Allow Myself to Introduce…myself

Well now, this is new, isn’t it? Welcome to K.C.Saling.com! Hopefully my followings from both my previous blogs, Living the Happy Ever After and System Dynamics, got the message that I was moving and consolidating everything over here, and you’ve come over here with me. For those of you who’ve come over here because you either know me or you found me for whatever reason, allow me to introduce myself and what I’m all about.

I started blogging when I was planning our Disney Fairy Tale Wedding last summer {hence the happy ever after theme}, but I grew to love it so much that I started blogging about everything in my life. Food. Teaching. Fashion. Social media. A whole lot of things that had nothing to do with our wedding. I started talking about all of those on my second “professional” blog, but I was working too hard to generate good content. I feel that I owe my readers solid content and articles that I actually spend time working on, and I also have a real job that requires a lot of my time, so the perfect balance is consolidating everything into this website.

And it’s expanding! I’ll soon be including the links to my professional photography portfolio, my print design website, and, if all goes well, the links to my cookbook and book, which should be coming out sometime next year! I’m beyond excited for all these developments, so if you’re turned off by the sound of me going squeeee with joy, stop reading! For those of you who are brave enough to continue, let me introduce myself all over again with these two lists. The first list is things my regular readers may already know about me, and the second is…well…a bunch of things I really haven’t talked about yet but feel you might need to know to see where I’m coming from. So here goes!

15 things you may know about me

1. I adore my husband, my family, my job, and my life.
2. I have a loving family, and even though we’re spread all over the country, we manage to connect on all levels of social media.
3. I’m happy but I’m always in pursuit of new adventures, and I believe not one instant of life should be wasted.
4. I’m an Army officer. I teach math and problem solving at the United States Military Academy. Sometimes my students listen to me. Sometimes they don’t. I enjoy them anyway.
5. I love all things Disney. People need a little joy in their life, and nothing can create joy quite like a good fairy story. Sometimes you need the magic to dream.
6. We have two cats – Alex and Binker. Alex was planned {she came with the hubby} and Binker was an accident {I found him under my car one morning when he was a kitten and we kept him when we couldn’t find his owners}. Binker is ungrateful for his rescue.
7. I grew up in the little town of San Luis Obispo, California. I’ve been far away from it for a long time, but the vineyards, mountains, and beaches still are home to me.
8. I’m a New Yorker by transplant and while I ♥ NY, equal parts of me are strolling Broadway, wandering the California vineyards, and sipping a mint julep on a shady front porch.
9. I love art. My appreciation for math, fashion, home decor, and finely designed food all spring from my belief that everything around us should be a full-sensory artistic experience.
10. I love telling stories, and those of you who’ve read my Living YOUR Happy Ever After stories know that I love seeing people chase after their dreams and succeed in catching them – and telling their stories.
11. I think nothing is as inspirational as a cup of good coffee on a sunny morning.
12. I believe we should all take ownership of our lives, do what we love, and do it often.

Now this part is for all of you, and for me, because I’m stretching myself. I’m trying to think about all the things I usually never talk about that, when I’ve mentioned them to people, they look at me and say something along the lines of “Why didn’t I know this? That’s crazy!” I’ll tell you why. Would you seriously use any of these topics as an icebreaker?

15 Things you may not know about me

1. I sing. I sing fairly well, too. I’m a trained operatic soprano and I once had Broadway ambitions, but between the military contract and a lack of confidence, nothing ever came of that.
2. I’m allergic to silver. Seriously. I had to get all my fillings replaced when I was diagnosed last year and I can’t use hypoallergenic earrings. While my husband asserts I do turn into a monster once a month, I have yet to grow fangs.
3. I’m immune to novocaine. It’s one of many reasons that dentists are the bane of my existence. That and the silver fillings. This and #2 probably explain why I’m terrified of the dentist.
4. It was my economic sensibilities that sent me to West Point – I couldn’t afford the other schools I got into and didn’t want to have student loans hanging over my head. It wasn’t until I started attending that I really started thinking seriously about a career in the military, and it wasn’t until I’d been in for a while that I thought about staying past my five years. I’m coming up on twelve years now, and this totally wasn’t planned, but it’s very appreciated.
5. I met Harrison Ford once, at the premier for Magic Johnson’s very short lived TV talk show. It was a highlight. I still have his coffee mug.
6. I hate calling people on the phone. I love it when they call me and I love talking to folks, but something about dialing a number and waiting for a response gives me the heebie-jeebies. I really have no idea why.
7. I make our bed every day. Unmade beds annoy me.
8. I love all things Disney, but what really inspired me to get married at the Grand Floridian Resort was the movie, “Some Like It Hot.” Seriously, I love that movie. Marilyn and Tony Curtis are awesome.
9. I love food and cooking, but eating and weight are concepts I have hang-ups about. I’ll talk about how I’ve overcome those and what I’m still fighting with when I feel braver.
10. I once won an award for being the best engineer platoon leader in the Army at the time. It’s hanging in my office next to a very critical evaluation I got from my boss at the time as a reminder to be humble, but also that your detractors can’t always stop you from succeeding.
11. I love kids, but I have no idea what to do with really young kids. I’m comfortable with them when they’re like five or older. Babies scare me, and I really hope I overcome this before I have them.
12. I think my father is the bravest man in the world because of his refusal to compromise his principles, and because of what he taught me about picking my battles. He’s my hero.
13. I think my uncle is the second bravest, even though he isn’t in this world anymore. He died of colon cancer after surviving battles in Iraq, Rwanda, Bosnia, and more – as a news producer. He wasn’t even a combatant, and yet he dedicated his life to helping people.
14. When I was eight, I got hit by a drunk driver. While he was in his truck and I was on my bike. I shattered my left wrist and my left knee, and after some {a lot of} surgery, I was able to chase my sister around in my wheelchair, do my physical therapy, and eventually walk. My physical therapist said I’d never walk normally again. I sent him a finishing photo from my first marathon with unkind things written across it. I’m sorry for my rudeness but not the sentiments. I’m not scarred by my experience, but my leg is, so I rarely wear shorts.
15. I really don’t know how I feel about talking about some of these list items. Is it useful to know that someone can love their life despite having some quirks?

So tell me something about yourselves, dear readers. What made you seek out this blog or any of my other blogs? What makes you search for stories or happy ever afters? What inspires you?

I enjoying meeting all of you, so do tell me your stories!

KCS