30 Before 30: Update

In my quest to make the next 16 months of my life as exciting as they can possibly be (or at least the parts I have control over) and in a grand effort to make turning 30 in a little over a year as bearable as possible, I have created this list of items I want to accomplish/experience before the dreaded 3-0!!!!  I still have 9 slots to fill.... so any suqqestions would be greatly appreciated!!!  I give you the list...

1. Europe (get specific… no where you have been before) or australia (pipe dream, but looking into)

2. Skydiving

3. Karaoke at Lonnie’s by myself

4. Hot air balloon ride

5. Serve a meal at a homeless shelter

6. Meet an elephant

7. Ellen show

8. Take a shot with a famous person

9. Spend a weekend in a Tree house

10. Zip Line at the Mega Caverns- Louisville

11. Snow ski while drinking a beer

12. Run a full marathon

13. Get published

14. Take a pole dancing class

15. Learn to shoot properly with my gun

16. Masquerade ball

17. Go one FULL DAY unplugged…. No phone, computer, TV

18. Go to New Orleans

19. Blog/keep journal everyday for one year

20. Bourbon Trail

21. (something in ATL, I have a trip in Nov...)

22.-30. TBD!!

I feel that all items that are completely achieveable and would make for a very interesting 16 month ride!!! 

Hope you are all having a great week so far!

xoxo,

KWS



Fall Friday

Long week + lots of work hours + insomnia = Cranky Kate!!!  However, its Friday and despite the cold and rainy weather outside I am looking forward to a fun filled weekend in ma citay!!!! 

My friend Kari (another fabulous sorority sister and fellow WKY girl) and I, who are NEVER in town at the same time finally are getting together for 1. Big Blue Madness watch party tonight!! GO CATS!!!!! and 2. Oktoberfest in Germantown tomorrow!!!

I am sure there will be stories to come on Monday, and if not I will be completely disappointed!! 

If you want to check out either event yourself you can go here or here

and here is a little inspiration to take you into the weekend.... I hope it is sunny skies where you are, but due to the dreary rain outside my window this speaks to me today!!

Have a great weekend!!

xoxo,
KWS

Happy Thoughts

There's nothing better than Happy Thoughts.  If only fairy dust was real and we could all fly... wouldn't that be amazing?!  (Although if I had to pick a super power it would definately be invisibility, yes I have thought long and hard and may or may not have created a pro/con list at one point on this very subject).  Anyway, have you ever sat down and thought about all the "happy thoughts" that could elevate you?!  I have a theory that when I am in a bad mood or I am having a bad day or even on the brink of an absolute break down if I could just sit down take a few deep breaths and think or write down all my happy thoughts would take it all away... this theory is in the early stages of being tested.... luckily my bad days have been few and far between lately, so research has been happily halted!

Here are a few of my "Happy Thoughts" that on a good day when I really concentrate can even for a second make me feel as if I am flying......

1. My parents house & the lake.  It will always be home. 

2. Summer and more specifically the 4th of July. I am a big sucker for boats + fireworks + friends + great food.

3. Fresh flowers... peonies + lillies + gardenias + mums.. just to name a few!

4. Driving on a country road in the fall windows down, heat up, great song on, and the smell of a tobacco barn in the distance..... reminds me of my dad and home!

5. Shoulder shaking with my best friends to some techno

6. UK Basketball.... does any other kind exist?!?!

7. Patterson House vodka cobblers + donuts.... there are no words to describe this combo!

8. Taking pictures on my fancy camera I still don't know how to use properly.

9. A good book, one that I can escape into... Great Expectations you get me every time!!

10. Quoting anything from Steel Magnolias or Christmas Vacation.  All life's problems can be solved this way!

11. Looking back at all I have overcome, survived, and lived thru (the list is pretty impressive actually) and hoping that indeed the worst is over and everything else should be a walk in the park by now..... here's really hoping, right?!

I am sure I could go on, but these are the ones I come back to again and again.... and looking over it now, I am not sure how its possible I ever have a bad day, but they are sure to come and I hope my theory proves right!!!

What's your list look like?! 

xoxo,
KWS

Take this to heart!!

and because I absolutely love this and had to share immediately you get not 1, but 2 posts today.....

F. Scott, you sir are a genius!!!

Allow me to introduce...

Character building is usually left for the writers eyes only.... however since the people in this story actually exist I feel it is only fair they be given a little backstory, an intro if you will..... so in no particular order let me introduce to:

"The Rents"..... Martha Lou and Jesse, also known as my mom and dad.... yes the two people who are responsible for creating this little gem right here.  They do in fact deserve their own post maybe several and that day will come but for now I will keep it short.  They were high school sweethearts, they are soul mates, and basically my heros, and even though it may have taken me a while to completely accept that they are probably two of the coolest parents a child could hope for I must admit its true (do not, I repeat, do not tell my mother I said this).

Yes I have more recent photos, but I love this one of them at my dad's college graduation day!

"My Big Sis-the like, for real one"....Carrie Rae.  Seeing that she will more than likely stumble upon this at somepoint, probably tomorrow, honesty may be the best policy.  Let's face it we haven't always gotten along, we are true sisters.... I am the brat and she is the big sis.  We fought ALOT.  I can also say that we have been thru more than most.  We have fought for each other and for our family, and no matter what I did or what I said or how hard I pushed against things she was and has been and will always be there to pick me up and help me out.  We are pretty close these days, and live in the same citay, and not to brag or anything but she has her own design bizzznass that's ridiculous and you should probably buy something from her, like now!!

"The 8".... also known as Witney, Meggie, Julie, Jaime, Amy, Leigh, and Missy + me of course.  Basically my extended family.... we are more like sisters than friends.  We span from Chicago to Nashville.  Collectively they know me better than I know myself.  They call me on my BS, they listen to me when I complain about life and all my ups and downs, they are a constant source of strength, and I wouldn't last 2 days without any of them.

Just chillin at Meggie and Matt's also known as The Zinser's

"Nashville Partner-in-Crime"... Mrs. Lacey Greene Keally.  Another extended family member, who is also a sorority sister who I wouldn't have made it the past 5 years in Nashville without.  Our friendship can be defind in two phrase:  "Impromtu.  2010." "Drink thru it."  Details will be revealed at a later date.  It should also be mentioned that within the past year she got married and had a baby, and I am now the VERY proud aunt to Jackson Allen Keally.  

Here we all are for Jack's first trip to the zoo!



"The Sistas".... my beautiful, wonderful, sorority sisters who I adore and love and don't get to see enough that span from Lexington, KY to Denver, CO to Chicago, IL and even Europe!  We actually do keep in touch and I talk to several on the reg... lil shout outs to Brady, Leah, Mo Divs, Jennifer....College would not have been the same without these people and my life would be less full.

Lil throw back from our senior year!!!

Ok.... so that should cover just about everyone for now..... I am sure there will be more, but these are the critical ones!  Get familiar, I know you will love them just as much as I do!

Happy Monday Everyone!!

xoxo,

KWS

  

Peanut Gallary #2

Friday.  Oh how I long to meet you every week.  I am not thinking in complete sentences today.  Therefore here are few things that have inspired me, intrigued me, guided me, and hit me right on the head this week!!

Reminds me of my mom and her undying love for The Beatles and her unending wisdom...

This speaks for itself and could not be more accurate.... 

my front porch and my first mums of the season, which make me so very happy....

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!! Get out and do something crazy!!!!

Xoxo,
KWS

30 BEFORE 30

Big shoutout to Hollywood, as well as Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman for the 2007 acclaimed Bucket List.... now by most standards this movie was not exactly a box office instant classic..... however it did help spawn the great idea that anyone and everyone should indeed have a "Bucket List"!

For those of you who do not have a bucket list, I encourage you to sit down and start one.  Today.  Like right now.  Seriously, grab your ipad, pen/paper, phone and get started on your list.  I have one.  It grows every year.... I try to mark a few things off each year and add a few things.... some things are more than doable, i.e., seeing the grand canyon, while others may take a while (and a chunk of change) for me to accomplish.... i.e., African Safari... and if I get published in National Geographic that won't hurt either!  My bucket list is a lifelong journey, it may take me a while to accomplish such a list, and it is my hope that I never stop adding to it, so I have come up with a new challenge for myself, one with a more pressing deadline if you will.... my 30 Before 30 List!!!!!!

Now, don't get too excited... I only have two items so far.  That is where you come in.  I need some help.  I have exactly 18 days to finalize the list and then exactly 15 months to get it accomplished.  Yes, this idea did come about after a few glasses of wine (I find I have my best ideas after a few glasses), but since I am not married, I have no kids, and I don't have 15 weddings to attend next year......I decided this is the time!!!   So without further ado, I give you the list so far:

30 BEFORE 30

1. Go to 3 european countries I have never been.
2. Go sky diving.
3-30. ??????????



That's all I got so far.... if I get to mark a few things off my "real" bucket list in the process that is great too... so, here goes nothing!!!  Can't wait to hear your suggestions!!

xoxo,
KWS

Communication 101

I was in an interview a few weeks ago for a potential new job.  I was speaking with my 4th interviewer of the day and we were about 20 mins into conversation, when she looks up at me and says rather bluntly, "you sure have an odd path, and I don't know how you ended up here...."

Up until this point I thought things were going VERY well, but I didn't know how to react to her statement.  It was NOT a question, and not being one to hide my emotions very well, I am sure she could see the look of shock right across my face.  Now, I will be the first to tell you that my path is by no means straight.... I have had some extremely interesting jobs.... but it is MY path, it has not been boring, and I am quite proud of it.  She didn't even give me an opportunity to explain it, it was pure judgement of my journey and how I have arrived at where I am today. 

Last Friday I was at a conference my work was sponsoring, it was called, "Communication Conundrum".  Not surprisingly it was about how we communicate and how we can do it better.  The one rule that the keynote speaker kept coming back to was listening.  I thought back to my interview and how she never even wanted to listen to my story.  It was frustrating that she was very quick to tell me her opinion and not give me the opportunity to explain. 

I am not always the best communicator... and I am often the one telling the story (typically a long-winded one with lots of details, a trait I inherited from my dad), so often I forget that I need to stop and simply listen.

And I would like to give a very, very big THANK YOU to all of you in my life who repeatedly listen to my long-winded, crazy, detailed stories and supported by very curvy path!

xoxo,
KWS