A video of my life according to Fbook

Katie Ham's Photo Timeline from Katie H on Vimeo.


Thanks, Wink, for sharing this video concept. It takes your Facebook pictures and puts them to a song. You can't pick the song, but you should check it out. Who doesn't want 5 minutes of pictures of themselves in video form?

Goalsetting.

I went to breakfast with a friend yesterday, and we started talking about our goals. Nothing really specific, just things we wanted to do.

I had the same conversation with another friend earlier in the week. I made some flippant comment about "Well I just want it all" to which he responded "what, exactly, is it that you want, Katie?" and I spent probably the next 5 minutes ticking down a list of all the things I wanted. Some of them were stupid - I wanted it to be Friday, I wanted the day to be over, etc. Others were serious - I wanted certain things at work, I wanted my mom and dad to be happy, I wanted to repair relationships with people that had been broken.

Both friends were so supportive of the things I wanted, and it was such a great two-way conversation with people who love me and care about me and who I love and care about. There's something really liberating about telling someone else your dreams. It gives them meaning. It holds you accountable.

It's why I posted my 101 in 1001 list. It's hard to believe that I made that list almost 2 years ago, and I've checked so many things off of it.

What's remaining? Running 6 5k's. UGH. So, now with about 10 months left, I have to do said 5k's. Anyone want to participate with me? One of my best friends lives in DC and is into running, so perhaps when I go to visit in April I'll rope her into doing one with me. And maybe when I'm in Florida in January I'll do one there. Maybe I'll commit to doing 6 5k's in 6 different locations.

What do you think? What holds you accountable? Do you have friends you can rely on?

Domesticated.

I spent my Sunday afternoon and evening in the kitchen and doing crafts and it. was. awesome.

Project 1: Cutting up wedding invitation, shower invitations, save the date, and a picture of my newlywed friends and putting them inside a clear ornament. I first saw the idea on Pinterest, and now I can't find the pin, but here's a link to something very similar.

Project 2: Rice Krispie treat cupcakes. I'm trying to put together Christmas gifts for all 100 people in my office, and this was a great place to start! 20 gift bags down, 80 to go...



Project 3: Cookies 'n cream holiday bark! Also for my coworkers, also incredibly easy and DELISH. I used white chocolate, and oreos with red filling. I sprinkled holiday sprinkles and top and voila!

Project 4: Not really a project, but I am seriously still eating Thanksgiving leftovers. I'm down to turkey and mashed potatoes, but seriously. I'm over it. I saw a recipe for chicken salad on -- guess where?? -- and figured I'd make it work with what I had.

A couple of months ago we had a catered lunch that included 'kicked up chicken salad', which was just chicken salad with a drizzle of sriracha. Done and done.

2c turkey

1/2 c mayo

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 c grapes, chopped

salt

lemon pepper from Trader Joe's

1 tsp sriracha, to taste

Mix it all together and eat with a fork. I like my chicken salad not very mayo-y and with a crunch, hence the extra celery and less mayo. The recipe also called for some apple but it tasted pretty damn good to me without. I'll probably eat all of this by tomorrow, because I think it is that delicious.

Project 5: One of my best friends is on an exchange program here in the states. He's originally from Italy, and unfortunately the time has come for him to return home. We had a surprise going away party for him on Saturday night and we wanted to get something that would commemorate his year here, but wouldn't be difficult to pack.

Enter IKEA picture frame with a collage of pictures. Success! Everyone signed around the edges of the frame and wrote notes to our sweet friend. It was an easy, cheap project that I know he'll enjoy forever. In fact, rumor has it he'll be carrying it on the plane and sharing his seat with the frame on his way back to Italy...he loves us that much!

What have you been crafting and cooking lately?

 

Kindle FIYAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I've been having a hard time coming up with a Christmas list for myself. You know, the list your mom always asks for right around Thanksgiving? Yeah, that one. I don't know why this year was harder than others have been. I guess because I've bought myself so many of the things I wanted, and the things I want now are a bit more intangible - airplane tickets, trips, things like that. And Lord knows I HATE asking for money. So, I came up with a list but realized that several of the things on it were pretty 'big ticket' items, including a Kindle Fire. I called my mom to basically ask her if that was something they wanted to get me or if I should just get it myself, and without missing a beat my mom told me to buy it for myself.

So, I did.



And then I added a Kindle Fire case to my Christmas list, because the one I am using now is only barely cutting it.



I want one like this. I bet I could make it myself if I tried. I bet my mom could make it for me, too. We'll see what happens come Christmas morning!

What is on your Christmas list this year? Mine also includes a tripod, a Dutch oven, sparkly shoes, skinny jeans, and a Wii remote charger. I think that list pretty much sums up everything you could ever possibly need to know about me, too.

PS - I'm still trying to figure out the best way to use my precious Kindle, but you can expect a post in the near future about exactly how to upload/download books, music & photos to your Kindle. I don't know if I'm the only one that found this really difficult, but maybe

November Top 10

1. Having friends in town (and sparklers in da club)

2. Saying goodbye to friends leaving town (and celebrating fall's arrival)

3. Coming in 1st place in our tennis league (and being undefeated!)

4. Putting up Christmas decorations

5. Finally getting back into the swing of things with my church's youth group

6. 7am tailgating

7. Having my parents here for a week over Thanksgiving

8. GT vs. UGA

9. Getting my hair cut & highlighted. Amazing what that does for one's self-esteem!

10. Celebrating 1 year at my job

Damn, November was good to me.

December has a lot to live up to.

Meg Cabot, Overbite: A Bummer Book Review

Ya'll. I am the most open-minded reader probably ever. I'll read anything, and probably like it. Except for The Poisonwood Bible. But seriously, it's really hard to find chick lit that I'm not going to be into. But this book was just. not. good. It was a legit waste of my time to read it. The writing was good, but the storyline was crappy. I'm even into the whole vampire stories, but this one just didn't do it for me.

I posted on one of the message boards I read that this book would be one I absolutely do NOT recommend, and at least one other person commented and agreed with me, so I'm not alone.

I'm sure there are people out there who are going to enjoy this book, but unfortunately I am not one of them. I'm going to go back to reading The Hunger Games (or re-reading I should say) and trying to make it to 50 books before the end of 2011. So close, yet so far away. 10 books to go. Think I can do it?

Next Year's Vacation

With 2011 winding down, I'm trying to fit in time to take all my remaining vacation days. We have an awesome vacation policy, but I haven't taken advantage of it much! I ended up with enough days remaining to take almost 2 full weeks off at the end of the year. I'm pretty stoked about it. As much as I love my job, I love it primarily because of the people, and all the people are also taking vacation, ergo my FOMO need not kick in.

I grabbed lunch with these 2 chicas on Black Friday, and we started tossing around ideas for a spring/summer vacation. One wants to go to Greece, another says beach vacations should be done in the winter, and my next desired travel destination is Southeast Asia - specifically, Thailand if I had to choose just one place. So we went round and round trying to figure out what we want to do, if we want to do a 'winter' vacation or a spring vacation, if we want to do international, if a cruise makes sense...there are so many things to think about. I have spent next to no time on the West Coast of the US, so if we go anywhere in the US, I think California would be my top choice. Is it realistic to say I want to start in northern California and make our way south and end up in San Diego? I've also (I can't believe I'm about to admit this) never been to New York City as an adult. I spent 1/2 day there on a school trip when I was 13, and that's it! So that's near the top of my list of places to see in the US. And Boston! Lucky for me, a friend was just staffed on a new assignment in Boston so I'm definitely planning to go visit - maybe for Memorial Day weekend with a couple extra days tacked on one side or the other?

And, for MLK weekend there are tentative plans to go skiing in Whistler. If that works out, I'd plan to spend at least 1 day in Seattle before venturing into Canada. We'll see what actually ends up happening, as the group I would go with is not exactly awesome at planning in advance. Different strokes...

So anyway, that leaves my travel list looking a little like this:

• Thailand/Laos/Cambodia
• San Fransisco/LA/San Diego
• NYC
• Seattle/Vancouver/Whistler
• always, always, always Australia & New Zealand (but I'm saving that for my honeymoon)
• Turks & Caicos

Where are you dreaming of traveling to?

Organizing your Outlook Inbox

Hello blogging fail, my name is Katie. It's nice to see you. Why haven't I posted lately? Probably because I spend all my time doing 1 of 5 things and therefore would blog about 1 of 5 things.

1. Playing tennis (undefeated and division champs in women's doubles!)
2. Laying on my couch watching countless episodes of Happy Endings, Gossip Girl, Grey's, Hart of Dixie or the latest Jodi Picoult book-turned-movie (great Saturday viewing right there)
3. Talking about how awesome my life is and how great my friends are (been there, done that)
4. Complaining about how no one will date me/I'm impossible to date (been there, done that also)
5. Working (7:30am in the office 6 Fridays in a row!)

Clearly I've already touched on all of those things. So instead, I'll launch into a post about my psychotic organizing tendencies, this time surrounding how to organize my email. Since I started my job in November 2010, I wasn't really sure how to organize for 2011, so I just made a 2011 folder and threw everything in that. Actually, I just made a 2010 folder and threw everything there. You have no idea how much it pains me now, in November 2011, to still be working out of a 2010 folder, but such is life.

Eventually as I got more comfortable with my job, my role, and the 'types' of emails I was going to be receiving and sending, I established a pretty good filing system. Our inboxes have a max limit on the internal server, so I have to continuously move them out of my inbox and into their separate folder.

Is this boring yet? Too bad. Now I'm working on how I'm going to do a better job organizing in 2012 (and how I can ensure that I don't receive an email in mid-November 2012 telling me my folder is now full and I need to break it up. UGH, the horror!)

So, I've decided that instead of dividing first by year and then by topic, I'm going to divide by topic and then by year. My job consists of 3 separate pieces, we'll call them A, B, and C, so I'm going to make 3 .pst folders for each topic, plus one called "Company Info" and one called "Katie" for personal stuff. All personal emails (for now) will get dropped into the Katie folder with no sub-folders. All company-related emails that don't actually pertain to my job but are still important will get dropped into the Company folder with no sub-folders.

I plan to make a 2012 sub-folder for A, B, and C. Then, depending on topic, I'll have sub-folders. It will look something like this:

So there you have it. Yes I greyed out all information that could be tied back to my actual job and company. Yes maybe I'm paranoid. SO WHAT.

So basically, this will (hopefully) minimize the need for folders every year. Although I'm not really sure it makes that big of a difference, I guess I'll try it this way for 2012 and see how it goes. 2013 will be the real test year, because I'll have to decide which way I like better. Maybe I'll keep 2 inboxes in 2013 so I can do it both ways. Told ya I was crazy. Wanna know what also throws a wrench in all of this?

iPhones with work email, that's what. So now my inbox is divided into the same A, B, and C and when those folders get too full then I move them to their respective places so that I can reference them while on my iPhone. I repeat: my life is hard.

Was this even mildly interesting? I taught my mom how to use her Google Reader last night, so maybe that will be my next "I'm Anal and Spend Way Too Much Time Organizing Shit" post.

October Top 10

1. Shopping in Buenos Aires

2. Rainbows at Iguazu Falls

3. Scary Halloween Pub Crawl

4. GT Homecoming 2011 vs. Clemson (and a HUGE win!)

5. Battle of the Burgers

6. Wine night with my roommate

7. Dinner in Argentina overlooking Paraguay and Brazil

8. 2 hour phone calls with best friends

9. Living vicariously through others running marathons & 1/2 Ironmen (and being SO proud of them!)

There's nothing like...

1. Traveling via airplane with me. Ask Rachel. Or anyone who knows me, really.
2. Getting an unexpected compliment.
3. Turning on the tv and finding it's just before the best part in a good movie.
4. Running into an old friend in an unexpected place and spending a lot more time than you thought you would catching up.
5. Falling asleep on your couch while watching Saturday afternoon football.
6. Waking up on Sunday morning without an alarm.
7. Hugging your best friend/mom/dog/pillow after being gone for a while. Even if a while is only 8 hours.
8. A text from a friend telling you that your ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend totally sucks. Even if you've way moved on and could really care less, hearing that doesn't get old.
9. Having a really crappy day turn out kind-of-sort-of-might-be-somewhat ok. So what if it's 4 months later?
10. Losing the first set in a tennis match terribly, only to come back and kick butt in the next 2.
11. Coming home to find that your roommate has done your least favorite chore.
12. Forgetting about an awesome show on your DVR for a few weeks.
12a. Spending a rainy Sunday catching up on said tv show.
What would you add to this list?

Life is not a grocery store

Every morning I get up, I get dressed, I come into work, I turn on my computer, I put my lunch in the refrigerator, I get a glass of water and a cup of coffee, I return to my desk, I make sure there are no super important emails to respond to, and I get down to the real business of reading my Google Reader. This morning was no different (except I spent the first 30 minutes of blog-reading on my couch, thus making me 30 minutes later to work. It's Thursday, whatever.) I opened this post, and haven't stopped thinking about it since.

I'm going to copy & paste Caitlin's words here, because I couldn't paraphrase them well even if I tried:

Life is not a supermarket stocked with limited quantities of happiness on the shelves. There are no shelves packed with loving partners, successful jobs, beautiful babies, and nice homes. Just because someone else has a loving partner, successful job, beautiful baby, or nice home doesn’t impact my ability to achieve the same things. Life can’t sell out on happiness.

Life is like the shore, where the ocean meets the sand. There’s room for us all to stand near the waves. The water recedes, the waves crash in. And sometimes, the waves bring in goodness. Washing up right at our feet are loving partners, successful jobs, beautiful babies, and nice homes. What one person receives down the shoreline doesn’t impact your ability to achieve happiness. And sometimes – just sometimes – you have to wade in and take the happiness you want.

In movies, when a terrifying natural disaster is near, everyone rushes to the supermarket, and two crazed women inevitably start fighting over the last loaf of bread. I’m tired of that treating others like we’re all staring down an empty, dusty supermarket shelf.



Caitlin is obviously in a different place in her life than I am in mine, but the point of her message still rings true: we can all achieve happiness, and it doesn't have to be at the expense of someone else.

 

I had a long conversation with a good friend last night, and he told me that I empathize with others too much. It's true - I take on other people's emotions on top of my own. I'm happy when they are happy, I'm sad when they are sad. I've always been this way, and I think I will always continue to be. But sometimes, just for a minute, I think they should be grateful for what they have, or they should be even happier than they are, and I find myself thinking those things because I am without whatever they are happy about, be it a new relationship or an exciting new job or WHATEVER.

So today, I'm here to tell you that I am going to be even more aware of my attitude towards my friends, coworkers, and just people I come across in life. I'm going to be happy when they are happy, and sad when they are sad, and just let that be enough. My time will come when someone will be happy when I am happy, and I hope when that happens that person isn't secretly thinking I should be feeling some other way.  

What I Did in Argentina

Remember when I told you I was going to Argentina before my friend even knew whether or not she would be going? Pretty typical. But I think much to Rachel's (and if I'm being honest, my own) surprise, I made it to Argentina and spent a whopping 8 days exploring Buenos Aires, Misiones & Iguazu Falls National Park. Below is a list version of the things we did in no particular order, but there were so many other things we did!

1. San Telmo Market -- probably ~2 miles of street blocks that turn into a huge market every Sunday afternoon. They sell mate cups, scarves, clothes, jewelry, belts, chocolate, dulce de leche, art, and everything else you could possibly imagine. We spent nearly 3 hours walking up and down the cobblestone streets exploring.

2. La Casa Rosada

3. Iguazu Falls -- one of the most amazing things in nature I have ever seen.

4. A little bit of partying

5. Recoleta Cemetery -- probably my favorite thing we did the whole time I was in Buenos Aires, which sounds so depressing, but this cemetery is incredible. The plots are deeded, and they aren't just graves or tombs, they are almost small houses, large enough for 10, 12, 15 caskets, many with private quarters downstairs.

6. Wild animal sightings -- can you spot the crocodile & the toucans?

(it's called a "Coitus" which just made me giggle)

7. Ate a lot.

Argentinian steak

I <3 meat

Dulce de Leche ice cream, YUM

My trip was phenomenal. First of all, I got to visit one of my best friends that I hadn't seen since July, who lives across the country from me most of the year. Second of all, I spent more than 6 hours in South America, thus officially checking it off of the list of continents I need to visit (the only thing on my bucket list is to visit all 7 - 2 more to go!) Third of all, Argentina is pretty freaking awesome. Overall, the people are nice. In Buenos Aires, they kind of just ignored us except for when they were blatantly staring at the 2 blondes. We kind of stood out like sore thumbs. In Misiones (where the Iguazu Falls were), we had the best night of my trip, but you can read more about that on Rach's blog.

I think the further removed I get from the experience, the more memorable it becomes. I came home feeling a little bit underwhelmed, but as the week passed, and I got more and more situated back into my routine, I found myself remembering things we did, or thinking things in Spanish and then giggling to myself, wishing I was still in Argentina. Those are all signs of a successful trip, right?

Don't you worry South America, I'll be back. The lacking time change alone is worth it!  

Rach - thanks for having me! I can't wait for your triumphant return to the northern hemisphere. In the meantime, we'll always have Lady Gaga.



Calendaring My Life

I'm back! You can expect some Argentina recaps, complete with approximately 500 pictures, but for now I'm still sorting through my thoughts and catching up on life. I've been back for a week and I still feel behind at work and in life.

One way that I'm catching up? Scheduling my life. Between playing on 3 tennis teams, working 60+ hour weeks, football games, acupuncture & massage appointments, and everything else in between, I feel like I am being pulled in 8000 directions. I finally sat down today and updated my calendar to include everything I want to do and when I expect to do it.

Then I spent an hour figuring out how many dinners I wanted to cook this week (because spending a week in Argentina isn't exactly budget-friendly) and then going through my Google Reader and figuring out what I wanted to eat. Guys, easier said than done, but here's what I ended up with:

Sunday: Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken -- found via Pinterest (to be eaten on salads or in a quesadilla w/ blue cheese)

Monday: Saturday night hibachi leftovers for lunch; Ground beef tacos for dinner (1/2 lb beef)

Tuesday: leftover tacos for lunch; Falafel pita for dinner

Wednesday: leftover buffalo chicken for lunch; Slow Cooker lasagna for dinner with the other 1/2 lb of beef that cooks while I play a tennis match!

Thursday: leftovers (lasagna, falafel, tacos, who knows?) for lunch; more leftovers for dinner, I have a 7pm tennis match

My parents are going to be in and out of Atlanta this week as they finalize the details on our almost-finished lakehouse, so this may all change as soon as they figure out what their plans are...or maybe I'll just pass the menu on to my mom and they can help me eat up some leftovers! I'll probably share quite a bit of this with my roommate, too, so maybe the leftovers won't be quite so plentiful. That's always the problem with cooking for 1 -- so many leftovers, and I get tired of the food!

So, that's part of the way I'm getting my life back under control. The other part includes calling my beloved housekeepers and running so many errands.

I've talked before about how I prep to leave for vacation, but how do you re-focus mentally when you return? 

The next 7 days

Can you believe I'm actually going? Yeah, me either.

Catch ya next weekend!

Candy Corn Decor

I pinned this last week.

This is what my mantle looks like as of today.

 What a cute, simple way to decorate for fall, and how easily it can translate to the many other seasons of the year. I envision jelly beans in the spring and perhaps peppermints around the holidays?

September Top 10

1. Football season kickoff

2. A + A's wedding weekend

3. Savannah for Labor Day Weekend

4. Visiting my best friend in Dallas

5. Start of a new tennis season

6. Atlanta Themis kick-off

7. Community Service Day with Atlanta Dress for Success

8. Catching up with an old friend on her birthday

9. Celebrating new friends as they move on to bigger, better things

10. Georgia Tech 5-0! (although technically that happened in October)

Goals for October:

1. Don't get kidnapped in Argentina

2. Win a tennis match

3. Practice yoga at least once.

4. Use all the food in my fridge before it goes bad

What were your top 10 for September, and what are you aiming for in October?

Fall 2011 Bucket List

via Pinterest

I'm adding attend a football tailgate and win a tennis match to this list.

What's on your fall bucket list?

Change Schmange

I am probably the most change averse person I know.

When my parents sold my house back in 2008, I literally refused to come home and pack up my room and my stuff, to the point that my mom eventually threw it all into boxes and one day I came home and my room was empty. I guess it will be fun to unpack those boxes in a few months.

The summer before my freshman year of college, I said I wished I could live in June 2004 forever. One of the best gifts I have ever gotten was from a high school friend related to that comment. She created a little box out of cardboard, and on the inside she glued pictures of our group of friends from that summer and an amazing quote. She said, "Here you go, Katie. Summer 2004 forever." I'm pretty sure that teeny, tiny cardboard box is packed away somewhere but I'm not sure where. See above.

And now, my life is changing again, in small ways. Two people who have become very close friends are "moving away." My parents are spending more and more time back in Atlanta, preparing for their our lakehouse to be ready. We have a new youth minister at church who has basically managed to flip the entire program upside-down and inside-out in a matter of 2 weeks. And for some reason, I can't help but thinking that perhaps my romantic life is about to change as well. I have zero reason to believe that, so maybe it's just hopeful thinking.

For the first time in my whole life, I'm not quite as opposed to these changes. My friends leaving means bigger and better things are in store for them, and I'm excited and proud. My parents moving back means I'll get to spend more time with them AND that the lakehouse will finally be complete. A new youth minister could mean new volunteers, potential new friends, and a fresh start in leading teens closer to God. And my romantic life? Well, to that I say it's about damn time. 

I am embracing these changes as best I can, but don't mind me if I try to bury my head in the sand for a little bit while all these things happen around me. It's what I do best.

How do you deal with changes? Are you of the "Heck yeah, bring it on" mentality, or more like me, the "but why can't things just stay exactly like they are at this very minute?"

Tuesday. Again. Don't be fooled.

Winning.

Don't be fooled - I haven't actually opened it.

I actually ate that whole bowl of chips.

Don't be fooled, that's not my real hair.

My new favorite food, fried pickles.

No fooling, only pure elation over lavendar cocktail dresses and pearls.

Ritz Carlton.

WeightWatchers who? 

This is not a joke.

Neither are Tuesdays.