Hi, my name is Katie and until recently I had not seen a single episode of Game of Thrones. I’ll give you a minute to get over your shock… ok, feel better?

It wasn’t for lack of wanting to see GoT, as those of us who watch it call it, but rather a lack of access to HBO. Interestingly when I would state this no one, until recently, offered to help remedy the situation.

Here are the things I knew about GoT before watching the Pilot: the meme Winter is Coming, Peter Dinklage is in it, John Snow is not dead, lots of people die, there’s incest, and Khaleesi is a bad ass. So obviously, a ton.

Anyway here are my thoughts as I watched the Pilot.

Title is Winter is Coming – like the meme! Surprised it comes up so early.

Looks like winter is already here.

Cool landscape shots!

If this was a horror movie that young dude riding the horse would be dead.

Ooh dead bodies! So much intestines!

Wildings?

Don’t investigate the dead bodies that is how you end up dead!

The dead are gone! The dead need to stay dead, unless it’s Jesus.

They split up, this is how you end up dead!

Creepy girl with creepy eyes.

The young dude’s companions are dead.

Chill opening credits music for so much death!

It’s kind of like LOTR, apparently people with R.R. in their name are more likely to become fantasy writers.

Good, the young guy is alive!

Winterfell – I will not remember locations.

There’s the dude from the meme! He looks like the dude for the LOTR one does not simply meme. *Looks it up to realize they are the same dude! Becomes jealous that this man has not one but 2 memes*

The girl can shoot!

Is that Jon Snow? It is.

Oh they’re gonna kill the young dude. Don’t get attached to people in the opening scene of shows.

Seems weird to have a kid watch.

That LOTR guys, aka Ned Stark is a pretty DIY king to do his own beheading. What’s the point in being kid. But overall he seems like a good guy! *remembers someone told you the Stark dad dies and gets sad*

“A madman sees what he sees” poor mental health services in Winterfell. Yea I remembered a location!

Don’t kill the puppies!

Glad he didn’t kill the puppies!

Why does Jon Snow get the runt?

King’s Landing – The Capital – hopefully less death

Never mind there’s a dead body.

Kingdom of blondes.

Incest between the blonde twins who probably murdered that guy?

Really pretty scenery!

Back to the Starks – not complaining but why are they all getting shaved shirtless?

Ooh the blonde kid jerk I have heard about!

Why is the redhead girl into him?

I like the King

Congrats on the promotion Ned!!

Don’t marry your daughter to the blonde jerk Ned!

Tyrion Lannister – Peter Dinklage

So many boobs!

Oh, the King really loved Ned’s sister!

New location – even blonder blondes

Is he grabbing his sisters boob?

Yes he is!

Poor Emilia Clarke. I think she is Khaleesi.

Jason Momoa can get it! Again!

You can really tell who is evil pretty quick on this show, like Emilia Clarke’s brother.

Back to Winterfell – sucks for the Queen to watch her husband make out with some chick!

Jon Snow is a bastard? Makes the puppy scene awkward. How do you not give your kid a puppy? Let alone ban him from the feast!

Jon don’t go to the wall – people die there like the young dude you watched your dad behead!

Tyrion the philosopher!

I wonder how many times he said bastard this scene?

Duh the King’s Hand was murdered!

Shoot, Ned’s gonna take the job and get murdered!

Back to Khaleesi – lots of public boinking for a wedding

And snakes

And murder

Assuming Khaleesi becomes more badass throughout the show?

Awkward wedding night when you don’t speak the same language

Jason Momoa crying does not equal consent!

Back again to the Starks – overall nice family

Little boy stop climbing you’re going to fall and break your neck

Yup incest! Nailed it! Pun intended!

Don’t push the kid dude who looks like Prince Charming from Shrek 2!

Damn he did!

“Good looks gets you in the door, good hair blows it off the hinges” – Sam Malone

That quote from “Cheers” has resonated with me, as I have incredible hair. It’s a gorgeous color, thick, and has perfect beach waves the moment I wake up. I have the kind of hair people, like your Grandma love to compliment. In fact, if I have met your Grandma, she most likely has complimented me on it.

My hair has managed to avoid both the thin, fineness from my Mother, and the excessive oiliness of my Father. It’s in fact, hair that comes once every four generations. The legend goes that my maternal Great Grandmother (mother’s, mother’s, mother) had the perfect thick, wavy tresses that I possess. The only difference being her hair color was much darker. My Grandma used to love to tell me how much my hair reminded her of her mother, who had died when Grandma was 10. The point is, much like my humility, my hair is something I pride myself on.

So, I recently did a thing. I donated my hair. It’s the second time I’ve done it and I’d like to take a minute to talk about it. I remember reading about hair donation in the American Girl Magazine, and thinking that I was going to do that someday. Flash forward to college, and I had a friend donate her hair multiple times and tell me I should too cause they always need natural blondes. Finally, at 23 I did it for the first time. I loved cutting it short. I had had my hair the same way forever and decided it was time to make a change.

Flash forward to August and I realized my hair was crazy long and I could probably donate it again. I decided to keep it growing until it started to bother me and then I’d donate it again. I define bothering me as showering at 10pm, going to bed at 11 pm, and not having my hair dry naturally (I know it’s crazy thick!). I always blow dry it in the winter but once I started my blow dry less spring and I couldn’t I knew it was time. So I had my friend Maria, who cuts hair, chop it off.

Donating hair is great as you are literally giving part of yourself to someone in need. It’s not saving a life like giving blood or a kidney, but no one has needed my kidney and when I tried to donate blood I was too nervous, so my heart rate was too high, so I would have fainted, so I didn’t. The nervousness around needles is not going away so this is the best I can do.

But having hair is important. As a person who has had the phrase “we’ll start chemo in the morning” directed at them, I can tell you my first thought was about not wanting to lose my hair. I luckily got a light chemo and got to keep these gorgeous locks, and finding that out made me feel infinitely better. But not everyone does, and I’m so happy I’m able to help those who aren’t as lucky. But please remember, donated hair goes to more than just cancer patients. People with alopecia and burn victims are among other groups that receive donated hair.

Hair is a huge part of what you look like and therefore your identity. So you should think about donating it.

The process is definitely different. You put your hair in about 4 pony tails of perfectly dry hair and chop it off (see above) and have a horrible lopsided cut (see below).

Then Maria, or whoever cuts your hair, styles it into something better looking that you absolutely love!

Then you take those ponytails, put them in a ziplock and mail them. See the link for more information on specific places where you can donate http://www.crcfl.net/index.php/donating-hair/.

Finally, sit back and enjoy the compliments. Feel weird when the time you spend on you hair in the morning goes from 2 minutes to 20 seconds. Use waaayyyy less shampoo and conditioner. Feel that hair dry naturally at a reasonable speed. Push your nonexistent hair out of the way.

The weirdest part of it all is honestly seeing those ponytails. Touching hair that was once attached to your head but is not is honestly weird. It’s also an odd site to see on your table. Putting it in an envelope and taking it to the post office is quite surreal, but not as surreal as paying the US government to mail something that was a part of your body to help someone in need. Surreal, but good!

Guys, I have been stressed out recently as has most people I know. I need to work on ways to be calm. I’ll share my wisdom below and feel free to comment with your own as well. But first I wanted to share a list of things that are stressing me out.

1. Work – Hey Katie, can you do more things, new things, difficult things, and can you do it faster? If anyone at work ever reads this, I know we all feel the same way. If anyone important at work ever reads this obviously I feel this company is the best company ever and love it and it’s mission! Go us!

2. The Psychosomatic Symptoms of Stress – is that chest pain stress, gas, or am I dying? Who knows, but it’s stressing me out. Should my leg be twitching? Why does my head hurt? Did I eat something weird or is my IBS acting up because of stress?

3. My health in general – see above but also do I exercise enough? Do I exercise too much? Am I eating ok? What’s up that thing on my foot?

4. The Mueller Report did not show collusion and somehow doesn’t show obstruction of justice.

5. Repealing Obamacare – can’t I not worry about losing my health insurance for like a year?

6. The television show “Supernatural” will end in 2020 – I feel like they’re gonna kill my Boys in the finale and I don’t think that’s fair. They deserve some happiness gosh darn it!

7. The necessary existential questions one must ask when the ending of a TV show in more than a year makes this list.

8. Dating – Men who are at the intersection of men I would like to date and men who would like to date me, in general, be better.

9. The state of our world in general.

10. Renewing my lease. It’s done and I’m very happy but it was stressful.

11. My general to do list.

Wow! That was a lot!! You’re probably thinking, gosh Katie I’d hate to live inside your head. Yup, it’s rough sometimes but it can be pretty cool as well. Anyway here are my suggestions to destress. This time in no order just to mix things up:

1. Ask yourself, how would I treat a friend going through this situation. If you’re like me, you’d tell your friend it’s ok to not get everything done today, or go to bed early, or order takeout because you’re too tired to cook. Be that friend to yourself.

2. Ask for and accept help. This is super hard for me to do, but when I do I feel so much better.

3. Writing what is stressing you out (see above). I am actually calmer now.

4. Asking what is the worst that can reasonably happen. (So it shouldn’t end with and then everybody died) Odds are it is not that bad.

5. Do something you enjoy. I try to do one thing I like everyday. It’s often tiny like go for a run, do yoga, read, write a blog post, talk to someone on the phone, or watch a TV show you love (until it gets ends in 2020. I get it the actors want to spend more time with their family and that’s beautiful, but still).

6. Make to do lists. It gets things out of my head, which we saw is a bit intense, and give you the satisfaction of crossing something out.

7. Meditate. If you’re new to do find a guided meditation app. I know this trendy so uugghh, but it really helps.

8. Talk to someone, a friend, a family member, or a professional.

9. Go outside when it’s finally warm enough.

10. Do something on your to do list. It feels good to accomplish something.

11. Clean. I know it’s impossible to find the time but cleaning sure put my mind at ease. It not only accomplished something on my to do list, but also made me enjoy the home whose lease I just renewed more.

12. Give yourself a day off and Treat Yo Self!

Anyways, that’s my advice when you’re stressed out. Hope it helps!

I love holidays! Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years Eve, Halloween, Easter, 4th of July, I even know when it’s flag day (June 14th) and get kind of excited. St. Patrick’s day holds a special place in my heart though. First of all, it’s one of my favorite drinking holidays (New Years Eve is my favorite because it involves not only drinking but also self improvement, which I love.). Second, day drinking. Day drinking to me just makes more sense than going out at 10pm. I can have a full day out, be home and in my sweat pants by 8, go to bed early as my hangout is already started, and wake up at a reasonable hour the next day and get things done (like write a new blog post). Thirdly, it comes right around my sisters birthday, so my ability to celebrate it is dependent on several factors: 1. Is my sister celebrating her birthday the same weekend 2. Does she want to combine her birthday celebration with the celebration of St. Patrick. It makes it a surprise if I get to celebrate.

Finally, St Patrick’s Day is a day when anything can happen. In the city of Chicago (where I live in case this somehow goes viral and people who are not my loved ones read this) we go nuts! We decide regardless of what day it actually is, that it is a Saturday. We dye our river green, as my Dad would say, greener. The Chicago River is gross! Young, old, middle aged, Irish people, possibility Irish people, and definitely not Irish people all come out to see it. The entire city, or at least that’s what it feels like when you get off the train, is out and about and in a good mood. We made it through the winter and we are done hibernating! You feel like something is starting new and anything can happen.

It’s one of the few holidays where I have no traditions. The only plans I make are to meet people at a location nearish to the river at a time and leave the rest up to whatever. Will I eat ice cream for dinner, will I dance with a stranger, will I realize that men of all ethnicities swoon over my friend and ignore me, who knows! The day is completely open to fun and possibilities!

Hi everyone! So, I started this blog without too much of an idea of what it will become. According to the few articles on the internet I skimmed on starting a blog, this is not the best idea. But, I wrote most of my papers through grad school without an outline and haven’t gotten a B since 2005, so perhaps not overplanning is good.

I figured this would serve as a way for me to share my thoughts, ideas, stories, whatever I really feel like with all of you. I hope you like it. If you do, please share it around. If you don’t, keep it to yourself, no one wants your negativity.

I hope to post on this regularly, but life gets hectic, so I may not. The goal isn’t to get internet famous off of this, become an influencer or some sort, and never work a real job again. But, if that does happen I won’t complain. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton