You're all so helpful...and I'm still awful at decisions...

Thank you so much to the 23 peeps who helped me narrow down the choices!  I said I was going to order them Tuesday, but I needed a bit more time.  I am going to get on the phone with Topher today and have him help me decide between the three I really like (which came out of the four that received the highest votes).  I'm really excited!

I really wanted to order them early enough to hopefully address them this weekend, but it's not happening. Oh well!

In case you were wondering, only three didn't get any votes (no one digs A, E or F) and four got over 5 votes (L, K, D, M).  So, I've chosen one of the four below. Can you guess which one we'll go with?

Now the trouble comes in how many to order...

Happy veteran's day, everyone!

I need your help: holiday cards!

I am notorious for sucking at making decisions.  True to form, I've been going back and forth on which holiday card design to go with for the last week.

What's strange and new is that Topher really doesn't have a preference- he just doesn't like the brown color tones nor the photo with our heads cut off (though I'm pretty sure I could actually convince him to go with whatever one I really end up liking).  Which leaves it up to me- thus the sucking at decisions thing. I need your help.  Badly.

I'd like to order these by Tuesday evening, so, please help!  Please forgive me for the THIRTEEN (yes, 13) options below.  Thank you in advance for any time you waste helping me.

Option A and B are quite similar, just different photos.  I love the full bleed and the colorful message, but wish I had more room to personalize the message too.

A

B

This next one, I think, is Topher's favorite. Simple.  Again, no room for personalization of messages.

C

I think THIS next one (D) is my favorite.  I like the juxtaposition of the color with the colorless photo and the many happy greetings.

D

I love snowmen- they're my favorite holiday thing- so this next one I dearly like.

E

F features the photo Topher dislikes (he thinks it's using an artsy photo for artsy's sake- but I like how it's less narcissistic of us, and I like the plaid lots o' lots.

F

Below, G has the brown but I love the greeting of JOY with Topher and I clearly so joyful:

G

I'm not sure how I feel about using more than one photo- does it seem contrived? I love the polar bear and detailing on this one though!

H

I really just like the room for messages in this next one. Thoughts?

I

 I think this one is one of Topher's initial favorites (until I went and found more options).  I could always swap a photo if this one is not so enjoyable.

J

I really like the black and white photo with the colorful Happy Holidays in K.

K

These last two are the same with different photos because I can't decide if I like the black/white or color photo look.

L

M

If you're a Weddingbee reader and you think I should use a different wedding photo, PLEASE help.  Choosing the photo options was the first hard part.

All images are proofs I created at the amazing Shutterfly (and no, this post is NOT sponsored :)

Please help.  Which, from A to M, would you like to see in your mailbox if you knew me?

And I think to myself...what a wonderful birthday!

I've always loved having a birthday in October, particularly having it the day before Halloween.  There is always a bunch of yummy candy around for my birthday and I'm a big candy lover.   The selection of holiday cakes and cookies made for All Hallow's Eve are also better because of the many options and diversity available as compared to other holidays (ghosts, skeletons, witches, pumpkins, spiders- I mean, c'mon, way better than bunnies or trees or shamrocks!).

I had a pretty shitastic week before my birthday, so come this past weekend, I was ready to leave my work computer closed (which was fine, because it was broken and I didn't have it anyway) and gorge myself.  Little did I know that Topher was planning a surprise for the big day- a visit from my TFA housemate Claire!

Topher set up a wonderful birthday day as well, with winery hopping, dinner at one of my favorite places from college and an ice cream cake from my favorite ice creamery ever- and I even have some photos to prove it!

We began the day at a very delicious winery that Topher and I have visited after hiking the nearby mountain, Sugarloaf before.  Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard had a selection of seven wines for ten dollars, 6 of which were yummy reds and one very dry Chardonnay (which pleased me greatly, since I HATE oaky whites).  Topher's mother and stepfather had planned on visiting some wineries too and we ended up connecting!

Gary, Nancy, me and Claire!

 I was VERY tipsy after seven tastings, a full glass of a cabernet sauvignon reserve and I was very happy Claire was there.

After an hour, we ventured to our next stop, a winery Topher and I had considered for our May wedding.  Linganore Winery at Berrywine Plantation is gorgeous and specializes in berry wines that are very sweet.

 They had some awesome Halloween decorations out.

 Again, Nancy and Gary joined us, which was great!

 Me, Claire, Gary, Nancy and Topher

Dusk was settling over the greenery of Maryland and we hit up our final vineyard- a smaller shop called Elk Run.  At this point, several tasting and glasses of wine had caught up with me and I forgot to bust out the camera until we were leaving.  However, it made for some beautiful photos with the vines!

 Claire and me

Topher and me, kickin' it

I love how they humor me... Did I mention Topher bought my wine of choice at each vineyard (and two selections at the final one!) so we now have some yummy drinks to imbibe in the cold month of November!

Yes, I may have been quite happy at this point in the day...

Thank you Claire for my surprise birthday present- YOU!

In other news, Boomer was a banana split for Halloween.

 She was not amused.

 But I sure was!

 Isn't she so cute, though?!

If you're looking for a great option for a birthday event, I highly recommend hopping your local vineyards!

Seven Things You (Likely) Didn't Know

I've been tagged by two fellow women, Jaime at Rabit Stew and Megan at Notes from the Bench, so I felt compelled to share.  It was actually sort of hard to choose seven things that are more interesting to more than just myself...

On that note, I present to you 7 facts about myself that are (hopefully) new pieces of information. I apologize in advance of the fact that they slightly took on a theme as I progressed:

1. I wrote my college thesis on women's underwear.
My sixty page honors history thesis topic began sort of as a joke- I love underwear (I have more pairs than I can count- let's say it's close to 400) and I was having serious mental block on topics as there were too many and too many angles to choose from.  On the Monday evening when the final topic decision was due, I blurted out that I would write a paper on the evolution of women's underwear.  Luckily, the head of the history department was humored and he helped me refine it into a true thesis, contrasting the evolution of women's roles in society to the development of women's underwear.  I'm still proud of "Exposed: Hidden Histories of Women's Underclothes and Social Change" and proud of the fact that a well-renowned political feminist professor said she thought I could easily write a dissertation on the topic.

2. I am always the youngest.

 At least, it feels like it.  This is because I skipped the 3rd grade.  In first grade, I began doing separate reading and spelling away from my peers- in fact, I was Hooked on Phonics and had to read increasingly difficult stories and then answer questions about them.  Also starting in first grade, I joined the grade above me for math (which is ironic now, given that I am not really a math whiz) and did so in second grade and the first month of third grade until the principal and teachers decided to simply move me up a grade to fourth grade.  Luckily, I moved into an amazing teacher's classroom and she welcomed me with open arms, which made the transition smooth and joyful.

3.I love to read and my mother used that to her advantage.

My mother enticed me to learn my times tables by buying me a new boxed set (4 whole books!) of The Baby-Sitters Club Series each time I learned a new set of multiplication.  After a few months, I had 50 new books (well, 48) and aced my multiplication quizzes!

4. The summer between my sophomore and junior year of college, I challenged myself to read as many classic novels as I could.
I passed over the ones I'd read in high school (like The Scarlet Letter and The Great Gatsby- which, incidentally, is my favorite book) and started with Anna Karenina and chugged my way through A Farewell to Arms, Catch-22, Catcher in the Rye, The Bell Jar, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, Slaughterhouse Five, Invisible Man and 1984. There may have been more but I simply can't recall.

5. I used to be am kind of rude at times because I nearly always have a book on my person.
Growing up, I used to read books in restaurants (which my parents agreed to because it kept my brother and I from fighting), on the school bus, on family trips, on Thanksgiving day (to avoid my cousins) and even during my brother's baseball games.  I still read whenever I can- in the car, during Redskins games, and while watching TV.  It drives Topher nuts!

6. I ate Luna bars for lunch senior year of high school so often that they make me gag now.
I ate one a day for about four months straight and can't even stand one bite of them now- even though they do taste good!  Life lesson here is that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

7a. I use two straws.
Yes, I am odd/quirky/strange and if I don't have two straws in a soda cup, I feel WEIRD.  I know it's wasteful of our resources, but I started doing it 15 years ago and it's just part of me now.  I knew Topher truly loved me when he asked for an extra straw at a drive thru McDonalds and I can tell those who truly know me by whether or not they realize this strange fact about me.

7b. I love fry sauce.
Yeah, my real last fact should be that I'm notoriously indecisive.  It shouldn't surprise you then that I couldn't decide between the last fact and this one. Do you know what fry sauce is? No? It's not ketchup. It's not mustard. It's the best condiment ever, invented by a Western food chain called Arctic Circle and it really is real- there is even a Wikipedia article about it.  Typically, only Westerners know about it and it is actually manufactured and available just like ketchup packets in fast food chains in Idaho and Utah.  My college roommates thought I was strange when I made my own in our college dining hall our entire freshman year.

Thanks for the tag as a fellow...

I am at a loss of who to tag (lots of people have been at this point)- but if haven't and you'd like to share some facts, please, comment below and I'll tag you!

Happy Halloween!

Katie over at Ruffles and Truffles opened the floodgates by posting adorable photos of herself in amazing halloween costumes and I had to join in the fun!

In honor of my favorite holiday, I wanted to share my favorite halloween costume with you all.  My family handmade my costumes (like Katie, I've never worn a store bought costume) but not necessarily well.  My mom doesn't sew, so each year was... an adventure, to say the least.  I often went as a ghost (it's quite easy to cut holes in an old white sheet), a witch (where I was draped in my mother's old black dress) or some refashioned rendition of my recent dance recital attire.

By far, the first and last year that my parents spent extended time crafting my costume was in second grade, in which my parents handmade (cut, sewed, measured and re-sewed) me a Princess Jasmine costume, which I promptly wore over a purple sweatsuit because it ALWAYS snows on Halloween in southeastern Idaho.

So, blogging family, I present to you a typical (and my personal favorite) Kate costume from my younger years:

Yes, I was a bumble bee.  And yes, that is electric tape and tinfoil making up the majority of my illustrious costume.  My parents- the engineer and nuclear physicist- are resourceful in every aspect of life.

What is your favorite childhood costume? Did your family use odd household items to craft them?

OBSESSED

I'm a very lucky lady who was gifted two early birthday presents last weekend.  One of them has since been the source of major time suckage, as well as the reason for Topher to say he thinks I'm hotter now.

What could cause such a stir?

Video games.

And not just ANY video game.  Lego Harry Potter for the Wii!  I had no idea that two hours could disappear so quickly, and I've been tired for the last 48 hours because of this new addiction.  I always used to mock Topher for his game playing ways, but now I sort of get it- even if it is Lego Harry Potter and not Halo, Fall Out or some other video game where you shoot a lot of things/people/mutants/aliens/whatever.

Now I don't want to read or blog or even watch TV- I want to play my video game.  I'm not even good yet either- I get stuck and have to watch walk- throughs online to see the trick to using WIngardium Leviosa during the Jinxed Broom level.  Yes, it's like that.  I'm sad.

Do you enjoy any video games?  Are you good and have some awesome tips for me?

Making Sacrifices

Since moving in together, Topher and I have made sacrifices.

No, I don't mean real sacrifices related to time, money, etc (though we've made those too, but that's not a Thursday-evening-blogging-after-not-blogging-for-two-weeks kind of post.)

We've made television sacrifices.  Or perhaps we should call it intelligence sacrifices?

Topher now willingly watches every rendition of the Bachelor(ette) that comes up every four months.  I, with minimal eye rolling, stifle laughs at It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  We both make no sacrifices for that the new show Outsourced.

I'm so ashamed. I actually like all of these shows, including the awful, low brow comedy It's Always Sunny.

It makes me SNORT.

It's an awful show about four friends and a creepy Danny DeVito playing a random version of himself in an alternate universe without his short wife. They get into awful predicaments. It's hilarious. Last week, two of them got stuck in a old, run down, disgusting pool.  It doesn't sound funny but it was.

So I guess we're not really making sacrifices.  You see, Topher knows more the names from the Bachelor every.single.season and I'm secretly so glad he makes us watch this cable comedy.

What do you sacrifice secretly enjoy but would never admit with your SO?