My Morning...

Happy Friday to All!

I am quite tired as I type this but I can't complain because this is the start to my weekend. I am sipping tea on the couch with a blanket. Saturdays and Sundays are officially the only days in the week that I get to sleep past 7, and so... my weekends really are glorious.

Anyway, this blog really isn't about anything too special or out of the ordinary but I couldn't help myself. Today I did one of my absolute favorite things: go to the zoo! The weather this week has been in the high 50's with no rain, this means- beautiful and perfect for this time of year. The family I nanny for has a zoo pass so we get to go whenever we want with out the pressure of feeling like we have to make it a day long ordeal. I packed up the girls and huge double stroller and we were off. Baby girl is now 1 and so is at the perfect age for staring and pointing and taking it all in. We had fun. However, what made me want to write this post in the first place was to simply state that:

Don't you think kids are about the only people on the planet who can make singing off-key sound beautiful? For the entirety of our 30 minute drive to the zoo I listened to 3 year old sing:

Doe. a deer. a female deer.
RAY, a drop of golden sUUUUn
MEEE, a name I call mYself
Far, a long long wAAAAy to rUUUUn
Sew (SOOOOO), a needle pulling thread (!!!!)
La, a note to follow seeeeeeewwwwwwwww
Tea, I drink with jam and brEAd (!!!!!)
That will bring us back to doe...oh oh oh

and again!

I try to sing along with her but she insists that I can't sing it unless if I do the hand motions. Being the driver I guess that rules me out right away. The whole is quite precious really and now you see why I just had to write about it. :) Another post coming soon...

love from

Yours Truly

Dinner for One

For those of you who didn't know, Wes went back to Sacramento this weekend for a wedding. What wedding? One of his best friends, Leon Smith got married yesterday and coincidentally their reception was held at The Newman Center (the place where our reception was). So anyway, with Wes gone, I was left with a weekend to myself so I decided to make the best of it and make myself a "fancy-shmancy" dinner with pork chops, wine and a movie (oh, and after a day of spending some Christmas $ at the mall). I pick Wes up from the airport tonight. Lesson learned this weekend: I'm quite happy I'm not single. Best friend I'm ready for you to come home now! I hope you are all enjoying a 3-day weekend like I am! :)

What's On My Mind?

Voodoo Donuts
Coffee Cake
German Chocolate Cake
Cupcakes
Chocolate Drinks with Whipped Cream
Brownies
Chocolate Frosted Brownies
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Chocolate Ice cream

... luckily I am capable of practicing self control and will consume none of these. But I can talk about them. Can't I?

The Year of Last's...

Now that I have posted our "What we did on New Years Eve" blog, I need to post a blog on "What we talked about on New Years Eve."

A term we have sort of coined over this past month is "The Year of Lasts." 2011 holds in store for us many "lasts" here in Portland. Obviously, if you haven't heard the news you will be quite confused upon reading this. Our news is that this will be our last year in Portland for we are on to the next chapter. In Spring of 2012 I will be finishing up my undergrad and Wes would like to continue on to Grad school in Scotland. Scotland isn't for sure yet since Wes has not yet applied but we know that the goal is to go abroad for a year and then move back to Sacramento (If this is brand new information to you, please email me for more details, we'd love to tell you the full story).

As I write and think about all that it entails to move away from Portland I fight to hold back tears. A year goes by so fast. And although, I can hardly contain my excitement for what lies ahead for us, we will miss Portland forever. I could not have planned a better place to kick off our first few years of marriage. I am so thankful that Wes and I did move away when we got married. This time has been tremendously important in growing us, and teaching us. Well anyway, no need to get too far ahead of myself here... we do still have over a year left to enjoy what we have here. But this will be, the year of last's in Portland: our last Summer, our last Christmas, our last September to see the Swifts, and our last year to have visitors. (ha ha hint-hint). We are excited for what the future holds and will certainly be holding on to our dear blog to keep you all posted each step of the way. You can bet for darn sure that the blog will be coming to Europe with us. :) We love you all, thank you for your unfailing support.

One of our first date nights in Portland

Happy New Year!

Hello Again and happy Saturday! Today I am feeling quite tired and I finally realized that its because I'm sick. I have been battling with a sore throat the past couple of days and slept in until 10 today. I have showered and eaten and still feel a little foggy in the head. Foggy-tired = sick. You know when you feel like your immune system is down and there is a war taking place inside your body? That's what I feel like. (you might be thinking "Gosh Katie sure has been sick a lot." Yes. Yes, I have. It's because the girls at work have been sick with various illnesses for the entirety of fall/winter. And no matter how hard you try to avoid there breathing/snotty noses/germs there is always the instance of direct-face-to-face contact in which you know you just got sick.) So, I am going to try and just relax today. I do have some reading for school to do and so will probably accompany Wes to coffee for some studying, but still that sounds relaxing to me.

Anyway, It is now January 8, 2011! This blog is 7 Days overdue... my apologies. In the past 7 days we started school, finally unpacked every last bag from Christmas, went back to work, had dinner with cousin Caleb and Nina, oh and, celebrated The New Year! On the day of New Year's Eve I missed friends and family badly. This usually happens when Wes works on a holiday. I know this because I felt this exact same "poor-me" feeling on the 4th of July this past year. And yes, I was invited to go out on the town and party-it-up with some girls... but really? a show of hands as to how many of you think I would enjoy that? With the right group of girls (oh girls you know who you are!) and safety precautions (a car to use perhaps?) I could be game for a drink at the right place but this invitation was not such an invitation and so, I politely declined and Wes and I decided to pretend that 9pm was the New midnight. We played games and enjoyed yummy food and Champagne. Then Wes went off to work at 9:30 and I was beat anyways. :)

First, we went to Palios for some free Mochas and a couple games of Rummikub

Then, it was back to the house for some bread and olive oil, cheese and crackers, and oven-warmed olives

Don't forget the Champagne, wish we had Champagne Flutes though...

And more games!

So, that was our New Years Eve. Very low-key and just the way we like it. Hope you all had a great first week of 2011!

Our Christmas...

Our Christmas in Pictures...

We Loaded the car up with Santa's Presents:

Quite a few presents (our car was filled top to bottom)

Those animals on the bags were tags I made myself by cutting and backing images out of a childrens book. Really fun project!


We saw our animals:

[Insert picture of Bella-Boo! Oops! ;) ]

Had the traditional Creamed Eggs on Toast made by Greg on Christmas Eve morning

[Saw a lot of good friends]

Saw all of the family

Gave each other stockings

Opened fun presents

Played games!

We had so much fun. It was a very successful trip home: smooth drive, relaxing- not stressful. Most of all it was so good to be able to see everyone and catch up. Thank you all so much for the great time. We enjoyed every minute. Soon to come: "Our New Years and The Year of Lasts." Keep your eye on the blog. Love you guys,
Katie

A Couple of New Additions

Yesterday, in the last hours of our winter break we had some pictures printed at Walgreen's and purchased some frames at Fred Meyer so that we could finally add to our photo wall in our apartment. We intend to add just a couple more in the near future but for now, check out the new additions:



And the other New Addition to the house was a gift given to me by my Father-in-law for Christmas. It is a little ceramic-tiki-face made by a student attending the Leonardo Da Vinci School in Sacramento. The proceeds benefit the School and so Greg donated money in my name and purchased me this little gift. Very sweet, and very thoughtful and it makes me smile. We hung it over our light switch in this perfectly sized little strip of wall when you enter our apartment:


The little Tiki face almost looks like its smiling, and its definitely contagious. As I left the house today it made me smile. Thanks again Greg! :)

Winter Quarter and a Thank You

Winter Quarter has begun! I am currently enjoying my two and a half hour break before its time for me to head to my next class. I played a game with myself this morning as I woke up at 7 a.m. in which I told myself that I would get coffee as a first-day-of-the-quarter treat on my way to the bus this morning; but then, I ran too late for the coffee and instead headed straight for the bus. This resulted in huge disappointment and now, achy eyes. Thank goodness, I am now sipping my coffee and hopefully the aching will go away soon. Never have I wished to live in the dorms on campus, though in this moment I do wish I had a place nearby where I could take a nap.

Anyways, enough of that. Today is not a bad day at all. I am excited for this new quarter. This quarter I am taking all art classes. (yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!) The classes are:

- Digital Media Design
- Social Change: Art in the Community
- Thirteenth Century Siena: Art history

So, today marks the end of my winter vacation. Thank you all for an amazing Christmas/visit home. It was definitely the highlight of our winter break. The weather here has been fuhreeezing, and is suppose to snow today. Who knows! But it's kind of fun! Well, that's all for now... just a little update I guess. :) Happy Monday to all!