austin

Tomorrow morning at 7:20 (ah!) I'm heading to Austin for the National Reading Conference. I'm going with a friend from school and many professors from my department will also be there. Although these things can sometimes be a bit overwhelming (too many smart people talking!), It should be a great way to make connections (possibly for jobs in the future) and learn a lot. I'm also excited to go to Austin again...I went once as an undergrad and loved it! I want to eat some good Tex-Mex too.
I'll be back late on Saturday...long time away from home :(
Talk to you when I get back! Thanks to those of you that have been reading and blog-stalking me (sonia!)

our tree

We just finished decorating our tree- check it out! We got it at Lowe's yesterday and then got some ornaments today at Target. It's the perfect size for our space and I love that it's the first real tree I've had in quite awhile. Of course, we had to get a photo ornament with our wedding photo in it...and it's even blue and brown:)
Good night!

grouchy

I'm sitting at a coffee shop feeling grouchy and trying to finish up one of my 4 or 5 final papers of the semester....everything is almost done (I've at least begun them) except for one huge term paper that I haven't even thought about. I'm stressed because I'll be in Austin most of next week and won't have any time to work. Once I get back, everything is due. Ah!
I'm losing my energy and motivation. I want to be buying and decorating a Christmas tree or doing something fun at least!

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope it's filled with good food, family, and friends.

We're heading to my parents' house in just a bit, with our pumpkin pie and stuffing in tow. Last night, Matt fought a battle with homemade pie crust and lost...I finally went to Publix to buy the refrigerated crust to put him out of his misery. This is my first Thanksgiving in Atlanta in a couple of years, the first time my sister will be here in 2 years, and Matt's first spending it with my side of our family. Oh, and best of all, the first Thanksgiving married! I'm looking forward to my mom's cornbread dressing because even though I tried to make it in CA last year, I'm sure it wasn't as good as hers. We miss being with the family in California today- We're sure the weather is much better than here!

While Matt finishes the whipped cream for the pie, we're watching the Thanksgiving episode from the first season of How I Met Your Mother....it's so great!

Happy Birthday (Cubed)!!!

November is a big birthday month. Earlier this month was my mom's bday and in the next week, 3 friends' birthdays. Tomorrow is Sarah's, Thursday is Sonia's, and next Tuesday is Shana's. Come to think of it, November is a big month for S birthdays I guess! Happy Birthday to each of you. You are wonderful ladies and awesome friends.

Last weekend we celebrated Sarah's bday out at Limerick Junction, but I hope to catch up with her sometime this week to celebrate some more. Tomorrow, I'm meeting Sonia at Watershed for lunch to celebrate her bday. I'm going to be out of town for Shana's birthday get together next week, so I hope that I can take her out for a drink soon.

Here are some photos of these gorgeous ladies....Sarah with Matt & I at Limerick last wkend, Sonia looking like a movie star with Meg and I at her beautiful October wedding, and Shana and I at my bday party a few years ago (we looked so young!)

relishing the day

When you are wedding planning, people always say 'oh it will be so nice when the wedding is over' or 'what will you do with all your time?'. I definitely looked forward to the day, and when things got stressful, I imagined Matt and I dancing our first dance as motivation to keep pressing on.

Well, I was surprised at how crazy things were and still are even after the wedding...but in a good way of course! When we walked into our place after returning from Barcelona, it looked like a wedding bomb had exploded. Extra wedding things, my dress, gifts, and who knows what else was strewn about. There were also wedding photos to look through, send to people, and wonderful wishes from people who shared how they enjoyed the wedding.

The last few months have been spent writing thank you notes, organizing all that extra wedding stuff (what are we going to do with the extra program fans?), choosing photos to frame, and selling my dress. Yep, you read right. I've had my dress for sale on a few websites, and as of tomorrow, my dress will be sold. The girl lives here in Atlanta and is coming tomorrow to pick it up. I've met her once before and feel good that she's going to have my dress. It's a little sad (oh how I love that dress), but I promised myself that if I found a dress that was over x amount of money, I would sell it after the wedding....and of course I did find an expensive dress that I loved! I'm not very sentimental and the thought of it sitting in a box forever is sadder to me than passing it on to someone else who will love it. The amazing photos will last forever and keep me relishing the wonderful feeling I had wearing it.

We've also had some fun news relating to the wedding that allows us to reflect more on the day.....Our wonderful photographers Katie & Chris with 6 of Four Creations submitted our photos to some magazines and we were chosen to be the "Real Wedding" in Brides Atlanta magazine spring/summer 08 issue. A writer from the magazine called to interview me last week and they are using about 15 photos. Also, 2 other photos will be used in 2 magazines- 1 in the Best of the Knot 2008 magazine and 1 in a new magazine called the Atlantan Bride, which I have never seen before. Because I absolutely loved looking at wedding magazines for ideas, I really like that perhaps we can give someone else an idea for their wedding. So, look for us on the news stands:) Here are some of my fave photos from the wedding.....All by the awesome 6 of Four Creations of course!

Happy Monday everyone....I'm (obviously) decompressing after teaching a particularly stressful class (we're all ready for the break), Matt's making pasta for us and then 'How I met your mother' is on- yay! If you are not watching that show, you must start now- 8:00 on CBS on Monday.
Night!

trying this out...

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how I used to keep a diary to document all that happened to me. I can still go back to my old diaries, from elementary to college, and feel what it felt like to be in that time. My diary of the time I was living in Ireland was so detailed that lately I've been thinking of trying to write a book someday about my time there...after I finish my dissertation of course!

I know that blogging has been around for quite awhile and I'm jumping on a bandwagon here but I'm hoping that this will be a place for me to reflect and share with others who I may not be able to talk to a lot these days. I'm still a little unsure about all this technology:) but here I go!


Just to start out, this weekend has been busy but fun! Friday night, my sister and I took my mom to a movie to celebrate her bday which we weren't able to actually celebrate with her on her actual day because of school and work. We saw Dan in Real Life and I really liked it...it was sad but romantic and sweet. I love Steve Carrel and John Mahoney (I think that's how you spell it)- who played the dad in my all time fave movie, Say Anything.

Saturday morning, Matt and I woke up super early (6:45!!) to meet our friends James and Mark at their house to drive to Athens to attend a UGA football game. Some of you may know that I attended UGA and went to 2 games total while I was there, so you are going - really Katie? right now. But, Matt has never been to a game and being a lover of anything sports-related, I knew he really wanted to go when James invited us. We tailgated with James' dad before the game and really had a good time. The traffic coming home was terrible and we were pooped when we got back but it was worth it.

After a nap, we headed to Virginia-Highlands to Limerick Junction to celebrate our lovely friend Sarah's bday.....after 2 hours of waiting for her :) she arrived looking gorgeous due to 1. great genes and 2. my sister doing her makeup wonderfully, and we had a blast! Midnight struck and the craziness of the day hit , so we had to head home for bed.

Today has been all school related- had to deal with an unfortunate situation with one of my students and my boss (bad situation in her student teaching) and then have been grading papers all day. Soon, we'll have dinner at La Casita (yum) with my sister before we all head to Kroger to get supplies for our assigned desserts we are making for Thanksgiving at my parents this week (Us- Pumpkin pie, Laura- chocolate-pecan pie). Then, Amazing Race is on and more grading!

Happy weekend all and have a great week!