Thoughts about online dating

1. Why would you ask "Are you having any luck on here?" What am I supposed to say? Yes - but it's not with you? No, I'm a troll and no one wants to date me? Seriously. Does anyone have a good answer to that question beyond ignoring the email?

source

2. If you wink at me, or nudge me, or poke me, or whatever me, and I whatever back... now what? You whatever-ed me first, so are you now going to email me first? Or should I take the wink as an invitation to send you an email? But then that just means you are lazy. Or I'm lazy if I'm the one winking first.

3. If my profile says "interested in 6'0-8'11" then why, Mr. 5'4", are you winking at me?

4. On that note, if your profile says "interested in women age 30-45" then why are you sending me emails asking why I visited your profile but didn't drop you a note? I'M IN MY TWENTIES.

5. If you know me in real life, the appropriate thing to do is block me from seeing your profile and never visit mine. The appropriate thing to do is not send me an email saying, "Katie, is that really you? Why are you online dating?" The appropriate thing to do is also not visit my profile every other day. Guess what? I can see that you are doing that. It's weird.

6. Chatting online is reserved for Gchat and Microsoft Communicator. Not Facebook. And definitely not dating websites.

7. Poor grammar and spelling mistakes are an immediate turnoff. If you suck at spelling, copy/paste in to Word for a quick spell check before posting your profile. Or have a friend read it. Or your mom. "u" is not a substitute for "you", either.

8. I know all you gentlemen callers are looking for someone who is genuine, drama free, motivated, active, healthy, fun, smart... you get the idea. Newsflash, no girl is drama free. Even the most drama free girl. And we all want someone who is all of those things. Let's either recognize that and eliminate that part from our profiles OR come up with more creative adjectives.

9. Pictures of you from 1,000 feet away or so up close that I can't actually tell what you look like are not helpful. I look at pictures after I have read a profile so as not to bias myself, but it's an instant buzzkill if I'm really digging you and then your pictures contribute nothing.

10. I'm a picky bitch as evidenced by #1-9, so you probably shouldn't try to date me.

Anything else you'd add to this list?

Amazon Prime > Everything

I can't tell if I'm tardy to the party (as per usual) or if I'm really ahead of the curve on this one, but you guys really need to check out Amazon Prime's subscriptions.

When I bought my Kindle FIYA I also bought an Amazon Prime membership. Although I have a hard time watching all the shows on my DVR, surely I will stream live videos wherever there is free Wi-Fi. Surely.

Now while I have yet to use Amazon Prime for what I bought it for, it has come in disgustingly handy for...other things. Like subscriptions.

For a 15% discount, I have 5lbs of sour patch kids delivered to me once every 2 months.



And my mascara gets delivered once every 6 months.


And I'll never need to walk into Target again because everything I need from there I can just order via Amazon. Like the round brush I bought while I was trying to fall asleep the other night.

While this might sound like I'm spending frivolously, I'm really doing myself a favor. The less places I have to go to shop, the less money I spend. I can't go look at shoes (and unfortunately there is no Amazon Prime subscription for shoes, I checked), I can't pick up random bathing suits in February, I can't buy $39 books that I don't need...nope, I ended up buying only what I "needed" - a boar bristle round brush. BRILLIANT I TELL YOU.

So go, little friends, and subscribe. You will not regret it.

Party Eats

It's no secret - I love to host a party.

New Years Eve 2011

New Years Eve 2010

Jersey Shore 2010

Engagement Brunch 2010

Tacky Sweaters Christmas Party 2010

Game Night 2010

You get the idea.

I also love to prep food for parties. I'd probably guess that I already have 9 out of 10 ingredients on hand. I tried some new recipses for a Super Bowl Party with a few friends, and thought I'd share them (and what I thought of them) with you.

1. Stacy's Healthier Buffalo Wings



 Rating: 4 out of 5

Tips: I did everything except bake in the oven the night before and stored them in the fridge overnight.

2. Closet Cooking Hot Corn Dip (found via Pinterest)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tips: I used frozen corn and a frozen green pepper, red pepper, onion mix. I subbed greek yogurt for the mayonaise and didn't include any jalapeno, so I just added a whole lot more cayenne.

3. AllRecipes Spinach Artichoke Dip

Rating: 5 out of 5

Tips: This is totally not the first time I have made this recipe but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the addition of alfredo sauce. I also like to add a package of no-fat cream cheese. So creamy, so delicious.

4. MY guacamole

Recipe: 3 avocados, 2 pits

juice of 2 limes

1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tbsp garlic powder

1/2 large onion (yellow or red) finely chopped

Red pepper flakes if I'm feeling feisty

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Tips: Get the avocado all nice and creamy, dice up the onion into tiny little chunks and enjoy. I LOATHE tomatoes, so you won't find any of that around here.

5. Chili's Knockoff Skillet Queso (courtesy of Pinterest)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tips: I didn't even end up cooking this!! Way too much food and not enough peopl.e.

So there you have it. Those are some of my delicious recipes. Do you have any that you would absolutely add to the list? Normally I would have buffalo chicken dip, but I felt like that plus the wings would have been a little overkill. I also had a couple of other things out that I just didn't make myself so didn't feel like sharing.  

ALL THE SINGLE LADIES

I've been really inspired by my friend j.

j. & I don't actually know each other, but we've been 'friends' for quite some time now via blogs. And now she's been an inspiration. See, j. was a runner. Well, still is. But she got hurt, so she had to find other things that she liked to do that would help her stay in shape. And so she discovered bicycling, rock climbing, and Core Fusion. And she's slowly but surely kicking all of their butts.

So when I drove by a rock climbing gym tonight, I thought, "I want to be more like j." Tennis once a week just isn't cutting it for me, even if I did 1-2 nights of hot yoga also. So I came home, and on my thrilling Saturday night I signed up for a singles tennis league.

I've steered clear of singles since I picked tennis up again almost a year ago lest for 1 match when no one else could play. But I'm ready, and it's a really awesome workout to play singles! So now I'm going from 1 match a week to 3 matches a week but it will be fine. I have plenty of free time (HA!) - even if it means taking it easy on a Friday or Saturday night (or both as evidenced by this weekend), it's important to me.

Now, who wants to come and watch me play? I might need a photographer in the near future, seeing as how I have zero pictures of myself playing tennis, so if I keep playing I'm going to keep talking about it and you won't have any pictures to look at - just a page full of words. BORING.

PS - thanks j. love you!

The Great Vase Exchange

October

December (kind of)

January

Best free vases I ever got, seriously.

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.

Redecorating.

When my roommate moved out in the middle of 2011, I made a few changes around the condo. Nothing major, but I added some of my own personal touches. And now, I'm at it again and I have to tell you, decorating is FUN.

I started out with a big, empty wall. I knew I wanted to do a picture frame collage (thank you Pinterest) but wasn't sure which frames, which pictures, etc. I started grabbing random things I've collected over the years and putting them in a pile on the floor. Last week I finally got tired of said pile and grabbed a glass bottle of wine and decided to do something with it. I'd say the final product turned out better than I hoped! The pictures below tell the story of how I did the project, but honestly it was super easy. All you need is wax paper, tape (painters and scotch), a sharpie (try blue or black!), nails and a hammer.

Lay out your design on the floor, trace it onto wax paper, and then hang on the wall. If you are patient, leave it up for a few days. If you are not (I am not), leave it up for a few minutes.

I am missing 3 pictures for the bottom frame, but I know exactly which ones I am going to put in there.

   

Some of my favorite people & memories from 2011.