KellyMGarcia's Blog

Gift Ideas

KellyMGarcia — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 03:45:00 GMT

Don't hate me because I'm already thinking about this (I'm really not trying to rush in to the holiday season!)... but I'm trying to figure out Christmas gift ideas for the girls in my office. Even though I'm not the boss I'm working with a great bunch of girls that are really fun to be around and so I thought this year it might be nice to get them all something small. Sort of as a thanks for putting up with me all year, thanks for being such great co-workers and friends kind of thing. I was thinking something personalized might be fun but so far everything I've looked at seems a bit cheesy. If anyone has any good ideas feel free to comment.

On a side note, I live in Los Angeles and as I'm sure many of you have heard much of the southland is on fire. The air here has become so bad over the last few days with all the smoke that it's sort of painful to breathe, peoples allergies are out of control and the sun has actually been dimmed by the amount of smoke hanging in the air. It's amazing, scary and sad all at the same time. I hope they get all the fires under control and put out soon... too many people have already lost their homes. It would be so awful to lose your home to a wildfire just before the holiday season.

Praying for rain....

It's been a while...

KellyMGarcia — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:50:00 GMT

since my last post - about a month or so actually. I guess life got busy or I got lazy, or maybe a little of both. Hubby is doing really great in nursing school, although it's been a challenge to say the least. His first professor was ill prepared for the semester which caused so many problems that the students were practically revolting and had to organize discussions with the professor and the dean since almost all of the students were failing class. Luckily all of their hard work paid off and after the final all students ended up passing but for some it was a very close call.

The munchkin is doing incredibly well. He's 1 1/2 but the size of a two year old and really working on talking. We've had some major schedule changes around the house and as a result it seems like he's hitting his terrible twos a bit early. Hubby and I have been dealing with tantrums, screaming, crying and even hitting. I'm thinking (because the munchkin seems to hit me most) that it be partly due to my extended work hours lately. As many of you moms might now babies/toddlers do not take well to routine changes, they like things to stay the same and stay on schedule. I've been quite beside myself trying to figure out a way to deal with the munchkin and these outbursts and have been looking through all my baby books, reading magazines and checking out sites. I've found some good advice but I was sort of hoping for something that would just instantly click and fix everything. That doesn't seem to be happening and as my mother pointed out, this is just a phase and it too shall pass. God I hope she's right.

Work for me lately has been really busy, which is probably the main reason for my recent lack of blogging. I've had several jobs that were back to back with really tight deadlines. Of course the first job with a tight deadline was so incredibly unrealistic in it's schedule that we've completely missed all deadlines and are going to blow delivery entirely. That same job also happens to have been with the one client that I find most annoying to deal with. I don't know how to get away from this client, I wish I didnt' have to deal with them on such a regular basis because they just torture me. Almost everyone from the company is rude, pushy, demanding, insulting and most of all points fingers when things go wrong. At least I've had a small reprieve from them this last week. I might pull my hair out if I had to continue to work with them... and I don't have a lot of hair to waste.

My health has been pretty good, I've actually been trying to work in some exercise to my day... finally. I think it's helping to tone me up a bit and lose some weight or at least keep me at a steady weight. We've been taking family bike rides and I'm loving that. It's such a great cardio workout, and I can be with my boys. I read an article recently (that my mother pointed out to me) that mentioned how a cause of hair loss and thinning can be attributed to wearing it up in tight ponytails too often (which I do ALL THE TIME), and not brushing it enough which stimulates the hair follicle. This might be part of my problem because my hair has definitely thinned in the last two years and I'm sure I've lost some of it too, but part of my problem might be due to my hypothyroidism... not to mention my recent gallbladder and pancreas issues. What ever the cause may be I'm doing what ever it takes to try to correct the problem and get some of my hair back!

I'm exhausted and need to go to sleep... but at least I'm back in the blogging pool.

Still working out the kinks here

KellyMGarcia — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:45:00 GMT

I'm slowly getting used to this site but I find I have questions about how some of the basic blogging and programing works.

I've been a member of the Knot since I started planning my wedding back in 2003, and loved it for all it's helpful hints, lists, resources, etc. and became and automatic member of the Nest once I got married. I used the Nest less but checked out periodically over the years to see what was up, what was new and what was going on with fellow newlyweds. I've only just started really taking advantage of the interactive aspects of the site like blogging and so far I'm really liking it.

I do however have questions about the Dashboard area. When I enter the blogging area of Dashboard the main 'manage my blog' page says no posts, no pages, no comments, no NOTHING. Yet when I click on 'manage content' and go to all posts, there they all are. So I don't understand why there is inconsistency regarding that from one page to another within my own account settings.

I also am not quite sure where the date and time stamp is coming from. I have realized that if you select 'advanced options' while writing the post you can set the date and time to when you are currently writing rather than the oddly and randomly generated date and time that it comes up with on it's own. But wouldn't it be nice if it actually stamped your post with your current date and time, and gave you the option to change to something else, like later on if you didn't post right when you wrote it.

I still haven't found a great way to navigate all the various blogs and members. I feel like I sort of happen upon pages and people and it seems a bit hard to search for things. The only way I really know how to read the blogs is by going to 'See All Blogs' and then I browse back through them.

If anyone has any helpful advice, suggestions, tips or tricks I would love to hear them!

Oh, and I don't know about you but I'm really liking the new look.

A total blank

KellyMGarcia — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:25:00 GMT

Have you ever had one of those moments where you log on to write a blog post, and you know you've got something to say. Something really smart, or funny, or interesting, or sarcastic, or you just need to get it off your chest. In fact you've even got several ideas or thoughts that could actually be split in to multiple posts.

So you finally make your way to the 'write a blog post window'... and you have completely forgotten every single thing you were going to write about.

Yeah. Uh, I've had that happen too.

Why on earth did you buy THAT dog?

KellyMGarcia — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:45:00 GMT

So,my friend... single, female, lives alone, loves to travel, works long hours, and has a cat - decided she wanted a dog. She's been talking about it forever, but it always sounded like one of those things... you know, the kind of dream you talk about that isn't that far fetched, but is just off enough that it's not realistic, or perhaps the better word is... wise.

Anyway, she finally went to a dog rescue and picked a dog. She got the biggest dog she could find! I'm not kidding, this thing is huge. It's a great piranese (look it up they're ginormous). This thing is supposed to weigh up to about 125 pounds but it's currently under weight at 65 pounds. If it stands up on it's hind legs it's probably 6 feet tall. He's so sweet, very gentle, and well trained - but huge.

So my friend now has a giant dog, which will need to eat giant amounts of food ($$$$), then crap giant crap which she will have to clean up, need regular walking and grooming (it has long white hair - $$$$$), regular vet visits ($$$$$), and someone to watch it and the cat when she goes out of town.

Of course my friend already has a trip planned to Thailand this winter - FOR THREE WEEKS. Who in their right mind is going to want to house sit and have to take care of her giant dog and the cat?

And where is she going to drum up the extra money needed to take care of this animal when she's trying to make her mortgage payments on the home she owns all by herself?

I truly admire her for being such a loving person and for wanting to take an unloved dog in to her home and get him healthy but with her current lifestyle I'm not sure I'm totally behind this decision. It seems a little risky, a little expensive and a little prohibitive right now. Couldn't she have picked something a little smaller and easier to take care of... like a yorkshire terrier, or better yet a fish?

Post Weekend Blahs

KellyMGarcia — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 20:08:00 GMT

I'm bummed the weekend is over and it's only Tuesday. We had so much going on this weekend so of course it flew by.

Cousins came over to say goodbye (they're moving out of state) and give us back a ton of baby gear they borrowed. Where the hell am I supposed to put all of that stuff now that it's back. I've got a nephew that's pregnant as well as the babysitter both of whom we've offered to loan stuff too... but each one has had a baby shower and been given a lot of what we would loan them. So now we have to find a place to store it all. In case you missed my previous post a while back where I talked about the house, we don't exactly have empty space around this house - storage is at a premium. Oh well, maybe someone else we know will get pregnant.

Hubby is his third week of nursing school and he's finding it a lot harder than he expected. He's used to long hours, but not this much reading. He's getting really down on himself about his performance in class, and I guess it's rather strict. So if you don't maintain the minimum requirements for your GPA they kick you out of the program. I'm going to cross my fingers that after 4 years of trying to make this happen that does not become Hubby's fate.

I was totally in to make-up these last few weeks after discovering the new Neutrogena powder products, but seem to have lost the 'fever'. I'm still wearing but with less daily dedication. And all of sudden my nails have gone to crap. They were totally long and beautiful and was keeping them nicely filed and painted (what working mom has time for a paid mani/pedi - not me) and now all of sudden they've all broken off and are peeling. What gives?! Maybe it has to do with stupid cold I've been trying to fight off, or maybe I should go back on prenatal vitamins, those seem to do wonders for your hair and nails.

My son has been totally adorable lately because he's really focusing on trying to talk and he repeats almost everything we say but he really can't pronounce anything too well yet. Baby talk is so cute! He's also been following me around the house... literally. It's adorable, I have my own shadow and it happens to be my mini me! God I wish I could be home more with him.

Is it Friday yet?!

I needed a hobby...

KellyMGarcia — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:45:00 GMT

so I thought I would start a scrapbook for my son. I've always been one of those girls that loved to organize everything, collected stickers, had photo albums and saved mementos - so a scrapbook seemed like a logical hobby craft.

So I started by shopping for all the stuff and found a great started set that included the book, stickers, paper, design ideas, and a few 'emebellishments'... and now seem to be slightly addicted to the 'embellishments' you can buy in separate packs, specifically the 3D stickers with themes. They are so cute, and it takes me right back to my childhood. I'm not crazy about it though, I don't have a site or blog dedicated to scrapbooking, and I haven't bought every supply there is. I don't make my own embellishments, I'm not even really cutting my own paper. It's all very basic for me, but very fun.

I've now got plenty of supplies to keep me busy for a while, and I'm happy to say that the scrapbook is actually coming out pretty well. I hope one day my son flips through it with a sense of wonder and pride. In the mean time it's fun for me to go back and relive the whirlwind past 17 months of his life.

I figure this will be a fun and slightly more interactive way to keep a baby book for my son that highlights all the big stuff in his early life. If he wants to see the day by day, blow by blow events of his life he browse through the thousands of digital pictures that my husband and I have been taking.

Please Don't Follow Me Home!

KellyMGarcia — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 10:49:00 GMT

Yesterday was one of those annoying days where I had to deal with a particular client/company that is notorious for being difficult in my industry. I've been dealing with this job for quite some time now, and one of the downsides of my job is that projects seem to linger for an eternity. I had to schedule a last minute session here in LA which was going to require having supervision remotely in NY. This whole process costs extra money, and I happen to be the money manager (it's part of my job). So after jumping through hoops to make it all happen, and getting the extra cost approved by my client... the person who was supposed to supervise everything decided, just decided not to show!!!

In the mean time, I was also dealing with another issue relating to this impending session, because a necessary element for the session was missing. If we didn't get this element in time for the session it would cause delays and incur extra costs - none of which my client would be happy about. Of course getting this missing elements was my problem to coordinate, but ultimately not my cost to bear. Yet somehow, the company that is supposed to pay (or not since there was a mistake along the way) didn't feel like having the needed conversation.

Instead they send ME an email at the end of MY day when I'm already home... an hour later than usual and a half hour before my son goes to bed... telling ME that I need to have the money talk. Please tell me how YOUR financial issues are MY problem. Please tell me why you are sending me this email once I'm home for the day.

Yes I know I chose this career, and yes I know this is part of being in this career, but really - does it always have to follow me home at night. Can't I just go home one day and not get a call on my cell, or an email with some lame request?