day six.

day 6: list of what you ate today

• Whole Grain Oatmeal with Cherry flavored Craisins
• Handful of Costco Trail Mix
• Pink Lady Apple - my current favorite
• Salad from Ralph's salad bar - including spinach, carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, asparagus, peppers, mandarin oranges and roasted chicken. YUM.
• Garlic hummus and TJ's baked blue corn tortilla chips
• handful of Wheat Thins
• like 20 Orange Tic-Tacs (impulse buy)
• handful of Chocolate alphabet cookies
• 1 can of Diet Dr. Pepper

What I wish I was eating? Chocolate covered Peanut Butter Sandwich from Disneyland. yup.

that's it so far...

day five.

day 5: a letter to your crush

Day Four.

day 4: a photo of you taken over ten years ago

will my baptism day suffice? we are so cute.

Day Three.

day 3: your favorite movie

Ok, how do I choose? I have multiple favorites. But if we are defining favorites by I've liked it for 10+ years and can recite the whole movie in my head?

Then the answer would be Clueless.

What else could a 13 year old ask for in a movie? Great Fashion, Witty remarks, Popularity, Cute Boys...the list goes on and on.

And apparently my movie taste hasn't changed in 15 years. sweet.

Here are some things about me completely inspired by this film:

• I still have a large movie star crush on Paul Rudd
• I tried to (and pretty successfully achieved) bringing this look into style at my middle school:

The one Cher is wearing, spaghetti strap shirt over a white t-shirt.

• "Rollin with the Homies" is still one of my favorite hip-hop songs.
• I still try to achieve many-a-hair styles as seen in this movie (unsuccessfully)
• Everytime I pass Melrose I get excited because that's where Cher took her walk when she realized she's in love with Josh.

Oh, I love this movie.

Day Two.

I should've warned accordingly that I would not be posting in consecutive days. It's just how I roll.

But I did write down my activities from Wednesday, so enjoy.

• Woke up groggy as ever, ignoring signs I’m getting sick, I went for a run.
• Boarded train, did my make-up, immediately fell asleep – yes I am that person with their mouth wide open and head back getting in their morning nap.
• Work-shmerk.
• Seriously reconsidering next Spring.
• Ate delicious Trader Joe’s spicy hummus for lunch – seriously addicted.
• Left work early to go to the OC FAAAIIIRRR.
• Stopped at McDonald’s to avoid an overpriced fair dinner, but save room for an overpriced/overfried fair dessert.
• Got in for “free” with back-to-school donations!
• Touched many fair animals including but not limited to: baby chicks, baby piggies, baby sheepies, baby goaties. I was in heaven.
• Couldn’t take the smell any longer, we shared cheese and ranch Australian fried potatoes (best/worst choice ever!)
• Paid $2 to see the huge cow…and man, they weren’t joking.
• Got in our free ride – included with the free admission – and picked one so scary even Robert was speechless.
• Ate overpriced fried Klondike and Snickers bars
• Woke up in the middle of the night with a gigantic stomach ache.

something to talk about.

I've seen this floating around and thought it would be a fun reason to blog. So here is the list of what's to come:

day 1: introduce yourself
day 2: make a bulleted list of everything that happened in your day
day 3: your favorite movie
day 4: a photo of you taken over ten years ago
day 5: a letter to your crush
day 6: list of what you ate today
day 7: a youtube video you find funny
day 8: a photo of you taken recently
day 9: list some of your favorite tumblrs
day 10: a letter to the person you hate most or caused you a lot of pain
day 11: share your favorite recipe
day 12: we want to see your teeth today / post a self-portrait
day 13: whatever tickles your fancy
day 14: a song from your childhood
day 15: a letter to someone you wish you could meet
day 16: provide pictures of 5 celebrity crushes
day 17: a photo that makes you sad
day 18: set or share a goal
day 19: whatever tickles your fancy
day 20: a letter to someone that changed your life
day 21: your favorite television program
day 22: a photo that makes you happy
day 23 share one of your current favorite tunes
day 24 time to face morph / http://morph.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk//transformer/
day 25: a letter to someone you judged by their first impression
day 26: favorite books
day 27: a talent of yours
day 28: favorite places to shop
day 29 provide the hex code of your favorite color /http://www.febooti.com/products/iezoom/online-help/online-color-chart-picker.html
day 30: a letter to the friendliest person you knew for only one day
day 31: whatever tickles your fancy
day 32: a photo you took
day 33: what you’re craving right now
day 34: your favorite quote
day 35: a letter to an ex
day 36: some hobbies of yours
day 37: a song that you like to dance to
day 38: a photo of your parent(s)
day 39: zodiac sign and do you think it fits your personality
day 40: a letter to a deceased person you wish you could talk to
day 41: whatever tickles your fancy
day 42: bad habit(s) you have
day 43: a picture of your favorite place in the world
day 44: something that fascinates you and why
day 45: a letter to yourself a year ago
day 46: photos of personal things in your life (pets, family, house, ect)
day 47: birthday wish list
day 48: a photo of you right now
day 49: hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
day 50: a letter to your reflection in the mirror

So...

DAY ONE.

My Name is Kari Lynn Williams. Before I was married I would sign my name "K. Simonsen" knowing someday my prince would come and change my last name - I am forever grateful I took advantage of my last name while I had it. I've been married for 1 year, 8 months and 24 days. My husband and I work for the same company. Sometimes this is fun. We live in Tustin and have dreams of buying a home on one of the many beautiful tree-lined streets of North Orange County someday. I wear glasses sometimes. I only paint my toe-nails red these days. I love baking and putting cute treats on cute plates for people to enjoy. And I long deeply for motherhood.

That really is me in a nutshell.

weekends away.

I'm going to Fresno tomorrow to meet with other gals and in-law boys of the Simonsen heritage to see seester J settled in her new humble abode. I'm so excited for this adventure - especially because we're going to a water park! Fresno + August = Water park.

I do love that Robert and I are at a point in our marriage where we can spend weekends and nights away from each other and call each other and be okay with being alone. But still, lingering somewhere in between the lines is...a jealous, a lonely, and drifting hint of "why am I here...and you...there?"

And I know that lingering will last forever, with this I am happy.




((Ok the jealousy part comes from the fact that he might go see/listen to Weezer perform at this year's US Open in HB. Oh I miss that place.))

reasons why Etsy sometimes drives me crazy...

They only wanted $15 for this...

I mean...you're joking right?

Spice up YOUR life.

Thanks to Natalie I can't stop thinking about this movie! Still one of my favorites to this day.

And this is one of my favorite scenes!

"The little gucci dress, the little gucci dress OR the little gucci dress..."

And in case you were wondering Posh is my favorite. Especially when she falls into the lake and screams "This dress is dry clean only!!" ah, gotta love it.

Enjoy.

flamily.

Seester J, me and brother T

I've been weirdly and oddly homesick lately. I say weirdly and oddly because why did it wait until I was moved away from home for almost 4 years and married? Maybe it's because seester J is moving a little further away - truth be told I think I might miss their old house more than they will, OK probably not, but you get the idea - or maybe it's because I was so sick with that allergic reaction that it had me crazy in the head and I was dreaming all sorts of things from my childhood.

Anyway you look at it, it was so good to be with mi familia on Sunday at brother M's new home! My brother owns a house, I am raging in jealousy (like that! when did things like that happen? I want to own a home? being 25 is rough sometimes...)

In other news: we leave for Finland and Paris in less than 2 weeks! I feel so unprepared! But besides trying to fathom packing for 10 days into one carry-on suitcase (no, I don't really want to talk about it.), what else is there to prepare for right??

Packing tips are welcome.

Like how to fit in one of these gems? I mean, what else are you supposed to wear to Versailles? And you guys thought I was joking...

summah-time to a T.

"there's not much more I love than waking up early, the crisp summer air on a jog and the doors are open to let the cool air in while we still can, the fans are on, it's really nice out, being awake and showered..."

I can do anything good.

I know this is pretty viral by now...but really? She's amazing.

Note: I will create children with this kind of self-esteem.

On old companies and ugly patterns.

really? ...no, seriously??! (From here.)

When going to Joann's to look through sewing patterns with my mom when I was a wee-one I always remember thinking these people are really trying too hard or too little. Nothing was ever as cute as the things at the department stores (as seen in the picture above).

But we'd make it cute, Momma didn't raise no fool. So that's how she taught me, use patterns to know how to make something (i.e. shirt, skirt, wedding dress...), don't make what they're showing you, it's always too ugly.
As exemplified with my wedding dress:

left: Vogue Pattern picture; right: me on my wedding day!

Now, I'll be the first to admit, this is not the best picture of my dress. But you get the idea.

What'd we change?

1. Sleeves, style and length (are you kidding me with those pointy things at the hands?!)
2. Neckline and collar. Their's was too structured, I wanted it more whimsical.
3. Skirt. The pattern was WAY too poofy and long and princess-esque. Not for me.
4. Waistline. I might regret it in 20 years, but I love a good baby-doll waist line.

Now, I am falling in love with blogs, especially craft ones (favorite finds are here and here). Because they show me how to sew cute things! C'mon Burda, McCalls and yes, even you Vogue.

So thank you Momma, for teaching me how to sew (though I fought you terribly on it) and more importantly, teaching me how to find what I really want at a craft/fabric store (because we know all those companies aren't doing me any favors.)

internet.

It's funny that I married someone who is never online. And if he is, it's to check the news, weather, housing prices...y'know grown-up stuff.
I on the other hand, have a long relationship with the internet. And by internet I mean the stuff that really matters like facebook (formerly myspace), blogs (formerly livejournals), twitter, etc...

It's true I had my first blog when I was 16 (since been deleted), I created my myspace when I was 18 (since been deleted), I remember first chatting online on AIM when I was about 11 and I've only been on twitter for a little over a year and I already have 546 tweets (is your good notion of me fading? because mine is...ha).

Anyways, these confessions have come about when my husband (being the almost anti-internet person he is) emailed me this news story about U.S. Students Suffering From Internet Addiction

So here's my last confession: I used to have to go to Starbucks or any place that would let me sit for hours and not give me free internet so that I could actually finish my term papers.

There you have it, I guess I'm addicted to the internet. BUT I must say, I do not have an internet capable phone because that my friends, would be the end of me.

4 years ago today...

...I was, and I quote:

"feeling the joy."


4 years has done alot to me, and to people I know.

But in one-month we will all gather together again to see them married and it will be fun and warm and happy...even if some of us are still without babies. But in a way, that is a blessing. And in a way, we are happy because of it.

And in a way, I miss 2006 sometimes.

and in other ways...I don't.

Time flies.

I'm sorry....

...I just don't get it.

eat, pray, love.

I could go on and on about my love for the book I'm reading by Elizabeth Gilbert...and I'm not even halfway done.

for now I'll share this quote:

"...[My guru] says that people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you are fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it."

— Elizabeth Gilbert

Granted, I have very LITTLE in common with Elizabeth Gilbert (she divorced her husband once realizing she didn't want babies - NOT EVER HAPPENING to me.), I think she approaches the human condition very nicely.
Because even though I've never been divorced and I yearn for the day I have a bouncy-baby of my own on my lap, I think we all need to be reminded how good life is, and what a blessing it is.

If you need something to read, I reccommend it.

Oh, and they're making a movie of it with Julia Roberts coming out this summer.
see it here.

Oh Paris. (par-ee)

If I go to Paris this summer (big IF) will I offend people if I walk around in clothes like this quoting Baudelaire telling people I'm off to the salon to view Monet's latest work?

Yes? No?

...because I just might.

new favorite song.

I will dress my babies like this...

I might have been born in the wrong decade. I remember my dad telling me this when I was about 9...and it still reigns true.