I'm a half century old! Wait... no I'm not.

As I may have mentioned before, math is not my strongest point. I walked around for about a week telling people that I was going to be HALF A CENTURY OLD!! before Brian finally stepped in and informed me that I was turning 25, not 50. Ah, well-- at least I was blissfully unaware.

It was a lovely little day filled with not much at all, which I'm all about these days. Pretty pink roses were delivered, we did lots of Christmas shopping during the day, I was gifted a lovely gorgeous exciting new camera, we went to a nice dinner, and then climbed into bed to watch Christmas Vacation... because Brian had never seen it before. A moment of silence for him, please. (sidenote: I am ALL ABOUT Christmas movies, and he's never seen the majority of my favorites, including It's A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street... I don't know what planet he grew up on, but these were absolute holiday staples in my young movie-watching life. Because I only want the best for him, I'm force-viewing all of my favorites before I leave for Texas. He can thank me later.)

Sunday morning Brian made breakfast, I stayed in my pajamas until 1, and then we went to his parents house for World War Thr... I mean to watch the Patriots game and decorate the tree. Whoop. It was not relaxing or fun. It was stressful. There was lots of yelling about the tree and things falling and things being crooked and... and I have to do that with my own family in one week, and one family's dose of drama is about all I can handle and I much prefer it to be my own family, thankyouverymuch.

Anyways, now the week has begun. My crazy week. I fly home to Texas after work on Friday which means that I now have two and half days to get two weeks worth of things done, including finish shopping, do laundry, pack, get gifts together that I'm taking home, grocery shop for meals this week and for Brian to have food while I'm gone, and bake enough treats for my entire department (100+ people). If anyone has any suggestions about holiday treats that pack well individually and are always a hit, I'd LOVE to hear about them. I need treats for the 8 admin people in our group, plus treats for our janitorial staff and my bus driver (just because they work hard and always have a smile!), and a bunch of more basic treats to put out in the kitchen for our lab.

My camera cord finally came and I uploaded a ton of pictures (dating back to apple picking in October), so I'm going to do a post of picture catch-up.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

reasons why this saturday is oh-so-lovely.

Reasons Why I Am Loving This Saturday Night

*After a long week of chest cold #2 and being exhausted and worn out, I'm feeling good and like myself again!

*Our third roommate has moved to New Jersey for three months for a work extension program. All I can say is alleluia- the break is needed. I'm excited for this little bit of time that Brian and I have just for us. I spent all day today cleaning and making the place look as close to mine as I could, and it feels GOOD.

*Brian took Level 1 of the CFA exam this morning... make that all day. I drove him into Boston to check in at 8 this morning, he had an hour break around noon, and then I picked him up at 5. He's put 200 hours of studying into this exam, and has openly admitted that he probably put more time into studying for this exam than he did for all of his studying through college... and he studied a lot. I was so nervous that I would pick him up and he would be in a horrible mood, but my wonderful boy was ALL SMILES. Seriously, my prayers were answered. Every time I thought about him today, I sent a little prayer his way, for him to be focused, to be calm, to not be overwhelmed... Needless to say, he whistled and chatter-boxed the entire way home, so I'm thinking we're pretty confident :) He won't find out the results until mid-January, but he said tons of kids were walking out with him, talking about how hard it was, and that he just really didn't feel like it was all that difficult.

We're both so glad that it's over-- I'm the easily-rattled one in our relationship. In the three years that we've been together, I've seen him worked up enough times that I could count on one hand. These last few days, he's been completely nervous and on edge. To know that he feels confident and so relieved that it's finally over is an answer to my prayers, indeed.

*I'm sitting on the couch with a lovely (large) glass of red wine, waiting for Brian to wrap up playing on his XBOX so that we can go to dinner at our favorite dinner spot. A night with my boy, stress free? Sign me up, please.

*I decorated for Christmas today. We're getting our Christmas tree tomorrow and going to breakfast, and then I'll put all of our ornaments and such on (my favorite part)-- love. Love it. Christmas is my favorite time of the year, and I'm really getting back in touch with the real and true reason for the season, which I feel like too many people tend to forget at times. It makes my heart happy.

*My birthday is next weekend. I will be a quarter of a century old. I'm terrified... yet excited.

*I fly home to Texas for the holidays with my family on the 17th. Although my parents shattered my world and informed me today that they'll be getting a fake Christmas tree (I'm all about the real), I absolutely cannot wait to be home with my family to do all of our lovely holiday things together. Christmas movies, decorating the tree, cooking and eating 'til we burst, Christmas Eve mass... it's what the holidays are all about :)

Two posts in one day is shocking. I'm off to dinner. Au revoir, my friends!

my ladies, my friends... my girls.

I am a true, firm believer in having amazing girlfriends.

There are friends who come and go, friends who you've recently met and are just getting to know, friends who you can maybe call for a girls night out but not for a no-makeup-early-morning brunch... these friends are good to have and are wonderful at bringing you lots of smiles and fun times. As much as they're your friends, they aren't your girls.

Your girls who have seen you through thick and thin, through the good times and the bad. The girls who you know that you could call in tears and that they would do anything in their power to right whatever is wrong, and who would show up at your door with wine and junk food to cheer you up. The girls who are gently honest, managing to find a way to tell you what you need to hear without making you hurt more than you already do. The girls who have seen you through the crazy nights out and the lazy nights in. The girls who are the first in mind when you think of you want to stand by you when you get married, have babies, and get older together.

I'm lucky enough to have a close handful of my girls. They are all wonderfully beautiful and special to me in their own individual ways, which is why I'm so lucky to have them in my life.

One can make me laugh and laugh and knows just which Friends quote to throw my way at random, or to always text stories about how our parents need our dogs to practice on for future grandchildren. She has known me the longest and maybe knows me the best. We've danced through high school football games, picked up late night Sonic and driven all over our tiny hometown, spent more time watching Gilmore Girls in our respective living rooms than we could ever remember to count, and had more of the hilarious-to-us moments and memories that you can really only share with those friends who have known you since forever. We can hold conversations with each other while looking at each other in the mirror while putting on makeup, and I will never judge her for loving peanut butter and cheese sandwiches. She is an amazing and wonderfully beautiful person, inside and out, who is honest and truthful and trustworthy... and I love her for that:


Another never fails to brighten my day with her loving and kind words, always unintentionally exuding this perfect happiness, which comes from how full she is of love and happiness and God in her own life. She shows care, concern for and devotion to her friends, which is more appreciated than she will ever, ever know. When I first met Brian, she was the first to know all of the details, and has supported me through all of my ups and downs of moving across the country. Today has been an emotional rollercoaster (hello, girl week), and right when I needed someone, my phone rang, and it was her. We talked and laughed and cried for an hour and a half, and when we hung up, I felt lighter and happier and uplifted-- she is the special, amazing, once-in-a-lifetime kind of friend who can do that to you, and she has saved my heart more times that I can count. I love her sweet soul to pieces:


Another who has the exact same chipper, positive, happy personality and outlook on life that she had when I first met her in 6th grade orchestra, with me at the cello and her at the violin. Girlfriend is so amazingly intelligent and is currently in med school (so proud of her!), and you better believe that I will do everything I can to see her graduate! We always always make a date to meet up when I'm at home, and I always know to set aside at least three hours for our coffee/lunch/catch-up extravaganza, and I look forward to it from the second that we say goodbye to the second that we meet again. She is just a wonderful person inside and out, and we have the kind of friendship where we just pick right back up where we left off the last time that we were together:


This lady has known me since kindergarten-- we met fighting over a red crayon and were inseparable from there on out. We were together through all of the dramatics of school-- first crushes, first kisses, first breakups. Skinned knees and broken hearts, Barbie dream houses and riding our bikes to the neighborhood park without our parents (big stuff). I'll never forget the time she tried to roller blade down Suicide Hill or when we were walking her dog and he ran into a neighbor's backyard, complete with a huge dog, and we ran to the front door screaming to call 911. We hit big bumps in middle school and went our separate ways in high school, but once we grew up and realized that it was okay for our worlds to be different, I was one of the first to be called when her sweet baby Abigail Rose was born. We still talk and see each other and even though we may not be quite as close as we are with others, we will both always be each others firsts best friends, and that's a pretty fabulous title to hold:


As I stated earlier, this morning was a bit rough. I'm missing my friends at home so much, and talking to Keegan brightened my afternoon. It made me think about how truly blessed I am to have such wonderful women in my life. I wouldn't trade my friendships with these ladies for the world, not only because we've been through so much together, but simply because they're my girls. And really, how fun is it to go through life without your girls right there with you, along for the crazy, fun, tragically fabulous ride?

Delusional from all of The Stress.

Stress is not my friend... my friends.

When I get overwhelmed, I stress and get anxious and testy and irritable and just... every negative characteristic that a normally lovely person could embody. As of right now, at 9:18pm on Monday before Thanksgiving night, I am 52 kinds of stressed. It has made me a not pretty person the last few days, and that is something that I am surely not proud of. I'm working on balance, but again, like the stress, I don't do balance very well... which often leads to the stress.

There are so many things that I have to get done this week that I sat down at work today and had to make a list. The really sad thing is, I had so many things that needed to get done spinning around in my head that I couldn't even figure out what to write down first. While I may not handle The Stress well, I am Queen of the Lists. Lists make my world go round, and with so much calmness and togetherness and rationale. Lists just make sense, and I'm good at them. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but my boss has told me on multiple occasions that my ability to organize and give a sense of order to things is/was one of my selling points. As easy as it is for me to make the lists, it's actually getting things on the list checked off that freaks me out.

(Goodness gracious could I possibly be rambling anymore about absolutely nothing? Bless your heart if you're still reading.)

Anywho, my list. What I have to get done between now and Saturday afternoon created a three page list. Three pages, my friends. There's shopping and returning things, wrapping gifts, running errands, going to the grocery store two more times, cooking dinners for us, packing lunches, making my cornbread dressing and stuffed mushrooms for Thanksgiving, and making my five appetizers that I (crazily/nuttily/insanely) volunteered to bring to the baby shower Saturday. Overwhelmed is an understatement. Brian's been great at helping and not complaining a bit, but he's also studying for the CFA exam (which he takes December 4th-- prayers, fingers crossed, wishful thoughts-- any/all of the above would be so appreciated!), so I feel guilty asking for too much help... so I'm powering through it and trying to be Super Girlfriend, which basically means I will collapse in an exhausted heap and stay in my pajamas all day Sunday.

I'd just like to note that this is all done in the name of love and good impressions. Brian's mom's best friends are hosting the shower, so all of his family and family friends will be there (it's a couples shower, so legitimately everyone). Even though I've met them all numerous, countless times before, I'm still geared up with making all of the apps because I envision everyone snacking on my crostini and rosemary skewers, saying "Wow, these are a-ma-zing. Who made these?! Katie did? Wow Bri-- you're such a lucky guy!!"

Perhaps I'm delusional, but it's thoughts like these that I entertain myself with that keep me a-goin'!

A girl's gotta have her shoes!

My happy place has finally been found. After (literally) weeks of boot hunting, I have found two pairs of boots (basic black and brown) that I absolutely adore.

Let me preface this post by sharing the fact that I am one of the most indecisive people on the face of the earth. I am a little nervous about the day when I'll have to start planning a wedding, because Oh, have mercy! I can only imagine all of the decisions to be made.

As a general rule, I check out most things online before I actually make the purchase. If something is proven (or supported in a general consensus amongst other shopaholics such as myself) to be worthy of purchase, I typically have no problem swiping my card. I'm a big fan of investment pieces, such as spending a bit more on a good coat or a pair of boots in a sensible color that can be worn with many outfits, in many different situations, on many different occasions. As much as I may love a bright red peacoat or taxicab yellow rainboots, I know in my heart of hearts that a) as cute as they may look on that celebrity that I spotted them on, there's a low chance that I could pull the look off, and b) I don't have the option of owning 10 different coats and 10 different pairs of rainboots that may match whatever I need them to match for the day. And so I shop sensibly and buy what I like and think is cute and flattering, but I also always always keep in mind how much wear I can get out of the piece, how sensible it is, and how long it will last me. In this case, once I'm home with my purchase, I'm giddy and gleeful and peek in the shopping bag like a kid checking out their new toys-- I'm in love.

However, if I have doubts about a potential purchase or, even worse, buyers remorse after the fact, I dwell. I dwell and I hem and I haw over it until Brian reaches his Limit of Toleration (which I am SO good at testing) and tells me to please just make the return that I know I want to make. And so I do. I return it and feel less guilty and know that I made the right decision, and that all is right with the world.

And then I go shopping again and the cycle starts all over again.

When I started out on my boot hunt, I was desperate for a pair of brown riding boots. Now, if I had an unlimited budget, I'd have these babies on my feet as we speak:

Frye Paige Tall Riding Boot

Frye Melissa Button Riding Boot

In a moment of shoppers excitement, I sent Brian the link one day at work. His immediate response? "You'd better get cracking on selling that book." What a buzzkill-er. Anyways, considering I do not currently have $300-400 of disposable income on my hands, I did not make a Frye purchase. However, I cannot honestly promise that I won't strong-arm my someday babies into the whole equestrian activity so Mama can wear her Frye boots to their practices. And seriously? They have a kids line. Small Frye. They're the tiniest, most adorable little boots ever, and I almost cannot stand the cuteness. Small Frye = genius on the marketing front.

Knowing that my loved ones would appreciate Christmas gifts and that my student loans must continue to be paid, I moved on to more budget-friendly options (i.e. I hit up Macy's and DSW). In all honesty, as much as I love to shop, shoe shopping stresses me out. It all goes back to the sensibility question of the considered shoe. Yes, that is an a-ma-zing red pump, but where on earth where you wear them? Do you own anything that matches that? Well of course red is your color, but can they match that color red for the cast you'll need when you fall and break a limb because have you SEEN that heel? So I stand there and debate and stress myself out and leave empty-handed because my poor little mind can only handle so much in a day.

Macy's and DSW are widely varied in their salesperson tactics-- while DSW is just a big open room with tons of shoes and no salespeople to be found, Macy's employees (and I mean nothing negative to any of you who may be employed by Macy's) have tended to be hawks when it comes to shoe-selling. A co-worker told me that they work off of commission, which would explain why they hover while you browse. No offense, but when I'd like to try on a shoe, I'll let you know. Also, when I tell you what I'd like to try on, please do not bring me different shoes in different colors because you're sure I'll like them as well. Lastly, once I have a shoe and the connection looks promising, leave me be for a few moments. If I'm making this purchase, I've gotta bond with the footwear.

After ordering a pair of boots online and returning them... after buying a pair of boots from Macy's and returning them... after perusing the internet for hours upon hours for the perfect fall/winter boots that I could wear to work/dinner/to walk around comfortably, with jeans/work pants/tights/leggings, under bottoms or with legs tucked into them... I came away with these:

(Excuse the "zoom in" part. I had to do a print screen and crop this because I couldn't just copy/paste... all in the name of love and fashion, my dears).This has been an arduous journey, my friends. My poor boyfriend, who I'm sure I will owe for the forseeable future, has been dragged/tagged along to so many different shoe stores, all of which had previously ended in leaving with zero purchases. As I paced and made laps around the displays, he curled into a corner playing Angry Birds, insisting that he felt weird camping out in Women's Shoes... and he probably did. Good sport that he is, though, he survived and fully supports my purchases. After the intensity of this search, I fully intend on wearing the ever-loving soles out of these boots, and just as soon as I get an outfit rounded up to wear them, I'll share the look with y'all!

Funny that a pair of really nice shoes
makes us feel good in our heads-

at the extreme opposite end of our bodies.
-Levende Waters

Oh, how I love the Christmas cards...

Christmas is probably my favorite time of year. Scratch that-- it is ABSOLUTELY my favorite time of year! All of the decorations, Christmas music, the festiveness (red and green are both SO my colors), the cheery spirit that just seems to take (most) people over, the true meaning and reason of Christmas... and the Christmas cards. Holy goodness am I a fan of the Christmas card. Growing up, I was a compulsive mailbox-checker, so excessively much that I would race to see what mail might have come. Catalogs, shopping coupons... all good, exciting things. But a Christmas card could just seal the deal on a good day, or turn a bad day right-side up.

When I was younger, the photo Christmas cards were just starting to become the "in" thing. Nowadays, I swear that's the only thing that I ever see! I love getting to see how much families have changed and grown from year to year, and this year I am fully jumping on the Shutterfly photo Christmas card bandwagon! Now that I've moved away from home and see my friends and family so rarely, I absolutely cannot wait to pick out my Christmas cards for this season and get them in the mail! Since it's a little unofficial to send a card with a picture of me and Brian (i.e. there's no way that would go over with The Boy quite yet), I fully intend to stick a picture of our beloved Boxer (at home, in Texas, because no, we still do not have a dog), Lucy, accessorized with some sort of Christmas goodness, on the front of my card and deck some people's halls!

Shutterfly offers so many perfectly Christmas-y options for your cards. Even better, they're offering an A-MA-ZING holiday card deal for bloggers! I'm not going to share my pick quite yet, but these are just a few of my favorites!





I mean seriously-- how stinking adorable are these?! In addition to the countless options for Christmas cards, Shutterfly also has tons of other products-- I'm a personal fan of the following:

Everyone's favorite part-- the Christmas cards!
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

I'm a big fan of the personalized wall calendar. Hello! to using all of the pictures that I take!! http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

What better to decorate your card than personalized address labels?! http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/address-labels


Get moving, my friends! Considering the stores all skipped Thanksgiving and moved right from Halloween to Christmas, there's not much time to dawdle!!

Celtics, Bruins, sweet potato fries... Oh yes, and free Christmas-ness!!

There are a ton more Celtics pictures on my camera, so as soon as I find my camera cord, I'll post them. Until then, here is my best phone picture:

I mean, was I right or was I right about our amazing seats? Totally could have run out onto the floor.

In other news, how on earth is it already Sunday night?

When I still lived at home, Sunday was my absolute favorite day of the week. My mom would have a pot roast or something else deliciously yummy cooking away in the oven all day, football would be playing non-stop on the TV, we would all be winding down from the weekend yet gearing up for the week ahead... it always just felt like our family day.

Now that Brian and I live together, I'm working really hard to continue that Sunday tradition. While Brian sleeps in, I usually hit the gym pretty early, pick-up our coffees on the way home, fix us breakfast, then settle down for a bit to plan my day. It's when I do my laundry, run my errands, do the grocery shopping, do a bit of cleaning, and always always have a good dinner on the table that night. We get all cozy and watch a few of our DVR shows, then head to bed. Yummy candles are burning all day, the bathroom gets cleaned, the sheets get changed, the floors are vacuumed, the laundry is done... and the house smells like whatever has been cooking all day. My Mama (and MawMaw) would be SO proud.

However, as much as I love Sundays, I do NOT look forward to Monday mornings. Today I actually skipped the gym and slept in until 9:30, which felt SO good. Remember that little cold that I mentioned I felt coming on? Yea, it turned into a full-fledged sinus infection and wiped me out this weekend. Once we got home on Friday night, I curled up into bed and did not move. Brian made me tea and soup, and I knocked out super early. Saturday morning, I thought that I was feeling a lot better, so I headed to the gym. Bad decision on several accounts. After getting home and showering, I felt absolutely miserable. Negative to this? There was no sleeping the day away-- Brian and I had tickets to head into Boston and see the Bruins play (happy birthday to him!), so I had to heavily medicate myself and tough it out.

On the bright side of going in, we had dinner at Boston Beer Works, and it was SO good. My beer of choice was a Bluebeery Ale, complete with two heaping spoonfuls of Maine blueberries added to the glass-- so so so good. We also ordered a basket of sweet potato fries with an a-ma-zing raspberry aioli dipping sauce:

Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks sweet potato fries are heavenly. Best part? They were for sure homemade and thin and crispy-- love! My dinner was a salad with chopped chicken, black beans... it was quite yummy. Then we were off to the game!

While our seats were not quite as impressive as Wednesday night's Celtics game, we still had so much fun (for non-Bostonites, the Celtics and the Bruins both play at TD Banknorth Garden, making this our second visit this week). We decided that Bruins games can be a lot of fun because, and I mean this 100% nicely, a lot of working class people (i.e. fun and wild and crazy!) can afford tickets. Patriots and Red Sox tickets can get astronomical, and Celtics tickets aren't cheap either. Bruins tickets just run a bit cheaper though, and boy do the pure Bostonians come out. It's such a fun experience-- I can't wait to take my Daddy and brother along with us someday.

And now, for the Christmas-ness. One of my favorite bloggers, Kelsey from The Seattle Smiths, posted today that Shutterfly is giving away 50 Christmas cards FOR FREE to bloggers! Heck yes for that! They have a ton of new designs, so if you review the designs on your blog, they're all about feeling the Christmas spirit and sharing the new designs with bloggy world. You have zero to lose and really-- who doesn't love Christmas cards?!

Happy Sunday, my friends. Enjoy what's left of your weekend!!