organization tool.

i think there may be a few folks who can share in my giddiness for this post.  elisabeth for certain will be, since she did a post recently about being organized and being somewhat estastic as she listed all of her upcoming projects.   i must concur. i’m a bit geeky in that way.  i’ll even admit; i too used to reorganize my pencil case or desk over and over and over again.

anywho, with life and school and work about to pour out upon us, i decided to be someone proactive.  perhaps it was the holiday season that stressed me out and forced me to think creatively about organizing our life.  nonetheless, i came up with a brilliant plan. kyle….well, let’s just say, he’s going with the flow.  bless him. you can tell that our schedules have been chaotic since it’s february and this has been up for over a month!

much mahalo to fred meyers for the “back to school” sale (who does that at the end of december?!)  but i walked out of there with a white board, pens, and magnets for $15!  i was super duper excited and waited til kyle got home to help me figure out a way to hang/adhere/tack/nail/place your adjective here, my new found toy. ta-da.

our new calendar has helped us both keep track of ongoing events, dates, date nights, appts, you name it, that has come up.  plus i think we both like the smell of dry erase markers.  oops. did i just say that outloud?!

ciao.

a new look.

so after some time of fiddling with different ‘faces’ for my blog, i think i’ve finally found one that i like.  clearly, since i’ve even taken it as far as to personalize the header!  content wise, everything else is still the same.  hope you enjoy the “new” look and feel as much as i do!

they’re not shoes. they’re sandals.

so a few weeks ago, yoshi gave me a pair of shoes that didn’t fit her.  the funny thing is that these sanuks are the same shoes that kyle is obsessed with, and continues to be. in fact over christmas when we were in second ascent, he got really excited for sherpa lined sanuks. i told him to put it back. he has 3 pairs. i just never understood how comfortable they were until now. lo-and-behold, i too am mildly addicted.  however, i won’t pay the $50 some odd bucks for them…no thank you.  i’ll save that for a rainy day. but i WILL use these amazing shoes until i wear them to the death. thanks yoshi for these amazing shoes..ummm, i mean, sandals.

i want to do this when i’m 60.

a brief, yet much needed break.

the last two weeks have been a whirlwind.  and nothing quite summarizes a whirlwind than cramming in homework til 12 midnight for days before its due, frantically adding things to go backpacking in a somewhat haphazard, resemblance of a pile, and then trying to get PT sessions and workouts in all while still somewhat communicating to your spouse, if only through grunts.

yup. i think that does summarize last week.  in preparation for our annual hutting/backpacking trip to mt. tahoma, it took all of kyle’s and my mental and physical capacity not to kill each other while still trying to maintain some level of order in our work and school lives.  note to both of us: give ourselves more than 3 days to pack, shop AND do homework while working full time jobs.  ahhhh, then perhaps we wouldn’t be making emergency purchases on the way to the mountain.  some of which, but not all included, are headlamp, insoles for boots, gas, rent check, settlers of catan….yes i know. you may be wondering how such an organized person like myself did so poorly. well, let me tell you.  its called 4 days of only accounting and econonmics while getting web site requirements and a strategy doc completed.  nonetheless, we got all that needed to both before deadlines and made our way to the mountain so that we could do this…..

4800 ft of elevation in 4 miles...

for this....

.....and this.....

totally worth it.

it was all quite worthwhile.  as you can tell, there’s only five of us.  yoshi’s foot is being potentially prepped for surgery and she’s not allowed to put ALOT of weight aka a 50lb pack on it and josh was stuck in alaska for work.  nonetheless, we made progress on our weight distritbution and kyle led the girls in a craft project: making settlers of catan by hand.  crazy but true.  we ended up using uno cards, duct tape, ball point pen, tea light, and graphing paper. who knew, kyle truely is the real MacGyver.

we made settlers by hand. yes, i know. we are that awesome.

the sheep harbor. ain't he cute!

for those who are obsessed with settlers as much as we are, you can truely appreciate the thought that went into this.  especially since its portable and all the tiny little pieces fit in a zip lock bag.  amazing huh?

well, since my body is still recovering from a slightly grueling vacation and i haven’t been able to work out all week, this is my act of rebellion…. updating my blog instead of doing my homework.  well, with my tennis ball and foam roller, it’s off we go to the world of price elasticity and adjusting accounts.

toodles.

help haiti.

after supporting the social media team for the last week plus, i’ve gotten to love their team and their work.  besides, what’s not to love being connected to facebook, twitter, and youtube every waking second you’re at work?!  however, its been eye opening as mentioned on my previous post; being able to directly support an emergency disaster.  it’s been long days and long weekends. as we look forward to the future, it’s daunting to see the level of effort and energy and funds that will go to rebuild haiti.  but it’s also encouraging.  after watching the following two pieces come out of our office in the last week, i’m encouraged and inspired. the first video has a song that was written specifically for us and haiti.  it’s beautiful.  if i watch it enough i begin to cry.  the second video is self explanatory. need i say more?!

i hope you are moved.  inspired. encouraged.  the haitians are resilient people. but they need help. i hope you will continue to work with World Vision or your own NGO that is supporting Haiti.  this is something that will take years of partnership. as many call our faith journey a marathon and not a sprint, so will this partnership.  because it really, truly is going to be a long journey. http://bit.ly/HaitiQuakeRelief

remember to breathe.

it’s been a while since my last post. i think about blogging every day. actually multiple times a day. but with school ramping up and the haiti earthquake, life is at the moment very, very, very full.

kyle and i both started school this quarter.  i’m taking classes at north seattle community college to get foundation classes out of the way for seattle university.  who knew, a B- would mess up any chances of easing yourself into a master’s program.  take note kids.  shoot for B or higher.  B- doesn’t cut it in the real world

the other thing that i’m reminded of daily as i plug away hours each night on homeword is how much i hate accounting and economics.  the reality is, i decided to go into marketing and management for a R-E-A-S-O-N. there was very clear, logic and rationale that went into that decision 6 years ago when i declared my emphasis in business. so, the fact that i’m taking acct and econ again is baffling to me.  but alas, my effort now is far more superior than that as an undergraduate student. perhaps it’s the maturiy level.  or maybe that i’m no longer on scholarships and am paying out of pocket.  nonetheless, i’m only shooting for As.

school has ramped up as has the workload.  we’re launching a new product this year that i am lucky to be on the core team. however, as website requirements and vendor selection has bombarded me, so has an unexpected disaster. unless you’ve been living in a cave, deep in the jungles of peru, you most likely have heard of the 7.0 earthquake to hit haiti on jan 12th. our social media team at World Vision is small but powerful.  great team. great peeps. but they were exhausted after working non-stop since the earthquake. last week, they asked me to help support their team full time….it has been an honor and priviledge to help them out.  it was also extremely eye opening since it was my first time ever to help directly on a major emergency disaster relief for WV.  long days and long night ensued but it has been a great experience.  i’ve loved every second of it.  plus, i’ve gotten paid to manage our twitter feed!!

on that note, back to work and studying. ciao.

saving the world continued…

to piggy back on my previous post on “saving the planet,”  i thought i’d share the love.  the site that i got my previous “green” items were from brightandbold.  and they are having a sale through january 15th.  it’s 15% off their entire site.  enter coupon code “JAN15” at checkout.

so, if you’re needing some cute enviorsax bags or were inspired to buy some produce bags, get it now!  and while i’m at it, you can also get a uber cool, neoprene lunch tote,  there’s a lot of other cool designs and colors.  i totally recommend it.  i have the dot design as shown in the image below and have used it for over 3 years.  i love it.   i’m trying to get kyle to get one in black.  he refuses.  apparently even in black, they resemble purses.  who knew? at least i didn’t show him the striped one.  i suppose his recycable, black, Fred Meyer bag will suffice. forever.

i’d like to think i started a trend at work since i recently noticed everyone and their mother having the same lunch tote as me.  but i won’t complain.  at least they are using something that’s reusbale, rewashable, and can be submerged in water!   oh, and other than throwing into the washer, it’s neoprene which means its not only uber cool but uber flexible.  i can cram so much stuff into it.  throw in a blue ice square and consider me isolated from all human contact from 12-1pm as i doodle and do website requirement documentation in my closet of a cube.

signing off with my 3Rs.  (think jack johnson and curious george).

ciao.

kicking off the new year…

we hosted a new year’s eve party at our place. it was loads of fun!  doors opened at 9pm.  since new year’s eve celebrations tend to go a bit long, folks didn’t show up until after 9:30p.  kyle and i killed time by watching the mentalist and cleaning the house.  it was nice not have to frantically scrub and dust immediately as you come home from work!  we had tons of food and drinks.  just before midnight we walked up a few blocks to see the fireworks at the space needle at midnight. it was awesome.  hot chocolate and cider, friends, family; the perfect way to enter the new year!

yoshi and me.

can you see the space needle behind us?

the next morning the girls came over for brunch at our place. paninis. mimosas. apricot cake. fresh fruit salad. caramel macchiatos. you can’t go wrong.  it was fabulous and of course not without entertainment.our panini grill got a bit burnt and our kitchen filled with smoke. i tried to get our kitchen fan to open but to no avail.  i did end up getting all the outside dirt and such onto the kitchen table, and quite possible a bird feather. but we didn’t let any of that prevent us from fabulous girl time.  it was a perfectly relaxing new year’s day. oh and i also learned a tip about “seasoning my cast iron panini grill!” thanks yoshi

yoshi holding my panini as if to say "jacks is right here!"

and of course life just isn’t the same without some drama.  it included the ER.  yup, you read that right. one day into the new year and jackie is officially in the ER. turns out at the new year’s eve party at our place a friend opened a beer bottle but accidently broke the top of it off. glass was stuck on this tongue and lip ( i know, i shouldn’t be complaining). we got it out and he was fine.  he’s a trooper, all 250+ lbs of him. it didn’t faze him one bit. well, a few of the pieces somehow managed to find it’s way onto our kitchen floor.  with the slew of folks in and out of our place for the party plus the girls over for brunch the next day, i’m surprised no one else stepped on it.  until this afternoon.

long story short, i stepped on it.  tried to remove it. twice. broke a bit of it off each time with my tweezers and finally gave up.  i called kyle who was working on his bike in the garage to come help me.  we needed to go to the ER. turns out, it was indeed glass from Big Dave’s beer bottle. and it was indeed deep into my foot. the doc tried to pry them out with “splinter pliers.”  though she was only able to get a sliver out. talk about painful.  i think my face gave it away.  or perhaps it was the death white grip on my ankle. she decided to take mercy on me and numb the area so she could “dig” it out.  i can’t tell what was worse.  the needle with the numbing solution or the thought of her “digging” around in the hole in my foot.

after 10 minutes of her “digging” and i mean DIGGING, she got it out.  however,  the numbing agent has worn itself out and boy am i in pain. secondly, i can’t run, bike, swim or climb for the next several days. there goes my new year’s resolution to get into a strict excerise routine. kyle was proud of me though. he said i was a trooper and was surpised i held up as along as i did.  yeah, me too. the only thing that got me through a shard of glass, a sharp pair of tweezers and two needles?  knowing that i could blog about this.  so here’s some photos go along with the “story.”

the "small" but "deep" piece of glass

bored out of my mind in the room. note, i'm still in my PJs, and didn't even have time or a chance to put jeans on and grab a pair of shoes. i was hobbling with a slipper on my left foot and completely barefoot on my right foot.

the "splinter pliers."

while i was about to get admitted, hopping on one foot, a nurse took one look at me, told the front desk lady to have kyle check me in, got a wheelchair and i kid you not, within 30 seconds i was in an ER room.  only to find out that since i couldn’t recall the last time i had a tetnis shot, i was getting one today.  as if the piece of glass in my foot wasn’t enough, they had to stick me with another needle.  at least i can’t climb since my foot and my arm will be sore tomorrow!

oh and not to mention we swiffered the house like the tazmanian devil when we got back from the hospital. only to have me step on another piece of glass after dinner.  it was hiding in our kitchen rug.  like i said, we like to kick the new year off with a bang. drama included.

we hope you had a great new years celebration.  one that did not include shards of glass, a tetnis shot or a trip to the ER.

another way to save the planet.

for the last several years kyle and i have been really good about bringing our own recycled bags anywhere we go.  grocery shopping. retail shopping. running errands. bringing lunch to work. in fact, i had a few cool envirosax bags left over from our wedding (we gave our bridesmaids gifts in them to avoid wrapping paper) that i roll them up and keep them in my car and one always travels in my work bag for the occassional errands while down south.  it’s actually quite handy. they have some cool designs and it’s nice that it comes in a set of 5.  like the image below shows, you roll them up and shove them in your purse or pocket and you’re good to go! they also had some cool suggestions for using them to wrap gifts in for bday or christmas presents. we may end up trying that next year.

lately however, we’ve been feeling really guilty.  though we know we’re not killing as many trees or using more oil for the plastic bags, we still were going through quite a few produce bags each week for our fresh fruits and vegetables.  i finally had it.  so i found some cool options online.  just type in “recyclable product bags” or something like it and voila! you have ALOT of options.  we decided to go with the same vendor we got our envirosax bags at.  they’re made by flip and tumble.  like the other bags, they come 5 in a set.  they came earlier this week and i couldn’t wait to test them out!  i was pleasantly surprised at how easy they were to use.  i actually got compliments by another couple behind me while i was checking out who thought it was a brilliant and “cute” idea.  the checker actually liked it alot too.  so for those skeptics out there, the mesh nylon is clear enough for checkers to grab the produce numbers.  and last but not least, its washable.  just hang dry it. how awesome is that! 5 stars for this product.

for folks who go through alot of fresh fruits and vegetables like us, i’d encourage you to buy 2 sets for a total of 10 bags. the other cool thing is that they can be used for a slew of other things rather than apples and lettuce!  and The Girls House should have no exceptions.  we bought them a set so fingers crossed yoshi, harper, rach and liane all remember to grab them along with their other bags on their way out the door!

if you have other cool ideas and ways you help save the planet, feel free to post them here. we’re always looking for new ways to live up to the the three Rs.

cheers.