Saturday, April 30, 2011

Vlog Friday: My Best Vacation

Hello my loves!  I hope you're having a fantastic weekend! Topher and I are celebrating ONE YEAR of marriage, which is nuts. I'm working on a few posts to share my thoughts so get excited!

This week, I reflect on my best vacation- and, as per usual, I can't pick just one so you get to hear about two.


That trip with Topher really was awesome- so much yummy food, walking around new cities (my favorite!) and beer! Yum!

A few never-before-published photos:

Cold water at Interlaken

Le tired at Le Musee d'Orsay

Versailles!

Next week, we join up with the Vlog of the Month Club. Join us!

We Vlog Friday.  Do you?

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Oh YEAH It was Easter!

Happy Belated Easter and Passover, everyone!



This year, I got a BIG bunny.


He was staring at me.



So I nibbled a little off to show him who's boss.


Then I killed him.  Til' he was just eyes. EYES!


Oh yeah, and Topher got some stuff.


And we spent Sunday with his family.  I hung out with a favorite, Jenny (Chris' brother's girlfriend.)


Topher chilled with his bro.


What would you do if you got a chocolate bunny the SIZE OF TEXAS?

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Gooey Goodness Tuesday: She has VIEWS on frosting

It's Tuesday. Topher was just finishing off the last two bites of these delicious, homemade brownies I made this weekend for his little brother Scott and Scott's fantastic girlfriend.  I made them little care packages for finals.

He was lip smacking away and then he said:

"These don't even need frosting."



Now, I'll admit, I don't think brownies really NEED frosting.

However.

I'm a believer that frosting, when done correctly, only enhances and can be good anytime, anywhere.


Topher's view? Frosting is only needed on things like "yellow cake." (btw, yellow cake is my favorite.)

What's your view? Frosting on or frosting off?

Monday, April 25, 2011

National Share Your Desk Week


Ok, so it's not REALLY National Share Your Desk Week, BUT I was sitting at my desk last week thinking how much I feel like my work space really tells a lot about my personality and approach to my work.

Above, you can see a full view of my work space.  Probably to no one's surprise, it's colorful. It's also full of momentos from my teaching days, a place for me to collect things that inspire me daily- like comments from my corps members, pictures and silly staff awards- as well as a small little place in the world where I get to embrace my love of all things office-related (pens, markers, tape, paper clips, staples, eep!)

Let's take quick tour, shall we?


Moving left to right, here is my basic view while I work. You can see my water glasses and bottles, my little calendar with adorable little pigs (PIGS!), the map showing all of my corps members' schools, notes from my awesome corps members, as well as a few pictures of my amazing former students (faces smudged out) and a sample writing from one of my former amazing pupils, where she wrote about her goals for the next 5 to 10 to 20 years. It gives me great focus and reminders for why I work as hard as I do.


Along the same line, last year my corps members decorated my desk for "Program Director Appreciation Day" and left me colorful, amazing, happy notes about our work together. I still read these when I'm feeling frustrated, down, or just feel like smiling.  Plus, they're BRIGHT. which is totally what I need my work space to be!


It's a somewhat crappy picture because of the sun, but you can see some of my organizing systems at play here. I'm HYPER organized at work, and have a place for everything (and everything in it's place.)  There are more momentos here, with notes from my OWN Program Director, more pictures of  my students and my work team, as well as my collection of business cards, and books for teachers.


Ah yes, my top drawer.  Underneath my favorite pens (which I have to keep in a drawer because pens mysteriously disappear from my desk,) I have a very organized set of staples, paper clips, pencils, and markers.


Next drawer down are note cards for when I visit classrooms, post its, and stationary. 


Doesn't everyone have a food drawer at work?  Topher decided one day at Costco that we needed Sun Chips in our lives, so I have lots of remnants of those.  Lots of soup, popcorn, oatmeal, and little mini breakfast bars. Yum. What's in your food drawer?

So I'd like to put a little blog challenge out there to all my peeps- what does your work space look like? How does it reflect you and your working style or personality?

PS You are welcome to share your personal home desk too! 

Saturday, April 23, 2011

34 Years

As Topher and I approach our one-year wedding anniversary, I'm starting to get sappier about love and marriage and all that gooey crap.

Today, I can't help but marvel at my own parents, who have been married for 34 years OFFICIALLY today.  That's 34 years of laughing at each other's jokes, making dinner for one another and their family, and relying on the same person to get them through thick and thin.


It hasn't been the easiest 34 years, but I know that I look up to what my parents built and believe their marriage is an amazing example of what's possible for two people in a committed relationship.

So cheers to you, Ma and Pa- over three decades together today!


Anyone else ever in awe of a marriage in your life?

Friday, April 22, 2011

Vlog Friday: Who Would Play Me in a Movie? ME!

This week, we're talking about which actress do you look like (in my case, no one) and which would you like to play in a movie (in my case, EMMA! EMMA!)


I also catch up on my WORST DATE EVER in this vlog. It's worth a listen. Have you ever had a silent dinner on a first date? It's awesome.



Want to know what Jewel Staite looks like? Google it.


Next week: 
  • What is the best vacation you've ever been on?


Happy Weekend, Happy Passover and Happy Easter!

We Vlog Friday.  Do you?

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

hey snuggle-uggle-uffagus!


So, Topher and I were having this discussion.  Well, really, it was a debate.  (Because, yep, pretty much any sort of discussion with yours truly becomes a debate.)

You see, I have this habit of turning words and names into silly little things.  Cup becomes cupper or cuppy.  Computer? Puter. Chips are chippies.

Side note: I'll hand over most credit (applause insert here) for amazing nicknames to my college bestie/roomie Am- she's the queen of nicknames.  (She even gave Chris his nickname of Topher freshman year and now, it's pretty much all I call him.)

Hokay, so. I make up funny, weird names for people.  For example, le Boomer becomes diddly-poo-boom-boom, or smooshy-wooshy-pooshy-bum.  Chris becomes Stopher (nothing comes closer to ho-ome!), Chrispy, Smarsh, Topher, Toe, or even hubbsy-diddles.

Ok, I've never called him hubbsy-diddles, but it'd be awesome if I did.

(Back in college, I had a worse nickname for him. It rhymes ends with -ucker and begins with f-. I was such a wallflower, shrinking violet, shy, shy, shy girl.)

What do I get called in our relationship? Mainly Kate. Or sometimes, if Topher is feeling REALLY adventurous, I get Wife.

So, this discussion. Why can't I have a FUN, crazy, name based nickname? I have seventy million for him, and I get NOTHIN.

It's been two months, and still, nothing.

I want a nickname. (Hear me, Mr. Marsh? A name that nicks part of my current name to create a cuter-but-not-always-shorter term of endearment from you to me!)

Do you and the siggey-other have nick names for each other? Are you spaztastic as I am about giving inanimate objects and non-human things weird names?

Monday, April 18, 2011

can you say that your own relationship is sickeningly adorbs?

Because ours was this past week.

I just returned from four awesome days in sunny New Orleans, which was fantastic.  However, what's even more fantastic was the sweet little occurrence at our household just prior to my departure.

Wednesday night, this is what I found on my dresser as I got into my jammies for dinner (what, don't you immediately take off work clothes and put on comfy ones post-work?!)

Just imagine a silly little guinea pig not on my dresser

What was in it?


The "this" was a twenty dollar bill!

What makes this gross was what I left for him on the bed, same night:



And clearly, I gifted him twenty bucks in chipotle.

So, essentially, we exchanged twenty dollars.

How cute.

Do you ever do spooky-creepy-adorbs things with your lovey?


PS Get excited, because I'm catching up on my Vlog Friday post tonight and debuting fun, new glasses! :)

Monday, April 11, 2011

Every Human Should: Know How to Drive a Manual

Happy Tuesday loves!  I don't have any gooey goodness for you today, but I do have some human commentary for you!

Once upon a time, I was a little chickadee of sixteen.  My parents drove home one weekend with a brand new car.  I assumed said car was for ME!

It was not.

BUT. They said I could drive it.

When (or if) I learned how to drive it.

See, it was a manual. A STICK SHIFT.  A need-to-know-what-a-clutch-is car.

Well, shit.

After a few long months of figuring out that clutch business, finding the sweet spot, grinding a few gears, I finally could navigate that little teal ball of baby car love without stalling it at every stop sign and on every hill.

I drove that little spitfire for seven lovely years.  I drove that little baby car until it got smashed up one rainy morning in my second year of teaching.  It had just been paid off a few months before, and gifted to me officially from my wonderful parents. I was enjoying my happy little car and my lack of car payment.

Le sigh.

So. Every human should know how to use a stick shift. Just in case someday your parents drive home with a new car and say you can have it WHEN you learn how to drive it.

Loves to you, dear friends, and dear, departed car. How I loved thee.

Oh yeah, in 2007-2008, I went through this "let's have dark hair" stage.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

things that should have been posted friday...

my vlog for last week!  the real me.... after a date with the hubs and three glasses of wine.

i'm sensing a theme in my last few posts.


so, the real me is pretty much someone you either love or leave.  i'm passionate (often, overly so) and take a territorial stance on things (oops.)

who is the REAL you? join vlog of the month club!

mwah loves!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

tonight, i drank half a bottle of wine

and it was good.

i'm feeling happy. which is great considering i came home feeling tired and stressed.

tonight i made four cakes. chocolate and red velvet. for a secret at work. i can't write about it here. someone might read it.

i love hockey.  do you ever watch hockey? you should. i have a favorite player. topher hates this player. 'cept he'll get mad at this post and say he doesn't hate him (but he does.)

this hockey player's name is semin.

yes, semin.

alexander semin. or aleksander.  that's how i say it in my head.

semin likes to pretend he can't speak english. but he can.

i told topher all i wanted for our one year anniversary was to meet him.  it's not paper, but it's better. it's semin.

topher said i should write about boomer's night terrors.

this is better, no?

happy thursday. here's to hoping you drink wine tonight.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

a day in the life of chris and kate...


this here little post has been sitting in my drafts for a few weeks now.  it's quite the doozy.  perfect for hump day (just humpity hip hip hop over that middle of the week!) tres excited?!

there's this thing about being me, or being my husband.  we often go out on these adventures, usually called weekends, and horrible, no good, very bad, but HILARIOUS things happen to us.  like this one time when i pistol-laser-tag-gun-whipped a kid on his birthday and made him cry. and bleed. (what, i haven't told you this story? you don't really want to hear it, right?)

it is upon these adventures wherein we stumble across roadblocks. usually figuratively, but this time, (this time!), road blocks were real!

a few weeks ago, chris and i were in frederick, the loverly town in whence we were married.  we were meeting some pretty happy, fantastic people there to give them some frederick lovin.  or, as in, give frederick some lovin by showing them around said lovely town.

oh, but first! first, we hit up our love nest, aka our hot spot, aka our wedding venue for some FREE FOOD!  we'd been invited for a "married couples" lunch.  really, they should have called it a LUNCHEON because it was a sit down affair, complete with NEWLYWED GAMES and PRIZES. PRIZES like a happy, happy BELL. yes, a bell.

(yes, when i heard prizes, i got really excited too.  but really, they were bells. or valentine's themed socks. i tell you, what married couple wants socks?)

oh, but the bell!

we even got to practice USING the bell- when it rings, we're supposed to KISS.

in front of strangers.

well, really, ten other same-same awkward feeling newlyweds (including one couple married after us, five years younger, and pregnant. not judging. just...stating.)

can you believe i am JUST getting started?!

this little luncheon affair would have been quite acceptable and a cause for giggles and inside jokes galore. if. IF!

if we hadn't had to leave early.  see, we thought it was a "swing by, grab some food, peace out" type thingy.  no cigar.  it was a, "come early, find your name card/assigned table, chat about inane things with couples you'll never see again, enjoy a cracker course, a soup course, a main course, and oh, play games in between every course" lunch.

so, we had to leave early.

BEFORE THE ICE CREAM SUNDAE BUFFET.

need i say more? chris and kate rules: if it's going get really awesomer soon, something comes up so you have to leave.

so we left. and we were already late.  and then, there was traffic.

on a saturday afternoon on the only highway for miles.  guess what the traffic was?

SOMEBODY LEFT THE ROAD WORK SIGNS UP BUT NO ONE WAS ACTUALLY WORKING THE ROADS ON THE FINE SATURDAY AFTERNOON IN WHICH WE WERE GRIDLOCKED.

and by working the roads, i mean neither was anyone fixing potholes, NOR was a lady of the night seeking the company of my lovely sweet skin while standing on said roads (leg hitched high, peachy skins flashing.)

eventually, we arrived. (i know, you're glad. we may be nearing the end.)

oh and what a lovely afternoon it was! barbecue, and chit chatting, and beer. and yum.

and then, ha ha, we got locked in the parking garage.

ha ha ha ha.

we got so locked, even after paying our one dollar exit fee, that topher had to turn my baby car (MY BABY CAR!) around and he even tried getting ME to act like a CAR to try to make the entrance blocker thingy swing up.

sadly (happily?) i am not the same width as a car, so it didn't work.

oh, but yes, we did eventually get out. after we called the emergency box and watched another person get locked in but NOT back out of the line and cause a hold up in the line such that i stood, lonesome, in a car garage's entrance waiting for my baby car (and topher) to arrive.

guess what? our day's not over.

then we went the wrong way on the highway. as in, the opposite direction of our house.  on a highway i drive down. every. single. day.

OH!

then, at cold stone, we got the janky ice cream scooper (JANKY, I TELL YOU!) who didn't even use the REAL scoopers that blend and combine and mix and thusly our mix-ins were NOT mixed in. it went lick-lick-lick-CRUNCH-CHEW-CHEW-CHEW-lick-lick-lick.  because, the licks had no crunch and the crunch had no licks. ya know?

want to come on one of our adventures spend a saturday with us next time?

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Vlog Friday: Coming as soon as my computer decides to have space

Hey loves!  I hope your weekend is going well!

I have my vlog from last week's vlog topic, BUT my computer's hard drive is too full for me to even upload it to youtube!

I am in the process of putting in a new, larger hard drive but ran into a small SNAFU, so that new vlog post will come asap- hopefully before the end of the week! :)