23 Years of Making the World a Better Place

I celebrated my day of birth this last weekend. I tell you what, they just keep getting better and better. Really. They do. A birthday is a day to live it up! I dare say that this was the best birthday yet J

Friday at work as I was minding my own business, someone came in with a vase of flowers and a balloon…FOR ME!!! Now that’s something that has never happened to me before. I like it.

Festivities started Friday night. Sam and Jules threw me a super hero party! It was a blast! Some people even dressed up. It totally made my day!

I was Kate Kent. Who's Lois? ;)

And since super heroes supposedly are supposed to wear their underwear on the outside...I'm sporting Liz's birthday present on the outside. (They are pretty great shorts by the way. Aqua man, Superman, and Batman are just a couple of the supers on them)

Cat woman and Indiana Jones came to help celebrate

Nacho Libre even made an appearance!

with ... gardening girl? Now THAT is a super power.

So did Michaelangelo the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle! (Anybody else start singing their song like I did? Loved those guys!)

Those feet covers are pretty great.

And I absolutely LOVED Celeste's costume! Can anybody guess who she is and from what movie?

We played some games, and of course ate cake!

Happy Birthday to K-T! Sing it with me!

Saturday morning I woke up early (not on purpose) and I went running with my friend, Andi. (That was on purpose. I must enjoy putting myself through pain). Now that I had that out of the way, I could get on with my HAPPY birthday ;)

After my shower I didn’t bother doing my hair OR fake-up as Sam and I had made plans to go do baptisms at the temple. We decided that we would go to the Idaho Falls temple, seeing as it’s usually about a 3 hour wait to even get into the dressing room to do baptisms in Rexburg on Saturdays. On the way down, my mom called. She informed me the I.F. temple was closed for cleaning. Good to know…. We were already on our way to I.F. though.

Instead, we went to the Museum of Idaho to see the Titanic exhibit there.

Just in case you were wondering, cutting off a good portion of our faces was no accident. Remember how both of us were planning on getting soaked, so neither of us did hair or make-up, only to end up in public anyways? Yeah, ‘nuff splained.

The museum was so great! At the beginning they give you a “boarding pass” with someone’s name on it who was on the “Titanic”. I was 63 year old Mrs. Isidor Straus, or Rosalia Ida Blun Straus. I was from New York, New York. We owned Macy’s Department store back home, so we had it made! We traveled first class with a maid and a manservant. Sam was a 15 year Lebonese who had just gotten married 50 days before and was traveling back third class to the states after their arranged marriage where her new husband was an established cobbler.

The museum, as I said, was fantastic. I learned and was reminded of so much. The story of the Titanic really blows my mind! All those people! And their experiences. And their lives coming to such an abrupt, painful end. Living the last hours of their lives in sheer terror. Well, maybe some of them had come to peace about it. So much could be learned with the story of "Titanic". But I'll save you my thinks.

Anyways. Remember the boarding pass? At the end of the tour there is a list of all those who were on the “Titanic” and whether they lived or not. Sam lived. I died. L Although, my story is kinda sweet. When I was asked to get on a boat I said, “I will not leave my husband. We will die the same way we have lived: together”. {aaaah}

When we got back to Rexburg Sam went to work and I picked Celeste for her lunch break and we went to lunch at the Taco bus. Oh yeah!

The taco bus is a Blue Bird bus painted white. The back of the bus is the kitchen. And then they’ve got benches and counters to sit at and eat.

Here’s all the mexi’s checkin’ out the sports channel and waiting for their grub.

The food was soo tasty!

I highly recommend going there sometime if you are ever in Rexburg. I'll come with you. :) The dining and experience is one of a kind J

That night I partied it up with my family. We had dinner, I opened presents with the assistance of Jake and Lizza, and then we ate some cake and Grandma's rhubarb pie!

My birthday loot. Thanks everybody!!

Heidi's cute card she made me. It says, "Ever noticed how in every family there's usually one person who is shockingly normal? We should get ourselves one of those" Because, obviously, it's not me... How sweet. ;)

Me with the cake Mom labored many hours in the kitchen for. Looks great, eh?

When I went home to my apartment that night, it was raining. I decided that my birthday was going to go out with a splash! Lit-rally :) I went puddle jumping.

It was a fab day. Thanks again everyone for making it that way! :)

I'm Not Talking About Parking Spaces Here

I've had a recurring feeling lately that all the good ones are taken, and the rest are handicap :(

Right...or Left? Left or Right?

Last night Sam and I headed out for another photoshoot ride. She was looking for paths through trees to take pictures of for a school project. We headed east of town going past the temple. We kept driving and driving, stopping here and there to take some pictures. As I was out shooting, I realized how out of practice I am becoming of taking pictures of stuff. It was fun to have the opportunity to get into the groove of it again. I need to do this stuff more often. I mean, I did go to school for it. But then the question arises, what do I do all of these random pictures? There's my dilemma.

The lovely Samantha, and partner in crime:

And a random garage door. (I was going to upload others that I took, but they aren't working. I give up)

It has been raining for the past couple weeks here in the burg. Because of that, everything to SO GREEN! I LOVE it! I love the blue color of the sky and clouds with the green of the fields. Probably my favoritist colors ever.

See? I could stare at it forever!

I took a couple steps into a field for some pictures and somehow convinced Sam agree to make me the subject of her pictures.

and my foot got stuck...

really stuck. But, hey, look at me, I'm still happy!

Yet, I finally managed to pull my foot out of the gloopey mud entrapment. Free pedicure!

Now I was free from the mud, but Sam threatened to leave me there because my foot was too sullied for her car mat's pleasure. Beauty of chacos - Easy to clean! I found a puddle in the middle of the road and got a little off. Enough that Sam gave me the okay to get back in her car, which is all I ask for :) (Well, not ALL...)

Once we were back in Sam's car we were back on our adventure. Just two happy besties taking turns we didn't know would take us anywhere in particulars. We were explorers! Soon we found ourselves in a forested area. So pretty! Eventually the road turned to dirt and we just kept going, curiosity and the beauty of the area giving us the only push we needed.

As we were driving along, I voiced my thoughts to Sam that it would be great if we had a GPS so we could mark where we were and come back again. My follow up to that think was the thought that a GPS would also be nice so we would know where we were...

Eventually, the road we were on started showing signs of water run-off damage, the crevasses caused by the water were getting too wide and deep for Sam's Hyundai Accent. The road was thin, so Sam decided that she was going to drive backwards until she found a wider part of road to turn around in. As she was driving in this manner, we suddenly felt a rough jolt as her rear driver-side wheel dropped into a hole. I got out to inspect and push if needed.

Sam thought maybe Jason could come pull us out. Which he totally could have with his big, powerful Chevy. Except...we had NO idea where we were...

I wasn't sure her little engine could pick her little car out of the rut. Amazingly, it DID! Thank goodness! We wouldn't be stranded afterall! Whew!

Check it, the deep crevasse of supposed doom.

The Accent's puny wheels.

Me, sitting where Sam's car once was. Wha? No problem is too big for the unstoppable duo of SAM AND KATE! No big.

I'm sitting, quite comfortably, in the rut Sam's car and just been in. (With a look that could get me the understudy part for Qausimodo in any stage production of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I'll keep this picture handy in case I ever hear about a casting call.)

We finally found our way out of the forest and picked a direction (west). We decided to just keep driving until we recognized where we were. I figured we would end up in Lyman. Or if we did happen to have made it into Wyoming, we could pay Meg a visit. ;)

As it turned out, we picked a good road to drive on. It led right to the wonderful little landmark of BIG JUDS! And heck, why not? Let's just get a little bite to eat.

Er, it is Big Jud's afterall. A BIG bite to eat. Three wonderfully, delicious, creamy scoops each. Yumm!

Right now, you may be making the same realization that I just did. The last few entries have all been about food. Craigo's, cupcakes, cookies, and now ice cream. You may be thinking, "Does Katie do anything BESIDES eat?" Not really. It's the hightlight of my life.

fin.

Domesti-KATE-d

Heh heh. I'm so punny :)

This weekend I had more fun in the kitchen! I rediscovered my love for baking! [My birthday is coming up. If anyone is questioning gift ideas...a *cute* apron, measuring bowls, any kitchen/baking accessories from prepared pantry, really. Just sayin'... ;) ]

It started out with these Red Velvet cupcake beauties:

OH, HONEY! Hold me back! They looked great and tasted pretty good too!

Two different sizes, just for fun (or so that I could eat more litte cakes and not feel as guilty. Whoop, my secret is out).

I made the little cups of cake for my friend Julie's birthday party. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULES!) She's so cute, isn't she? Love the hat!

(Pay no mind to the odd-expressioned girl in the background. How embarrasing for her.Wow, look at those AMAZING cupcakes! Julie's smile is gorgeous! {is the distraction technique working?})

I had a little bit of homemade cream cheese frosting leftover. That alone is an invitation back into the kitchen, right? What goes better with cream cheese than red velvet cake? Need you ask? Okay, I just made the realization myself too. PUMPKIN!!! I think these two were destined for each other. (I think the Jewlers over at Jensen's need to write a love story about them!) On Sunday I made a batch of moist pumpkin cookies to make these little darlings:

MMMMMMmmmmmm! There's even half a can left of pumpkin. And I think it's saying it wants the same fate as the rest of the can. Of this I am sure.

Craigos!

Sam had never been to Craigo's. Laura and I had been craving their goods for days. So we made a trip for din din Friday night. That alone is worthy of a blog entry, yes? Okay, fine. I'll admit it. My life is lame and I just needed an excuse to update the ol' bloggy blog. (Seriously though, Craigo's IS really tasty!)

Eet's so gud, we even eat da crusts! (btw, I love Laura's expression in this picture! You really get the feeling of the Craigo's pizza buffet in her face. "I ate all the pizza I thought my stomach could fit, and then downed 3 more slices...")

Advertising and Marketing

The time has come for me to really dig in and advertise. Not myself, but my photography busyness! At least I want it to be busy!

As I have little [no] experience in advertising, I have a request of my few blog buddies. Does anyone have any cool ideas of advertising ideas for a small, beginning portrait business? Give me any and all ideas that I could possibly utilize. As could be expected, my budget isn't overflowing with money power yet. But, gimme what cha got! :) Let's hear 'em!

There is one photographer in the area who I have been hearing about lately. I've checked out her blog a couple of times and I am not impressed with her work. Yet she's got new clients all the time. I'm better (and I do say that humbly :) ). I need some of dem clients crawling up to my camera! I can make them happier. I'm sure of it :)

This is my call for help. Por favor? Gracias!

Just in case you haven't seen my work before, here is my website and my blog.

Nicole Was Right

her children ARE super cute! (Not that anyone ever questioned it!)

There they are, posing for a shot the day of Natalie's wedding :) Adorable.

BOYS BOYS BOYS and "I have a bad feeling about this..."

I had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! It all started out with this:

a love note!

A boy walked into the medical office I work at Friday afternoon. In his lisp he said, 

"Hi. How are you?"

"Good. You?"

"Good. I was going to give this to you at the dance last night, but I didn't see you there."

"Oh, right, I didn't go."

"Yeah, I didn't see you there"

"Right. Because I wasn't there"

[Really, it was THAT awkward.... Me trying to understand him through his lisp and repeating the same thing three times between the two of us, or was it four?)

He then handed me a piece of paper. Oh, how... sweet? He left me with wishes of a good day, friday, and Holiday. The best part was, one of the nurses witnessed the whole interchange and had to tell everyone else in the office as they one by one came back from lunch.

I did my best to hold in my outburst of laughing until he exited the door. Then I just felt terrible because he must have been so nervous... and how many times do I even get hit on? And forget hit on this time, I was smacked! Conveniently enough (for me) he didn't put his number. No obligation for me to call the number. Especially since I would be doing it out of pity. And I don't need another one of those ordeals. 

Speaking of stalkers, ever since I moved back in with my friend Laura

there has been a boy lurking about our apartment. He mostly hangs out in the kitchen, but sometimes I find him hiding in my closet and waiting for me right inside the door when I come home late at night. 

Since Laura was gone this weekend, Sam came and stayed with me. We were taking pictures and Edward hopped in for a couple shots too.

Sam had a date with him. It didn't go well. She mentioned in passing that he wasn't as lively as she likes her men to be and there wasn't much chance of a second date. Too bad. But, it appears as if she gave Edward a little something to remember her by. Little heartbreaker... ;)

Sam and I had a little Star Wars Marathon this weekend too. We watched the first three movies of the series. While our mouths feasted on taco pizza (Big pizza, lasted us three days. Talk about a value deal!) and ice cream, our eyes feasted on Hayden Christensen. Mmmm, delicious :)

Sam and I watching in our recliners.

The second night as we situated ourselves in our recliners, with blankets and bowls of cream of ice, Sam commented how we were like two old ladies. I realized that our future was at that moment was our present. Life is good. 

Then we received some revelation

and went out and visited some real people and  boys. (Looks like Sam was a little dumbfounded about her revelation.)

Then we were back doing the Star Wars thing

There we are with our movie counterparts. Samantha is Qui-Gon Jinn and I am her padawan learner, Obi-Wan Kenobi. (A joke that goes back to the time when we were roommates last fall. About time we watched the movies, eh?).

This is the blog that just keeps going and going and going and going. And it's not finished yet because on Monday morning I got a text from Jason and we went jeepin' with him and Kayla. And we did go jeepin'... for about a 1/4 mile before Frank died. :( 

Regardless, we still had fun hanging with Kayla and Jason :)

And that concludes my "Mermanel" day fun. (Heheh) Except for one thing.

I do want to remember those who have died and fought preserving this country's freedom. If not for these people who have willingly given their lives for this cause from the day we declared independence I would not know the happiness and comfortabilites (Look Ma! I made up a word!) I enjoy every day of my life. I also remember my ancestors for their strength and the legacy that each one of them have left behind and the paths that they have laid down that I as their descendent am now continuing and hope I will be able to make something of myself that will honor their struggles. Sometimes I think how grateful I am that they made the harsh journey so many years ago across the water and land so that I have the opportunity to grow up here in a place of religious freedom and so much more. There is so much to say, but my words fall short of the things I want to share. (As usual)

So, with that the longest blog ever is over. Cheers may commence...now! :)