The Liebster Award

Megan from Grad Student Needs Hobby was kind enough to pass on a Liebster award to me.  I feel like she read my mind a little. I was just trying to think of a way to tell you guys more about myself and ta-da! Perfect! So thank you, Megan. Everybody make sure you pop on over to her blog and check it out!

The Liebster award is for blog with less than 200 followers. The rules are that you must link back to the person who nominated you and answer their 11 questions.  Then you come up with 11 questions for 11 more blogs with 200 followers or fewer, and let everyone know they were nominated!  You also share 11 random facts about yourself. Here goes nothing!

11 Random Facts About Me

1. My name is Kate. It's not short for anything. My family calls me Katie.
2. I'm left-handed and proud of it.

3. I'm super scattered and usually have at least 3 projects going at once.

4. I don't sleep well ever, so I sleep often. Naps are my favorite!

5. I went to photography school, yet I've never been a full time photographer. I prefer to shoot for myself.

Snapshots 11.25.2013

This weekend, like most for me, has been spent catching up on stuff around the house. Weekdays are just so hectic that I tend to let things go a bit. The thing I'm most excited about is that MY TREE IS UP!

I bought a white tree a few years ago and I just love the way it brightens up the room! This year, I added a handful of vintage ornaments. Eventually, I want to put up two trees. I'd like to set up this one and a green tree with all of our family ornaments. I smile every time I walk into my living room now and I love having my coffee by tree light in the morning. Btw, the bottom right photo was shot with my phone while I was laying under the tree. If you ever want to feel like a kid again, I suggest laying under your tree and admiring it from below. Works like a charm!

Lately ~ November 2013

Lately, things have been on the hectic side. This week seems to have really gotten away from me. I'm scrambling to get my Christmas shopping done so that I can spend the month of December celebrating instead of stressing. I hope I can pull it off! Here's some more stuff that's been happening lately...

2013 Christmas Wish List

People (my Mom & Josh) keep asking me what I want for Christmas. I thought it'd be fun to share what I'll be asking for. 

1. Crosley CR8005A-TU Cruiser Portable Turntable (Turquoise) -  I've been looking for a vintage portable record player forever. I haven't come across any that were in decent condition. I'd love to play my albums on this baby!

Snapshots 11.18.13

I am not used to feeling stupid and I'm really not a fan. The learning curve on the new computer & software is more than I expected, but I'm making progress. Excuse my super-weird copyrights on this post...

These are just a few weekend snaps. We went to my cousin's wedding on Friday night. It was absolutely beautiful. I really didn't expect to do all the crying that I did. Ha!

Photo c/o Teri West

Changing it Up!

You guys, I've only ever used a PC. I'm on my second iPhone and I absolutely love it, but an apple desktop computer?...WHOA what a change.

I think Dash's look of uncertainty says it all...

Snapshots 11.12.13

I've been nothing short of exhausted lately. 

This amazing thrifted desk has been monopolizing my time like you wouldn't believe!

It looked innocent enough. Under that chippy paint was layer after layer of oil based paint. I'm still working on getting it stripped enough to prime and paint it. It got too cold and I had to put it on hold for awhile.

What can I say? I really wasn't expecting this...

Party Dress Favorites!

You guys, I have a wedding to go to next week. With the holiday season approaching, I thought the occasion called for a new dress. Lucky for me, two of my favorite online shops are having awesome sales right now! Here are some of the dresses I was drooling over. The prices are fab too! I think there's only one here that's over $60!

10 Things I'd Make Happen if I were in Charge

I have good ideas and plenty of opinions. Since nobody really asks me what I think, I thought I'd compile a list here of things that would happen if I were in charge.

1. Daylight Savings Time wouldn't be a thing. Seriously, all it really does is mess up everybody's schedule and make it light way too late in the summer. We just "fell back". Let's not "spring forward" ever again.

2. Speed traps would be eliminated. In fact, all speeding tickets would be gone. Instead, there would be tickets for douchebag drivers. Tailgating, passing on the right, doing the speed limit (or below) in the fast lane, cutting somebody off, not allowing traffic to merge when you're in the right lane, not pulling over for funeral processions...those people get tickets! Also, Driver's Ed classes would have a lesson on driving courtesy. It can be called "How not to be a douchebag."

3. Fair Tax would be implemented. You can read all about it here. In a nutshell, income tax is eliminated. Sales tax is raised. If you're frugal, you won't pay as much. However, the drug dealers and illegal aliens that fall through the cracks now will pay now. Also, the tax will already be added in. There would be some sticker shock at first, but no surprises at the cash register. Get on it, government!

4. It would be mandatory for everyone to work a food service job and retail at Christmas time once in their life to teach humility. Also, restaurants would have to pay their servers a decent wage and tips would be only for exceptional service.

5. It would be illegal to mow your lawn before 9am. After 10 would be preferred.

6. There would be no talking about Santa in any non-magical capacity on tv EVER. Those late evening shows eventually run on afternoon syndication. Seriously, Hollywood, just stop.

Snapshots 11.4.2013

Just a few snapshots this week along with some random stuff that I've been thinking about. Yes, it is weird in my head....

I'm getting so excited about the upcoming holidays that I can hardly stand it. I've had my holiday station on Pandora playing all weekend. Luckily, Josh doesn't mind at all and even cleared a spot in front of the window to put up our tree! I'm especially stoked about these new-to-me ornaments.

Hard Times

It's been a really hard month for our family. My husband's Grandfather spent a couple weeks in ICU and we lost him earlier this week. He was an incredible man and Josh's hero. He is already missed so much.

Although I would've preferred better circumstances, I did finally get to meet my brother-in-law in person and it was wonderful having all three siblings under the same roof. I'm so lucky to have joined their family!

We're doing our best to get back to our regular routine. Sorry I'm being kind of vague here, but I'm trying to keep some privacy for the family. I'm sure you understand.

As you can see, the above photo has nothing to do with this post. I just wanted to share something fun that I came across on the web. Bet you didn't know I had coffee with Betty Draper! If you'd like to create a Mad Men avatar of yourself, you can do it here.

Thanks for reading. I'll try to get back to the regularly scheduled programming next week.