So....

Confession time. I know I haven't kept up with the blog much lately, and it isn't because I haven't had the time... it's more that I haven't had anything super interesting to say.

While I come up with something worth writing about, enjoy this video of me brewing coffee.

:)



Love and Lattés,
Katie

Love is Patient

Last night I was lying in bed, flipping through my Bible and decided to re-read 1 Corinthians 13 ("The Love Chapter"). Of course, we have all heard verses 4-8:

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.

6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails.
Justin and I had this scripture read at our wedding. I've always loved it and can practically recite it from memory, but I don't often take the time to think about what it means. For some reason as I was reading this last night, verse 4 popped out at me as if it were written in 3D. Love is patient. Ouch. Lately I've been falling into that trap of impatience again. Sometimes I find myself wishing the day away, which then turns into a week (especially when Justin is out of town) or even a semester. I often catch myself saying "if we can just hold out until this lease is up" or "once I get my degree, then life can really get started".. but the truth is -- I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- this is life. Everything we do is a part of life. Even the inconvenient things and the "speed bumps" along the way.


Sorry if I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I'll be honest - this phase of life that I'm in at the moment can be pretty frustrating sometimes. I'm at that point where it's work, work, work and very little play in preparation for the life and family we want to have one day. I know that when we are parents and homeowners, we'll look back and be glad that we put in so much work in our "early years."


In the meantime, there is so much to be thankful for. I have an amazing circle of family and friends, and now a church family as well. I am young and healthy and am absolutely in love with my husband. I'm counting my blessings. :)


Love and Lattés,

Katie

Busy Busy Busy

This week has been pretty crazy for me, which is why I haven't blogged as often as I normally do. School and work have kept me pretty busy, and yesterday (Wednesday) was basically chock full of events, and I wasn't able to get any "me" time until the late evening. The dogs had their annual vet appointment. Dr. Holland had a lot of good things to say about them, except that my little Daisy is about a pound overweight.. whoops! I'm cutting back on the food and treats for her until she slims down some. I was feeding the recommended amount straight from the bag, but apparently those charts aren't always right. Huh.

By the time I was able to get some time to myself, I was in the mood to read the Bible before going to bed. I find that spending time alone with God really relaxes me and helps me to stay focused on the things that are important, rather than getting wrapped up in meaningless things as I tend to do from time to time - don't we all? I read a little from Matthew and Luke, and as I was flipping back toward Psalms and Proverbs, a 3x5 index card fell from the back of the book. I picked it up and smiled - I had forgotten about this! I wrote it in high school when a quote by Victor Hugo caught my interest, and had placed it there years before for safe keeping. In purple pen, it read:

"Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake. "

How absolutely perfect for the day I'd had. It wasn't bad per se, but it was one of those days that caused me to lose sight of the big picture and start focusing on the nitty gritty details. Thanks, God... I needed that reminder.

Love and Lattés,
Katie

Random

The past week has been full of ups and downs. I'm not such a fan of my husband being gone for weeks at a time and spending Father's Day without my dad. I am, however, thankful for good friends, yummy food and a job that doesn't suck.

My dogs are pretty cool, too. They never complain when I want a snuggle. :)

As far as my life goes, nothing super interesting is happening at the moment. Just the usual: work 20 hours per week, class four evenings per week, and trying to squeeze in whatever fun activities I can.

I have added a new show to my list of "must watch programs": The Next Food Network Star. It comes on at 10pm on Sundays, and I don't know why but I'm hooked!

And speaking of TV, I'm off to watch an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8.. I am so addicted to that show!

Will post more later if anything cool happens...


Love and Lattés,

Katie

Father's Day

From our first Father's Day together

to my wedding day

and beyond..

I have always loved and admired you, and I always will. I miss you so much!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy.

One Green Apron

Ten black pinstripe suits stand in a row

Ten ties, ten pairs of shiny black shoes

Waiting for ten cups of coffee.

One green apron behind the counter

Wipes sweat away and lets out a sigh

As ten suits take their ten cups of coffee

And drink them in ten BMWs

On the way to ten corporate jobs.

Ten black pinstripe suits forget about

The green apron

Until the next morning, when they

Will come back again

To wait in line for coffee

And, as always, they will not leave a tip.

It was a dark and stormy night...

Tonight, some pretty huge storms came through Columbia. Since Justin is out of town for work, I will admit I got a little scared when I was standing at the window, watching the lightning flash in the night sky, and the power went out.


Ellie and Daisy were scared too. Daisy freaked out and peed on the carpet, and Ellie spent a couple hours in the farthest corner of the kitchen (see photo on right) until I finally coaxed her out with treats and snuggles.


When the power went out, I did what anyone would do. I lit a candle and scoured the apartment for all the other light sources I could find! I could have sworn we had a flashlight, but it was nowhere to be seen, so I had about 6 candles lit and strewn about the place. It was actually kind of romantic.. too bad I was home alone!


I called Justin as I was lighting the candles and as we were talking, it occurred to me that the microwave still had the correct time. That was odd; if there's no power, shouldn't that be off? Justin had me walk around the kitchen and check the other appliances. I was extremely confused to find that everything in the kitchen was working except the light. He then had me look out the window to see if any other lights were on. Yep, they were. My darling husband then instructed me to flip the breaker switch (which took me a few minutes to figure out, by the way) and when I did, BAM! A little hum filled the air and everything came back on! Whew.. thanks Justin! :) I felt a little silly for being so "girly" about the situation, but hey - this is husband stuff to me! I'm just glad that I noticed the microwave.. otherwise I might have gone all night with no power before figuring it out!


I posted a short video on YouTube of the storm. You can check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeLvkh5elOs


It's not really that exciting, except for a really cool flash of lightning at about 48 seconds.

So that's about it for now. Expect more poetry soon!

Love and Lattés,

Katie

Columbia

Air so thick and damp, your skin feels moist the moment you step outside

Christmases that are green, not white

Hot sweet potato soufflé with a crunchy, sugary crust –

even when it’s not Thanksgiving

Porches with rocking chairs, big floppy hats, and sweet tea

People who are proud

And who go to church every Sunday morning

And make macaroni and cheese in the crock pot

And drive trucks

And go fishing

And sit on their porches

And watch the world go by

Funnies

I think dogs exist partially to remind us not to be too serious.

I offer the following photos as proof:

Ellie's "OMG LOL" face

Daisy at the tail end of one of those huge, whole body yawns

Haha... I just love being a dog mom! How can you not smile at those faces??

Last night, a friend/coworker and I were talking about the whole healthy lifestyle thing, and he challenged me to ride my stationary bike (that's ours in the pic below) for an hour. I told him he was crazy, and that I didn't think I'd last that long - the most time I've ever spent on that thing before is 30 minutes! But, after eating Subway for dinner and having basically nothing to do when I got home, I was ready to try.

The first 30 minutes went by fairly quickly, and then I started to get a bit tired. I was watching a movie on TV, something called A Lot Like Love. It was pretty cute and kept my attention elsewhere. :) When the 50 minute mark was hit, I got a fresh burst of energy at the thought of riding for a whole hour for the first time. With sweat dripping down the back of my neck, I did it! I made it an hour! I know for some of you out there this doesn't seem like much of a feat.. but I was tired, and today I'm kinda sore!

And speaking of the lifestyle change, I have been faithful (except for one night when we went to a movie and I had some Coke) to the water only rule - with the exception of one cup of coffee a day. How could I give that up, really?

That's about it for now.. I'll post something more interesting soon, if something interesting ever happens to me. Ha!

Love and Lattés,

Katie

The Good, the Bad, and the Brunette

Today sure has been interesting! Let me tell you why. This morning, I started my day with a steaming cup of Seattle's Best Henry's Blend. This was a treat as I've been drinking Maxwell House to cut costs! Once I was completely awake, I helped my hubby get all packed and ready to go to Virginia for work - he'll be there a week. Before he took off, he remembered he needed some new socks, so we headed to Wal-Mart to buy a few pairs. While we were there, I remembered I also needed laundry detergent and bottled water. Got them - made sure the water was Dasani because we are "that couple" who collects MyCokeRewards points - and were on our way. We stopped by Bojangles because at this point it was around 11 am and we both had not eaten anything yet. Tried the "Bo Berry biscuits" as per a friend's suggestion (thanks Stephen!). They were pretty dang good! Came back home, got the rest of Justin's stuff around, and hung out for a while.


We like our bottled water to be cold, so I put the Dasani in the fridge, and checked the little cardboard tray thingie they had been packaged in for the MyCokeRewards code. For those of you who don't already know this about Justin and I, let me tell you: we are almost obsessive about our MCR points. We have earned countless free Blockbuster rentals among other things by saving them, and people know this about us and often give us any Coke caps they may have accrued. But, I digress. So I find the spot where the MCR code is supposed to be - and it's GONE! It had been cut out, and by the looks of it an exacto knife had been used. Justin pointed out that it could have been the employee at Wal-Mart who stocked the shelves with Dasani. Whether or not it was, I am amazed to think that someone could be so selfish to walk around and cut out all the rewards points stamps from the packages of bottled water. What a bummer!


Fast forward a bit... after seeing Justin off, I sat alone for a minute, and as I looked around the apartment I quickly realized it was time for some serious spring cleaning. I moved the living room furniture around so I could vacuum in those places that don't typically get attention, and literally gasped after pulling the couch away from the wall. Our chihuahua, Daisy, likes to hide under that particular couch, and it seems that she has also been hiding a menagerie of things under there! I found:


*About 8 empty water bottles
*A pinecone
*Bits of leaves
*A Christmas tree ornament
*An empty mustard packet from a fast food restaurant
*A bunch of doggy toys
*A nice, big spot of dried vomit


That's right.. not only did our sneaky little girl hide a TON of stuff under there, but apparently one of those leaves (or maybe part of the pinecone) she ate came back up all over the carpet. Beautiful. Luckily I was able to get it all out with the help of some heavy duty carpet cleaner.


Approximately two hours later, the apartment was spotless and I was exhausted! I decided to dye my hair a darker brown. It came out a little darker than I expected, but I like it. I think it will fade a little bit after a few washes too, so I'm not worried! Is it weird that I always get the urge to go darker in the summer? I know most people tend to lighten rather than darken their hair during summertime. Oh well. :)


On a totally different note (I always was bad at transitions), tomorrow begins my new work & class schedule. No more getting up early for me.. hooray! Not for a little while, anyway. Now I'll be working the latter half of the day rather than the early morning shift, and I'll have class every day at 6 pm. I'm taking creative writing. Should be fun! I'm hoping to expand and tweak a story I started writing a couple months ago, which I just haven't had the time to work on in a while. Maybe one day I will introduce you all to the first chapter of my story, when (read: if) I'm finally satisfied with it.


Have a great day, friends!


Love and Lattés,
Katie