The right kind of weekend

I've been MIA and I owe y'all a bunch of updates but for now all I can think about is how excited I am to be spending the weekend in Philadelphia. I have had a hellish 4 weeks between work, class, my grandma passing away, doing homework, group projects, and traveling extensively. I'm just mentally, emotionally and physically spent. I had no idea I would be feeling this way when I planned my trip but sometimes timing is awfully uncanny...

These dudes are some of my favorite people around and I'm actually thinking I may cry seeing them. I'm tearing up just typing this! I can't explain it but you know those friends...the ones that just like you for YOU and ask nothing more than for you to be YOU. That's them. 

And then, if that weren't enough, 3 of the girls I met when I went to Costa Rica live here and another is flying in from London. I mean, y'all, FROM LONDON!! FOR ME!! And the others but come on. Costa Rica was such an incredible, life rebuilding experience and I can't wait to catch up with these ladies. 

This weekend I have such high expectations and I know they will be met 1000 times over. 

Happy Halloween!

Friday Favorites

 

Visiting these jokers for Halloween. It's going to be friend super overload and I.CANT.WAIT.

 

 

Orange is the New Black. Hop on the bandwagon, it's worth it.

I found a Groupon although secretly I still want the BaubleBar one.

 

 

Etsy finds. (thanks Whitney)

 

 

 

Owl decor. This little dude sits on my mantle. I have another one from Typo on my dresser in my bedroom, and can't forget my ($50) Scottish owl pillow that I had to have. Obsessed.

 

 

 

Your turn!

 

Saturday Night

I went to a dinner party on Saturday night, and it just reminded me how wonderful it feels to be surrounded by good people.

 

We celebrated birthdays, weddings, love, new beginnings and happy endings.

 

We cheers'ed, high-fived, snuggled, drank, sang, and danced.

 

It was actually quite a perfect Saturday night, and the best reminder about what matters most.

 

 

Even if that includes an over-sized Louis Vuitton duffel and a fox fur.

Snuggie Time

I have zero shame. I own 2 snuggies. One I got at a work function, and the other my mom got me for Christmas this year. I know some people may have gotten snuggies for Christmas 3 years ago, but we can't all be ahead of the times.

This weekend, I have every intention of wearing one of my snuggies out in public. Snuggie pub crawl time!

2 years ago we went as Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach, albeit the wrong color Mario and my snuggie was really a bathrobe...

This year I'll be dressed up as a sassy kitten. Meow! Leopard print snuggies are all the rage.

Are you pub crawling through the Highlands on Saturday afternoon? Because I really can't imagine a better way to spend my Saturday.

Domesticated.

I spent my Sunday afternoon and evening in the kitchen and doing crafts and it. was. awesome.

Project 1: Cutting up wedding invitation, shower invitations, save the date, and a picture of my newlywed friends and putting them inside a clear ornament. I first saw the idea on Pinterest, and now I can't find the pin, but here's a link to something very similar.

Project 2: Rice Krispie treat cupcakes. I'm trying to put together Christmas gifts for all 100 people in my office, and this was a great place to start! 20 gift bags down, 80 to go...



Project 3: Cookies 'n cream holiday bark! Also for my coworkers, also incredibly easy and DELISH. I used white chocolate, and oreos with red filling. I sprinkled holiday sprinkles and top and voila!

Project 4: Not really a project, but I am seriously still eating Thanksgiving leftovers. I'm down to turkey and mashed potatoes, but seriously. I'm over it. I saw a recipe for chicken salad on -- guess where?? -- and figured I'd make it work with what I had.

A couple of months ago we had a catered lunch that included 'kicked up chicken salad', which was just chicken salad with a drizzle of sriracha. Done and done.

2c turkey

1/2 c mayo

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 c grapes, chopped

salt

lemon pepper from Trader Joe's

1 tsp sriracha, to taste

Mix it all together and eat with a fork. I like my chicken salad not very mayo-y and with a crunch, hence the extra celery and less mayo. The recipe also called for some apple but it tasted pretty damn good to me without. I'll probably eat all of this by tomorrow, because I think it is that delicious.

Project 5: One of my best friends is on an exchange program here in the states. He's originally from Italy, and unfortunately the time has come for him to return home. We had a surprise going away party for him on Saturday night and we wanted to get something that would commemorate his year here, but wouldn't be difficult to pack.

Enter IKEA picture frame with a collage of pictures. Success! Everyone signed around the edges of the frame and wrote notes to our sweet friend. It was an easy, cheap project that I know he'll enjoy forever. In fact, rumor has it he'll be carrying it on the plane and sharing his seat with the frame on his way back to Italy...he loves us that much!

What have you been crafting and cooking lately?

 

We all have bad days. Some of us have more bad days than others. I am so not that person. 99% of my days are good. But you know what that means? When I have bad days, they feel 100x worse than they actually are.

I am an emotional person anyway, but bad days just really put me over the edge.

Yesterday was a bad day. It involves someone else, and their business is not mine to put out on the internet so I'm not going to, but suffice to say I spent the majority of the day alternating between crying giant alligator tears in my bed, crying giant alligator tears to my mom, and napping. Maybe I overreacted, I'm not really sure, but my feelings were hurt and I hadn't felt this way in a long, long time, so I just didn't know how to deal. But, like most things, you remember. I remembered that I know myself really well. I remembered that I really need to let myself have that time to wallow. I don't want anyone else around, I just want to feel sorry for myself and lay in bed and be pathetic.

Today, things are different. Granted, I'm still hurting and things are not perfect again, but I'm more myself than I was yesterday. Today I got up out of bed, I made a to-do list, and I crossed quite a few things off of it. I had friends over and I was able to make good effort towards snapping out of my funk.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, we all have bad days, and we all deal with them differently. Some people surround themselves with friends, some people mope and whine and complain until reality forces them to stop, and others find a happy medium. There is no perfect solution for everyone, so you just have to know what is best for you. I do know that if I had let myself mope much more, I would have started getting concerned because it wasn't like me.

So now, c'est la vie on my favorite holiday weekend of the year!

Bridesmaid 101: Bachelorette Party

It's HERE.

Everytime I load my Facebook feed (which is a lot more often than I care to admit), another person has changed their relationship status to engaged. I love it! For a while it was people I knew, but wasn't close to, but now that is changing as well and people I am close to, people I have shared countless memories with, are making plans to tie the knot!

I am not the first or last person to offer advice on wedding gifting and party throwing, but every penny counts right?

This post is going to focus on the bachelorette party, but I'm planning to do follow-up posts on everything else that we (the bridesmaids/friends of the bride) put together in an attempt to make the year before our sweet friend says "I do" a memorable one!

When planning the bachelorette party, we very quickly determined who would and would not be able to attend based on age. 3 of the bridesmaids were under 21, so we immediately counted them out for the big shebang. (We did, however, make plans for a "Mini-bachelorette" that would include everyone closer to the wedding).

The next step was figuring out where to host the party. The majority of the attendees lived in Atlanta, and while it sounded inexpensive, it also sounded a little...boring. I think we all also knew it would be challenging to stay on our home turf and not get very distracted running into friends, boys, etc. We contemplated coming up with a set of rules for if we stayed in Atlanta, but that basically turned the Bachelorette Party into a Follow-My-Rules Party and who wants to play by the rules? Not us!

We started tossing around destination ideas, including Texas (where one of the other bridesmaids lives), Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and the beach - Destin, Myrtle Beach, and Jekyll Island, to be exact. Ultimately we landed on Destin. Why?

1. Proximity to Atlanta
2. Great beaches
3. Party town
4. Inexpensive

I made a few phone calls, got in touch with someone at Dale E. Peterson Rentals - they were SO helpful and the condo we rented was seriously wonderful. I only had a few complaints - one, the pool was far away from the beach and not very nice, and two, the beach was reallly narrow in this area and there were tons of reserved chairs put out which made it dififcult to find a spot for our own things. In the grand scheme of things, not a big deal, but things to think about.

We arrived on Thursday evening and spent that night settling in, drinking wine, and catching up as only girlfriends know how to do. Somehow we stayed up until 3am on our "take it easy" night. Oops? I blame the champagne.

As resident party planner, I had little giftbags made up for all the bridesmaids. Little did I know, so did the bride!

Neither of the gifts were anything fancy - probably didn't cost more than $10, but it was the thought that counts! The sand bucket had names on the outside, plus animal crackers, aloe, glowsticks, and some other random goodies I can't remember. The party bags had sparklers, mini-liquor bottles, and customized wine glasses. So much fun!

Friday night was our big night out - matching outfits, sashes, paraphernalia, the whole nine yards. We planned to go to dinner, and then go straight from dinner to whatever bar was close by and had large groups of the opposite gender. Mission freaking accomplished.

We made a list of things for the Bride-to-Be to check off, and before heading out, we all agreed it was going to be a challenge to cross them all off. We could not have been more wrong. The second we walked into the first (and only) bar we stopped at, it was non-stop "let me check something off the list!" I can't believe I am going to admit this on the internet, but we came home with bras on the outside of our clothing, a pair of men's underwear, a condom, a photo of a bald man and a kiss, and a list that was used and abused. We also met more dudes claiming to be "Adam" than I ever could have imagined. (One of the items on the checklist was to kiss a man with the same first name as the groom).

We stayed up all night Friday night, watching the sunrise and generally enjoying each other's company. The rest of the weekend was a little more low-key, but we still managed to have a blast. I'd say grand total we each spent about $400, which for a weekend at the beach combined with a bachelorette party isn't all that bad in my book.

The bride had a blast, the bridesmaids in attendance had a blast, and I think it was one of those weekends I'll remember forever. There is just something to be said about the magic of drinking out of a straw shaped in the form of a male sex organ...

Dear Life, I need a BREAK. XOXO, KEH

Last week, I sat down on my computer and typed out a post about what it means to be busy, and how I stay so busy all the time. Then, the next morning, my in-real-life-friend and fellow-blogger Buckhead Betty posted about basically the same thing. This is not the first time we have posted similar things around the same time, and I figured she'd summed it up nicely for both of us.

Being busy is a choice we make, and to me it doesn't seem out of the ordinary to have plans, oh, every night of the week. For some people that might seem weird, and when you ask me how I do it, my response is usually somewhere between, "How do I do what?" and "I HAVE NO IDEA I'M SO BUSY I CAN'T THINK ABOUT IT!!!" Typically though, it's not busy to me. It's life!

But sometimes, life has had ENOUGH. I have spent the last 3 months going, going, going. Nonstop, without coming up for air, without so much as breathing fresh oxygen. I have done happy hours and volunteering and meetings and church and dinners with friends and babysitting and tennis matches and softball games and tennis practice and "relaxing" massages and hosted dinner parties and attended dinner parties AND AND AND. You get the idea.

This past weekend, I had more of the same planned. Cinco de Mayo festivities, a work dinner hosted by someone super important in the company, a softball game, a birthday party, etc. Thursday night didn't go exactly as planned, and then Friday got here. And I wanted to curl up in a ball under my desk and cry, and sleep, and cry some more. I went to the work dinner, and promptly went home afterwards, crawled under my covers, and slept a glorious 10 hours. I went about my Saturday running errands, making lists in my head, forgetting what was on the lists...you know, normal Saturday. I headed out to an early dinner get together. I prepared a salad.

And after the salad was prepared, I sat on my kitchen floor and proclaimed that I was tired. Really tired. Really, really tired. And then I got up, I put on my big girl pants, and I went to my dinner. And after that, I went out for my friends birthday. But you know what? I had 2 beers at the dinner, and 1/2 a beer at the birthday party, because my body said NO MA'AM. My body had finally had enough. I knew I had hit my wall, figuratively speaking of course, because remember, I only had 2.5 beers. I bailed on my friends that night and I went home and I slept. And on Sunday, I did more fun things, and Sunday night, I slept. I cancelled a phone date with a girlfriend, I got comfy on my couch, and I rested. It was what my body was demanding.

So, the whole point of me telling you this is that when your body really needs it, you will be forced to slow down. I started this out by saying I have been going non-stop for the past 3 months. I mean, just look at my blog posts. I either haven't had time to post, or I've posted about all the things I am doing. Neither one screams "balance." But I have been caught up in a new job, new friends from said job, new friends from other aspects of life, and that old FOMO-friend peeking through, and I couldn't bear to say no to any of it.

So to those of you who think I can do it all...newsflash! I can't! But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying. I'm taking this week easy. I have a friend coming into town this weekend, and I'm really hoping that she'll feel okay about just hanging out. That doesn't mean we can't go out to places where other people are getting wild and crazy but...it likely will not be me. My body is still in break-mode. But hey, I have the best friends in the world so I have a feeling she'll understand.

I hope you do too. We all need a break sometime, and I'm taking mine. Holla!

Bar Versus Club

Earlier this week, a friend of mine from work invited me and a girlfriend out for dinner & drinks with 2 stipulations: dinner had to be "nice" and we were going to a "club" after dinner. Nice dinners I can do, clubbing is so not up my alley. I'm way more of a bar girl. A dive bar girl. Where I can wear jeans and a tshirt and it's fine. I actually remember more than one occasion in college where I wore a Polo sweater out to the bar and my friends poked serious fun at me. Whatever, it was my style!

So back to last night - we made late dinner reservations at Aria. I had never been, and I was a little worried the crowd would be on the older side of old. Wrong! The restaurant was swanky (I hate that word but it is the best one) with an AWESOME menu. But that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is to tell ya'll that I do not belong in a club. It's just so not my scene. Short dresses, high heels, teased hair, etc. No thanks. Plus, I saw more girls being carried out of the club than I EVER see getting carried out of any of the bars I go to. I think clubs bring out the worst in people. And if there is one thing that is SO NOT CUTE, it's puking in the bathroom and being escorted out.

There were girls walking around in "Easter Bunny" outfits, which was really just a (not very) creative way of wearing short, tight white dresses and bunny ears. And said Easter Bunnies spent 99% of their evening at a 90 degree angle looking like $.02 you know what's grinding against what were likely strangers they met 15 seconds prior. There were girls wearing really tight, short dresses who just shouldn't wear tight, short dresses. I shouldn't either, don't get me wrong, but I didn't try to. There were guys who didn't make any secret out of sizing up the ladies around them, and who had no intention of taking "No thanks, I don't dance." for an answer. And I've seen my fair share of bar makeout sessions, but nothing like the clothes-on-grinding that really is only meant to happen in the privacy of your own bedroom, and probably not on a sofa in the middle of a room where everyone can see.

My question is, why are these places appealing? It cost $10 for girls and $20 for guys to get in, the drinks were expensive and served in plastic-ware, and the crowd was less than impressive. I really don't think these scenarios are specific to the one place I went last night, either. To be fair, we opted not to spend any time in the Latin music room or the techno room, so maybe I was really missing out? Something leads me to believe that I didn't miss much though...

Do you go clubbing when you go out? Or do you much prefer a bar, some good tunes and an ice cold beer? Why? Is it the dancing, the drinks, the exclusivity that makes clubs so appealing? What is it? Inquiring minds want to know.

PS - Next time I go, I'll definitely incorporate a Playboy bunny theme into my outfit. Uncle Sam Bunny? Has a nice ring to it.

Me Versus The World

I consider myself to be pretty capable. I kill my own bugs, I am aware of how to change a tire (all thanks toa an 8 hour roadtrip involving 2 flat tires), I hang my own pictures on the wall, I have moved myself out of & into numerous living spaces... I've managed on my own just fine for a while now. This weekend further proved that I am fully capable of doing things all. by. my. self.

Exhibit A: Busted headlight. Normally I would just pop on over to PepBoys, bat my little eyelashes, and they'd fix it for me just for the cost of the bulb. But I-Can-Do-It-Katie refused to subject myself to that. Instead, I just knew I could fix my headlight myself. With my little man in tow, we went to the car store, bought a new lightbulb, went back in to make sure we actually bought the right one, and took the bulb home. Well, took the bulb to my friend's house. Then I had a brilliant idea...while yes, I am perfectly capable of fixing this little problemo myself, things are just better when a man does it. So I asked my pal to fix it for me. Plus, men get all giddy when helpless damsels in distress ask them to do things.

He flexed his muscles, went inside, got his screwdriver, and set to work fixing my lightbulb. 2 minutes later, it was fixed! Hooray! Then we got home, and it wasn't quite as fixed as I thought. As in, the light still didn't turn on. Fail. But guess what? I-Can-Do-It-Katie opened the hood of the car, wriggled the lightbulb, and guess what? I can now legally drive after dark.

Katie - 1, Car - 0

Exhibit B: I think this was more sheer luck & damnit I want this and I want it now than anything else. I bought a TV. I've been talking about and thinking about buying a TV for a long time. Then, the same friend mentioned previously & I were talking about TV's and which one I should buy and he casually mentioned that last year the grand prize at his company party was a TV. Cool! And how funny would it be if he won the TV this year?



2 hours later, I got a text message that said "Guess what? I won the TV." And 2 months later I got a text message that said, "You still shopping for a TV?" Yes, yes, & yes! So Saturday was the day I picked up the beautiful 47" LG Plasma television in all it's glory. It barely fit in the back of the car, and my little helper was being not so helpful. Neither were my muscles (or lack thereof). But I'll be damned if I wasn't taking this sucker home & putting it up on the TV stand immediately. Before I left my friend called out "Call me if you need help getting it inside or anything!" I smiled and laughed and under my breath said, "Over my dead body!" Then we got home. And then I realized that it was me & a 9 year old that were somehow going to get this TV that I could barely lift myself out of my car, up 2 flights of stairs, and into my condo without a) busting the TV or b) busting ourselves.

Guess what? I did it. The TV is sitting proudly on the TV stand in my living room. Nevermind that I left all the cables at my friend's house...the TV is where the TV should be.

I'm going to continue alternating between ice & heat on my back & shoulders, and I don't think my 9 year old helper will ever volunteer to "help" me again.

Katie - 1, TV - 0

That puts me up 2 for the weekend, and I'd say that is a success!

Oysterfest 2011 aka v.3

Remember last year when I went to the Oysterfest? Only my wonderful friends would agree to go to Oysterfest again with me this year based on the fact that I can't STAND getting my hands dirty, so they have to shuck my oysters for me. It's not laziness, I swear! Although this year I am coming prepared with sanitary wipes.

Anyway, I am super pumped about Oysterfest and unlike most years, the Park Tavern event is actually taking place BEFORE the Steamhouse one. I guess this just means I'll actually have to step out of my comfort zone and go to an Oysterfest I have never been to before. The horror! Actually, I've never been to an event at Park Tavern aside from that one disastrous semi-formal my sophomore year of college, and that can't even be counted anymore, can it? 5 year rule, please!

I was talking with Buckhead Betty the other night, and we both agreed that we don't love Spiral events, but I guess I'll make an exception this time. I really do love oysters, live music, and pretty weather THAT MUCH.

Now, who wants to give me free tickets? Those suckers are expensive! Happy weekend!

Weekend, why do you come and go so quickly?

This weekend was the kind of weekend where I was happy to spend time with friends, hang out at home, and do everything in between.

I ran much-needed errands, like depositing checks at the bank.

And bought things like new makeup. (I'm loving what I bought!)

I finally got my men's watch re-sized (I needed 2 links taken out)

I got my car worked on (and spent $300...stupid car shops)

I went to dinner with some girlfriends at a new restaurant (and my friend developed a new low-carb pizza eating strategy...) in a new-to-me neighborhood. I haven't spent any time in Inman Park, but don't fret my pets, I'll be back. There are more restaurants to try...

...and more comedy shows to see! We checked out improv at Dad's Garage...if you haven't been, run, don't walk. It was HILARIOUS.

I cut coupons and snuggled up with my beloved P-Dub's new book.

See aforementioned snuggling up. Leopard print snuggie, yes please.

I caught up on my DVR. 2 whole episodes of Gossip Girl, plus 1 Grey's Anatomy, and toss in a little Big Bang Theory and all was right in my world again.

I drank green juice. It looks gross, it tastes good. But a word to the wise - don't juice celery. BLECH.

I made homemade almond butter on my brand new food processor. It rules.

That's how excited I was when I opened said food-processor. Notice my sister's unexcitement in the background. I can't believe it took me over a month to open and use this fancy contraption!

(It should also be noted that this photo was a re-enactment of me opening my gifts. There are more where that one came from. My sister, in all her doom & gloom Eeyore-esque glory, wouldn't let me photograph the opening of the Christmas presents, so I forced my dad to take pictures of me re-opening my presents. Are you judging me yet?)

I watched football on dueling televisions, and wondered which one would look better in my living room... my friend has generously offered to loan me one...or I'm hoping he will!

And another friend's dog insisted we watch the Puppy Bowl. Packed house for kitty halftime!

I cheered for the Packers because I prefer green & yellow to black & yellow, and also because I had to choose my midwest roots. Go Pack Go!