Kimberussell.com | a blog by Kim Russell

Friday 5: Stay and Let Me Look at You

Sep 14 2018

Happy Friday from Lexington, Kentucky!

It’s Maker’s Mark with a local gingery soda called Ale-8-One.

I’m here for work. I exhibited on behalf of TNP at a Hospital Medicine Conference for the last few days. The hotel is lovely, but set on a highway which is unwalkable. That combined with the typical conference schedule (Session breaks were for 15 minutes every 2 hours It’s hard to go somewhere, see a sight, and return in 2 hours) meant I stayed on property the entire time. Don’t cry for me.

Everyone told me Kentucky was horses and bourbon. Being a proud New Jersey resident, I’m against blatant stereotyping of states. But as the plane was descending I saw at least three dozen horses. And three steps away from my gate there was a bourbon store. Okay then. You win, stereotyping.

Things I did right this trip:

I went to the gym every day and walked on the treadmill for a half hour. I forgot how much I enjoy treadmill walks. I do! Not enough to buy a treadmill or go to a gym, though.

I made sure to get outside every day. I spent many of the 2-hour downtimes with my laptop by the pool.

I didn’t eat like a feral teenager with money. I made good food choices (I had a salad with steak on top 2 nights in a row), passed on desserts, and limited my alcohol.

You know those things at work (or home) that you put off over and over? I call them shame tasks and I knocked all of my work related shame tasks out while sitting by the pool.

I made sure to hit the hot tub. Priorities.

I traveled with a carryon bag only. It’s a nice exercise in packing and purchasing restraint, plus when I get off the plane tomorrow I can just go home. As it is, I packed a teeshirt, skirt, and 2 necklaces that I didn’t wear. And I packed 4 pair of shoes. I don’t know a way around that, though. I had heels for the meeting, flats for dinner, sneakers for the gym and flip flops for the pool.

I had the hot tub to myself!

I go home tomorrow. It’ll be nice to be home.

***
Time for the Friday 5! This week’s theme is Stay and Let Me Look at You, which is a lyric from Neil Diamond’s September Morn. It was a song that was big when I was young and I guess it was sexy in the 70s, but is pretty creepy now. Let’s get to it!

1. (Earth, Wind & Fire) Why are you dancing in September?
WM was paid today for the first time since June 30. We save money for the summers, but holy balls something happens every year that takes the wind out of our sails. In 2016 it was our dead HVAC and poor Max. Last year was Murphy’s puppy expenses and 4 new tires. This year it was more dog bills. Not Ollie’s dental surgery because we knew that was coming, but his ear infections, sore neck, and then both dogs’ gastric distress in August. Holy balls.

2. (Neil Diamond) September morning still can make you feel what way?
Sad. I hate the later sunrises and the end of the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.

3. (Green Day) What are some things you have to endure until September ends?
Silly birthday month emails from retailers with crummy “gifts.” Oh, thanks for the 10% off of an order of $75 or more. So generous. Also this year, my free Starbucks drink was good on my birthday ONLY. They used to give you a month. Then two weeks. Now one day? Nah. My Panera free pastry was good for 2 weeks. My free coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts was 3 weeks. One day is mean.

4. (Kool & the Gang) What place or thing is your September love?
WM is my love every month of the year.

5. (Willie Nelson) What is your September song for the rest of the month?
That freaking Earth, Wind & Fire song. BAAAA DE YAAAAA DE YAAAAA DE YAAAAA. I’m hoping Demi Adejuyigbe celebrates September 21 again. He’s a great Twitter follow, if you’re still on that trash heap of a site. (I’m still there.)

Time for bed. This time tomorrow I’ll be snorfling my dogs.

My 2018-19 paper planner

Sep 13 2018

This year has been a planner disaster. I have always been a huge fan of paper planners but I fell out of it late last year (remember there was a Big!Work!Project! that apparently scarred me for life) and once I fall out of a habit, it’s hard for me to pick it back up.

text in planner - 'the face that runs the place'

I stole “the face that runs the place’ from my boo, AJ Styles.

The big reason was that I didn’t feel like putting in the time assembling the stickers and washi tape weekly spreads that gave me great joy 2 years ago. What’s more important than having a pretty planner is using the damn planner in the first place. All I need to do is write things in it. Nothing more.

On my birthday, I bought this planner from DesignWorks Ink.

artfully curated fake blogger photo of planner

Completely natural placement of succulents and seashells

It’s vegan leather, which I didn’t intend on but am a fan of, and the front says “Slay The Day.” The weekly spreads are different than what I usually go for, but I’m interested in seeing how I’ll utilize the “goals” section. My goal-achieving could use a little sharpening.

inside spread of planner

The planner included some very understated stickers. I like the pocket on the inner back cover – it’s good to toss appointment cards and business cards into.

And it’s a nice size — light and small enough to toss into my work bag and my weekend bag.

Now let’s see if I can stick with it. 🙂

Ollie: selfie

Sep 12 2018

I captured this picture of Ollie underneath my patio chair.

You can see that because his one lower fang is gone, his tongue droops out of the side of his mouth sometimes. You can’t tell when his mouth is closed, because he is full of lip.

He started chewing on toys again last week, which is a fantastic development!

I've been blogging for over 15 years and I'm apparently one of the few over-40 female bloggers who haven't sold out to THE MAN yet; hence this blog remains quirky, homespun and unprofitable. No big.

~~Wife. Dog lover. Slob.~~ I live in Southern New Jersey with my husband WM, and our dogs Ollie and Murphy. I work a fun (really!) office job in Philadelphia. So if you're looking for a childless, slightly round, marginally boring GenX woman's blog to follow, you've come to the right place! :)

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Kimberly's bookshelf: read

The Awakening

by Kate Chopin

Welp, that ended abruptly. The version I have includes additional short stories, which I thought were part of the book, so when this story ended, I thought the second half of the book would be the others' responses to ... the events that...

tagged: fiction, women, and own-ebook

We Should All Be Feminists

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

So very good. Beautifully written, and really hits home. It was refreshing to read about feminism in a viewpoint other than that of my white, middle-aged, ladyfriends. :) Every middleschooler should be issued a copy of it. It was supe...

tagged: nonfiction, borrowed-from-library, and women

Hidden Figures

by Margot Lee Shetterly

tagged: nonfiction, history, and women