catiecake.

GROUCHY.

Red.

Dear Kittens,

I am GROUCHY.  I stupidly did not eat breakfast early enough and then I ended up eating something wholly unsatisfying. And I got all pissed off because of a Sunday news show. I remember now why I insisted we stop watching those shows. I do not want to get all worked up about stuff on a Sunday morning. Actually, I don't ever want to be worked up about politics at all anymore.

I got lots and lots of work finished yesterday, but there's more to get done today and I'm so bunched up, I want to get myself into a better state of mind before I get started. When I try to work in this sort of mood every mistake has the potential to make me throw a temper fit and get all teary eyed. I don't think I have to tell you Kittens how very unproductive that is.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I mentioned before that I'm putting myself on a super fantastic program of wonderfulness and I need it badly. You know what else I need? A tremendous amount of tea.

Okay, Kittens, I gotta get myself together and start working.

Love,
Catie

5 Things, Take 2

walkway at a park in Portland, OR

Dear Kittens,

5 Things.

5 Things I Eat Pretty Much Every Day

1. Cottage cheese

2. Salad

3. Nuts

4. Chocolate

5. Fruit

5 Things I Do Pretty Much Every Day

1. Go for a walk

2. Make the bed

3. Create something

4. Talk to my mom

5. Read blogs

5 Of My Favorite Books

1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

2. Poisionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

3. Children Playing By  A Statue of Hercules (short stories collected by David Sedaris of various authors)

4. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter

5. Anything by Ellen Gilchrist, but especially Net of Jewels.

5 Things I Use Too Much Of

1. Hair products

2. Toilet paper

3. Salt

4. Toothpaste

5. The cats' tolerance for being smooched (which varies greatly by cat)

5 Things I Want To Do This Weekend

1. Finish all my Christmas stuff for Catiecake Cards

2. Go to the Farmer's Market with Andy Anchev

3. See a movie

4. Go for 2 extra long walks

5. Get the Parlor cleaned up.

Love,

Catie

Kitty Cat Boyfriend

Berries. Taken at the Bonneville Locks in Oregon

Dear Kittens,

I better get my shit together because in exactly a week I will be starting NaPoBloMo. Wherein I will be required to post Every Single Day of November. Every day! Can you even imagine such a thing?

Today I went to Sephora and spent an obscene amount of money. All manner of new face potions, new eyeshadow, a new blush, and maybe some other stuff I forgot about. Can I tell you Kittens something? Of course I can, you are my baby kittens. I can tell you anything. I am in love with my eyebrows. Pretty much everyday I make out with myself via my eyebrows. I bought this Anastasia kit from Sephora a while ago and it came with these little eyebrow stencils. EYEBROW STENCILS! The stencils did not work out for me, but they did help me correct the shape and size of my eyesbrows and now they pretty much always look awesome. It's okay if you don't care about eyebrows, but let me tell you this- good looking eyebrows go a very long way towards making a face look good. Well groomed brows make up for never wearing makeup, even.

Earlier in the week I roasted trout for dinner. Kittens, trout is so delicious. Tomorrow I'm making pomegranate balsamic glazed pork tenderloin with fennel and orange salad and sugar snap peas. I know! It sounds delicious.

Starting Monday, I'm putting myself on a whole new program of wonderfulness. I'll outline the whole thing on Monday, but I promise serious wonderfulness. Or maybe not so much "wonderfulness" as "making some significant changes."

Ever since we got back from Portland I have been extremely popular with Petey and Seamus. Petey has always loved me the most, but lately he's become like a creepy stalker boyfriend. He follows me all over the house and if Andy makes a move on me, Petey is right there either watching or doing his best to get in between us. It's sweet in a very weird Kitty Cat Boyfriend sort of way. Now if Petey sees me giving Seamus affection he will let out this bitchy meow and then run away. He come right back and that's the part that cracks me up because when he comes back he's all sexy sauntering towards me. Petey's all, "how YOU doin'?"

And now I'ma take my new makeups and what not and go to the bed. I like to look at my new purchases before bedtime. What I really like to do, is spread everything out in a semi circle around me and examine each thing very carefully, the put it all back into the bag and go to sleep. I do this with everything I buy. Shoes, clothes, books, art supplies. Maybe it's really not so weird I have a kitty cat for a boyfriend.

Love,
Catie

Box of donuts from Voodoo Donuts in Portland, OR. We did not eat the whole box, but they were all very good.

Dear Kittens,

It was a good weekend, but all the weekend goals were not met. We did not have German food. It turns out that the only German restaurant in San Jose (that I could find) has been having a month long Oktoberfest celebration on the weekends and the wait for dinner was 2 hours. So German food will have to happen another time. We did go to Half Moon Bay and buy pumpkins and gourds and Andy and I got manicures and pedicures. The girls at the nail salon love to tease him about getting color on his toes and they all giggle when he says no. Actually, I would like it if he got color on his toes, but I don't see it happening. There could be some sort of emergency at work where he would have to remove his shoes and socks and he would probably die if his coworkers saw him wearing polish on his toes.

On Sunday we were so lazy. I took a long nap on the couch during a suck ass movie called Now You Know. When I woke up we watched a TV show on DVD. It's called Long Way Round. I don't know when or where it aired, but it was shot in 2004. It's about Ewan McGreggor and his friend Charley Boorman taking a motorcycle trip from London to New York. It's a great show and so if you haven't seen it and like documentary type stuff, you will probably like this show.

This week is going to be extremely busy for me and it's fair to say I'm feeling some stress/pressure about the whole thing. Ever since the weddings of the summer I feel like I've lost some momentum and it's frustrating. Part of my problem is how much recovery time I need after traveling. I'm getting by with just 2 days recovery from Portland, but in truth, I need like a week of quiet activities and gentle routine adjustments to get me to feeling like normal again. This is one thing that Life Coach has helped me realize- this is who I am. I could try to force myself to work another way, but that's sort of like forcing my blue eyes to be brown. It's not going to happen. I'm better off honoring my natural rhythms instead of constantly fighting against them.

Something that's been amusing me lately is watching Roo sleep. He's the only one of our cats who really gets into his dreams. The other day he was growling and twitching and his tail even poofed up. I try to wake him up from these dreams because he's an old man and I worry about him causing himself stress for no reason. Living with Seamus is hard enough on the old cat. I try to wake him gently, like scratching his head or gently poking him, but that does not work. So I have to cause a commotion so that the noise wakes him up or get his nose to wake up by waving a treat around. Making the noise is funny because he always gives me this look as if to say, *I* am trying to nap! Keep it down, Lady."

I continue to love To Kill A Mockingbird. When it was clear to my mom that I loved reading she started buying me books for my edification. I was 8 or 9 when she gave me To Kill A Mockingbird and I just could not get into it. Same thing with Oliver Twist. I did read Catcher in the Rye, but it wasn't until I reread it years later that I actually understood it. I am so glad that my mom did not censor my reading. I read all manner of things that were beyond my grasp, scary, sexually explicit and so on. I'm grateful for that, though. Nothing was off limits to me and so I read a lot. And even if I didn't totally get what I was reading it taught me at a very early age to ask for clarification or get a dictionary or whatever.   

So, today is errand day. Mostly I'm running all these errands to avoid some of the work I need to do, but once the errands are run, then it's worktime.

Love,
Catie 

5 Things

Sitting on a park bench in Portland, Oregon wearing Born mary janes and pink socks.

Dear Kittens,

5 Things I Hate:

1. Slow drivers

2. Broccoli

3. Cats that wake you up early

4. Hearing/Reading someone being down on themselves

5. Wearing pantyhose (tights are okay, which I know makes no sense)

5 Things I Would Like To Have Happen:

1. For all the people I love (that includes you, Kittens) to be living the life they want

2. The house to be remodeled without a bunch of bullshit

3. To get pregnant without a bunch of medical intervention

4. To sleep like the dead every single night, no matter where I am

5. For all cute shoes to be comfortable

5 Things I Do Not Want To Live Without

1. Andy Anchev

2. TiVo

3. A/C, Dishwasher, washing maching/dryer in the house

4. Sunshine

5. Cheese

5 Things I Love With My Whole Heart

1. Andy Anchev

2. My Kittens (real and Internet)

3. My family

4. Reading books

5. Clean sheets and fresh towels

5 Things I Want You To Do

1. Read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

2. Give out compliments to strangers all day

3. Find a fancy cheese shop and buy some amazing cheese (also, eat the cheese)

4. Wear something pink at least once this week

5. Smile at yourself when you look in the mirror and say, Hello Pretty

Love,
Catie   

It's a full life.

Fall leaves in Portland, Orgeon

Dear Kittens,

We are safely home from the Pacific Northwest and all is well. The kitties were fine while we were gone. Or, at least, they seem fine now. Seamus and Petey have a thing going on with a squirrel. The squirrel is taunting them. They chase the squirrel up various trees. I keep telling that squirrel that his days are numbered if he keeps it up, but he thinks it's funny.

In the end we tried 25 beers while in Oregon. God bless taster trays. It's really a great way to try a bunch of beer without getting loaded or spending a bunch of money. We learned than neither of us care for IPA (India Pale Ale) and we're both drawn towards the lighter and amber ales. I liked a few porters, too. I think Full Sail was our favorite brewery, although we really liked Rogue, too.

At Rogue we bought an amazing bottle of gin. The gin is the most flavorful gin I've ever tasted. I cannot wait to have it in a bunch of different cocktails. And we're talking about taking an American Whiskey/Bourbon tour sometime. t turns out we're not the first with this idea.

Overall our trip was fantastic. We had a good time together, shared some lovely meals and conversation, had fun exploring a new place and we loved it so much in Portland that I think we'll be planning another trip soon.

Tomorrow Andy and I are getting manicures and pedicures. Then my parents are coming down for some pumpkin and gourd shopping and German food. I'm looking forward to a good day.

I have a few very busy days coming up. I have a bunch of work that needs to be finished. I'm looking forward to getting it all done and then getting back into the swing of normal life. I've taken 2 days to recover from the busy-ness of our trip andd now I'm ready to work.

Oh! I'm reading To Kill A Mockingbird. Did I already mention this? I've never read it before and I'm stunned by how great it is. My grandpa told me it was his favorite book and now I understand why. Harper Lee's writing is so lyrical and full of images that jump off the page. I just. I'm glad I waited to read this because it's the perfect book for me right now.

And now I sleep.

Love,
Catie

You are awesome, Portland, Oregon.

Dear Kittens,

Photos were taken today, but not uploaded because all we have with us is Andy's computer because it's much more portable, but I don't want my photos on his work PC, that makes no sense! Even Kittens can surely see that.

Today was another glorious day in Portland. We walked and walked and walked and walked. And then I cried and cried and cried because I have a ton of Super Cute Shoes that are also hurty on my feets. You know, when I'm at home running normal home errands, it doesn't much matter which shoes I wear. But walking around in a city, you need some good shoes. I stopped by a store called Clogs N More and bought a pair of Dansko loafer type clogy things. I also bought a pair of cute mary jane Danskos that are also comfortable. And cute!

Let's see. First we had Breakfast at Mother's. It's a super busy place and the wait staff is awesome. Very friendly and fun, but not all strangely friendly. I hate overfriendly service people. Breakfast was huge and yummy and pretty much we were not hungry all day because of it. I was mightily tempted by their Bloody Maria, but sadly I resisted.

Then we walked over to the Museum of Contemporary Craft. Um. Pretty much a bust. There were some interesting things to look at and interesting things for sale, but really- it's sort of lame. It might not always be lame, though.

From there we walked to a nearby park and rested. It was a lovely autumn day in Portland and it was nice to sit and watch kids play at the park. I took that opportunity to take a bunch of stealthy photos of people walking by. It's so much fun to take photos that way. I am totally going to do it more often.

Then we went back to Powell's book because we cannot get enough of that place! Really, we want to marry it. We love it so much. We spent some time browsing and I bought a few things, we got Andy a T shirt and then we were on our way back to our hotel. We rested for a bit. Resting is so nice. I am a giant fan of resting.

After resting we hit Saint Cupcake, Bridgeport Brewery and Rogue. At Rogue we bought their very awesome gin. Here's the thing, I like beer just fine. It is very nice. I also like wine. But I love hard liquor. whiskey/bourbon, tequila, vodka and gin are my faves. I could do without rum. Rum can suck it as far as I'm concerned.

Tomorrow we head out for Columbia Gorge. We'll be there for our anniversary. I thought we were going to Vancouver, Washington, but I was wrong. I'm not sure what we'll do in Columbia Gorge because the weather is supposed to take a turn, but at least we've got lots and lots of books to read.

Also, Kittens- do you ever put on your new shoes and then lay on your bed with your legs in the air and admire them because you love them so much? Do you ever partially want to sleep in your new shoes because you love them so much? When you get new shoes do you spend a lot of time looking at your feet because you love them so much? This is how I feel about my new mary jane-ish shoes. I will wear them tomorrow.

I gots to go to bed. I'm so tired. All that beer drinking has exhausted me.

Love,

Catie

 

I LOVE GOAT CHEESE.

Dear Kittens,

This is not easy for little babies like you to understand, but I Am Drunk. I drank two (2) Old Fashioneds at dinner tonight. Oh my yummy yummy Sweet Baby Jesus, but they were delicious. Honestly, who could've ever imagined that me (Catie Anchev) would love whiskey as much as I do? Certainly not me. But love it I do, Kittens. Love it, I do.

So our first real day in Portland and guess what? We did hardly anything due to the sleeping in and then the driving around to find a power cord that would work with Andy's laptop. Also, we went to Oktoberfest in Fearless Brewing in Estacada or somewhere like that. So listen, Kittens. The Website for the Oktoberfest promised people dressed in authentic Bavarian clothes, German food and German music. The truth was it was the three people who worked there (2 women and 1 man) dressed in Bavarian style clothes, playing German music through the speakers and German food. We had a good time, but it was not at all what we expected. We tried 4 of their beers, the only one we didn't like was the IPA. Also, Oregon is gorgeous.

After we got back from Oktoberfest, we walked to Powell's books. We were immediately overwhelmed and decided to sit in their little cafe to gather ourselves over coffee and tea. Andy said that Powell's is like walking into Amazon.com and he was right. I bought a couple of blank journals and a few novels, Andy hooked himself up with the science fiction maven at Powell's and walked out with something like 6 new books.

We managed to not take a single photo today. I won't let that happen again.

I really like traveling with my parents. We always have a good time and it's fun going places with them, but nothing is as wonderful as traveling with Andy. We have so much fun together. There's no stress of trying to figure out what everyone wants to do, there's no worry about everyone being entertained. It's just us and we get us and it's fantastical.

Oh! So, we're staying at the Westin in Portland and we had a very late dinner in their restaurant last night. I believe the restaurant is called the Daily Grill. The food was so good! Last night I had a whiskey sour, which was masterfully, if not a tiny bit weak, made by the bartender. Tonight we went to the Heathman Hotel and ate in their restaurant and I swear on 2 Old Fashioneds that it was the best meal of my life. I had the trout amandine and then for dessert I got this amazing goat cheese. Why do we not have cheese for dessert at home? WHY? It is so good. I love goat cheese. Maybe we will get a goat so we can have goat cheese everyday of our lives.

As always, I miss the cats, although I do not miss being woken up by a stripe orange cat who says Mew! Mew! Mew! Mew! and then puts his paws on my faces to wake me up. I just miss their general cuteness.

Now I must go lay up in the so called Heavenly Bed and finish being drunk. Oh! You know what's funny? To be drunk and walking home and talking to people on the street. I said, "I mean it" about 40 times to various strangers after making some undoubtedly ill conceived point. At one point Andy said, "Can we be done with the talking now?" And then I said, "I mean it."

Love,

Catie

This squirrel was running around a snack standin Yosemite, grabbing fries as people dropped them.

Dear Kittens,

I totally forgot to tell you about meeting my Internet friend, Mary and her husband, Fred. They came over Tuesday night for dinner. It was great meeting both of them. They're both super nice, good story tellers and we had a great time with them. They're enjoying their time in California and that makes me very happy. I love it when people have fun in my beloved state. Poor Mary and Fred were undoubtedly overwhelmed with my endless suggestions of things to do, foods to eat and places to see. Seriously, do not ask me for suggestions unless you want a lot.

The stress over the trip is, you know, there. I was pissy on and off all night over the major stressor. Will Andy make it home on time?! He's got a meeting in a not close to home town that cannot be cancelled, cannot be cut short and he Must attend. The meeting ends at 3. Our flight leaves at 6:30. He'll be 100 miles away. Driving through busy traffic times on a Friday. Apparently there's a later flight we could take, but rescheduling that in advance would cost us a total of $280. The plan is that it will be fine. At least, that's the remarkably unhelpful thing Andy keeps saying. It will be fiiiiine! Which, of course, in the end, it will be fine. But right this second, in my head, it is not going to be fine. It is going to be annoying and probably rushy and also annoying. The extra special added value of hormonal surges or depletion or whatever it is that happens before one starts her menstrual cycle is making this annoying thing seem like The Official End of the World.

I am not a good sport. I wish that I was. I like to think that I am, but I'm not. Bad Sport Catie. I will get T shirts. Let me tell you, it is not easy to be this whiney. It requires real dedication and being on the constant lookout for things to be grouchy about. Honestly, it's borderline exhausting, but I think you Kittens and I both know that I am playing up the negative side, trying to act as though there is not really a big pay off. Being this whiney and bad sporty has a BIG pay off, Kittens. BIG. 

As I look out our living room window I can see my black fluffy Petey Cat sauntering around our neighbor's yard. Oh no! He just sprayed their bushes by their front door and now he's sexily walking down their walk. He's all, "Fuck You cats who lives here. These bushes right outside your front door? MINE." Cats are such awful animals! And also cute!

I started this post earlier this morning and now it's time for me to double check everything and maybe run out and get some cash and snacks. It looks like Andy will probably be home in time to meet our flight and if we end up getting the later one, that's okay too. I will probably post a couple of times while we're in Portland.

Stay Sweet, Kittens,

Love,
Catie

The Zig. The Zag.

I realize that I should probably write descriptions for these photos I post.

This is a fence in Yosemite National Park. I liked the lines.

Dear Kittens,

It should not come as a surprise to you Kittens that I sometimes keep secrets from you. Not for the joy of secret-keeping, but more because you are Kittens and just babies and do not need to know everything about everything. It is out of love that I keep these secrets. You can thank me later.

This is the part where I tell you that I've known about the destination of our anniversary trip for a couple of weeks now. I sort of guessed it immediately, but my guess was confirmed when I was looking through the American Express statement looking for suspicious charges. The airline tickets were listed with their destination. I didn't say anything because, you know, when you plan a surprise for someone, you would like for them to be surprised. Finally, 2 nights ago, Andy told me and I admitted that I already knew. It's not that big of a deal, but I am sorry that the surprise got ruined. I'm looking forward to this trip, but I admit I'm a tiny bit tired of travel. There! I said it! I know for sure it will be good and I'll be so glad we did it (did I already say all this?), but after this trip, I'm pretty much planning on staying home A Lot.

So, we're going to Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. I'm looking forward and I hope the weather cooperates. We've decided to come up with indoor and outdoor activities so we're sure to have a good time no matter what the weather is doing. 

There are ideas for blogs I've come across in the last 2 days that I love. One is an encyclopedia of your home. Based on a book that I love called Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Elizabeth of A Browner Brown is doing it. It's one of those ideas that you (and by "you" I mean "I") wish you had first. That won't stop me from copying her, though.

The second idea is from Zena. She's taking at least a month's worth of daily photographs of the things that bring her closer to her spirituality. The Sacred Life Project. That might be a tiny bit too hippie for me, but I love the idea of taking a small moment each day to recognize the beauty around you and to find inspiration in something simple.

I find such inspiration from these two ideas that it sort of kills me a little bit. Mostly because I am trying to be smarter about making commitments, I'm not sure which idea I actually have time for right now or if they both should wait until a later date.

I realized yesterday that I've been sort of stalled out in progress lately. I'm still having sessions with Life Coach and they continue to be very good and helpful and generally speaking I feel very happy most of the time. Also generally speaking, I feel like I could be Doing More. I think I need to start pushing myself to go a little bit deeper in this whole personal growth thing. Mostly I think I need to turn up the exercise a notch and the productivity on my creative endeavors. One really good thing that life coaching has taught me is how to follow through. Before life coaching, I was very good about coming up with plans, but not so great at implementing them, but nowadays I feel pretty secure in my ability to make things happen for myself.

Also, I think this is another reason why I am less than Totally Excited for our trip. I feel like there are things to be done at home and being gone so much is preventing me from gaining momentum and that's frustrating. Because, it's not just the actual travel. I don't know if most people are like this, but I find travel wholly exhausting. The whole process of figuring out what to pack, how to pack it, going to their airport, stressing about security and then the actual flying and settling in and then coming home and the being tired and endless laundry and loving the cats and trying to get my schedule back on track and GAH! It takes up a tremendous amount of space in my head. I cannot say that I love travel. In fact, I do not love travel. Seeing new places is a lot of fun and the almost always seems worth it (Sorry, Florida, except for the Everglades, I hated your guts.) but the process is something that wears me down.

And now my day must begin with sort of a running start because we're leaving tomorrow evening and so you know, that's not that far away.

Love!

Catie!