Gym

Today I finally did it, I joined a gym. Now don't get me wrong, I don't need a gym to go running, but I do need a gym to swim laps! So today I went with Allie and signed up so that I can start swimming laps again, and just to prove to myself that it was worth it, I went and swam some laps right after I signed up!

It felt great to be swimming again, and I felt so much more tired and thoroughly worked out after swimming in comparison to running (maybe it's just the swimmer in me coming out after a few years of hibernation). Either way, I love it. I'm so excited I did it, and I'm looking forward to swimming in addition to my Tue/Thur/Sun runs with Stephanie. Go me haha!

Other than that, as soon as I got home from the gym I made some blueberry muffins, talk about hypocrite, but at least I didn't feel as guilty when I was licking the bowl clean!

-Katie

New Banner!

Thanks to my brother, Clay, and his photoshop skills, I now have a new banner! I've been trying to get him to make it for a while, but since I haven't been home to work on it with him, it has taken the backseat to his other projects. But for now, it is complete! Hopefully now my blog will have a little more street cred haha.

-Katie

I love Candy

I have a huge sweet tooth, so big, that I crave candy or some sort of sweet at least twice a day. So I thought it would be appropriate to share with you all of my favorite candies....

Yum! Can't go wrong with Sour Gummi Worms!!

A Childhood Favorite, Shock Tarts always left
my tongue in pain after eating a whole roll.

Ahhh, the nerd rope. A Mix of gummi and crunchy goodness.

Air Heads. Always a reminder of watching my brother's t-ball games.
(It was all I could afford at the snack shack, but sooo worth it!)

Currently in my mouth, lovely bubblicious gum.
Pro- PACKED with Flavor for the first 15 seconds
Con- NO flavor after the first 15 seconds haha

Last, but certainly not least, Sour Patch Watermelon Slices.
Probably my current favorite. Facebook has been kind enough to torture me with advertisements for this delish treat on the sidebar of my browser everyday for the last week, making me crave them even more!

So those are my top candy picks, what are yours?
Please note: Chocolcate doesn't rate compared to sour in my book haha

-Katie

Pumpkins in March?

In October Josh and I went to the pumpkin patch and corn maze, as many of you have seen in the creepy picture post. Well for some reason, we still have our pumpkins sitting on our porch, in good condition might I add, no mold or evidence of rotting.

So the other night when we got back from our walk to the mail boxes, I decided that enough was enough and that I wanted to roll my little pumpkin down the stairs. Childish I know, but it was hilarious.

Pumpkin waiting for takeoff.

Isn't it cute?

Weeeeeee!

It made it to the bottom without breaking!!

There you have it, my pumpkin playtime. This little one was such a trooper, I have decided to reward it by not throwing it away yet. So it is now living at the bottom of our stairs, as a reminder of what a quality pumpkin should be haha. Thank you Petaluma Pumpkin Patch for providing us with such high quality Pumpkins!

-Katie

Allergies

Yesterday I woke up with my head feeling like it weighed 100lbs. I hate allergies, and it seems as though my Hay Fever has arrived early this year with a side of a cold. I've been in bed with a stuffy nose and head for the last 24 hours, with very little sleep.

I've been taking benedryl and dayquil, but the dayquil seems to make me feel worse, it puts me into this zombie like state. Anyways, I called Kaiser to try to get an apt. but the advice nurse just said she would refill my allergy med prescriptions and I can pick them up in 4 hours, yay! Start the clock!

To make matters more complicated Josh and I are dog/house sitting at my Aunts house an hour away, so every night/morning we drive back and forth so that Josh can go to class, and I can come home and rest/look for jobs.

Speaking of jobs, yesterday I called 36 different wedding venues/event locations in the Greater Santa Rosa/Petaluma area, and not a single one was hiring. Fabulous! I'm getting a bit apprehensive because I haven't heard anything about my unemployment status, so cross your fingers that I get some funding soon!

Now I am going to crawl back in bed and wait for my prescription to be ready.

-Katie

Quick Trip Home

Josh's dad has season tickets to the Sharks, but since he couldn't make it to the game yesterday Josh and I got to go! Yay! So here are a few pictures :)

Shark Tank!

Look at them Go!!

Joshy and I :)

After the game, Josh and I went back to Livermore to have dinner with my family. My parents had a bunch of our family friends over so it was fun to see them and catch up. Then we drove home at 10, needless to say I was falling asleep on the ride home, haha, sorry Josh!

Then we came home and went to sleep, and enjoyed sleeping in this morning. Now we are waiting for Josh's mom to stop by on her way home from visiting Josh's grandparents. Other than that, I am excited to commence my job search and see where this crazy thing called life is taking me next!

-Katie

miiiiinnnddd reeeeaaadderrrrrrr

Well, I've always been good at reading people, and I suppose yesterday was a perfect example of it.

Just as a I had suspected, I was laid off yesterday. They gave me my final paycheck and a letter of recommendation.

So now I am right back where I started when I graduated from SSU. Sitting here with a Degree from a 4 year University, with no job. Time to pound the pavement!

Although I'm REALLY sad/worried about what I am going to do/$$, I'm really looking at this as a blessing in disguise. The way my previous employer ran her company was not only unprofessional, but really shady.

So wish me luck on this adventure of finding a new job!

-Katie

frustrated ...

So much is going on at work that I just don't know what to think! Why can't life be simple??Why is everyone so shady around here? Secret conversations, secret meetings, what in the world is going on!?

If I am getting laid off can someone please tell me so I can budget accordingly for my possible birthday trip to Disneyland?

-Katie

Fresh Air

I'm so thankful to have a window that opens up to our warehouse, which has a door close by. It allows me some fresh air and natural light, making this boring and stuffy office much more manageable.

I can't wait for Spring and Summer, I can't wait to wear my cute strappy sandals and colorful sundresses. I'm so tired of constricting sweaters and scarfs bundled up tightly around my neck. I'm ready to drink cold kool-aid instead of hot chocolate with my lunch, and most of all, say good bye to carrying around my umbrella 24/7.

Here are a few adventures I want to go on once the weather gets nicer:
-hike in the redwood forest
-visit the Folsom Fish Hatchery (nerdy I know!)
-take our Beach Cruisers to Santa Cruz and ride the bike trails along the ocean

Is anyone else anxiously awaiting spring and summer? Have any exciting trips planned?

-Katie

Corn Maze and Outhouses...

Today I thought it would be fun to pick a few random pictures and explain them, so here we go:

Exhibit A:

Children of the Corn? No, not really, just Josh and I in a corn Maze.

Our Anniversary is October 25th, so naturally it falls during the spookiest month of the year, Halloween! Two years ago for our 4 year anniversary, Josh and I went to Limantour Beach (our favorite) for the day to have a picnic, came home and took a nap, and then went out to dinner . After dinner we went to the Petaluma Corn Maze! It was so huge, it took us a while to get out and we even bought a map haha (I get claustrophobic, so I need the extra peace of mind). Anyways, while we were in the maze I took a few funny, yet creepy pictures.

Exhibit B:

Me, Clay, and an Outhouse.

For our parents anniversary, my brother Clay and I wanted to have some nice pictures taken of us out in the vineyards behind our house. But just for fun we also brought our Borat t-shirts to take a few Joke Pictures and when we saw the outhouse we knew we couldn't pass up the opportunity! Just to prove we don't normally climb on outhouses here is one of the better pictures too haha.

Aww, Precious.

-Katie

An Amazing Weekend with a Splash of the Manic Mondays

I am happy to report that this weekend was Amazing! I had so much fun, and did a lot of great things, with a lot of great people! So lets recap:

Thursday night Josh and I had dinner at Allie's house after my run with Steph. It was DEEELISH! After dinner/watching a bit of the Sharks game we came home and got ready to go to Josh's hockey game in Alameda at 9:30 pm (talk about late night!) I'm not even sure if he won or not because I was busy talking to his mom and the other hockey girlfriends haha. What can I say, I've been to SOOO many of his games they all start to blend together after a while. We got home around 12:30 and went to bed.

Friday I didn't have work, so I got up early to go to San Francisco shopping with Allie! After a trip to the bank and the gas station we were on out way! We dropped off the Jetta at the Valet in the parking garage and were on our way. First Stop: Old Navy. Now I usually don't shop at Old Navy but I had a great coupon for 30% off and I figured what the heck. Let me tell you, I got 3 sun dresses, 5 sweaters, 1 pair of strappy sandals, 1 headband, and a pair of shorts for Josh all for $180. That's Insane!! The sundresses were $15 each, plus I had 30% off, that's cheaper than Forever 21 or Target, who knew!?

After Old Navy we headed in to the Westfield Shopping Center, as you have heard me blog about before as my all time favorite mall of the centruy. Anyways, our first stop was American Eagle, where I got a really cute pair of gold strappy sandals, and I signed up for their new discount program through their Aerie Line, and I got to pick out a pair of panties for free! Yay!

We then had lunch, and continued on to Vera Bradley. Where I became the proud owner of the Wilma Bag in the Vintage Rose Collection, along with a super cute lunch box, and headband, and because I spent so much they threw in a bow cosmetic bag for free! Yay again!


After that we headed home, with stops at Michaels to get Allie some Craft Supplies, Costco to buy a FastTrack, and Sports Authority to try to find me a new swim suit for swimming laps. (which I later found one on clearance from $72 down to $39, woo hoo!)

After getting home Allie and I had planned on having a girls night but we were way too beat from our busy/VERY successful day of shopping. So I stayed in with Joshy and we watched some John and Kate plus 8 and reruns of COPS.

Saturday was Josh's sister's birthday. She also goes to SSU and lives close by so we picked her up and met their parents at the Elephant Bar for a late lunch. After that we went to Alameda because Amber had two hockey games, and then we got back home around 9pm.

Amber and her Ice Cream!

Sunday was my catch up day, filled with all things unfun, yet very necessary. Overall it was a great weekend and I am so sad to be back at work and not outside or in a mall, haha!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend too!

-Katie

Sunday Chores

1. Laundry (at least 5 loads worth)
2. Clean the House
3. Grocery Shopping
4. Running with Steph
5. Make Dinner

Gooooood Byyyyyyyyyeeeeee Weekend.

Recession Proofing Your Shopping Habits!

Now as many of you already know, I love to indulge myself in the realm of shopping and all things cute, but Kelly, one of my favorite bloggers has challenged her fellow bloggers to come together and help each other save some money!

First and foremost, I love coupons! This is a great site that has coupon codes for tons of different e-commerce websites, like Victoria's Secret!

Another good way to get coupons and insider deals, is to become an insider! Many stores offer perks to people who sign up to their emailing list, although it may be annoying, those coupons can really help out! What I like to do is sign up to emailing lists under my "junk" email, that way my personal email isn't getting full from spam, then when I want to go shopping, I check my junk email and find out what deals are going on.

Yesterday, for example, I got an email letting me know that Vera Bradley not only has a new line (which I love) but they are also giving email members a special offer on a cute headband that matches the new line! Excellent! Another great retail rewards program is through American Eagle, when you become an All Access Member they keep track of how much $ you spend at their stores, and then send you coupons and birthday discounts!



Here is a quick list of some of the insider programs I've joined:
-Bed, Bath, and Beyond
-Sephora
-Victoria's Secret
-Express
-American Eagle
-Vera Bradley
-Best Buy Reward Zone
-BeachBikes.net (for the beach cruiser lovers out there!)

Many of you home decorating enthusiasts probably already know that Bed, Bath, and Beyond sends out 20% of an item coupons in the mail, almost every week. But what you may not know, is that even though they have an expiration date, they NEVER expire. And what's even better is you can stock up on the coupons, and use more than one at a time- Genius! This comes in handy when you need to get a gift, or are ready to revamp your living room with picture frames, throw rugs/pillows, and a new set of decorative candles!

Best of luck and Happy Shopping/Saving!

Vera Bradley

I'm really loving the new Vera Bradley Vintage Rose Collection! It is so cute and fun for spring!

They even have a matching headband for $12 (in the retail stores only), guess I know where I'm going this weekend!

-Katie

Work Field Trip...

Yesterday after work our office had a field trip. We went to the Classic Party Rentals Open House in Burlingame. Now let me preface this with, I did NOT want to go. I mean, spending 5 extracurricular hours with my fellow office mates is not my idea of a good time, with the exception of Lindsey. Either way, I was guilted into going, and had an alright time. (not worth missing my Tuesday Run with Stephanie or Cooking Dinner with Joshy though.)

So we had to ride in the dirty/stuffy van for two hours. Then when we got there we got to look at all of the beautiful displays of different table linens, china, and stemware, along with draping and chandeliers. There were about 5 appetizer stations that had fancy food that I didn't exactly induldge in, but right before the exit, they had an ice cream/brownie bar = HEAVEN. They were freshly churning up ice cream right there on the spot, by using nitrogen which instantly freezes the cream, it was pretty neat, as well as delicious!

Lindsey and I also went in the photobooth that they had set up! It was really fun! We went in and started taking our pictures and then when we came out it had the whole thing on an instant replay tv-screen, and little did we know, while we were inside the booth everyone outside could see what we were doing on the screen, embarrassing!


[side note: I really want to have a photobooth at my wedding when i get married and instead of a standard guest book with pictures of the bride and groom, the guests will go in the photobooth and take their own pictures and then paste them in the guest book with their message. I've seen other brides do this and it turns out really cute!]

After mingling, and Ohhing and Ahhing, we finally left! It was 7:30 and everyone was still hungry after only having a few small appetizers, so we headed to In N Out, DELISH!

Then we were FINALLY on our way home, in the car we played 2 Truths and a Lie, I def. had the best one, with my crazy stories of broken limbs, and Lindsey came in close second with her Love of Cheeses haha. After we were back to the office I continued my travels with my hour commute home. A quick shower and it was off to bed for me!

-Katie

helpin' a brotha' out!

My brother needs shoes like a fish needs water: REALLY BAD. But because he is a lazy boy, and hates shopping, he has continued to wear his worn out shoes with holes in them. My poor mom is too busy to go get him some new shoes, not to mention he is 17 and should be able to take care of this himself... but alas, he hasn't.

Anyways, after going camping this weekend with my family, and being reminded just how bad his shoes really are, I couldn't take it any more! I cracked! So when Josh and I got back from camping we went to the mall to get Clay a new pair of shoes. Keep in mind he is a skate boarder, of course, so he wears through his shoes super fast, so I thought okay, I'll get him two pairs and he should be good to go.

We get to Zumiez and go to the back of the store where all of the discounted, yet still expensive, shoes are living. I found a sweet pair of black skate shoes in his size for $60 and decided to opt for a $50 gift card so he could pick out the second pair himself, not to mention there weren't any other good looking sale shoes at my Zumiez, so I thought he could try the one at home.

Josh shipped the pair of shoes to him and he got them today. He was really excited and so appreciative, which makes me happy. I'm glad I could help him out/make his day with something so simple. So that's my story, a good deed that was well worth the money :)

Josh's Turn

We decided it was my turn to write about our weekend.
Friday we woke up packed our stuff, loaded it and jumped my car, which had been dead for about a week. Then we were off to Frank Raines, with a stop in Livermore to buy a TCBY gift card for Katie's Dad's birthday. I have been getting him TCBY gift cards for the last 2 or 3 years for his birthday and xmas. On the way to Livermore we played our slightly altered game of Slug Bug, which probably isn't to safe for the driver to play. Katie won of course. When we got to TCBY the asia man was excited, like always, to see us. I bought the gift card and we were on our way again. When we got off highway 5 there was 16 miles of windy roads, with lots of fluffy cows that were walking next to the road, before we arrived at Frank Raines.
When we arrived Katie's brother(Clay) and Dad(Rich) were just backing the motorhome into the space. We parked and helped unload the trailer of firewood and ATVs. The unpacking was done and it was time to go on an adventure. Katie, Clay and I took the ATVs out on the trail to see what was there. Katie showed us how to drive through a puddle without getting dirty, clay lead us through the trails, and I showed them how to stall an automatic ATV from driving through a
puddle too fast. We found a puddle/lake that looked really deep and were all decided we didn't want to try and go through it. After we got back to camp Rich was ready to explore, so Katie decided to stay behind while we used the ATVs. This time Rich lead the way and we headed up to the highest point of the mountain. On the way Rich found the same puddle/lake and showed us how it was done, even though he almost had to get off the ATV and pull it out. After he was out we continued up the mountain and this run was much faster than with Katie, I decided I probably should have worn the goggles. After we got back we ate sat around the fire while we waited for everyone else to arrive. We messed with our cameras and took a few pictures of stuff with long exposures.

We found some peacocks wandering around that we tried to surround, but turns out birds can fly. In camp there was a big puddle that needed to be drained, so Clay and I made a river to drain it. After getting through a few roots and some doubt by katie we succecfully drained the puddle.

Shortly after Stan and his family arrived we all went to bed. That night it was probably 32
outside and maybe 40 inside the motorhome. Katie froze, I probably did too, but slept through
it. Sometime in the night Katie's Mom arrived.

In the morning the CO2 alarm went off, I think rich made it go off on purpose to wake everyone
up. He says it was just a short though. We ate breakfast and hung out around the campfire most
of the morning. We gave Rich his gifts and left after lunch to head back to Livermore to see my
Mom. On the way out we saw some more cows.

My mom just got wii fit and wanted to see how I did at it. At first I was a pretty bad at it,
but after i got used to it I was able to beat one of my Dads records. My mom told me I should
take him off the list, so I continued to shatter his records. After that Katie and I headed
back to RP and made some Tomatoe Soup for dinner, watched some cops and went to bed.

Sunday we woke up, went to the mall, did some grocery shopping and came back all in record
time. Then cleaned up and got ready for the week.

Camping!

Josh and I are off to go camping for the weekend with my family for my Dad's birthday! I'm excited to hang out with my family, and spend some time in the outdoors!

See ya Monday!

-Katie

Tick Tock Tick Tock

So I have an hour and 10 minutes before I am done for the day and the week (hour cuts at work = 4 day work week for Katie) and I have to price out the three schematics I just drew up for the trapezoidal nightmare of a patio lounge, and put together/send the client an estimate. Which shouldn't take me too long, but as you can tell I am procrastinating big time!

Today I logged on to my online banking site to find that I was overdrawn by $300, which instantly sends me into panic/shock mode. I look at all of the transactions and see that the exact amount of my pay check, which I had deposited last week, was taken out of my account, thus sending me into the negatives, GREAT. Add on a $30 overdraft fee and we are in business. I then had to make have an awkward confrontation with my boss to bring up the issue in order to get some funds back into my account. She assured me she would cut me a new check to cover both my original check and the fees... I have yet to receive it and the clock is ticking, all the while my account is all dried up, which makes me nervous.

I hate the idea of knowing if I went to buy gas or a Starbucks right now my card would get denied, and it isn't even my fault. So then I'm thinking... so when was my boss planning on telling me that the check bounced? What if I had not checked my bank statement? Would I leave for the weekend and get home to find I have no money? Frustrating.

Where is the wad of Geico cash when I need it! haha

it's the little things...

So this morning, as usual, I was running late to leave for work, with my hands full of my lunch, purse, and umbrella, I turned to lock the front door and saw a beautiful rainbow staring me in the face. Now I'm not one to get sentimental over these types of things, but it was just so pretty and the timing was perfect. So I thought, how often does this happen? And decided to put everything down on our porch and take a few quick pictures.

After the pictures I made a quick wish and was off to work.

Once at work, Lindsey and I had a meeting at Vintage 1870, which is this neat marketplace and barrel room in Yountville. We met with the Bride's sister who is handeling all of the arrangements, talk about trust! With a 100K budget, there is a lot the sister can do, and leaves a lot of opportunity for the Bride to be surprised or totally let down. I personally am too much of a control freak to let someone else handle everything for my special day, I'm warning you now, I will be a Bridezilla, I can garuntee you that much!

Afterwards, we strolled over to the Napa Style store, which let me tell you, was super cute!! I bought a jar of the Cabernet Dark Chocolate Sauce for my Dad for his Birthday next week, I hope he likes it!

Now it is time, DUN DUN DUN, to conqure the trapazoidal funky patio schematic that is haunting me from my inbox. Wish me luck!

-Katie

I'm not an architect!

For the last hour or so I have been trying to put together a schematic for a reception taking place at a Private Estate, which seems like it would be easy, just convert the feet in to centimeters or something and get to drawing....well it's not that easy, these people have a patio that has 6 angled edges and 4 straight edges, making it the hardest flipping thing to draw to scale. I mean sure, I could just whip something up, but I am a perfectionist and I can't stand the idea of giving the client something that they are going to take outside and say "umm this is NOT what our backyard looks like". Great.

This whole thing is giving me a headache, on top of already feeling kinda sick -- thanks to Joshy. Last week Josh was feeling a little sickly, but decided to go to his Hockey Tournament in LA (requiring two 6 hour car rides, and 4 games of hockey, all within 24 hours: CRAZY might I add) against my warnings that he should stay home and get better... or at least not get any worse.

Sunday at 1:30 in the morning Josh gets back from his hockey tournament practically on his death bed, I haven't seen him look this bad since he had his wisdom teeth out. Giving me 100% complete authority to say "I told you so" and revel in every minute of it! That is, until he started spreading his germs to me, but I think between Monavie and keeping my distance I will be able to fend off his raging cold.

Just to give you an idea of what kind of baby I am dealing with, here is a picture courtesy of Amber, Josh's sister, from when he had his wisdom teeth out. And this is basically what he has looked/acted like for the last 48 hours or so (minus the cotton in his mouth haha). I am so mean I know.

Poor Poor Joshy...

Haha Sorry Joshy, Don't Hate me too much :)

So for now, I'm back to drawing up a schematic, and looking forward to the Stew and dumplings that is waiting at home in the crock pot for dinner! :)

-Katie