charlie brown christmas tree

this past weekend, my roomie and i decided to go purchase a christmas tree to put next to our [fake] fire place. well, most of the weekend was pouring rain so rather than going in search countless hours for a tree, we trucked half a mile up the road to a local food lion. we'd actually heard really good things about the trees there from both of our coworkers, so we figured we'd give it a shot.

we got home and got the tree in the stand. after about 30 minutes of trying to get the tree straight in the stand, we realized that this wasn't possible, as the tree itself was crooked up the trunk.

so to fix the situation (i should have taken a picture of this), i wedged one of my shoes under the tree stand so it would stand about as straight as it could. genius.

we pull out the ornaments i got at target and i realized i forgot to buy hooks. not so genius. [this is by far one of the biggest rip offs i've ever seen. like the 8 hotdogs and 12 buns situation. why would they not sell hooks with the ornaments??] so rather than being smart and using paperclips (which i didn't think of until i was in lying awake in bed later...), we just shoved the ornaments onto the ends of the limbs. they're pretty much just stuck to the sap at this point.

we didn't have a tree topper, and after an unsuccessful attempt at making a bow with leftover ribbon, i remembered a little snowman i've had for a few years that rotates glowing different colors on repeat. he's now found his home sitting on the top branch of the tree.

the tree skirt at the bottom is actually a cheap blanket that i'd gotten on an airplane one time (i actually don't think i was supposed to take it home with me?) that i didn't mind getting sap on. and it covered up a wedged shoe well.

needless to say, we've got our own little version of charlie brown's christmas tree. but we love it :)

**if you click on the pictures, you can see them a little bigger

oh those fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants weekends!

happy monday, friends!

sooo...i'm not sure where the weekend went and how it's already monday morning again. but apparently it is and i'm just going to have to deal with it. so there.

we had a wonderful winter weekend! we went to joe's office christmas party on friday night, did a good bit of marathon training/football watching/cleaning & organizing on saturday and went to the panthers game on sunday. whew!

our run for saturday was for 80 minutes. it was cold.rainy.and gross.

yes, we're nuts.

we started out the run great, singing songs and making jokes. well about 50 minutes into it, we were sufficiently cold.wet.and hungry. needless to say, we were no longer singing songs. and nothing seemed all that funny any more.

well we got to the 70 minute mark and i mustered up a "come on!! we can do it! sooo close! woohoo!!"... when i didn't get a response, i turned around to look and there was a poor red-legged, drenched joe giving me a death stare and clearly wondering which of us had lost our sanity more...i'll be rethinking that level of enthusiasm when we hit 70 minutes next time :)

here's a picture of us from the holiday party (we were at a much dryer and happier point in our lives):

have a great holiday week :)

thursday lite

happy "almost friday" :)

the most wonderful time of the year!

hey friends!

i've been bee-boppin along without stoppin to blog but wanted to share my excitement about how wonderful thanksgiving was and how thrilled that i am to be in december! we're staying busy busy but having a fantastic time and i couldn't be happier :)

happy-first-week-of-december activities:
*dinner with a long lost resident/friend
*ncsu men's bball game
*ncsu women's bball game
*trans siberian orchestra (eeek!)
*joe's office holiday party @ charlie goodnight's
*football conference champion games
*getting a christmas tree
*going to the panthers' game!

fun "december things" to come:
*dinner with jlsc :)
*donating hair with rrc (soon to be rrr!)
*moving into my mid 20's (gasp!)
*christmas parties
*family gatherings
*fun friends time
*christmas shopping
*more bball games
*more marathon training!

so happy. so blessed. enjoy the holidays!

counting your many blessings

i am a big believer in daily prayer and recognizing what blessings have been bestowed upon my life. i generally think of the obvious "top of the list" things to be thankful for (i.e. family, friends, job, food & shelter, etc.), but sometimes it's those little things that make me happy throughout the day that i don't even stop to get excited for!

so since i've called myself out on the situation, i'm going to try and do better about being thankful for "all things great and small."

here are my little highlights of the day:
+ my travel coffee mugs. i have about 8 that i rotate through because i'll end up leaving one in the car or on my desk at work. i tend to feel incomplete on the days that i walk into work without one when i left it sitting with delish hot coffee on my counter (like today...womp womp). i have a cute polka dotted one with a cursive letter "K" and a hefty one with "bubba keg" written on the side (for days i'm in need of that extra cup and a half). those coffee mugs carry that liquid gold, which makes for a happy kate =)

+ my long hair. i haven't had hair this long since i was 15. as much time as it takes to style it (the 2x a week i take the time to do it) i've actually started to enjoy having it long! i've been playing around with it being curly, wavy and straight and trying different up-do styles. as much as i'm a short hair girl at heart, i'm embracing my long hair for the next 5 weeks and thankful that it will soon be given to someone who needs it much more than i do!

+ my workday soundtrack. my office has a very focused environment. everyone has a million and one things to do and we usually don't have time to chat away the day. so when i'm not on the phone or talking with a coworker, i am playing one of my daily playlists! i have two for each day of the week, one fast and one slow depending on my mood for that day. norah jones. michael buble. john mayer. the fray. sara bareilles. ray charles. mmmm good stuff. they keep me bee-boppin through my day and keep the work a-flowin!

what are those little things during your daily life that make you tick? stop and do a little dance of excitement that they're there and just add a little positive spin on your everyday!

favorites for friday

hello, friends!

happy friday =) so now that i'm back from the dead (okay, i wasn't really dead but i had a tummy ache all week so i was basically pretty close to it) i've decided to share a post of my favorite things for friday. brighten your mood and get you pumped up for the weekend!

~favorite blog:

you all know how much i love weddings. wedding planning. wedding movies. going to weddings. love it all.

recently, i've become a fan of wedding blogging. i love to look and see what different people do for their weddings and what ideas i can come up with for future wedding planning!

here is my current favorite-http://greenweddingshoes.blogspot.com/

she's in SoCal so the flavor is a little different out there than it is here for southern weddings.

check it out!

~favorite accessory:

since this week has been preparing us for the second coming of noah, i've had my frizzy hair and umbrella in tow. since i don't think you all would care for my frizzy hair, accessorize with your umbrella! throw out that old black one that's turned inside out from the wind and has 3 spokes broken. pick out a cute polka dot or paisley one and add some color to that rainy day!

~favorite drink:

i'm a big fan of hot tea on a cold day. you can get tea in just about any flavor these days but i'm a fan of the trusty english breakfast tea with honey. it's a good keep-you-warm drink for the afternoon without rockin the adrenaline flow you were using to get through the end of the work week. a must!

~favorite song:

cheryl lynn? yes please. love a late 70's throw back. get yo groove on!

happy friday!!

more cowbell!

i have never met anyone who gets more excited about halloween than joe. he plans his costume starting about a year in advance and is just beside himself when it comes to being able to dress up and go out in full regalia. he lives for it! so i've made it a point to try to just let him run wild and free when it comes to getting his costume prepped and planning his outfit piece by piece. he gets giddy with the idea of another halloween and another night of getting to let loose that little kid inside. hey, it only comes once a year, right?

this year with that red beard in tact, joe decided to go as will ferrell's "more cowbell" sketch from SNL. if you haven't seen it, watch the video here.

here is the finished product:

i figure if he ever loses his day job, he can make a living doing will ferrell impersonations.

i'm oh so proud :)

happy tuesday!

one word!

so graham crakas did a "lazy tag" on her blog for anyone reading to complete the same post with their own one word responses. aside from the apathetic tagging situation (lame.), her responses were pretty interesting! here are mine =)

1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Your hair? long
3. Your mother? tall
4. Your father? runner
5. Your favorite food? sweets
6. Your dream last night? spiders
7. Your favorite drink? coffee
8. Your dream/goal? marathon
9. What room are you in? office (i'm on break, so don't even try to call me out on not working)
10. Your hobby? planning
11. Your fear? controllessness (totally a word)
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? challenged
13. Where were you last night? movies
14. Something that you aren’t? tan
15. Muffins? blueberry
16. Wish list item? trip
17. Where did you grow up? cary
18. Last thing you did? scheduling
19. What are you wearing? teal
20. Your TV? medium
21. Your pets? none
22. Friends? ambitious
23. Your life? blessed
24. Your mood? chill
25. Missing someone? grandfathers
26. Vehicle? beastly
27. Something you’re not wearing? hose
28. Your favorite store? target
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? weekend
32. Your best friend? joe
33. One place that I go to over and over? work
34. One person who emails me regularly? becca
35. Favorite place to eat? out

hope you all are having a great week!

decisions.

mornin!

i made a decision today. i'm going to run a marathon. in march. done and done.

becca ran one yesterday and said it's amazing and anyone can do it! (i'm holding you to that becca...i plan on you carrying me the last 7 miles if i'm crawling by then)

i'll keep you all posted on how training goes. i've always wanted to do one. i figure now's as good a time as any!

happy monday =)

fair friday!

welcome to the end of the work week =)

tonight, we are going to the FAIR!!! the fair is one of my absolute favorite places to go, and though i may be a little biased, i think n.c. has the best fair this side of heaven.

i like to do a little of this:

and some of this:

but mostly i go for things like these:

did i mention how much i love fall??

happy friday!

two months and counting!

since spring of '08, i have been working to grow my hair out to donate and we are officially 2 months away from the big day!

on our 8 day trek through zion national park, becca and i decided we'd donate our hair to locks of love to honor a friend of ours battling leukemia. [i am happy to note that he's won his battle and is doing well!]
we decided we'd make becca's graduation from nursing school in december of '09 as our goal. and just to make it even more of a celebration, we're cutting it on my 24th (wow, that sounds old.) birthday, which is just 2 months from today!

i measured my hair last night and my longest layer has hit the 10 inch requirement, so the next 2 months will just be icing on the cake! i've been checking out fun short do's, getting excited to have a new style.

for those of you who've known me a while, you know that i love to dye my hair. i go red from march-september and am a brunette the rest of the year. i've been trying to keep from dying it very much just so it's as healthy as possible to donate. once it gets cut off, i'm gonna dye it to my heart's content!

hope you all are having a great week!

monday, monday

i always struggle with monday mornings. i have a hard time coming off of a wonderful weekend of [family&friends.church.football.shopping.] into a new work week. where did the last 60 hours of my life go?

yesterday at church our pastor talked about the importance of taking a sabbath. taking time for prayer. taking time to relax.recoup.rejuvenate. this is something that i normally struggle with, as i have a hard time sitting still and just being. it's true for me on any day of the week or weekend. even if i'm watching tv, i feel like i have to be folding laundry or cleaning and can't handle sitting still. during the week, i'm going.going.going. from one thing to another, and i need to learn to stop for a little while at nights or on the weekends and regroup and remember that it's okay to just "be".

i felt like this sermon was one of those bam! wake up calls that i needed to hear. God was using our pastor to speak to me about this struggle i'm having and giving me encouragement to slow down and open my heart to those daily lessons that i may be missing. the pastor said that you shouldn't start your work week more exhausted than you left the last one. it seems like such an obvious idea but one that we sometimes ignore. our pastor noted that rest and daily time with the Lord will help to make you a more fulfilled person, capable of learning contentment and listening to His plan for your life.

reminds me of a good ferris bueller quote: "life moves pretty fast. if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

it's my goal this week to slow down.listen.open up.and enjoy the fall!

happy monday!!

makes.my.life.

i have a slight obsession with h&m. okay, maybe more than slight. but it's a totally legit obsession. because h&m is a.maz.ing. adorable clothes for not-gonna-break-the-bank prices. so far they've only put them in big cities on the east coast like d.c., atlanta, and nyc, but guess where the next one is coming...

TO A MALL NEAR ME!

ahhhh!!! soo freaking excited! this mall is less than half a mile from my home and i cannot tell you how thrilled i am that it's going to be just.right.there. yesssss.

i'll give you a place to stay if you would like to experience the joy of h&m with me :)

happy friday!

these are a few of my favorite things...

folks, we are now in full swing with fall and i.am.lovin.it.

i've decided to share with you my top 4 "favorite things for fall" list (in no particular order):

*scarves-

i love a scarf. i wear them often and probably own more than i should. but for an average $5 a scarf, who can say no to adding another lovely (and functional!!) item to a wardrobe? a scarf is a perfect item to spice up that normally drab solid tee that you'd intended to wear under that everyday cardigan (don't get me wrong...this is just about all i wear so i'm preachin to myself here). and with the weather fluctuating 25 degrees from morning to afternoon, as it does here in the south, this is the perfect piece to keep you comfortable all day long. i could keep going, but you're already falling asleep at your desk as it is (wake up! it's only tuesday.) yay for scarves!

*soup-

it is finally soup season here in the south. yes, there is such a thing. it runs from about the beginning of october to the beginning of march. there is nothing like a bowl of soup after a long day to warm the soul and relax you. whether it's poppin open a can of campbell's or going home for a batch of homemade chili or broccoli soup, it's one of my favorite fall past times.

*hot beverages-

year-round i am a big morning coffee drinker. lord, help the poor soul who sees me before i have had my morning dose (a.k.a. my roommate. she's a saint.) during the scorching summer, my afternoon caffeine fixes come from diet cokes or frappuccinos since i certainly don't need to heat my inside as well as my outside. but during the fall, i am all for a hot beverage morning, noon and night. give me a pumpkin spice latte, cup o' folgers, hot chocolate or tea with honey and i am a happy girl. and my coworkers are thankful as well.

*rich colors-

throw those pretty pastels in the back of your closet and break out the bold! with the weather getting colder and those chilly mornings making it increasingly difficult to get out of bed, throw on those rich reds, bright blues and yummy squash colored yellows and you'll be ready to go! (well, you may not feel ready and would rather crawl back into bed, but at least you'll look cute and festive.) next time you're out shopping for that must-have sweater or i-need-it-desperately jacket, put down the light pink one and pick up the orange or chocolate brown. get out there and strut your autumn stuff!

carpe autumno!

happy friday! and "discovery of the week"! and catching up from nyc...all rolled into 1

hello, blog buddies!

i hope you've had a fabulous week and are ready to enjoy a wonderful weekend =)

our trip to nyc was wonderful wonderful and i will be sure to do a post soon complete with pictures. i did a whole album of them already on facebook, so stalk away!

my discovery of the week is a magical place called "max brenner's".
i don't even know where to start with the description so i'll just start fumbling my way through while drooling at the thought.

max brenner is creating a chocolate culture and all you really need to do to be a part of it is love chocolate. and i mean love. everything on the menu is made with chocolate and the designs of the restaurants reflect chocolate everywhere.
there are max brenner locations in nyc, philly, israel, the philippines, singapore and australia.

check them out here: http://www.maxbrenner.com/

we went and had the most wonderful breakfast that i think i've had to date. i had a peanut butter-banana-hazelnut-toffee-chocolate syrup crepe. with caramel on the side. and a toffee mocha to drink.
needless to say, i was wired and had an awful sugar crash that was worth every bit of the exhaustion.

we ate our way through that city and brenner's was definitely a highlight! the next time you go to nyc, stop by for the max brenner's experience. and overnight me one of those crepes.

hello, october!

october represents all that is good and right with the world.

...so, okay, i know that's taking it a little far but i'm not exagerating by much.

october is the state fair.football.sweaters.boots.the start of "soup and chili season".and on i could go.

two of my absolute favorite october things (of course) have to do with food. really they are two of my absolute favorite things of the whole year.

this:


and this:

perfection.

i don't let myself have them until october 1st so i can savor the yumminess and have something to look forward to kicking off a wonderful month.

i obviously indulged in both yesterday and had a fabulous start to fall.

here's to goodness.

it's the late show with...kate and joe!

friday we are jet setting north for a full 4 days of tourism in the big apple.

yes, we all know that i love a plan and make lists for everything, so we have a jam packed schedule and are determined to get as much of the city under our belts as is humanly possible.

yesterday, i got a call from here:

...and they offered us tickets to monday's show! wayyyy stoked. the taping is on monday afternoon for the monday night show, so get your dvr's set and watch out for our big debut!

i'll make sure to laugh obnoxiously loud so that you all can hear and be proud to claim me as your friend.

happy "friday eve"!

one of my sister's coworkers dubbed thursday "friday eve." doesn't that sound much more hopeful?!

positives for the day:
+ last 3 hour session of immunotherapy before we move to 30 minute sessions (yessss)
+ i'm wearing a new $7 dress from old navy (it's green. green is my new color)
++++ crakas is making me dinner tonight!

have a wonderful day =)

family vacation

we spent this weekend with 18 of joe's best friends on the 4th annual "family vacation". every year since they graduated, the group has gotten together for a september weekend at a lake in either n.c. or s.c.
the "family" rents a house to sleep everyone and just spends the weekend hanging on to the last few days of summer.


the group now has people traveling from as far as alabama and ohio, multiplying each year with another significant other or two joining the crowd (i was a new addition this year!) this year, we went to lake norman and had a fabulous time.

this was the view from our back deck:

i had my first (unsuccessful) attempts at wake boarding. i unfortunately don't have pictures of my repeated face plants, but you get the picture.

we spent all of our time watching football, playing games, and having a 4 hour long one-for-the-books dance party (which obviously included Hava Nagila. necessary.) needless to say, we are already looking forward to next year!

and i'm in desperate need for a vacation from the the vacation. exhausted but it was worth every spastic dance move =)

discovery of the week

i am a sucker for advertising.

yes, i know, i work in marketing and should be immune to that sort of thing.

unfortunately, this is far from the case.

thus, we have our "discovery of the week":

scrubbing bubbles shower cleaner.

i'd been watching the commercials and trying to tune out the magical animated brushes surrounded by the fun-and-fluffy soap suds but to no avail. suds-1. kate-0.

come on! how could you say no to those determined eyebrows ??

i was in desperate need of cleaning my shower and the thought of those tiny little bubbles going to work on my soap scum was totally appealing. it became target purchase #28 of the week.

i tried it last night and...

i was not disappointed! quite pleased, actually.you spray it on and it foams up on top of the scum to break it down and you just wipe it away. no elbow grease needed. it's a winner.

and that, my friends, is your discovery of the week.

happy friday!

a tribute to the weekend

this weekend was beyond fabulous and ended oh-too-quickly.

in case you didn't hear, nc state took care of a little business called murray state and won 65-7. it was also armed forces tribute day at the game with a helicopter fly-over, military parachutes, and a tribute by the marching band during halftime.

also during halftime, members of the military walked out a GINORMOUS flag that has got to be one of the biggest flags on record. it was stunning! the picture below shows the flag displayed. please note that this flag is covering the ENTIRE football field. 100 yards of american flag.

yes. we southerners are just that proud of our country.

goes together like cops and donuts

highlight of my day:

the media announced the pairing of two of my favorite things.

it's the macaroni to my cheese.
it's the peanut butter to my jelly.
it's the jon to my kate...err...flavor of the day.

and now the ellen to my a.i.

cannot.wait.

discovery of the week

so i've decided that i'm going to start doing a "discovery of the week" where i share something i've recently stumbled upon that i find fantastic.

this week's discovery is Healthy Choice Caramel Icecream Sandwiches. not only are they delish, they are only 150 calories and totally fulfill the need for a little something sweet. they're actually bigger than the normal icecream sandwich (important factoid for those of us who can sympathize with a fat cake-lovin kid).

discover it!

summer skies

i finally downloaded the pictures from my camera of the summer and realized that i have seen some gorgeous skies all across the wonderful state of north carolina.

luckadoo mountain

over carter finley

wrightsville beach

belhaven at the pungo creek

so blessed. here's to the beauty of fall.

the most hopeful fans

i read an article yesterday saying that nc state football season tickets sold out for the 9th season in a row. i, of course, am one of those proud season ticket holders. the article went on to say that "wolfpack nation", nc state's fan base, is one of the most hopeful fan bases out there. when it comes down to it, we often have no real logic in being so hopeful. any reason to believe that our team will come out the first game to begin what will be some miraculous 12-0 season is sketchy at best.

still, we arrive. we arrive 5 hours before kick off to cook a pig. we arrive ready to scream our heads off at the refs who never know a darn thing about football. we arrive to cheer on our pack, rain or shine, win or lose.

last night, we started off our season with a 3-7 loss to USC. the game was mediocre (okay, really it was frustrating as all get out) but that stadium was filled to the brim with hopeful fans ready to see our wolfpack the season through, singing our fight song on repeat and waving our foam fingers like there's no tomorrow.

love is in the air. it's nc state football season and i couldn't be happier.

these boots were made for...tailgating

i love nc state.
i love tailgating.
i do not love fire ants.

last year, nc state played william and mary on a very hot saturday afternoon. while tailgating prior to game time, i was bitten by about 30 fire ants. long story short, there was an allergic reaction, ridiculous amounts of unfortunate swelling, an ambulance ride,drugs,drugs,drugs, and a panic attack (though the panic attack was because i was not going to let the doctors keep me from going to the second half even though my eyes were nearly swollen shut...and i won that battle thank you very much).

this year, i decided that i'd like to make any life threatening actions at football games involve tearing down goal posts or a fist fight with the opposing fans.
i went to an allergist and found out (duh) that i'm allergic to the fire ants. and i have to undergo 5 years of immunotherapy to be completely immunized.
in the meantime, the allergist said that i have to carry benadryl, an epipen, and wear boots to tailgate. boots.

now, you all know that i'm not really a boot-wearin kind of tailgater. but i figured now that i'm workin at farm bureau and lovin the south more than ever, i might as well cross over.
this however does not mean i will start listening to country music. one step at a time.

i went and bought these boots yesterday. i'm in love with them. love. i wore them around the apt. last night in gym shorts and a pj shirt lookin real classy.

'tis the season for football. and i'm ready. epipen and all.

here we go!

so i've decided to join the wide world of blogging to share my daily life and thoughts with you all.
(...go ahead and use your inhaler and/or tranquilizer to calm down from the inevitable conniption fit of excitement you just had.)

get ready for your daily dose of "the soul read" from lady luck (yes, i came up with that on my own...and yes, i do think i'm clever)

enjoy!