Category Archives: Everyday

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Posted in Everyday

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A couple of weeks ago I received a survey from the School of Kinesiology at Michigan. Go Blue! (It’s a habit). Now, I LOVE filling out surveys. I have no idea where I picked up that habit but I love doing them. If you give me a survey, there’s a good chance I’ll fill it out.

Since taking some market research classes, I’ve become critical about surveys. I’ll read a survey and then silently critique it in my head. So I get this survey from my school and they were asking for prospective students and alumni to fill it out. A lot of the questions were related to how the school is now, which is in a completely different space than where it was while I was attending, 14 years ago (what?! Lies!) and it’s been 15 years (WHAT?! SHENANIGANS!) since I applied to the University so everything has changed. While I was in school, Kines was still considered a ‘Division’ despite the fact that we were the third largest school after LS&A and Engineering and you applied to the school/division directly as a freshman and that was it. Now they have a secondary admissions process for its upper level Athletic Training, Physical Education, and Sports Management programs (and apparently SM students can pursue a dual degree with the Ross School of Business). That’s some pretty serious stuff.

But I digress, I had a problem with the phrasing of some of the questions so after I finished, I emailed the person who sent the survey and relayed my issues. And yes, as I was writing the email, I couldn’t believe I was THAT person. But I have very valid critiques.

Here’s the issue: you’re reading the questions and a lot of them were “How do you think your study of Kinesiology prepared you for your career path?” and being the literal thinker that I am, I can’t answer that because I didn’t study Kinesiology; I studied Sport Management and Communication. I know you’re sending this survey out to a wide swatch of alumni, but at least phrase the question, “How do you think your study in the School of Kinesiology prepared you for your career path?” and so the semantics issue has been eliminated. Because technically, I can’t answer these questions because I didn’t study that. So you have a flawed survey and suspect data.

Yes, I was being nitpicky, but if you’re in market research you need to have your stuff down. And if you’re letting questions like this go through, then really? I’m supposed to take this seriously? Because I won’t.

So moral of the story? Don’t send me a survey unless you’re positive your questions are air-tight.

Because you’ll hear ALL about it.

Show me your bibs!

Posted in Crafty Goodness, Everyday

Thanks to my racing habit, I now have a nice collection of race medals and bibs. I had been looking for the best way to display them because for a time the racing bibs sat in a file folder in a cabinet and my medals were in a box on my bookshelf. Except for my very first medal, which I placed in a safe space so I wouldn’t lose it and it’s in such a safe place that I now can’t find it. So it’s super safe wherever it’s at. But I digress. What’s the use of having all these medals if I’m just going to put them in a box and forget about them until I get another medal that will end up in the box to be forgotten?

So I searched the Internet to see what was out there. I’ve seen the metal medal (ha) holders but even at $20-something dollars, it was more than I wanted to spend. I also wanted to display my bibs and even though I’d love to plaster them on the wall like wallpaper, I don’t think anyone would like that but me. My friend Kim shared a great idea that I loved and pinned on Pinterest (follow me on Pinterest!). She framed the medal she received from her first half marathon and I thought that was a great idea. So I bought a picture frame and some matting that I could cut myself since I wanted to display my bib along with the medal and mocked one up. I loved the way it looked but then wondered if I was really going to hang so many pictures on the wall. I figure I have a few more years of racing ahead of me and that would be one massive wall of frames.

Then I ran my half marathon and received this medal. Do you see this medal? Do you see that it’s a cork stopper? That would require a shadowbox frame and I didn’t really want to get one. Since I plan on doing this race a several more times, there will be several more potential cork stopper medals so I had to look for another option.

I restarted my search following my Turkey Trot (which I didn’t write about, but it was Thanksgiving morning – a great way to make room for the feast) and came across Running on the Wall and found my inspiration. A couple of trips to Michael’s and Home Depot later, I had my very own bib holder.

race bib display

While it’s not as polished as the ones at Running on the Wall, for less than 10 bucks (I’m guessing; I don’t have the receipts anymore), I have a fantastic place to display all of my bibs in one place. I’m still on the hunt for medal displays (I’m not sure if I want to make one myself or just buy one from them) so if you have any ideas or pins, let me know. Tag me in the pin or link it to this post. I’d love to see how you display your medals.

On the set: Randy to the Rescue

Posted in Everyday, Television

Confession: one of my favorite things to do on Friday nights is coming home, changing into my pajamas, and watching Say Yes to the Dress. Yup, we’re living large and doing big things at the Talda house, folks.

Side bar: I remember when I was practically dying to go out clubbing on a Friday night or just out hanging with friends. Never would I have thought being in my pajamas and in bed at 9:30 as a great evening. But it’s the best.

Anywho, one of my favorite things about SYTTD, besides watching people try on wedding dresses, is Randy. I absolutely adore him and if I could have him help me shop for my wedding dress, I would be in heaven. So imagine my surprise, and joy, when I received a call from a friend to come with her to attend a taping of “Randy to the Rescue” as she went dress shopping.

Me? Help you dress shop? AND I get to see Randy? What the what what?! Naturally I accepted and had to warn her not to get offended if I’m more excited to see Randy. Just being honest and managing expectations.

Randy to the Rescue set at Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco

We showed up to the Fairmont Hotel not quite sure what to expect but looking forward to dress shopping. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram (which you totally should. It’s a private account but if you send a request, I’ll accept. Just let me know and I’ll give you my handle), you would have seen one of the confections that caught my eye:

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I want to put this dress on and twirl until I fall down.

Thankfully, the cameras did not follow us around the entire appointment. They had a mini camera attached to the top of the mirror to capture our conversations as she tried on dresses but it kind of made us hyper aware that it was there, but we eventually forgot about it. We didn’t make for very compelling television though. Between dresses we were either messing with our phones, chatting in whispered tones, or one of us (usually me) would wander away to look for more dresses. And Randy. But mostly dresses.

And Randy.

randy of randy to the rescue


Randy Fenoli is just as charming in real life as on the television.

After a handful of dresses, the bridal consultant, Kim (if you’re shopping for a wedding dress, go see Kim Storms at Bridal Galleria in San Francisco. She was really helpful and amazing!) pulled out what turned out to be the winner for the night. Once my friend decided she was going to buy the dress, things got a little exciting and the cameras appeared around our station to film the exchange with Randy.

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What? Cameras aren’t a usual thing at dress shopping excursions?

We had to wait until they were finished taping the runway portion with the cast bride, but then Randy came over. A funny thing happened the moment we started filming: we shut up. It got really awkward really quickly. No one knew what to say and no one really directed us. Her other friend and I both looked at each other as if we expected the other to give some hint as to what we were supposed to be doing. Do we share our opinions on the dress? Do we fluff the dress? Do we just sit here and look awkward? That last one? Okay! I can do that!

I wanted to laugh at the absurdity but then Randy appeared and charmed us out of our shoes (he is super nice and has a fantastic handshake. I really appreciate a good handshake), laughed, and then bled on the dress. Yes. He bled on the dress. He was smoothing down the skirt of the dress and was pricked by the straight pins they used on the dress and accidentally wiped it on the dress. Whoops.

We ended up having to film the “Say yes to this dress?” question twice and it was kind of awkward feigning suspense and excitement when we already knew the answer. So while I highly doubt we’ll make the final cut (though I wouldn’t be surprised if I find myself playing “Where’s Talda” since I was wandering around so much) it was a fun experience and my friend is going to make an absolutely stunning bride.

Staying on right side of the fiscal cliff

Posted in Everyday

budgeting-out-of-debt

One of my goals this year was to get my finances into fighting shape. My budget program of choice, You Need A Budget (or YNAB – I wrote about it before) has been helpful to get me to think more in terms of staying on budget, however, I noticed that I was still struggling a bit between paychecks and unable to make any contributions to my savings accounts. So I decided to take the time to take advantage of the many webinars, video tutorials, and fairly active forum YNAB makes available to learn how to use this awesome program. What’s the point of having a sword if you don’t know how to wield it?

I signed up for one of the introductory webinars and, you guys, I learned to much! I can’t believe I didn’t take one sooner. I was content with just reading the how-to’s and tutorials but that obviously wasn’t working. Sometimes you just need additional help. During the webinar, I realized my problems had stemmed from an incorrectly designated budget account. I made my savings account and “on-budget” account, meaning that that money was being counted as spendable, but I was only spending money from my checking account. You can see where the issue lies.

Now that I’m properly educated on how to use YNAB, I’m excited to get going again. I reorganized my budget categories, correctly assigned my accounts, and instead of budgeting for the whole month, I’m now budgeting with each paycheck so I can make sure each dollar is being distributed. I have a few aggressive savings goals for this year that pretty much hinges on getting my finances correct. I have benchmarks for an emergency savings fund, my everyday savings, our wedding fund, our apartment fund, and I need to set aside some money for my life insurance that I want to set up and start making a real dent into my student loans. Look at how grown up and responsible I am.

Even though I just started on the new regime, I’m really excited. I keep checking my YNAB app as if there were some changes since I last added transactions (of course, there hasn’t) and I look forward to payday just so I can fiddle with my budget again. It’s nice to know that I’m taking the first steps towards being in control of my finances and to stop being controlled by them.

What are your financial goals this year? What are you doing to reach them?

It’s the New Year. Again.

Posted in Everyday

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2012 has been very, very good to me. I was incredibly blessed. I started working after being laid off for 2 years (and have been learning a lot!), celebrated the mister’s 30th birthday with him and made my first ever carrot cake (to delicious reviews), set a personal record for a 5k race, celebrated my 31st birthday in Olympic style, wandered around Yosemite National Park with the mister, and mentally and physically tested myself in a half marathon. All in all, this year was pretty great.

olympic birthday partyHappy Olympic birthday to me!

IMG_0392It’s us! In Yosemite! On bikes!

IMG_0025 I “ran” 13.1 miles & all I got was this really awesome medal. And blisters.

I’m looking forward to 2013 because I know this will be an even better year. I do have some very exciting news I’m bursting to announce but I’ll hold off for now (no, I’m not engaged. I promise I’ll let you know when that happens). Just trust me, you’ll be excited too.

Aside from my annual resolution to make 2013 better than 2012, here are a few of the other things I’d like to work on in this new year:

My resolutions for 2013:

1) Continue getting stronger

After donating my gym fees for the majority of the year last year, I reintroduced myself and started getting my $10 worth each month. SO far it’s been almost 2 months since I started back up and while my weight loss has been pretty stagnant, I am feeling stronger and better, which is a pretty awesome thing. I’ve been doing a bit of cardio and then weight lifting a couple days a week and I look forward to my gym nights. I have a new gym, I have a semi-solid routine I do each day (I moved from the predetermined circuit section to using the other machines on the floor) and I’ve been slowly adding in new machines. Maybe by the end of the year I’ll be using the free weights!

While, yes I’m really gunning to lose weight (which won’t happen until I rehab my eating habits) I’m really glad to be active again. I just feel better overall when I’m active. We’ll see how things go when the weather warms up again and I dust off my running shoes. I do believe my gym work will help improve my running, which leads us to…

2) Run!

I do plan on continuing to run (I have a clever DIY project I made over my Christmas break to display my racing bibs to share with you all) and I am hopefully going to be able to run 2 half marathons this year. I’m definitely going to revisit the Healdsburg Wine County Half Marathon and hopefully will be able to fit in a second one. I do plan on doing a couple of shorter runs as well because I really enjoy the race experience. And also the medals. Okay, I do it for the medals.

3) Practice Korean

Yes, this is on my list again. Don’t judge me! I do hope to carve some time out during my busy week to practice some Korean, even if it’s only for a few minutes. That’s better than nothing, right?

4) Have fun

Life is for the living. My goal is to have fun, whether that means going for a run, hanging out with friends, or spending some quiet time alone. I will enjoy what I’m doing and strive to do the things that I like to do. I want to explore and have new adventures, laugh, love, and have those moments where Instagramming/tweeting/Facebooking is the last thing I’m thinking about. I want to live less through my smartphone and more though myself.

Here’s to 2013.