Totally Random Thursday..

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two random things for you on this fine thursday evening.

why, when you accidentally hit the wrong floor on an elevator, is there no unselect button?! seriously, someone needs to invent one. that minute on an irrelevant floor feels like the LONGEST minute ever. especially when you're holding 5 pizzas for an executive meeting. ugh.   

also, i find myself blessing people for sneezing with the same intensity of their sneeze. a really raucous sneeze just calls for a more emphatic 'bless you', don't ya think?

 

that's all i got.  happy almost weekend!

xo
Kate

Puppy Proofing..

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(note this is not our house, but it is the exact gate we bought)

well, the puppy proofing has begun.  and by that, I mean we (Tim) assembled a few (two) baby gates.  i somehow convinced him that we needed fancy baby gates for the puppy bc we could re-use them again for kids.  win! 

well, these gates happened to come with ikea-like directions.  you know, the picture-only type of directions.  would it kill them to print a line or two?  just point us in the right direction here.  so, anyway Tim decided he'd put one together...which is good since i had started one then given up.

i started to worry when he told me we'd have to DRILL the gates INTO THE WALLS.  what!  i did not see anything about this in amazon description or reviews.  and let's be honest, permanent gates?  sounds a little like prison. 

In his defense there was a drill pictured, but i'm still not sure what they meant by that.  good thing i intervened, and we figured out with a little tweaking that the gates just used a standard baby gate pressure mounted system. 

i may or may not have left a message on their 1-800 number voicemail at this point.  they called back THREE days later.  good thing we didn't drill them into the walls, or i'd have been a little less pleasant about their timeliness in returning my call.

i just want to get a cabinet locking/kid-proofing thing for under the kitchen sink where we have all the cleaning stuff.  then, bring on that puppy!    any advice for puppy proofing?  i should also mention we have new couches...this will most likely not go well.

xo
Kate

HBD, Mom!

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a big happy birthday shout-out to my beautiful mom.  a lady who will take off work to help me pick up our puppy from the airport bc the hubs can't get off work.  not to mention her endless support during wedding planning, and the whole letting me move home to save for a house thing.  hope your birthday was as great as you deserve, mom!  love you! 

xo
Kate

Poppy (Seed)

in all the excitement of a new puppy coming in two weeks i've neglected to mention the current queen of the house, a 7.5 lb calico named poppy.  she's always been a tiny peanut of a cat, so i'm hoping she can hold her own against a big wrinkly puppy.  she goes by many nicknames. tiny poppers, the poppinator. popstar.  the list goes on.  oh, and in my family we give all pets middle names.

so, her full name is poppy seed o'durbman hager. 

quite a mouthful for such a small cat. 

(flip flop included for scale? sure)

o'durbman comes from a combo of my maiden name as well as my two roommates' (at the time) last names.  we got poppy & her brother, carl, when we all lived together in manayunk.  we decided that i would get both cats whenever we disbanded (due to allergies and various other things), but about a year ago the two cats really started fighting. 

(about to pounce)

they had loved each other for 3 years and suddenly could not be in the same room together.  it was on and off, a love-hate relationship, for a while there.  the fights started escalating.  then carl, who has always been a total sweetheart and also outweighs poppy by a good 6 lbs, scratched/sliced poppy's ear so badly that she almost needed surgery.  luckily a trip to the vet for meds, and some strong-ass liquid band-aid worked magic.   but after that it became clear that these two could no longer co-exist.  i was beyond heartbroken to give one of them up. but my very good friend & college roommate loves cats, and was more than happy to adopt carl. (i let her choose, bc i couldn't).   turns our carl is now the most spoiled rotten cat, who has the undivided attention of his new owners.  he is doing great, AND i still get to see him.  poppy is loving life too, with a new house to explore...as the only cat in the place.  she is much calmer & happier now.

she's a tiny cat with a long name, and a big backstory.  and we just love her to pieces.  tim pretends that he's not a cat person, but I've caught these two cuddling more than a few times.  as you can see.

xo
Kate

Expert Advice..

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Do you ever read a book, and then think you're an expert on that topic? No?  Just me? 

Well, I just finished Cesar Millan's, "How to Raise the Perfect Dog" and it's safe to say I now have high hopes that our dog will be super well-behaved.  Now that I think about it maybe my delusions are only dog-related?  I watch the Westminster Dog Show every year and kind of feel like an amateur dog expert when it comes to identifying different breeds. (yes, amateur expert. you heard right)

 As a psych major (who, ahem did nothing with that degree) I really thought the book made a lot of sense in explaining the behavior of dogs.  It was an easy read, and it has to be said that it was co-written with someone else (no offense, Cesar). 

We'll most likely also do a puppy training class with Henry, since hounds are known to be a little stubborn.  We're just excited for his arrival.  Two more weeks!  Let's hope our cat adapts to the puppy.  Have you introduced an older cat to a puppy? I'd LOVE any tips!  I do not anticipate this going well. 

Oh, you want to see his latest pic?  If you insist.  Note he is already dwarfing small children. HUGE! 

(please excuse the terrible picture quality)

photo credit: Patricia Finch

Father's Day

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Today is the first time I am (officially) celebrating two fathers on Father's Day. 

My dad, who has always been there for me and probably spoiled me more than I deserved.  He is one of the strongest men I know.  He would literally do anything for my sister & I.  And, though he may act tough I think we had him wrapped around our little fingers more than he'd like to admit.  We're so lucky to have such a great father to rely on and look up to. 

And also my father-in-law, who is such a great dad to my husband and has always made me feel so welcome in their family, even before we were married.  We are both so lucky to have such strong role models in our lives.

Happy Father's Day!

Motivation Needed..

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lately I keep pinning all kinds of fitness inspiration on pinterest, but i just cannot get motivated to work out.  i used to get up at 5am and go to the gym for an hour before work. 5 days a week. every week.  not sure what happened to that girl.  now you're more likely to find me hitting the snooze button.  so, let's here any and all workout advice you have.  oh, and healthy eating? i'll take those tips too.   please and thank you.

Also, the 5k is looming...and guess who hasn't been running? ::this girl::   Help!

Are you on Pinterest?   You can find me here. 

A Painting Update..

turns out that being bad at paiting trim (in a room with carpet) temporarily got me out of painting.  Tim is currently painting our laundry room* a beautiful shade of teal while i watch the end of the Bachelorette & eat grapes.  best deal ever? 

to be fair I did go grocery shopping alone. And  Giant is under construction, and only had one real cashier open (the rest were self checkout). so it was a fairly painful trip. I couldn't even find the popcorn.  they are moving all the aisles around.  total chaos. 

*the laundry room does not have carpet, i was paiting the living room while tim painted the laundry room. just in case you were horrified.

Adventures in Painting...

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Tim & I finally tackled painting some trim this weekend, in the laundry room and living room.  What a slow painful process.  It's been years since I've painted and I'm pretty rusty.   Getting the dropcloth under the baseboards? NOT EASY.    I'm pretty sure I  got a fair amount of paint on the edge of the carpet.  It's safe to say no one will be asking me to help them paint any time soon. 

As for the color scheme of the house, the laundry room is going to be teal ("parakeet pete" to be exact), and the formal living room (which will likely remain unfurnished for a year or two) will be 'vintage gray'.  I can't wait for them to be done.  I want to eventually have all the rooms painted in cool neutral shades.   Greys, blues, greens.  Right now the majority of the house is beige, which isn't bad.  Obviously it could be much worse.  But we just want to make it our own.  The previous owners also really had a thing for wall paper borders, and 'fancy' themed lightswitch plates.  So, there's that.

My job is to keep the cat from jumping on the windowsills or rubbing against any of the trim.  Painting might be easier than that task.

I'm about to head to Tim's baseball game to soak up some much needed sun, oh and cheer the team on ;)    Happy Sunday!

xo
Kate

Friday Night Musings..

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i went for a run tonight...yes, on a friday.  even i'm shocked.  the only reason i went is because i'm exactly 30 days from the Color Run (5k)...and i'm not even close to being ready.  sadly i cannot run 3.2 miles straight.  i think i am missing the running gene.  i've also just been slacking, so now it's crunch time.  i may die on race day.  slightly dramatic? yes, but mostly accurate.  i wonder if people will still throw color at me if i'm struggling to breathe?

oh, then i got home from the run and made cookies for a house warming party we're going to tomorrow.  i am pretty sure the run is now canceled out (i had to see if they were edible!).  oops.

enjoy your weekend, it's supposed to be a beaut!

xo
Kate

[Wedding Week: Photobooth]

i'm slacking on posting today, but i still made it before the day is over.  tim and i definitely argued about having the photobooth at our wedding.  he thought it was too much money.  i, on the other hand, thought it was a steal!  we ended up getting it for 50% off the normal price bc of a deal our photog's were running.  it took some pretty strong convincing, and he still wasn't thrilled about it.  but wouldn't you know, SOMEONE (::cough:: tim ::cough) changed their tune once he saw all the amazing shots we got.  the words, 'i'm so glad we did that' may have even been uttered.  i resisted the urge to shout, TOLD YA! 

(okaaay, maybe i gloated a little).  

All images by Sanderson Images

and that's just a handful of the hysterical pics we got. money well spent. :)

[Wedding Week: The Reception]

our reception was such a fun party.  we had so many people tell us it was one of the best weddings they've been to. maybe they were just being nice, but we prefer to think they were being honest ;)    i thought it would go by in a blur, but i definitely soaked it all in and partied it up.  i kept saying, "this is the best party ever bc i know everyone" ha.  i mean, when else will you get all your family & friends in one place, right? right.

all images by Sanderson Images

our friends and fam are so fun.  not to mention good lookin'.  and their dance skills? don't even get me started..

wait til you see the photobooth pics :)

xo

Kate

Warby Parks..

I know I dubbed this wedding week, but I got my warby parker at-home try-on kit in the mail today, and time is of the essence!  i have to send the kit back in 5 days, so i need some honest opinions.  i think two are instantly out, they are pretty ridic.  i'm sure some hipster somewhere can pull them off. but not this girl.  don't worry, i'll still show you all 5 pairs.

ignore the floating headshots (tim was at the phillies game).  sorry for the close proximity. but hey, my arms are only so long.

i'll start with the the definite 'no' frames..

wiloughby in tennessee whiskey(not a huge fan of these, they are a no)

Percey Black Fade

(i felt like mr. peanut in these)

okay, now on to the real contenders..

reynold frame in striped evergreen (these are probably the most similar shape to my current frames)

pierce in oakwood brown

holt in coca cola (these are the biggest frames...not sure if they work for me or not)

note, these will be real glasses, not just for fun. i hardly wear contacts, i have yet to find a pair that feels comfortable.  so i will be wearng whichever frames i pick about 75% of time.  my vision isn't the worst, but i can't drive without glasses, sooo yeah.

which do you like best?

tomorrow morning we're back to wedding week, and on the reception..



xo

Kate