Thursday, February 5, 2009

Survey Says!

Jessica had the idea to post this on her blog, even though she was tagged in Facebook - I decided to do both. Enjoy! Feel free to do this yourself - I've always wanted to know your deep and dark secrets...

25 things about Kate

1. One of my earliest memories is the day I learned ride my two-wheel (purple) bike on my own. I was rewarded with a big fork to eat my Mac and Cheese for lunch.

2. When I plan trips, I tend to research the local foods and restaurants before I find a place to stay.

3. My Favorite 3 foods are, in order: bacon, croutons, pickles.

4. Tuna fish from a can makes me nauseated. Raw tuna or seared tuna makes me hungry.

5. In my 11th grade AP Comp class, we spent an entire day learning the correct applications of the derivations of "nausea." Now every time someone says they feels nauseous, I want to correct them and tell them they actually feel nauseated. Thanks, Mrs. Flynn.

6. When I was little, I wished I could be adopted by McGyver and go off on crazy adventures. Just in case he showed up, I practiced making things in the basement. My most failed invention was a weed killer using SlimFast. It actually made the weeds grow faster. (note: I love my dad, always have, but given the choice of being a minister's daughter or McGyvers daughter, the choice is pretty easy).

7. At some point in my life, I want to have a DC mailing address.

8. I never liked cats. I took it as a sign from God that I am moderately allergic to them and therefore was predestined to be a dog person. Now I'm marrying a guy with a cat and find myself telling people about the hilarious way she eats her food or how she's starting to prefer me over Steve. I am turning into a crazy cat person.

9. My absolute favorite part of Christmas is sitting in the 7pm service after we've finished singing "Silent Night" and everyone has their candles up in the air and my dad says "Merry Christmas." It seems like the phrase has more meaning at that very moment than anytime during the entire holiday season.

10. When I was about 8 or 9, my dad made a joke about a Russian recipe called "Fish Balls in Tomato Sauce with Prunes." Last year, I finally realized that when he said fish balls, he actually mean pieces of the fish shaped into balls. I slept very well that night.

11. I am very competitive when playing games. I do not like to lose. Ever.

12. Fact: purple is the greatest color in the world. Do not dispute me on this.

13. I am not much of a crier when it comes to movies, but I will cry every time I watch the ending of "The Family Stone."

14. My biggest travel goal in life is to visit each and every wonder of the world. I've already been to Dollywood, so only 7 more to go.

15. When I order a burger at restaurants, I always order extra pickles. When the burger comes, I count and rearrange the pickles. I expect the pickles to completely cover the top of the bun with some overlap.

16. It takes me approximately 4 napkins to eat my lunch every day.

17. I consider myself a feminist. I also want to be a stay at home mom. I do not think these are mutually exclusive ideas.

18. I try to read every day on the metro with a goal of reading one book per week. This fall when I was re-reading "Ender's Game" I was so enthralled by one of the battle scenes that I not only got on the wrong train, but rode for nearly 20 minutes before I realized my mistake.

19. When I was 5, someone at church asked me if I was gay. I didn't know what that meant, so I asked my mom. She said gay meant happy. The next time the kid at church asked me, I said yes, I am gay. This was the last time I asked my mother what something meant.

20. I hate being in groups of more than 5 or 6 people.

21. Someone sent out a tweet once with "FTW" in it. I had no idea what it meant but assumed it meant "F* the world." Apparently it means "for the win" but I like my idea better.

22. I used to watch "Pride and Prejudice" about twice a week. After meeting a certain southern gentleman, I've only watched it once in the last 6 months. I've finally found someone better than Mr. Darcy.

23. If it were up to me, coconut and nutmeg would be banned from society.

24. I am allergic to chocolate and yogurt. People seem to think this is a tragedy. I think it's a reason to eat more bacon.

25. Every time I send one of these out, one of my friends responds back with a commentary about my life. I look forward to what she has to say about this.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Drive me crazy

It's a new year, and a good year to be an ox apparently. I, unfortunately, am a dog. A friend asked me what that meant. I said it meant I was loyal... and perfect. I was curious later at home and looked it up. I am loyal. And a rule follower. And stubborn. And a good friend. Yet no where in the description of my dog sign did it say "has a good sense of direction."

Last weekend was my first adventure in wedding dress shopping. It was also my first lone roadtrip in over 3 years. I had armed myself in advance with directions to all of the shops, charged all phones, blackberrys, etc and headed down to Richmond. I had set up an ambitious agenda of 5 shops in 2 two days, determined to come home with a dress, since the timeline is tight. Jen and I arrived at the first shop, a cute little gown consignment shop in Newport News, VA, a good 20 minutes early. Considering both our penchants for arriving most places at least 10 minutes late, this was like being a full hour early. I tried on about 5 dresses, found one that was ok but needed a lot of work. We jumped back in the car to head towards Williamsburg to shop #2. I noticed we would be amazingly ahead of schedule for the next place, and decided since we had the time, we should go to old town Williamsburg and hit some shops. (I am on the hunt for the world's best pair of purple shoes afterall).

We followed signs into town, found a parking lot, wandered around, and found the car back. I couldn't believe my luck. I am amazing! I have this whole driving around a new place thing down again!

Then I pulled out of the parking lot and had absolutely no idea which way I had come from. So I did what any rational person who hates asking for directions would do - I just went for it. I drove straight ahead. Then, I .... turned right. Because ... why not. And then I went straight for a while. Jen, meanwhile, was making a few comments like "this doesn't look familiar" and "maybe we should turn around." I was sure I would eventually run into something with numbers on it, or at least something that said which way 64 was and then I could just start over. While Jen was busy trying to find a phone number for the store we were trying to find, I realized we were too far...to the right. So I should turn left. It made sense in a way. So at the next light, I turned left. It felt like we were getting somewhere but still, nothing looked right. I crossed another main road towards an area that perfectly described my mood: a little down, a little depressing, and a little...institutional. I circled around and pulled up to the light to consider what to do now.

Truth be told, the first shop didn't exactly light my fire. It was small, it had a limited selection, but I didn't have that "moment" where I saw myself and thought "wow, this is it." I have 5 moments of "wow, this feels like bad prom dress shopping." My spirits were a bit low as I drove around, completely lost, in Williamsburg. Sitting at the light, I started feeling a bit down and yet a bit crazy that I wasn't completely elated. I'm planning a wedding to the man of my dreams and yet here I am freaking out about a dress. I thought I was going a little nuts. Sitting at the light, trying to get my barrings, I noticed a big entrance sign to the area we had just circled around: the Virginia State Mental Institution.

Dress shopping drove me to the looney bin, people.

We took off in a new direction, eventually found the shop, and 24 hours later, I had my moment. After trying on at least 50 dresses, I walked into the last shop, took one trip around to look at the options and saw it. The moment she pulled the dress off the rack, I knew this is what I wanted Westley to see me in. Trying it on, stepping up to look at myself in the mirror, the tears came up. This was it. Crazy time is over. Bring on the I do's.