Thursday, December 30, 2010

A lovely award!!

I received an oh so beautiful award for having a Stylish blog. Thank you for making my day, Elise at Living the Good Life :) You're such a wonderful person!


There are 4 duties to perform to accept this award:
1.  Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award
2.  Share 7 things about yourself
3.  Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4.  Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

1. I have an enormous amount of love to share! :)
2. I don't drink coffee and never will.
3. I make up random songs about activities I'm doing.
4. I love to dance where ever and whenever. It's the best feeling in the world.
5. I go on a lot of hikes and I'm petrified of heights
6. I love oranges, but not a fan of orange juice.
7. I love ketchup and sauce but I don't like tomatoes.

I have awarded the following lovely people :)

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Hop, Hug & Love Thursday

Join in on Hug & Love Thursday. Feel free to pass the message along, spread the word, spread LOVE!

Happy Thursday to all you beautiful blogger friends! This is such an amazing community and I feel we're all family. We get to keep up with one another's lives, discuss, share stories, take & give advice. I love it, and just want to thank you for being YOU.

Only #1 Rule this week. Please thank someone out there for being who they are. Let them know they're appreciated. That's all I ask. Oh, and of course link up to the hop below and make some wonderful friends! :)

With all my love - KT

Hug & Love Thursday




Oh you crazy little thing called 'Timing'..

Christmas morning Charlie and I both woke up to head on over to my parents to exchange gifts and have breakfast. I felt a little under the weather and throughout the day it just progressed. By the end of the night I had a fever, chills, nausea, horrible cough and excruciating sore throat. I feel excruciating sums it all up. Charlie that night began to have all the same symptoms. After days of us both taking everything you can think of, on top I've been gargling cayenne pepper, warm salt water, chomping on cough drops. It's been horrible.

How much worse could it get? Two of Charlie and I best friends are getting married Thursday (30th) and we're both in the wedding. As well we have our 3rd New Year's Eve planned at our house. I was in tears Monday knowing how wretched I felt and it seemed I would never be healthy again. I know, I'm so dramatic but I know you've all been there. I also asked to give a speech which I've been working on, I'm so excited to give and I have no voice. I know.. poor me.. poor me, lol.

In the doctor's office yesterday I started crying when I asked her if I'll have a voice by Thursday. She smiled and said there's no guarantee but I recommend getting the queue cards ready! At least, she's honest, right? Also, the New Year's Eve party we've been planning for, we're both thinking we'd have to cancel. I've been out of work all week as I've been so sick and weak. What else is new? I can't believe how much work I've missed this year. I just had the flu a few months back. I'm making a resolution not to be sick. I'm going to do everything in my power this year to be healthy. There's so much going through my head, worries, stresses, not necessarily this week but for everything in general. It's so strange how when you're sick there's no control over any emotions.

So my answer to it all is bad timing. That's all, just a little bad timing. Taking a step back from it, the tissues, medicine on the counter, cough drop wrappers everywhere, throat spray, empty soup cans.. looking at everything else besides all of that I'm amazed. I'm amazed.. where I am. In a house, one that Charlie and I can call our own. It's warm, there's couches to lay on, food in the cabinets, beverages in the fridge. We have hot running water, and a comfortable bed that I've been resting my body on 24/7 over the last 4-5 days. I have clothes on (thank god, right? haha)... shoes to wear to walk outside in the snow. A car to get us from Point A to Point B and back to Point A again. I have lights that work and tons of candles in the cabinet if for any reason we lose power. There's still light to guide the way.. The photos, oh my god the amount of photos I have on the walls, in frames or just lying around with people we love so much that are apart of our lives. We're so lucky, I'm so lucky.

So.. yes bad timing to be sick on this week. The week I really needed 100% of my health, but that doesn't mean my whole life is bad timing.. just a few days right?

I love you all,
Kate
:)

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Memories everywhere..

Happy Holidays to all. I am hoping that those who celebrate Christmas had a beautiful one and there was no stress. As well, I hope you got nice goodies, laughed and enjoyed the company around you. I had quite a remarkable Holiday. I was unsure how it would all go as there were some families missing but we all enjoyed ourselves and had such a ball! I wanted to share some random moments with you as I'm looking through the pictures from this past week.

New Memory #1: I had started back in January a 'Cousin's Night' at  my house. It's exactly as it sounds, a night with my cousins having a blast. I planned different things each month. The kickoff party was Karaoke. Charlie had set up a Mic our living room and connected my laptop to our TV. It was so much fun and we all sure love to sing. Another night was Ice Skating. We went somewhere a few towns our and just ice skating for a few hours. One Cousin's night in the summer was a BBQ on my back deck. I bought chalk for my cousin's kids and of course we all drew as well. Over the past few months I stopped doing it and it made me very sad. There was some reasons behind it. This past week the adult cousins (meaning 21+) all went out to have some drinks and play pool. We danced all night, sang and the owner opened a pool table for us. I honestly had the time of my life as my cousin's mean the world to me! Here's some photos:

My cousin Jenn, me and my lovely sister, Kelly
 

 Toasting to us!
 

New Memory #2: I had to do some Christmas shopping.. of course and wanted to find something cheap but cute to wear for Christmas. I ended up getting quite the bargain. I got 3 dresses for $24. I know, for you women that's a hell of a deal, right? When I was looking for something I thought, definitely a dress. I only wore dresses as a child and then eventually my taste in clothes changed and never wore dresses again. Of course, for special occasions (weddings mainly) I'll find a dress. I was so comfortable and wore a different dress 2 nights in a row this past week. I played a little dress up after buying these and felt like Audrey Hepburn. I'm not going to lie.. that's the look I was going for! Again, only $24 for all three! Here's 2 of them...


New Memory #3:  Christmas Eve is what I consider my actual Christmas. It's when my father's side gets together and since we have so many cousins it's overwhelming the amount of love in one place at once! As I mentioned earlier in the blog I'm unsure how it would go. It was phenomenal! I somehow got everyone together before my Dad did a toast for a group shot. I was motivated to get one and it sure happened. See for yourself!

New Memory #4: My cousin bought that Xbox Kinnex. I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling or not. Regardless.. holy crap is that fun! She had the Dance game and a bunch of us were playing. If you're children are begging you for one of those and you can afford it I say go for it. I promise YOU will love to play it as well. I've been asking Charlie if we can get one, haha. It's probably silly too since I only want that one game but we'll see.
My 2nd cousin playing the soccer game on Kinnex
 Me dancing to Salt n Peppa
 My cousin doing the track game

New Memory #5: Peanut will be 1 year old in January. This was his first Christmas. We brought him over my parent's house Christmas morning and since he loves to lift his leg to everything and anything at their home he of course had to wear a diaper. Sad but true.. My sister bought him a cute little squeaker toy. You'll see in the video below how he was more interested in my sister's slippers I bought her. It's a cute little video. He's quite the puppy!

I love new memories!

Love you all - Kate

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Blog Hop! Hug & Love for the Holiday!

Hello all you beautiful people! I am a wee bit late on posting my blog hop for Thursday. I have decided a few things. One... I will have this blog hop stay open until Sunday night (woohoo!!) and Two... I have a few rules. I'm not big on rules with these blog hops and it's safe to say I haven't had any until now. This is an honor system..

1) I ask that you hug as well express how much you love someone that you didn't for yesterday. Each day will have to be someone new.
2) Please scan through the list of other people who link up and click on atleast 3 people. When you do I ask that you leave them a positive comment.
3) Compliment someone that you happen to see throughout your day. Whether it's a stranger, someone you know or just meet for the first time. It's a beautiful gesture, believe me. It will make their day.


I would lik e to share this blog with you especially for those animal lovers out there! Please feel free to stop bye visit and say hello to her! Spread the love...




Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Total Eclipse of the Heart..

For those of you who witness the Lunar Eclipse last night, I'm in awe! Unfortunately, I only saw the 'previews' which was around 10:00PM (ET).  I saw the Lunar Halo which was quite amazing. You can check out my little photos of the little Moon below!

Halo...
 There's footprints on the moon...

We pass bye strangers everyday and as I've mentioned in prior posts.. we have no idea what kind of life they're living.  We read the newspapers and watch the news and see all of these terrible, tramatic events going on in which we have nothing to do with. We are judged and perhaps judge others for the way of life they've chosen, mistakes they are making, the influences they are so easy manipulated by.. Sometimes we find ourselves feeling completely alone whether we're in a crowded room, amongst close friends or literally all alone laying in bed. We could be going through something that we feel no one else could ever possibly understand.

Sometimes it's good to put on the brakes, take a deep breath, step outside and look up at the moon. Just know there are hundreds and hundreds of people doing the same thing at that exact moment in time. Believe that you are not the only one feeling the stresses around you, you're not the only one that feels like life is going too fast and your mind is all over the place. We all have something in common....


I love you all very much!
KT

Monday, December 20, 2010

I'll sleep easy tonight..

"I can sleep peacefully tonight because I know that I'm happy with the decisions I made at each moment throughout the day."

I've been telling myself that over the last few weeks and it seems to have made a great impact on my sleep schedule. Also, of course singing the song throughout the day 'Count your blessings instead of sheep' by Bing Crosby. Oh, what  a classic in deed! My little saying there is so powerful in my eyes. When I find myself in a situation and unsure of which way to go I stop and think... 'what will help me sleep tonight?' I have to remember that at the end of the day it's just me to answer to. I have to be okay with what I say and how I leave a moment.

With that said, what happened tonight? I backed up and lightly bumped a car. Awful, right? The week of Christmas, a beautiful week that should be stress free. I like to say I'm always keeping my eyes on the road and I do not have a record at all when it comes to accidents. I can't say that anymore, lol! Charlie and I were in a parking lot and it was not lit well at all. When I realized what I did I froze and then of course pulled my car forward. I was in shock. Charlie who's just amazing and so laid back looked at me.. 'it's okay babe, it's only a little bump. There's probably barely any damage.' He was right, there was a small marking which maybe came from me or perhaps someone else did the same thing to that same exact spot (odds? not likely).

There were so many restaurants and shopping plazas. I asked Charlie, 'what do we do, wait?'. I wrote a love  note to them with all of my information. I still felt guilty because I felt I had to talk to them, hug them, cry, plead to forgive me (but of course still call my insurance company). I thought to myself that I really hope I don't cause any stress for them since this is a Holiday week. These poor people probably just went out shopping or to dinner and now they'll walk out, most likely not notice the marking and see the note as they're about to drive away stuck under their windshield. Okay, I took a deep breath! Those were all the thoughts that went through my mind as I wrote the letter. I signed it at the end and wrote 'I'm so very sorry!' What else could I do?

I will sleep well tonight, even after the guilt of injuring someone's beautiful car. Because I didn't just drive away which I know there's many people out there that do (I'm not judging). I however could not do that. I pray they take my note as a genuine apology and that the damage isn't bad, since it was dark and like I said.. I only noticed a little scratch!



Love you all!
xoxo
Kate

Sunday, December 19, 2010

More Love Monday Blog Hop!

Here's to Monday! Here's to a new day! Here's to the week of Christmas! Embrace life & love all those around you!

This is an opportunity for everyone to meet new people and make friends. Feel free to grab my cute little button for my Monday blog hop and be sure to share your link below. Wishing you a beautiful holiday week, stress free and wonderful!

xoxo - Katie



As always I love to pick a blog to show off to all of you that I truly enjoy visiting everyday. I hope that you'll stop  bye and say hello to my dear friend!

What a lovely weekend..

It's Sunday night yet again. I'm vegging out on the couch with the pup by my side with the Christmas tree lit up. What a really relaxed feeling being in this moment. I'm browsing through pictures from this weekend and of course a thousand thoughts are taking their turns in my mind like cds on the shuffle option. I wanted to share with your some of these thoughts as it seemed to make things easier a week ago in another post of mine.

Thought#1: A very loving friend of mine in her early 50s has been facing cancer off and on over the last 5 years. They had found melanoma on her arm originally which she has surgery for and it was removed. They told her the words '..you are cancer free' a few times now. This wonderful woman who is the mother of 2 boys and has an amazing husband who is still head over heels in love with her, is one of the most genuine people I know. I can't sit there asking myself why her, because it'll never make sense. She recently had another surgery in which they removed a spot of cancer from her brain so she will be in rehab through Christmas. Two friends of mine and myself went to visit her yesterday. We decorated her room in purple Christmas decor which is her favorite colour. We laughed and listened to her stories. We talked about what is going on in our lives and how lucky we all are. She's so inspiring, extremely amazing with her high spirits and positivity. After all she went through she stills, '..other people have it so much worse than me.'

 Truly amazing and strong women!


Thought#2: I was in search for a fabulous arrangement of flowers to bring to my friend. She loves purple so that was definitely a start of what I wanted. I drove to the flower shop near my parents which is the only one in town and they are great! I love the owner, he's such a riot. I told him what I was looking for and his faced dropped a little. 'We have 3 funerals to do so unfortunately it won't be done for another 3 hrs..' I asked him if he recommended anywhere else. 'As much as I hate to say it but to get some quick nice flowers up the rode to Price Shopper'. So I went and I was little down wondering if these flowers would be as nice as they could have been if they were arranged by him. I went to the store and the woman behind the counter was putting this beautiful Holiday arrangement together. I was staring.. she smiled and asked if she could help me. I pointed to what she was in the middle of putting flowers in and said, 'I want that...'. She laughed and said it's yours. I told her the story about my friend and purple. Surely, the woman pulled out purple flowers and added them in.. See for yourself ;)

I fell in love with the pinecones



Thought#3: I went out last night for my older cousin's surprise 30th. I'm fortunate to have grown up with a family where my dad was 1 of 7 children so you can imagine how many cousins I have. Sadly, everyone over the years has moved away so we don't get to all be together. There are many I still see, so no need to be too sad :) I have to say that last night was such a fabulous night. We all danced, and laughed. I have cramps, sore feet, my ribs hurt and I have no voice. I'm smiling and still in awe over it all! I asked my cousin if he had a good night. He said 'the best and I'm so happy you are all apart of it'. I knew he was happy. All night I could see him just smiling and taking in everything.

Jenn, Me, Rick (birthday boy) & Kenny


Thought#4: I dressed Peanut up in his 'Christmas' attire to send out email Christmas cards since, well I didn't get too! So this is for everyone to enjoy. Hope you all love it. 


I love you all! I hope you had a beautiful weekend too!
Katie

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Let's switch shoes!

Happy evening to you all!

I've been wanting to write this post all week but I knew that I'd have to put some time aside and proofread (which I never do, oops). I would like to consider myself a pretty observant little chicky. Always enjoyed people watching whether it's sitting in a public area, at the beach, at a concert, waiting at a Doctor's office. Where ever I happen to be I enjoy learning about people just through their actions.

I also like to analyze them picturing what their life is like, married, divorced, dating, kids/no kids, etc. Putting those specific observations aside I mainly try to read their body language to figure out what kind of mood they're in.

For example: I put a few things on the counter at checkout and I smile asking the cashier how they're doing. Watching her face I can see the strain in her cheeks as she tries to smile and says, "I"m fine.. thank you"! At that very moment I can tell she's not fine. It's not that she's truly lying, it's just not in her mind the time nor place to start venting. Isn't that sad that we can't do that? Isn't it awful that society has made us feel we need to lock our emotions away. My next step seeing someone in that position, sad, and having a faux smile is to hop in her shoes. ...At that moment if I'm sad and I know there's plenty of hours in my shift left what could a customer possibly do to make me feel better without having to tell them what's wrong?... Personally, a great compliment would sure cheer me up.  I then proceed to compliment how I love the colour of her hair. It's quite rare and I asked if it was her natural hair colour. She smiled and said it actually is. It had a red tone to it. I then asked, are you Irish? Her smile was big and I could tell her face had relaxed. She replied.. I sure am, 100% Irish. I told her how I'm Irish and French but the Irish side is my happier side. She started to laugh. I told her how I wished my hair colour looked like hers it's gorgeous and I don't think I could find a box that would even match it, that she's very unique and its a great quality to have. At this point I was done paying and before I could say a word, she said thank you so much and I hope you have a great Holiday.

This is just one story of mine from the last few weeks. I can probably tell 10 a day, no exaggeration. I've always found it easy to put myself in other shoes. To feel what they feel, to cry when I see someone in pain, to laugh when I see others whether they're close to me or strangers happy. I'm not a jealous person because I do believe that at some point it will be your turn.

Some things that happened recently have made me sad and it's mainly because I'm seeing others judging people when they don't know them. When I say they don't know them, they really don't. I know people who have lost loved ones but still put on a smile and head into work. Some people have no idea of their losses but remain sour and make rude remarks about anything unrelated. People don't stop and think about what someone else could be going through or could have went through.

I just want to put everyone in a huge room and say... "Close your eyes. Think of the worst possible thing that could happen to you.. think really hard. Now.. you feel that pain.. think of the worst possible thing that DID happen to you, it could have been at any point in your life. Now.. think about everyone who knew what happened? I'm going to assume that only close friends and family if any may have known about that horrible incident/event in your life.. Think about all the strangers you passed by or people you communicated with during that time that had no idea of what was going on... Open your eyes.. When you go out in the world assume that everyone you meet could possibly be experiencing that worst possible event in their life. Take time to be a little kinder to those around you even if it's a stranger. We shouldn't be judging or hurting others.. "

Oy vey.. that was a mouthful.. or handful! I love you all so much. I hope this post doesn't upset or offend anyone. I've been antsy to get it out of my mind and all typed out.



Good night :)

xoxo
Kate

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Hug & Love Thursday Blog Hop!

This is now my second week in a row hosting the Hug & Love hop on Thursday. Don't we just love Thursdays? The week is almost over and it's 1 day closer to Friday! Last week I asked everyone to link up one of their favorite posts and I feel that was successful. It's fun for me (if I may say so myself) to look back in time at some old posts of mine. It's strange reading them as I forget that's mean that wrote them!

If you would like to, never pressure from this girl.. feel free to grab the Hug & Love hop button below paste on your page so others will find their way to link up as well. The more love the better! Don't forget to link up yourself my bloggie friends! Love you all. Kate xoxo

Hug & Love Thursday


I try to also post a blog that I enjoy reading. Please take some time to stop bye and say hello to my good friend, Donna! She's an incredible writer!
Photobucket

You can always pick up where you left off...

Aloha && Happy Wednesday to all you beautiful people!

I'm looking forward to an overdue date with my best friend tonight (bff will be her name in this story). We haven't seen each other in months but we think about each other as well contact one another with little love messages all the time! They're always spontaneous and seem to come at the perfect time. I love her so much! I wanted to tell you the story about how we met, want to know? Sure you do! [Sidenote: I'm 26 now, that way you can figure out the math with your fingers, like I do as you follow along].

Back in Middle School we shared a mutual friend. The mutual friend kept bff and I apart by making us think that we didn't like each other. We then had a school trip in which we were going to fly on down to Disney. Bff and I ended up being in a room together with 2 other friends. Oh boy! Out of the blue one day bff just said to me, 'hey.. write me a letter!'. So I did just that. I wrote her a letter asking her questions about herself. Of course one of the questions I asked her was, 'why don't you like me?' She was shocked as she thought I didn't like her!. Our letters became longer and we then decided to go see Titanic together (wow, long time ago, huh?). We ended up cracking up during the saddest part of the movie because someone dropped a bag of M&Ms and you could hear them all over the place!

So the trip came and we were so excited because we had gotten to be such close friends. We ended up spending every night in the hotel, in the bathroom! I had a pillow in the shower and she was on the floor. We talked about everything. From that point on we talked every single day. When I say every single, there is no exaggeration. My parents ended up having to purchase Call Waiting which was a new feature back then because of how frequent we were on the telephone together.

The two of us shared the same views, opinions, philosophies. We even created a Holiday combining both of our names. It was the 13th of every month, since it was both of our favorite number. We confided in each other and helped out through some of the hardest times in our lives. The two of us just knew there was a reason our friendship existed and was so strong.

During High School, our sophomore year we found out from her Mom (it only took a few years) that bff and I were cousins. Well, we're 3rd cousins but that sure still counts. We like to consider ourselves blood related. So it all made sense, the connection.. bff and I are family!

Bff and I still talked every day during High School but we hung out with different groups of friends. It was okay and it worked out because when something happened and we had to call on each other we truly got an outside perspective each time. We lost touch after High School, how it happened? We'll never really know. It sure was some painful years without her in my life. Long story short we 'reunited' a few years ago and my life feels complete having her in it. Knowing that we'll be there for each other during our adult life. Growing old together. I love her very much.

I have great stories just like this as to how I met all of my besties but since bff is on my mind since we'll be having a dinner date tonight I felt the need to share it. I hope you all have a great friend or numerous ones that you can go time apart and still pick up where you left off.

:)
Love
KT

Monday, December 13, 2010

I'll love you 'til the day I die..

Well it's that time of year again, what time? Where I pull out my absolute favorite movie of all time, dust it off and place it in the DVD player without scratching it! I was prompted by an episode tonight on 'How I Met Your Mother'. Which happens to be one of my favorite TV shows! Within the first minute of the episode they mention.... drum roll.... 'It's a Wonderful Life'.


I've met people in my life that are familiar with some of the quotes in this extraordinary movie; however, have never seen it. Because of that I will not go into too many details of the movie because I recommend that you all watch it. If you have before and do not remember too much of it, watch it again, really take it all in. It's truly inspiring. It's about a great man who puts everyone first.

Have you ever been down on yourself and wondered what life would be like for everyone else if you weren't here? I would be lying if I said I never did. Even those times I'm feeling really good I still think about life and how one decision changes the whole course of my life and of course I wonder about others around me and how their lives would be if I stepped out of the mix. I hope that never happens.. This movie is about this whole idea.

I never get tired of  watching James Stewert in his classic role as George Bailey. After the movie ends I sit thinking about my life and how wonderful it really is. There has definitely been a lot of bad in my life, but somehow some good has come out of each situation. Believe me, it's there you just need to take time, to give it time and there will be some positive in it all. We have to stop adding on to the negatives and put some newspaper over those bad spills... Open our eyes a little wider, let our faces relax and smile some more. We need to appreciate literally what's in front of us at each moment.

Maybe you know someone whether it's an acquaintance, someone at work, maybe even family  who frustrates you, or there is someone that makes your life stressful. As crazy as it sounds we need those people in our lives, why? Well, it's helps us appreciate those around us who take the time to love us and make us feel needed and special. They say.. you don't know how good you have it until something bad happens? I don't know who 'they' is, haha.. but I've heard a quote along those lines!

Sorry for the rambling. Love you all.
Hugs & Kisses... here's to a Wonderful Life!


Kate :)

Sunday, December 12, 2010

More Love Monday Blog Hop!

Here's to Monday! Here's to a new day! Embrace life & love!

This is an opportunity for everyone to meet new people and make friends. Feel free to grab my cute little button for my Monday blog hop and be sure to share your link below. Comments are always welcomed too ;)

xoxo - Katie




 
Also one of my lovely friends is hosting her very first Mommy Blog Hop so all you Moms be sure to stop bye and visit her :)

Love should be contagious.

Sometimes I have so much to write about that I don't know what to write about. That makes sense, right? My mind feels really cluttered today, overflowing like a pot of water that's just boiling over. This is going to be quite the inconsistent blog I can tell already! I feel like writing my thoughts out so I apologize if it makes your head spin!

Thought #1:....I miss my grandparents, oh do I miss them. They passed away along time ago but I think of them all the time, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think of them everyday.. I've written many posts on them here on this lovely blog.  I feel there's just so much going on with our family that only they could fix. I tried for along time to fill their shoes but I finally 'moved on' from that job. Everyone has their own personality and they are very different from one another. We all have different morals, views, and everyone is stubborn. I just hope in time people look around at what they have and what is still here, how much people really care about each other and they'll put everything in the past where it belongs. I wish everyday that happens..


Thought #2:.... I saw a couple walking holding hands and they were swinging back and forth. The woman was pregnant, very pregnant :) The man holding the bags. It made me smile! Two people so in love, and what a gentleman to carry the bags.


Thought #3:..... Within this past year I've become close again with some really great people that I always considered some of my best friends. I never truly realized how incomplete my life was when I didn't have them in it. I know we began to grow apart of the years and it didn't hurt when that was happening because I guess it was such a slow pull. When we 'reunited' again and shared our past years and what we missed in each others lives that when I felt the pain. I can say now that I feel really happy having them apart of my life again!


Thought #4:..... Two of my best friends are pregnant and I'm extremely excited. I'm nervous because I don't know much about babies but I've been learning from others and doing research. I want to be a really good Aunt and a great friend to these mommies. I'm going to work really hard to help make them as least stressed as possible and help them as this will be a new adventure for both of them!

Thought #5:.... I love Charlie so much. We moved into our home a year ago on Halloween. It's definitely been a struggle because of his work schedule. Have I ever mentioned how awful it is? He works the night shift so I was alone all the time and I felt bad for him because he is always tired during the day and has missed out spending time with our families and friends. I threw him a Surprise 30th back on Memorial Day which he said was the nicest thing anyone ever did for him. I invited all of his friends and our families and it was great to see him smile and catch up with everyone. He recently applied for a new position where he worked which if he gets it (all fingers crossed) he will work M-F 8-5.. I've been praying every night that he gets this job because I just want 'us' back. I want to be able to have dinner every night together, wake up together, have weekends together. Go on little day trips together. Do things around our home together. Oh.. this should be a blog within itself..



Thought #6:... I have so much shopping to do, yikes! I haven't really even started. It's overwhelming. I was thinking today that next year I would like to do something instead of receiving and giving gifts. Someone recently talked about how her family stopped doing gifts and instead they do something charitable each year. I'm thinking something along the lines, but we'll see. I have an entire year to think of something so I need to file this thought away and not stress about what's to come!

Thought #7:... I bought Peanut a new toy today. He loves the squeaker toys but since he's so tiny he needs the ones that are easy to bite down on. Low and behold at Petco there was this reindeer toy that has 4 corners with squeakers! I thought.. oh my gosh Peanut will love this. Well, he's been playing with it and carrying it around with him the entire day. I know he's happy and found a new little baby :)



Thought #8:... I enjoy making others happy. My day is complete when I can help someone sad turn everything all around. There's been alot of wonderful people in my life lately that are going through some hard times. I will do anything and everything to help them get through it and be there for them.  I just want everyone to know it's okay to smile even when things around you isn't going the way you hoped it would.

Love you all!

KT

Animate You!

I just wanted to write up this quick little 'ad' I guess you can say. I'm not big on writing about websites, however, I found Meez which is so cute and fun. You can create a little animated character that looks like you. You'll see on the top left what I think is a mighty fine replica of myself, haha. Also, if you notice she/me is doing the 'Running Man' which is my favorite dance. I couldn't believe they had that option! Hope you check it out and get a good laugh!

http://www.meez.com/

Love,
-The animation of KT ;)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Cookie bakin', makin' & shakin'

I heart cookies, really! They are so delicious and you really can't go wrong unless they get burnt. Burnt? Is that possible? Yes, it is and let me just say a certain someone (pointing at self) burnt hershey kisses tonight. I have no idea how that's possible but it is possible to overcook them, go figure!

Tomorrow night I'll be heading off to NY to the C with a lovely friend of mine to go to my first Cookie Swap ever. Honestly, my first one! I'm very excited especially since one of my best friends will be hosting it and I'll be able to hug her little baby girl! I wanted to share with you a few pictures from tonight as I always have my camera with me to capture the special moments.


These I did make, very quick and easy!


 My girlfriend made these. Don't they look so yummalicious?

 The girl who burned her hand, yes that's me!


Important things you need when baking cookies: all of the ingredients, comfty close that aren't flammable, clean hands, lots of paper towels, cooling racks, cookie sheets, wax paper, containers for the cookies, good dancing shoes and energized hips for those dancing shoes!

I would love for you to share your favorite kind of cookie with me! I'm a big fan of chocolate chips which were also made tonight just not pictured!

Love you all!
Kate

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Hug & Love Thursday Hop!

So I'm officially going to be hosting a Linky Up (honestly I"m not sure what it's called, lol) every Monday and Thursday. I'm starting the Thursday Hop now and it'll end Friday morning. I know.. that's cheating but hey I'm trying to be considerate to different time zones :)

I wanted to have fun with this one and saw this on someone else's page. I'm so sorry for not giving credit but I honestly can't remember who's page it was! When you enter your link instead of your main blog link it to one of your favorite posts you ever wrote. I think that'll be great!!

If you could also spread the word of the hop by stealing my little button. If you don't, no worries at all!! Be sure to click on other links below to make some new friends and show some love. Love you all and have a blast!







Turn up those speakers..

Every Christmas I make a new CD for my car. I'm not going to lie it pretty much includes the same songs year after year no real change so I'm not sure why the need to make a new one. I guess I really like adding the year to it... 'KT's 2010 Christmas Tunes'. I thought I'd share with you some of the songs on my list. If you're interesting in hearing them just click on them because I linked them up to Youtube. These are in no particular order. Enjoy!

Bette Midler - From a Distance (Christmas version)
Bing Crosby - White Christmas
Judy Garland - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
John Lennon - So this is Christmas
Carly Simon - The Night Before Christmas
Mariah Carey - All I Want for Christmas is You
The Carpenters - Merry Christmas Darling
Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney - Count Your Blessings
Wham - Last Christmas 



XOXO ~ Kate

Love Hops!

Hello all you beautiful people!!

I got creative and fancied up my 'button' for the winter. If you have the old one it still works but this one has a much prettier background. I also put up my More Love Monday as well Hug & Love Thursday blog hop buttons on the right side. I'm going to stick with those two days to host the Linkys! So please feel free to grab those and put them on your Hop pages if you have one. No pressure of course but don't they look so beautiful?

Love you all - more to follow later ;)

KT

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Let your Lights shine!

Tonight Charlie and I went on a date in which I loved. It'll be our 10th Christmas together, actually this year is our 10th everything! What a great number. We will have been together for an entire decade, crazy isn't it? So we dressed up warm, bundled up and shimmied to Dunkin Donuts to purchase a White Hot Cocoa for moi and a Coffee for the ever so handsome gentleman driving the car. While in the background Christmas music streamed through our radio...

We went to the park we have gone year after year. I still remember the first time we drove there, our first year dating. I remember driving through there back in 2001 and the feeling of happiness being next to Charlie.  I can't tell you how many stars I wished upon to be with this man forever!

The anticipation driving down the dark road and then seeing specks of lights through the trees and then all at once the opening and bright lights! It's so breathtaking! I wanted to share our evening with all of you. I hope you enjoy the pictures and as I've mention a time before pictures are wonderful and truly capture a moment in time; however, being there in person is always a different feeling!














Love you all!

KT