1 Year

One year ago today we were getting ready to make this thing official.  Leading up to the day of (we had a long engagement and I'd had over two years to anticipate it) I thought that people saying their wedding day was the best day of their life was a total cliche.  Well, I've gotta say that it's definitely up there.  There's just something about having all those really important people there to watch you take that big step together as a couple.  It's hard to beat.

Brian, being married to you is everything I'd hoped it would be and more.  I can't to see what life brings us in the years ahead.

So I guess we're not newlyweds anymore, right?  Today is probably going to be pretty low-key- we're going out to dinner and we'll have a wedding cupcake, of course!  But we're gearing up for our trip to NYC next week!  How was your weekend, friends?

{Want to see more of our wedding?}

Guess what?!

{photo taken by me on this trip, which was one of my first blog posts!}

Eek!  We're going to NYC towards the end of August, and I couldn't be more excited!  Our first anniversary is on August 13th, and Brian sweetly suggested that we go to New York.  He's never been, and I've always wanted to go just the two of us.  Well, literally a couple of days after that, Alt NYC was announced.  I didn't know what to do.  It was so close to being convenient, just 10 days separated our trip.  When Brian got home we quickly talked it over and realized that I should snatch up a ticket, and if we decided that it wasn't right, I could always sell it later.

Well, it was a good thing I got that ticket, because they sold out in something like 4 hours.  We debated and thought about it for a long time, but in the end we decided to move our trip so that I could go to Alt.

But here's the thing: we're not extending our trip.  We're staying for two nights, which means that the one full day that we'll be in New York, I'll be at Alt.  And Brian will be on his own.  In New York.  On his first trip there EVER.

Brian has been a total trooper about the whole thing, ultimately giving up time for us to hang out together for me to go to Alt, which has been a goal of mine.  But because he's never been and he's being so accommodating about me turning this trip into a blogger thing, I feel like I need to plan at least a few fun things for him to do by himself on that day that I'm gone.

That's where you guys come in.  Do you have any ideas?  Any fun things that a guy who is interested in movies and comic books can do by himself in NYC, on the cheap?  I'd also love any other general NYC tips or place that you think we MUST go while we're there!  You guys are all so awesome- I know you'll have some cool things to share!

PS. This post about doing things separately on vacation was published around the time we were deciding, which I thought was so funny!  Have you ever done that?  I think it sounds fun!

Birthday Weekend

Brian's birthday was on Saturday- we pretty much hung out all day, and then went to his parents' house for dinner, where we had lasagna and cheesecake.  On Sunday, we visited Brian's cousins for lunch (we had pizza!) and then we were at my parents' for dinner of burgers and mac and cheese, followed by carrot cake (which I'll be posting about tomorrow!)  Not a bad weekend, if I do say so myself.

I intended for this little photoshoot to be all cute and pretty, but it rarely turns out that way, doesn't it?  Oh well, what you see is what you get.  We acted even more like children than usual in front of the camera, you know, in honor of Brian being 26.  And that's okay.

What were you up to this weekend?

Shooting Bunnies

... with my camera, of course!

Our neighborhood bunny population appears to be rising.  There are only two different bunnies in these pictures, but when Brian and I go on our evening walks we almost always come across one of these little guys.  This particular night I brought my camera and we came across two on the same walk!  Brian of course wanted my camera so that he could take some stealthy shots of our furry friends.  I was cool with it.  My lens doesn't zoom, so we are physically getting closer for the closer in shots.

This post really doesn't have any point, except to show you some bunnies.

shots from this weekend

This weekend was all pretty much based on our move home.  The last few weeks we've been working on eating all the food in our apartment, and I must say that we did a pretty good job.  Things were looking pretty empty in our cabinets.  On Saturday morning Brian made us a 5 egg omelet.  The photo above is just of my half.  It was ginormous.  It had ham, cheese, onions, and jalapenos.  Holy smokes.  Jalapenos are almost always featured in our omelets, but this one was hella spicy.

I'm glad he made us that omelet because it was pretty much the highlight of the move, because of course, it started to rain right before we started loading our cars.  Luckily it stopped for most of the drive.  I'm not into driving on highways in the rain.

The rest of the weekend consisted of unpacking, eating, and generally getting situated.  Yesterday I went on my long run for the week (I'm up to 6 miles!) and I'm telling you, each week I am more and more spent after the long run.  Like, ruined for the day.  Hence the time out back with my book (I'm about halfway through, and I like it but I have no clue where it's going!)  The weather on Sunday more than made up for what Saturday lacked.  It was heavenly.

How was your weekend?


P.S.  Today is the last day of April which means my swaps are getting swapped tomorrow!  Go click on the buttons in my sidebar NOW.  You won't be sorry.

Pizza Chicken

There is this quote from Spongebob that my brothers and I used to say all the time.  Spongebob asks Patrick what he had to eat that day, and he goes, "Roast beef, a chicken, a pizza..."  Well, too bad there's no roast beef in here, otherwise it would be just like that.  This recipe was my brainchild and Brian's labor of love. 

Brian made this recipe on Valentine's Day and it was really good.  But we didn't have any toothpicks, so he had to make it into layers which resulted in something that wasn't so delicious looking, and meant that when it came steaming out of the oven I grabbed my fork and not my camera.  But because of that dinner, I had this idea about stuffed chicken that I just couldn't get out of my head.  We had this leftover turkey pepperoni, so I voiced my thoughts to Brian and he made it a reality.  And I must say that it was pretty delicious.

Here are the ingredients:

• Chicken breast
• Turkey pepperoni
• Cheese (we used mozzarella and an Italian cheese blend of pre-grated cheese, like from a bag)
• Egg
• Water
• Seasoned breadcrumbs
• Salt
• Spray-oil
• Toothpicks

I'm not going to copy the recipe, but he basically followed the steps from the Skinnytaste recipe, substituting the cheeses and the pepperoni for the broccoli.  We ate it with steamed broccoli and angel hair and our favorite spaghetti sauce.  This is a good thing to make if you're looking for something that feels a little fancier, but not expensive or super difficult to make.

our space

Since business has picked up, I'm working from home 90% of the time.  It's pretty awesome.  I get to wear yoga pants every day.  I wake up when I want (within reason) and I can eat lunch, workout, or shower whenever I like.  Working from home has it's charms, but it's not perfect.

This is where I work.  As you can see, I didn't pretty this up for you.  This is real.  Including my former dead cell phone and my twenty million rolls of tape (why do I have so much tape?)  Direct quote from Brian as I was taking this picture: "Why are you photographing our squalor?"  We both got a good chuckle out of that, but you get the point.

Brian is a law student.  He doesn't have class on Mondays and he prefers to study at home.  To give you an idea of my proximity to Brian while I'm working, I took this picture while standing over his shoulder.

Obviously the camera zooms a little, but you get the picture.  It's close quarters up in here.  Again, let me remind you that I'm well aware that this set up is awesome.  This time last year we were rounding out year five of our long distance relationship, and I now couldn't be more grateful that we get to be together so much.  BUT some conflicts have come up as a result of our small working space.

Here are some examples:

• I like the curtains open.  Sunlight is important to me.  Brian doesn't like the glare on his computer screen or computer screen.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is too loud and conflicting with the Glee Pandora station playing in my headphones.
• I absentmindedly hum along to said Pandora station. (Don't worry when Brian is in class, I'm full out belting those tunes.  Especially if Celine Dion or that song from Walk to Remember comes on.)
• Brian interrupts me while I'm coding something tell me the latest thing he's read on Cracked, or to show me things of the hilarious nature like this.
• Brian says that my typing sounds like this:

I feel like this whole post could have a great big #firstworldproblems.  Don't worry, I'll be sure to enjoy our impromptu snuggle session a little extra today.

Do any of you work at home?

6 months

Six months ago today Brian and I tied the knot.  I have to say that in our six months of marriage, it isn't just what I thought it would be: it's better.

Happy Monday, friends!

You can find more pictures of from our big day in the Wedding Week posts!  Photo by JMK Photos.

coma bars

Normally my desire to eat baked goods precedes the desire to bake them.  This last week, the opposite happened.  I kept passing my mixer in the kitchen thinking that it looked lonely and needed to be put to work.  I knew my friend Hannah was coming over last night, so yesterday I started looking on Pinterest for something for us to bake.  That's how I came across this dangerous dessert.

Brian is a total chocolate and peanut butter junkie.  When I showed him these there was pretty much no going back.  Hannah and I had lots of fun making them... except I when misread the recipe.  You make them by layering a peanut butter/ cake mix mixture with a chocolate and coconut mixture.  Well, I saw stick of butter on the recipe and put the whole stick in with the peanut butter part, not realizing that I only needed two of the eight tablespoons in that portion!  I figured "oh well, what's a little extra butter?" and kept on going, and adjusted by adding only about three tablespoons to the chocolate part, netting only an extra 3 tablespoons of butter.  That's not so bad.

Well, after dinner and two of these bars, this happened:

Brian and I were both falling asleep at our computers.  I'm blaming it on the butter.

Clearly I'm not too worried about it, because you better believe that after a long day at school I made a beeline for that 9 x 13.  If you're looking for a sweet fix, I highly recommend these babies (originally called Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars.)  Just maybe use the recommended amount of butter.

Dusting

Brian and I got back to Lexington this aftenoon.  We scurried around trying to organize and unpack ourstuff... we didn't even bother to open the curtains.  As it was getting dark Brian said, "Kate, have you looked outside?"

I peeked out and saw snow!  It was kind of funny that after two weeks of mild weather we come back to our apartment and saw SNOW!  Of course I grabbed my camera and dashed out onto the balcony.  The best part?  I took these babies on FULL MANUAL.  Yippee!

Check back tomorrow for my New Years Resolutions post.  Finally!

There are more balcony shots where those came from.

New Year's Eve

So... our New Year's was lame.  BUT as you can see I did have fun taking self-timer photos with my camera (and the remote I got for my birthday!)  I played with some of the manual settings some more, and I still have a long way to go.  That's why some of them are grainy!

I started taking them because I've been meaning to capture my haircut so that I can remember what it looked like for the next time it needs to be cut.  My friend Molly cut it (she is the one who did my hair and make-up for my wedding!) and it's shorter than it's been since my freshman year of college.  I love it!

Brian and I went out to dinner and then basically hung out and watched TV until my brother and his girlfriend got back a little before midnight.  Even though most of the evening was boring, it was fun to ring in the New Year with them.  And Liz even humored me and took more pictures with me!

Hope you all had a fun night!  Brian and I are packing up and driving home tomorrow morning.  I'm excited to be back in my own apartment, but I'm sad to leave my family and friends.  It's been a good break.

our first christmas

Brian and I decided on Saturday that we would do our mini-Christmas on Sunday so that we could leave on Monday!  We had such a fun day.  We got up and opened our stockings and presents, and then Brian made a us a HUGE breakfast.  Waffles and eggs and bacon... yum!  We just kinda hung out all day and then for dinner we went on a little date to our favorite Chinese buffet and came home and watched Love Actually.  It was perfect.

I thought I would share these photos of when we put up our little tree.  I've been calling it our Charlie Brown tree because it's so little.  We bought a strand of lights and put on our ornaments that our families sent with us.  It's been so much fun having a little tree, it makes me excited to have a big one of our own some day!

Posting around here is going to be a little sparse since we are out of town.

I'm planning on widening my blog when we get back, so in the meantime some of these pictures may be a little cut off.  Click to see them full size!


Also, I've decided to start uploading all my pictures to my Sketch and Wash Facebook page.  Check them out!

Stockings!

I have the cutest husband. Today he took a break from studying to surprise me with these stockings that he bought for our first Christmas. He picked them out all by himself! Isn't that so cute? He did such a good job!

I love them!  Now I just have to find things to put in Brian's stocking.  Since we will be at our families' houses at Christmas, we have decided to celebrate our own mini Christmas here in our apartment before we head north.

We are still working on how we are going to split the holidays once we get there.  In the past, Brian and I always just made sure that we saw each other, but for the most part stuck with our respective families.  It was so much easier!  If you have a significant other, how do you split your holiday?

it's just another... well, you know the rest.

Whew!  I totally had to hit the ground running today.  I have a million and one things to do, little and big, and I'm trying to keep everything straight and make sure nothing slips through the cracks.



I subbed for a computer lab teacher today, which is lots of fun until the internet doesn't work.  Whomp.  It's hard to explain to second graders why the games aren't working.

Today got off to kind of a rough start.  Brian and I swapped cars this weekend, and as I walked out the door I realized that I didn't have my keys.  Turns out he just left them on the kitchen table (under a pile of stuff) but I called the school to tell them I was going to be late and then had 5 minutes of panic where I sent Brian alarming emails and contemplated walking to law school to steal his car.

I'll end this randomness now, but there's a question that I would like to throw out the blogosphere...

MY GOOGLE READER IS SICK.  A few weeks ago "Blogs I'm Following" tab just stopped adding new blogs to the tab.  Here is the weird part: every so often it will all of a sudden recognize the blogs I added after that certain point, and I'll have this influx of unread posts.  Then I'll go back to look at them, and they will have mysteriously disappeared.  I didn't notice at first, but now it is so many blogs that I can't not notice.

This upsets me because I have found so many cool blogs lately (AND that's not even all of them because I don't have a LIST! )  And I don't want to comment on posts 5 days later, I want to comment on them when they happen.

Do you know what is up with this???  I've searched.  I've checked many times.  If you know what to do, please help!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday!  Today we are eating an early meal with my family at my aunt and uncle's house, and then tomorrow we are celebrating with Brian's family.  Good thing I packed some loose fitting clothes!

This year I'm thankful for:

• My wonderful family, in it's entirety.
• Great friends, old and new, near and far.
• Getting to spend every day with my husband/ lovebug/ best friend!

What are you thankful for this year?

(Thanksgivings from years past)

Halloween in Town

Brian and I stopped in town on our way home from the grocery store to witness an event that I saw advertised at school.  Basically all the shops had candy and little kids were dressed up and got to go trick-or-treating at the stores!  Dominos even had these little chocolate molten cakes for the kiddos- yum!  It was really cute.  And Brian got to pet a great dane, and we all know he is happiest when petting a dog.

Brian and I proceeded to spend $8 at a specialty chocolate store- not like we have half a bag of candy that we will likely eat at home or anything.

Happy Halloween!

(and what is a fall photoshoot without gratuitous pictures of leaves?)