Big Week for the K's

Guess what today is?

6 months ago today I married my best friend!!!!
you know, the one that put up with me being a stage 5 clinger for a year before we started dating.  

We're halfway to 1 year..big deal people, big deal. 

I am so lucky to be married to Billy. He really is the best guy I know and I love being able to call him my husband. When I say best guy, I mean it. When Billy and I first started talking, I changed my name in his phone to "Best Girl". I would be lying if I said I just did it to be cute & different, I had intentions. I mean, so many other girls would call him all the time..I wanted to let them know he had a "Best girl". Take that girls..I thought. Well, much to my surprise, he kept me in his phone as Best girl and put up with the occasional teasing from his boys about it. He then put himself as "Best guy" in my phone. Only fair. To this day, we are still Best guy and Best girl to each other and I'm not sure if we will ever change it. 

I'm going to keep this short and sweet because I don't want to bore you all to the max...

Billy,

Thank you for being an amazing husband to me. Thank you for...taking Rocky out at night when I'm too tired to get off the couch. for making me laugh. for vacuuming all the time because you know I hate it. for putting up with my mood swings and constant need for dark chocolate and wine. for being you. for always telling me you love me even if we only leave each other for 5 minutes. for always believing in me and wanting the best for us. I love you more and more everyday.

Now that I got that out...

We have a pretty fun week ahead of us! 

We leave for Florida on Wednesday
&

Billy {and his twin sis} is turning 27 on Thursday!

 

I'm so excited to celebrate his birthday in Florida and take him out for a nice dinner on the beach. I have been casually checking stalking the weather like a mad woman and it looks beautiful - 80. 80. 80. I'm not sure if I remember what 80 degrees feels like. I may just be the happiest person in the world when I step off that plane and get the first glimpse of the beach.

This weekend we went to our local Borders because they are closing so they are having a big sale on all their books. I picked up some new reading material for our trip. 

I got these 2 books (for only $20 total):

and...

{can't wait to read this with the movie coming out soon!}

and...obviously I just had to get a mani/pedi too {my toes thank me} for all the cute sandals and flip flops I plan to be wearing. 

I went with one of my favorite colors...

Cajun Shrimp.

 

Now, tonight the plans are to hopefully get most of my packing done and errands ran that need to be run before we leave. You know how that goes.

Here's to hoping I can fit all my clothes/shoes/other random womanly neccessities into one bag. I am what you call an extreme OVERPACKER. 
 Once or maybeee multiple times...my bag weighed in at a whopping 49.3 lbs. Who does that?! It's not like I'm packing for a 3 week trip either. 

Maybe I'll try and cut it down a bit this time...

nah, maybe next time.

 

Have a great Monday!

Fill in the Blank Friday

Happy Friday ladies! I don't have anything too exciting or crazy happening in this life of my mine {for now :)} so I thought today I would link up with Lauren @ The Little Things We Do for Fill in the Blank Friday.

Link up with me!

1.   I am currently obsessed with       green tea and online shopping. I usually have green tea every morning and sometimes I want to have it again at night. The online shopping...bad news. I think I have like 56 things bookmarked that I want for our house or to add to my spring/summer wardrobe..whoops :)

2.  Today I am    happy with a side of annoyed     because,   it's Friday and I'm excited for the weekend but annoyed because the weather outside is m-to-the-iserable. It snowed again. I try to keep reminding myself: "it's not where, but who your with that really matters" yeah..yeah.

3.  The age I am is    25     and the age I feel is    40. just kidding. I think I feel like a normal 25 yr old and I'd like to think I'm pretty healthy. Except for my knees..I have awful knees ladies. They crack everytime I bend down and lately they have been bothering me when I run {I can blame this on the dreadmill}.

4.  My favorite place is   my house (with my boys) or on the beach. in the sand. and soaking up the sun.

5.  Something I have been procrastinating is   selling some old furniture on Craigslist. Oy vey. They are taking up too much room in our basement.

6.  The last thing I purchased was      a bottle of Pinot Grigio from the grocery store to drink during my shows last night..Million Dollar Listing and The Shore, of course. Does anyone else watch Million Dollar Listing? I freaking lurvee it.

7.  The thing I love most about my home is       the finished basement and the kitchen. It's not anything too fancy but it's ours and we enjoy it .

 

 

Tonight we are going out with some friends for dinner & drinks. I refuse to let this mini blizzard come between me, my food, and socialization...

Besides that, not much planned other than packing and I'm not even sure if I will get around to that. We normally wait until the night before to pack. ha. But that doesn't mean I won't be planning my outfits in my head ;) 

I forgot to mention this earlier on in the week...

What did everyone think of the first episode of Real Housewives of Miami? I was not impressed. In fact, I turned it off and went to bed halfway through it (shocking, I know). The only housewife that I remotely enjoyed watching was Scottie Pippen's wife - Larsa. She's not too bad but the others really got on my nerves and just didn't impress me. Beverly Hills set the bar pretty high I think. Did anyone else feel this way? or did you like it? Maybe it was just me.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Woo-hoo!! My favorite blog day of the week right here.

Go link up with Jamie and tell us what you're lovin' today...

I'm {loving} my new Michael Kors watch!!!! It is the new rose gold and I've been wanting it for so long. I am obsessed with it..

I'm {loving} that we will be in Florida in exactly 1 week. Hallelujah!!

I'm {loving} all the new people I'm meeting through this blog :)

I'm {loving} that Libby from Don't Waste Your Cancer is CANCER FREE!!! Her blog is one of the first blogs I started following and she inspires me so much.

I'm {loving} China Glaze's nautical collection - Anchors Away.

I think I love all of these colors..

I'm {loving} that SPRING is less than a month away. I know I've mentioned this not much like 4329 times but...

I'm over you Winter, so over you.

I'm {loving} that Jennifer Aniston and Justin Bieber decided to switch it up and get new haircuts. I love and wish I could have Jennifer's long hair but she has had the same style for so many years and it's nice to see her switch it up. As for the Biebs, lookin' a lot more grown up now. Cute!

I'm {loving} ALL things STRIPED! It seems like when I've been shopping lately I am wanting to buy everything with stripes - especially navy and white.

I'm {loving} my amazing husband. Last week I mentioned to him that I thought it would be awesome if next time we were out to eat/in a drive thru that we would randomly pay it forward and pay for the persons order in line behind us. Well yesterday he did just that! It made me so proud & goes to show me that he does actually listen to my ideas even when I don't think he is sometimes ;) haha So sweet.

What are you loving today?!

Day 4..Almost Doesn't Count.

...so sorry day 4 of the blog challenge, you just aren't in the cards.

I promise I'm normally not a quitter, but I realized since we're leaving for Florida next week that I wouldn't be able to finish the 30 day challenge anyways so why prolong the inevitable? I have realized through this whole 3 days that I am not much of a fan of topics already chosen for me to blog about. I enjoy the randomness sometimes of blogs so that's what I'm going to do.

Don't worry, I'm still enjoying reading everyone else's 30 day challenge and I happen to be guest blogging today for Jess at Polka Dots, Pearls, and Pink Oh My so go check her blog out to see what I wrote about!!

On a more important note and a great reason to end the challenge streak...

I have reached 100+ followers!!!!

I'm still just as humbled as I was when I had only 3 followers so thank you to all of you for being interested in reading about my life and for all your nice comments & messages. It really does mean a lot to me.

I'm a little tired today because my sweet Rocky had an upset belly last night and didn't sleep very much. When he doesn't sleep...I don't sleep because I'm constantly worried about him. He's OK though..just a little tummy ache I guess.

I mean, how could you not worry about a little guy with a face like this?

Today is filled with all kinds of randomness so why not continue?

 I got a free bottle of this this morning and was wondering if any of you have tried it...

MonaVie - active.

A lady from my work is a distrubutor for it and sometimes brings me in free samples but this is the first whole bottle I've gotten. The bottles are normally I think around $30 to buy so I'm pretty excited to try this out for free.

If you haven't heard about MonaVie this is what the website says....

"From powerful antioxidant support to joint, heart, and immune health, MonaVie body-beneficial products provide the nutrition you need for a healthy and active lifestyle.

Delivering a wide array of antioxidants, vitamins, and phytonutrients, as well as other beneficial ingredients like Wellmune, plant-derived glucosamine, and plant sterols, every serving is as efficacious as it is delicious."

There are 5 different types of MonaVie health juices but the bottle I got, Active, is designed to get your body in motion. It increases joint mobility and flexibility, encourages healthy connective tissue and joint cartilage, and fights aging.

I've heard from many people that they love MonaVie products and swear by it, but as with all other things I'm sure there are those that would say differently. I love trying new things so I'm going to give this a shot. If any of you have tried any of these products, let me know what you thought of it.

 I'll let you all know what I think of it after.

PS: It's National Margarita Day. I love me some marg's, ladies. We have a great relationship... 

May have to go buy some of this to enjoy after work...

Have a great Tuesday :)

Day 3 & How Do I Write!

Day 3: A picture of the cast of your favorite TV show.

Real Housewives of Orange County.

I'm slightly embarassed to be admitting this for all of the blogging world to see.

I have watched Real Housewives since the very beginning {you know with Jo and Laurie, not pictured} and slowly but surely became addicted season after season.

Remember these 2?

I feel like that was forever ago when they were on the show. Then Slade having multiple hookups with some of the newer cast members like Laurie {was that even true?} and then Gretchen. Who knows, I can't keep up with that man. I actually thought he was attractive when he 1st came on the show.

The only seasons that I haven't been too impressed by are Atlanta and New Jersey. They just didn't do it for me but that doesn't mean I still haven't watched from time to time.

Currently, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills has worked it's way into my heart and may just even surpass my love for the original OC cast, but I need another season of it to make that final decision. so get on that Bravo. I'm waiting.

Who will be watching the new Miami housewives this week?

 I probably won't get around to it. Syke..

Alright. Last thing on this rainy Monday morning....

Cassie from Live What You Love tagged me in this fun game called How Do You Write. Feel free to join along so we can see your handwriting :)

FYI I'm left handed and can't stand hitting my hand up against the side of the rings in notebooks so I always rip the paper out.

....andddd some of this got cut off and I couldn't figure out how to fix it
so this is the best I could do haha

Happy Monday!
xo.xo

Katie

Day *2* ~ Lindsay Ann

A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

Meet my best friend of 11 years: Lindsay

We met freshman year in high school and have been attached at the hip ever since.

Actually, true story..she was attached to another girls hip before I came along {but a not so nice girl} and this girl felt threatened by our relationship and made Lindsay chose ME or HER. Ohh..this just flooded me back to high school drama. Anywhoo, of course Lindsay told her to get lost because she realized I was the coolest thing since sliced cheese {or glitter belts and white eyeliner for us}! Ever since then, we have been inseparable.

I have so many memories and pictures with her that it would take me atleast 5 posts to document some of the good ones but I will share a few ;)

After high school, we knew we wanted to go to the same college and that's when life took us to Bowling Green State University. We were roommates for about 5 or 6 years {even after college and with only minimal girl fights!} and I couldn't have picked a better person to have by my side. To this day, she has been the one I can trust with anything and everything.

The point is...I'm incredibly thankful for her and don't know what I would do without her. She has the sweetest soul of anyone I know and knows me better than ANYONE I have ever met. She was the best maid of honor I could have asked for and continues to show her love and support for me everyday.

Her family is like a 2nd family to me and always treat me like their 2nd daughter.

Lindsay and I have had the most amazing times together in the past 11 years and I can't wait for many more to come!

Our birthdays are 6 days apart and we always celebrate them together!

BGSU homecoming.

we like our tequila haha

and I love that my hubby and her are so close!

...and her and Rocky :)

classic bathroom shot after a few {or many} margaritas.

during her amazing MOH toast that she barely made it thru

because she couldn't stop crying <3

Love you Linny, LV, Linny Lou, Lindsay Ann, Verslewster, CS #2 (haha), etc :)

PS-Does the 30 Day Blog Challenge apply on weekends? Because this girl probably won't get a chance to do it over the weekend so Day 3 will be on Monday!

TGIF!!!

30 Day Blog Challenge

I've jumped on the blogger bandwagon. I don't normally participate in things like this..and who knows if I will finish all 30 days but I'm going to give it a try.

Feel free to send me a comment saying..."THIS IS BORING! Stop with the challenge!" if that's how you really feel :)

Ok so here's how it works:

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with ten facts
Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest
Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show
Day 04 - A picture of your night
Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory
Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day
Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item
Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh
Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most
Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most ****** up things with
Day 11 - A picture of something you hate
Day 12 - A picture of something you love
Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist
Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without
Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die
Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you
Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity
Day 19 - A picture and a letter
Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel
Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget
Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at
Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book
Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change
Day 25 - A picture of your day
Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you
Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member
Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of
Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile
Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss

Day 1

A picture of yourself and 10 facts

Had to. St. Patricks Day is coming up ;)

#1. My major in college was Human Development and Family Studies - originally I started out in Early Childhood Education but then switched. My dream job would be to work in a hospital setting with cancer patients.

#2. After graduating college I taught children with Autism for almost 2 years. I taught children ages 4-9. It was the best learning experience I have ever had and also the most challenging. I love and miss the kids still everyday.

#3. My celebrity crushes are: Robert Pattinson, Ashton Kutcher, and Brody Jenner. Totally random but gives you an idea of the type I like. Brody is amazingly attractive to me..tall, dark, handsome, and amazing hair.

Now, your girlfriend Avril...I'm still wondering: WHY?

I sometimes wish him and LC would get back together. They were so cute.

#4. Like Jess, I am blind as a bat without my contacts. I really want to get Lasik surgery but my eyes won't stop changing so I have to keep waiting! Boo.

#5. I don't have a debit card and probably won't for a long time. This seems to SHOCK people! haha

#6. I have a certain way I like to load the dishwasher and everytime my husband offers to do it I let him but then I find myself going back and rearranging it all. OCD?!

#7. I love running outside in the mornings. I feel so good when I'm done and then I have the whole day left to get done what I need to get done {yes, I ran outside for the first time this year this morning and it was WONDERFUL!}. 60 degrees today here. just shocking.

#8. I'm a Daddy's girl. He is still the first person I call when I'm lost in my car, when I need advice, etc.

#9. I have road rage. the end.

#10. I really want to have twins. My husband is a twin and his aunt is a twin. I'm not sure about my odds here, but when that time comes I'd like to get on some fertility drugs to make this happen. :)

psstttt. just have to say: U-s-h-e-r R-a-y-m-o-n-d and Akon concert. thank you to our friends Grant & Christine for getting us tickets :) YEAHhhh!

Favorites for Yo Face :)

Since today feels like Tuesday for me I am going to skip What I'm Loving Wednesday {even though I love it} this week and share some products I have been using and come to love.

I always enjoy reading about what other produts bloggers love to use and the one's that they hate so that I don't waste my precious moo-lah on buying them! thanks ladies.

This first one I consider to be a true life saver.

I was getting ready to fork out the $200-some to buy the Clarisonic until I saw this lovely, lovely invention...

#1. Olay Professional Pro-X

$29.00 found at drugstores

I have been using this for a while now and I love this thing. It's genius really. This advanced cleansing system is designed to cleanse your skin 6x better and sets your skin up for anti-aging moisturization. It is very easy to use, has 2 speeds, and is water-resistant so that you can even use it in the shower. I've also found that you can use it with other facial cleaners and not just the one that the package comes with. 

Not to mention...it is only $29.00! What a steal.

You must go out and buy this ladies- you won't regret it :)

#2. Loreal Futur-E Moisture (+ a daily dose of Vitamin E)

I have been using this face lotion for as long as I can remember and can't seem to find anything else that moisturizes as good as this one does. I'm serious. My face feels so good after I use this. It is perfect for year round use...in the winter when your face feels extra dry & in the summer {before & after} you are in the sun. I can tell a difference in my skin and how much healthier it looks after using this. I recommend this to everyone but if you have really oily skin, this may make your face a little shiny.

#3. Estee Lauder Bronzer (Bronze Goddess)

$30.00, can be found at various department stores

Bronzer..oh how I can't live without you.

Thank you to my bff Lindsay for introducing me to this one way back when. I have been using this for atleast 5 years now and it's wonderful. I use the Soft Matte kind but they also have a Soft Shimmer as well. In the summer, it blends perfectly when I have a little bit of a tan that I don't even need to use anything else on my face besides this {I'm not big on foundation}. If you are looking for a good bronzer, try this girls. it lasts me a good 10 months!

Well, those are some products for mah face that I'm lovin.

What products do you use and love? I'd love to hear about them!

One more thing...this is a very serious UPDATE:

I, Katie, am currently OBSESSED with the iPhone.

I went on a app downloading frenzy last night and also bought a cute hot pink cover for it.  

Sooo for all you experiened iPhone users out there...what apps do you swear by?!

Help a girl out and send them my way please.

So far, some favorites that I got are: Flixster, Pandora, myStarbucks {this has to be made for me, I swear}, Yelp, and Buckeye App {hehe}.

PS. I just lurvee this picture. The neat organization, the pink, and all of the Apple greatness.

xoxo.

Katie

Sweet CAROLIN-A!!!

I'm back from our trip to Charlotte, NC and I have to tell you I'm not so happy about it... ;) It's nice to be back in our home with Rocky (I always miss him like crazy even if it's only a couple days) but let's be serious - the weather was BEAUTIFUL in NC this past weekend and it was wonderful to have a break from the ice, snow, and COLD! The average was around 60 but on Sunday it got up to 65 and on Monday it got up in the low 70's. We were happy campers :)

(Lake Norman)

I'm going to do a recap of our trip so that in the future I can read this and remember what all we did. I will warn you that there will be a lot of pictures! so, beware now! We had such a great Valentines day weekend together there. Here's a little of what we did....

Saturday morning Billy's cousins (who we stayed with in Huntersville) made us homemade french toast and then we scurried out the door and went to explore downtown Charlotte aka "uptown". We went to a few cute boutiques and got lunch down there. Then we went to a cute artsy area called NoDa and grabbed some coffee and walked around the area.

(the neighborhood we stayed in at Billy's cousins!)

Later on in the day, we went back to Huntersville and went to Birkdale Village to do some shopping and went to a local pub to grab some drinks. Birkdale is an outdoor shopping center but also has a golf course, movie theatre, nice restaurants, bars, condo's, and houses all within the same area. We LOVE it here!!! They always have live music outside on the weekends, too.

(Birkdale)

Saturday night we went out to dinner with my friend Michelle to a place called Killington's Restaurant & Pub. Michelle lives in Huntersville but I worked with her when she lived back here in Ohio. The food at Killington's was amazing and we had such a great time the 3 of us at dinner. In fact, Billy even got a MAN's phone number (ha ha too long of a story for this post...) After dinner, we headed to a local kareoke bar to meet up with 3 of my cousins who ALSO live in right within the area. It was so nice to be able to meet up with them while we were there. We had a few drinks and danced A LOT..it was so much fun.

(My cousin TJ, his wife Verna, my cousin Todd, Me, and Billy)

Moving on...Now Sunday was the best. My AWESOME husband had a day planned for us and he surprised me with horseback riding at Latta Plantation and a boat cruise on Lake Norman right after! So sweet he is.

'Historic Latta Plantation is located within Latta Plantation Nature Preserve, on Mountain Island Lake. The park offers hiking and horseback riding trails, and fishing permits.'

Horseback riding..no other words than to say other than I love it. I mentioned before how much I love horses so for Billy to plan this for us was so super sweet. Billy has been a couple of other times with me but he isn't too experienced and I got so many laughs from watching him on his horse. His horse was the "mean" one and had to be in the back of the line (there were only 4 of us in the group) and his horse kept wanting to stop and eat and would occasionally get mad that he was in the back and want to speed up in front of all the other horses. His horses name was "Gypsy" but Billy called her "Crazy" for the remainder of the trip. The trial that we went on went down by a river and up and down many hills so the scenery was gorgeous.

(Molly..she is 2000 lbs!)

After horseback riding, we rushed to get to our next date which was the boat cruise. It was an hour and a half sightseeing cruise on Lake Norman and they also served us lunch on it (surprisingly, the food was good...yummy BBQ pork sandwiches) Billy is a huge boat lover and we love doing activities like this. We saw many million dollar homes on the lake and also learned some history on it. Billy sipped on some beers while my choice is drink was their special Bloody Mary :) yummy!

my handsome hubby.

4.5 million dollar home

<3

Captain "Boots" even let me drive the boat for a bit...we hung out up front with him and talked his ear off about Charlotte!

By the time Sunday night rolled around...we were so tired. Doug and Melissa made us a delicious dinner at home and I ended up falling asleep on the couch early. Much needed.

Monday morning we woke up early again and headed back out to explore some suburbs on the North side and we also found a cute condo place that had a little beach down by the lake! It was awesome. I was pretty excited to see some sand haha

We made the drive home later on in the day (made it home in just under 6 hours!) and it was pretty depressing to see the temperature go from 70 slowly to 60..to 50..and to 40. Yuck. But we know we will back again soon so we were OK with it! All in all it was a wonderful trip and we are very happy we made the decsion to getaway for a long weekend.

Billy..if you are reading..thank you so much for the surprises and for being my traveling buddy. "We make a great team" I LOVE YOU! Ps-When are we going back? ;)