) and of course, lots of photos with my ex. I only had a digital camera beginning in 2006 so anything that was on that computer was from them on and in the past year or so, I’ve been good about putting photos in multiple places or copying onto a disk, so really the photos that were lost are not entirely things that I would save anyway because they were with my ex and while it was happy at the time, I certainly don’t need photo reminders to keep for life.

The big uncertainty of whether to pay to do this or not is for one reason really- Dad. I know there are a few pictures of him in there. My original thinking was to see if there were enough of him to warrant spending the money ( he wouldn’t be offended at this line of thinking, my frugal nature comes from him!)- if there are a lot of good shots of him I want to keep, I’ll spend the money ( and the time!) to find them. I’m not so sure there are though. As I said, a lot of recent past few years have been saved in other places and the photos that would be on the computer might have my Dad with my ex ( and he wasn’t the biggest fan of him anyway so not sure how many smiles I’d find!).

I’m going to think on it some more. I know the memories live on in my mind/heart and that’s what matters which has helped a bit, but let this cautionary tale be your lesson to back up your computers ( and your memories!)

 

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10 Mar 2014

Women’s History Month

March is a favorite month not only because it begins with my birthday and ends with the arrival of springtime, but also because it’s women’s history month. Women’s history has long been one of my interest areas- I earned a certificate in Women in Leadership in undergrad at Franklin Pierce, and have done a lot of research both for personal interest and work on various notable females. Most of the memoirs/biographies I read are about/by women. I thought I’d take the opportunity to share a few historical gals who I’m fascinated by.

Elizabeth Blackwell

I think I first learned of Blackwell via an elementary school biography series of short stories and then did a lot of my own research on her from there. Blackwell was the first American woman to earn a medical degree from an American medical school.

Louisa May Alcott

As my blog subtitle suggests, I’m a huge fan of Little Women. My interest in Alcott was sparked from that book and learning she was from Concord, MA which also happens to be my place of birth. In junior high school I visited Orchard House for the first time and it is definitely one of the places that sparked my interest in historic houses/museums. The Alcott family fascinates me because of how progressive the whole clan was. There are a lot of books written on the family and Louisa in particular, of which I’ve only read a fraction, but they are high on the reading list.

Madeline Albright

I highly recommend her memoir Madam Secretary and also really enjoyed Read My Pins ( though I missed the exhibition!) Sure she’s the first secretary of state, but her life story is really interesting, as well as her diplomacy and thoughts on the world. Also, she’s on Twitter!

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