Photos_Wow, Mom

Yep. The man I'm marrying is 'Robbe' below. I mean, seriously, how could any girl resist?

Words_The Life & Times of The New Lappy TT

As many of you know, Lappy T was sick for some time and doomed to die (read his story here). He eventually did die but not because of natural causes. To this day, after talking to the mailman and writing some stuff in my diary and trying to figure out how to play that computer game with those smiley faces that turn into bombs, I still don't know what happened that day I found him shattered into pieces in my driveway. I know that Lappy T would have wanted me to be happy with another Lappy T. So I went to the cyber store and picked out a brand new Lappy T, who, after much thought, I decided to name Lappy TT. (Because it's my second laptop and I added a T to the first T. Get it?)

Anyway, Lappy TT is a lot bigger than Lappy T. He is shinier and faster and has one of those built in camera mirrors. Honestly, he doesn't talk that much. And when he does it's in a weird high voice with all these big words I'm not really used to but I want to make a good impression so I just tell him 'sure' 'yeah' and 'anything really' whenever I don't understand what he's asking. (My mom always taught me that the customer is always right.)

One day after work, I decided I wanted to try out the camera mirror to take a picture of my new haircut. I hadn't talked to Lappy TT in awhile so I decided to strike up a conversation.

"Hey, Lappy TT." I said.
"It's Veronica," Lappy TT said.
"Sure," I said.
Lappy TT let out a long irritated sigh.
"So...do you like my hair?"
"Hm," Lappy TT paused. "It's a little eccentric, don't you think?"
"Uh, yeah," I said. "Anything, really."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing. So I wanted to take a picture of myself to send to some of my friends. Can you start the camera mirror?"
Another long sigh. "I suppose," Lappy TT said flatly.
"Great!" I smiled as the camera popped up onto the screen. "Wow, I look awesome!"
Lappy TT snorted. "Oh, really?"
"Yeah!" My eyes were wide in amazement drinking up the screen.
"You're being facetious, right." Lappy TT  said. When I didn't answer, he continued, "You know, you aren't actually looking at yourself, right? It's just a sample picture that the web cam provides."
"Web cam?" I repeated.
"The camera built into me. It's called a web cam."
"Sure." I nodded.
"Anyway, that sample picture is of Taylor Swift. How on earth could you think that was you?"
"Oh yeahhhhhh...I thought she looked familiar..." I trailed.
"You're completely serious right now. Wow." Lappy TT's voice had grown softer.
The picture on the screen finally switched so that my own face appeared.
"Ah! I see what you were saying just a second ago." I affirmed. "This is definitely me this time. I see because as I'm saying this I can see my own face saying the same thing back at me. This is awesome!"
"Let's--just--get this over with," Lappy TT said.
"Oh, you have somewhere to be, huh," I looked at him with a smile. "Hot date? Who's the lucky girl?"
"Who's the lucky girl?" Lappy TT repeated.
"No, I just asked you that."
Silence.
"Smile." Lappy TT commanded. So I did.
Lappy TT told me that after he took the picture, the camera no longer worked. I told him I would do some research on fixing it. He said, "If you find a resolution, then admit me into the nearest insane asylum." I told him I don't traditionally make resolutions for the New Year but I'd think about it. In the meantime, I made the only picture he was able to take (see below) as my background image so we can look at it all the time and be reminded of this great memory we experienced together. Sometimes I'll come home and a different picture is there instead and I'll find the one he took in the recycle bin somehow. I always get it out of the bin and change it back to the same one. Always. Until next time...

Photos_Chop Chop

Cut by Misie

Words & Photos_Thankfulness

I, Kimi, am thankful for:

People who love me in the best and worst of Kimi-times

My job = Income

Chevy's Happy Hour and all other happy hour locations  (Brio, Yellowfin, P.F. Changs) that have so generously catered to my mental and emotional needs

The House of Gryffindor for being an example of strength, bravery, intelligence, and courage

The 'Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust' album by Sigur Ros, which, to me, is wonderfully flawless

Peekaboo. Without this, so many babies would hate me.

I think this book started my love of reading. I must have read this book at least a dozen times as a kid. It lived under my pillow for a long time and I would take it out and read it when I was supposed to be sleeping (nerd alert).

And finally...

Friends and family

A mysteriously loving God

Dunkin Donuts

Sweatpants and hoodies

5th grade humor

Clear minds 

Full hearts

Photos_Gaygement Wishes & Congratulations

Thank you, Rachel and Biggie Smalls!

Thank you work friends!

Nothing says love like personalized keychains. 

Celebratory cat pawing at hanging paper dolls courtesy of Emily

And introducing: Ringo Starr

Words & Photos_Engaged & Pregnant...with Joy

I might have joked with my Mom that I was pregnant over the phone on Thursday morning. Believe me, it was necessary. She, like my Dad, were the only ones of my friends and family who knew of my pending engagement, and when only your parents know and are anticipating this very announcement, I think it's fair for the bearer of news (me) to have the liberty of presenting that information any way he/she pleases with his/her own elements of surprise. And oh, surprise was served. But of course, not a second later I was delivering the real news that I was really pregnant with JOY over my engagement to my very best friend and love, Robbe Reddinger.

PAUSE FOR:

Quick last name pronunciation lesson: 
The "g" in Reddinger is silent like the word "singer." Or like the late Otis "Redding" and add "er" to the end.

Short related story about "Reddinger" pronunciation:
I used to think for a long time that Reddinger was pronounced with a hard G sound. I remember sitting at the Reddinger's dinner table and his mom was telling a story and she said, "I saw Mike today and he said, 'Hey, Mrs. Reddinger,'" and she pronounced it with a silent G and I thought to myself, "Why is Robbe's mom pronouncing her own last name wrong?"

END PAUSE

So, pre-Mom & Dad and family and friends announcement phone calls, Robbe and I had woken up in Brooklyn at my dearest friend Emily's lovely apartment and decided to take a morning stroll to the Brooklyn Heights promenade which overlooks the BQE (Brooklyn Queen Expressway)--significant for other reasons (see Halloween 2009)--the East River, and lower Manhattan with the Brooklyn Bridge to the right and the Statue of Liberty to the left. Why I had never seen or heard of this before, I'll never know.

The morning was truly spectacular (as was every morning subsequent to our stay in NYC). It was nearing 60 degrees (in November, mind you!), sunny, a brisk fall breeze, great company. Before we left, we had debated whether or not to grab some food, which Robbe knows is extremely important to me after I wake up. When he suggested we walk first and get food afterwards, a bit of suspicion struck me as he usually could care less about making that kind of decision (I usually just ask to appear courteous) and also because he never passes up an opportunity to eat even if he's not that hungry. I quickly put the suspicion out of my mind as quickly as it entered as I was led to believe that nothing engagement-ish would happen for at least another six months. I knew it. He knew it. Friends and family knew it. Done. Suspicion deleted.

After taking a few pictures, we took in the view from a nearby bench and started to talk about our future together. It was more funny than serious as we exchanged some of our concerns of the other's idiosyncrasies compounded over time but it was of course, very sweet nonetheless. After affirming that regardless of these things, we would still love each other, he said, "I guess there's one thing left to do then." And that's when I think I froze, perhaps blacked out, stopped existing, peed without knowing, whatever, I'm not sure. There was some movement from his arm into his pocket but I didn't dare look down. I heard the words, "Will you marry me," and I covered my sunglassed-hidden face. I had just put on a fresh face of makeup and now I was about to resemble a Picasso. I think the phrases, "What?!" and "Are you serious?!" were quite popular right then and after wiping my face a little I finally looked down at the ring. Gasp! "Oh my gosh! What!" How did Robbe know how to buy a ring?!
"Wait," I heard him laugh. "You haven't answered yet."
"Oh, yeah, YES!" I cried. And then I cried some more. And then we both looked at each other with this shared understanding like: 'We have no idea what this means or what happens now (I guess marriage) and saying we're engaged is like saying we're cats or robots because it's so foreign and weird and unknown but I guess what matters is that we love each other and we're about to change each other's lives forever and we're okay with that.' Yes. It was some look.

Do we have that engaged look in our eyes? Or are we just gay? 

At Emily's apartment before our celebratory dinner at The Place, Greenwich Village

Thanks to everyone for all the amazing engagement wishes and love. It's all still sinking in (and probably will be for awhile) but I feel incredibly blessed and humbled to be in this place. And of course, a huge thank you to Robbey Reddinger for his love that is my present and future.

Words_Mary, Mary, Oh So Not Contrary

My friend Mary and I are becoming better friends as we both "attend" the same church and book club,* and by "attend", I mean, "she attends regularly book club and I don't". In a nutshell, Mary is friendly, quirky, charming, honest, and incredibly funny without even trying. If we weren't friends I'd probably hate her. Just when I thought I couldn't like her any more, I find out at book club (the one I did attend) that she has, in years past, watched Korean soap operas, namely: The Bizarre Bunch.

All subtitled of course, she claimed the soap opera cultured her enough to be able to detect the Korean language by ear. She recalled a time when she was settling into an evening of The Bizarre Bunch and, gasp! There were no subtitles! How was she going to watch and enjoy her stories? Any normal person would have probably changed the channel and opted for an equally riveting source of entertainment (like Real Housewives, whatever) but no. Mary is not the normal person. She instead, wrote the show's network company complaining about this hiccup and demanded she have a guest role in the Korean drama itself. That last part wasn't true at all. But she did write the network. And she did finish the soap opera eventually (which only lasts six months in Korean TV fyi as opposed to 20 years in America). I'm not sure if she ever received a response from the network but she, in her Mary-way, made an extremely almost microscopic dent in the network Korean-subtitling industry. And for that, I am proud--nay, 난 니가 자랑스러워 "Nan ni-ga ja-rang-seu-reo-wo" to be her friend.

*Bible Study

Photos_Everyone Loves an EnGAYgement

Raych Arles & Ash Money, Honey!

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