SUMMER 2012

really this could be any summer to do list. 

but i'm pretty excited that it's this one right here.

thanks for the prompt from lauren.

thanks for the photo inspiration from elise.

blanks + senses + links + insta

  link up with lauren

 

1.  The best surprise ever would be if someone had invented a publicly available teleportation machine before this weekend and I could have stayed home and had a mostly relaxing yet productive weekend but also spent a couple of day eight hours away in Houghton with family. It mostly would have been the best surprise ever so that I wouldn't have stressed over the decision for weeks beforehand. I felt 50/50 the whole time.

 

2.  I'm feeling a bit removed from memories so I'm having a hard time thinking of my most favorite memory .

3.  The hardest, but most worthwhile thing I've ever done was moving to New York and being on my own for 18 months. It was hard because I was alone. It was worthwhile because I was alone.

4.  The best part of my day is the downtime in the evenings when Matt and I get to hang out, sometimes we veg hardcore, sometime we make dinner together, but we're together laughing about something, usually the cats. 

5. Something I like that most people don't is ranch dressing on my pasta & rice, no doubt.

6. Something I am willing to fight for is peace & quiet & calm in my home.

7.  Something you might not know about me is my house had an ant infestation on the porch. It was the in the top 10 the bug guy has seen in 10 years and 3,000 houses. TOP 10.

good morning, these cups makes me nostalgic for new york.

Seeing: sunshine and a quiet house. thankful. the yellow pages that guiltily remind me i did not get a property line survey lined up for next week.

Making: 

Watching: three episodes of Glee, earlier today. I think three is my max.
Hearing: songs in my iTunes, i'm trying to clean out the music I don't like.

Quoting: 99% of life is mundane, so it's important to remember to enjoy the everyday.  -Amanda's dad.

Anticipating: Matt getting home and deciding what to do with the rest of our day, out and about or lazing about. and then the rest of our weekend. I have a to do list to tackle.

Loving: this lazy day. i needed it.

Feeling: ready for a shower.

 

 good afternoon, making the switch from coffee to beer on a holiday weekend.

elise's summer vacation book.
sheen is making jealous of summer foods that grows in (not even) June and not October!
beca of tumbleweeds will be featured on fab in two weeks, i can't wait!
Koubachi gives your plants a voice, I downloaded this app as soon as I discovered it! thanks swissmiss.
After reading this it was fun to see this Marc John's illustration a few blogs down. It's so true. I'm also basically allergic to "big talk too."
Um, yes: Win A Free Wedding!
There is some serious stamp love and developing going on out there.
This. Gorgeous lady. (bonus, a new blog to follow!)
Great cover. I was so proud to be supporting President Obama on my car that day. Reading Meg's reactions on twitter really brought it home too. (one reposted on the blog)

15 Great Tips for making a marriage last 15 years remember this gem too.
already prepping for the holiday season. 
I've never paid for a photo app, but I'm excited to try out VSCO cam after Amanda Jane's recommendation.

I'm going to need to remember this. This is a great post about working with vendors. It annoys me to now end that there are only two Michigan vendors on A Practical Wedding, and both over three hours away. I mean there have to be vendors out there, close by, that align with a Pactical and sane wedding. Right?! I mean, I hope so. I certainly concerns me.... side track.  So, I love that they end with:  

And if you find a vendor that totally has APW values but doesn't know about us yet, do us all a favor and have them apply for the vendor directory! Trust me, we all want to know their details.

Read more: http://apracticalwedding.com/2012/05/how-to-hire-wedding-vendors-photographers-caterers/#ixzz1vuuIUteM

good day, spent the day reading blogs (the reader had gotten out of control once again) and posting links here. 

the cats embraced the gloriously lazy day as well.

cheerful blanks

HAPPY FIRST GREEN FRIDAY FRIENDS!!! Long weekends for the win.

1. Something that is very near and dear to my heart is quiet time, I need it to recharge.

2. Love is good cause to celebrate.

3. The most fun I ever had was, well no single moment stands out, times Matt and I are just totally goofy, times spent with my family on the water, catch up time with my bestest.

4. True friends for me are the ones you can go months without seeing and pick up right where you left off! I also know I could call them at any time and they'd be there for me.

5. Something that makes me terribly happy is the feeling of getting things and having a lazy, relaxing day with bits of laughter with my beau thrown in.

6. A good way to spend a sunny day is with a cool drink, on a porch with ones you love, I'm thinking bouts of talking, bouts of quiet a good balance and a great day!!!

7. My favorite celebratory food is impossible to choose. As long as I'm with the ones I love and enjoying something savory and a glass of wine, well that sounds great!

http://thelittlethingswedo.blogspot.com
Link up with Lauren

dear weekend, you're nearly here.

 link up with lauren

1.  Today is a great day because it's Friday! Last weekend we were away which was great, but I'm ready for a weekend at home. I hope to work in the yard and get on top of some house cleaning. Also bunches of relaxing but I may plan that into my weekend so I don't totally bum around.

2.   Tomorrow I will clean the bathroom if I get up after Matt, make breakfast (bacon!), veg for an hour or so, weed flower beds for a few hours, wash floors, dust upstairs, maybe another hour of yard work, shower, VEG.

3.  My favorite time of day is the evening because Matt and I are both home, usually, and we're together, eating something yummy and making fun of the cats and laughing.

view from the bed at the H last weekend

 

4. Sometimes you just have to plan the crap out of your weekend even if all activities occur at home to ensure maximum productivity AND maximum couch potato-ing.

5. A song that I just can't get enough of lately is... well, here's the one I've been wanting to hear:

  
6. My favorite accessory is a good necklace, I'm usually wearing one, unless my top comes all the way to my neck. Also hair ties, 99% of the time I have one around my wrist.

7.  My favorite thing about this week {so far} was serenading Matt in the car on the way home from dinner last night. It was pretty hilarious. 

 waiting for dinner at Cafe Zinc

Craving: bacon & pizza, things I've dreaming about all week and will be having this weekend

Seeing: a messy desk I need to tackle.

Smelling: oranges, mid morning snack.

Listening:  Meg's 2011 Playlist

Quoting: 

"Everything is flawed. Spending a lot of time on something is not going to make it perfect. Worrying about it and obsessing over it is not going to make it perfect."  -Elise

Loving: Getting geared up for Send Something Good & Week in the Life

Feeling: Well, a bit of that malaise is still hanging on, but mostly I'm feeling optimistic for a productive and relaxing weekend.

life, cats, blanks, linking up.

linking up with lauren 

& for the first time with 

jeannett at life rearranged for instafriday

via miss lisa. 

1.   The last thing I ate was delicious leftover pasta that Matt had made last night. It's a variation on his chicken, sundried tomatoes, artichoke pasta that I was so afraid to try the first time and now I adore. He subbed sausage for the chicken because that's what we had. mmm mmm mmm.

2.   The last song I listened to was the last song on this playlist from meg. I've listened to this quite a few times. My favorite song of course is this.

3.  Using the letters in my name I can spell ate, take, at, eat, teak. KATE

4.  If I had to dress in one color for the rest of my life I would pick  probably blue or black. maybe purple..

5.  If you were to look in my bag right now you'd find wallet, gum, iphone, notepad for lists, receipts and coupons, lists, a ticket from the Grand Rapids Griffins game, touch screen gloves from Matt in the best limey mustard color.

6.  When I finish filling in the blanks I'm going to go home for the weekend! Ah, the first full week of work back after a long break is so rough. Ready for this weekend!

7.  My all time favorite song to dance to is oh probably something very 90's and very high school dance-y.

and now for:

 our newest picture from the hockey game

this cat looks like this, always. she is ridiculous.

 it took me forever to read this book. i'm not even sure i liked it.

bacon chocolate, yes please. it's delish.

my lovely package arrived from melissa. love it!
i plan to share what i received over the weekend!
but seriously, that cat paper cutting - you know it's going to be good!





Craving: a bloody mary Seeing: SNOW Loving: snow, matt, sleep, the kitties, the weekend

questions & senses & links

 link up with lauren

1.   A nervous habit I have is probably avoidance on annoyance. When I'm nervous I'll either avoid the situation or get annoyed that it hasn't been resolved. (If they'd just asked me...)

2.   Something that makes me sad is when other people are sad.

3.  Today I am thankful for a productive afternoon. We finally took care of our leaves, picked up my sewing machine, bought an iPhone, Heather's Restaurant for dinner, and Tim Horton's doughnuts for breakfast tomorrow! Now tv and veggin'. A Happy Saturday.

4. My favorite room in my house is the living room. It's where we fort, where we eat, where we snuggle, where we tv/movie/read/mac. That room gets a lot of love and we love it. I wonder what Matt's favorite room is and why... his answer: "My favorite room is the living room. That's where I can relax. If we were to get a comfier chair, it might be the library."

5.  I can't stand not knowing how best to respond to a situation or how I should act in the first place.

6.  If I had an extra $100 to spend on whatever I wanted today I would save it for our annual Christmas shopping trip that's just two weeks away!!!

7.  The last person I hung out with was, well if you don't count Matt...it was my bowling team, Split Happens, Thursday night. I was mediocre. It's all about the social wellness!
 

Craving: Apple Cider, crisp and refreshing.

Making: an advent calendar for December. I hope it comes out as I picture it.

Watching: Criminal Minds, backed up DVR.

Anticipating: the iPhone 4s making it's way to me.

Loving: the holiday season is here! don't you love that the holidays are there own season.

Feeling: ouchy, I have this sharp pain in my shoulder from a pulled muscle and there's no good way to soothe it.

Links

incredible map via hooray

Stop Motion Jelly Beans via Creature Comforts

Snuggling Kitties

Spreading Good Messages

Don't Miss Sweet Paul Holiday

some  really great and sweet things in gifted

Fill in the Blank Friday

 link up

1.   My favorite new blog of the moment is A Practical Wedding, it is a smart, modern community of women who share their thoughts on weddings and life. There's a new feature called Reclaiming Wife that's probably my favorite. {Thanks for the recommendation Iris.}

2.   Somethings I am thankful for {are} the seasons in Michigan, even when they end to soon or last too long. Yesterday we had a peak of snow, just a few flurries and I got excited for the coming winter. I'm really loving on fall this year so I don't want that to end just yet, but I do hope we have a lovely winter come mid-December-mid March. That'd be ideal, although impractical.

3.  Something that made me laugh this week was goofing off with Matt yesterday, my hands were pretty and cold and he was quite warm. I laughed hard. It felt good.

4. An item that is currently on my wish list is 

5.  I am excited about the coming holiday season. I love that Christmas/Thanksgiving is basically it's own season. Not fall anymore, but not quite winter. Being excited about this could have something to do with receiving my She & Him Christmas CD & Mittens!

 

6.  If I were a color I would {still} be orange because it's bright, bold - you get it.

7.  My favorite way to spend a chilly fall day is by snuggling up under the blankets with cozy sock and something warm to drink!

Craving: a restful nights sleep. 

Seeing: fall sunshine. I love sunshine.

Smelling: the memory of the smell of chocolate in the entry way of the Jolly Pumpkin.

Making: a hearty spaghetti for dinner tonight! mmm.

Watching:  All of the shows on our nearly full DVR. We knocked out the Good Wife last night. I'm thinking Walking Dead tonight.

Quoting: It's that time of year / When the world falls in love / Every song you hear / Seems to say
Merry Christmas / May your New Year dreams come true

And this song of mine / In three quarter time / Wishes you and yours / The same thing too

Anticipating: A relaxing yet productive weekend.

Loving: Matt. aw.

Feeling: headachey, that's no good. more coffee? yes please.

Fill in the Blank Friday

Just blanks today my dear readers. I have a monthly goals post in the works but it's not quite ready. HAPPY FRIDAY! I'm happy, happy it's the weekend.

1.   My favorite thing about this week was/is this upcoming weekend and the surprises it holds for you dear readers and Matt and maybe myself as well.

2.   Colder weather makes me ache for warm beverages and blankets and happy for snuggly cats and Matt. <3

3.  Three things that make me terribly happy as of late are torturing Matt about this surprise weekend, planning the surprises, Matt himself.

4. If I could only wear one kind of shoe for the rest of my life, I'd choose Mary Jane's maybe, they're my go to shoe.

5.  My personality type is INFP, it suits me I think. My strengths are  learner, adaptability, maximizer, positivity, & input from the StrengthsFinder 2.0. Those definitely fit me.

6.  I have a serious problem resisting pretty much anything gluttonous right now. I'm insatiable. le sigh.

7.  My favorite color to wear is green or purple or orange or gray. :)

Blanks via the little things we do.

it's Friday!

hello hello! design / via swiss miss

1.   The most selfless thing I've ever done is escaping me. Maybe I'm not a selfless person. I am, I just got nothing for you.

2.   When it comes to working out I am trying to establish a lifelong routine. I've learned that I'm better off when I have someone to hold myself accountable to, a friend to swim with, classes with teachers that motivate me. 

My October goal of "Work out three - four times a week, plus at least once with Matt." is going ok, I've worked at least once each week but not at all with Matt. I'm thinking this weekend I'm going to change that. You ready buddy?

3.  A woman should always, I've got to go with Lacey's here, respect herself. "You can't expect someone to respect you if you don't respect yourself." 

Did you know it's domestic violence awareness month? I've found making jokes about it is a great way of letting people know. Which sounds worse than it is. I happen to have this giant bruise from giving blood last week (10 days and counting) and so I tell people Matt and I are doing an experiment to see if anyone notices my "injuries" because it's Domestic Violence Awareness month. People roll their eyes and laugh, but then they know.

4. I wish I could sleep in until I was ready to wake up and then I'd get a few chores done around the house, then head to work, but still get out before it was dark out or in the summer by 5 or so.

5.  A best friend is the person who knows all the good and bad and weird things about you and it makes them love you even more because that's what makes you you.

6.  I can't get enough of whining that it's not Fall-like yet, soon to be replaced by whining that I'm too cold.

7.  This weekend I am cooking squash if I make it to the farm on time, making sundried tomatoes (see below), finishing up my Fall clothes transitions, rethinking my Halloween decorations (see inspiration below),  CLEANING!, watching the Michigan State v. Michigan game, watching the Tigers try to beat Texas, more vegging and watching the tube while hanging with my love, blogging, reading, probably seeing parents, and that about sums it up. 

 hopefully there's lots of this. 

{which is weird to say because I used to be a Michigan fan. It's questionable I'm sure to change sides, but I'd rather root together than have a split household. Each of us would have to claim a cat as a fan of their respective team. That'd be hilarious. Michigan's fight song is still better.}

Blanks via Fill in the Blank Friday

LINKS

Matt & I were featured on Free Crappy Portraits: film festival. so silly. Aren't the internets great?

There's some serious Halloween/crafty/Fall inspiration popping up, with just 17 days until that spooky night. oragmi bats, festive wreath made of ties, impressive mantle (from Rachel D's link up), holy crapy how beautiful is this family and the photos from Arrow & Apple? I've definitely found a new blog to follow.

Arrow & Apple

I follow Sheena from the little red house because of her beautiful photos, yummy foods she cooks up for her sweet family. This week her I am. post stirred controversy, and I have to give her props for sharing her Mormon faith. I'm not a religious {apparently, I don't even know how to spell it} person in the slightest and consider myself agnostic, but I think what she shared has a space and a weight that I wanted to share with you. Religious or not, be kind to yourself and others.

I am glad that Sheena blogs. Today she's sharing her senses, and I'll be happily making sundried tomatoes thanks to the reminder. I am also stealing the senses prompts.

SENSES

Craving: the Mandarin House sesame chicken we'll be having for dinner. mmm. It's going to be such a good food weekend.

Seeing: fall colors vibrant on the trees.

Dazzling Luxury  

{I have a whole post planned about how much I love this tumblr.}

Smelling: the imaginary delicious aromas of pizza I decided we should make this weekend. I'm thinking tomatoes, zucchini, onions, squash, bell pepper. reminiscent of this.

Making: sundried tomatoes, squash smorg, fried eggs for toast.

Watching: football, Knocked Up, Parks & Rec

Wondering: Are you enjoying my blogging? I've done it every day this month.

Quoting: "I have looked down the long days of our lives together, she said & in all directions, there is no future without love" -storypeople

Anticipating: A relaxing and productive weekend. I had been planning to go away, but forgot to actually make the plan, so it's like we have a ton of found time and I hope to make the most of it.

Loving: that today is the first day I'm wearing tights. hello Fall.

Feeling: chilly but ok with it. I need to invest in some legwarmers.

There is something I really love about this post. Sharing bits of life and what I'm excited about.

fffriday!

Remember when I said it wasn't Friday without filing in the blanks and then I stopped. Well, here we go again. A good set of blanks from Lauren on this summery Fall Friday.

1.   Something popular that I just don't "get" [are] those sweatpants with words across the butt, tacky.

2.   Something unpopular that I secretly love is my new found love for wearing athletic pants to the grocery store. I figure if I'm wearing to work out in it's okay to wear them to buy milk and such, on separate days of course. I find it amusing when I have a 5k or tri t-shirt on and I'm about to eat a totally gluttonous meal, cracks me up. 

3.  When I've had a bad day I either take a deep breath and move and find something to make the day better or I wallow. Usually it's the wallowing.

4. I'd prefer  coffee to  tea any day.

5.  Something that makes me nervous is angry people, for reals. Also, I think I'll always worry that people don't really like me. I know, I know if they don't it's not worth my time but honestly, there's not much about me that you shouldn't like. So do it. 

6.  Something worth fighting for is love and honesty.

7.  When people think of me, I hope they think I am kind, funny and loving.

FIVE links for your Friday: 

As you know I'm basically a fan of everything that miss Meg puts out there. She celebrated a birthday this week in her traditional eloquent, reflective  fashion. 


New Marc Johns, What birds do when we aren't looking

I continue to love what Kinfolk Mag is all about. The Stable Cafe is beautiful. 

Curly Girl's Marmalade has some serious cuteness out for Halloween.  I need to step up my Halloween decor efforts. 

HOLY FREAKING MOLY CUTENESS!!!

 Emotional Striped Cat / Snoring French Bulldog / Serious Cat

I think the one in the middle is kind of me, but of course I don't snore. ;)

 The one on the right looks SO much like Lulu. I love it. It might deserve it's own post.

They're from Fab.com, Precocious Pet & Monster Prints from Christopher Rozzi is an artist and comedian based in NYC. His adorable print collection is aptly named Tiny Confessions.