Today…

Okay, my brain is really pissing me off. My fingers are refusing to type out a coherent blog post that doesn’t make me want to throw my computer across the room.

I think I need to get out more. The most exciting part of my week so far is that I got a new set of tires on the car. Which is just plain sad.

I’ve been catching up on more blogs lately and browsing pinterest and instagram for inspiration, but bottom line is…I got nothing. It’s life as usual around here which means I’m wearing either jeans + tee or workout wear (let’s not discuss that most days I don’t actually workout), daily happenings that include driving kids to school, cleaning/laundry, taking the dog to the groomers, eating a so-so dinner and not really doing much else. Blaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! Note to self: Do something more exciting than going to Target! 

So, since I refuse to give up on this NaBloPoMo thing, I’m chatting about random, trivial crap that’s on my mind…

  • You might have heard that Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale are divorcing. I was so sad when I heard the news. I’ve loved Gwen since her No Doubt days and my Bush cd was definitely in rotation back in the 90’s. Well, today it came out that Gavin might have actually cheated on her with their nanny! For THREE years! OMG. First of all, how could you cheat on Gwen Stefani?! She’s Gwen-freaking-Stefani! You’re just a moron. Second, I need to ask what the hell Gwen was thinking when she hired a young, hot blond chick for a nanny?! If I were a celebrity and had to hire a nanny, you can bet your a** that she’d be older and not my mates type. Although I don’t really think that stopped the Terminator, but you can be dang sure that I’d not be hiring some hot young thang who will be hanging around my house with my husband. I wouldn’t hire a hot young guy either so it’s not that I don’t trust my husband, but marriages have their ups and downs and when opportunity is staring you in the face 24/7, during one of those down times, you might not have the will power to say no.
  • I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I still watch the Real Housewives reality shows. [Only the OC, New York and LA ones though. I never got into the Miami, New Jersey or Atlanta ones.] The OC just wrapped up a few weeks ago and the whole Brooks thing is cray! I can’t believe he thought he could get away with fabricating his medical papers! At first I was reluctant to believe that he was lying about something as serious as cancer, but with this new scandal, his answers just keep getting wackier and wackier. After the hospital he reportedly went to for treatment said he was never a patient there, he confessed that he faked the papers. Why? Because he never intended on disclosing his actual medical records or discuss his medical history, ergo, the fabricated papers. Really? The story just keeps getting crazier.
  • The Starbucks drama. *sigh* No I’m not going there. Only pointing out that it’s happening, it’s ridiculous and the media is blowing it up way more than necessary.
  • DWTS – Tamar Braxton had to drop out due to health issues. She was such a trooper and I hope she heals fully, but is it wrong of me to wish they’d bring Alexa back?! Alexa was one of my favorites and she killed it on Monday. It was such a bummer that she got eliminated. They’ll probably just have a free week next week and not send anyone home instead of bringing Alexa back. 🙁 Bindi is probably my absolute fave though so at least she’s still there.
  • All I have to say about this apparent clip-in man bun is…just say no! It’s creepy and weird. Not every guy looks good in a man bun, but NO man looks good in a clip-on man bun.
  • I could have said every word in this video rant about car lines. “for people who do not pull forward, the world is bigger than you!” Amen sister!
  • And finally, Happy Veteran’s Day! Today was bigger than just a day off of school. Thank you to all the veterans who have served or are currently serving our country!

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#MicroblogMonday

There’s a reason we microblog on Mondays…because it’s MONDAAAAAAY.

However, today wasn’t too shabby as far as Mondays are concerned. It ended with backgammon and listening to my boy play guitar. 🙂

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Sunday is for coffee and going to stores that aren’t open

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Last night I saw that a very cool looking new local shop, Wolf and Cub, opened up at Brooklyn Station. They’re a pop up shop, but in a retail space. Which I had never heard of, but sounds cool. Apparently they will be there until at least the end of January with the possibility of staying until the end of April. The instagrams from their opening last night looked like they were selling some really cool items. I was so mad that I’m always one step behind on these things. I’m an instant satisfaction type of girl so checking out this new shop was on the top of my list of to-do’s today. [even though it’s about 25 min away and I couldn’t find their daily hours, but whatevs, right?]

The teen and I got ready and headed down there not knowing for sure whether they’d be open or not. I kinda suspected they wouldn’t be, but I had to try.

Sadly, they were closed, but we were able to get their daily hours off the door so I’ll be making it back over there this week to check them out.

On the plus side, it’s a rainy, icky day outside so we stopped to get a little caffeine pick me up from Vagabond Coffee (yum!) and hit up the flea market where the teen bought three records for a mere $5.

The rest of my day consisted of laundry, game playing, internet surfing and eating. Not bad for a rainy Sunday. Not bad at all.

How was your weekend?

Slow start…

This whole blogging every day thing is off to a rocky start, eh? Our exchange student left on Thursday so we were busy spending time with her before she left to go back to Germany. After we dropped her at the airport, I spent the rest of the week feeling like this…

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Who can relate? Please tell me I’m not alone.

I kept trying to write a post because I didn’t want to miss yet another day of blogging and I would just stare at my blank screen waiting for a lighting bolt of inspiration to hit. It never did.

After the busy week and then refusing to adult, I’m feeling a bit more energetic today and ready to get life back in order. Dishes to be cleaned, clothes to be laundered, floors to be vacuumed, toilets to be scrubbed!

Sadly that means blogging takes a back seat…again! Here’s to hoping I get my blogging mojo back and write at least something partially interesting in the next few weeks. I have several topics in mind, but have to gather my thoughts long enough to write a whole post that is somewhat cohesive. 😛

 

 

 

I got nuthin’

It’s 10:30pm and my brain has completely shut off. I got nuthin’ today. Back to regularly scheduled blogging tomorrow.

#MicroblogMonday

Keeping it simple today with a short little Halloween post.

15 years ago I had never carved a pumpkin in my life. I’d just had a baby the month before and I was all about starting new traditions that we could continue throughout the years. Thus, annual pumpkin carving was born! This year we have an extra family member (a German exchange student) so there are 5 finished pumpkins.

2015-11-02_0001Top Row: (from left) hubs carved Germany and mine is the witch
Bottom Row: (from left) our German teen carved the cheshire cat, my boy drew his own pattern for the first year and my teenager carved Hellboy, but it was already kind of wilting. 

The teen is 15 so I’m not sure how many more years of trick-or-treating we have ahead of us, but both kids were still game for the festivities this year. Halloween night the kids all trick-or-treated as a group with a couple of the teen’s friends and my nephew. Here’s 4 of our group of 6…all dressed up and ready for candy!!

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We’ve had our temporary German daughter for almost three weeks now and we’re so sad for her to leave in a couple of days. More later in the week (hopefully) on our first experience as a host family. Spoiler: it was pretty awesome and Germania (inside joke with her) has set the bar high for any future exchange students we may host!

Let’s get it started!

Um, it’s 8:30pm and I’m just now starting todays post. Let’s hope this isn’t foreshadowing of how this month of blogging is going to go down.

Since it’s been fo-ever since I posted and there might be new readers, I thought I’d start off with a short intro.

I’m Katie. I’m a Florida girl, parenting 2 teens (well, one is 12.5, but that’s close enough) and wife-ing it for 17 years. I used to be a photographer (for a hot minute), but now I use the skills I learned to obsess over everyday photos of friends and family. I have fun occasionally with fashion, but most of the time you’ll find me in jeans and a tee with no make up on and my hair in a ponytail. My fitness routine ebbs and flows like the tide. It’s a lot reminiscent of this…

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I talk [blog] about whatever is on my mind…food, fashion, fitness, every day life, nothingness…anything and everything.

Tonight on the blog, I bring you “random conversation with the hubs about man buns.” I was saying something to him about man buns and then he said that he read that it caused a receding hair line. I was all, “really?!” He was like, “yah, it’s because they pull it so tight.” Clearly he hasn’t seen as many man bun photos as I have so I was telling him that they’re not always super tight. I mean, I guess some guys pull it tight, but I’ve see a lot of messy loose ones too. So I told him about this hot-man-bun-guy that I’ve seen posts about, but I couldn’t remember his name so I googled “hot man bun guy”. He was literally THE first hit! lol. Apparently there’s a hot guy with a man bun, but only one guy that is THE hot-man-bun-guy. Is it just me or do you feel like man buns will be one of those trendy things that we’ll be looking back on in a few years and wondering why the heck everyone thought they were hot. I mean, hot man bun guy is cute and all, and he works out so his body is spot on, but I’m just not a long hair, man bun kinda girl.

In case you haven’t come across hot-man-bun-guy and you wanna see for yourself, his real name is Brock O’hurn. His Instagram is here and these are two articles (one, two) that popped up in my search. You’re welcome. 🙂

NaBloPoMo 2015!

Clearly I need a kick in the pants to get back into the swing of blogging. Last year I participated in NaBloPoMo and really enjoyed it, so what better way to jump back into blogging than to start with a challenge!

Please join me! The more the merrier! If you’re participating, comment and link your blog. I’d love to check out your posts.

NaBloPoMo November 2015

Back to blogland

Not sure if there are any of you still out there, but if so

Hello lovely blog readers!

I’ve started this post at least a dozen times over the past 2 weeks.

I’m slowly coming back to blogland. My motivation and desire to blog, or to even READ blogs, left me for a bit, but it’s slowly creeping back in.

I have so much, yet so little to say.

So for now, while I find a way to focus my thoughts, we’ll just leave it at…

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What I’m Loving Right Now

Happy Cinco de Mayo!! I would love to be having a yummy top shelf margarita (on the rocks, no salt please), but instead I’m currently nursing an iced latte. Not a bad thing to be sipping, but it’s no margarita.

Since I don’t have any fun Cinco de Mayo pics, I thought I’d share a few things I’ve been crushing on lately…

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DIY Iced Latte

My daily visit to Bold Bean (a local coffee shop) for an iced latte was putting quite the dent in my wallet. I don’t mind treating myself once or twice a week, but I needed to find a good solution to make my own.

I was obsessed with Italian made coffee when I was in Italy so I recently purchased a Moka Pot. Which as it turns out, Moka pot coffee, is perfect in an iced latte!

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I make mine with 2 oz of brewed and cooled coffee, 2 tbsp of vanilla syrup (recipe below) and 6-8 oz of milk. I’ve been using cows milk only, but I recently switched to 4 oz cows milk + 4 oz almond milk.

I’ve tried to replicate iced coffees/lattes at home several times and was never successful…

Until now! I’m in love with my diy iced latte.

It completes me.

At least until I get tired of it. lol. But for now, I’m patting myself on the back for making my own lattes in the morning instead of picking one up at the local coffee shop.

DIY Vanilla Syrup: 1 cup of water, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract (adjust amount to your liking) and one vanilla bean (optional). Bring water + sugar (+ a split vanilla bean if you’re using one) to a simmer while stirring to dissolve all the sugar. Let mixture cool, add extract and pour into a bottle! If you’re using a vanilla bean, add that to your bottle with your syrup. Easy peasy!

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Hand Lettering

At the end of April, I signed up for a 30 day creative lettering course from Made Vibrant. Each day for the month of May I’ll be practicing my skills and (most days) posting a piece on Instagram. I’ve always enjoyed drawing and hand lettering is simply the drawing of letters. It’s kind of frustrating because I want to be better at it than I am, but I know that I just need to keep practicing.

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Rocksbox

Um, if you’re a jewelry fanatic and you don’t know about Rocksbox, you might want to take a seat. Let me rock your world by introducing you to your new subscription obsession.

Rocksbox is a membership based designer jewelry rental/try-before-you-buy box. For a measly $19 a month, you get 3 pieces of jewelry to wear on loan for as long as you’d like. You can return your box as often as you’d like and get 3 more pieces to wear. If you decide that you can’t live without something in your box, you have the option to purchase any of your pieces at a discounted rate. Plus, each month, Rocksbox gives you $10 of Shine Spend to apply to a purchase. Your Shine Spend expires though so you can choose to use it or lose it.

I got my first box last week and was super stoked with the 3 pieces I received.

DSCF4456 copyHouse of Harlow 1960 Five Station Necklace :: Gorjana Vista Cuff (on sale!) :: Sophie Harper Mini Pave Bar Studs (as far as I can tell, Sophie Harper is exclusively Rocksbox at the moment)

I’ve been wearing these dainty earrings every day since they arrived! For only $28 (my discounted price), I knew from the moment I put them on that there was no way was I sending them back!

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I fell pretty hard for this Gorjana bracelet too and have been wearing it almost daily. It’s the same one I’m wearing in the latte photo at the top of the post too.

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I like the necklace a lot, but I don’t love it on me and I haven’t really had anything to wear it with since my box arrived.

Wanna try Rocksbox out for yourself?! Use this code, “katiebff636” and get your first box FREE! 😀

Tell me…What are you loving lately?