get me outta here.

I am going insane.

Chocolate chip cookies eaten: 4
Glasses of old champagne consumed: 3
Bottles of (heavy, strong) Sam Adams "Harvest Selection" conquered: 3
Rom-Com movies watched: 3
Hairstyles attempted out of boredom: 2.5
Number of times I've looked out of the bedroom window: 37
Amount of damage I've seen due to Irene: one

(taken from the living room window-- ay!!)

Percentage of funny in Brian telling me his parents were coming for dinner... and then telling me he was kidding: -204%
Times my outfit has varied in the past two days: twice, from one pair of leggings and a hoodie to another pair of leggings and a hoodie
Amount of time I've spent on Pinterest in the past two days: enough to have a mailbox full of notices that people have repinned MY pins.

Now I'm sipping the last of my champagne and watching Julie & Julia for the umpteenth time while a big pot of taco soup simmers on the stove. As frustrating as it's been to be cooped up inside, I desperately needed a weekend of downtime to relax and take a breather. For the first time in close to three weeks, my left eye has stopped twitching. Seriously-- three weeks now, the eye has been twitching. So I've relaxed and cooked and drank and watched bad TV... and I've loved it.

I know that we missed the worst of the storm, and am SO grateful for that but I certainly hope that my boredom does not come across as... bratty? Several of my co-workers, family members, and Twitterers have lost power (with small children in tow-- I send them mental good vibes), had damage done to their homes/cars/streets... all in all, different areas have had different variations of damage. I know that we were lucky to miss the brunt of the storm, but everyone that did NOT is certainly on my mind.

'Til later, my lovelies!

Come On, Irene!!




For the last three days, I've definitely been walking around singing "Come On Irene" to myself... only to find out that it's actually "Come On Eileen." I believe that at some point in time in my past I knew the actual words, but with all of the hullabaloo going on about Hurricane Irene, it's kinda been on my mind.

Luckily, since we're a decent distance away from the actual downtown area of Boston, we should be just fine once the storm actually arrives-- lots of wind and rain, but that's about it. Regardless, after receiving warning emails at work yesterday about potential disaster conditions and constant texts from my Texas folk about staying safe, I got myself a little worked up yesterday.

If you don't know me "in real life" then you likely aren't aware of the fact that I have two settings (unless, of course, these settings are so intense they're conveyed through the blog... in that case, my apologies): very laid back and calm (this is rare), and Type A obsessive compulsive planner who has to have every second of every potential situation planned. This day was the latter. I got so worked up in fact that I...

a) called our super to check if there's anything we can do should we lose power. My main concern was whether or not we would have running water should the power go out. Now, before you think "Really, Katie?" I've heard that in high-rise buildings the water is pumped to the higher floors electrically... hence my concern. I left a voicemail and he called back to say that should the power go out, we couldn't really do anything... and to make sure to tie down anything on the porch. So helpful.

b) created a list of things to survive should we lose power. This was essential to me. After researching various Hurricane Emergency lists, I made the following purchases to ensure that we would be safe and sound and comfortable should we be stuck inside for the next couple of days:

*Have canned goods/ foods on hand that can be eaten without being heated.
Check! I have a sick childhood attachment to Chef Boyardee... I love it. Since getting healthy and checking my eating habits, I NEVER eat this kind of stuff. However, if there's going to be a natural disaster, I'm gonna eat this and justify the heck out of it.

*Stock dry foods (chips, crackers, cereals, granola bars) that can be eaten and transported easily, if necessary:
Check!

*Have stock of comfort/stress foods in the event that your situation get intense (I changed the wording my swear on my days that one of the lists advised to stock stress foods. I'm thinking the chances that a PMSing woman compiled the list are quite high):
Check!

*Have beverages on hand that can be consumed without purification:
Check!

And check again!

*Have flashlights and candles convenient in the even that you lose electricity:
Check! If we're going to potentially have to sit in the dark, why not smell cupcakes while we're at it?! BTW, this candle is from Target, was $9.99, and smells di-vine.

All in all, I think we're set. The rain isn't supposed to hit until tomorrow, so we're wrapping up tonight with takeout Thai, a Real Housewives of New Jersey DVR marathon (for me) and the Patriots game (for Brian), and a good night's sleep in air conditioning. I'm hoping to make it to the gym tomorrow morning pre-storm so I can come home and hunker down with a pot of taco soup on the stove.

Sidenote: When I told my Mama this afternoon that I'm making soup tomorrow, she said that she's just delighted that someone somewhere in the world is cool enough where they can stomach the thought of a steamig bowl of soup. When she left my cousin Jack's birthday party today (in Texas, at a swimming pool, at 2pm), it was 110 degrees. Have mercy. No soup for the Texans.

I'm getting back into the swing of running so I can run this little baby IN TWO WEEKS. It's a 9.11k (5.66 miles) in observance of the 9/11 ten year anniversary. At first I wasn't sure I could kick up my game in time, but I finished 4.5 miles last night and felt amazing, so I think it's going to play out pretty well!

Have a fab rest of your Saturday, my lovelies!!

A bit of random for your Tuesday.

May I just start today by saying that few things have ever made me feel older than having a sprite young summer student in your department not be able to name the main actor in Titanic.

T to A: You know Bar Rafaeli? The supermodel.

A: No...

T: Oh come on. Seriously. Sports Illustrated swimsuit model? On the cover of the magazine last summer? She dated that guy from Titanic.

A: Who?
T: You know, that guy... what's his name? The blonde dude?

A: Leonardo DiCaprio?

T: Yea, sure, whatever.


Y'all, tell me I'm not the only one who had this poster on the wall of my bedroom, who could gaze for hours at Leo in all of his floppy-haired loveliness. And this kid who was unaware of Mr. DiCaprio isn't THAT young. Okay... maybe in high school, but still! Only seven years younger than me! Maybe eight... Good Lord. Old age is for the balls, I tell ya.


Moving on...

I REGISTERED FOR MY FIRST 10K!! I was really trying to gear up to run my first half this fall, but I would love to run my first in Texas so my family can see me finish. Between the cost of flights and needing to save time at work, it's just not going to happen right now. Realistically, I also wasn't in top-form to start training for 13.1 miles and really want to take on that task when I feel like I'm in great physical shape, so I'm meeting myself halfway and aiming for 6.1 instead. It's also advised to have a handful of 5ks and 10ks under your belt before taking on a half marathon, so I think I'll feel more prepared mentally since the miles will be building up.

Anywho, I run on Columbus Day-- Monday, October 10th! It should be a fun run since it goes all over and Boston and back, plus Brian has the day off so he'll be there with bells on. It just so happened that I decided to run this race on Sunday, which put me at exactly eight weeks before the run. Perfecto! considering the training plan I'm following is eight weeks long. Hopefully this is the kick in the bum I've been looking for to really get back into the whole "I dig working out!" mentality, as opposed to the "Yea, I'd prefer a nap..." view that I've had as of late.

Lastly, my addiction to Pinterest has not waned. Oh no, my friends-- it has multiplied by the tons. I'm obsessed, and I am not afraid to admit it. Lots of my friends are teachers so I've been all about finding gifts to make for them with this whole little back to school thing going on.



I love this. A lot. If I become a teacher, will someone give me one? Maybe make me one just for the heck of it?



I die! So darn cute.



This is one of my best friend's first year to teach with her MARRIED last name-- I think this is a must! The question is, would the crayons melt on the way to Texas? Hm...

Oh, How Pinteresting! Wednesday

I love when my bloggy friends come through for me and present blogging material for me that I wasn't even anticipating. The fabulous Rachel linked up for Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesdays, so of course I'm jumping on board!

Y'all can go ahead and thank me now because as of about fifteen minutes ago the only thing I had to write about was a) how tight my pants feel today, and b) how a huge drop of water fell off of a roof while I was waiting for the train and plopped directly between The Girls (it would have been slightly comedic in a movie. For me, it furthered my irritation that had already been spurred by the death grip my pants have on my thighs).

google


Source: etsy.com via Katie on Pinterest



Have mercy at the cuteness. Recreating this could be my new project!!




Amen :)




So cute for our little college football parties! Texas may be miles away but I can always count on college football to keep her close to my heart - Hook 'Em! :)




I'm a planner. Not only do I already have Halloween ideas pinned, but Christmas and Valentine's Day as well!


Source: jcrew.com via Katie on Pinterest





Anyone else as ready for fall as I am?!




No. Words. Necessary.

Thanks for stopping by!!


wine really can turn your day right side up.


Making this purchase was the highlight of my day.

One Kings Lane has become my official obsession as of late, so when they ran a deal today on wine accessories, I had to scoop this up immediately! We're in the process of looking for an apartment, our first that will be OURS AND ONLY OURS, and judging from the places we've looked at, our counter space will be VERY valuable. Hence this gorgey wine rack.

Despite my purchase, today was a Tuesday that felt like a Monday.

My training for the half marathon that I have not yet chosen/registered for began today, so I headed to the track in the rain to get my miles in. It was awful, torturous, and painful. I kept within my time but my legs felt like lead the entire run. A plus was that the humidity broke so even though there was a heavy "sprinkle" the entire time, the humid/hot element was alleviated. I knew it was time to throw in the towel when my PMSing self started to get mad at the feeling of the raindrops hitting my arms.

Brian had dinner pretty much finished by the time I got home, which was wonderful. We went for a back-up dinner tonight: pasta tossed with a garlic sauteed in olive oil with a dash of crushed red pepper, topped with roasted veggies and a side of baked eggplant. I can't lie - it was a good, comforting dish that didn't leave me feeling uncomfortable or too stuffed afterwards. Love that!

Now it's a kickoff to the first couple of episodes of season 4 of FNL and I'm off to bed.

At least we're kinda sorta halfway through the week, right?

coffee, FNL, and four years of us.

After being 100% addicted to mocha coffees from Dunkin Donuts for the last several... months, I have had a rude awakening.

VERY RUDE.

I'm not a huge coffee fan to begin with, so when DD started advertising a coffee with a little hit of mocha, I was all "Sign me up!"


And so began the obsession.


Every. Single. Morning. I made my way to work with my medium iced mocha, skim and two Splendas, and went about my day. Every time I'd start to taste the actual coffee flavor, I'd root my straw around a bit until I hit a spot where the syrup had gathered. And then all was right with the world again.

Last week I decided to switch to being 100% committed to the PointsPlus program on WW, so I've been trying to really focus on being accurate with writing everything down, calculating and tracking the Points values of things, etc. I'd never figured the iced mocha because I always just assumed it was 1Point+ the way another coffee is. What I didn't consider is that the other coffees (blueberry, raspberry, coconut) are made with FLAVORS... not straight-up Hershey's syrup. As it turns out, my little beauty of deliciousness was not, after all, 1PP. No, my friends, it's closer to FIVE. FIVE POINTS! If you do the math and figure I drink a medium at least four days during the week and a LARGE on Saturdays and Sundays, we're getting close to an extra 15-20 points used per week.

After being frantically emailed with a note full of profanities and outrage at this discovery, boyfriend replied "How did you not know that the fancy mocha flavoring was straight Hershey's syrup?" The PMSing weight watchers can turn a blind eye to anything, my friend...

If you're not a WWer, you might not see the significance of this. If you are, please take a moment to acknowledge the ignorance which we've all felt at one time or another when you think "Oh, I'll just assume this is worth X many Points" because we ALL know what happens when we assume. The reasoning for the scale not budging has now become SO much more clear...

And so I write to you from behind the straw of a Toasted Coconut coffee, skim, 2 Splenda. It burns a little going down, without the velvety chocolate syrup to buffer the bitter.

Perhaps I'm a tea drinker after all...


I digress from my coffee dilemma. Can we please touch on the fact that it's already Monday? Granted it's almost 1pm for me on a Monday but where, oh where, did the weekend go?

Saturday morning I woke up and had my workout knocked out by 7, made my regular rounds to Target/Trader Joe's/WW, picked up breakfast at Panera, and headed back home to crawl into bed with My Boy. It may have been noon-ish on a Saturday, but it was our anniversary and we were going to spend it however we wanted!

We lounged around and watched a few episodes of Friday Night Lights. We're now halfway through Season 3 and I've started to panic a bit when I think about what on earth I'll do when my nights no longer revolve around this piece of heavenly goodness:


Also, in case you don't watch the show yet and are debating it, here's my little bit of temptation that I have to wave your way:
Amen.

Also, I will miss Tami Taylor so much. Nobody can rock aviators and a glass of wine like my girl!

We ran a couple of errands and then got ready for our dinner reservation. Y'all, with the assistance of Carrie in rotation on my iTunes and copious amounts of wine, I curled my hair! With a little poof!
Other than the whole "I've been with my man for four years!!" excitement, the successful curl came in a close second. I swear it's all due in large part to LouLou's advice on starting the curl at the top and working the way down, instead of from the bottom up, which is what I've always done! A little heat-friendly mousse, a spray (or thirty-two) of the infamous Tres Two, and I was set!

Add in a good pair of heels and a pair of white pants that fit way looser than they did when I first dropped them off at the dry cleaners (a good three months ago but still, SUCCESS!) and I felt like I looked pretty darn good:
You can't see my heels... and it's kind of blurry... and there's a weird shadow under my arm that makes me appear to have a chicken wing and a half (this is an illusion, I swear to you)... and this was taken in the mirror of our building's elevator... but whatevs! My Big Texas Hair and I were making our debut! Dinner was fab and then we came home to watch more (what else?) Friday Night Lights, with a little more wine than was consumed before/during supper. All in all, it was a fab, perfect evening.

One of the things that I truly love most about our relationship is that as fun as it is to get all prettied up and go to fancy restaurants and such, we don't need that. We are so content to go to a nice dinner, head home to change into our PJs and curl up in bed to relax and watch movies. Does that make us boring and old? Perhaps the tiniest bit. But I like being boring and old. Long gone are the "honeymoon days"... and I'm okay with that. I still put plenty of effort into looking nice for Brian, even in the evenings after work- I try to give my cheeks a little pinch and run a brush through my hair when he meets me at the train. But I also know that we are just fine and dandy together when my face is makeup free and I'm in a pair of yoga pants and an old t-shirt. We don't go overboard trying to impress each other with expensive gifts and fancy reservations - we try to have a date night every other Tuesday for $5 movie night and dinner at Panera, and a weekly dinner date on Saturday, just the two of us. While I know longer feel the need to sport team colors and sit on the sidelines at every one of Brian's softball games, I cheer him on in spirit... in my heart, from my bed, in the lovely air conditioned haven of our bedroom.

As fun and as exciting as the first weeks, months... even the first couple of years of our relationship were, it's so nice to be where we are now. The early days had their fair share of ups and downs, with us being long distance, finishing school, working full time in the summers, moving in together and making THAT whole adjustment, and so on. The days aren't perfect now, but we've settled into our own little groove. We know which buttons not to push (and that yes, I will STILL react that way every single time you push certain buttons. And no, it will never start being funny), which expressions are signaling "Seriously, turn off the video games and come chop an onion," and when to just smile and nod and listen and give hugs.

We're now at the point where we see our friends in the early stages of relationships, waxing on about how romantic it will be to move in together, how it's just so cute how much he loves his sports teams, how her temper is one of the things he loves most about her, and the kisses and the giggles and the touchy-feeliness of it all. We sit back and hold hands and smile to ourselves because we know that the day will come when reality shall hit and we'll hear all about how messy he is and does he NOT know where the laundry hamper is, and how can she burn candles that smell like the ocean and cookies? And then she's threatening to hide the remote because there's always a sports team to cheer: baseball leads to football leads to hockey leads to basketball leads to golf leads to baseball all over again, and it's not always so cute. And the temper that was so cute will rain all over his parade on her bad days/PMS days/"I just don't like you very much right now" days. It's not always fun and sunshine, but at the end of the day, it's love.

These last four years would have been oh-so-boring if every step along the way had been perfect. The spark that was there on day one that we met and had our first little date is still here with us now, and I love him a little bit more every day for that. He's my absolute best friend and the person whom I trust more than anything. He tolerates my bad days and celebrates the goods, and we help each other through all of the ones in between. All in all, I'm a better person because he is my other half, and I would never dream of having it any other way.

August 2007: two weeks after we started dating and the day before Brian left to study in Australia for three months (talk about a whirlwind!)

and after a few years of experience under our belts...

July 2011: at Brian's best friend's sister's wedding. I can tell you that four years ago, boyfran would NOT have put on a pink tie for me, despite all of the pleading in the world. He has since learned that some battles mean you just have to wave the little white flag and give up.

This post... it is boring.

The days, the time... they have escaped me.

Sunday night I got myself all motivated and hyped up about blogging EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. for the month of August, to get myself back into the swing of it. Obviously, that was a fail, but I've still been quite successful with my little day-to-day tasks.

1. Running. The track and I had a 5am rendezvous THREE TIMES this week: Monday, Tuesday, and this morning, 3 miles each day. Wednesday I was down and out for the count with a very unfun bug, but yesterday after work I headed straight to the gym for 40 minutes on the ArcTrainer. My knee was bothering me after my Tuesday run and was still catching a bit yesterday, but today we seem to have recovered!

Also, I've been experimenting (needing to purchase new headphones) with running in silence lately. When I say silence, I mean that the only thing I hear is my shuffling feet and the sound of my un-steady, non-rhythmic, pant-y breathing. Note to self: order earbuds ASAP. Nobody should have to hear that mess.

2. Pinning. Pinterest = my current obsession. I was late jumping on the pinning train but have now completely and wholeheartedly given myself over to the Powers That Pin. It is the most ideal and perfect place for someone like me, who has a thousand and one ideas about any and everything entertaining/cooking/event/food related to compile all of The Crazy into some sort of organized area. I have close to ten boards and am nowhere near the finish line.

3. Four. As of tomorrow, August 6th, I will have spent four years in the (mostly) glorious company of The Boy. We've got little plans and such, so I'll write all about that tomorrow. Just something exciting for the weekend!

My apologies for the most mind-numbingly boring update ever. I needed a little something to get me back in the game, and I've been running a little low on the material lately.