the secret life of katie

Party Eats

2012-02-13T08:09:00.001-05:00

It's no secret - I love to host a party.

New Years Eve 2011

New Years Eve 2010

Jersey Shore 2010

Engagement Brunch 2010

Tacky Sweaters Christmas Party 2010

Game Night 2010

You get the idea.

I also love to prep food for parties. I'd probably guess that I already have 9 out of 10 ingredients on hand. I tried some new recipses for a Super Bowl Party with a few friends, and thought I'd share them (and what I thought of them) with you.

1. Stacy's Healthier Buffalo Wings

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tips: I did everything except bake in the oven the night before and stored them in the fridge overnight.

2. Closet Cooking Hot Corn Dip (found via Pinterest)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tips: I used frozen corn and a frozen green pepper, red pepper, onion mix. I subbed greek yogurt for the mayonaise and didn't include any jalapeno, so I just added a whole lot more cayenne.

3. AllRecipes Spinach Artichoke Dip

Rating: 5 out of 5

Tips: This is totally not the first time I have made this recipe but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the addition of alfredo sauce. I also like to add a package of no-fat cream cheese. So creamy, so delicious.

4. MY guacamole

Recipe: 3 avocados, 2 pits

juice of 2 limes

1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tbsp garlic powder

1/2 large onion (yellow or red) finely chopped

Red pepper flakes if I'm feeling feisty

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Tips: Get the avocado all nice and creamy, dice up the onion into tiny little chunks and enjoy. I LOATHE tomatoes, so you won't find any of that around here.

5. Chili's Knockoff Skillet Queso (courtesy of Pinterest)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tips: I didn't even end up cooking this!! Way too much food and not enough peopl.e.

So there you have it. Those are some of my delicious recipes. Do you have any that you would absolutely add to the list? Normally I would have buffalo chicken dip, but I felt like that plus the wings would have been a little overkill. I also had a couple of other things out that I just didn't make myself so didn't feel like sharing.

ALL THE SINGLE LADIES

2012-01-28T23:55:00.000-05:00

I've been really inspired by my friend j.

j. & I don't actually know each other, but we've been 'friends' for quite some time now via blogs. And now she's been an inspiration. See, j. was a runner. Well, still is. But she got hurt, so she had to find other things that she liked to do that would help her stay in shape. And so she discovered bicycling, rock climbing, and Core Fusion. And she's slowly but surely kicking all of their butts.

So when I drove by a rock climbing gym tonight, I thought, "I want to be more like j." Tennis once a week just isn't cutting it for me, even if I did 1-2 nights of hot yoga also. So I came home, and on my thrilling Saturday night I signed up for a singles tennis league.

I've steered clear of singles since I picked tennis up again almost a year ago lest for 1 match when no one else could play. But I'm ready, and it's a really awesome workout to play singles! So now I'm going from 1 match a week to 3 matches a week but it will be fine. I have plenty of free time (HA!) - even if it means taking it easy on a Friday or Saturday night (or both as evidenced by this weekend), it's important to me.

Now, who wants to come and watch me play? I might need a photographer in the near future, seeing as how I have zero pictures of myself playing tennis, so if I keep playing I'm going to keep talking about it and you won't have any pictures to look at - just a page full of words. BORING.

PS - thanks j. love you!

The Great Vase Exchange

2012-01-20T07:41:00.000-05:00

October

December (kind of)

January

Best free vases I ever got, seriously.

Snuggie Time

2012-01-18T09:28:00.008-05:00

I have zero shame. I own 2 snuggies. One I got at a work function, and the other my mom got me for Christmas this year. I know some people may have gotten snuggies for Christmas 3 years ago, but we can't all be ahead of the times.

This weekend, I have every intention of wearing one of my snuggies out in public. Snuggie pub crawl time!

2 years ago we went as Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach, albeit the wrong color Mario and my snuggie was really a bathrobe...

This year I'll be dressed up as a sassy kitten. Meow! Leopard print snuggies are all the rage.

Are you pub crawling through the Highlands on Saturday afternoon? Because I really can't imagine a better way to spend my Saturday.

Redecorating.

2012-01-05T07:23:00.000-05:00

When my roommate moved out in the middle of 2011, I made a few changes around the condo. Nothing major, but I added some of my own personal touches. And now, I'm at it again and I have to tell you, decorating is FUN.

I started out with a big, empty wall. I knew I wanted to do a picture frame collage (thank you Pinterest) but wasn't sure which frames, which pictures, etc. I started grabbing random things I've collected over the years and putting them in a pile on the floor. Last week I finally got tired of said pile and grabbed a ~~glass~~ bottle of wine and decided to do something with it. I'd say the final product turned out better than I hoped! The pictures below tell the story of how I did the project, but honestly it was super easy. All you need is wax paper, tape (painters and scotch), a sharpie (try blue or black!), nails and a hammer.

Lay out your design on the floor, trace it onto wax paper, and then hang on the wall. If you are patient, leave it up for a few days. If you are not (I am not), leave it up for a few minutes.

I am missing 3 pictures for the bottom frame, but I know exactly which ones I am going to put in there.

Some of my favorite people & memories from 2011.

two thousand twelve.

2012-01-02T09:36:00.000-05:00

Hot damn, I can't believe the new year is actually here. I don't really know where 2011 went, but I know one thing: it was probably the best year of my 25. No exaggeration. Nothing fantastic happened. Nothing extraordinary. Instead, life went on. I didn't survive anything major. But I survived life's ups and downs and am 100% better because of it. I can honestly say I'm a better person, a more mature person, a wiser person, a smarter person, than I was in 2010. What an incredible thing to say, right?

2011 was aboslutely constant. I've had the same friends all year. I've had the same lacking romantic relationship. I've had the same job. I've driven the same car. I've lived in the same place. My hair has stayed the same color. All the important things, right?

So, what do I hope for 2012? If 2010 was grown-up and 2011 was constant, I hope 2012 is FUN. All in all, 2011 kicked some major ass and I say bring it on 2012!

My new years resolutions this year are simple.

1. Run (or walk, crawl, whatever you prefer) 6 5k's.
2. Read 50 books.
3. Get another promotion at the end of the year.
4. Spend at least 1 weekend a month at the lake with my parents.
5. Win at least 1 tennis match in any given season.
6. Knock out the remaining things on my 101 in 1001 list and make sure it is well documented.
7. Keep my car clean.

What are your new years resolutions?

A video of my life according to Fbook

2011-12-29T07:04:00.000-05:00

Katie Ham's Photo Timeline from Katie H on Vimeo.

Thanks, Wink, for sharing this video concept. It takes your Facebook pictures and puts them to a song. You can't pick the song, but you should check it out. Who doesn't want 5 minutes of pictures of themselves in video form?

Goalsetting.

2011-12-19T07:26:00.000-05:00

I went to breakfast with a friend yesterday, and we started talking about our goals. Nothing really specific, just things we wanted to do.

I had the same conversation with another friend earlier in the week. I made some flippant comment about "Well I just want it all" to which he responded "what, exactly, is it that you want, Katie?" and I spent probably the next 5 minutes ticking down a list of all the things I wanted. Some of them were stupid - I wanted it to be Friday, I wanted the day to be over, etc. Others were serious - I wanted certain things at work, I wanted my mom and dad to be happy, I wanted to repair relationships with people that had been broken.

Both friends were so supportive of the things I wanted, and it was such a great two-way conversation with people who love me and care about me and who I love and care about. There's something really liberating about telling someone else your dreams. It gives them meaning. It holds you accountable.

It's why I posted my 101 in 1001 list. It's hard to believe that I made that list almost 2 years ago, and I've checked so many things off of it.

What's remaining? Running 6 5k's. UGH. So, now with about 10 months left, I have to do said 5k's. Anyone want to participate with me? One of my best friends lives in DC and is into running, so perhaps when I go to visit in April I'll rope her into doing one with me. And maybe when I'm in Florida in January I'll do one there. Maybe I'll commit to doing 6 5k's in 6 different locations.

What do you think? What holds you accountable? Do you have friends you can rely on?

Domesticated.

2011-12-11T08:03:00.000-05:00

I spent my Sunday afternoon and evening in the kitchen and doing crafts and it. was. awesome.

Project 1: Cutting up wedding invitation, shower invitations, save the date, and a picture of my newlywed friends and putting them inside a clear ornament. I first saw the idea on Pinterest, and now I can't find the pin, but here's a link to something very similar.

Project 2: Rice Krispie treat cupcakes. I'm trying to put together Christmas gifts for all 100 people in my office, and this was a great place to start! 20 gift bags down, 80 to go...

Project 3: Cookies 'n cream holiday bark! Also for my coworkers, also incredibly easy and DELISH. I used white chocolate, and oreos with red filling. I sprinkled holiday sprinkles and top and voila!

Project 4: Not really a project, but I am seriously still eating Thanksgiving leftovers. I'm down to turkey and mashed potatoes, but seriously. I'm over it. I saw a recipe for chicken salad on -- guess where?? -- and figured I'd make it work with what I had.

A couple of months ago we had a catered lunch that included 'kicked up chicken salad', which was just chicken salad with a drizzle of sriracha. Done and done.

2c turkey

1/2 c mayo

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 c grapes, chopped

salt

lemon pepper from Trader Joe's

1 tsp sriracha, to taste

Mix it all together and eat with a fork. I like my chicken salad not very mayo-y and with a crunch, hence the extra celery and less mayo. The recipe also called for some apple but it tasted pretty damn good to me without. I'll probably eat all of this by tomorrow, because I think it is that delicious.

Project 5: One of my best friends is on an exchange program here in the states. He's originally from Italy, and unfortunately the time has come for him to return home. We had a surprise going away party for him on Saturday night and we wanted to get something that would commemorate his year here, but wouldn't be difficult to pack.

Enter IKEA picture frame with a collage of pictures. Success! Everyone signed around the edges of the frame and wrote notes to our sweet friend. It was an easy, cheap project that I know he'll enjoy forever. In fact, rumor has it he'll be carrying it on the plane and sharing his seat with the frame on his way back to Italy...he loves us that much!

What have you been crafting and cooking lately?

Kindle FIYAAAAAAAAAAAAA

2011-12-07T07:14:00.000-05:00

I've been having a hard time coming up with a Christmas list for myself. You know, the list your mom always asks for right around Thanksgiving? Yeah, that one. I don't know why this year was harder than others have been. I guess because I've bought myself so many of the things I wanted, and the things I want now are a bit more intangible - airplane tickets, trips, things like that. And Lord knows I HATE asking for money. So, I came up with a list but realized that several of the things on it were pretty 'big ticket' items, including a Kindle Fire. I called my mom to basically ask her if that was something they wanted to get me or if I should just get it myself, and without missing a beat my mom told me to buy it for myself.

So, I did.

And then I added a Kindle Fire case to my Christmas list, because the one I am using now is only barely cutting it.

I want one like this. I bet I could make it myself if I tried. I bet my mom could make it for me, too. We'll see what happens come Christmas morning!

What is on your Christmas list this year? Mine also includes a tripod, a Dutch oven, sparkly shoes, skinny jeans, and a Wii remote charger. I think that list pretty much sums up everything you could ever possibly need to know about me, too.

PS - I'm still trying to figure out the best way to use my precious Kindle, but you can expect a post in the near future about exactly how to upload/download books, music & photos to your Kindle. I don't know if I'm the only one that found this really difficult, but maybe

November Top 10

2011-12-05T07:39:00.000-05:00

1. Having friends in town (and sparklers in da club)

2. Saying goodbye to friends leaving town (and celebrating fall's arrival)

3. Coming in 1st place in our tennis league (and being undefeated!)

4. Putting up Christmas decorations

5. Finally getting back into the swing of things with my church's youth group

6. 7am tailgating

7. Having my parents here for a week over Thanksgiving

8. GT vs. UGA

9. Getting my hair cut & highlighted. Amazing what that does for one's self-esteem!

10. Celebrating 1 year at my job

Damn, November was good to me.

December has a lot to live up to.

A Bummer Book Review

2011-11-30T07:37:00.000-05:00

Ya'll. I am the most open-minded reader probably ever. I'll read anything, and probably like it. Except for The Poisonwood Bible. But seriously, it's really hard to find chick lit that I'm not going to be into. But this book was just. not. good. It was a legit waste of my time to read it. The writing was good, but the storyline was crappy. I'm even into the whole vampire stories, but this one just didn't do it for me.

I posted on one of the message boards I read that this book would be one I absolutely do NOT recommend, and at least one other person commented and agreed with me, so I'm not alone.

I'm sure there are people out there who are going to enjoy this book, but unfortunately I am not one of them. I'm going to go back to reading The Hunger Games (or re-reading I should say) and trying to make it to 50 books before the end of 2011. So close, yet so far away. 10 books to go. Think I can do it?

Next Year's Vacation

2011-11-28T07:15:00.000-05:00

With 2011 winding down, I'm trying to fit in time to take all my remaining vacation days. We have an awesome vacation policy, but I haven't taken advantage of it much! I ended up with enough days remaining to take almost 2 full weeks off at the end of the year. I'm pretty stoked about it. As much as I love my job, I love it primarily because of the people, and all the people are also taking vacation, ergo my FOMO need not kick in.

I grabbed lunch with these 2 chicas on Black Friday, and we started tossing around ideas for a spring/summer vacation. One wants to go to Greece, another says beach vacations should be done in the winter, and my next desired travel destination is Southeast Asia - specifically, Thailand if I had to choose just one place. So we went round and round trying to figure out what we want to do, if we want to do a 'winter' vacation or a spring vacation, if we want to do international, if a cruise makes sense...there are so many things to think about. I have spent next to no time on the West Coast of the US, so if we go anywhere in the US, I think California would be my top choice. Is it realistic to say I want to start in northern California and make our way south and end up in San Diego? I've also (I can't believe I'm about to admit this) never been to New York City as an adult. I spent 1/2 day there on a school trip when I was 13, and that's it! So that's near the top of my list of places to see in the US. And Boston! Lucky for me, a friend was just staffed on a new assignment in Boston so I'm definitely planning to go visit - maybe for Memorial Day weekend with a couple extra days tacked on one side or the other?

And, for MLK weekend there are tentative plans to go skiing in Whistler. If that works out, I'd plan to spend at least 1 day in Seattle before venturing into Canada. We'll see what actually ends up happening, as the group I would go with is not exactly awesome at planning in advance. Different strokes...

So anyway, that leaves my travel list looking a little like this:

Thailand/Laos/Cambodia
San Fransisco/LA/San Diego
NYC
Seattle/Vancouver/Whistler
always, always, always Australia & New Zealand (but I'm saving that for my honeymoon)
Turks & Caicos

Where are you dreaming of traveling to?

Organizing your Outlook Inbox

2011-11-21T16:57:00.000-05:00

Hello blogging fail, my name is Katie. It's nice to see you. Why haven't I posted lately? Probably because I spend all my time doing 1 of 5 things and therefore would blog about 1 of 5 things.

1. Playing tennis (undefeated and division champs in women's doubles!)
2. Laying on my couch watching countless episodes of Happy Endings, Gossip Girl, Grey's, Hart of Dixie or the latest Jodi Picoult book-turned-movie (great Saturday viewing right there)
3. Talking about how awesome my life is and how great my friends are (been there, done that)
4. Complaining about how no one will date me/I'm impossible to date (been there, done that also)
5. Working (7:30am in the office 6 Fridays in a row!)

Clearly I've already touched on all of those things. So instead, I'll launch into a post about my psychotic organizing tendencies, this time surrounding how to organize my email. Since I started my job in November 2010, I wasn't really sure how to organize for 2011, so I just made a 2011 folder and threw everything in that. Actually, I just made a 2010 folder and threw everything there. You have no idea how much it pains me now, in November 2011, to still be working out of a 2010 folder, but such is life.

Eventually as I got more comfortable with my job, my role, and the 'types' of emails I was going to be receiving and sending, I established a pretty good filing system. Our inboxes have a max limit on the internal server, so I have to continuously move them out of my inbox and into their separate folder.

Is this boring yet? Too bad. Now I'm working on how I'm going to do a better job organizing in 2012 (and how I can ensure that I don't receive an email in mid-November 2012 telling me my folder is now full and I need to break it up. UGH, the horror!)

So, I've decided that instead of dividing first by year and then by topic, I'm going to divide by topic and then by year. My job consists of 3 separate pieces, we'll call them A, B, and C, so I'm going to make 3 .pst folders for each topic, plus one called "Company Info" and one called "Katie" for personal stuff. All personal emails (for now) will get dropped into the Katie folder with no sub-folders. All company-related emails that don't actually pertain to my job but are still important will get dropped into the Company folder with no sub-folders.

I plan to make a 2012 sub-folder for A, B, and C. Then, depending on topic, I'll have sub-folders. It will look something like this:

So there you have it. Yes I greyed out all information that could be tied back to my actual job and company. Yes maybe I'm paranoid. SO WHAT.

So basically, this will (hopefully) minimize the need for folders every year. Although I'm not really sure it makes that big of a difference, I guess I'll try it this way for 2012 and see how it goes. 2013 will be the real test year, because I'll have to decide which way I like better. Maybe I'll keep 2 inboxes in 2013 so I can do it both ways. Told ya I was crazy. Wanna know what also throws a wrench in all of this?

iPhones with work email, that's what. So now my inbox is divided into the same A, B, and C and when those folders get too full then I move them to their respective places so that I can reference them while on my iPhone. I repeat: my life is hard.

Was this even mildly interesting? I taught my mom how to use her Google Reader last night, so maybe that will be my next "I'm Anal and Spend Way Too Much Time Organizing Shit" post.

October Top 10

2011-11-06T17:29:00.000-05:00

1. Shopping in Buenos Aires

2. Rainbows at Iguazu Falls

3. Scary Halloween Pub Crawl

4. GT Homecoming 2011 vs. Clemson (and a HUGE win!)

5. Battle of the Burgers

6. Wine night with my roommate

7. Dinner in Argentina overlooking Paraguay and Brazil

8. 2 hour phone calls with best friends

9. Living vicariously through others running marathons & 1/2 Ironmen (and being SO proud of them!)

There's nothing like...

2011-11-03T07:11:00.001-04:00

1. Traveling via airplane with me. Ask Rachel. Or anyone who knows me, really.
2. Getting an unexpected compliment.
3. Turning on the tv and finding it's just before the best part in a good movie.
4. Running into an old friend in an unexpected place and spending a lot more time than you thought you would catching up.
5. Falling asleep on your couch while watching Saturday afternoon football.
6. Waking up on Sunday morning without an alarm.
7. Hugging your best friend/mom/dog/pillow after being gone for a while. Even if a while is only 8 hours.
8. A text from a friend telling you that your ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend totally sucks. Even if you've way moved on and could really care less, hearing that doesn't get old.
9. Having a really crappy day turn out kind-of-sort-of-might-be-somewhat ok. So what if it's 4 months later?
10. Losing the first set in a tennis match terribly, only to come back and kick butt in the next 2.
11. Coming home to find that your roommate has done your least favorite chore.
12. Forgetting about an awesome show on your DVR for a few weeks.
12a. Spending a rainy Sunday catching up on said tv show.
What would you add to this list?

Life is not a grocery store

2011-10-28T07:27:00.001-04:00

Every morning I get up, I get dressed, I come into work, I turn on my computer, I put my lunch in the refrigerator, I get a glass of water and a cup of coffee, I return to my desk, I make sure there are no super important emails to respond to, and I get down to the real business of reading my Google Reader. This morning was no different (except I spent the first 30 minutes of blog-reading on my couch, thus making me 30 minutes later to work. It's Thursday, whatever.) I opened this post, and haven't stopped thinking about it since.

I'm going to copy & paste Caitlin's words here, because I couldn't paraphrase them well even if I tried:

Life is not a supermarket stocked with limited quantities of happiness on the shelves. There are no shelves packed with loving partners, successful jobs, beautiful babies, and nice homes. Just because someone else has a loving partner, successful job, beautiful baby, or nice home doesn’t impact my ability to achieve the same things. Life can’t sell out on happiness.

Life is like the shore, where the ocean meets the sand. There’s room for us all to stand near the waves. The water recedes, the waves crash in. And sometimes, the waves bring in goodness. Washing up right at our feet are loving partners, successful jobs, beautiful babies, and nice homes. What one person receives down the shoreline doesn’t impact your ability to achieve happiness. And sometimes – just sometimes – you have to wade in and take the happiness you want.

In movies, when a terrifying natural disaster is near, everyone rushes to the supermarket, and two crazed women inevitably start fighting over the last loaf of bread. I’m tired of that treating others like we’re all staring down an empty, dusty supermarket shelf.

Super happy face

Caitlin is obviously in a different place in her life than I am in mine, but the point of her message still rings true: we can all achieve happiness, and it doesn't have to be at the expense of someone else. I had a long conversation with a good friend last night, and he told me that I empathize with others too much. It's true - I take on other people's emotions on top of my own. I'm happy when they are happy, I'm sad when they are sad. I've always been this way, and I think I will always continue to be. But sometimes, just for a minute, I think they should be grateful for what they have, or they should be even happier than they are, and I find myself thinking those things because I am without whatever they are happy about, be it a new relationship or an exciting new job or WHATEVER.

So today, I'm here to tell you that I am going to be even more aware of my attitude towards my friends, coworkers, and just people I come across in life. I'm going to be happy when they are happy, and sad when they are sad, and just let that be enough. My time will come when someone will be happy when I am happy, and I hope when that happens that person isn't secretly thinking I should be feeling some other way.

What I Did in Argentina

2011-10-24T07:02:00.000-04:00

Remember when I told you I was going to Argentina before my friend even knew whether or not she would be going? Pretty typical. But I think much to Rachel's (and if I'm being honest, my own) surprise, I made it to Argentina and spent a whopping 8 days exploring Buenos Aires, Misiones & Iguazu Falls National Park. Below is a list version of the things we did in no particular order, but there were so many other things we did!

1. San Telmo Market -- probably ~2 miles of street blocks that turn into a huge market every Sunday afternoon. They sell mate cups, scarves, clothes, jewelry, belts, chocolate, dulce de leche, art, and everything else you could possibly imagine. We spent nearly 3 hours walking up and down the cobblestone streets exploring.

2. La Casa Rosada

3. Iguazu Falls -- one of the most amazing things in nature I have ever seen.

4. A little bit of partying

5. Recoleta Cemetery -- probably my favorite thing we did the whole time I was in Buenos Aires, which sounds so depressing, but this cemetery is incredible. The plots are deeded, and they aren't just graves or tombs, they are almost small houses, large enough for 10, 12, 15 caskets, many with private quarters downstairs.

6. Wild animal sightings -- can you spot the crocodile & the toucans?

(it's called a "Coitus" which just made me giggle)

7. Ate a lot.

Argentinian steak

I <3 meat

Dulce de Leche ice cream, YUM

My trip was phenomenal. First of all, I got to visit one of my best friends that I hadn't seen since July, who lives across the country from me most of the year. Second of all, I spent more than 6 hours in South America, thus officially checking it off of the list of continents I need to visit (the only thing on my bucket list is to visit all 7 - 2 more to go!) Third of all, Argentina is pretty freaking awesome. Overall, the people are nice. In Buenos Aires, they kind of just ignored us except for when they were blatantly staring at the 2 blondes. We kind of stood out like sore thumbs. In Misiones (where the Iguazu Falls were), we had the best night of my trip, but you can read more about that on Rach's blog.

I think the further removed I get from the experience, the more memorable it becomes. I came home feeling a little bit underwhelmed, but as the week passed, and I got more and more situated back into my routine, I found myself remembering things we did, or thinking things in Spanish and then giggling to myself, wishing I was still in Argentina. Those are all signs of a successful trip, right?

Don't you worry South America, I'll be back. The lacking time change alone is worth it!

Rach - thanks for having me! I can't wait for your triumphant return to the northern hemisphere. In the meantime, we'll always have Lady Gaga.

Calendaring My Life

2011-10-22T23:02:00.000-04:00

I'm back! You can expect some Argentina recaps, complete with approximately 500 pictures, but for now I'm still sorting through my thoughts and catching up on life. I've been back for a week and I still feel behind at work and in life.

One way that I'm catching up? Scheduling my life. Between playing on 3 tennis teams, working 60+ hour weeks, football games, acupuncture & massage appointments, and everything else in between, I feel like I am being pulled in 8000 directions. I finally sat down today and updated my calendar to include everything I want to do and when I expect to do it.

Then I spent an hour figuring out how many dinners I wanted to cook this week (because spending a week in Argentina isn't exactly budget-friendly) and then going through my Google Reader and figuring out what I wanted to eat. Guys, easier said than done, but here's what I ended up with:

Sunday: Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken -- found via Pinterest (to be eaten on salads or in a quesadilla w/ blue cheese)

Monday: Saturday night hibachi leftovers for lunch; Ground beef tacos for dinner (1/2 lb beef)

Tuesday: leftover tacos for lunch; Falafel pita for dinner

Wednesday: leftover buffalo chicken for lunch; Slow Cooker lasagna for dinner with the other 1/2 lb of beef that cooks while I play a tennis match!

Thursday: leftovers (lasagna, falafel, tacos, who knows?) for lunch; more leftovers for dinner, I have a 7pm tennis match

My parents are going to be in and out of Atlanta this week as they finalize the details on our almost-finished lakehouse, so this may all change as soon as they figure out what their plans are...or maybe I'll just pass the menu on to my mom and they can help me eat up some leftovers! I'll probably share quite a bit of this with my roommate, too, so maybe the leftovers won't be quite so plentiful. That's always the problem with cooking for 1 -- so many leftovers, and I get tired of the food!

So, that's part of the way I'm getting my life back under control. The other part includes calling my beloved housekeepers and running so many errands.

I've talked before about how I prep to leave for vacation, but how do you re-focus mentally when you return?

The next 7 days

2011-10-07T15:34:00.000-04:00

Can you believe I'm actually going? Yeah, me either.

Catch ya next weekend!

Candy Corn Decor

2011-10-03T06:58:00.001-04:00

I pinned this last week.

This is what my mantle looks like as of today.

What a cute, simple way to decorate for fall, and how easily it can translate to the many other seasons of the year. I envision jelly beans in the spring and perhaps peppermints around the holidays?

September Top 10

2011-10-02T14:56:00.000-04:00

1. Football season kickoff

2. A + A's wedding weekend

3. Savannah for Labor Day Weekend

4. Visiting my best friend in Dallas

5. Start of a new tennis season

6. Atlanta Themis kick-off

7. Community Service Day with Atlanta Dress for Success

8. Catching up with an old friend on her birthday

9. Celebrating new friends as they move on to bigger, better things

10. Georgia Tech 5-0! (although technically that happened in October)

Goals for October:

1. Don't get kidnapped in Argentina

2. Win a tennis match

3. Practice yoga at least once.

4. Use all the food in my fridge before it goes bad

What were your top 10 for September, and what are you aiming for in October?

Fall 2011 Bucket List

2011-09-30T07:44:00.001-04:00

via Pinterest

I'm adding attend a football tailgate and win a tennis match to this list.

What's on your fall bucket list?

Change Schmange

2011-09-28T11:28:00.000-04:00

I am probably the most change averse person I know.

When my parents sold my house back in 2008, I literally refused to come home and pack up my room and my stuff, to the point that my mom eventually threw it all into boxes and one day I came home and my room was empty. I guess it will be fun to unpack those boxes in a few months.

The summer before my freshman year of college, I said I wished I could live in June 2004 forever. One of the best gifts I have ever gotten was from a high school friend related to that comment. She created a little box out of cardboard, and on the inside she glued pictures of our group of friends from that summer and an amazing quote. She said, "Here you go, Katie. Summer 2004 forever." I'm pretty sure that teeny, tiny cardboard box is packed away somewhere but I'm not sure where. See above.

And now, my life is changing again, in small ways. Two people who have become very close friends are "moving away." My parents are spending more and more time back in Atlanta, preparing for ~~their~~ our lakehouse to be ready. We have a new youth minister at church who has basically managed to flip the entire program upside-down and inside-out in a matter of 2 weeks. And for some reason, I can't help but thinking that perhaps my romantic life is about to change as well. I have zero reason to believe that, so maybe it's just hopeful thinking.

For the first time in my whole life, I'm not quite as opposed to these changes. My friends leaving means bigger and better things are in store for them, and I'm excited and proud. My parents moving back means I'll get to spend more time with them AND that the lakehouse will finally be complete. A new youth minister could mean new volunteers, potential new friends, and a fresh start in leading teens closer to God. And my romantic life? Well, to that I say it's about damn time.

I am embracing these changes as best I can, but don't mind me if I try to bury my head in the sand for a little bit while all these things happen around me. It's what I do best.

How do you deal with changes? Are you of the "Heck yeah, bring it on" mentality, or more like me, the "but why can't things just stay exactly like they are at this very minute?"

Tuesday. Again. Don't be fooled.

2011-09-27T14:58:00.000-04:00

Winning.

Don't be fooled - I haven't actually opened it.

I actually ate that whole bowl of chips.

Don't be fooled, that's not my real hair.

My new favorite food, fried pickles.

No fooling, only pure elation over lavendar cocktail dresses and pearls.

Ritz Carlton.

WeightWatchers who?

This is not a joke.

Neither are Tuesdays.

Another book review

2011-09-13T07:01:00.000-04:00

I made it my goal for 2011 to read 50 books. To say I am falling short is a vast understatement, but I think I'll be able to do it. Can't give up hope yet! I've read 27 books thus far....so I have a little bit of slack to pick up!

The last book I read was Dreamland by Sarah Dessen. I think I bought it on sale on Amazon so that I could get free shipping on my GRE Study Guide, but I am so glad I did.

I think I loved this book so much because of the way it wove a tale about the complicated relationships of sisters, of being the "perfect" older sister, of the struggles that younger sisters deal with, and how parents are so oblivious to how their involvement and encouragement can feel like too much. It may sound like I can relate to the story, and in a less serious way I can. More than anything I think I could have seen my life playing out similarly, although make no mistake about it, I'm not running away to the big city with a man any time soon. I think this book offered me perspective and understanding that I had been looking for. So, maybe it really was a great book, or maybe it was the book I needed at the time, but either way I truly loved this book and couldn't put it down!

So now I need to pick my next book. What are you reading?

Photo on Canvas

2011-09-11T09:56:00.001-04:00

Ya'll know how obsessed I am with pictures. My friends definitely know. Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but regardless, my friends always know who to go to for a photo opp. 9 times out of 10 I have my DLSR on me, too. Those suckers are heavy!

I have so many pictures that I don't know what to do with. I could print them, I could scrapbook them...the options are endless but I just never committed to anything except a few scrapbooks from my college years. Last fall I printed more pictures with the intention of making a 2010 scrapbook but it's now 3/4 of the way to 2012 and no 2010 scrapbook is in sight.

So when a rep from Easy Canvas Prints contacted me about having one of my photos on a canvas, I literally jumped at the opportunity.

I chose a picture of my 4 best girl friends from college. It's an oldie but a goodie, and the last picture of all of us when we all resided in Atlanta. I miss those days. I miss my friends.

I decided to put it right on my fireplace. To be honest, I probably should have gone with a size larger than 8"x10" but it is what it is, and I'm working with it. But if you decide to get your own print, I'd definitely encourage a bigger size.

Love them! Love having a picture of them as the centerpiece in my living room.

One of my friends just ordered a larger size of a picture he took on a trip to Africa and I'm so excited to see how he feels about it. The picture is really awesome, so I'm sure the print is going to look just as good.

Thanks, Easy Canvas Prints! I love my canvas photo and so does everyone who sees it :)

Photos on Canvas

Smell Good

2011-09-08T12:02:00.000-04:00

My dependence on perfume started in high school when I discovered Cool Water.

I doused myself in it every morning. I'm 25 and I still own a bottle, and probably always will. It's the perfect summer scent, and takes me back to the year 2000!

Then I discovered Lucky - the jeans, the store, and clearly the perfume. Literally last week I threw away my last travel size bottle. I'm not really sure if I should buy another. Might be time to retire this one, but man... it smells so good! Reminds me of volleyball and my high school boyfriend. All the more reason why I probably shouldn't buy another bottle. Do women in their mid-20's still wear this perfume?

One of my more recent discoveries was Coach Poppy. Love at first sniff. I bought this over a year ago and still have more than half the bottle left. Whenever I wear Poppy, someone always smells it on me and compliments it. It's never the same person, but I do always get compliments. So, I'm not sure what the staying power of Poppy is, but I know I love it when I first put it on. So fresh and so inviting! And so not overwhelming, which is exactly what I look for in a perfume.

Just after finding Poppy, I was introduced to Daisy. I really think it will forever be in my perfume collection. It's delicious, light, flowery, and inviting. If I smelled it on someone else, I'd think based on smell alone they were a great person with a wam, inviting personality. I mean, not trying to toot my own horn, but....I think I fit the bill!

I have a few other scents in the mix. Some Ralph Lauren ones and I've randomly gotten some samples that I never really loved the way I loved these.

I'm such a sucker for the Ulta deals - they are always giving away free gifts with the purchase of a perfume. I was lured in over the weekend by that exact signage. 2 bottles of nailpolish and $100 later, I walked out with a new-to-me scent. Acqua di Gio by Giorgio Armani. Listen, I may not buy designer clothes or own very many designer handbags, but I'll be darned if I'm not ahead of the curve on perfumes. Does that count for anything?

I haven't spent enough time wearing the Acqua di Gio to really be able to describe it to you, but I know when I told the sales associate about my other favories, it was one of her recommendations, and she hit the nail on the head! So, Acqua di Gio, I hope this is the beginning of a long and lasting relationship. Literally!

By the way... I never thought I'd be the girl to write more than 2 words regarding my perfume. Oh well. At least you know I smell good!

August Top 10

2011-09-03T08:19:00.000-04:00

Is it seriously September? 2011, slow your roll please.

1. Goodbye/Birthday Celebration Weekend

2. Painting my bedroom

3. Spending part of a weekend with my mom.

4. Dinner & drinks with coworkers in town from another office

5. Thursday night shenanigans with some of my favorite work friends

6. Regularly scheduled massage appointments.

7. Winning 4 tennis matches in a row

8. Decorating my living room and dining room shelves.

9. Moving into my new room.

10. Living by myself for a few weeks!

Awesome Gift Idea!

2011-08-30T08:20:00.000-04:00

One of my friends made a life-altering decision in the matter of a few weeks. She packed up her whole life and moved it across the country to work in Telluride, Colorado. I'm so proud of her, so excited for her, and a little bit jealous! Before she left, we had a small going-away/birthday gathering with some of her close friends at a restaurant I never would have chosen for myself - H. Harper Station in Reynoldstown.

If there is one thing I am guilty of, it is not exploring the small, unique neighborhoods that are blossoming in and around Atlanta. This was no exception. Without this party, I never would have ventured to Reynoldstown to check out H. Harper Station, and what a pity that would be! It's a converted railroad station with awesome ambience. We ordered a punch bowl, and the drinks were served in unique, small glass cups that looked like they belonged in an antique shop, and they were held on a shelf for everyone to see. I wish I had snapped a picture!

delicious food & drinks!

blurry picture of the girls, but the best one i have of the rest of the restaurant.

The reason I'm writing this is not to brag on the restaurant as much as it is to tell you guys about the AWESOME going away/birthday gift my friend received.

One of my friends brought all the supplies: a scrapbook filled with colorful scrapbook paper, a Polaroid camera, Polaroid film, a gluestick, a few colorful markers, and a handful of cutesy scrapbooking supplies, all in a cute little gift bag.

We took turns taking pictures and being in pictures, and for every picture, you had to write a special note to the guest of honor and glue it along with the picture onto your page in the scrapbook.

This present turned out fabulously. It wasn't too big for my friend to tote along on her cross-country move, and it captured wonderful memories between the notes & the pictures. We referenced memories that ran the course of the last 5 years of friendship and made new ones.

So if you are so motivated, snap up a Polaroid camera, order some Polaroid film, and get creating. It'll be a present your friends will never forget!

House Re-Decorating

2011-08-29T07:15:00.001-04:00

Yes, that's right, I straight up disappeared into the depths of painting, moving, and organizing. Newsflash: it sucks. I only moved across the hall in my current house but let me just tell you... what a debacle that was! But, the process is pretty much done. See for yourselves!

excellent tape job, until the tape pulled off the ceiling paint...

yeah, see all those doors? pain. in. my. ass.

the colors i was deciding between.

end result: bed

bookshelf

dresser

closet #1

closet #2 (shoes on each side of the door)

fireplace mantle

k: hobby lobby

ball: hobby lobby

photo: easycanvasprints.com

just bought these over the weekend - love them!

best friends

shelves in living room

glasses, harry potter books

candleholder: cost plus

plate: cost plus

painting: italian original

wine: trader joe's

scrapbooks: homemade

books: dirty girls social club, high heels to tractor wheels, and a cocktail encyclopedia

picture: senior year of hs

teapot: cost plus

picture: family photo in italy circa 2001

dining room shelves

liquor

mirror: ikea

emily giffin books

vases

living room shelves above TV

glass vase: not mine

ceramic vase: iowa art fair

painting: iowa art fair

pasta, wild rice, brown rice, quinoa, choclate covered pom seeds

my side of the pantry. i love organization.

don't mind this mess though... cleaning out is a long process!

So now that you've been given a quasi-tour of my house, you know what I've been up to. Re-purposing chotchkies I've collected over the last 10 years and organizing my pantry and storage closet. This whole house decorating/moving/redesign project has been a month in the making and hopefully will be complete in the next few weeks. I'm ready to stop living pile to pile! Now to tackle that laundry pile that I put on my bed immediately after taking these pictures...

It's Wednesday, I talk a lot.

2011-08-10T09:55:00.000-04:00

It's Wednesday, which means that the dreaded Tuesday is over, and because I'm feeling uninspired and lazy and I'm really, really freaking busy at work, I'm leaving you with a list because it's really all my brain can put together right now without sounding incoherent. I might already sound incoherent, but humor me, mmk?

1. My trip to Argentina is stressing me out but I am SO EXCITED at the same time. South American airfare is no joke.
2. My mom & dad are coming to visit today and I can't wait. They're staying for 10 days!!
3. I'm getting my hair highlighted today. This is long, long overdue. My original appointment was 5 weeks ago. No one has called me a brunette yet, so I'll take it as a sign that my beloved hairdresser is worth every dime I pay her.
4. I have way too many things going on starting in September. Wedding, work trip to Texas, Argentina, weekend in Miami, another potential work trip to Texas, trying to squeeze a trip to DC in there somewhere...I don't have enough weekends. Or vacation days. Or, and this is the kicker...money!
5. I went to Two Urban Licks for the Sunday Splurge -- ya'll, it was awesome. I highly recommend going! Ask for Janeen to be your server, because she's the bomb. Plus, who doesn't like all you can eat and all you can drink?
6. I had an epiphany the other day when I realized that when it comes to work, I finally "get it." Nothing specific happened, but I walked out of my office, and I just kind of thought, "OK. I got this." Best. Feeling. Ever.
7. Sometimes I forget that I share bits and pieces of my personal life in this little forum, and then people talk to me about things, like my watch, or my sofa, and I'm like...how did you know I got a sofa? You live across the country. And then I remember, I blogged about it for a month. Oops.

That's about all I wanted to tell you today. Maybe I'll be back later with something more interesting. In the meantime I need to, you know, go do what they pay me to do while I'm here. Peace!

My Issues with Spotify

2011-08-05T08:23:00.000-04:00

Have ya'll joined Spotify yet?

I just did, and now I feel overwhelmed. I think I'm a little confused about how it works, exactly. Everyone keeps telling me it works just like iTunes but I must not be listening or something, because in my head I think that it works more like Pandora except I get to choose. I am feeling intense pressure about the first song I choose to listen to. A) I shared my profile on Facebook so whatever I choose, everyone will know, so I probably shouldn't choose something lame. B) Back to thinking it's like Pandora, the first song I choose will definte my Spotify membership forever, so I better choose wisely.

All this pressure leads me to do nothing but share my ridiculous anxieties on the internet via my blog and never actually get around to listening to music. I have issues, and I guess by the name of this blog you thought I'd keep them a secret. Surprise!

I was talking to a coworker about Spotify, and he then introduced me to Turntable. Great - just when I thought I finally had a grasp on one...another "social music site." What does that even mean?

Now we're in a "group music room" and everybody gets to contribute songs to play and they alternate. I created a list of ~10 songs, but all this pressure of music choices might be too much for me. So far I have played "Take It On the Run," "Edge of Glory," and "Wanna Take You Home." Diverse music tastes, much?

What would be your first song picks? Hopefully you have an easier time choosing than I did.

Camera Equipment

2011-08-04T08:58:00.000-04:00

Look what I got! Remember what I said about teaching my dad something new?

Add 'DSLR photography' to the list.

He's letting me 'borrow' his new lens while he learns how to actually operate a camera.

To go with this :)

My Canon RebelXS...broke. They didn't sell the old one in the store anymore. I was forced to upgrade.

I'll probably use this to help me learn if my dad doesn't steal it from me. If you are looking to learn photograpy tricks, I highly recommend this book.

Talk about a couple of ballin' upgrades! That lens is so dang heavy though.

Now can someone please tell me how to use it, other than to zoom in on my dad's nose hairs?

Thanks for the lens, pops!

July Top 10

2011-08-02T07:22:00.001-04:00

1. Starting acupuncture

2. Dinner/drinks with sweet Claire

3. Sunday evening dinner with some good friends

4. One of my best friends passing through Atlanta on her way to Argentina

5. A whirlwind trip to Chicago

6. Spending a day at the lake with my dad (and seeing the progress on our house!)

7. Watching the Peachtree Road Race runners

8. Moving into my own office at work (or rather, my officemate moving out)

9. Seeing HP7.2 with my Italian buddy

10. Helping a friend put together her wedding invitations

July was a mix of big things and little things that just made me happy.

August will be another good mix of big and little events. My calendar is already filling up.

How was your July? What are you looking forward to in August?

Daddy's Little Girl

2011-08-01T08:18:00.000-04:00

It's no secret that for the better part of my life I have been a Daddy's Girl. Not only do we share so many of the same physical characteristics, we share a similar personality. I guess it should come as no surprise then that in my adult life, we are beginning to share many of the same hobbies. The thing that is funny to me is that for so long I have emulated what my dad does, starting with how he tied his shoes (yep, I tie my shoes as if I were a lefty!) all the way up to how he would send a thank you letter to a potential employer. My dad has taught me and shown me so many things in my life and now it seems that it is my turn to teach and show him.

Just like I didn't really want to own up to online dating, I'm not sure I'm ready to own up to having joined WeightWatchers. I guess blogging about it is one way to tell the world! I mentioned last week that I joined WeightWatchers...it's true! And I've been telling my dad all about the process and how it works. He is in the market to lose quite a bit of weight, and this seems like a program that would really fit him and his current lifestyle.
Although it's been a whopping 14 days since I joined WW, I've already found things that I really like about the program and I thought I would share them here, just like I shared them with my dad last night.

1. They never make you feel bad! You get an allotted number of points per day, plus bonus points that you can distribute through the week, plus if you add exercise, you get those points too. I'd have to eat 24 cupcakes to go through all those points!

2. You learn about what foods are "good" for you and what foods to avoid. And not only that, but you have to document when you eat the bad foods. It makes eating 3 slices of pizza and no salad a lot less appealing when you know you are going to have to go back to WW and document those 3 slices of pizza...and then see that you can eat celery for the rest of the day. After lunch last week I showed my dad how many WW points his lunch would have been, and the thing was, he knew he wasn't making awesome dietary choices, but there was no evidence of that (other than his slowly expanding waistline).

3. You can add commonly-eaten foods to your WW online ahead of time, so when it comes time to log something, you don't skip it because you don't have the nutrition stats. I spent 30 minutes today adding about 6 Willy's menu items to my WW queue. Guess what? None of them were under 10 points. Cool. But I also dug through the contents of my freezer and added all my pre-packaged items - frozen Amy's pizzas, Trader Joe's tortillas, and ice cream sandwiches. Now I hardly even have to think when I enter these items in. It makes for such easy tracking!

The most important thing for me has been to stay motivated, and I've done that by telling my dad about it. For the last week he's asked me how it's going, and then told me all the things he ate that day and how many points he thinks they were. It's interesting - my dad often eats fast food for breakfast and McDonald's recently started offering an oatmeal option. Turns out that oatmeal option is 7 points, and an Egg McMuffin is 8. Not such a healthy alternative afterall. Who knows - maybe it keeps you full longer, I'm not sure, but it definitely puts things into perspective!

All I know is I want to see this smiling face for another 30 years, and getting healthy is the only way for that to happen. I am so proud of my dad, so excited to share every little detail of my life with him as I grow up, and I know he is so proud of me and looks forward to hearing about everything I do.

If you are interested in eating healthier and/or losing weight, I definitely encourage joining WW!

Change Your Life Challenge: PUSHUPS. (not the Flintstone variety)

2011-07-31T21:19:00.000-04:00

Who: Me. And my upper body strength.

What: Do 10 push-ups a day for 30 days.

When: Starting August 1, 2011 through August 31, 2011.

Why: Because I have flabby arms, and really, how many of you can do 10 push-ups without considerable effort right now?

How: Unclear. I'm just going to make sure I do 10 push-ups every day. I'd like to say it will be first thing in the morning but...I'll be honest, it will probably be randomly around 3pm in the bathroom at work or something equally ridiculous. Plus, I really hate push-ups so maybe when I'm going nuts at my desk they will sound appealing. You can choose the time when you do them.

I'm trying to decide if I should measure my arms now, on the 15th, and on the 31st. I will tell you how long it takes me on the first day to do 10 pushups, and how long it takes me on the last day. Anybody want to join me on this stupid little challenge? Let's kick it. Or...push it?

How about let's pump it?

Needles in my back, Needles in my ears

2011-07-28T07:03:00.000-04:00

I've now gone to 3 acupuncture sessions so clearly I am an expert.

I still love it as much as I did on Day 1. After my second session, I was sent home with Chinese herbs.

I finally drank 1/2 of one of those packets and well...I honestly don't know if I can drink anymore. Yuck. Times ten. My acupuncturist advised me to drink through a straw that I put as far back in my mouth as possible. I guess I'll try that.

My favorite part about acupuncture is a tie between the therapy portion before the needles get stuck in me and laying on my tummy in the dark with music on and taking a needle nap. I practice breathing in for 4, out for 4, and imagining clear air coming in and black smoke going out. I basically clear my mind, and sink lower lower lower into the table.

The therapy portion just involves going back over a selection of the same questions she asked me on the first day. She always asks about my mental health, she always asks about my diet, sometimes she asks about my relationships, both friendships & romantic relationships, sometimes she asks about work, sometimes she asks about my family. I swear she reads minds though, because today she asked me about something unprompted that I had been thinking about all day.

It gives me an opportunity to talk, uninterrupted, to someone who cares about me and my health but doesn't actually care. Does that make sense? Plus, she bases where she puts the needles on the things I tell her. So if I tell her I have stress or anxiety, she puts a needle in a certain place. Same thing with inability to sleep, or for women who are trying to get pregnant (I'm not one of them but they frequent the acupuncturist!)

I will continue going to see my acupuncturist for as long as my insurance will cover it. Acupuncture isn't cheap, so hopefully my insurance will cover longer than they inititally quoted me. Cross your fingers!

I Love Stuffed Peppers

2011-07-26T07:53:00.000-04:00

For the last few weeks I have been focusing on cooking something on Sunday that I can eat for at least 2 more days. Since earlier this week I've had my eye on these stuffed peppers. I don't like basil, so I eliminated that from the recipe almost entirely, but it was still SO good.

The directions are easy (althhough I never really follow a recipe...just add ingredients as I feel like it). Chop onion, saute, add garlic, add 1 lb ground chicken. Heat 1 package Trader Joe's frozen brown rice. Mix in. Add 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Mix and heat 1/2 jar pasta sauce and 1/2 cup cream. Add 1/2 of the pasta sauce mix to chicken/onion/rice. Stuff peppers with mixture. Use 1/2 of remaining sauce to cover each pepper and in the bottom of the pan. Cook uncovered for 20 minutes at 400*. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for another 30 minutes. 20 if you are impatient. Dig in. YUM! And as you can see, I made 2 peppers. Guess what I'll be having as leftovers one night this week?

Ding Dong, My Garden's Dead

2011-07-24T19:29:00.001-04:00

Well, my garden died.

I don't really know what else to say. I successfully grew about 9 peppers and part of a cucumber.

Things I learned:

only 1 plant per planter
don't over-water
pay close attention to disastrous bugs
add a trellis to cucumbers

I will be growing cucumbers, peppers & hopefully broccoli again next year. I might add some lettuce to the mix! I really liked having a garden, I really really did. Maybe I'll look into some plants I can put in my planters and grow in the fall. Now there's an idea!

I'm a Tennis Fiend & Apparently Can't Focus on 1 Topic in 1 Blog post.

2011-07-21T14:31:00.000-04:00

I just thought you all should know that I haven't won a tennis match in 2 weeks. Granted I've only played two official matches (and 2 unofficial matches) but still. My ego is feeling slightly bruised, and my competitive side is disappearing. Quickly.

I find myself looking at a scoreboard that reads 3-0 and thinking...ok, I'm going to lose, I might as well hurry up and get it over with so I can get out of this drenching, nasty heat. Then I end up tying the score at 3-3 and then losing 6-3.

One of my friends that I play with on the reg told me the first 3 games shouldn't count and while I didn't agree when he said it because it would have meant that I lost instead of I won, I am now leaning closer to agreeing. Maybe that's the loser mentality? If only those first 3 didn't count, then I'd win. But how do you stop at 3? How many do you play before it starts counting? When you start winning? Then it's definitely the loser mentality.

Anyway, I just wanted you all to know this about me. I don't like to lose, but I don't like being hot and sweaty either. For what it's worth, last night we lost and I was okay with it because we were making really good shots and placing them really well, just...a little outside the lines. But I'm okay with that. I'm not okay with hitting the ball 9 miles behind the baseline or into the net.

I also earned 26 WW points playing tennis the last 2 nights, so that's a win, too. I can drink 1/2 a margarita or eat 2 oreos. Actually, did you know that 3 oreos is only 4 points? Not bad, my friends, not bad at all.

Speaking of oreos, I heard about a few things recently that I wanted to share. Do you know there is such a thing as man versus machine? I thought it was some sick exercise thing, but no, I was dead wrong. Man versus machine is when a (hu)man eats 1 item out of every slot in the vending machine in a 24 hour period. Also, one of my friend's little brothers was challenged to eat the top 2 rows of candy in a vending machine in an hour. Who are these people? Apparently he wanted to practice and I was around for the text messages after his practice round that said, "Dude. My stomach hurts." Why would you practice something like that? People are so weird.

My other friend told me about a contest between 2 people. Real people! People she knows! One had to do Man versus Machine and the other had to eat only 1 bag of Cool Ranch Doritos every day for a week. Apparently 1 bag of Cool Ranch Doritos has the necessary caloric intake for a day. 7 days of only Cool Ranch Doritos! An entire vending machine in 24 hours! I think my heart just collapsed and the button on my pants popped off. GROSS!

I'll let you know when I hear about the results of both challeneges. Any other vending-machine-eating-idiots out there? Please share. Considering these two things were shared with me within days of each other, I'm convinced there is some subliminal messaging. Maybe I've already drank too much WW Kool-Aid and it's a subliminal voice screaming "STAY AWAY FROM THE VENDING MACHINES KATIE." Don't worry, voices in my head, there aren't any vending machines around here. Only open jars full of Oreos.

Anyway, back to tennis - who wants to play? I've got a vending machine to eat my way through and I need to earn some activity points.

Things You Should Know

2011-07-20T09:29:00.017-04:00

1. I joined Weight Watchers.
2. I have a crush.
3. I've met 2 people that I only previously knew via the internet.
4. I'm addicted to summer TV. Last night I dreamt my name was Annie. No lie.
5. I can't figure out how to transfer my playlists from my old computer to my new one.
6. I miss using my camera.
7. I'm currently reading this.
8. Playing tennis has become my newest obsession.
9. The 5 most recent friends I've made have been women, yet somehow I always find myself surrounded by a group of guys.
10. I bought a new watch. Two, actually.

101 in 1001

2011-07-18T18:36:00.000-04:00

I have this list posted on the inside of my smaller closet door.

I started it on January 1, 2010, which means that I am halfway-ish through the time commitment of 1,001 days. I'd also say I'm about halfway through the list itself. Some of the things I put on this list were much more difficult to measure.

Use reusable bags whenever possible. Be a Good Friend. Wear cute outfits just because.

Others I have crossed off, feeling like I had accomplished those things, only to un-cross them, feeling rather unaccomplished.

Stop biting fingernails. Spend more time with my sister.

Then I decided instead of crossing and un-crossing, I would do status check-ins and write the date and a checkmark when I felt that I had accomplished those things. It might take me awhile to add another date next to "Go on more dates" but the June 2010 date has 3 check plusses!

Some things I have crossed off for good because they no longer apply.

Attend AMA events. Put more time and effort into AOTG.

I no longer work in Marketing nor am I a member of the Atlanta Marketing Association (although I highly recommend it for those of you who are in Marketing!) and I have closed my personal assistant business.

And some things I have done, crossed them off the list, and never looked back.

Buy a Wii. Buy a new computer. Visit Minnesota once a year.

What is really fun are the ones where I left blanks next to them to fill in as I complete them.

Try 1 new restaurant per month (I list restaurant and month). Meet 10 new friends (I list names). Do 5 new craft projects (I list project and date completed).

This list has been SO much fun to have. I fully intend on creating another one after this one "ends." I love that it is more than just New Years Resolutions. Many of these things dramatically impact my life, my future, and me. Some of them are fluff, naturally, but others of them mean real life changes on my part, and I love that I don't feel pressured to do them immediately, but instead I have the course of 2.75 years to marinate on the ideas and figure out how to best implement them in my own life. I love that they are all mine - I came up with them, they were all things I wanted, and no one else is holding me accountable. Hell, if I hadn't posted this, none of you would even know I was doing it!

I love the most that I put them up in a place where I see them almost daily. They aren't harsh, they don't scream at me, and most days I ignore them (mainly because they get wrinkled and it drives me bonkers), but I know they are there, and days like today when I need a little pick-me-up, I can leave my closet door open those extra 2 minutes, grab a pen, and start checking, crossing, and writing things down on my little list. And then, just like that, I can shut the door feeling accomplished and proud because I have changed, I have become a better person, and I am me!

Goodbye Dell, Hello Acer

2011-07-06T21:35:00.001-04:00

When I was in college, I had a friend who would always call me to go to lunch on Fridays because she knew that I would likely be hungover, and therefore would try to spend money in order to make myself feel better. It never worked for me, but she always got a free lunch out of it. Good thing I liked her company so much.

Honestly, I don't know when I started associating spending money with feeling better, but some things never change. After a surprisingly crappy kick-off to one of my favorite long weekends of the year, I decided it was time to kick my shopping into high gear.

First stop, new computer. I've been toying with the idea of buying a new computer for a while, and what better time to do it than when I was trying to buy my own happiness? I typically avoid shopping at Wal-Mart, but since there (to my knowledge) aren't any local computer retailers, I felt okay with my Wal-Mart computer purchase. Plus, the price really couldn't be beat.

The only poor review I found was that the computer wasn't so durable, but considering the furthest I move my computer is between my couch and bed, I figured it was a safe bet. I also did not purchase the extended warranty for the same reason.

I've got a few other pending purchases up my sleeve. Now if only I hadn't spent Friday moping, I could have maximized my weekend and taken a short trip to the outlet malls for the ultimate in shopping. I have plenty of open weeknight in my future though. Who knows what will happen?

What's on your "Cheer Me Up" shopping list ?

My First Round of Acupuncture

2011-07-06T21:27:00.000-04:00

Disclaimer: I apologize in advance for how wordy this is. I didn't want to leave a single detail out! And none of the pictures are mine, they just were the best ones I found to go with what I was writing when I found them :)

Today I went to see an acupuncturist. I went for a variety of reasons to help me with things that I felt like my regular doctor was not able to help me with in the way I wanted her to. Nothing against her, just my own preferences. I wanted to at least explore other options before jumping into traditional medicine. And now, I'm SO glad I did!

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A few weeks ago I tweeted at @CaitlinHTP, whose husband is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, asking for recommendations on finding an acupuncturist. I had no idea where to begin! She directed me here. I found someone in my area, called her, and she returned my call, informing me that she was no longer practicing. I didn't know it at the time, but I am really glad I phoned only female acupuncturists! She was able to refer me to someone else in Atlanta, so I called her referral, asked a few questions, and voila!

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There were a few other things I had to do in the meantime, such as call insurance to find out if they would cover it, etc, but I'll leave that for another time (or you can ask in the comments!)

I went in today having quite literally no idea what to expect because like an idiot, I left the papers I was supposed to fill out prior to my appointment sitting on my desk at work. And herein lies part of the problem! The woman (I'm not entirely sure what to call her and I don't want to keep referring to her as "the acupuncturist" even though that is what she is…) brought me into her room – if you have ever had a massage at a smaller, local massage clinic, it was similar to that. Dimly lit, comfy chairs, large table in the middle of the room, etc. My appointment was scheduled for 2 full hours – 1 hour of intake and 1 hour-long session. I ended up staying a full 2.5 hours!

I filled out a ton of paperwork regarding my health, diet, digestive system, bodily functions, and everything in between. Just as an example of how invasive the questions were, one of them was "Do you have trouble reaching an orgasm?" Riiiiiight. After I answered all the questions on the paperwork, she started digging a little deeper, asking why I was there, asking questions about my answers to the paperwork, and genuinely getting to know me and why I was there. I didn’t look at my watch, but I'd say she spent a solid 45 minutes asking me about topics ranging from stress to my diet to my sleep schedule to digestion to physical pain and so many other things. We spent the majority of the time focusing on the reasons I was there, but she definitely made sure to touch on everything. She was thorough, patient, understanding, and explained things to me so simply. She also commented on things that could change and kind of explained why. At the time I wished she would have explained more, but in the end I would have never remembered the whys and hows so I'm grateful to just know what I should and shouldn't make an effort to do.

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Then she left the room but not before explaining that I could undress, leaving certain pieces on because of what she would be doing. I started out face up and at first I thought she was taking my pulse… I found out later she was actually testing 6 pulse points. Then she had my roll over and she made pen marks on my back and did what felt like measured in between. I saw later she had something that looked like a ruler lattice. I know, technical terms. Then she put in all the needles. Some I felt a lot, some I hardly felt at all. Some I could feel the whole time I laid there and some I forgot were there. It definitely didn’t hurt, but I'm not squeamish about needles or anything.

Then, she clicked off the light and told me to sink deeper and deeper into myself and asked if I wanted music or silence. I opted for music, and then I practiced one of the breathing techniques we talked about earlier while I laid there in the dark. I have no idea how long I laid there for, but I definitely fell asleep. Not a deep hard sleep though – it just felt restorative. A little nap! She came back in and asked how I felt.

I think the hardest part for me was her asking me how I felt and if I felt anything – I kept wanting to ask how I was supposed to feel but I knew that wasn't the point so I really tried to just let my body guide me and tell me how it was feeling. That sounds hokey and ridiculous but… I did it.

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We talked about potential Chinese herbs and then she did something where they were "lit" and she wanted me to tell her when they felt warm on my skin. She did those on my back and on my stomach. I wish I knew what the "real" name was but… I don’t. Maybe next time.

The last part of the treatment was performed on my stomach and wrists. She asked very specifically if I felt anything, and it was shocking how much I really felt! It was really cool to see the physical response from my body and to feel it.

And that was it! She left me to re-dress and meet her in the lobby where we talked about a liquid supplement. I'm not entirely positive I'll take it. She gave me some recommendations for things to change in my daily habits – foods to avoid, drinks to avoid, and behaviors to modify. She's also going to email me some information about meditation.

Ultimately, I loved it. I felt like it was therapy and medicine combined into one. I trusted her completely and I am really looking forward to my next session and to seeing how this changes me. It is going to take some commitment on my end (she recommended little to no dairy products…seriously?) but I am going to try my best to be serious about it. Starting by coming home and heating up the best macaroni and cheese I've ever eaten. I'll start that whole no-dairy thing tomorrow :)

I'd love to answer your questions or let you know how I got acupuncture covered by my insurance! I don't think I was intimidated before my session today, but I definitely didn’t know what to expect, so hopefully this first-hand account gives you a little piece of mind and piques your interest.

I think the best thing the acupuncturist said to me over the course of our time together was that acupuncture was not for everyone, and I would know pretty quickly if I was or wasn’t for me, and that was okay and she encouraged me to listen to my body and do what was best for me. I appreciated that more than any other piece of information she gave me.

Change Your Life Challenge: Cooking!

2011-07-05T10:56:00.000-04:00

Remember when I used to post about delicious recipes I had created at home? Me too. Those were the days. The days before work consumed my life. The days before travel budgets lured me out of my house and into restaurants. The days before I gained 18.2 pounds because I mean...what's one more chip dipped in queso? The days before dinner with friends who I don't normally get to see during the week took priority over eating at home. Eating healthy. Eating normal portion sizes. Remember what I said about travel budgets? Apparently they mean ordering everything on the menu, too.

Guess what all of this means? It's time for my next...

It may seem silly to dedicate only a week to changing what has clearly become a lifetsyle for me, but I really think I just need to refocus and get myself back on track. I want to start cooking again. I want to start grocery shopping again. I want food to stop going bad in my fridge (or acquiring layer upon layer of freezer burn in my freezer!) I also really, really want to focus on cooking just for me. Not cooking for 1800 and freezing leftovers. I don't eat them. I want to cook for 1, me, moi, uno.

When: Starting today, Tuesday, July 5, through next Monday, July 11.

Why: I'm tired of eating out and feeling like crap afterwards. Plus, I miss cooking!

How: Plan at least 3 meals per week and focus on making enough to serve me for dinner and maybe some leftovers for lunch. But that's not the goal - I want to learn to cook just for myself without weeks worth of leftovers.

If you are ready to participate in this challenge, then comment on this entry so we can support each other! Got questions about the "Change Your Life Challenge"? Email me with any questions or concerns you have.

If you accept the challenge, post the challenge logo on your blog and encourage more people to scurry over here and sign up for the challenge, too!

Grab the link for the logo: http://i54.tinypic.com/28rfe6a.jpg if you'd like! Feel free to copy and paste (and post) this entry at your own blog. Just give credit and share the love!

June Top Ten

2011-07-04T11:08:00.001-04:00

A visit from my best friend

Pulling off a successful surprise party for my roommate

Shooting the hooch with friends

Going to da club

3 hour long birthday brunch in Washington DC

3 glorious days at the beach

Having a crush on a boy

The end of basketball season

Pints for a Purpose and ensuing GT baseball game

Getting 2nd place in my kickball league

What were the top 10 things you did in June?

2011-07-02T21:48:00.000-04:00

We all have bad days. Some of us have more bad days than others. I am so not that person. 99% of my days are good. But you know what that means? When I have bad days, they feel 100x worse than they actually are.

I am an emotional person anyway, but bad days just really put me over the edge.

Yesterday was a bad day. It involves someone else, and their business is not mine to put out on the internet so I'm not going to, but suffice to say I spent the majority of the day alternating between crying giant alligator tears in my bed, crying giant alligator tears to my mom, and napping. Maybe I overreacted, I'm not really sure, but my feelings were hurt and I hadn't felt this way in a long, long time, so I just didn't know how to deal. But, like most things, you remember. I remembered that I know myself really well. I remembered that I really need to let myself have that time to wallow. I don't want anyone else around, I just want to feel sorry for myself and lay in bed and be pathetic.

Today, things are different. Granted, I'm still hurting and things are not perfect again, but I'm more myself than I was yesterday. Today I got up out of bed, I made a to-do list, and I crossed quite a few things off of it. I had friends over and I was able to make good effort towards snapping out of my funk.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, we all have bad days, and we all deal with them differently. Some people surround themselves with friends, some people mope and whine and complain until reality forces them to stop, and others find a happy medium. There is no perfect solution for everyone, so you just have to know what is best for you. I do know that if I had let myself mope much more, I would have started getting concerned because it wasn't like me.

So now, c'est la vie on my favorite holiday weekend of the year!

Bridesmaid 101: Bachelorette Party

2011-06-29T09:32:00.000-04:00

It's HERE.

Everytime I load my Facebook feed (which is a lot more often than I care to admit), another person has changed their relationship status to engaged. I love it! For a while it was people I knew, but wasn't close to, but now that is changing as well and people I am close to, people I have shared countless memories with, are making plans to tie the knot!

I am not the first or last person to offer advice on wedding gifting and party throwing, but every penny counts right?

This post is going to focus on the bachelorette party, but I'm planning to do follow-up posts on everything else that we (the bridesmaids/friends of the bride) put together in an attempt to make the year before our sweet friend says "I do" a memorable one!

When planning the bachelorette party, we very quickly determined who would and would not be able to attend based on age. 3 of the bridesmaids were under 21, so we immediately counted them out for the big shebang. (We did, however, make plans for a "Mini-bachelorette" that would include everyone closer to the wedding).

The next step was figuring out where to host the party. The majority of the attendees lived in Atlanta, and while it sounded inexpensive, it also sounded a little...boring. I think we all also knew it would be challenging to stay on our home turf and not get very distracted running into friends, boys, etc. We contemplated coming up with a set of rules for if we stayed in Atlanta, but that basically turned the Bachelorette Party into a Follow-My-Rules Party and who wants to play by the rules? Not us!

We started tossing around destination ideas, including Texas (where one of the other bridesmaids lives), Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and the beach - Destin, Myrtle Beach, and Jekyll Island, to be exact. Ultimately we landed on Destin. Why?

1. Proximity to Atlanta
2. Great beaches
3. Party town
4. Inexpensive

I made a few phone calls, got in touch with someone at Dale E. Peterson Rentals - they were SO helpful and the condo we rented was seriously wonderful. I only had a few complaints - one, the pool was far away from the beach and not very nice, and two, the beach was reallly narrow in this area and there were tons of reserved chairs put out which made it dififcult to find a spot for our own things. In the grand scheme of things, not a big deal, but things to think about.

We arrived on Thursday evening and spent that night settling in, drinking wine, and catching up as only girlfriends know how to do. Somehow we stayed up until 3am on our "take it easy" night. Oops? I blame the champagne.

As resident party planner, I had little giftbags made up for all the bridesmaids. Little did I know, so did the bride!

Neither of the gifts were anything fancy - probably didn't cost more than $10, but it was the thought that counts! The sand bucket had names on the outside, plus animal crackers, aloe, glowsticks, and some other random goodies I can't remember. The party bags had sparklers, mini-liquor bottles, and customized wine glasses. So much fun!

Friday night was our big night out - matching outfits, sashes, paraphernalia, the whole nine yards. We planned to go to dinner, and then go straight from dinner to whatever bar was close by and had large groups of the opposite gender. Mission freaking accomplished.

We made a list of things for the Bride-to-Be to check off, and before heading out, we all agreed it was going to be a challenge to cross them all off. We could not have been more wrong. The second we walked into the first (and only) bar we stopped at, it was non-stop "let me check something off the list!" I can't believe I am going to admit this on the internet, but we came home with bras on the outside of our clothing, a pair of men's underwear, a condom, a photo of a bald man and a kiss, and a list that was used and abused. We also met more dudes claiming to be "Adam" than I ever could have imagined. (One of the items on the checklist was to kiss a man with the same first name as the groom).

We stayed up all night Friday night, watching the sunrise and generally enjoying each other's company. The rest of the weekend was a little more low-key, but we still managed to have a blast. I'd say grand total we each spent about $400, which for a weekend at the beach combined with a bachelorette party isn't all that bad in my book.

The bride had a blast, the bridesmaids in attendance had a blast, and I think it was one of those weekends I'll remember forever. There is just something to be said about the magic of drinking out of a straw shaped in the form of a male sex organ...

Daddys Girl

2011-06-24T16:54:00.000-04:00

I wrote a post about my mom so it's only fitting that I dedicate a little corner of the internet to my dad!

If there were ever a child to belong to my father, it is me. I look like my dad, I act like my dad, I talk like my dad, I am built like my dad...in short, I am basically the female version of my obstinate, opinionated, pain in the ass father.

My dad also happens to be the first person I call for business advice, the first person to tell me how proud he is of me, the first person to help me before I ask for it, and the first one to give me his undying love and support.

My dad has pushed me further than I ever thought I could go. And trust me, I have pushed back. I have fought with my dad countless more times than I have agreed with him. I have gone weeks without speaking to him. (I don't think he was disappointed). When I make a mistake, my dad is the first person to point it out. It's maddening sometimes.

My dad is a fighter - not only did he kick cancer to the curb once, but he did it twice. He's battled for 10+ years and never once let it get him down or let it stop him. He may work himself into an early grave, but never will I say that my father is a quitter.

My dad may not be the handiest guy on the planet, and he may not be able to run a marathon, and he definitely can't spell any words with more than 4 letters without asking for help, but he is the reason I am who I am. Everything I do is so that I don't disappoint my dad, so that I can make him proud, and he never forgets to tell me that I have done exactly that.

From 2007 - June

And in case you didn't know, my dad has a fantastic sense of style...

My dad has shown me in so many ways what it means to love someone without words. He is my biggest fan, my biggest critic, and my best friend.

I love you Daddy, and happy late father's day.

First Dates

2011-06-23T14:07:00.001-04:00

So I've admitted to online dating. My feelings about it still haven't changed, in case you are wondering.

Here's what I want to know though.

Ladies: When you go out on a date with a guy, what do you do when the bill comes (assuming you were at dinner)?

Dudes: When you take a lady out on a date, what do you expect her to do when the bill comes?

I've kind of discussed this before, but not necessarily in this context (and it was a long while ago).

Here is what I do, and I think based on a brief Twitter poll it is incorrect. Can you believe I am publicly admitting I might be wrong?

If I met the dude via online dating, my expectation is that he is going to pay and I do not offer. I do not reach for my wallet, I do not pretend to reach for the bill when it gets to the table. I simply let him take the check and make sure I say thank you more than once. I had to explain this to a friend last night and my thought was this. When you are participating in online dating, especially on a site where you pay to use it, it's kind of like the first date has already happened. When you actually meet with someone, you really have gone through all the first date crap. You know where they are from, a few things they like to do...you've done the basics. I see it as online dating skips straight to a second date. Am I making sense? How snobby and bratty does that make me sound? Don't be honest.

But, if I met a guy out at a bar and he got my number and we're going on a date, I think I'd assess the situation a little differently. I might even offer to leave the tip (if I have cash and if it's appropriate) or pay for the valet. Whatever will work.

But really, I think I am old fashioned. I think it's stupid that girls (my friends) reach for their wallets with no intention of actually paying. And really, if I'm going out on a first or second date with a guy who wanted to go dutch, we probably shouldn't be going out in the first place.

So back to my original questions.

Ladies: When you go out on a date with a guy, what do you do when the bill comes (assuming you were at dinner)?

Dudes: When you take a lady out on a date, what do you expect her to do when the bill comes?

Tuesday, My Old Friend

2011-06-21T15:46:00.000-04:00

Were you wondering if I forgot I had a blog?

Oh right, you know me better than that. You probably assumed I had nothing to say.

I know, I know, let's be real, when is the last time that happened?

I can hear my mom from 600+ miles away shouting, "You haven't shut up since the day you started talking!"

Pipe down, mom. Some people don't know me the way you do, and I've got to keep the facade!

But just in case you were wondering where I've been, here's, quite literally, a snapshot view of what I've been doing.

I've been at weddings,

(where my best friend caught the bouquet)

visiting friends in Washington DC,

(where it was a whole hell of a lot warmer than in this picture)

floating down questionably contaminated rivers,

reading books,

(I might have liked it better from the mom's point of view),

food-trucking,

kitty-sitting,

(this is Sugar's internet debut)

perpetuating my leopard print obsession,

and basically pretending to be footloose and fancy free.

The thing is, I'm still busy. But if you noticed, that list was not consumed with things that require me to leave my house, or things that even require me to get out of my pajamas. This is a win-win for everyone, because if I had to do things that required me to leave my pajamas, it would be really awkward when I showed up in XXXL sweatpants and a "Rush Pike 2001" tshirt. Just sayin'.

What have you been doing?

Roasting a Chicken

2011-06-12T18:14:00.000-04:00

Yep, I'm about to write ~300 words about roasting a chicken.

You start out with this:

You unwrap it. You wash your hands of chicken juice 9843920 times. Gross.

You pull all the really really gross stuff out and put it down the drain as quickly as humanly possible.

Confession: I bought a chicken and then froze it, and it was about 95% defrosted when I wanted to put it in the oven, and the innards were the part still frozen. Let me tell you - frozen innards are SO MUCH MORE PLEASANT than slimy, thick, thawed innards. Gross.

After the innards have been removed, place the chicken on a plate. (I'm kicking myself for not photographing this entire process, but at the time I was consumed with the thought of chicken juices getting on my brand freaking new, hasn't even left my house camera).

I haven't tried this method yet, but I basically have become obsessed with How Sweet It Is, so I took all of her chicken roasting recipes and combined them into one and went to town. Here's to hoping it turns out.

So first you cut up an onion and put it on the bottom of a pan. Then you shove a lemon & a head of garlic up where the chicken's sun don't shine. I didn't have a lemon & I peeled my garlic and put a bunch of individual cloves in. I also didn't have a whole onion, so I cut my onions a little...thin. Again, we'll see what happens.

Then, I returned to the chicken on a plate and drenched the chicken in olive oil on one side. Then sea salt, then black pepper. Then I flipped the chicken over and repeated.

Place chicken on top of onions. Wash hands. Then wash hands again. Place chicken, on top of onions, in pan, in the oven which was preheating to 425 degrees this whole time.

Leave it there for 90 minutes or so and don't mess with it unless you are in the middle of writing a blog post and decide it's absolutely vital that you take pictures of the dang bird. Then and only then may you open the oven.

The end. The chicken turned out fantastically. My absolute favorite part about roasting a chicken is all the leftovers - you can do anything with them! Chicken Tortilla soup, chicken & egg burritos, chicken tacos, chicken salad...the options are endless!

So don't be afraid of roasting a chicken - just do it! It's a piece of cake!

My Mom

2011-06-08T13:26:00.000-04:00

This morning I decided that I am going to text my mom every day and tell her what I am thankful for. I figured this would come as no surprise to her, because I've also called her out of the blue with instructions for what to do should she find out I've been in a horrific car accident and also what to do if anything else happens to me where I can't communicate for myself. I need to revamp those plans, because my go-to people now live further away than my parents. CRAP.

Anyway, I didn't tell her I was going to tell her what I was thankful for every day, all I did was send her a text that said:

Today I am thankful for new friends. What you thankful for?

My mom texted me back a few hours later and said:

I am thankful for a good doctor report for your uncle.

This made me happy for so many reasons.

1. The fact that I randomly texted my mom and told her what I was thankful for and she responded back without batting an eyelash.
2. The fact that my uncle received a good doctor report. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 stomach cancer 18 months ago and has been kicking cancer's ass ever since.
3. That my mom is so selfless that she is not thankful for something for herself, but rather something for someone else (and what that means for his family/my 14 and 17 year old cousins).

There are so many things I am thankful for, new friends included, but you know what I realized? I am so thankful for my giving, loving, caring mom.

New Tunes

2011-06-07T14:17:00.000-04:00

I was listening to the radio last night on my way home from seeing Bridesmaids and I heard a song that I loved. It sounded really familiar. When it was over, the radio DJ annouced that it was Gloriana's new single, Wanna Take You Home.

I love it! This morning I got to work and promptly turned on my iPod. Typically I just turn on a playlist and let it run for the day, but today I carefully selected an Artist to listen to: Gloriana.

The band holds a special place in my heart. The spring after I graduated from college, their first single kind of became a theme song of sorts for my 4 best friends and I. We listened to it on repeat during roadtrips, on our way out to the bar, while we were getting ready for graduation, and so many other times. And by repeat, I mean 100+ times in a row. Seriously.

Some mornings I wake up to an email from one of those girls with the song lyrics and a simple "miss you, love you" and it warms my heart. No other words - just song lyrics. It kind of reminds me of that movie "Raising Helen" where the oldest sister gets so mad when the sister who passes away leaves Helen a note and all it has is song lyrics. That's how I feel about Wild at Heart - I just get it, and if any of my friends send me an email with just lyrics, I know exactly what they are trying to say.

To say that song brings me back to a place in time is a huge understatement.

I've been listening to their album on repeat all day (why I haven't done this before, I'm not sure) but I love it! All the songs are great, catchy, the singing is phenomenal...I highly recommend! And I hope you all enjoyed my little walk down memory lane.

How To Fight the Afternoon Blues

2011-06-02T13:51:00.000-04:00

In case you were unaware, it's Thursday. It's approximately 2pm and I could fall asleep with my eyes open it feels like. I have been staying up way too late this week between basketball games (I am obligated to say Go Heat!) & a coworker's last night in town, and today I am paying for it dearly. I am generally pretty good at keeping myself awake when the afternoon sleepies hit and I thought I'd share some of the ways I manage that with you guys. Despite my recent discovery of a delicious coffee concoction, I really make efforts to stay away from caffeine & soda. Honestly, it really messes with me! So here are my "au natural" ways to ~~not fall asleep at your desk~~ get through the afternoon.

1. Get up and walk around! This is probably my #1 go to cure. A lap around the office can work wonders, and extra bonus if you make a new friend in the office or combine it with a "work" conversation!

2. Grab a glass of water. It requires me to move away from my desk and then when I sit back down I have something to do (duh, drink the water).

3. Turn on some music! I have an iPod docking station at my desk and I'm lucky enough to typically have my office to myself, so I can play my music as loud as I want. Even when my officemate is here, we have the same taste in music so we have sing alongs! Even if you are working in cramped quarters or in cubes, you can still rock out with your headphones! (Don't forget to be mindful of your coworkers though!)

4. Do a brain dump. Getting everything on your probably endless to-do list down on paper will make your afternoon seem less daunting and more manageable, and will probably help you increase productivity and the more productive you are, the less tired you are!

5. Mentally check out for a minute! Check your Twitter feed, read CNN.com, write an email to a friend, catch up on your favorite blogs...whatever you enjoy, take 5 and do that (as long as company policy allows!)

I wish I could come up with more, but I'm fresh out of ideas. What do you do to rejuvenate in the middle of the afternoon?

Running (Yes, again)

2011-05-31T19:39:00.000-04:00

I started running* again today. At least my Change Your Life Challenge gave me something new to complain about!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post, likely to be titled: 10 Reasons Why I Don't Run (and why I am quitting again).

*loose definition. 2 miles in just under** 30 minutes
**as in, 29:49, but who's counting

For what it's worth, my ultimate goal is to be able to run a 5k in that same time. So, basically I want to add a mile. I wonder if I'll actually reach that goal. It would be pretty awesome if I did!

How I Accidentally Spent an Entire Sunday

2011-05-29T21:50:00.000-04:00

I recorded this show when it aired earlier this spring and never got around to watching it. I woke up bright & early this morning and wanted something to look at so I turned on Off the Map...and never turned it off.

How could I with him as one of the main characters?

source

I'm debating starting a Friday Night Lights Final Season party, but I think I've had enough TV for the weekend.

At least I washed my sheets and cleaned my bathroom before the marathon started!

Are You Tired of Hearing About My Garden?

2011-05-28T15:41:00.000-04:00

I bought my garden and planted everything in mid-March, so a little over 2 months ago. I have been tracking the progress on the blog, which has been a lot of fun for me!

I check on my little plants every morning & water them then. I typically fill up 2 pitchers of water and distribute evenly.

I took these pictures on Thursday morning, so before all the giant storms hit Atlanta. The bigger peppers are starting to turn red as of this morning, which is super exciting to me! It means they are almost ready to be picked!

Those are my cucumbers. So far, they haven't been so successful. There is one on the vine right now that I don't think is going to be a keeper either. From what I have read, I should probably just go ahead and pick it but I want it to grow! Hopefully I'll get one that I can eat!

And the tragedy that was my broccoli seems to be coming back to life. I am convinced that I have a green thumb. Remember when I tried to drown my cucumber plant? Well, that's the one that is producing the most vegetables! I just left it alone and it came back to life and now it's just going to town on cucumber production! I guess the broccoli felt the same way about the worms. I'm not going to hold out hope but at the same time...it's growing! I guess the broccoli didn't really need those leaves anyway.

So, I've learned a lot about growing plants. I'm definitely going to do it again, maybe even in the fall! Honestly, it's been really, really easy. There was a little effort at the beginning to get the planters and the soil & fertilizer, and now I just have to water them. I added more fertilizer last week and that seemed to really jumpstart the broccoli. As I did more research, I realized that I probably should have been adding fertilizer every week. Lesson learned!

I think the biggest thing I learned is that some things you have to do kind of fly by the seat of your pants. I could have done tons and tons of research, but it seems like when it comes to growing plants you just have to jump in head first and try. The worst thing that happens is that worms eat your plants and they die before they grow anything. But, you can remedy that too! Plus, with a view like the one I have, I am convinced you can grow vegetables anywhere.

Hopefully I'll have more to report back in a couple weeks :)

10 Things on a Thursday

2011-05-26T15:07:00.000-04:00

1. I talk out loud to myself in my office when the door is shut. Wouldn't you if you had your own office?

2. I woke up this morning feeling so grateful to have such fabulous friends who know me so well. My best friend in the entire world is going to be in town next week and I am going to see so many friends and share so many wonderful memories over the next few months - it just left my heart feeling very full and satisfied this morning.

3. I grew 1 cucumber so far but it was a little...odd-shaped. Hopefully the rest of them will be a little more normal and I'll feel safe eating them.

4. I broke my camera. I sent it in to be fixed, then I bought a point-and-shoot because I have the patience of a 2 year old, then I found out my DSLR is being replaced. But the store I bought it from stopped carrying my model. I mean, really? So now I'm going to get an upgraded model but apparently I have to pay more and just, ugh. I need somone else to deal with this first-world problem for me. I miss my camera :(

5. I have zilch, zip, zero plans for Memorial Day weekend. Well, that's partially untrue. I have a date tomorrow night, and then I'm going to a birthday party, and I have a friend who wants to meet up for a drink on Saturday night. But other than that, my weekend is wide open.

6. I recently read The Pioneer Woman's book. I love P-Dub as much as the next girl (maybe more), but I wished her book ended differently. It was kinda abrupt. Maybe there's a part 2 that I don't know about.

7. I only skipped out on exercise 1 day so far this week, and that was on Monday, and I skipped exercising because I had heart palpitations over my grocery store bill. It was over $100. I only feed one person.

8. It's my job to plan Friday lunch at work this week (and next week too) and I only spent 1/2 of my budget this week. I wonder if that means I get to spend the other half plus my whole budget for next Friday's lunch? PARTAY if that's the case!

9. I skipped yoga last night and went for a walk instead and then I ate dinner at Nuevo Laredo and drank 2 Coronas, because that's what responsible kids do. I tried to convince my dinner companion to take tequila shots but he declined, stating that it would be an aggressive move for 9pm on a Wednesday. Fine, fine.

10. I just typed something incredibly passive-aggressive and then deleted it. See Mom, I'm growing up in the mature young lady you always hoped I would be.

Happy Memorial Day weekend, someone remind me next year that I should take a vacation around this time. I'm long overdue.

The Ultimate Dilemma

2011-05-24T20:56:00.000-04:00

I'm really not that great at dating.

Exhibit A: Boy invites me to go out "one night next week." I forget to respond until next week is halfway over. Oops?

Exhibit B: Boy suggests we go out Thursday or Friday night and offers 3 places to go. I have never been to any so I say "Sure! I am up for trying something new, you pick!" He says "Ok, how about Friday at 8?" I panic.

^^ the face of panic

What do you do when someone wants to make plans for a Friday night, particularly when you have no plans yourself? First of all, do you look like a loser if you say yes, because clearly you have no Friday night plans? And second of all, if I look like a loser, then isn't he a loser too because he clearly has no other Friday night plans either? So then are we just 2 losers going on a date? Because I am not a loser! Or does that then become my Friday night plans and then I am suddenly cool again because I have plans on a Friday night? And so then does that mean he is using me to look cool so he can have plans on a Friday night?

Now you know what it is like to live in my head, and why I will likely never marry and just end up some crazy lady with 17 couches in her condo and plants on her balcony. Oh yeah, I'm already there. Win win?

For the record, I said yes, so now I have Friday night plans. I am really not sure if this makes me cool or a complete loser. The fact that I blogged about it leads me to believe the latter is the case. Someone stop me.

Updated to add: I hope he never reads this. I might die.

Blogger Book Swap

2011-05-24T11:36:00.000-04:00

I "met" Claire via the sweet Summer B. Turns out Claire & I grew up in the same suburb of Atlanta! She is now kickin' it on the West Coast but I like to live vicariously through her blog. And I'm secretly jealous of her prison poetry gig -- seriously one of the coolest volunteer jobs I've heard of.

Anyway, Claire is doing a Blogger Book Swap and I am absolutely, 100% participating. I love books, I love new books...why not?!

If you are interested in participating, here's the rundown:

1. Email Claire (kieferclaire@gmail.com) or Lindsay (undomesticchica@gmail.com) with your name, address, blog url, and reading interests. Email them by May 30th! (If you don't have a blog, you can definitely still participate, right Claire?!)

2. We/They will email you with your partner's info on May 31st.

3. Once you get your partner's info, send her a book or two that you have around your house that you think she might enjoy. It could be something you've read and loved, or just something you've heard great things about. All genres are welcome, just try not to send something suuuuper popular (so that you don't end up sending books your partner already has). Mail your book(s) out by June 4th!

4. A week or so after the books have been mailed, Lindsay and Claire will host a little link party and showcase the books people sent/received. Fun, right?

Please spread the word and put our button on your blog! We're so excited about this and can't wait to pair you up. We hope you join us!!

Change Your Life Challenge #3

2011-05-22T13:14:00.000-04:00

Remember the Change Your Life Challenge?

I got all pumped up about it and my friends were talking about it and then it just kind of...fizzled away.

I (kind of) ate vegetarian for a week. I donated clothes like I was supposed to. And I haven't done anything since then. Well, not true. I have made some really awesome progress on my 101 in 1001 list, but I was really misisng that week-long CHALLENGE. Something that jump-started my own personal goals.

Enter my own Change Your Life Challenege. If the powers that be aren't brainstorming anymore, I'll do them on my own (and hope that you will play along!)

Who: Me, and whoever else would like to join!

What: Exercise for 30+ minutes every day of the week

When: Starting today, Sunday May 22, through Saturday, May 28. (I know this isn't a lot of prep time, so if you can't start until Tuesday, start Tuesday and go through next Monday!)

Why: It's so easy to get unmotivated when it comes to exercise, so I just need a little kick in the pants! Especially with the warmer weather and all the fun social activities that means!

How: Today I walked for 50 minutes (to my office and back home, 3 miles!). I intend to take a yoga class at Red Hot Yoga with a Living Social coupon I purchased, play tennis at least once, go on another walk, and who knows what else! You could do a class at a gym, 30 minutes of weight lifting in your apartment complex fitness room, a yoga video, Wii Fit for 30 minutes, walk your dog for 30 minutes...the possibilities are endless!

If you are ready to participate in this challenge, then comment on this entry so we can support each other!

Got questions about the "Change Your Life Challenge"? Email me with any questions or concerns you have.

If you accept the challenge, post the challenge logo on your blog and encourage more people to scurry over here and sign up for the challenge, too!

Grab the link for the logo: http://i54.tinypic.com/28rfe6a.jpg and check out the hashtag on Twitter.

Feel free to copy and paste (and post) this entry at your own blog. Just give credit and share the love!

PSA: Facebook Edition

2011-05-20T09:54:00.000-04:00

I promise I am not the bitter single girl. This post may make me sound like I am, but really, I swear, I'm not.

We are all adults, right? We are grown-ups with real jobs, Master's degrees, house payments, and serious relationships. And Facebook is just as much fun now that we are adults as it was when we were 18 and stalking our high school friends to see who went to college and who didn't and who was cheating on their high school sweetheart and who wasn't. Only now I ~~stalk~~ peruse Facebook to see who got married, who had the prettiest wedding, and who's baby is the cutest.

What I don't stalk facebook for is to see posts between husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, or yes, even mother & infant child, expressing their love and devotion and excitement about seeing them later that day (when they likely woke up next to said person 3 hours ago). Daily.

If you are wondering if I am talking about you, I am. Although in all fairness, this post is not directed at any one person in particular. Just the group of individuals who partake in previously mentioned activities.

Case and point, this morning after my cup of coffee, I ventured into facebook land. BAM - what are the first 3 posts in my newsfeed?

1. "Missing ____ sooooo much today."
2. "Mommy and Baby can't wait for Daddy to come home from work and spend the WHOLE weekend with us. We love him so much!"
3. "It's your love, it just does something to me...." and upon further investigation, the ENTIRE SONG had been posted between the 2 Facebook walls...more than once.

Here's the thing - I'm all about being in Facebook relationships, telling someone how much you appreciate them or love them on Facebook, and public displays of affection. I really, really am. But like I said - we are adults. I can only assume that if you and your baby's daddy made, well, a baby together, and you're still married, you probably are really damn excited for him to come home. And if you are living 3000 miles from your significant other, you probably do miss them so much today, and tomorrow, and the next day. But really, why do you have to let the whole world see that? Why do you let them in on what could be the sweetest part of your relationship?

I'm all about offering suggestions to remedy what I see as a problem so here is my advice: Say it out loud! Send it in a text message! Send it in an email! Send it via owl!

Maybe one day when I'm not a single lady I too will splatter facebook with my expressions of love, but for now, I'll leave Facebook for messages like "ET phone home" and "If you don't pick up the phone next time I call you I'm never speaking to you again." Because clearly, that's what facebook is for.

Ride the Bus

2011-05-19T10:47:00.000-04:00

Never in my life did I think that I would be a promoter of public transportation. In fact, I have been about as anti-public transportation as it gets for as long as I can remember. Too confusing, too dirty, too many people, too inconvenient, you name it, I had a reason why it should not be used.

Until now.

It is a well-known opinion that Atlanta's public transportation (MARTA) is rather, well, unhelpful. While I am not here to dispute the effectiveness of MARTA, I thought I'd do a little PSA regarding my best practices and ways to utilize the system.

I take the bus to work just about every single day. Parking at our office is $110/month versus MARTA unlimited pass at $60/month. They also have a student discount if you are still a student (or know one...) It takes me 30 minutes door to door using MARTA, 15 driving, so while my commute has doubled, my cost was cut almost in half.

I have found the most useful bus route to be the 110 The Peach bus. It goes from Lenox Mall all the way to Five Points Station straight down Peachtree. I have taken this route to football games, out to the bar on the weekend (both in Buckead & in Midtown), to the airport...the list is endless. The stops are frequent so if you live close to Peachtree Road, you are probably close to a 110 bus stop. One thing to remember: going south on Peachtree, every other 110 bus stops at Arts Center Station and turns back around to go north. Just look at the front of the bus and if it says Five Points, you're probably good to go. Or, you can ask the bus driver, but don't be surprised if you get a snippity response. You may be the 98049320th person to ask the same question, you'd be testy too.

Just recently I decided I needed to put my Marta pass to better use and not just ride up and down Peachtree Street. Google Maps to the rescue! Did you know it will show you bus routes to your destination along with times? It's pretty awesome. I was leaving work and going to dinner on Howell Mill Road. I put the addresses into Google Maps and turns out, there was a bus that left from the 10th Street Station (#12), traveled down 10th street to Howell Mill and turned north, dropping me off RIGHT in front of the restaurant! No changing buses, no fuss, no muss. It was so easy!

A little more research showed that I could also take a bus very easily into the Highlands. Who needs a taxi when you have a bus? Granted, it does take a little more time, but let me just tell you...the stories you walk away with are often worth it.

Anyway, perhaps you are feeling enlightened or perhaps you are thinking I am a whacko for dedicating an entire post to the zoo that is Atlanta public transportation, but I hope you are at least a little bit more informed and less intimidated by MARTA buses!

Maybe some other day I'll make a whole post regarding the things I have seen (and wish I hadn't seen) on MARTA buses. Last night was a "I wish there were more people like that" moment, which does happen more often than you'd think.

The Online Date Debate

2011-05-14T09:12:00.000-04:00

I've debated for a long time about whether or not I wanted to divulge the fact that I have joined the world of online dating right here on my old blogarooski. I'd be lying if I said it was because I was afraid the potential dates would find it; it was more about my being embarassed that I had "stooped" so low as to online dating. I didn't want people to judge me - people who I haven't seen or spoken to in years, but have somehow stumbled onto my blog via word of mouth or just plain luck. Trust me, it happens.

Anyway, I have decided to go ahead and share with you my online dating experience because it's basically over, so I don't have much to worry about anymore. And really, what do I care if you judge me, strangers on the internet?!

I joined the online dating world a little under a year ago. I felt like I needed to meet new people. I have friends (shocking...) and very good ones at that, but it's kinda hard to meet people when I'm out and about on a Friday night because a) I've usually had enough cocktails to make me easily distracted, b) my friends were/are mostly dudes with a few girlfriends thrown in the mix and c) when I'm out with my friends, I want to hang out with them, not try to meet Mr. Right!

So, Match.com it was. I paid for 1 month, and made it my goal to go on 4 dates in as many weeks. Mission accomplished! I went on 4 great first dates, only one of which I was bummed about when he didn't call for a 2nd date. After my first month on Match, I figured what the heck, what's another month! That second month was not quite as productive, so I ended my subscription and figured online dating wasn't for me.

In August, I decided I was bored and wanted something to entertain myself, so I joined OkCupid. I had heard mixed things about it and figured I would give it a try. I activated and deactivated my account more than once and went out on a handful of dates, but I was entirely unimpressed with the OkCupid clientele. I also really felt like you get what you pay for, so to speak. Because OkCupid was free, many of the people I started conversations with never actually invited me out or suggested that we should even meet, even after a few weeks of emailing/texting. I realize this is different for everyone, but you know after a couple of emails if you are interested in going out with someone, and while I am not afraid to send the first message, I do kind of expect the guy to do the first invitation. Is that too old-fashioned of me?

After talking with some friends, I re-started my Match membership a month ago. Honestly though, this time is really no different than the others have been. It provides entertainment, I've gone out on some good first dates, and even a handful of second dates, but nothing particularly promising.

I guess that really sums up how I feel about online dating. It's fun, it's entertaining, and it gets you out of the house and meeting new people and in an effort to sound as shallow as possible, it's a guaranteed free dinner! Do I think I'm going to meet someone that I date long-term via Match.com? Chances are no. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to continue putting myself out there. I started online dating because I felt like I had to take my future into my own hands, and now I'm just kind of eh about it. Funny how that works, right?

I never thought I'd be one to join an online dating site. I'm outgoing, I have friends, and I have never had a problem meeting people, but like many other people I've talked to, it's really, really hard to meet people after college. So, that's where I stand. I still have another month left on my subscription but after that, I think I'm done with the online dating world. So, anyone have any single male friends? I assure you I'm not too crazy.

Dear Life, I need a BREAK. XOXO, KEH

2011-05-12T17:06:00.000-04:00

Last week, I sat down on my computer and typed out a post about what it means to be busy, and how I stay so busy all the time. Then, the next morning, my in-real-life-friend and fellow-blogger Buckhead Betty posted about basically the same thing. This is not the first time we have posted similar things around the same time, and I figured she'd summed it up nicely for both of us.

Being busy is a choice we make, and to me it doesn't seem out of the ordinary to have plans, oh, every night of the week. For some people that might seem weird, and when you ask me how I do it, my response is usually somewhere between, "How do I do what?" and "I HAVE NO IDEA I'M SO BUSY I CAN'T THINK ABOUT IT!!!" Typically though, it's not busy to me. It's life!

But sometimes, life has had ENOUGH. I have spent the last 3 months going, going, going. Nonstop, without coming up for air, without so much as breathing fresh oxygen. I have done happy hours and volunteering and meetings and church and dinners with friends and babysitting and tennis matches and softball games and tennis practice and "relaxing" massages and hosted dinner parties and attended dinner parties AND AND AND. You get the idea.

This past weekend, I had more of the same planned. Cinco de Mayo festivities, a work dinner hosted by someone super important in the company, a softball game, a birthday party, etc. Thursday night didn't go exactly as planned, and then Friday got here. And I wanted to curl up in a ball under my desk and cry, and sleep, and cry some more. I went to the work dinner, and promptly went home afterwards, crawled under my covers, and slept a glorious 10 hours. I went about my Saturday running errands, making lists in my head, forgetting what was on the lists...you know, normal Saturday. I headed out to an early dinner get together. I prepared a salad.

And after the salad was prepared, I sat on my kitchen floor and proclaimed that I was tired. Really tired. Really, really tired. And then I got up, I put on my big girl pants, and I went to my dinner. And after that, I went out for my friends birthday. But you know what? I had 2 beers at the dinner, and 1/2 a beer at the birthday party, because my body said NO MA'AM. My body had finally had enough. I knew I had hit my wall, figuratively speaking of course, because remember, I only had 2.5 beers. I bailed on my friends that night and I went home and I slept. And on Sunday, I did more fun things, and Sunday night, I slept. I cancelled a phone date with a girlfriend, I got comfy on my couch, and I rested. It was what my body was demanding.

So, the whole point of me telling you this is that when your body really needs it, you will be forced to slow down. I started this out by saying I have been going non-stop for the past 3 months. I mean, just look at my blog posts. I either haven't had time to post, or I've posted about all the things I am doing. Neither one screams "balance." But I have been caught up in a new job, new friends from said job, new friends from other aspects of life, and that old FOMO-friend peeking through, and I couldn't bear to say no to any of it.

So to those of you who think I can do it all...newsflash! I can't! But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying. I'm taking this week easy. I have a friend coming into town this weekend, and I'm really hoping that she'll feel okay about just hanging out. That doesn't mean we can't go out to places where other people are getting wild and crazy but...it likely will not be me. My body is still in break-mode. But hey, I have the best friends in the world so I have a feeling she'll understand.

I hope you do too. We all need a break sometime, and I'm taking mine. Holla!

Wanna Come Over?

2011-05-11T22:09:00.001-04:00

Yippee! I made a decision in the great sofa debate! Although it's hardly been in my house 12 hours, and I was only for for 1 of them, I am seriously pumped. I got up this morning and moved furniture out of my living room. Then I showered and then I vaccummed. I am backwards.

Anyone want to come over to my frat house? We (and by we I mean my roommate) arranged for Salvation Army to come pick these bad boys up but they couldn't come until next week, so frat-style living complete with extra sofas it is! I guess this just cements the fact that I really only use the dining room table as another place to put down my crap. Oops.

But it was all worth it when this beautiful, wonderful, well-loved sectional was delivered! I wasn't supposed to be home when it was delivered, but things changed and I stayed home to wait for my biggest purchase to date to arrive.

I spent all of about 30 minutes after the sofa was delivered sitting on it, but I already know it's a keeper. I went back to the store not one more but two more times to measure and look at colors and sit on the other sofas before I made my decision. And then I decided! I ordered this on Saturday, and if I had chosen delivery that day, it would have been delivered Tuesday, but at first I selected pick-up. Turns out I wasn't able to pick it up afterall (and after seeing it be delivered today I'm REALLY glad that's what I opted for) but by the time I changed my mind the earliest they could deliver was Wednesday. Wednesday it was!

The delivery people were alright. They were a little fussy and didn't exactly treat my furniture they way I hoped they would, or me really for that matter. Not sure what to do about it - would you call and complain? They didn't do anything wrong, per se, they just didn't have the greatest customer service, and for the $130 they cost me, I'd think they could have plastered on a smile! Maybe it's just me. Either way, I'm pleased as punch with my new sofa. I was nervous about whether or not I had measured correctly and if I had chosen the right color (I am so not a visual person) but it fit perfectly and the color is just fine. It's a little grayer versus the more tan color I was expecting but, I chose a color called "stone" so I am not sure why I didn't think it would be gray.

I'm really proud of myself for making my first large purchase as an adult by myself. Sure, I got other people's input, but at the end of the day I measured, I tested out couches, and I decided. And then I was a nervous nancy for 5 days but I didn't tell anyone that part! I guess it's just another lesson in How To Be a Grown Up.

These lessons are getting a lot closer together than I really would like...

In case you were concerned...

2011-05-11T16:43:00.000-04:00

The worms are still there, but not quite so many.

This is what I like to call "Death by Dibel" or...overkill. Or super killed, if you're my broccoli.

Like I said, those worms got nothin' on me. Until I ingest 800 pounds of "organic" pesticide...but I'll have worm-free cabbage!

My Garden: Update 3

2011-05-10T10:16:00.000-04:00

One growing pepper with 2 of his special friends. They need to grow faster!

More of my little pepper friends.

Growing pepper, take 2

The cucumbers are trying to escape! I had to move the pot away from the edge - it was right up against the railing. Can't have any infractions against the HOA as a result of runaway cucumbers!

I don't really know what the flowers on the cucumber plants are for. They're just yellow, and they tend to die...

Baby peppers in pepper pot #2

And some potential peppers that will no longer be.

Well, that was supposed to be broccoli

But there are these little worms that got to it. And pardon my French, but those mother crackers really pissed me off. They didn't just eat my broccoli & cabbage leaves, they TERRORIZED them.

Yeah, they look real cute and innocent, don't they? WRONG-O, buddy boy. Them there worms are the devil.

My cabbage has HOLES in it!

And it took me a while to figure out exactly what the problem was...I just thought it would stop, or something. I'm not really sure what I thought. I guess my thumb is more yellow than green. I'm getting there!

The dust that I put ALL OVER my broccoli & cabbage to ward off those mother crackin' worms. So far it has worked wonders, but the little punks just moved to leaves where the dust didn't fall. Guess what? They got busted this morning. According to Pike Nurseries, this stuff is organic, and only affects the bad guys (like looper worms). Obviously I'll have to wash my veggies before eating, if there are any to eat, but this stuff is apparenly the best of the best. I'm hoping for a serious worm massacre by the time I get home tonight. Do you know how long it takes to grow broccoli? By my calculations, 2 months. Do you know how long it takes worms to eat said broccoli? By my calculation, 2 hours. Jerks.

Mothers Day: Better Late Than Never

2011-05-10T09:27:00.000-04:00

I'm bummed I can't be with my momma today.

It's amazing to me how things have changed over the last 25 years with regards to my mom.

I was never a mama's girl, per se. In my house, mom was the punisher, the enforcer, the supporter, the everything.

I remember fighting with my mom as a teenager a lot more than telling her how much I appreciated her being at every single volleyball game, decorating the street on the way to school for my 16th birthday, letting my friends and I take over her bathroom to get ready for the 8th grade dance, shuffling me between friends houses after school...you name it, my mom did it. And really, up until I was a senior in high school with a great group of friends who liked hanging out with my parents, I liked to pretend that she didn't do any of those things.

Moms are embarassing, moms are out to get you. Duh!

But now, at 25 (and even at 22 and 23 and 24), I wish I could see my mom every day. I wish she could still live with me so that when I get ready for work she could tell me if I look good, and she could make my lunch if I was in a rush, and I could have someone to yell at when I'm running late, because clearly that's her fault.

I call my mom every day. Sometimes I think she gets annoyed with how often I call her and how much I have to say. But she's my mom, and since she doesn't live 20 minutes away from me anymore, I need to call her and make sure she knows every single detail of my life so I can turn around and yell at her for being so nosy and wondering why she asks so many questions. Because she really does ask a lot of questions.

I love my mom. I love that she has taught me how to be independent (much to my chagrin) and I love that I have taught her bad words. I love that she & my dad have showed me how to be in a relationship and I love that I have shown her that I actually did take something away from the 18 years I lived in their house. I love that she tells me every single day how proud of me she is, and I love that I can continue to make her proud every single day.

For my entire 25 years, I have never once wondered if or how much my mom loved me. I have never wondered if I could tell her something, or if she would understand. I have never wished for a different mom, or even for my mom to be different (except sometimes).

Mom, even though I tell you this a lot, you're the best, and I love you. Now if you could please move back to Atlanta, all would be right in my world.

Top Ten of April

2011-05-01T11:30:00.000-04:00

1. Sunday Funday complete with Chinese food & wine

2. Watching my little garden grow.

3. 1st VIP Party at East Andrews

4. 25th birthday dinner at Piola and ensuing celebrations in Midtown

5. Work staff offsite at the W hotel in Midtown

6. Hosting the April meeting of my sorority alumni chapter

7. Winning my tennis matches!

8. Tiny Bistro wine tasting

9. Planning & executing the final Life Night of the year

10. Finally eating Mexican food (and LOTS of it!)

I said in January that 2011 was going to be the best year yet, and it has not failed me so far. Perhaps there were certain things that happened in 2010 or 2009 or even 2008 that were really great, but all in all, 2011 has been the best. I know who I am, I know who my friends are, I have been able to prioritize the things that are most important to me.

So even though 2011 is 1/3 of the way over, and I hate when time goes by so fast, I say bring it on to the next 2/3, because only good things are coming. I just know it!

Sofa Shopping

2011-04-30T20:07:00.000-04:00

Today I went sofa shopping. We've had the same couches in our apartment since I moved in almost two years ago and my roommate is eventually moving out because she is getting HITCHED (wooohooo!). I figured it was time for me to start my big girl life, too, starting with a sofa. We all have our quirks, ok? If owning a sofa will make me feel like a grown-up, then so be it. Having a garden also makes me feel grown up, so there!

Anyway, I decided today that it was the day to start couch shopping. My first stop was Thomasville. I had done some researching online and knew that Thomasville had a sofa most similar to my beloved Dr. Pitt Sectional. I popped into the store and found this:

Thomasville Canyon Sectional

The problem? For what I want, it's about $2500. As I expressed on Twitter, I promised myself I would not buy a $3000 sofa. Could I afford it? Yes. Would it be a wise way to spend $3k? Um, no. So I ooh-ed and ahh-ed and laid on the couch and then I moved on. One day, Canyon Sectional, you will be mine. Unless I buy the Dr. Pitt instead.

Next stop, American Signature Furniture. I've helped several friends with furniture shopping, and all of them have ended up buying from ASF. I really like the store and I went in with high expectations. After a questionable experience with a sales rep (she was nice, but didn't really understand my priorities and made some unnecessary comments), I walked out with 3 potential options.

American Signature Furniture Lawrence Sofa & Chair

I walked in being 100% set on a sectional, but I didn't fall in love with any upon first glance. I did really love these 2 pieces though. The picture doesn't do it as much justice, but both of these pieces are REALLY deep. I am 5'9" and when I sat with my back against the sofa, my feet didn't touch the floor. Plus, it was long enough for me to lay down without being uncomfortable! The total price for both of those pieces would be about $1300 including delivery. But, I knew I really wanted a sectional, so I went back for a second look.

American Signature Furniture Solace Sectional

This was my 2nd find, and I really liked it. It's a sectional, it's microfiber, and it's comfortable! I walked away from this sofa initially because I didn't like that it was lower to the ground (which is my dad's #1 complaint about my current sofa situation) but upon further inspection, it really wasn't any lower than any of the other sofas I sat on. And I did a lot of sitting. The Solace would be about $1500.

The third and final sofa I sat on was the Soho Cobblestone sectional. It's a little smaller than the Solace, and it's less expensive. Grand total would be $1200 for this one. I really like the chaise lounge on this one. It only comes in one color that I would actually consider. Sorry, red is not for couches. The color works for me though. I guess this is probably my 3rd choice.

In fact, as I'm typing this, I really think I like the Solace sofa. I want to take someone else with me to look and just get a second opinion, and I want my mom to run into the store and look at the couches and let me know what she thinks, but I think I have a top choice. Now I have to measure my living room and figure out if any of these things will actually fit!

Stay tuned for Katie's Becoming A Grown-Up Part 3. I don't know what the topic is yet, but I'm sure I'll do something grown up eventually and hopefully live to blog about it. For now, I'm going to go drink wine with my Sunday Funday friends and play card games, because that's what grown-ups do.

There's more to me than hair & nail polish, I swear

2011-04-27T11:05:00.000-04:00

It's true - a girl really hates to change hair dressers. Even more so than my hair though, I am loyal to my nail lady. Like, to a fault. Well, maybe not more than my hair...we'll say equal. Don't worry, Van Michael, I'm still all yours, blonde tresses and all.

Mystical Nail in Buckhead, right next to Johnny's Hideaway is my nail salon of choice, and they have never steered me wrong. First they pointed in the direction of Can You Tapas This? Then when I discovered Lincoln Park After Dark, wonderful Kim who does my nails ordered it for me so she never ran out again after a slight disaster (I couldn't find it on the shelf). Then, yesterday I went in for a mani/pedi and there was a girl in there getting her nails done too. She was having an impossible time deciding what color to get, to the point that even I was like...WOMAN JUST CHOOSE A COLOR AND BE DONE.

And of course the ever faithful staff at Mystical Nail swooped in and saved the day by recommending...

Fiji by Essie

And then I died, and demanded I have it on my nails right now immediately. Forget OPI Not Like the Movies (my most recent obsession), I had to have this. There was no question. And I'm obsessed! I keep looking down at my fingernails and LOVING it!

I'll update ya'll on my birthday later this week, but I'll leave you with this little tidbit:

Happy 25th to me!

Happy Birthday Week To Me

2011-04-18T13:46:00.000-04:00

It is no secret that I love birthdays. More specifically, I love my own birthday, but I really love to celebrate my friends birthdays as well.

Possibly my most significant birthday yet is less than 1 week away.

24th birthday homemade ice cream cake

Last year was a pretty epic celebration. I had all of my closest friends at my house for dinner and drinks and then we headed out to a bar for continued celebrations. I got taken out for birthday brunch the next day and just felt nothing but love. I think that's why I like birthdays so much - it's kind of like Valentine's Day to me. It's a day when you get to go above and beyond.

It's hard to believe I am going to be 25. I think about the time that has passed since I graduated college. It's been an unbelievable 2.5 years. If you would have told me that I would have a job that I am obsessed with, I would have agreed and totally believed you. If you would have told me that I would still be single, I might have died a little bit inside. I'm still amazed by the things I have experienced in my 25 years, and by the things I have been so fortunate to not have experienced. I am beyond blessed, and I give thanks for those blessings every day.

I have every intention of celebrating myself in a major way this week by way of tennis practice, taking pictures of my mom's art (I'll be sure to share the details - we're going to set her up on Etsy, too!), shockingly sharing part of my birthday week with one of my best (and stinkiest) friends, hitting up Sinless Summer Nights at East Andrews, a fun dinner with a great mix of friends, and celebrating another friends next steps in becoming Dr. Kathryn. As I wrote that I realized I'm sharing a lot this week. Top notch friend, that's me! :)

Birthdays are the bomb, and I can't WAIT for the celebrations to begin.

PS...

2011-04-17T11:13:00.000-04:00

I bought own domain name yesterday! I know this is probably one of the dorkier things I have done, with staying up way too late making pivot tables coming in a close second, but I am really excited.

I have kind of gone back and forth for a while on whether or not this was something I wanted to do, and I finally decided to bite the bullet and do it. Plus, I actually really like The Secret Life of Katie despite the fact that I came up with it 3+ years ago just before I headed out on my life-changing Spanish adventures.

So, I'm not really sure what this means for all of you. I think you might have to update your Google Reader subscriptions, but that's all. Nothing else is changing, so don't worry, I'll still be oversharing about my life and my friends lives one blog post at a time.

Because I said so.

Bar Versus Club

2011-04-17T10:57:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week, a friend of mine from work invited me and a girlfriend out for dinner & drinks with 2 stipulations: dinner had to be "nice" and we were going to a "club" after dinner. Nice dinners I can do, clubbing is so not up my alley. I'm way more of a bar girl. A dive bar girl. Where I can wear jeans and a tshirt and it's fine. I actually remember more than one occasion in college where I wore a Polo sweater out to the bar and my friends poked serious fun at me. Whatever, it was my style!

So back to last night - we made late dinner reservations at Aria. I had never been, and I was a little worried the crowd would be on the older side of old. Wrong! The restaurant was swanky (I hate that word but it is the best one) with an AWESOME menu. But that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is to tell ya'll that I do not belong in a club. It's just so not my scene. Short dresses, high heels, teased hair, etc. No thanks. Plus, I saw more girls being carried out of the club than I EVER see getting carried out of any of the bars I go to. I think clubs bring out the worst in people. And if there is one thing that is SO NOT CUTE, it's puking in the bathroom and being escorted out.

There were girls walking around in "Easter Bunny" outfits, which was really just a (not very) creative way of wearing short, tight white dresses and bunny ears. And said Easter Bunnies spent 99% of their evening at a 90 degree angle looking like $.02 you know what's grinding against what were likely strangers they met 15 seconds prior. There were girls wearing really tight, short dresses who just shouldn't wear tight, short dresses. I shouldn't either, don't get me wrong, but I didn't try to. There were guys who didn't make any secret out of sizing up the ladies around them, and who had no intention of taking "No thanks, I don't dance." for an answer. And I've seen my fair share of bar makeout sessions, but nothing like the clothes-on-grinding that really is only meant to happen in the privacy of your own bedroom, and probably not on a sofa in the middle of a room where everyone can see.

My question is, why are these places appealing? It cost $10 for girls and $20 for guys to get in, the drinks were expensive and served in plastic-ware, and the crowd was less than impressive. I really don't think these scenarios are specific to the one place I went last night, either. To be fair, we opted not to spend any time in the Latin music room or the techno room, so maybe I was really missing out? Something leads me to believe that I didn't miss much though...

Do you go clubbing when you go out? Or do you much prefer a bar, some good tunes and an ice cold beer? Why? Is it the dancing, the drinks, the exclusivity that makes clubs so appealing? What is it? Inquiring minds want to know.

PS - Next time I go, I'll definitely incorporate a Playboy bunny theme into my outfit. Uncle Sam Bunny? Has a nice ring to it.

Musically Inclined

2011-04-14T16:07:00.000-04:00

Remember last winter when I went to 2 awesome productions over the span of a week?

I don't know if I told ya'll, but I then listened to the soundtracks on repeat for the next 2 months, or 1/6 of 525,600 minutes. Sorry I'm not really sorry, poor officemate. We have a music out loud policy, and since I own the iPod and iPod player, I get to pick the music. I like to refer to it as Katie's Office Musical. That could make a great televsision show, just sayin'. I know I've come so far...but I've got so far to go! :)

Finally sometime around late January I decided that I had finally had enough of Rent and Hairspray and added some Wicked into the mix, which prolonged the Katie's Office Musical Hour another 3 weeks or so.

In March I finally laid my "Showtunes" playlist to rest... or so I thought. I made a new playlist with popular songs that were on the radio. Hey Mama, Welcome to the 60's! But it's been less than 2 months and I've switched back over to the Showtunes playlist. You just can't stop the beat.

"If you fear the storm ahead, as you lie awake, lie awake in bed, And there's no one, no one there to stroke your hand, And your mind, your mind reels, if your face is salty wet and you're drowning in regret...just don't forget."

Anyway, just thought ya'll should know that my secret obsessions are weird and really kind of...obsessive. At least you don't have to listen to me singing along!

My Garden: Update 2

2011-04-13T09:46:00.000-04:00

By now you know that I have planted a garden. I decided I wanted to do it, I impatiently waited (kind of) until I had the time to commit to daily monitoring, sweet-talking, and watering plants, and then I dragged myself out of bed at 8:00 on a Saturday morning to purchase my plants, pots, and soil.

So far I've succeeded in killing off one pot of plants:

This poor dude is (I think) cucumbers. I will take full responsibility for their death, but let me explain. See that tube on the left? You pour water into it, and the water collects underneath a shelf on the bottom. As the plant soaks up the water, the little stem-like indicator drops. Then you know you should add more water! It's really ingenious. Well, I didn't connect mine so well apparently, so I just kept pouring and pouring water into this pot and the water level never seemed to rise. I have not touched this plant in almost 2 weeks and the soil is STILL soaking wet. Poor little guy never stood a chance.

But everything else is budding and flowering and prospering beautifully!

Broccoli, day 1

Broccoli, April 13

It's hard to compare those 2 pictures - sorry about that. I will be better about my photography for comparison purposes. But I swear, those broccoli are growing like crazy! The little plant in there with them has seen better days, but if my brocs are growing that is all I really care about!

Peppers! Growing, budding, flowering peppers! I squealed when I walked outside and saw their little buds a few days ago. I am actually really surprised these are doing so well, because this is the one pot that doesn't have it's own fancy watering system. I must be a pretty good plant-mom, because these are still alive and quite kickin'. Grow little peppers!

Cabbage! Big, fluffy, growing cabbage. It's hard to notice a change in this bad boy. My patience is waning...

A demonstration of the water level indicators. In the first picture, I pushed the twig down. In the second picture, it popped up, indicating that the cabbage has plenty of water! My only complaint about these is the bright orange color...as if I can't find the water spicket in my 20" in diameter pot. Oh well, Ikea has it's faults too.

And my pretty flowers that I spontaneously just grabbed because I liked them. I kind of want to bring them inside, but I'm afraid they wouldn't survive so well. I should put them somewhere that I can actually enjoy them or SOMETHING. I really want to pick them and put them in a vase, but these are not that kind of flower. Bummer. But they make me smile when I water the rest of my garden!

So there you have it. I am thus far successful in my gardening attempts. I check on my plants about every other day, and most of the time I add water just in case. Heaven forbid they ever run out. I've now started pushing the spouts in just to make sure none of my other plants don't fall to the same death as the unfortunately over-watered cucumbers. Don't worry, I have a whole nother pot of the bad boys, which is why I'm not entirely heartbroken over my loss.

I'll keep ya'll posted on the plants progress next week! In my head I just compared my plant photos to baby bump pictures documenting the progress. I don't know which one is more exciting, considering the chances of me becoming the crazy plant lady are currently pretty high...

K-E-H

2011-04-12T14:32:00.001-04:00

I love monograms, a lot. I think it started my freshman year of college when my roommate's mom got us matching, monogrammed bath towels. That's when monograms were really, really cool. Then one of my best friends mom's made me a purse out of a placemat, and it had my monogram on it. I loved the heck out of that purse, and I still have it. Not quite the fashion statement it was *ahem* 7 years ago, or maybe it's more of a fashion statement? It's teal blue on the outside and neon green on the inside with matching ribbon straps.

See! There it is!

So anyway, the short story is I love all things monogrammed. Pillow cases, towels, shower curtains, LL Bean bags, iPhone cases (not for $55 though), and everything else I can possibly put my initials on. The problem?

MY MONOGRAM IS SO UGLY!!! None of the letters really lend themselves to being loopy and swoopy in their monogrammed goodness. K's, E's, and H's, you are fired from being monogrammed.

Monograms created here

I guess this is a sign it's time for me to get a new last name...I guess I'll start by finding someone who is willing to date me first, and go from there. People with last names that don't monogram well with K's and E's need not apply.

What Sunday Should Look Like

2011-04-10T19:03:00.001-04:00

Fishing, hoping to catch more than a rubber tire and a rainboot.

Puppies, who really hope you do catch that rubber tire.

Stella Artois and wine.

Family. Friends. Sunshine.

More Stella, more wine.

Airplanes flying way too low, and the realization that yes, when the sun sets that does in fact mean the earth is moving. However, the earth's movement is not what causes the wind. Just in case you were wondering.

A Chinese food delivery feast.

An incredibly insightful fortune, made that much funnier by the aforementioned glasses of wine and Stella Artois's.

"Try a new hat for a change in looks. Be creative!"

Thanks a lot fortune cookie, you are so helpful.

Goobers.

Thanks to my dear friends for inviting me over, providing me with Stella & wine, and liking me despite my serious sunburn and tennis skirt. Sundays like this one are worth a million shitty Tuesdays.

My Garden: Update 1

2011-04-08T15:03:00.000-04:00

Step 1: Fertilize

Add soil.

Empty plant containers into pots.

Add dirt, insert plants.

Don't forget to include the label so you know what is what. These are my cucumbers!

These are just regular old flowers. I just went a little crazy at the store and had to buy them!

Cabbage! The pot is from Ikea, and it holds water in the bottom. You pour the water down the orange tube, and when there is enough the black twig in the tube pokes up. As the water is absorbed by the plant, the twig falls until it is even with the orange tube. Time to refill the water!

More cabbage.

4 little planters all in a row.

The aftermath. Good thing I have a good vaccuum.

So there you have it! I went to Pike Nursery bright and early on a Saturday, I purchased broccoli, cucumbers, bell peppers, and cabbage, plus a few extra plants just because, and I went to town. I may have had to go buy more planters, but that is neither here nor there. It's been almost 2 weeks, and my little plants are still going strong. They even survived the wicked thunderstorm we had a few nights ago.

I can't WAIT to pick some vegetables off these bad boys. Now, as for the 90 degree heat this weekend...scram. You are not wanted by me or by my precious plants.

2011-03-31T22:20:00.000-04:00

It's days like today that remind me how lucky I am to have amazing friends. We may be spread around the country - Washington DC, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Charlotte, and everywhere in between, but that doesn't mean we aren't just as good of friends as we ever were.

They are the friends I can call and talk to about my family, my work, my dating life, my doctor's appointments, and every single other thing under the sun and they listen. They ask me questions, they commiserate with me, and then I do the same for them. I feel better every time I talk to one of them, I feel rejuvenated, I feel empowered. I am so proud of them, so thankful for them, so excited for all of the exciting adventures we are all embarking on. Even though it feels like we're doing it by ourselves, it's not the case. My best friends are nothing but a phone call or a plane ride away, and if I needed any one of them, they'd be here with me the second I asked. Because that's what best friends do.

If you have friends like these, you know what I'm talking about. You know that smile you can't wipe off your face when you've hung up the phone, or when you're about to get off an airplane and see them. If you don't have friends like these, find them. Be that kind of friend, and it will be returned to you ten-fold. Friendship is the single most important thing to me; being a good friend, having good friends. .I hope that never changes.

things i bought recently

2011-03-31T10:20:00.000-04:00

can you tell what i'm going to be doing this spring?

Sunday Night Sobfest

2011-03-29T10:15:00.000-04:00

Do ya'll watch Army Wives? It's not often I talk about how much I love a TV show, but Army Wives has me HOOKED. I don't remember when I first started watching it... I guess maybe last summer? There may or may not have been an incident in which I dated a man who was in the army and made him watch episode after episode with me and analyze what was real and what was exaggerated for TV. He really loved that, as evidenced by the fact that we are no longer dating. I didn't really love the fact that he was in the military either - after watching this show, can you blame me?

But I am seriously addicted. And this week's episode? I may have sobbed through the entire thing.

It doesn't help anything that after Army Wives comes this new show called Coming Home, all about deployed soldiers that make surprise returns home to their little kids, or to their son who has had a rockstar senior year of high school playing football, but his dad had to miss it. As he is about to announce where he is going to play college football (Navy), his dad walks in and says, "That's my boy!" His signature words. Killed me.

Thank you, Lifetime, for ensuring that I cry out all my tears on Sunday evening, and also that I don't go to sleep until 11pm.