Ridiculous Signage Between Bonnie and Meredith

There is some crazy signage going on in the Parking Lot off Colorado between Bonnie and Meredith in Pasadena. Often I stop at this location for Starbucks on way into the Pasadena Office and I always have to pay close attention to the parking spot I pick because if not the woman that sits in the tiny little closet-office will put a warning on my car that threatens to tow it. (I have received the warning twice for parking in the wrong space) Almost everything in this parking lot is remarkable:

• The tiny little closet the woman works must be horrible. There is no air conditioning and it is no more than 4 feet by 4 feet (I think I am being generous here too) This woman just trolls the parking lot looking for potential offenders. I was going to Starbucks and the ATM one day and she stopped me to ask me how long I would be? Uh 10 minutes...oh, okay, go ahead....whatever


• There is no difference in the handicapped parking spaces (size and borders) so why is one van accessible and one not?


• There is a sign for at least every two parking spots in the lot


• Why would they print two different shape signs for the 1 Hour Sharp Seating spots? As you can see in the 5th picture these two signs are for spots right next to each other


• There are three different signs depicting standard 1 hour parking, the dark brown rectangle, the dark brown tall oval and the light brown rectangle


• There are two different types of employee parking sign, the dark brown horizontal oval, and the light brown square. I once was stopped by the parking lot monitor since I wasn't an employee and parked on the spot that showed the 1 hour to the left and the employee parking to the right.


• Who could have possibly made the decisions on signage, it's crazy! Also, every spot is a 1 hour except the employees. Three are 4 restaurants that utilize the parking lot and 2 banks. Lord help the person who is signing loan documents or having a leisurely lunch, they will likely be towed.

The Price Is Right!!!! Watch 3/28 at 10:00AM!!!!!

National "Joe" Day.....

Seriously, I can't make this stuff up, today is National "Joe" Day. On National Joe day you can choose to not go by your own name and instead be referred to or call yourself, Joe. Those behind the day call it a holiday from your own name.

So in honor of Joe P today I..........

• Went to Starbucks and had Joe written on my cup of tea (not Joe)


• Created my Trader Joe's shopping list


• Facebook friend requested Joe Young


• Implemented a new employee satisfaction program called "Joe's Act" which increased everyone's vacations by 2 weeks


• Fondly remembered Fear Factor and Joe Rogan


• Planned an employee morale event at Joe's Crab Shack (Hawaii Location)


• Stalked Joe Pesci via virtualglobetrotting.com, contemplated watching "My Cousin Vinnie"


• Thought about how much I dislike the Yankees


• Emailed all the Joe's on my team (and Facebooked all my friend Joe's) telling them I hoped they enjoyed their special day


• Wished there was a Tahoe Joe's nearby so I would have the perfect end to my "Joe" list by venturing there for dinner

I wonder if there is a National Mickey Day....I'm think a Disney Celebration would need to be scheduled.......

Disclaimer: Bullet 4 and 6 are sort of lies but it felt fun writing them.

Happy Birthday, REM!

Happy Birthday, REM! I Love You!

March Madness.......

Try as I might I really hate it, I know that isn't a popular view but I just couldn't me more bored with the whole concept. Regardless, I did root for Texas A&M as I do in another sports (along with LSU for Andrea) and only because it makes my dear friend, Queen B happy.

I don't know who "Jimmer" is but on Facebook yesterday I learned that he could nail a three pointer from the middle east when the goal is in Japan. While I am not an expert on basketball I find myself questioning the validity of that statement.

Unfortunately, A&M lost early but during the game we were hanging out with A&M fans in San Diego and we were definitely all saying "Go Aggies".

Welcome To The Family, Grace!!!!!

So happy to get my second sister in-law!!!!! Congratulations, Andrew!!!!

The Weekly Catch-Up (2011, Week 12)

Home: Brooke is still drinking the allergy formula because she gets sick every time she has regular milk. Thinking this was a simple allergy we had an allergy test done only for it to come back that she is not allergic to anything! (Which is great) Now we have to figure out why the milk is bothering her tummy so we can get her off of the ultra-expensive Nutramigen.

Last night Sydney watched the 101 Dalmatians and she was quite scared of ole Cruella DeVille. The expression on her face looked very similar to her expression when watching Maleficent go after Sleeping Beauty

I cooked good meals every night this week. Two came from Williams-Sonoma's "The World Kitchen" cookbook. I made the "Shaking Beef" salad (which was to die for) and a Vietnamese Pork Stir fry which was also great! I also made a couple of soups from "For the Love Of Cooking", the first was Ribollita (I used the Giada version) and the second was the White Bean and Chicken Chili and it was outstanding! Great week to not be traveling and in the kitchen.

Other highlights include: Having a 40+ minute conversation with Andrea Braun, receiving flowers from Jane, celebrating Queen B's birthday.

Work: This week I began re-using the Franklin Covey Plan Plus System for Outlook (for the 10th time) and it has greatly improved my organization skills. Other than methodical planning the biggest overall change I am making to improve my effectiveness is logging out of email. Email is such a distractor, when trying to complete a task, you see that little preview message open and are immediately dragged off into email-land to deal with that crisis or this question or another action item. This results in you never getting to complete the task you started so the solution is to schedule email time on your calendar and log out of it when trying to get something else done.

Highlights from the work week included: Getting my surprise package, sneaking in two good lunches, having 6 of 7 Performance reviews delivered and having the FSO All Hands meeting. I'm looking forward to a couple of site visits in Southern Cal next week. BTW, Joe called me "Kimmer" yesterday, I love "Kimmer"!!!!

Other: Did you see where Oxford added a bunch of words to their dictionary? My favorite was "Bloggable"-so happy that is now official.

Lastly, Elizabeth Taylor died, USA Today had the following headline "The biggest star ever?". I say, No. Zsa Zsa Gabor reacted by thinking she was next.

I Love Surprises!

So last month I got this surprise and since I am not a big wine drinker David did the honors and drank it. (Now, I did taste it and I thought it was probably one of the best wines I had ever tasted but again, not being a wine drinker I didn't have much) Today when I was leaving for work I saw a box on my front porch (that I must have missed yesterday when I got home) from Wine Country Gift Baskets and my first thought was "Dang, I wish I liked wine more!"

Much to my surprise though, inside it was not wine but a gift basket of treats!!!!! (Love treats) There was a whole bunch of good stuff but what is depicted below are some specifics: (1) The gift basket (2) two lollipops (Sydney snagged those) (3) Stuffed Bear (Brooke snagged that) (4) Chocolate (David snagged it) (5) My favorite of all pepper jack cheese dip....oh yeah, it was great! And I got to eat on Chip and Dip day-total bonus.....

PS. I am completely ticked off that I can't get the Sonoma cheese picture to stand upright! Being quite the anal one on how pictures appear on the blog it is very frustrating, I even re-took the pic, it still won't stand up......but it was really good :)

The gift basket was awesome, I am so grateful for it and I loved the card too!!!! Thank you!!!! Thank you!!!!!

Today Is National Chip and Dip Day

Since I don't eat chips often, heres to the only "Chip" in my life....Hope you enjoy your first Chip and Dip day in Arizona!!!!!! (Hopefully I'll get a better picture for next year)

Public Service Announcement

Queen B's birthday was the 22nd.

Happy 3/22 Queen B!!!!

So I was going to use the first picture to celebrate your birthday but it's clearly been played. Next I found the one of you and Lospace because seriously, are there two cooler chicks on this planet? Seriously though it's my blog not Lois's so I felt compelled to put picture number three.

Happy Birthday!!!!! I love you!!!!!

Brooke Loving On Shamu

Super Moon Tonight

Tonight you can see the largest moon in 18 years! Last night was pretty big too, notice in the picture I took it looks bigger than the street lights.

Donate for Ray & Alexis!

My cousin Dedee (this is my cousin as she is my uncles daughters) is two years cancer free and I am thrilled that Alexis (now Alexis is on David's side and she is our first cousin once removed-I had to look it up on wikipedia's relationship matrix to ensure I gave our correct relationship. She is David's cousins daughter) is racing for the cure! She is doing a 3-Day Chicago Breast Cancer walk for the cure on August 5th-7th and has a goal of raising $5000 for her participation. Please donate and if you can't know, I have placed her link on the right side of the page so please come back and place your donation before August 5th-7th.

If you can't afford to donate you can also spread the word by "liking" their facebook page

This is what Alexis has to say on why she is doing the walk:
I have been lucky enough to not have any relatives diagnosed with breast cancer, which is so fortunate when a startling 1 in 8 women are diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives. That statistic is more than enough to encourage me to want to make a difference in the fight for the cure. However, I also have seen from an outsider stand point just how much breast cancer can influence a family. My first experience with breast cancer was in middle school concerning a family friend. The woman was the mother of a girl on my basketball team. At the time she was diagnosed with breast cancer, I recognized the news was terrible, but I didn’t truly comprehend to what extent. That basketball season our team came together to show our support by wearing a pink shoelace on our left shoe. A few years later in high school, another girl on the basketball team experienced the same thing when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. At this point, I was fully aware of just how horrific breast cancer is and how much it alters the lives of not only the person diagnosed but also the family. Again we wore our pink shoelaces. I knew it wasn’t much, but it seemed to me that the emotional support was all I had to offer. I’ve heard about the difficulties families are forced to deal with in their homes when a loved one is diagnosed. I feel so helpless when all I have to offer are positive words. A part of me is always wishing I could do more to help. When Raychel approached me to participate in the 3-day walk with her, I realized it was my chance to make a small impact. I will walk 60 miles in the hopes that one day no family will have to watch the struggle of a loved one.

Happy St Patricks Day (2)

Happy St Patrick's Day!

It's all about the mint......Shamrock shake, I am so glad I got to spend time with you twice this season, I miss you already!

Goofy Was Missing

While I was in the shower tonight David stuck his head in and the following conversation ensued:

David: Did Goofy (The fish) bite the dust?

Kim: Not that I know of

David: I don't see him in there

Kim: He must be under one of the rocks, maybe he died

**After getting out of the shower, I looked for him and couldn't see him so I slowly poured out the fish bowl and he was nowhere to be found**

Kim: David he is missing, he wasn't in the bowl

David: Hmm

Kim: **points to Sydney** I wonder.....

Kim to Sydney: Sydney, do you know where Goofy is?

Sydney: He's in my bank

Kim: Your bank?

Sydney: Yeah, Goofy was tired

**Kim goes and searches for the bank**

**Bank opens, smells of fish**

**Bank produces half of Goofy....we aren't sure where the other half is**

What If I Am Not A Speed Reader?

The Only Kim's In FSO

Larry and I had a great day in Long Beach yesterday. We had a good discussion (centered around ITAM), had several good recommendations, ate a great lunch and I got to meet the other Kim in FSO. Nice end to a long week!

Hanging Out In Phoenix

Last night I was lucky enough to spend the evening hanging out with a great group at the Half Moon Sports Grill (A place in Phoenix I actually had never been to). Joe, me and Nathan are pictured below. (Note that great picture quality taken with Chip's new Dell Venue Pro)

Changed Outfit, Discarded Shoes

This post may look familiar as two weeks ago I discarded my blouse before flying home from Las Vegas but today it was not a blouse, it was my shoes. Yesterday, I stepped in a hole at the Starbucks by the office and completely ruined my shoes so today before my flight left my shoes were dumped in the airport trash.

Starbucks Dates

No matter who, no matter when, Starbucks dates simply rock! Congratulations Nathan on having your first "date" with mom this week. So happy I squeezed one in with my little girl this morning too! (And I got one in about 7 hours with Laura Martin)

Starbucks Is 40 Years Old

So on their 40th birthday they change to the new logo that has dropped the "Starbucks Coffee" and I hate it!

Still, was able to have a 40th birthday date with my 2 year old today. I love this girl!!!!!!

Then 8 hours later after the 6:55 flight out of Burbank was cancelled and I was waiting for the 8:05PM I re-treated myself with a Chai and one of the new "Cake Pops" which I have to say was delicious but probably too many calories to repeat.

Happy 40th, Starbucks!

Getting My Lardon

We proclaimed yesterday Bacon day. I had a baco (taco with a Bacon shell, who needs a tortilla), a BLT and 8 hours later Bacon and Brown Butter Ice Cream.

Hi!

Hair Styling Tools

The bottle on the right is the bottle I use to spray water on Sydney's hair in the morning. Last week the following conversation took place in our house:

Kim: I can't find the spray bottle for Sydney's hair
David: Use the one on the counter (Kim's see the bottle on the left and picks it up)
Kim: This one?
David: Yeah, it works great
Sydney: (Screaming) No, Mom, No!

Spring Training 2011

David is spending some time in Arizona and shooting some Spring Training games. Yesterday it was the Dodgers (they lost-boo) and today it is the Cubs and the Brewers (Go Cubies)

We miss him but hope he is having a great time!!!!!

Quote of the Day: "I'm at Tempe Marketplace, I've never heard of it, pretty cool" (I have only told him how cool Tempe Marketplace is 100 times)

P.S. Photo is copyright Keith Birmingham ;)

More Cupcakes, Less Crap

The wife of one of the FSO managers had their spouse give me this awesome cupcake. When I thanked her she said "Name of FSO Manager, should give you more cupcakes and less crap". This will be my new line when people come to me, wait for it, you'll hear it: "Are you bringing me a cupcake or crap?"

Brooke and The Statue of Becca

This picture so cracks me up.

From My Valentine

22 Bordeaux's....boy were they good....and now they are gone. The End.