Every morning

Every morning,

he hops onto the counter, places his two front paws in the sink,.... his back two perched on the ledge, cocks his head to the side and stares at me.

 

His eyes follow mine, and he bobs his head with excitement when he realizes that I'm actually going to let him do it today.

 

I turn on the faucet, and then this ensues:

 

 

and then I have a soggy kitten running around the house.

 

Happy hump day, people. 

Pulling the trigger.

Sometimes, I do this thing..where I really want something.

I know deep down it'll be a good buy, but, I waffle.

 

and then I pull the trigger on it,

 

and then I want to vomit.

Which is rare, because usually I'm not a second guesser. (I did this with my wedding dress too.. a brief moment of panic, if you will...that hit 3 days later.)

 

but last night, I decided, someone needed to come live with us. I clicked buy...filled out all the shipping information, the credit card, clicked "buy!" and the SECOND that screen went to white indicating a "thank you for your purchase!" screen was coming next, my heart dropped and I had 5 seconds of "OMG TAKE IT BACK WHAT DID I DO" panic.

 

needless to say, it happened, and this is who is coming to live with us:

yup, I did it.

 

I know I tweeted a little while back asking for reviews on cameras, and the overwhelming consensus (4 to 1) was the Canon Rebel.

 

The most "amateur" version they have out right now is the T3.

 

So, after all 4 of you said this was the best, and after reading 5 pages of reviews on best buy.com that basically said "even an idiot couldn't F up taking a nice photo on this thing" (hi, me.) I bought it.

 

5 minutes later I told M and he said "What!? really? aw. I was maybe going to buy it for you."

 

merka mer.

 

except, last night it was $100 off, included the lens and body, a free 16G camera card, aaannnnddd a free 8x8 shutterfly book ---> clearly, the shutterfly book sealed the deal. OH, and free shipping. So, while waiting to count my christmas money may have made sense, I would've paid more anyway.

 

I told him instead he could buy me something like this for Christmas: 

(via)

 

If I'm going to do the "nice camera' thing, I'm going to do it cute, damnit.

 

M also looked at me and said "you better use that thing." and scared the pants off me. SO, that ought to motivate me!

 

Here's my question for you other "nice camera" owners: how did you learn?

Had you tinkered with one before?

did you just mess around with it after you got it?

did you scour the manual?

is there some secret "how to" website on the internetz I NEED to know about?

 

Help.

please and thank you.



HOME TOUR // HOLIDAY EDITION

While everyone else posts Thanksgiving recaps,

I'm here to bring you some holiday decor.

I might get around to posting a Thanksgiving recap, but really it just involved a trip to Moorhead Wednesday-Saturday, an impromptu date night at the Bulldog N.E. Saturday night (we had buffalo wings, truffle fries w/parmesean cheese, and bacon scallion cream cheese wontons. I don't even feel bad about it, it was the best meal ever.) 

Whilst up north, there was also LOTS of food, one day involved a lot of turkey, gravy, stuffing and potatoes (I bet you can guess which one!)..another involved knockoff Red Lobster biscuits (BETTER than the RL biscuits, actually) and homemade tortilla soup. Basically I ate my ass off, snuggled with a kitten, and devoured Kelle Hampton's book, Bloom, in a little over a day. It was delightfully relaxing, and I am writing this because I know full well there will never BE a "full" recap post.. partially due to my laziness (and the belief that if I can't get it in by Monday, then..well..what's the point?) aaannndd due to the fact that most my photos are of the cat (Cassie). 

Moving on. We decorated last weekend, because it was freaking awesome to come home after thanksgiving to an already decorated house. And because we didn't have anyone over for Thanksgiving, it's pretty much like it never happened before Thanksgiving..since no one saw it (but us). 

So far, it's been a losing battle of keeping TJ away from the tree, and he's probably been doused in over 32 oz. of water for being a naughty little shit. I foresee this dance lasting until early January. 

Moving on, I've just compiled some collages of before (the photo on the far left, in each collage) and after, where I've decorated. It's not a lot, but, it's perfect to me. :) 

The front entryway table:

 The "faux mantle" (that garland has lights on it.. and I suspect will fall off 2-3 times before Christmas. It's being held up all janky like with electrical tape, which I noticed today had already come undone in the middle once.. aaannnddd I think is ruining the shelf. Oh well. Shelf can always be painted, and nobody will see it anyway). 

I had the burlap (as anybody who has been around here for any amount of time could tell you ;-) ... that 100 yards has gone a LONG way), and the stockings were $3 at Target. 

I also bought pins to put on them. They didn't have an "M", so I bought a W (genius, I know) and flipped it upside down.

Aaannnddd the tree. 

TJ's favorite game is to dive under it, chew on the branches, and tug off the bottom layer of burlap. I love that cat with all my being, but man does he try my patience during the holidays. Last year he was tiny enough, he'd scale the center of the tree. M and I would look over and see 2 eyes peeking out of it about 3 feet up. Thankfully he hasn't tried that this year, he must know he's too big. 

So there it is! 

I have a huge black mirror on the wall opposite this window (above), that I'm thinking of making/putting a wreath over. Other than that, this is pretty much going to be it for the year. There are Christmas lights strung around that window behind the tree too. I love me some Christmas lights. 

Pay it Forward

I'm going to be honest: I'm not the world's most charitable person.

There are two reasons for that. First, it slips my mind.. like a lot of people I feel like.

 Second, maybe this makes me totally selfish, but I really prefer to give, or do good, for specific people. I like to be physically involved. Whether it's donating to a specific person's caring bridge, attending a silent auction for a sick family member, wrapping gifts at the salvation army,....etc.

 

I don't mean to say making generous donations to large organizations is bad..but.... I don't get to see who it goes to, because it likely doesn't go to anything specific, but is pooled together to do big things. I understand that's how effective charities work, but I struggle with feeling like I'm making a difference.

 

I think big charities do great work, but I also think great work needs to be done on a micro level.

 

That's where this idea comes in:

 

 

 

It's the idea that when you pay it forward for someone else, they feel inspired to perhaps go on and do the same for yet another person. What results (in an ideal world) is a continuous chain of good deeds.

 

I first saw a story on Pinterest about a woman who spent her birthday doing 38 random acts of kindness for strangers.

 

Well, let me tell you a short story of the "parking ramp cop"...

Every.single.day., rain or shine, 90 degrees or 20 degrees, there's a cop who stands at the exit of my parking ramp to help control the flow of traffic (and make sure us ramp people have a fighting chance of ever getting out of the ramp). It's the same cop. Every day I pull up, use my card, the lever raises and I wait. Have you ever just looked at someone and felt like they were a really kind and genuine person? In my year and a half of working here, I've never see him get upset, or animated, at any car. He just stands there, smiles, and waves cars out of the ramp and on the street. Every day I pull up, and he KNOWS which lane I need to be in (the far lane, so I can turn left at the next street to enter the freeway). It's stupid and small but I feel like I have this 'relationship' or 'understanding' with him, he remembers me! It makes me smile.

 

I'd been thinking for a long time of doing this, ....and yesterday was the perfect opportunity. I'd be leaving early from work today (and thus, missing him) so yesterday, I stopped at the Caribou in our lobby after work. I bought a $10 gift card, slipped it in its sleeve, and wrote a little note on a hot pink post-it, letting him know that I appreciate what he does, and that it's nice to see a smiling face after work every day....and I wished him a happy holidays. As I exited the ramp, I handed it off, and said "Happy Thanksgiving!"

 

He looked at it for a split second, and figured it out. He looks up and says "Thank you!!" in a very genuine and sincere way.

 

I'm not writing this post for praise, or for you guys to tell me how sweet it was. I'm writing it in the hope that maybe one or two of you will go do something like this for someone else.

 

Here's the thing about charity-

I think some people get the impression that if it makes you feel good too, if you derive some benefit from it, it doesn't really count. Being able to hand off that gift card to the cop yesterday made me feel REALLY good. I was grinning like an idiot the entire way home. Because I imagine him going home and telling his wife, kids, brother, whatever, what some random person coming out of the parking ramp did, and it made me really happy that it presumably made HIM really happy.

 

SO, let's do some deduction. It made ME super happy, it made HIM super happy.. aannndd what's wrong with that? What's wrong with engaging in acts of kindness, charity, whatever.. that lift YOUR spirit as well? If it just results in more happy, charitable people in the world.. I see nothing wrong with that.

 

[Anyone remember the FRIENDS episode where Phoebe tries to do something nice that doesn't simultaneously make her feel good? and she lets the bee sting her? classic...]

 

Here's the thing about charity on a micro level-

You can give smaller, do smaller things, but really feel like you made a bigger impact. I'm going to use a big charity as an example (please, don't get the wrong impression for my use of such.. it's just the best comparison I have). If I gave $10 to a large charity... I know it helps, but I don't feel like I made a big impact. A memorable impact.

 

$10 gift card to someone who is often overlooked in his job? I feel like I made a bigger impact. At least in his day.

 

So if you CAN'T donate big, and you feel the same way I do sometimes about it, try to do something small like this for someone else over the holidays. Get a gift card for your doorman, for a traffic cop you see every day, pay for someone's meal behind you in the drive through (if you prefer the 'get in, get out' method.. like I do ;-) ).

 

Hope you all have a happy thanksgiving, and eat yourself stupid.

Don't forget your stretchy pants.

 

:)

 



HOME TOUR // OLD MASTER BEDROOM

We moved into our house in May of 2011. 

Truthfully, only REALLY not liking the paint in one room...that'd be the kitchen. It was a burnt orange color, so that got painted literally the night after we closed (by myself, while M was off at a dude's weekend). Then, slowly, as we lived in it, and bought furniture that didn't match the colors of other rooms (okay, so that was only the basement.. ) we have painted other rooms. 

I think it's really helped the WHOLE house feel like ours, like we've put our stamp on it, instead of just placed furniture in it. 

So, after a few of you started posting about Young House Love being at West Elm in Minnesota... I started browsing their website. I emailed Matt and told him I wanted to paint our bedroom upstairs.*

Expecting a, "why?" ... I instead got a, "okay, what color?" Apparently M was itching to hop back on the home remodel train, which I should've guessed from the number of times he'd asked me recently "is there anything we need to do around the house? any projects...? any at all?" 

So after work Friday I trugged to Target and bought some accessories (and holiday decor, which I will be bringing to you in a separate post this week!)

Let's take a little tour of the upstairs pre-paint. 

(Pro tip: if you want a REALLY dramatic before and after, take the before pics with a messy bed, and at night with poor lighting. Bonus points for a cat who won't stop photobombing)

The stairs (and a cat butt)

It was an olive green color, but dark. 

Not terribly offensive, but for a smaller space that doesn't get a ton of light, it started to be a bit much for me. I wanted something lighter, brighter, airier. (Yes, that's actually a word.. no squiggly red line!) 

 The bookshelf LOOKS all fine and dandy, but this photo doesn't accurately reflect the dings, scratches, smears of random paint colors, and the pale blue dinged up background. I have been told it's a sin to paint over wood like this, but, this wood was not pretty.

(Note: the messy bed, for dramatic effect. also, lazer eyed kitteh behind the mirror, do you see him?)

That large photo is actually made up of thousands of TEENY TINY photos of M and I (he used a computer program to make it for our 1-yr anniversary. It was our "first photo ever" together, at the St. Paul Winter Carnival in 2010).  aaanndd the table is actually a loaner from my friend Dana. We're storing some of her furniture for a year because she scored a judicial clerkship in out-state MN, and is living with her friends' parents.

SO, onto the good stuff. First, I love the look of stacked books in decor, but I don't have any vintage hard covers that fit in my color scheme. SO I took a garbage bag, and sliced it up to make a book cover (remember in middle school when we were forced to cover our books?). 

TJ supervised

aaannndddd now, the after! 

We picked a very light tan (it's a bit more yellowy, than it is actually brown, but I think these photos make it look MORE yellow than it actually is) 

The bookshelf obviously hasn't been staged yet. It needs another coat of paint (but we were both too exhausted to do it this weekend). What this photo does NOT show is aaalllll the frames and books that are on the floor, just out of this shot. Keepin it real, folks. 

I made a few burlap bow curtain ties. They're just held with safety pins in the back. I'm not sure how I feel about them yet, but they didn't take long, I had all the supplies, and they can always be switched out later. They work, for now. 

The part I'm MOST proud of, the stripey wall vignette. 

The table runner is actually one I made for the wedding, but I made 25, and we will not have 25 guest tables, so.. I borrowed it. :) 

The white branch/floral installation is from Target ($20!) and is attached with plastic pegs and double sided puffy tape. I tested it on the wall and tried pulling it off to see if it'd leave a mark, and it didn't seem to. The pieces are SUPER light, so you don't have to press them onto the wall too hard to get them to stay, either. 

See:

 

You can also see, below, the grocery bag books, the vase of flowers I borrowed from the bathroom, and the pearls/beads are necklaces of mine that I used. 

So there it is! I'm in love with the last photo here.... with that instagram filter, it reminds me of something I'd see on IG from a real home decor blog.. or something. Which my house most certainly does not usually look like. (Although, not to toot my own horn, but Dana's friend who helped move stuff to our place last week said she loved my living room and said it looked like a Pinterest board. Mission accomplished, haha)

Stay tuned for the home tour, holiday edition! 

*{edited April 2015: This is no longer our master! Click THIS for the most up to date version of the master} 

Wedding DIY: table numbers (Saw it, Pinned it, Did it edition)

I'm linking up with Steph and Katie for their "Saw it, Pinned it, Did it" linkup! 

Surprise surprise, it's wedding related! 

I haven't been back to home depot to get the plumbing supplies I need for the home decor related project, but this weekend M and I are tackling a room redo, SO, maybe I'll have something to share next week that's non wedding related. For now, deal with it. :)

My "pinspiration" came from these 2 pins: 

(via)

(via)

 

As I'm sure you've noticed (or maybe not, if you're hopping over from the linkup) I don't really have a set color scheme for the wedding. 

I know myself, and knew if I limited it, and then saw things that didn't "fit" it'd stress me out. SO I'm just going with a soft, kind of vintage feel. Lots of creams, whites, tans, burlap, lace here and there, twine, black lanterns, floating candles with submerged flowers,.... can you picture it?! good. 

SO, my initial thought for these pins was to make matching escort cards (not pitched ones, like you see below, just business card style) and table numbers. 

Long story short, I didn't like the way the escort cards were looking, and I'd have to hand write all the names. I HATE my handwriting. I think it looks like a child's. SO I'll just print those on card stock and use what I've dubbed our "wedding fonts" 

I DID go ahead with the table numbers, and love them. 

I got 2 packages of cardstock from Michaels for $5 a piece, and a pack of paper doilies from the Martha Stewart line for $4. I had the glue and paint. 

I cut down the cream cardstock and used the white cardstock to back it with a glue stick, so there was a border. I then cut the paper doilies in half to make better use out of them, AND because I liked the way it looked like it was coming off the page. I typed out all the numbers in a font I liked on the computer, and then replicated them lightly in pencil, which is where I took my first photo! (woops)

We had the quart of black paint from the bathroom vanity redo, so I just used that. 

I then hand painted all the numbers, adding some "thickness" in certain spots (like the curve of the 2 and 3).

In an ironic turn of events since the vlog, (in which I said M wasn't doing any 'crafts') I got M to help with the "stands" we'll be using to hold the table numbers up. Turns out all you have to say to a guy is "exacto knife" and they're on board.

and even let you take photos.....

 

(photobombing cat in the background)

 

Well, my original plan was to cut the wine corks in half (we had them leftover in bulk from a cork board project this summer) and then cut a slit to slide the numbers in. BUT the corks were too light, and the 2 layers of paper plus the doilie plus the paint apparently made the numbers heavy enough to tip over. 

SO, we changed it up, and glued 2 corks side by side on a tiny piece of cardstock so we could then slide the numbers between them.

Here's the finished product!

We need to make 20 more of the "stands" but I ran out of hot glue. 

M had brought out the rug from the laundry room to cut the cork on. TJ's favorite game to play is "pretend there's something underneath the rug and DESTROY IT." which, of course, makes a kitty sleepy. 

 "mine." -TJ

So, that's it for today! Hop on over to the linkup and check out other Pinterest inspired posts! 

Fight or Flight

Last year around this time, I had a fairly interesting conversation with a group of my friends about a topic I was abruptly reminded of last night..and thought it may make for a good story/opinion poll from you fine folk.

 

What would you do if you thought you heard someone in your house?

 

 

Hopefully all of you are lucky enough to have never had your house broken into while you're home.. but I KNOW all ya'll have a "plan" in your head about what you'd do if it happened. and I KNOW most of you have "thought" you've heard something which resulted in an ultimately futile attempt to implement the "plan" ... amiright??

 

I've always SAID my plan was to quietly roll off the bed (so if they came upstairs they couldn't see me..since my side is furthest from the door) hide under the cover overhang, and quietly dial 9-1-1. Our house is old, so if I even stepped out of bed, said robbers would know that there was someone home because you can hear it downstairs.

 

M has always said his plan is to go downstairs and kick some ass.

See? I flight, he fights.

 

Well, having a cat who likes to cause a ruckus at night, we've had quite a few opportunities to practice implementing our burglar-plan. Last night, being a prime example of them. I'll tell you how it went, and also leave commentary about how if it were a real burglar, we'd all be dead:

 

laying in bed last night, we hear what sounds like people talking...and INSIDE the house. (we later learned it was the cat in the middle of some wheezing/coughing/"almost barfing but not quite" fit...he's a peach)

 

I'm putzing on my cell phone and stare at M, he says "did you hear that?" (the 'real' burglar downstairs now has notice that there are people in the house after hearing our voices, and in my world, is now sitting at the bottom of the stairs with a .22 waiting to take us out one by one. Yes, I watch too many crime shows, thanks for asking)

 

So M creeps out of bed and reaches for the shotgun he keeps under the bed (I realize on some level this is "practical" but, I hate it. because usually it's our cat. and I don't need him blowing the cat away on accident.)

 

I see what he's doing and say "DON'T YOU DARE. It's probably TJ and I don't need you shooting him." (This is where the REAL burglar would be laughing because, well, now we're unarmed. and dead.)

 

Instead of staying safely upstairs, I always have 9-1-1 pulled up on my cell phone (yes, EVERY TIME we hear a noise...again..too many crime shows) and slowly creep behind M towards the stairs. Usually this involves me hanging my head over the bookshelf/railing thing, whispering to him "do you see anything?" (BAM, M's dead. Then I don't have enough time to call 9-1-1 before the guy shoots me too. This is why I need to stick to the damn plan.)

 

so that's how this routine goes down, usually 2-3 times a month..because my cat is a lunatic. He's been known to launch himself onto one of the chairs in the living room, which lifts it up a little bit and causes a "BANG" when it comes back down.

 

It didn't help to hear my co-worker and neighbor tell us that the house across the street from him got broken into in the middle of the day a week or two ago. I've been a bit edgy since then.

 

I do prefer HIS described method of dealing with potential intruders. He told me this after he told me about the break-in, and I laughed, but it's kind of practical. and awesome. He told me if he ever legitimately thought there was someone in his house at night, that he keeps a gun next to his bed and that he'd sit at the top of the stairs, cock his gun, and scream "I HAVE A GUN. I'VE CALLED THE COPS. IF YOU TRY TO COME UP HERE I WILL BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF."

 

I seriously cracked up, but I mean.. think about it: what kind of ballsy burglar is REALLY going to test that theory out?

 

SO, what is your theoretical "panic plan" in event of a burglar?

Got any funny stories about pets alarming you?



M & K: the vlog

well kids, here it is. 

a little over 14 minutes of awkward, but your questions have been answered. 

Pardon my cackle-laugh at various points, and note the two times I subconsciously slip into "cat voice" when referring to TJ or talking TO TJ. 

Also, I hope the "Tweeeeeeeeeeeets!?" call to TJ at the end doesn't deafen you. It's quite loud. 

-M & K

My little stinker

I have another short tail* for you guys today

 

*(yep, another cat story)

 

Yesterday Teej went to the vet in the morning for his comprehensive exam, and to get his teeth cleaned. They had to put him under, because..well.. you try cleaning a sassy young kitten's razor sharp teeth while he's conscious. I can't imagine it'd be easy.

 

I shoved him in his carrier and he WAILED and HOWLED the entire way to the vet. Thank god it's only an 8 minute drive 1/2 mile away. If you think cats meow the same, you clearly have never heard the distinct difference between an "I'm HUNGRY!" meow, and a "I'M DYING!" meow. Especially out of my cat. oof.

 

I picked him up after work and he has the saddest little animal print bandage on his paw where they shaved him a bit, and administered his anesthesia.

 

He's a little wobbly and giving me the side eye the entire car ride home. No meowing, just side eye.

 

I bought him treats and a new toy to make it up so we played a bit, and then M and I went to our friends' place for dinner. Get home at 9 and are exhausted, so we decide to head upstairs to watch a Dateline in bed, a little tradition of ours.

 

That's when I first smell it.

My nose is plugged up so I'm just getting tiny whiffs of something, but that something is FOUL, and smells like poop. Literally. I'm sniffing every piece of clothing on me, my pillow, etc., and it goes away aanndd I also start to think I'm crazy. M comes upstairs and declares that the ENTIRE upstairs smells like shit.

 

We look down at the fuzzy culprit, who blinks back at us.

I ask him, "did you poo somewhere, TJ?"

<<blink, blink. mrawr!>>

 

I figure maybe the anesthesia had him groggy and he had an accident. Poor guy.

 

For the next THIRTY MINUTES M and I are on our hands and knees with a flashlight convinced we're going to find a little cat turd ANY second. We tear apart the bed, sheets, thinking maybe he shamefully scooted between the sheets and pooped. We look in closets that weren't even opened when we were gone, and inside the rafters..and then start to wonder if something hadn't DIED in the house because it smelled that bad.

 

It was strongest over on my side of the bed, but started to go away. Then M said he smelled it over by the closet/stairs.

 

We finally realized:

While we had been running around for a half hour looking for shit, TJ had been running around the upstairs laying the WORST SMELLING fart-bombs I have ever smelled.

He was just running, and tooting, and that's why we couldnt' find the source.

 

We realized how dumb we were in that if it was REALLY poop it obviously would have been concentrated to ONE area.

 

So, poor baby TJ got banished from the bedroom last night, since our gas masks were out for repair.

 

And thus concludes the time I devoted an entire post to my cat's rear end.

 

TGIF, people.

 

Stay tuned for that promised vlog. It's so happening this weekend. Mark my words. 

Minnesota Nice

 

I could say 1,000,000 things right now.

A part of me wants to. Especially after the tirade that a co-worker (and family member) just went on regarding my voting choices.

 

About how this is now "my fault" and that now real estate taxes will go up, income tax will go up, interest rates will stay artificially low and the stock market will crash and senior citizens are screwed and BLAH BLAH BLAH.

 

But you know what?

 

If I have to pay "$300 more a year in property taxes" on average, so that this could happen in Minnesota:

 

 

I gladly will.

 

There is no price tag on civil rights.

Money is not what makes my world go round.

I know that I'll be just fine, and I'll sleep better at night knowing that in 10 years my property taxes aren't what matters or what I'll remember... it'll be that I was on the RIGHT side of history last night.

 

"To deny this fundamental freedom [marriage] on so unsupportable a basis as the (racial) classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law."

Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967)
 

annddd I'm out.

 



Q & A

Well, it started off as a joke on the last post, but after emailing M and telling him he was going to guest vlog (and then explaining what a vlog was), he seems to have reluctantly agreed to do so!

actually, this is what he said: 

Sooooo there's that. 

I assured him you guys weren't going to go all therapist's couch on him,. but it'd likely be "fluffier" stuff. He's also a wee bit concerned that, well, nobody "cares" or will ask questions of him. (perhaps worse?)

Here's where YOU come in! 

1. What questions do you have for M?! 

Feel free to ask anything, and obviously if he thinks it's too personal or whatever, he'll pass, but I'm assuming you will be just fine ;-)

2. What questions do you have for ME?!

This is a 2-fer-1 guys. Since only 10-15 of you comment on the reg (ahem...lurkerpants....) I figure opening it up to both of us may produce a respectable length blog. Plus, M won't feel like he's so much in the hot seat, then. 

It can be absolutely anything. 

Like, why do you talk about your cat so much? (OMG GUYS, TJ can even guest star. Oh this is going to be good)...

ooooorrrrr, are you really as "sweet" as you seem on your blog (HAHA)

but seriously, anything. 

3. What questions do you have for M about ME?!

That one could get interesting. I'm sure he'd love to oblige. 

SO, you have from now through Friday to ask ask ask!  I'm going to try to corner M Saturday at some point and get him to film this thing, and then post it by Monday. 

ready, set, GO.    

Oh, and P.s. GO VOTE today. that's all I will be saying about that.  

This weekend I..

Well, 

for the first time, oh, EVER, I recalled that Syndal hosts a weekend linkup, and I finally formatted my post properly so I feel like I can participate, weeeee!

 

This weekend I...

did some emotional shopping, and eating, and got our guestbook in the mail! I LOVE IT, it's just as pretty as the photos I posted. I need to start ordering more wedding things in the mail, wedding mail is the best kind of mail!  

This weekend I...

Visited the exotic land of Moorhead, MN for a wedding, and spent a lot of time with M's dad's kitty (literally, she's still a baby) "sassy cassie".. who happens to have a heart shaped mark on her back.  

This weekend I...

Supervised some naps before the wedding, whilst I did my nails 

This weekend I...

 gave myself some fancy nails for the wedding. The base is a burgundy color so dark it looks black except in certain light, accented with some silver glitter. I kind of love the way it looks like it's falling down the nail from the top.  

This weekend I...

returned home Sunday to MORE fun wedding nails! Remember how I said I'd maybe bring you guys mock ups of STDs (save the dates, pervs)  for a vote? Welp, I got impulsive, and to be honest I rarely ask people for their opinion on these types of things... so I went ahead and ordered them.

(here's the back!)

Here's the front!

1. Yes, I know, the front is vertical, the back is horizontal.. but I really wanted to include a photo that had our heads, so people knew those were my feet, and..well...who matthew & kelly were...(you can never be too careful).. is that totally weird? I'll be honest, I don't care a lot. hahaha.

2.  I REALLY didn't want to put the date on the back again, since the whole point of the adorable shoes was to tell people what the date was. BUT M had me all freaked out that there would be stupid people who wouldn't see it and call or something asking what the date was. I've heard of way dumber things, and in an effort to subvert the stupid people, I complied....hesitantly. 

I just designed the back as a "photo" in Photoshop, and then used Shutterfly's postcard custom designer, uploaded one for the front, one for the back, and bam! The deal was $10 for 100 postcards. Except, then they charge you $4.99 per photo you upload. (uhhh, sweet?) So, we had originally used a bunch of small photos to compile the back of the postcard, which was itemized at like, $50. No thanks. So, M figured out how to do it in Photoshop so that when we uploaded it, and stretched it out, it wasn't all ugly and pixelated. Beat the system! Sort of. Cost us $30 with shipping. Not too bad, and same as our invites. I only could order 100 or 200, so I think I'm going to wind up sending to families vs. individual kids..we'll have to see how I'm doing on numbers. Then, send invites to more individuals. I figure the parents can pass on the word though in some cases (i.e. college students out of state)

 This weekend I...

Came home to cat barf on the basement storage room floor. 

When we leave town, we usually have someone come over only once on Saturday to feed TJ, so he gets his full 1/2 cup of food all at once. This weekend it happened to work to have M's mom come Saturday morning, and sister come Saturday night. I don't think M passed word along to make sure his mom used the 1/4 cup then in the morning.. so we think she gave him the full half cup (or at least, one of them did) and then "a little more" because she said it didn't look like enough. We came home at 1:00 sunday, and there was still a LOT of food in his dish..so something had to have been wrong w/how much he was given. We then discovered the barf. This is why he's regulated, because he's a little fatty with no self control, and ate himself sick. (Something his father has done a time or two, as well....)

There's my weekend! 

Unrelated... I just made an off the cuff comment to M about guest blogging. 

Seconds later, he noticed his sweatshirt, that had buttons and a pouch on it, had been inside out all day.... this was his response: 

"guest blogging? Ha!" (not thinking it was a real "thing")

"like..guest starring on a TV show?... well.. I'll work on putting my clothes on not inside out first"

so, stay tuned for that, guys. hahaha

A short Halloween tail*

*intentionally, so... as this story involves (surprise, surprise!) my cat.

 

Just wanted to pop in and share a story from trick-or-treating last night.

Not me, the kids that came to our house.. duh.

 

Anyway, we have a plate glass front door..so when the weather is nice (anything above 50) we leave it open and TJ relishes sitting on the rug and staring out the door. Imagine his confusion last night after a few weeks of closed door when I turned on all the lights in the house and then flung the door open.

 

He wasn't really sure what to think about the trick-or-treaters. Sometimes he'd run, sometimes he'd creep up and try to stick his head out the door. So as not to look crazy pantomiming "NO. HEY. STOPPIT!" while handing out candy (since TJ wasn't visible to the kids whilst creeping) I would just step out onto the step and close the door behind me.

 

It's not like I don't know I have a cat, but every time I would be dropping candy into pumpkins and a kid would go slack jawed, and start pointing through the door, I'd get confused. Until they said "kitty!" and asked what his name was.

 

Well, it was later in the night, and M's friend Brady and my friend Molly were over.. we were eating chips and nacho dip and watching Hocus Pocus and chatting when one last straggler kid came to the front door.

 

The most adorable little boy dressed like a transformer.

 

I could see them come to the door before M, since I was on the couch, so I told M "there's a kid here" and made him get up. (Hey, I'd done it all night while he made dinner). In that time M is walking to the door, TJ charges towards the door and scares the daylights out of the kid, who jumps. which then scares TJ so TJ jumps, and skirts out of his view. We're all just dying laughing.

 

The best part, and maybe none of you will find this at all amusing, but M comes back in side and tells us the 2 kids and parent (who was standing back by the sidewalk) didn't speak any english, they were hispanic.

 

But when TJ charged and the kid jumped, the only thing that the dad said after letting out a short chuckle was,

 

"El gato."

 

I just LOST IT. I have no idea why I find that so funny, but I do. Thinking about it now just cracks me up. Whole night of kids oogling the cat, and that one line just gets me.

 

Anyway, hope you all had fun handing out candy, or trick or treating with the kids last night!

 

M and I have a wedding this weekend that I'll be sure to try to take photos of..and then if we get back in time Sunday, I have a home decor project I'd like to share! I have half of it done, but need to return to Home Depot to get something else. ;-)

 

-Kelly