The Year is 2003

Let me take you there. Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard close out the top two on American Idol, Finding Nemo is released and “I can speak whale” is arguably the funniest thing in the entire world, iTunes launches, Blockbuster and Hollywood Video are still going strong, and, if you’re me, you’re starting 8th grade. High school has become a mystical place that the rom-coms I rent by the bunches…

View On WordPress

Don't Immediately Dread Jury Duty

At the end of February, I opened my mailbox to find a jury duty summons. It was only the second one I’d ever received, and there had been over a decade in between them, in which I’d moved four times. So I promptly texted this to my sister. Growing up, I always got the feeling from friends and family that jury duty was something to dread. Something to avoid at all costs. Something to postpone…

View On WordPress

My Weekly Workout Routine (For Now)

I am constantly a sucker for reading about people’s routines. I think we all are. We want to know what people are doing that is bringing them peace or keeping them organized or helping them be productive. We want to know what is making them feel like they are doing more, being more, achieving more, loving more, and we in turn want that more for ourselves. The thing is, we read these routines…

View On WordPress

200 Day Time Capsule Blog #11.5

In July of 2017, I sent a letter to the future. It started a chain of letters that I now fondly call the 200 Day Time Capule Blogs. They include a series of 10 questions to ask and answer for my future self, and give me glimpses into my life in 200 day segments. I have done 11 so far, and honestly it is a wonder that this is the first time I FORGOT to send myself one. My last time capsule…

View On WordPress

Bubbles in the Window

A few nights ago, just as the sun was making its final descent and golden hour turned to dusk, I walked around my apartment shutting the blinds and switching on the lights. I walked to the window in my bedroom, noticing the last hints of the pink sky, and then I stopped, my hand on the tilt wand (which is apparently the official name of the thing you twist to close the blinds), noticing…

View On WordPress

I'm Trying to Give Away Five Dollars

It seems like everything has a subscription these days. You want to be able to watch that movie? Subscribe. You want to be able to read that newsletter? Subscribe. You want to get access to recipes and articles from your favorite online publication? Subscribe. And aside from major streaming platforms, it seems like everything costs about five dollars. Just five dollars. It’s a cute,…

View On WordPress

There's Your Day

When I was little, my sister and I shared a room. Our twin beds sat against opposite walls, sandwiching a window in between, and each morning our mom would come in to wake us up by opening the curtains and saying, “there’s your day!” Often, in the haze of the morning and the frustration of having to get up for school, these words were devastating. They accompanied the onslaught of the California…

View On WordPress

Let's Not Worry Ourselves Out of the Present

“I can’t worry my way into another outcome in the future. I can (and do) worry myself out of any enjoyment of the present.” This was one of those lines that, even as I read it for the very first time, I knew it was meant for me to see. I audibly huffed like a teenager being scolded by a parent and I fought the urge to say, “alright, alright, I GET IT.” Because like author Nora McInerny stated…

View On WordPress

January & February Favorites

The first favorites post of 2024, cute! I’m really trying to focus in on who I am at this very moment because every December I forget who January/February Kim was and feel like she surely existed years earlier. But alas, here I am, here we are, the January/February versions of ourselves, guiding us through the beginning of the year, doing our very best. Let’s get into it. . Books I heard so…

View On WordPress

Writing the 100 Pages Movie (Part 2)

You can read the first part of this series here. . “What is your next dream project? Your pie in the sky wish?” A group of us sat in our Airbnb, eating pizza and making conversation, buzzing with anticipation for the following day’s activities. It was the first time most of us had seen each other since that day in October, when we’d all clambered from different corners of the country to a…

View On WordPress

The Trials of Picking a Good Outfit

I was recently trying to pick out an important outfit. An outfit that I wanted to look cute in, an outfit I wanted to *work*, an outfit that, in a direct quote to my sister, I wanted to be “stylish and easy going and comfortable and warm but not too warm in case we’re in a well heated building.” AND WHAT SHOES? I asked. “Do I bring boots and try to be stylish or just wear tennis shoes and be…

View On WordPress

A Love Letter to Road Rage

I’ll be the first to admit I have road rage. I can’t help it. I mean, I could, but then where would I put my anger? I was raised in Southern California, raised a Southern California driver, I need at least a little bit of rage in me to survive out here. Everyone is in a hurry, everyone is late, everyone thinks they are more important than everyone else, everyone is going to honk, everyone is…

View On WordPress

More Like a River Than a Statue

For my birthday a few years ago, my sister got me a letter board, and it has since become home to a quote and/or idea that inspires me. I often like to choose one at the beginning of the year or in light of a big change, to give my mind something to focus on when it strays toward panic. Last year, the quote on my board was from David D. Burns, “You are more like a river than a statue.” My…

View On WordPress

A Cozy Week in Spain

I was off to a rocky start. I was standing at the American Airlines counter at the Chicago O’Hare airport, considering bursting into tears, as the kind woman across from me typed away on her computer. I had missed my connecting flight to Madrid after being given bad directions by an airport employee, and was now stuck in the Midwest, under threat of a snowstorm, wondering if my vacation was…

View On WordPress

Have a Nice Life! (I Mean it)

I was listening to a podcast the other day and one of the hosts talked about how we often we only see people once in our whole lives. She described it in the context of getting her eyebrows done. She lives in New York, a bustling city of millions, and makes an appointment every couple months to get her eyebrows done by a specific woman at a specific salon. When she goes in, she visits with the…

View On WordPress

Maybe We're All Polyhedrons

When I was in 8th grade, my geometry teacher assigned our class to create polyhedrons, which are three dimensional shapes whose sides are comprised of polygons (triangles, squares, pentagons, etc.) It was one of our final projects of the fall semester, and one that required a lot of calculations (and glue) to pull off. I was obsessed with monkeys at the time. I frequented Pac Sun looking for…

View On WordPress

The Year of "Peace"

Of all the words I’ve been given before, I have to admit I was the most excited about peace. On the surface, peace is the least intimidating word I’ve gotten so far. It is calming and enticing. It is something we all seek, even when we’re not trying. Peace? I asked as I sought assurance. Sounds good to me. But then, naturally, the year opened in a very nonpeaceful way. There was a lot of…

View On WordPress