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Posts Tagged ‘improvements’

  1. Dear Jen Lancaster – Another Letter, this time with more accessories #2

    September 30, 2010 by Blondette

    Dear Jen Lancaster!

    This is officially my second letter to you, though I dedicated a very important discourse to you earlier this week. I sincerely hope you approve and were not entirely grossed out or offended. (I know you are very “polite” about the human body and its functions – unless it involves getting “strongs” or making like a fish.)

    In your book, Bitter is New Black, you taught everyone a very important lesson about proper purse etiquette. I’ve always been a fan of purses. In high school, I had a burgundy purse that closely resembled a camera bag. Then there was the brown suede just a tiny bit bigger than a clutch purse – with fringe. It was fun to pet. Several years ago, I learned the importance of “rotating” purses. Every time my best friend Tammi gets a new purse, she “moves in,” immediately transferring the contents of the newly-old purse to the new purse and relegating the newly-old purse to the backseat of the car.

    I feel that the people we choose to love and envelop in every aspect of our lives – soul mates, best friends, children -  the people who “like us just as we are” – also make us want to be better people (maybe because they don’t expect it.) I’ve been known to like people who don’t cut me slack. (Okay, they cut me slack sometimes, but for the most part, they push me to excel whether it be in housekeeping, acts of kindness, or handbag etiquette.) And that last point, that is what brings me to the point of my second letter to you. I figured if my BFF and I are going to convince you to come to Kansas City for your next book reading/tour, then you need to know a little bit about us and our purse habits – and you need to like us, just as we are.

    *Okay, I’m going to admit that my attention span wandered right about here (well, actually I started another letter and wrote some terrible poetry on my FatLadyKatie blog) and I Googled for a bit, then I landed on http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/. Oh my. The images.*

    Anyhow, from Tammi and April (Tammi’s older sister and my pseudo-sister, also a connoisseur of purses and knitting bags) I learned about proper compartmentalization. I also learned the rule of rotating. You must rotate your purse every month (or 3 months.) This keeps the purse fresh and seasonal. I find that much like moving my furniture, it clears my chi and I suddenly feel more energetic.

    Without Tammi and April, I would still be carrying around a free Victoria’s Secret purse full of Diet Dr. Peppers and pizza (THAT ONLY HAPPENED ONCE!) People can still play “What’s in Katie’s Purse” but the results are less interesting (and less perishable) these days. Just know that my brother is an Eagle scout and I lived around the “be prepared” motto for 18 years. This will work well if I ever find someone to knock  me up and make it legal.

    Gosh, I have carried on as though we are old buddies! If blog stalking letter writing  is like dating I can’t expect to get anywhere until after the third letter and I should probably be walking you to your door.

    Now, I really must thank you for the lovely evening. I’ll call you tomorrow.**

    Goodnight and may the Ambien be with you!

    Katie Leas

    P.S.  Please do not sue me. I have 3 cats who scratch me when they are hungry. They’re generally very nice to me, but I’m pretty sure they’d eat me if they had to.

    ** I will not really call you because that’s creepy.

    Category Letters to Jen Lancaster | Tags: ,, | 3 Comments

  2. New Furniture for a Real Adult Katie

    December 23, 2009 by Blondette

    I’m still putting my house together, but today my new couch, chair, and ottoman arrived! Special thanks to my cousin Kiera and uncle Jim for hanging out at my house and waiting for the delivery people so I could be a workaholic! (it was a productive day!)

    The furniture is nice and cozy, soft and comfy. Note the strategic position of the chair and ottoman near the fireplace. Accident, I think not. I may do some additional angling of the couch and chair once I take the Christmas tree down. Oh, and yes, I need to put something on my walls.

    (PS. The lamp you can kind of see in the last picture is the same lamp you can see in Penny’s apartment on The Big Bang Theory. I had it first.)

    ADMIRE MY PICTURES…NOW!

    Katie Leas has a lovely living room as you can see from the comfort of her chair. Yes, that is Glee on the tv.

    Katie Leas has a lovely living room as you can see from the comfort of her chair. Yes, that is Glee on the tv.

    My mantle is pretty.

    My mantle is pretty.

    This might become part of my next header. This is the view from my new chair.

    This might become part of my next header. This is the view from my new chair.

    Katie is all growed up and has a new living room set - yes, new furniture. I shall know the origins of all stains!

    Katie is all growed up and has a new living room set - yes, new furniture. I shall know the origins of all stains!

    Category blah blah, Life Lessons | Tags: ,,, | 1 Comment

  3. This is an Unedited Post

    September 20, 2009 by Blondette

    Earlier this year I wrote that I was going to post as I was thought about it. This hasn’t happened. I have several drafts for things I’ve wanted to share, but haven’t. I haven’t felt like I had the right words. I’ve questioned how people will react. I’ve wondered about making people uncomfortable.

    Recently, I read a post by on Copyblogger.com called “How to Stop Making Yourself Crazy with Self-Editing” by Sean D’Souza. The main idea I took away was that we need to stop editing so much and just write. Isn’t that how they say we get better? Isn’t that one of the main themes in any creative writing class? Write.

    You work on exercises to stretch your brain. You open up your imagination, heart, and you have no time to edit.

    They call this stream of consciousness. I’ve been watching the Emmy’s and tweeting my opinions. I’m a little upset that Neil Patrick Harris lost to Jon Cryer and that Jim Parsons lost to Alec Baldwin. In fact, Jim Parsons became (and still is) a trending topic on Twitter but most of the comments are junk. NPH is hosting with some crap material but he’s still good. Jimmy Fallon is hilarious.

    9pm and it feels like 10pm Sunday night.

    Let me go back to the beginning of today. I awoke and shortly after a heard my phone ding- yes, I keep it by my bed (it’s my alarm! and what if I wake up and can’t sleep and feel like getting on Facebook or Twitter? or texting? or checking my email? and well, it’s my clock so I know how much sleep I’m not getting) Boys don’t like this about me. (it was before 7am so I figured it was Tammi because no one else is awake and texting me that early- usually.) It turns out the text was from my dad. Suffice it to say (trite!) I was surprised, but in a nice way. The highlights of our text conversation where his joke when I told him I had exciting news (me: I’m buying a house. Him: that’s better than being pregnant – indeed Dad, indeed!) and when I told him I’d just email him since his phone was dying and he LOLed at me.

    Lately I’ve been telling people and myself to “step back.” Pull yourself out of the moment and really look at the whole situation. Imagine, my dad texting me and us having a fun conversation. My mom has been trying to text lately as have Tammi’s parents. Anyhow, I followed up with a cup of coffee and getting to the coffee shop on time and securing our table! Coffee was exceptionally fun today with upbeat banter and adult humor and friends.

    You know what, if this is growing up, then I say, thank God.

    Category blah blah, Favorite Memories, humor, Life Lessons | Tags: ,,, | No Comments

  4. High School Sweetheart Class of 1999

    August 11, 2009 by Blondette

    In just over a week, my high school graduating class will hold their 10 year reunion. I will not be attending. Interestingly enough, I’ve been friended on Facebook by several former classmates, and really, that’s good enough for me.

    I don’t really like the idea of facing the reunion alone. I wasn’t popular. I was smart, quiet, fat, extremely self-conscious, a little crazy, and just didn’t get into all of the typical high school things. Oh, and I was in the band. I was not an extreme loser, but I was definitely a non-entity on the social radar.

    Parties? only if they were sleepovers where we talked about boys, watched movies, and ate treats.

    Boyfriends? Only in my diary.

    The only good thing about this reunion is realizing that 10 years later, I’m not the same person I was back in high school. I have a successful career, loads more social skills, and a much stronger sense of worth.

    I will admit to e-stalking the reunion profiles to see who’s married, who has kids, who has a shitty job, who has a better job than me, and just other general “where are they now.”  Granted, I’ve gotten some of that info from the phenomenon that is Facebook, but it’s still interesting.

    Overall, I think I’m doing alright. After all, I was in a magazine- how many of them can say that?

    Category blah blah | Tags: ,,,,, | 1 Comment

  5. Call Me Cupcake

    June 27, 2009 by Blondette

    We all have alter egos. Last Thursday I called mine Cupcake. Here’s the backstory.

    Every quarter my company hosts an outing for the employees. It’s a nice way to get everyone out, moving, thinking, interacting, and destressed for an afternoon. One department takes the hosting and planning reigns. This quarter, for the first time ever, my department (yep, I have one) was given the hosting honor. Past outings have been to the Royals Home Opener, Powerplay KC, a KC Amazing Race (note to self: never wear cowboy boots on the day of an outing again), and a KC area scavenger hunt.

    I am now completely convinced of 2 things:  my department can make some cash on the side by opening a costume shop and we totally have the Halloween costume competition in the bag. Planning was fun and the ladies in my department totally took the initiative to get everything done, leaving me to “supervise.”

    Thus on Thursday, June 25th, we presented “Company X’s* Got Talent.” The ladies headed over to our venue early, leaving me to corral the troops. After two all pages on the intercom, I headed to the main conference room where I proceeded to stand on the conference room table and give direction. Once everyone was informed of the plan and numbered off, I lead them like little ducklings to the scene of our talent show. Let me just say, I was impressed with the creativity that came out of my fellow coworkers.

    We rewarded them with an afternoon of beverages and appetizers at the Marquee downtown. Oh yeah, and the winners got tickets to AMC.

    My role in the event was that of hostess, whereby I dubbed myself Cupcake. I was the unifying voice (ha!) My job was to be loud and funny.

    Here’s where this gets to be something I’d actually write about on my personal blog. I’m not an extrovert. I’m a performer. They are not the same thing. I still need down time, chill time, me time. I process everything at a highly internal level. I am more likely to turn inward and analyze and process than to express and seek outside contact. I still love being with just one or two people at a time. But, I got up in front of 40 people and stood on a table. I got up in front of 40 people and cracked jokes. I got up in front of 40 people and handed out awards. I worked the tables. Sober.

    And the week before, I was at a conference for 4 days where all I did was talk to people. Me.

    Of course, I left the outing around 5:30 (this is also when Michael Jackson died) and fell asleep by 7:30pm. Thus proving that it takes a lot of energy for me to be so outgoing and engaging.

    Anyway, I’m proud of myself and I’m not ashamed to say it. Where I am now, who I am now sort of blows my mind some days. I never thought I’d be here. And that gives me hope for all of the dreams that are yet unaccomplished.

    Your Hostess, Cupcake with the judges.

    Your Hostess, Cupcake with the judges.

    *you don’t need to know where I work

    Category blah blah, humor | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  6. And Updates for All!

    April 12, 2009 by Blondette

    Readers! Oh dearest, loveliest readers!

    I felt like being dramatic. Really, I just wanted to call to your attention a few changes/additions that I made today. In general, I’m pretty lazy with keeping up-to-date, so I tend to make a few changes all at once instead of one here and another there. So, what did I do?

    1. Added a plugin that will allow you, my dearest, loveliest readers to share my wonderful words of wisdom and humor with others via several social media sites. You’ll see icons beneath each post- simply click on the icon and you can pimp my content to others.
    2. I added a plugin that allows you to quickly access my profiles on several social media sites. This plugin displays in the right sidebar. It will also make sure you are getting the real me if ever you search. I have two main screennames on my social sites: Katedid and Trmndsblndtte. I’ve been moving away from the Katedid moniker, only because I like having the tie-in with my domain and screennames. Feel free to add me as a connection on any of the sites. I have other profiles, so let me know if I’m missing one you’d like to see and I’ll add it. These are just my current favorites and most used.
    3. Behind the scenes, I added an SEO plugin. This just neat things for the Search Engines. I’m tired of results for my name being polluted by that wrestler girl.
    4. And last, but not least, I added two new pages! Cast of Characters serves as a quick reference for the wonderful people who allow me to be part of their lives, and to write about them. Essays and Non-Fiction serves as a partner to my page of Short Stories and Fiction to showcase my days (and nights) as a creative writer.

    Enjoy!

    Category blah blah, tech, Web 2.0 | Tags: , | 4 Comments