Article: Your Ultimate Tipping Guide

I love this guidance on tipping!  It's a whole other story when it comes to holiday tipping specifically but I'll hold on to this for future reference.

Yahoo! Finance article titled: Your Ultimate Tipping Guide can be found here.

Kindergarten Field Day



Today was Kindergarten Field Day at Buckley.  It was 45 minutes of warm-up, relay races, competition and fun!  Man, I had so much fun being there and watching my athletic Lauren do her thing.  During warm-up, she happily participated in jumping jacks, a seemingly kid-version of a push-up, and stretches.  However, once the races started, her happy face transformed into a game face.  Just like mama!  She ran, threw and kicked her heart out.  A part of me unexpectedly felt nerves because I know that at 5 years old, she has merely scratched the surface of our competitive world.  I anticipated all the "thrill of victory and agony of defeat" she will experience in her lifetime.  The "agony" part can be overwhelming but she will figure out it's necessary and the only reason the "thrill" exists. 

On a separate but related note, I was reminded yet again how much I love Buckley for my children.  The teachers, the field where they played, the traditions, the families...we are lucky.  I am told that when children graduate from Buckley, they are all very well aware what a special place it was.  I hope that is the case for Lauren and Elizabeth.

Lauren with her class (two not pictured)

The class of 2021!

Mother's Day 2013

Me and the girls heading to brunch at Du Jour Bakery.

I'm not sure when Mother's Day will truly be a relaxing day for moms, but nonetheless, I had an extraordinary Mother's Day with my family!  The day started out in a mad dash to get out the door as is always the case.  I moved Lauren's tennis lesson to 9 a.m. so we could make it to brunch on time at Du Jour Bakery.  All morning, the girls wished me a Happy Mother's Day and gave me gifts and cards they made at school.  I loved everything! 

Alfresco dining at its best.

Brunch was to-die-for.  I mean, one can never go wrong at Du Jour Bakery.  Lauren had her all-time favorite sugar donuts and potato leek soup.  And I had my favorite vegetable frittata.  Though there was a slight breeze, the day was perfect for some alfresco dining.  

Once we got back home, Tae was hard at work prepping dinner.  On the menu was pita pizza with ricotta, prosciutto and arugula to start and pesto chicken with grilled vegetables as the main.  Dinner was delicious.  What's dinner in the Woo-Kyung household without dessert?  We ended the perfect day with a 4-layer cake, also from Du Jour Bakery.  The girls went down close to 9 p.m. tonight and at that time, I felt like my relaxing Mother's Day (what was left of it anyway) could start.  I bought some Father's Day presents online and took it easy.  

I am so lucky to have my daughters, of course.  But on this Mother's Day, I am grateful for MY mother.  She is the reason I am able to live the life I live today and the reason why my girls are so happy.  She probably doesn't even realize how extraordinary she is.  I wish her a long, happy, healthy and fulfilling life.  At least another 30 years please!
 



My amazing mom and MIL.

 

Lauren loses a top tooth

It was not even a year ago when I first took Lauren to the dentist and Dr. Kitsos noticed her bottom two teeth were wiggling.  Last night while Lauren was eating dinner w/ E and my mom, her top left tooth fell out.  Now she has all sorts of adorable gaps in her mouth. 

I fell asleep on the couch last night and made my way to my bed around 1 a.m.  I was about to pass out again when I heard Tae ask me, "Did you leave something from the tooth fairy?"  I bolted out of bed.  The near-horror of forgetting to leave something under her pillow!  The disappointment Lauren would have felt if she woke up to her tooth still there in a snack-size Ziploc bag.

The tooth fairy left her $5 (down from $20 for her first 4 lost teeth!), chocolate coins and a jewel necklace bead set.  She came down this morning with so much excitement in pride.  Whew, that was close.

A wonderful compliment

About two weeks ago, I was making a mad dash to the office as I always do.  My headphones rocking Maroon 5 were securely in place.  I was just about to head into my daily breakfast pick-up spot, Pret A Manger when I noticed a colleague looking at me and saying hi.  I pulled out my headphones and right then and there, he paid me one of the nicest compliments I ever received.  He said there was always this "radiance" about me and so much "positivity." 

My goal at work is to go above and beyond with everything I have to do, not really about making friends and getting people to like me. So the fact that someone I don't really work directly with noticed these qualities about me and took the time to tell me was very touching.  We are hired into teams, many of which we have no control over.  I think it's so important to keep in mind that it's the people and their relationships that build businesses and solve problems.  We all have our work to do but we have to take the time to "humanize" the work and understand people have varying degrees of life circumstances, motivators, interests, and so on.  It's one of those things that aren't discussed broadly but it's one of the keys to having high-performing teams. 

Thank you Sam F!

My dichotomous life

Toasting her publishing work with apple juice.

Work-life at Amazon is often manageable but once every 2-3 weeks, the two distinct parts of my life - mom and career woman - come crashing together and makes for interesting times.  Take Friday, May 3, 2013 for example.  The Kindergarten class was celebrating their most recent writing lesson with a Publishing Party.  The children published a wide variety of "All about" books; as in all about flowers, all about butterflies, all about Skylanders.  This party took place between 1:30-2:00 PM at Buckley.  I have weekly meetings from 2:00-3:00 PM (sometimes 3:30) every Fridays with product and sales leads, including VP's.  I drive the content for my team so it's a fairly intense call.

Publishing parties are a big deal and this was the second (and last one) for the year.  The invitation read something along the lines of, "If you cannot attend, a special person will be assigned to your child."  How can I let a "special person" be assigned to my Lauren?  So I accelerated my work schedule that day, informed the appropriate folks that I would be 10-15 minutes late, and went to the party. 

I arrived promptly at 1:30 and Lauren welcomed me with the warmest embrace.  She was thrilled to celebrate her achievements with me.  I caught myself looking at the clock every five minutes.  I told myself, "Be present for Lauren.  She deserves it.  Be in the moment."  But it was very hard.  I thought, "If we leave 10 minutes early, I can make my call on time."  Of course Lauren wrote a dozen books and wanted to read each one to me in proper order.  There was no way we would be done 10 minutes early.  With two "books" remaining, I suggested to Lauren, "Let's read the last two at home w/ dad!"  She agreed, we packed up, and walked briskly to my car.  It was 1:55 PM.  By the time I went downstairs to the office and dialed in, it was 2:10 PM.  I did great on this call and it progressed past 3 PM.  After it was done, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.  One minute, I was at a Kindergarten publishing party.  The next, I was talking business with execs.  This is my life.  The choice I made.  It is hairy at times but I needed to take a moment to remind myself that this is when I feel most fulfilled.  I can't imagine life any other way.  The girls will see me being a loving mom, working hard building my career and most importantly, being happy...and they will make choices to lead fulfilling lives themselves.