It feels like days are flying by. Here’s the low-down for the past few. I’m trying out some new skins for Wordpress. I hope you like the new style.

We went for a walk yesterday. I’m obsessing about purple and greens. Like these beauties.

No news on Eric’s test results. Still waiting…

I got a physical at the doctor–it’d been a few years. I am totally healthy, which is something to celebrate. The doctor did say I could stand to lose 10 pounds. So far so good. We joined a gym and I’ve made it to two 5:50 am classes so far. Eric and I go two nights a week too. Here’s a delicious salad I made. Eric is being a sport. It means he’s lost his nightly wine-buddy.

We purchased our first Christmas tree today. It is a wee thing. Here’s the trimmings. We hope to get it up soon. I realize that is WAY early, but I’m beyond excited. We’ve never really had room for a tree before. We chose a blue theme.

An added bonus is the fact that we have a fireplace and mantle! Here’s the current look. I hope to make it festive too!

Jill created a Flicker group for our photos with the draft a long. I will post my progress later this evening. I plan to spend the rest of the day (it is already 3:30!!) drafting and working on sketches to apply for graduate school. I also want to use them in a portfolio I intend to send blindly to a few fashion companies around here. I’m not sure if I’ll do the school thing, but I do want to have everything ready so I can.

If you need a laugh, check out Cute Overload. I don’t think I can repeat this video too many times. Amazing.

Peace,

Katy ^_^

It has been a bit of an “off week.” Lots of blah-ness going around. Friday afternoon Eric and I headed for Half Moon Bay and drove down Hwy 1 to Santa Cruz. The road trip took about an hour and a half. It was fun. The view was spectacular. We stopped at a historic lighthouse. At the lighthouse, everything North was dark and foggy, everything south was sunny and radiant. I didn’t think about taking photos until after that stop. Here’s Eric driving.

Here’s a photo looking over a cliff toward the ocean. In the middle is clouds/fog and then the sky starts. Amazing, but the photo didn’t do it justice.

Yesterday, was lazy and wonderful. Today, I caught up on some sewing. I have re-purposed thrift store graduation robes into Wise Men finery. Here’s a shot of one of them.

I switched purses. This is one I purchased the summer I worked in Paris. It looks like an old-fashioned doctor’s bag. It is dark green. It makes me have such happy memories!

Well Jill over at Inside My Sewing Box, and I are working on a project. We’d love to have you join along if you are interested. First step, that was supposed to be done a while back is to draft a skirt block. I think we’re hoping to complete that by this Friday, November 14. Next step is to create a skirt from our block. The deadline is Friday, November 28. Believe me, we’ve not been good at deadlines. Jill is preparing for a show, and well, I’m just being lazy. I created a cute icon in Illustrator. It looks quite dated (mid-80s) at least to me, but it is a start, right? I’m having difficulty saving it–so hopefully it’ll be up later.

Peace,

^_^ Katy

Fall is so here. I had my first candy corn of the season at the Jelly Belly factory on Thursday. Yummy!

I saw Phil Wickham in concert on Friday night. Some very refreshing music.

As I left for work today, Eric yelled at me, “Don’t go to Target.” I wondered why as I looked down at what I was wearing–khaki pants and a red shirt. I seem to always end up at Target dressed like an employee.

Why is it that I’ve never seen Chinese Handcuffs for sale? Are they only available for purchase with tickets?

If you are curious what it is like being a textile designer, hop on over to Fashion Incubator. I have a new article posted there.

I still haven’t made any decisions on the butterfly silk shirt yet. I don’t want to rush it and do something just to do something. I’ll keep you posted.

Eric was our driver and was getting tired of being out. He requires lots of alone time. We were headed to Ghirardelli Square from the Union Square area to feast on ice cream. There is a parking garage under the square. The cost is $2.25 for each 20 minutes or $30.00 total. If you get a restaurant validation, it is free for up to 1 1/2 hours. By the time we got to the bottom of the garage where an empty space was Eric was done. His comment, “Well, that just cost us 50 cents,” made us all double-over in laughter.

We had fun in the city. It felt like a vacation for sure!

I got these sunflowers last week while shopping at Trader Joes. They are the easiest flowers to take care of. They’re still gorgeous!

I’ve been cleaning today. We had Eric’s college friends staying with us last week. They both just got jobs in the area so we were housing them while they found an apartment. Scotch loved the visitors, Sake hid in the bedroom whenever they were around. We tried to keep cat hair to a minimum, but there is only so much that can be done. Sorry, Meredith, if it was too much. You were a great sport about it!

My mom arrives tomorrow afternoon. I’m giddy like a kid high on candy. It is her first visit to California since we’ve become Californians. I can’t wait to show her our digs and the area. So the air mattresses are being relocated. One will go to the study for my mom, the other will be deflated and stored. Until then, the cat’s have decided to play “fort.” It is pretty ridiculous.

Here’s Sake.

Here’s Scotch.

I realize I’ve become that crazy cat lady, but I’ve come to terms with it. Meanwhile, in the study I’ve almost finished scrap booking my trips to Paris. This was the summer of 02 and 03. Seems like 5 or 6 years later is a good time to start, right?

I finally checked with the community college about how to get registered for classes. I would like to take some draping, fitting, and possibly some business classes. Seems like I’ve got a bit of waiting to do. You see, classes would currently cost $204 per credit hour plus any fees and materials. But if I wait until I’ve been here a year and a day, they will only cost $20 per credit hour plus any fees. It is worth waiting. In the meantime, I will be honing the skills I have learned and have let get a bit rusty. Flat-pattern work.

School is going well. The kids never cease to amaze and humor me. I love third graders’ enthusiasm for everything.

Peace,

Katy ^_^

There you have it. If you knew how much time and thought and shopping went into that table you’d probably be a lot more excited like I am. Let’s just say we’ve easily spent 5 or 6 hours in the last two days, and 3 separate trips to the store.

Things I love about it. The table is counter height so I can work standing up or sitting down. There are two chairs so Eric can work there with me, if I’m not using the entire table, that is.

I have two ideas of things to make. Which means drafting a pattern and sewing. A pleated shirt and a strapless dress to wear like a jumper over a crisp white button-up. Problem is I don’t have a block for my size and I’m kind of hard to fit. Thank goodness for trial-round muslins.

After seeing it all together, I am already figuring out changes. I think that I need to put some things on the walls. I have a big cork board and want to do something fun and girly like painting alphabet letters or something. Seems like a task to be done when my mom visits in September.

Also, I’m thinking it may be time to purge some things. Or at least use up my stash. I seem to love fabric shopping, but then it hides in a plastic tub. I’m sure the fabrics would much rather be styling on my bod. Another purge would be my rickety old first dress form. It was one of my last pre-marriage splurges, so it is definitely more sentimental than anything. I will definitely sleep on it.

In job news, I finished my application. Eric helped with my IT question–seems they didn’t support the web browser I was using. I have a meet and greet with a representative for a master’s program tomorrow. At any given time, there are 5 or 6 master’s programs I am interested in, so seeing as this is the only one I’ve asked for a tour on I think it is at the top of my list.

Peace,
^_^ Katy

We moved in. Here is Eric eating mac and cheese on our dresser. We had to use measuring cups because the silverware was still packed.

Sake wasn’t too sure about our new place yet and used the dresser as a fort. She’d hide under it and peek out every once in a while. She’s settled in nicely now though. Silly cat.

Peace,

Katy

So it feels like I’ve been on a vacation since June 4th when we drove out of St. Louis. Since we’ve been in California we’ve been bunking in a relative’s pool house. We’re being spoiled silly and I’m not about to complain.

What a sweet treat after all the hurdles graduate school sent our way: Eric’s cancer, a close friend’s electrocution/death, unfulfilling work environment for the first 2 years for me, a broken arm, a car wreck and back pain that continues until today, our two-year-old cat dying in front of us–even with Eric’s kitty CPR–for some undiagnosed reason, Papa’s death, MIL’s melanoma, other Papa’s fall off a ten-foot extension ladder, all our buddies leaving for their internships last fall, etc. 

That is not to say we didn’t have some great times in graduate school. Our Tuesday night brewery church group–miss y’all, adopting two great new kitties, volunteering to help other kittens get adopted, 3 Team in Training events raising over $13,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!!!, finding a great job in the fashion industry, never needing to borrow money for medical bills or other bills–thanks to everyone for al y’all’s generosity, Eric’s “remission” (he’ll never be cured, but his levels are undetectable at the moment), the city itself-Grant’s Farm, Farmer’s Market,  the zoo, wineries close by, our upstairs neighbor and her dog Junior–Scotch’s crush, countless trips to CA (4 I think), Sasha’s Wine Bar, $3 buck chuck, etc.

This is culminating in my one “issue” with vacations. I eat whatever I want. My triathlon was right before we left. After that working out has been sparse. My clothes still seem to fit, but man do I feel it. Like I’m doing laundry and wearing my hubby’s shorts. Shorts that would probably be easy to pants him and they are fitting a little tighter than that on me! Thankfully, I have gym access and have been able to work out a bit the last two weeks!

I’m not sure what my next “event” will be. There is a Napa Valley Marathon in March which looks beautiful. Also, as part of the Big Sur Marathon is this 6 mile Mud Run. Watch the video and tell me that doesn’t look awesome. For now, I feel like yoga is a great focus. I was just gifted a new mat–since ours in on a truck somewhere in Oakland and it is great. Even my sweaty hands and feet don’t slip! 

Since we’re talking about vacations, let’s talk about work. As in, I’m unemployed. I’m more worried about what other people think and how the lapse will look on my resume than I am about a job right now. We only have one car, and we live 30-35 miles south of where our apartment is, so any commute would quite possibly be killer. That being said, how do I respond when the umpteenth parishioner asks me about my job hunt? I know they mean well, and we don’t know each other yet, so there isn’t much else to talk about, but still… It makes me feel awkward about being so okay with my unemployment. Probably because in the past, I took some jobs that were pretty terrible because I HAD to work, and now that Eric’s being paid, I’m taking my time to find a job I really want.

So there you have it. My never-ending vacation still has no end in sight, and I’m quite okay with that!

Peace,

Katy

So, I’ve been watching a fair amount of TV lately. TV has never really been that exciting partially because I’ve never had cable. But HGTV is worse than any drug. I watch a show that convinces me I could remove the tile in our new kitchen and re-purpose it as a concrete counter. Did I mention we’re renting and I’ll not be allowed to do that? Still it is fun to dream. We visited the house yesterday. It is fabulous. The bathrooms are so 50s. Bright bubblegum blue tile in the studio and chartreuse and Kelly green in the main house. We love it! It is huge too! Eric’s called dibs on one of the bedrooms to use as a photo studio. It’ll be fun to see it with our furniture and things.

I’ve been working out a bit with my aunt at her gym. I never knew workout equipment could come with a built-in fan and TV. Is it weird I watch HGTV to work out? See–I’m totally addicted. I don’t think any of the gyms I’ve been a part of are that shabby, but I’m beginning to wonder… If only I could get up early enough to beat the heat and get a few runs in. I am so intimidated to get out on my bike and ride the hills around here. They are crazy! Currently, Eric’s brother and a classmate are using my bike to ride in Southern California. They did a few rides up north and confirmed it was very difficult. 

I was at a job interview yesterday. I really like the company and the position–but a few of the interviewees asked me what it is I want to do with my life, and I just don’t know. It feels like I have a million and one options, but I just don’t know. For so much of the last few years, I’ve been in survival mode. Eric and I got engaged spring semester of my senior year. We didn’t start dating until the Thanksgiving before. One minute I was planning on moving to NYC and working in the industry and then bam–I met a great guy. So I thought maybe I’d get an MBA–without finanacial aid it was too scary for me to commit. As each road block came up I stopped being offensive and planning and began to be really defensive. Eventually life was all–Get hubby through school. Deal with hubby’s cancer diagnosis. Provide health insurance ($3000 monthly chemo without insurance is crazy).

So I share all that to say, I’m ready to be in the driver’s seat again. 

Peace,

Katy ^_^