My 25 things....

I am pretty much afraid of everything. Most of all I am afraid of water. Even though I am a great swimmer I am terrified of being out of control and drowning. I do not like snorkeling unless I can quickly swim to shore. I even have panic attacks being on boats in choppy water (p.s. I was not like that until a few years ago)

I have moved a ton in the last 5 years… I have lived in South Bend Indiana for college, I moved back to the OC for a year afterwards, I moved to Jacksonville Florida when I got engaged, and a year after I got married I moved to Ohio. Pretty sure I will be staying here for a while though
My cute husband and I are in the process of buying a house. It is fabulous and I can’t wait to move in and get settled.

I seriously hated high school. I took correspondence courses my senior year so that I could leave at noon everyday and avoid having to sit through lunch time.

I always hated being taller than most of the guys I knew. When I would complain my mom would joke that when I went to college I would meet some huge “corn-fed Ohio boy” that would be taller than me. Ha ha – I totally did.

I love to cook but I HATE touching raw meat. If I am serving chicken I cut off pretty much everything even a little bit gross and everything that came close to touching the gross part. When I am cooking for myself I also tend to cook meat until it is dry as can be. I love it that way.

I actually love my job. I work in advertising and even though there isn’t a single person close to my age in my office I always have fun at work. It is the perfect mixture of business and creativity so I never get bored or feel like I am not being challenged. Nonetheless, I do want to retire soon and have kids :)

If I had to eat one thing every day for the rest of my life without any consequences I would eat cheese fries with ranch dressing.

I modeled for Hollister when I was 16. The pictures never showed up anywhere until I was 21…and fat. There were huge wall sized pictures of me up in malls when I was a senior in college and it just embarrassed me because I didn’t look a thing like that anymore – ha ha. (damn cheese fries)!

After always having a dog my whole life I have decided that I do not want any pets of my own. I know they are cute and super loving but they are also dirty and they keep you from taking last minute trips and other fun stuff.

I have had stitches in the back of my head, the bottom of my foot, on my chin, on my back, and on my eyelid. I have also had staples in my head too, but I have never broken a bone.

I think I would take my husbands advice over anyone else in the world. He is the perfect mix of book smart and super practical smart….please don’t tell him though.

I recently dyed my hair a darker/warmer shade of blonde than my usual – and a lady (who I really like) at work told me “this color is a little more (dramatic pause) “believable”…….wow. Who said I ever claimed to be naturally platinum? – ouch!

I felt like I had about a 2nd grade understanding of math until I was in college. It wasn’t because of some great teacher or any specific class- I was actually assigned to tutor homeless people in Math and I realized that a vast majority of them knew more than I did (thanks VPHS) so I started to buckle down and force myself to learn more.

My boyfriend/husband and I dated for 5 years before we got engaged. That whole time I would only see him the fall semester of school. Then he would leave to go play baseball and I would only see him once every two months for the remaining 8 months of the year.

I have this one pair of boots that makes me feel like Hannah Montana every time I wear them. I’m not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

My parents live in Florida, my sister Lauren is in California, my brother Marty is in Boulder Colorado, and my sister Kristen is in Chicago. I miss them all.

My best piece of marriage advice is to say sorry even when you aren’t. Being stubborn gets you nowhere and eventually giving in feels better than fighting just to prove a point.

Other than tennis shoes and boots I don’t think that shoes should be worn with socks. It always looks bad.

I am not big on accessories. I will wear bracelets/bangles, but usually I pretty much stick to diamond studs and my wedding rings.

I am notorious for re-telling stories. I constantly hear “ yeah you already told me that”

I went to dinner with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner once when she was pregnant. They didn’t know that I would be there, but we did end up at the same table. True Story.

If I could have any job in the world I would want to be a country singer.

I suck at returning phone calls and emails. Not because I don’t care, but because I am usually in a different time zone than the person who called and I never check my voicemail.

I am a little embarrassed that I spent so much time on this thing. Like anyone really cares to know this stuff about me.

I'm Out of Ideas....

February is a big month for gift giving in our house. Not only is it Valentines day, but we also have our (2nd) anniversary. With Pat's Birthday in November and Christmas obviously in December, I find it hard to come up with lots of cool gifts during this short stretch of time.

I have done all of the traditional gifts like, the watch, the nice wallet, a monogrammed card case for business cards, cool running shoes, workout clothes, a really non-gay leather jacket, an ipod, fancy dinners, cuff links, a freaking badass ashton kutcher camera - pretty much everything. This one time (our first year in college when we had been dating like 2 months) I even bought him a turtleneck sweater. Seriously - i did. I bought it becasue I thought that that was what guys in Ohio would wear when it got cold. WRONG. Very WRONG. I have learned my lesson, but I am totally out of ideas now. I know that the big things that I would like to get him are usually things he would rather pick out for himself but he always gets me awesome gifts so I really feel the pressure to come up with something and be the hero this time around.

I was thinking something for the new house (like tools) but that is sooo not romantic. It is kinda thoughtful becasue he likes to be handy but not really anniversary-worthy????

I need some ideas. Really good ideas.....Even if they are "anonymous" ideas becasue you don't want to come clean as a being a blog stalker :) and P.S. I like blog stalkers and I am totally one too so please help!

Monday Morning

I reluctantly arrived at work this morning to an "interesting" surprise. I walked really slowly in the parking lot so that my work week wouldn't have to start any sooner than it had to - and once I hit the front door , I almost (and really should have) turned around and ran back home. "It" hit me like a ton of bricks....and "it" was the overwhelming stench of sewer- hell! Apparently all of the snow melting outside made the pipes in the sewer system overflow and my office smells like a giant poopsicle. Despite the fact that sitting at my desk makes me feel like I am chillin' in a diaper, I am not allowed to go home. We are "muscleing" through it. I might puke.

Total case of the muuundays today. Hopefully things will get less "crappy" as the day goes on. Ha. Ha......Ha?

W T F !

okay..."when I get home I am going to use my electric tooth brush and give my dog lots of french kisses"...again- WTF? who says that?

I just watched The Bachelor and it made my skin crawl. Don't get me wrong, I will continue watching (just as i have every season before this one) BUT seriously? who says stuff like the chochy freak shows they find to participate on this show?

I'll admit, I am nuts in a sort of fun way- but I am not even in the same universe of crazy as these girls . I sit on my couch and get that really uncomfortable " i am sooo embarrassed for you" feeling the whole time i watch. I even change the channel sometimes without even thinking because it hurts to listen to the pathetic rants.

The girls that I knowand associate with, are not like that - and if they were, i would help them out and dissuade them form ever thinking about putting their really soory feelings on tv! I would also ban the words "I feel a connection with you"..."this is so real"....and "The past 32 seconds really make me feel like I could be the mother of your child" I would honestly try to help them out. Maybe i will get the girls addresses and send them a copy of He's Just Not That In to You so that they can clean it up for the next phase of their lives.

I meannnnnnnnnnn! ugh.

We Did It!!!

It took a year of searching, but Pat and I finally bought a house in Ohio!!

I almost can't believe it - We have honestly spent the last 12 months driving through neighborhood after neighborhood, searching online probably everyday for new listings , and praying that some gorgeous dream home would appear....but it didn't happen until about a month ago.

After one particularly bad house-hunting outing I told Pat how annoying I thought it was that it seemed like every time you drive into a beautiful neighborhood - the only house for sale would be the ugly duckling/red headed stepchild/ dump of the neighborhood. I told him I was totally over it and did not want to look anymore (yes I am ridiculous I know). So anyways a few weekends passed and Pat finds this one house that wasn't like any other we had seen. It was stucco and reminded me of any house you might find in Florida or California (which is rare for Ohio) :).....so anyways we were all excited, so we scheduled a walk through with a realtor and told Pat's parents about it. They have been really helpful with the whole house hunt so on a day off they drove to the neighborhood to check out the house....well apparently they were looking at other houses for sale in that same nieghborhood and this one random guy stopped them on the street and said "hey are you guys looking for a house?" they almost didn't stop, but decided to answer him and tell him that no they weren't looking but their son and daughter-in-law are sooooooo........ The guy gave them his card and said -"well my house isn't on the market yet but it will be in the spring, if they want to come by give them my number" ......so they did.

OMG - my theory was totally correct! The houses for sale (including the stucco one we scheduled the walk through for) were FUG! The ONE house that WASN'T listed was my dream house!!!! When we went to look at it the guy greeted us at the door and offered us a beer (weird but funny) we walked through and despite the floral wallpaper that runs floor to cieling in every room....we loved it. It even has a double staircase - TDF.

So anywho, we played it cool for a few weeks and finally decided to put an offer on it. We did and they accepted yesterday. I don't have pictures yet but they will be coming soon.

We haven't closed yet - so this excitement may be a little premature, but in the mean time I am peeing my pants to have a new decorating project! When we bought our house in Florida, I wasn't in town to do the furniture shopping so this will be my first official floor to cieling makeover.

Anyways, thats the news -My blog just got sooooo much cooler because now I can post fun house stuff too!

Mary Lists

When i am bored at work I play this super fun game with my friend Mary - We make up lists and send them back and forth to each other. Here are a few of my lists from today...

Top 10 Baby names if you were having a baby
Brady
Patrick
Brennan
Hayley
Brooke
Avery
Tanner
Camryn (girl)
Sydney
Maddison

If you could only buy 5 things at the grocery store for the rest of your life what would they be?
Champagne
Strawberries
Nail polish so that I have something to do with my time
chicken nuggets- for when I get sick of champagne and strawberries
Bottled water

10 interesting things about me….
Since I moved to Ohio I go to church most Sundays
I spray Windex on my food when I want to make myself stop eating (usually when I am coming way too close to finishing a bag of chips)
I grew an inch taller in college – talk about late blooming!!!
My husband is really the only official boyfriend I have ever had
I taught math to homeless adults and their children while I was in college
I make wishes at 11:11 every time I see it on a clock.
I almost drowned last year while white water rafting with my family. I got thrown out of the boat, got stuck under the boat, hit my head on a rock, and had to get 7 staples to close the wound.
I am verrrry dramatic and more emotional than I would like to admit
I sing and talk to myself in my car.
I used to dress up as Axel Rose when I was little. No clue why, apparently I wanted to “be him?”

"Love Always, Katie"

Something magical happened this weekend!

1. I earned a standing ovation from a large crowd of people
2. A woman I didn't even know put her hands on my face (weird) and told me that i was priceless (awesome)!!!

Why did this happen you ask? ....well I am a newly discovered karaoke master. Seriously, I have fans now - and I love it!!

I chose an old favorite - Mandy Moore "Candy" and apparently that was a good decision. I barely even needed the prompter and I even threw in a few dance moves. The best part came at the part of the song where Mandy just breaks it down and reads a love letter rather than singing it. I obvi did the same but switched it up a bit to say..."blah blah blah - your love is as sweet as candy blah blah blah- Love always Katie"

I'm not going to lie, I used to be waaaaay too shy to participate, but then i did it once... and I realized how happy/uncomfortable it made Pat to know that I would go in front of a crowd of people, dedicate a song to him, and embarrass myself....so now I just love it! I also think people appreciate the little break away from the people who take karaoke soooo seriously.

It is really too bad that i don't have pictures to post of my own performance and also of the girl before me. That girl spent a good 2 minutes trying so hard to look "really sexy" by chugging a beer on stage and singing some weirdo gothic creeper song.... Me on the other hand -my pictures would probably only illustrate me never looking "cooler"....riiiight :)

But anyways - here is the almost as awesome Mandy Moore version, that is so creepy. She (like the girl before me) is also trying very hard to look way sexy...and she is maybe 12 yrs old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e4e-eXWbbs

wow.