Kindly, Kate

Wedding Updates!

2013-08-01T00:33:00.000-04:00

So, I knew on an intellectual level that planning a wedding is tough work. But then I started planning one. It is all consuming, let me tell ya. So I apologize for the lack of posts, yet again, but I really am going to try to keep up a semi-regular posting schedule. THANK all the heavens for Pinterest! My wedding board is here , if you're so inclined.

Here's what I've accomplished so far:

made the deposit on our photographer. Tobin Photography (Go to his website and drool!)
found, bought, and received my dress! (Hint: it's from this designer, but it's not from this year)
found and bought all the bridesmaid's dresses.
found our caterer! Fun and different, just like us :)
decided on our colors and theme- not like anybody else's! Scroll down for a sneak peek.
decided on the groom's and groomsmen outfits.
started on the bridesmaid's gifts.
started wedding crafting! More peeks coming soon ;)
made the deposit on our reception venue. This is the view from the deck!

found a ceremony venue. So excited to be married in an old New England church!

And finally, what I know you've all been waiting for, our save-the-dates! I wanted to wait until I was sure everyone had gotten theirs before I posted anything about them. I used this wonderful woman who will work with you to do exactly what you want! Her website is http://pmcustomweddings.com/, but she also does all other sorts of invitations, custom postage, etc.

And some of my lovely guests posing with our card:

Miss Jessica Jule, coming at you from LA!

And a giggling twin montage, because every post should have some chubby babies in it, right?

And one more of them verrryyy interested in reading (or eating) the card:

So excited to share more with you as it all comes together!

xoxo, Kate

What I've been eating lately...

2013-03-14T15:17:00.002-04:00

In an effort to eat healthier and try new things (and maybe possibly shed some pre-wedding weight), I've been changing my eating habits. These are the things I've been obsessed with lately…

Homemade Banana Frozen Yogurt

You guys- best dessert/breakfast/snack ever. Well, maybe not ever. But still. Pretty damn good.

Puree a banana or two in your Magic Bullet/food processor/blender (or, mash one really, really well with a fork and call it a day.) Stir it into some delicious organic vanilla yogurt, and add a splash of vanilla extract. Plop it into your ice cream maker, or freeze in a long flat plastic container. Either way, it turns out pretty much the same.
When you're having a dessert craving, put a scoop or two in a bowl, add some chocolate syrup, sprinkles, strawberries, pineapple, whipped cream, or a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg, and Ta Da! Dessert!
Conversely, add some to your morning breakfast smoothie, or have a bowl of it sprinkled with granola, or add more fruit to the top, and Ta Da! Breakfast!

Fake-a-Dilla

Do you have those mornings when you realize you're supposed to leave NOW and you still haven't eaten, or you come in late from work and you're starved but don't have the energy to cook, or you want a savory snack but don't want to succumb to the cheese and crackers? Enter: the Fake-a-Dilla.

This hardly counts as a recipe, but I'll give it to you anyway. Take one of your "Smart Delicious Tortillas" and spread a Queso Fresco and Chipotle cheese wedge on it. Fold it in half. Eat it.

Calories: 85 (50 for the tortilla, 35 for the cheese wedge). Fat: 3.5 grams. 7 grams protein, 7 grams fiber. Talk about a miracle food!

I've been making a delicious protein shake using these (words you don't usually hear in the same sentence- delicious and protein shake). The Aria brand protein powder, the almond milk, and the chia seeds I buy at Trader Joe's, and the flaxseed I picked up at Christmas Tree Shop for $2, believe it or not. I mill the flaxseeds first in my coffee bean grinder to a fine powder, and add a tablespoon to the shake, along with a tablespoon of chia seeds and a scoop of protein powder. I put in about ¾ cup of almond milk, some frozen berries, and some baby spinach, and Boom! Delicious breakfast/lunch/dinner. I sometimes add the banana frozen yogurt to this as well, which makes it taste even better. So much health in one shake.

I swear to you, I feel like a new person! I've cut out all deli meat and processed meat, fancy coffee drinks, and a lot of my processed food intake, and added more fruits and veggies to my diet. Oh, and did I mention tons of water? I think drinking it in this makes it taste so much better ;)

My Valentine's present from Shmeeguel

Do you have any healthy eating tips or recipes for me? I'd love to hear them!

xoxo, Kate

Graduation/Birthday Cash Gift Idea

2013-03-05T21:38:00.002-05:00

Hello Friends! I've been meaning to put this post up for awhile, but I keep forgetting about it. Does that happen to any of you? Do you complete a project and take pictures of it and then forget to write the post? Anywho…

I didn't have any recent photos of just the two of us, so I made a collage of us at the Spartan Race-that kid is a beast!

I found an idea on Pinterest that I loved for my cousin's high school graduation, and because he's got a good sense of humor, I thought he would like this more than a card with a check.

First- line up your cash end-to-end and tape it together into one big ribbon.

Take all the tissues out of a tissue box. Then take two or three and crumple them up, and stick them back into the tissue box to act as your base.

Accordion-fold your cash ribbon...

Until it looks like this!

Put the cash ribbon into the box.

Leave one end sticking out, and then put a tissue on either side to prop up the bill.

Add a tag (index cards and Sharpies and curling ribbon)

And add a slightly gross and hilarious saying :)

Wouldn't you love to receive this? I think most boys I know (of any age!) would have fun with this one!

xoxo, Kate

Linking up with Look What I Made Wednesday at Creations by Kara

Wedding To-Do's

2013-03-01T10:39:00.000-05:00

Being the over-achiever, obsessive list-maker, likes-to-have-everything-done-way-ahead-of-time girl that I am, I have a lot done already. At least it feels like I have a lot done. When I look at my wedding planning binder, it seems like I have nothing done. So to make myself feel better, I'll putting together a list of the things I have done. I've gone through 6 ceremony locations and am now meeting with my 7th on Tuesday, so cross your eyes for lucky #7!

Picked a date
Picked our wedding party
Found a reception site and booked it
Found a caterer- had a preliminary chat and they blocked out the date
Planned a menu
Found a photographer- meeting with him Monday
Picked our color scheme
Found my cake baker
Ordered the comb for my veil (my Uncle is supplying the tulle- he's a wedding planner!)
Bought a wedding present for my very handsome fiance- one I picked out a very long time ago :)

And oh yeah… Bought My Dress!!! (that definitely required capital letters).

I'm pretty excited. And also quite verklempt. For those of you not fluent in Yiddish, a definition from Urban Dictionary: Verklempt: "The state of being overcome with either too many, or not enough, choices; frozen; overwhelmed; unable to think."

Basically constant state of verklemptness over here. Send chocolate!

xoxo, Kate

Some news...

2013-02-28T13:20:00.001-05:00

So, this happened.

Can I just be girly about it for a sec? *Squeal*!!!!

Okay, I'm done. But seriously, YAY!

Shmeeguel proposed December 6th (the night we were celebrating his birthday). I made dinner, which deserves it's own post because I'm pretty sure it's a surefire meal on how to make someone propose, and then we changed into our pjs and started watching Big Bang Theory on the couch. A Jared's commercial came on tv depicting a proposal actually taking place in a Jared's store, and I mentioned to him that I would hate that because strangers would be watching you and it seemed impersonal. "But I still have 6 more months, right?" says He (about our pretend rule that we always have 6 more months until we'll get engaged). And I say, "No, you only have until New Years, and then I'm gonna start taking bids from other guys". And he gets all pretend huffy and then says, "I definitely have until New Years?" and I say yes…

And then he takes the ring out of his pocket and says,

"How about now?"

I kid you not.

Oh, how I love this guy.

July 26th, 2014 is our date. We're pretty excited about it.

P.S. You're going to have to deal with a lot more wedding posts, because you better believe that I am DIYing out the wahzoo. I can't wait to show you some of the projects that I'm working on! But I'm still going to continue with recipes and other DIY's and photography and fun stuff like that. I'm back!!!

xoxo, Kate

Quick Update

2012-12-08T11:17:00.000-05:00

The last time I updated my blog was at the end of May. Shmeegs and I had just celebrated our 3-year anniversary, and I was trying to figure out what to change the name of this little blog to (turns out, there's a Kindly, Kait that's been blogging since 2008! And I didn't feel right about continuing with someone else's name). So I put blogging on the back burner for awhile, but religiously kept up with all my friends' blogs. Since late October, I've been getting the itch to start again, and I've been brainstorming new ideas for a name. As soon as I get that taken care of, I'll be back to full-time blogging!
Xoxo, Kate

Yesterday...

2012-05-27T13:10:00.003-04:00

Shmeegs and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary! We had a fantastic time exploring little coastal towns, driving with the windows down, eating hot dogs and clam strips and ice cream, and walking and walking and walking. It was just the bestest day; I'm so lucky to have such an awesome guy in my life. Got back from our Orlando vacation Friday night, so look forward to several vacation posts this week. Missed you all!

xoxo, Kate

P.S. Considering a name change for the blog, especially after I discovered by accident that some other lovely lady has a blog called Kindly Kait (and she's been blogging since 2008!)- any ideas? :)

Disney, etc!

2012-05-16T23:33:00.001-04:00

I've been super-dee-duper busy, as per usual. But this time, it's because I'm getting ready to leave on Friday to go to Orlando to visit my pals Mickey and Minnie! My mum and I are going down a day early to do the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Downtown Disney, and then on Sunday, two aunts, my mum, my 5-year-old godson Jonathan, and I are going to Animal Kingdom. This is my mum's first time there, so I'm really excited to see it all with her. Then on Monday, we're all going to Discovery Cove to swim with dolphins! This is my belated high school graduation gift from my aunts (this is the first year we could finally coordinate it enough to make it work), so we've been looking forward to doing this for a long time. Jonathan doesn't know we're doing this yet, so we're really looking forward to surprising him. He's an amazing swimmer and loves any kind of marine life, so I'm sure he's going to be ecstatic. Tuesday we're taking a day "off" to hang by the pool, and then on Wednesday, we're taking Jonathan to Magic Kingdom! He is beyond excited and hasn't stopped talking about anything since we told him last week. I can't wait to spoil him with all the Mickey Mouse themed treats I've picked up, and see the look on his face when he sees the castle for the first time. Look for another post tomorrow about my amazing suitcase packing skillz (the z is entirely necessary) and posts all through the week with updates and pictures. Love to you all all! P.S. If you want to leave me any advice or cool Disney facts/stories/comments/warnings please do! I'd love to hear from you :)

Picture from the last time I went to Disney in 2008

I really want to see the parade at night this time!

Jonathan and I

xoxo, Kate

Finally

2012-05-10T12:57:00.000-04:00

Finally, people! Let me just tell you, I have had a very interesting couple of weeks since you last heard from me. The day after my last post, after going to an incredibly disappointing Red Sox game where we lost 15-9, we got into a car accident. Well, someone hit us. And so I missed a whole week and change of work because I was in so much pain from whiplash/neck/back problems. No fun! So last week I really had nothing to tell you about other than I stayed on the couch for the week straight. But now I'm back. For REAL. I swear.
I have so many exciting posts planned out for this coming up week that you'll just LOVE. I hope. For now, I'll leave you with some of my most notable Instagram pics (if you're not following me yet, please do- @Kindlykate)

A Man and his Kitten

Has anyone tried this combo? Or really just Speculoos Cookie Butter in general? AMAZING. With Big Bang Theory in the background= Priceless.

Roasted Veggie Salad with Smoky Blue Cheese

Just finished it and LOVED IT. Highly recommend.

Shmeegs and I at Fenway. I look like my 6 day work week.

Love how Old-Timey this turned out!

Nigella Lawson's Banana Bread (with Crispy Caramelized Bananas and Toffee Sauce)
Recipe coming soon!

The remains of my Mexican-Style Street Corn- Grilled corn slathered in chipotle aioli and rolled in Cotija cheese.
Oh. my. goodness.

xoxo, Kate

InstaFriday

2012-04-20T15:15:00.003-04:00

This week, starting Sunday, begins my new 4-day work week! Yay! No 6-day weeks for me. I'll have time to do things, like blog. And sleep. And exercise. Look forward to some recipe and DIY's coming up soon!

Just another day in the neighborhood :)

My afternoon.

Amazing lunch with my Muma

Slept with these two on my bed- it was…interesting.

Tomorrow! Red Sox vs. Yankees. For the 100th anniversary of Fenway.

My Subaru hit 191, 111 this week.

I am getting so excited for real blogging…I may even throw in a fashion post. Dear lord. I may have to be restrained. xoxo Kate

I'm back! Also- InstaFriday!

2012-04-13T13:58:00.000-04:00

Did you miss me? I missed you. I missed sharing my pictures and recipes with you. Did you miss me? I'm sorry. I'm being needy. I'll stop.

On to InstaFriday!

I finally got InstaGram on my phone, so I can participate. Here are my pictures from this week-

View from my bedroom window

Roasted Veggie Dinner

Nigella- the new kitten- taking a nap with my leg

Shmeeg's new room! Lots of potential.

Beautiful bird made out of recycled oil drum from Haiti

Question- what kinds of posts do you like to read best? Recipes, DIY's, stories, pictures, etc.

xoxo, Kate

Today is March 21st, and I'm Not Sure How that Happened...

2012-03-21T15:51:00.000-04:00

It seems as though my muse has up and left me! Is that fair? No! I feel like I'm complaining all the time, that I have nothing new to talk about, etc.
I could've written an adorable St. Patrick's Day post about what a cute green outfit I had on, and where I went, and how I made rainbow cupcakes with gold coins on top, but really…that would be a lie. I spent from 10 a.m. to 12:15 a.m. on St. Patty's Day- WORKING. I had a green ribbon in my hair, and I was so busy I didn't have a chance to eat anything, much less cook anything.
I feel like I still haven't found my "groove" yet- not with blogging, but with work and school.
I'm not abandoning this blog, I promise. I just need to find my groove again. Wish me luck!

Some Cuteness to Brighten Up Your Week

2012-03-06T13:57:00.000-05:00

She's grabbing my mom's finger and licking her- not biting!

This sweet little girl is coming home with us on the 27th! We're naming her Nigella, after Nigella Lawson, the author of this cookbook (and many more, but I use this one constantly- doesn't the title just make you want to bake?!) How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking. We're going to call her Gelly or Gella, because, well, we can. And it rhymes with Jeeves, who is our other cat.

This is Jeeves. He likes to sleep in uncomfortable positions.

I can't wait until the day I can bring a little puppy home some day…I have a huge thing for Corgis!

Maybe in part to this video…
By the way, I just want you to know that I am a huge advocate for adopting pets- please don't buy a cat or dog when there is another one already looking for a good home! Jeeves was found at a construction site and Nigella was found by herself wandering around in a field :(
Do you have any adorable pets that I can drool over?
xoxo, Kate

My Super-Double-Secret Cold Remedy

2012-03-05T13:44:00.001-05:00

It's Sunday night, and I'm watching my newly-reactivated Netflix-Wii-TV combo (in case you're interested, I just started the first season of Downton Abbey, watched several episodes of SNL: the 2000's, and am currently on Episode 11 of My Boys: Season 1). Yesterday, I was on day 4 of feeling like death warmed over- sore throat, stuffy nose, tickly cough, migraine, no energy, etc. I haven't gotten this sick since I can't remember when, so I knew it was time to break out my special ginger tea. I got the recipe from Sara Moulton Cooks at Home -one of my fave cookbooks by the way, but I've changed it a bit over the years. And because I had run out of both DayQuil and NyQuil, I turned to Pinterest and combined a DIY PM Cold Remedy recipe with my Ginger Tea, and OH MAN. OH MAN.
I am better. Overnight. I am not joking.
And because I love you all, I am sharing this insane recipe.

Kate's Insane Tonic (as soon as I think of a better name, I'll fix it)

5 Cups Water
1 3-inch piece of Ginger, peeled and chopped (How To Peel Ginger-The Easy Way)
1 Cinnamon Stick, snapped in half
3 whole Cloves

Place all ingredients in a saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil. Take off the heat, and let it steep for 10 minutes.
Pour a mugfull, add some honey or pure maple syrup, a healthy squeeze of fresh lemon juice, and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper. Stir!
Drink and be well! You can also drink this over ice if you are so inclined.

I did NOT strain this but you definitely can!

The P.M. Version adds a finger or two of scotch, brandy, whiskey, or rum. It helps you sleep, sweat it all out, and gets rid of a headache! If you're going to bed right after drinking this, wear long sleeve pjs and socks. Trust me.
Disclaimer: Do not give this to children, unless you are one of those parents who is okay with giving their children alcohol, and then in which case, give on!

In other non-sick-related news, my friends Matt and Lauren got engaged last night!

And of course their cutie puppy, Ralphy!

So cute!!

And SO Gorgeous!

And it's Shmeeg's dad's Birthday today- We celebrated with dinner last night and let me just say, for a man who supposedly doesn't like celebrating, well…you see for yourself.

Happy Birthday Donnie!

xoxo, Kate

An Incredibly Busy Two Weeks "Off"

2012-03-01T19:05:00.000-05:00

Hi there! You all know I'm very intelligent, right? So intelligent that I decided to start school and new-job training in the same week. And then of course, I got sick. Boo. Ugh. Yikes. Etc. I had 8 training shifts and then have to complete 3 exams (I've completed 2) to be considered a "real" employee. Tomorrow morning I'm going in for my last test, and I also have a phone appointment with my mentor at my new university. So I decided to take some time off and focus on work and school, but I'm back now! Have I mentioned that I feel like poo? I've been sucking down a mixture of honey, lemon, and cinnamon, drinking tons of herbal tea, and spooning up hot chicken broth. Does anyone have any good suggestions for a sore-throated, stuffy-nosed, head-achy Kate? Because I would most definitely appreciate any and all suggestions! Thanks everyone- hope to be back soon.

xoxo, Kate

"Dear Young Ladies Who Love Chris Brown"- Words on Wednesdays

2012-02-15T13:44:00.001-05:00

I decided to start a new theme for Wednesdays- instead of them being WordLESS, they're going to be articles that I find to be particularly well-written that week while browsing about the web (I tried to fit as many "W's" as I could in that sentence!) This one comes after this Sunday's Grammy awards and Chris Brown's performance. Please read this article and share with everyone you know, and then click on the link afterwards to see the actual tweets. It is well worth your time, I promise.

Dear Young Ladies Who Love Chris Brown So Much They Would Let Him Beat Them

25 Horrifying Reactions to Chris Brown's Performance at the Grammy's

xoxo, Kate

Not my love story, but a good one, at that.

2012-02-13T15:43:00.002-05:00

Today's post is lurve themed because of the big pink and red holiday tomorrow. I'm not a huge fan of Valentines Day, which is probably why Shmeegs and I are going to the Museum of Science tomorrow.

Have you guys seen Love Actually? It's one of my faves, and even though its Holiday themed, I think it's perfect to watch at Valentines too. For those of you that don't know, the movie follows eight different British couples, conveniently made out of many of my favorite actors! My favorite love story out of all of them is "Jamie and Aurelia," i.e. Colin Firth and Lucia Moniz. P.S. if you haven't seen it and don't want to know the ending to their love story, watch it and then come back to this post, ok?

At the beginning of the story, Jamie finds out his girlfriend is cheating on him with his brother. Awkward. So, naturally, he goes to his rustic, gorgeous house in France to recover and work on a book he's writing. His housekeeper hires Aurelia to clean and cook for him while he's there. There is a small issue of the language barrier between Portuguese Aurelia and English Jamie, as shown here:

Jamie: Er... Would you like the last, uh…(cookie) ?

Aurelia: [in Portuguese] Thank you very much, but no.
Jamie: No?
Aurelia: [in Portuguese] If you saw my sister, you'd understand why.
Jamie: That's all right, more for me.
Aurelia: [in Portuguese] Just don't go eating it all yourself, you're getting chubbier every day.
Jamie: I'm very lucky, I've got one of those constitutions where I never put on weight.

Every time they talk, they actually are answering each other, but they don't realize it. *Sigh* When
Jamie finally leaves to go back to London, they say one of my mostest favoritest lines in a movie EVER.
Jamie: [in English] It's my favorite time of day, driving you.
Aurelia: [in Portuguese] It's the saddest part of my day, leaving you.
And then there are scenes of him going to a language school and learning Portuguese…and then it's Christmas Eve, and as soon as he gets to his relatives house, he says he has to go, and runs off to the airport. Do yourself a favor and watch the link below. It'll get you all warm and fuzzy on the inside.
Jamie's Proposal to Aurelia

Look at his face!

[in Portuguese]
Jamie: Beautiful Aurelia, I've come here with a view of asking you to marriage me. I know I seems an insane person - because I hardly knows you - but sometimes things are so transparency, they don't need evidential proof. And I will inhabit here, or you can inhabit with me in England. Of course I don't expecting you to be as foolish as me, and of course I prediction you say 'no', but's it's Christmas and I just wanted to…check"
Aurelia: Thank you. That will be nice. Yes is being my answer. Easy question.
Jamie: You learned English?
Aurelia: Just in cases.

Makes me tear up every time. Do you have a favorite movie love story?

xoxo (and Happy Valentine's Day!), Kate

Are you sick of looking at my hands? Let's have some cake instead.

2012-02-11T17:33:00.006-05:00

I am. That's for sure. So let's sit down and have some yummy lemon cake and some tea. What's that? You don't you have any lemon cake? I have a fantastic recipe that you can have.
Shmeegs requested it for his birthday in December. By the way, Shmeegs is my boyfriend. He also goes by Handsome, Sweetie, Smelly, and Miguel. When he started working for a pool company a couple years ago, I came up with "Miguel my Little Pool Boy." My vision of a hot exotic man in a Speedo fanning me with palm fronds and fetching me fruity drinks has not come to fruition, but I live in hope. Anyway, Miguel degenerated to Shmeegs, with I suppose is a Jewish/Mexican mixture of Shlomo and Miguel. And Shmeegs requested a real lemon, tart lemon, birthday cake.
I used The Barefoot Contessa's yogurt lemon cake recipe, but made a few changes. I used organic vanilla whole-milk yogurt instead of plain, and I think that was for the better. The finished cake was pleasantly yogurty but I think using plain would've been too much. I also subbed ½ cup of the plain flour for whole wheat flour, and instead of vegetable oil I used high-quality olive oil. You bake the cake and then make a lemon syrup to brush over the cake, and then make a lemon glaze to pour over that. YUM! I served vanilla ice cream and a simple crushed raspberry sauce on the side (just frozen raspberries defrosted in the microwave with some sugar and then crushed with the back of a spoon).

Preheat your oven to 350- this bad boy is gone- TODAY we're getting double ovens!

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.

Lemon zest, sugar, yogurt, vanilla, and eggs.

Whisk whisk whisk!

Add dry ingredients to the wet

I wanted to eat it all.

Before baking.

My lemons!

Finished!

With some Brigham's Ice Cream and crushed raspberries on the side

That's all that was left!

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used ½ cup of whole wheat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (I used organic vanilla)
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze:

1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake.

xoxo, Kate

Hands (Seriously?! Why hands?)

2012-02-03T22:52:00.001-05:00

I have to admit, my hands are my least favorite part of my body. I cannot change the length or width of my fingers with polish or hand lotion, and therein lies the problem. My fingers stopped growing but my palms are a normal size. *Sigh* But they are functional, if not a little crackly and crampy in the winter. So here it is, the prompt for February Photo-A-Day.

I also tried taking some profile pictures to use in the about me portion of my blog, and inspired by My Suitcase Full of Tricks and her FABulous office pictures, I decided to take some where I do a lot of my work. The result was unfortunate.

I'm blonde now?

Real hair color but double chins

Slightly annoyed, one eyebrow up…okay I'm done face.

What's your least favorite body part? xoxo, Kate

Words

2012-02-02T16:22:00.000-05:00

Today's February Photo-A-Day prompt was "Words." Being the over-achiever I am, I headed down to the beach to write my three different quotes in the sand. I did not, however, factor in the wind coming off of the water and my fingers went numb on the second word. And the first quote I started to write ended up being too long to write…So i went with this one. Don't judge- my hands were numb and by the time I finished I couldn't even feel the shutter button on my camera.

"It is our choices that show who we are, far more than our abilities"- J.K. Rowling

I also wanted to do these two:
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are"- Marcus Aurelius

"And in the end…the love you take…is equal to the love you make." -The Beatles

Coincidentally, these are also the quotes I used in my senior yearbook. Tomorrow's prompt is "Hands". I guess I'll be giving myself a manicure tonight. Darn.
xoxo, Kate

February Photo-A- Day

2012-02-02T00:41:00.001-05:00

I am so slacking already on my February resolution- I found this on Pinterest and decided to join in, but inside of just tweeting them I thought I would include them in my posts or just make them a post by themselves (I know, I need to post more. I'm trying! Do me a favor? If you're reading this and it's been more than 48 hours since my last post, email/comment/tweet/facebook/text/send smoke signals/or even carrier pigeons and tell me to stop reading other blogs or pinning things and to POST something, okay?)
P.S. that might just be the longest parenthetical sentence I have ever written.

Here is the challenge- please tweet me or comment if you decide to do it too- I'd love to see yours!

And here is my picture for today (we're pretending that it's still February 1st even though my clock says 12:37 A.M.- I'll post this evening and it'll all even out I think.) Full disclosure-I did not take this picture, but this was the most exciting thing I did today. Shmeegs and I went to our first personal training session at Planet Fitness! Woohoo! Yay for getting in shape and proving the Mii on WiiFit that I will get to my recommended BMI. I'll keep you posted…but not in that obnoxious "Today I burned 1583 calories" way.

Aren't you supposed to be sleeping? Get some rest!

xoxo, Kate

Reworking the Blog

2012-01-29T22:20:00.000-05:00

I'm working on updating and changing the look here- please bear with me! It might a little funky for awhile but I promise it'll lead to a cleaner, "more me" blog. Thanks and have a fantastic rest of your Sunday!
xoxo, Kate

Some Weekend Recipes for Trying…If you're anything like me.

2012-01-27T12:21:00.000-05:00

This week, it has been terribly grey and rainy, with the exception of one nice, 57 degree day! I mean, 57 is a big deal around here in the middle of January. I spent it painting indoors, and have no pictures to show you of our hard work, because it was in someone else's house. All you need to know is sage green and J. Bieber purple. BUT I did do several other things this week of TERRIBLE importance. I got accepted to Western Governor's University! I decided that going to school almost two hours away from anything interesting was really not my style, so now I'll be online working on my BA in Early Childhood with Teacher Cert. I also went to Target, one of my very favoritest stores, and bought 3 shirts, some jeans, a Patriot's Jersey ($7.48? I'll take it.), and some lovely green totes to organize all of my old greeting cards/mementos/pictures that I can't bear to part with. The REALLY interesting part of my week is when I finally made two cookie recipes from my Pinterest account:

I got this bad boy over at Divine Baking. Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, but no butter and no flour? They're practically a health food. I'm joking. Kinda. But they're AMAZING! Definitely undercook them, because you want that gooey-ness you see in the picture. If you overbake them they're still good but a little hard and chewy.

I got these at LDS Living. They're Lemon Crinkle Cookies this time, but with butter and flour. Very soft, very lemony (but I added more juice and leon zest than called for. Okay, let's be honest, I didn't measure the zest or juice. But I used a lot.). These are an underbake or overbake choice- The overbake produces a crispier cookie and the underbake, well, I'm sure you can figure it out. I also added a little lemon confectioner's sugar glaze.

I didn't take any pictures of either cookie, because they were gone too fast. Yes, they are that good. Go make them! NOW! Or don't, and enjoy this lovely quote I found while cleaning out my desk yesterday.

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer" -Albert Camus

Have a fantastic weekend full of homemade cookies and summery thoughts!
xoxo, Kate

Thursday Thoughts

2012-01-19T15:53:00.000-05:00

If you do one thing today, choose to be happy!

xoxo, Kate

Some thoughts for this week...

2012-01-16T23:32:00.001-05:00

Hello lovelies! Just wanted to share with you a couple things to think about this week. My friend Jessica from Four Plus an Angel shared an amazing story about a family who is being threatened with deportation. This is a heart-breaking and I sincerely hope you'll check them out over at Our Simple Lives. Please make a call or write a note to Senator Robert Casey and/or Secretary Janet Napolitano, and tell them that this family should not be split up. I don't typically put things on here like this, but I was so touched by this story that I had to tell you about it. I'll leave you with this quote:

No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only queer people are those who don't love anybody. ~Rita Mae Brown

Love and kisses, Kate