everyone put your best suit or dress on

So, I couldn’t resist the commemorative schmaltz. I give you a list of 10 highlights of 2009, at random.

1. Successful back surgery.
2. “How I Met Your Mother”
3. Visited new places: Nashville, Virginia, Yuma (AZ), San Diego, Las Vegas.
4. “Dustland Fairytale” by The Killers
5. Public Relations/Marketing internship at Davis-Kidd Bookstore.
6. Hunger Games & Catching Fire
7. Metric’s Fantasies album.
8. Making new friends and keeping old ones.
9. Discovering the joys of baking from scratch.
10. Turning 21 and celebrating with class.

2009 wasn’t the best year, but I’m taking the good with the bad and moving on with optimism to an uncertain but exciting New Year.

Welcome, 2010!

{P.S.: Before the year is over, I wanted to mention that this past week has been my ten year anniversary with my beloved Harry Potter. Christmas 1999 I read the three books that were out and fell madly in love. Hooray!}

Some bits of break

I’m not so much about the New Years Resolutions and I can’t think of something nostalgic or creative to post about 2010. At least not yet. I still might.

For now I'll go potluck with my post.

Here are the mountains. Aren’t they beautiful? {I return to them for a couple of days in the near future. Yay!}

Here are some pretty benches by the frozen lake.

Here are some dazzling icicles. {The perfect murder weapon, coincidentally.}

Here’s what I wore on Christmas Eve to church. I wore purple tights.


These are the candles I light when I read at night. Rose + Gardenia + Lavender.


Today I had a tea party with my mom.

A real one. I made ricotta cookies and mom made tea sandwiches Pinkies out.





In case this is it for me until January the first, Happy New Years!

Xo,
Katie

Post Script: This is a dress I bought at one of my favorite boutiques, Francesca’s. I couldn’t resist.


Post Post Script: Best friend just called me "gregarious". Love it.

There were never more devoted sisters

If you’ve been around my blog for a little while you’ve probably heard me go on and on about this sister of mine, Jen. She is my best friend in the world. Now that we’re grown-ups and she’s a married lady she lives in Arizona with her Marine hubby Chris and my adorable canine niece and nephew, Koda and Loki. I miss seeing her everyday, but I’m so proud of the woman she’s become and happy that her life has been blessed with close family and friends.

Dear sister of mine has a blog. Her blog is absolutely delightful and full of witty, well-written and often insightful posts. I love them all but among my favorites are ‘Scrumptious’, a post about many things including everyone’s favorite fictional hottie Peeta and ‘Nutty’, a just plain fun post. The only thing missing from her blog are readers, and I guarantee you’ll love reading her blog. I’ve done a little interview with the sister so you can get to know her.

{Mr. Husband himself helped me with the first 3 questions. Notice they are better than the other 9.}

What is your favorite date Chris has ever taken you on?
Oh good lord, my favorite? So much pressure! He’s taken me on so many they blend.
Ok…I don’t know if it’s my favorite of all time, but this one comes to mind. What birthday was it? I think it was my 20th, yeah 20, and—well, my birthday is near Halloween so he took me to the historic Brown Palace in Denver which is named for the real unsinkable Molly Brown from the Titanic who lived here, and for Halloween they make it haunted and in each room they have ghost people who read ghost stories—historic ones like Poe and such. {We momentarily diverged here into a conversation about Gilmore Girls and the episode with 2 Poes. Quality.} Then he took me to a fancy restaurant in Denver; we’ve always liked going to fancy restaurants, I mean not all the time but on special occasions. But because it was so fancy we were the youngest people in there probably by twenty years. Everyone working there was so excited to have young people in there that they took about half off our bill!

What are the highlights and difficulties of being a Military wife?
Highlights:
-A real sense of community everywhere we go.
-Job Security.
-Health insurance.
-Every woman’s fantasy: A man in uniform in my house everyday!
-Experience and advantages we wouldn’t otherwise have.
-Meeting some of my very best friends.
Difficulties:
-They own your husband, they take him away.
-Sometimes they forget to pay you.
-Really stinky laundry.
-Foul language.
-Work never ends.

What inspires you?
{We both laughed at the difficulty of this question.}
Colors and textures. Random stuff. I like the way things interact, I like layers and how they make me think of something else. The color schemes of nature. As for relationships, family and friends of course.

Jen loves to read—when she was in Elementary school she used to get in trouble for reading under her desk during class. What’re your top 3 favorite books?
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jen and I helped each other through our burgeoning obsession with Twilight last year. Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob and which book is your favorite?
I think the first, Twilight, is my favorite. I’m Team Edward…[hesitates]…but gosh is Jacob hot and I want to wash my clothing on his abs. I think the reason it’s my favorite and I’m team Edward is because of the undertones of finding your soulmate at a young age and the ramifications that has (aside from the whole being dead thing.) Obviously, it connects back to my relationship with Chris.

Since I’m on a book-themed kick here, who is the book character you’ve had the biggest crush on or found to be the most bangin’ hot?
Who’s the one from A Great and Terrible Beauty? [Kartik]
Yes, Kartik, him! I have a tall, dark and handsome complex. As well as the fact that he wanted to be her protector; this ties back to my Military man, of course.

I swear to you, folks, I did not coax her to say this but I did celebrate when she picked the very bangin’ hot boy I just wrote a post on! Clearly, we think alike.

What are your favorite TV shows, past and present?
Boy Meets World, Gilmore Girls, Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family and now Lost—but no spoilers, Chris and I are only on Season 1!

What’s your favorite restaurant or type of food?
Favorite type of food is usually really good Mexican food but my favorite restaurant is El Barrachio, which is in Florence. I also enjoy sushi—actually, I also love sushi.

You’ve traveled quite a bit in your young life. What’s your favorite city you’ve visited so far, the favorite place you’ve lived and where would you like to live in the future?
Chris and I are in love with Coronado, California right now. We can walk and bike everywhere and take strolls on the beach. Oh, and my favorite Mexican restaurant is there! My favorite place I’ve lived is Firenze (Florence), Italy. I liked being able to walk everywhere or take a train. I loved shopping at markets and drawing inspiration from living someplace still so alive with history and art. I’d love to live in Fiesole, which is in a hillside outside of Florence. I plan on owning a vineyard and living off olives, grapes, wine and cheese. The dogs will run free and Chris and I will sleep ‘til noon.

Let’s do a throw back—what was your favorite band or song (or both!) in the 90s?
3rd Eye Blind. As for songs, 500 Miles or Two Princes.

What’s your favorite (as if you could pick just one) childhood memory of the two of us?
One of my favorites (and note that I could never truly narrow it down to one) is when we spent the better part of a day trying to plan how we could drill a hole in our closets (which shared a wall) to connect our rooms and we really thought mom and dad wouldn’t notice. Mind you, we never actually did anything to our walls, but it was a fun day of planning.

Thanks, Jen, for letting me interview you! I wish all of you could have been with us, because hearing Jen in person is so much more fun and lively.

Please go read & follow Jen’s Blog and love her with me!

Yes, this is nepotism at its finest and I don’t care!

Merry Christmas!

Yesterday was Christmas for my family. Jen [the sister] and her husband [Chris] can only be in town through tomorrow because her husband is a Marine and he pulled Christmas Eve duty. The Marines are brave and heroic people…but the Christmas Eve shift is LAME. Anyway, no problem, we just shifted Christmas to today and celebrated in our traditional way and it was positively lovely. This year I especially felt the importance of the spirit of the season and being with family over anything else.

As you might recall from that time I told J&C’s love story they have been together since high school and therefore both of our families know each other very well. We have shared Holiday dinners together for a couple of years now and it’s a really delightful tradition. We all get along and no one has to miss out on family time.

Our Christmas includes…

Festive decorations

Puzzles

Puppies!

Delicious food cooked by Mama

And presents.

We kept it low-key this year and I’m pleased. The season is not about material items, it’s really not.

…However, my sister is a skilled gift giver and she absolutely blew me away with her fantastic presents this year.

Jen is a very thoughtful with her gifts and this year she outdid herself. My gifts had a theme: Gardenia

She gave me…

Beautiful and delicate Gardenia earrings

A fantastic Gardenia hair clip

This adorable knit hat with a Gardenia embellishment!

{All from Etsy Shops}

AND

A collection of scents from Bath & Bodyworks that include Gardenia in the fragrance.

This was a truly exceptional Holiday Season. I love being with my family and I'll be sad to see some of them go tomorrow.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Creativity & Happiness

I am very late writing this post but I hadn’t yet felt inspired with interesting things to say. In fact, I still feel it came out pretty boring but it was fun all the same.

Two amazing bloggers gifted me with blog awards in the past weeks! I am so pleased and excited!

First is the

Kreativ Blogger Award

Which sassy and smart Liz gave me. Thank you so much! I am so happy you thought of me!

So.

There are rules:
Share 7 things that you don't already know about me. Name 7 other blogs to receive this award. Leave a comment on each of the blogs I nominated. Thank the person who gave me the award.

1.) I used to write really bad Harry Potter fanfiction circa 2002 after being inspired by my favorite fanfic authors Cassandra Claire, Lori Summers and Lissanne Jones. I sucked. And no amount of bribing could get me to tell you my penname because that stuff needs to stay buried in the dark recesses of FA.

2.) I have lived in Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Tennessee (again), and Salzburg, Austria.

3.) I sleep with a stuffed rabbit named “Bunny” that I was given on my first Easter at 8 months old every night. I am not ashamed.

4.) I have no idea what I want to do with my life and I graduate in May. So I guess that’s not so much what you didn’t know about me but what neither of us know about me! Any ideas for my future? I’m open to suggestions.

5.) “How I Met Your Mother” is one of my favorite shows and I’m sad that I can’t seem to find anybody else who watches it. My mother and I watched all of Seasons 1, 2, and 3 when I was recovering from back surgery last May and it was the first time I’d ever see my mom laugh so hard she fell out of a chair.

6.) I played dead characters in 3 of the High School shows I was in and a killer in another.

7.) This song
has consistently been one of my favorite songs since 7th grade.

Second is this adorable award from Ms. Sweet & Vivacious Sara-Jane Thanks so much for awarding me with this one—I’m glad for the chance to think of positive things in my life.

The rules:

Name 10 things that make me happy Pass it on to 10 blogs that brighten my day.

1. )My sister and brother-in-law, who are in town!
2.) I am Not a Robot by Marina and the Diamonds.
3.) Listening to my music loudly.
4.) Texting my bffl from Austria. {Hmmm, when I say “from Austria” I mean that’s where we became bffls}
5.) Hazelnut coffee.
6.) “Love Actually”
7.) Pumpkin scented candles. And all candles.
8.) Nostalgia and reminiscing.
9.) A cup of tea and a good book.
10.) Friends all over this world.

Now both of these awards state that I should pass them along. I actually hate when people chose not to because I usually don’t get awards and I always think “what about me?”

But here I find myself in a predicament because I feel that most of the bloggers I read have already done these ones and I don’t want to be redundant. Also, I love all my readers and would love for you all to take this award, from me to you, and enjoy it. I will specify a couple of folks I feel sure haven’t done it:

I give both of these to Jen because she’s not only insightful, great with a metaphor and hilarious but she’s also my bff-sister AND to Ashley because she’s got a new blog and I’d like to hear more of what she has to say.

And now I'm off to enjoy a delicious meal of Austrian Gulasch and Chocolate Crockpot Cake all cooked up by yours truly for "Christmas Eve." Family Christmas is tomorrow. More on that later.

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

I am home and it’s Christmastime.

There are lights up in my room and lights up on the house. It is warm inside and cold outside. It snowed fat, beautiful flakes while I was in the mountains this past week and when I stood outside in the light but steady snowfall and closed my eyes it sounded still. My senses kicked into overdrive. You can smell the cold and hear the wind gently shifting the snow and it’s not perfectly silent but it’s perfectly peaceful and devoid of human noise. I’m in love with that feeling.

At night, I wrapped my long fuzzy white scarf four times around my face and went outside to see the stars. There are hundreds visible in the mountains away from so much light pollution and when I look at them my mind gets mixed up between daydreams and the facts I just finished learning in my Astronomy class last semester. Did you know that if a star we’re seeing is six billion light years away, then we’re really seeing the way it was six billion years ago? It takes the light that long to travel to us. It may have exploded or shrunk or turned into a black hole in the present, but we can’t see that. Did you know that shooting stars are really just meteors as they burn up in our atmosphere? Still, I wish on every one I see. When I learn about the absolute vastness of our Universe (which is still expanding) I am in awe at the extent of God’s creation.

I was glancing through some of my old pen & paper journals recently and I found a few “favorite” things I’d written down. I’d like to share them with you.

“Do not demand that things should happen just as you wish, but wish them to happen just as they do, and all will be well.”
–Epictetus

I repeat this to myself when I am overwhelmed and unhappy with the twists and turns my life seems to be taking.

This next excerpt I copied out of a book I had to read for class my freshman year of college. Re-reading it now it feels more applicable than ever and I am glad I had the foresight to write it down. I feel like this could have been written specifically for me.

"Fear keeps pace with hope. Nor do I find it surprising that they keep company, for each belongs to a mind in suspense, a mind hanging on what the future might bring. The cause in both cases is failure to adjust ourself to the present and a tendency to project our mental processes far into the future." -From The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca

This is one of my favorite poems. The first time I ever read it I felt incredibly intrigued and moved by it and each time I read it I understand it differently and love it all the same. I think, someday, I will understand it even better. ee cummings is all about syntax and format so I am copying the poem exactly as it was meant to appear, even if it doesn’t make traditional sense, and hopefully it will publish to the blog the way I’m typing it.

"i carry your heart with me"

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you.

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root of the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

-ee cummings

Katie Lately

It’s fa-la-la-la-finals time here at College. I’m half way through (even though today was technically the last day of classes) which means it’s procrastination time. What better way to spend my time than catching up with the past few weeks. This is long, but I make no apologies. Enjoy if you love me if you have time.

1. Thanksgiving
I caught a ride with my friend S for Turkey Break because she happens to live in the same city as my Aunt. My mom & dad flew out, as did my Grandma, and we all had a lovely Holiday together. However, it was lacking because I had to spend it without my sister. That’s 3 years in a row. Not good times for us.
->2 years ago she was abroad in Florence.
->Last year I was abroad in Salzburg (and attending an amazing dinner concert with the best friends I made there in a restaurant that was founded in 803. 803 people. And the restaurant had many rooms and each was decorated be-a-utifully. Here, let me show you with many many pictures.)

-> This year she was at home with her hubby in Arizona. (My sister. In case you forgot what I was talking about before the Salzburg picture spam.)

Still, I rallied and had a good time baking my famous turkey biscuits,

And catching up with my dear Grandma,

And enjoying a crackling fire on a chilly day.

2. Christmas Décor
I arrived back at school to find that my one of my roommates had festively decorated our apartment. Hooray! I love when things feel like Christmas.

3. Christmas Party
One of my best friends lives close to school and her mother was kind enough to invite us all over for some Christmas festivities. Wine, appetizers, dessert and really good conversation.

{Let's not talk about what my hair is doing in this picture.}

4.Internship
This semester I had the opportunity to intern at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in the Public Relations/Marketing Department. I had a wonderful time and got to do a lot of things and gain a lot of valuable experience. I absolutely loved the ladies I worked with. They gave me this fabulous tote full of goodies on my last day.

{Inside: A cup from their “Breaking Dawn” premiere party in ’08 that says “Only a Vampire Can Love You Forever” and Twilight stickers—jealous?, a Burt’s Bees starter kit, a Davis-Kidd mug, and “K” stationary)

5. Dorky Craft Projects
I had to suffer through a science class this semester. And I do mean suffer. I signed up for Astronomy to fulfill my science requirement as did every other non-science major at my school. I like Astronomy, but my Professor was pretty darn boring and I could not comprehend the really mathy/sciency stuff. These are technical terms. Anyway, good friend S and I had to create our own laughs to survive each 50 minute session. Our Professor had this habit of ending our classes with these Hubble podcasts. The host was this adorably dorky looking guy Dr. J with a muddled German/Scottish sounding accent. Well, we would watch about 10 minutes of these every few days and so pretty soon S and I had started sarcastically fanning Dr. J. If we watched a podcast with a different host, S and I would complain. We could barely contain our laughter (and really, what were we laughing about?) during each podcast.

Anyway, in Monday’s class we started joking about how we loved Dr. J so much that he deserved his own shirt. Forget Edward or Jacob, we were Team J.

I’m going to blame it on the stress-induced insanity of finals, but last night we took a study break to make said shirts to wear on our last day of class.

We ventured to Walgreens. Where the only blank fabric we could find was in the form of hideous periwinkle sweatshirts. Size? Child’s Small. S is way taller than me (and I’m no shawty) and, well, bustier but the sweatshirt fit and she really wanted a Dr. J shirt so she said she’d wear it if I would.

So we crafted. We wrote “Team Dr. J” on the front of our shirts with paint pens and then quoted his sign off on the back.

{The back says "Once again, nature surprises us beyond our wildest imagination."--This was Dr. J's sign off at the end of each show.}

{Hair fail! It says "TE" under my hair, mk?}

Oh so dorky. Love me through it.

So the Glee finale was tonight. It was...there are no words. Do you agree? I was struck speechless by how amazing the ending was. And now I’m burying myself under all of my books until I finish all my essays and final tests this Saturday. I will be home Sunday morning. How amazing is that?

The next time I blog, I’ll be back in snowy CO!

Just looking back

A year ago today I was in Paris.

With a couple of my best friends...

We took a night train and needed coffee. The coffee was tiny.


We saw some art.

And we almost didn't see the Eiffel Tower.

We walked everywhere.

We did the cliche Moulin Rouge picture.

And I had this giant margarita that resulted in a classic story that my friends still laugh about and my family, for some reason, loves.

Paris was actually not my favorite city, in fact out of the 11 cities I visited while living abroad it was probably my least favorite, but it was a very enjoyable trip. Fantastic company, a sense of adventure, a willingness to spend less and enjoy more and a light heart will do that for a trip.