Humpday Listday: Chris' Birthday Edition!

Today is the Mister's Birthday and I thought I'd share a few reasons I'm glad he was born!

1. He helps me build forts out of the couch cushions and blankets in the middle of the bedroom floor when I ask.
2. He's a much more efficient shopper than I am. Without Chris, I'd spend hours in the grocery store aimlessly wandering around until I've spent $200.
3. He likes to drive around and explore just as much as I do. Maybe even more.
4. My skepticism is balanced out by his amazing ability to be eternally optimistic.
5. I'm not computer illiterate; actually, I'm pretty proficient. But whenever I can't figure out what's wrong with the computer, he always can.
6. By marrying him, I gained a whole new (really awesome) family.
7. He makes me laugh at the most unexpected times.
8. He gave me a kitty for my birthday.
9. He has more faith in me than I do in myself.
10. Because he knows how crazy I am and loves me in spite of (or maybe because of) it.

And now, a song:

Male, Middle-Class & White: Chris Made a Mixtape!

I'm really excited about this one! This month's mix is a little different and really special... Chris made it!

I asked him about a month ago to make a mix for my blog and he did! He picked the songs, and put them in order. I helped a bit with the title and artwork. It's some pretty good stuff, too, lemmetellya. Lots of classic rock and some 90's thrown in there, too, with just a sprinkling of current stuff including: Queen, Weezer, Vampire Weekend, The Beach Boys, Ben Folds, and more!

Click HERE to download it directly from Dropbox (it's waaaay easier than megaupload, just click and you're downloading!)

Or, listen before downloading below, via 8tracks.

Sorry for the wait, but I think it's worth it. Next month we'll be back to our regularly scheduled Katie-made Mixes. But in the meantime, let us know how you liked Chris' mix in the comment section!
xoxo

Banana Hearts

This is the breakfast I made for Chris for Valentine's day. Pecan waffles with heart-shaped bananas and strawberries with syrup, scrambled eggs, sausage from a local market and mimosas to top it all off. We ate while we listened to sweet music coming from the record player and the cat meowing at us. It was absolutely perfect.

LOOOOVE!

Today I love...
Being in LOVE!
Happy Valentine's Day! I hope it's perfectly sweet.
xoxo

Mustache Envy & Harry Potter

I am absolutely dying to have these for each member of our wedding party from Something's Hiding Here (at Etsy) for the wedding.

Oh the fun we could have with these in pictures. Unfortunately, they are $32 each and our budget does NOT allow for those kind of extravagances. Luckily, I am fairly crafty and have devised a way (I think) to make some that are almost as good. I'm so excited that I just had to share.

Also, Jessica and I stood in a line that stretched all the way around the movie theater last night at midnight. What would posses us to do that, you ask?

Answer: This guy....


And even though we ended up in the very front row on the very end and everything was sort of at an angle, and it was after 3am when we got back home, and the movie didn't really compare to the book at all, it was indeed a good time. I suggest you all go out and see it ASAP. No, seriously... leave your house right now.

Also, (if you didn't leave to go see Harry Potter) after a week and a half of back and forth trips, I am officially moved into Chris' apartment. That's right, we're livin' in sin for the next 3 months. We just have a few more things to get and I should be able to turn in the keys to my old place. Our place is a wreck and stuff is everywhere, but I really think that with a little TLC, it will make a nice first place for us.

Lastly I want to give you the gift of having this song stuck in your head like I've had for the last 24 hours....

Goodnight... enjoy!

Weekend at the Beach

Chris and I went to St. Simons this weekend. Here are some pictures...

They're pretty much all dark. It was before a storm. The whole day was gray like that.

(Actually, I think Chris took this picture.)

I love these next two. It was crazy- you could see the reflection of the clouds perfectly in the water. One of those weird things.

This one was taken in the cemetery at Christ Church. Lots of pretty flowers to see. This one had fallen off a tree. I'm pretty sure there were bugs in it.

We took three pictures like this, I think. This wasn't the best of him (though it's perfectly nice) but it was the best of me... I win. Also? Wow. My hair looks super red in this picture. We look like a pair of ginger kids.
An obligatory shot of the lighthouse. You can't see from the picture, but there was a couple up there and I had to wait forever for them to walk around to the other side so they wouldn't be in the shot.
Then Chris started taking pictures of me. He's been working on his photo skills. Even though I don't ever really like pictures of myself, these are quite nice.
There was this crazy "sand weasel" thing (we made up the name) that scurried under the little pier right before this. That's why I'm looking over. There's another shot (that will probably never see the light of day) of me just as I saw it... my mouth is wide open in shock.

Not terribly crazy about this one.... it looks like I have "grandma arms."
This one isn't in focus exactly, but I still really like it. I think he was playing around with composition... and all the buttons....
And this is the casino. It isn't really a casino... it has nothing to do with gambling. This is where our wedding reception is going to be!
Just up the steps is this atrium. Isn't it gorgeous!?

I love the brick archways. I wish we were going to be using it at night, but it will be mid-afternoon. If you walk back out those steps, you can see the ocean and the pier right in front of you. I'm so excited about it. Chris is too... can't you see him skipping in the picture?Okay, that's all for now. Goodnight.

Valentine's Day! (Finally)

Warning! This post is super image heavy!
Also, sorry the pictures aren't great. You try taking pictures while cooking a feast!

It's been almost a week since Vday, so I'll (try to) keep this short.

Chris is usually the "doer" between the two of us. He's good at planning what we're going to do for such an occasion. This year, I wanted to do something for him, so I planned a picnic. There was even a picnic basket. Unfortunately, it rained and we didn't really want to sit in wet grass, so we picnic-ed in my livingroom floor.

I made homemade chicken salad sandwiches on croissants (those weren't homemade) with lettuce and tomato. I love chicken salad but I rarely make it. So when I do, it's one of Chris' favorite things. I make a sweet version with grapes. I even slice the grapes individually; it's very involved, but very worth it.
Chopping the chicken, pre-salad.
All done! Yuuuuuummmmm!

I also got some goat cheese, jalapeno havarti- his favorite, wheat thins, grapes, and apple chips as side dishes.
Yes, that is a giant Easter teacup as a bowl for the grapes.

Chris insisted on a picture of me with all my hard work.

Then there was the cake. Now, I am very excited about this cake. Let me tell you about it.
I made an angel food cake from a box, which was supersupereasy, by the way.

Then I heated a bag of frozen raspberries in a small saucepan with about 3 tablespoons of sugar until they were mostly liquid and boiling like crazy. Then I let them cool a bit.

After the cake was cool, I cut the top inch and a half off the cake and set it aside. With my fingers, I scooped and pinched out a little "moat." I used the pieces I removed from the moat to fill in the hole in the middle.Then in went the raspberries! Then I carefully put the top of the cake back on, and made a really simple topping/frosting. I used my mixer and creamed 8oz of cream cheese, then added a big tub of whipped topping and about 3/4 of a cup of confectioner's sugar. Oh! And a little vanilla. Always add vanilla.

I wasn't really all that careful in my frosting. I just tried to get most of it on the cake. I like to put it all on top to start with then slowly work it down the sides. This topping was really easy to work with because it was so light and creamy since it's mostly cool whip anyway.

I threw a few fresh raspberries on the top. I spent nearly $4 on fresh raspberries, but when I got them home I realized that they were mostly molded. These were the only ones that were salvageable.
I call this masterpiece a "Bleeding Angel Cake." Why? Well, just look at what it looks like when you cut it!

If you attempt this cake, you should keep in mind that it does need to go in the fridge, since it has cream cheese and whipped cream in the frosting. Also, we learned that this is NOT a two person type of cake. It needs to be shared! A week later and we have over half left. The good news is that it's still just as tasty.

As for the presents, Chris got me this:
My very favorite print from The Black Apple. I'm getting quite the itchy "add to cart" finger because of it. I really think it needs a friend. But two is a weird number. I like things in threes, so I'm having a dilemma about that. We'll see. He also gave me a box of chocolates and a mini planter kit for outside my door. It came with soil, the planter and flower seends. It will be something for my gnomes to look after!

For Chris, I (of course) counted all the food as part of my present but since he's been reading biographies lately (I got him two Alan Alda books for Christmas), I got him Barack Obama's first book.

All in all, it was a very nice Valentine's Day. Did I mention how good that cake was? I'm thinking of doing it with peaches next time. Mmmmm......

Have a happy weekend, everybody. I'm going home and will come back with clean clothes and new contacts and glasses! Yay for vision! See you next week.

Is that you, blog? It's me, Katie.

I hardly remember what you look like, dear blog. My brain has been taken over by school, by thoughts of projects and papers and notes and books.

It isn't all bad, though. For my 3D design class, our first project is to make a pop-up book. How awesome is that? As a preliminary assignment, we've already had to make 3 pop-up cards. I promise to post pictures when I get them back.

As for other classes, they are slightly less awesome. No pop-up books for those.
I'm taking Introduction to Language (it's an anthropology/ linguistics class and seems to be somewhat interesting so far), World Archeology (unfortunately, we do not study Indiana Jones. Instead we have a quiz... every single class period.), and Cultural Anthropology.

In other news, Statesboro has once again been taken over by college students. This is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, all my friends are back. Lydia is back in her apartment and it is absolutely AWESOME to live next door to her. Kristen is also back in town and it's like having a little piece of the Marvin House back again.
On the other hand, traffic is backed up. The buses are slow (and incredibly hot). Freshmen don't know where things are. Walking all over campus dodging bikes and skateboards isn't exactly my idea of a good time. Wal-Mart is the very definition of Hell right now. Did I mention how hot and humid it is? And the gnats... oh, the gnats... they should be the official bird of Bulloch County.

But really, it's all worth it to have my friends back in town again. Kristen and I have already decided to get together every Wednesday night. Tonight was "Tuna-Fest." It's sort of a ritual with us. We make my Mom's tuna salad and rice krispie treats (that have too many marshmallows and are eaten out of a bowl) and watch The L-Word. It is pure joy.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the impromptu road-trip Chris and I took last weekend.

(Click to Enlarge)
(...that's what she said...)

I don't even remember where we went. We just drove north for a few hours, then turned around and came home. It was sort of a warm-up to Labor Day weekend. We plan on driving all afternoon Friday after he gets off work, then stopping wherever we decide looks good, then going some more on Saturday... and so on until we have to turn around and come back home again. We aren't making plans or reservations, just taking a few maps and going. I'm sure we'll wind up somewhere interesting.

Off to bed with me, now.

Pretty New Blog, Missing Chris, and New Crafts! (Oh My!)

Firstly, and most obviously, I finally gave my blog a much needed sprucing up. Much better than default settings. I may fiddle a little more, but for the most part, I think I'm happy.

Next, Chris is out of town this week. Where is he, you may ask? He's on vacation with his parents and sister... in PARIS. I know, I'm jealous too. Also, I miss him. I'm not usually the mushy type, but this is going to be the longest we've gone without talking to each other since we started dating..... 5 years ago. We've gone 3 months without seeing each other, but not talking is a whole other ballgame. We can email though... and we figured out a way to text (sort of). So, in order to help with the missing-Chris-blues, I made this page in one of my art journals. It's waaaay more scrap-bookey than I usually like, but it kept me occupied for half an hour.


Thirdly, I finished this a few weeks ago, but it took me a while to take a picture and post it.

The pattern is from HERE (I love her designs). As of right now, it's just on a piece of black fabric... I really have no idea what to do with it from here.

I think that's all for this one. Will post again soon... pinky-swear.

PS... I'm so in love with this right now. Listen to "When U Love Somebody."
" When U love somebody and bite your tongue all you get is a mouthful of blood"