catiecake.

Mobile post sent by catiecake using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

I am part Fonz on my mom's side

Dear Kittens,

1. Although I have not done this, I want to call the optometrist's office every few hours to see if any of my glasses have arrived because I want them RIGHT NOW. I have an appointment on Friday for a contact lens fitting and to have my eyes dialated. I'm not looking forward to the dialation, but maybe my glasses will be ready and that will be my reward.

2. Tomorrow my friend Jodie and her daughter, Emily are coming over to take me out for tea at Lisa's Tea Treasures to (yet again) celebrate my birthday. I'm looking forward to the visit from them.

3. So I have a few new things I'm doing. The first is that I am being extra super friendly with everyone. Eye contact, super smiley, complimentary. It's going well so far.

The second new thing I'm doing is a dietary thing that is barely interesting to me, so I doubt it will be interesting to you. Suffice it to say, it is not exciting or extreme, but it does feel good.

The third new thing is being extra super nice to my husband (i.e. the sex) That also, is going very well. I highly recommend it.

4. I'm on a really good sleeping schedule (finally) and I don't want to mess it up, so I'ma go now and get ready for the bed. Oh Sleep- I love you more than I can say without getting weepy.

Love,

Catie

Glasses

Dear Kittens,

I had an eye doctor appointment. Here's what I learned- my eyes have not changed much in the last 2 years. My eyes are very healthy and so-called normal. And because I am very near-sighted (this term interested me because I know people with much worse vision than mine and so what do their doctors say?) I am at risk for retinal detachment. I explained to the doctor that I had already had that and it turned out to be a Petey hair. If you are anything like me, you are totally used to that bemused sort of look that people give you when they cannot decide if you are a) just funny b)crazy or c)crazy AND funny. When I get that look, I think to myself YES! Mission accomplished. I am getting new sunglasses, and two new regular glasses and guess what? I might even get ANOTHER pair of regular glasses because why should I not have eyeglass options? WHY?

I am totally in love with this weather we're having. It rains. It stops. I like it. Even if I didn't like it, I would not tell you because I do not complain about the weather. I might notice that it's hot or cold or rainy, but no complaining. I also do not check up on weather predictions. Mostly because- why bother? If I'm planning something during the rainy season, I will be sure there are plans to accommodate for the rain. Also! I do not carry an umbrella. I find them cumbersome and practically useless. I prefer to wear a rain coat. That does mean my handbag will get wet and I am not a giant fan of that, but you know? Sometimes my handbag gets wet!

Yesterday I met my former Life Coach for tea in Alameda. Alameda is quite possibly the cutest town in the Bay Area. I know for a fact that there are fancier towns, but it's got a charm to it that most fancy places lack. We met at Julie's on Park Street. Julie's is a very cozy tea and coffee place and they have little foods, too. I did not partake of the foods, so I can report on them. The meeting with the former Life Coach went very well and was a pleasant experience. It was nice to talk face to face with someone that I spent so many weeks talking on the phone with.

Today I had plans to work, work, work, but it turned out that what I needed was to rest, rest, rest. The work is coming, probably on Sunday and I am looking forward to it. My plans include three collections of cards. One collage, one birthday/congratulation and then thank yous! Have you ever thought about sending someone a thank you note just because you are glad they are in your life? Don't do it yet- wait until my thank you cards are designed and available and then you should totally buy my cards and do just that!

And now I party the party of sleep, my most favorite party ever in the world. I love you, Sleep.

Love,
Catie

Happy Birthday, Karyl

Dear Kittens,

Today was manicure and pedicure day which also means it's Happy Day. My regular manicurist, whom I LOVE, is coming back in 2 weeks and that makes me very happy. The substitute manicurist is very nice and does a good job, but I've got a special thing with my regular girl and I miss her.

Tonight I'm going to eat the sushi with Stacey and then we're going to the Japanese market so she can visit the tea set she wants, but is apparently not going to buy. I cannot believe that I have never been to the Japanese market before, I have always meant to go, but didn't and so I'm looking forward. I hope they have lots of tiny bowls because I am in a tiny bowl buying mood, if you know what I mean.

It's cracks me up to say "if you know what I mean" after saying something 100% clear with no hidden meaning. I believe I have said it before, probably 92% of what I do is purely because it amuses me. NINETY-TWO PERCENT. That's some high percentage of amusement.

Tomorrow I'm meeting my former life coach for tea and antique shopping. Also looking forward.

And then! Spanish food on the weekend with my parents. SPANISH FOOD. I do not want to hurt your feelings, but this Spanish food is the best food I've had in my belly in a really long time. Perfectly cooked mussels. I do not usually care for mussels because they tend to be chewy and not super delicious, but these mussels? Juicy and tasty and like a party in your mouth. An underwater seafood party. Also really good Sangria. The place is called Cascal and it's in Mountain View.

All day Friday is going to be Awesome Work Day for me and I'm very much looking forward. Friday will be all about making cards for the first half of the day and all about collages for the second half.

Right now I am totally wearing a pajama top like it's a regular top. Andy says he can totally tell, but I've asked other people and they said they could not tell. So I am going with the people who said you cannot tell I am wearing a pajama top like it's a regular top. Also- as it turns out, I don't even care. Go ahead- think I'm wearing a pajama top.

Finally, today is my friend, Karyl's birthday. Go tell her Happy Birthday.

Love,
Catie

Catching up.

Dear Kittens.

I do not mean to be the sort of person who posts to her blog infrequently. I pay for this blog I meant to be the sort of person who gets her money's worth. So, let's move forward with that in mind, okay?

birthday cake from Baskin Robbins. I told the lady I need 40 pink roses.

So we're almost 20 days into this month long celebration of my 40th birthday and I'm about to fall over from exhaustion. Thankfully the big parties are over with and there are just a couple friend dates and a family dinner planned. It's been an amazing experience and I am so lucky that there are so many people in my life willing to indulge my whimsy.

Maybe I was drunk here. I don't know. (taken by Tracy)

Last weekend was the bocce ball party and it was great fun. My team won, which made it even more fun. There's a whole set on Flickr, but I'll share a few here. It may or may not be clear from the photos that I am not the most gracious winner ever in the world. The only sad part of the bocce ball party is that Danny couldn't be there. He had to work and he was sorely missed. The best part of playing bocce is the trash talk. The lowest insult leveled was when I called Charlie a mathlete. Yeah, I know it doesn't seem THAT bad, but it was. You totally had to be there.

STEVE HOLT! Winners.

After months and months of not reading anything except the Internet, I am finally reading again. I don't know why I sometimes need to take these breaks from reading, but apparently I do. I'm enjoying the book I'm reading quite a lot, but it's making me steaming mad and that's causing some disturbing dreams. Not scary dreams, just disturbing. Like last night I was dreaming about this tedious day and finally I realized- WAKE THE FUCK UP! And I did and was so relieved. The book is In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I went to hear him talk last month. It's very good and extremely well written, but it makes me mad because it clearly illustrates how poor the information about food and nutrition is and that's upsetting. It also sort of explains why I have never been helped by a nutritionist.

Some foods I eated once.

Andy and I are gearing up to do some work done around the house. It's all about the outside, which I am sure will make our long suffering neighbors happy. New fence. Landscaping. Windows. House painted. And then we will go right back to being poor again. HOORAY!

burned up fence

I haven't been doing much work lately, which is starting to get me down. At first I needed some space, but now I need some work. If I play my cards right, tomorrow I will be able to do some laundry and get my spring/summer line of cards started if not finished.

Arts I made

It is pouring rain outside right now and I've got the front door open and the cool, wet air feels and smells so good to me. It's making the kitties sad, but they will survive- I just know it.

kitties in a tussle

Love,
Catie

taken by Breeana

Mobile post sent by catiecake using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

Hello, Forty (now with less weeping)

Dear Kittens,

Andy kept asking me what I wanted to do for my 40th birthday. And I kept not having an answer because what I really wanted was something that seemed too far fetched. I finally decided to go ahead and ask for it because- why not? So I told Andy what I really wanted was a birthday party with my discussion group. See, I participate in this Internet discussion group and it's very special. We get along beautifully and are all mushy with each other and it's a little magical bubble of awesomeness. So I floated the idea to the group and like 2 weeks later several people had tickets and room reservations and before I knew it- I had reservations for 16 people for sushi for Saturday night. These amazing women flew from Toronto, Maine, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Washington and some drove up the beautiful state of California to be here. This is the most perfect example of why you should ask for exactly what you want- because sometimes you will get it and it will be even better that you imagined.

And that was my weekend. Better than I ever imagined. Better than I could've ever hoped for.

For me, it was one of those life affirming experiences that makes you fall in love with everyone and everything. There was just so much love and so many hugs and so much booze. I mean a lot of booze. I think the final count was 9 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of champagne, 1/2 a bottle of bourbon, a quarter of a fifth of Jack Daniels, half a giant jug of margaritas, 5 pitchers of sangria and 6 margaritas.13 women, 12 drinkers. What? We were thirsty!

I have never been the sort of person to have tons of friends. I've always preferred a small social circle. But now I feel like I have all these new best friends and it's really pretty awesome.

I am absolutely coasting on love (and maybe booze) fumes right now and it's entirely possible that I will change my mind about this, but right this second- I cannot imagine a better age than 40. Forty seems magical and liberating and entirely bitchen.

LOVE!

Catie 

Mobile post sent by catiecake using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

Not Dead. Just 40.

Dear Kittens,

I do not have much time. I need to take some people out to breakfast, but I wanted to tell you some stuff.

1. Today is my birthday and I'm 40 and I have never been so excited about a birthday year, except when I turned 10.

2. I have had the most awesome long weekend and feel so loved and hugged and overwhelmed.

3. And also very, very tired. We will be doing exactly NOTHING for my birthday because more than anything I need to be at home and rest.

Baby Kittens- I love you all so much. Even those of you who did not fly across the country to visit me last weekend, but if you are one of those kittens who did that- I just have no words for the depth of my affection and appreciation for you.

Love,

Catie

All Better!

Dear Kittens,

I wanted to write something yesterday, but for the first half of the day I was busy still being miserable and for the second half of the day I was busy being relieved. Still, I shouldn't have left you Kittens hanging.

The freak out moment for everyone- including me- was the blood coming out of my eye. I'm still sort of shocked that I didn't really lose my shit in a more noticeable way than extremely high blood pressure. We tallied it up yesterday- I bled for 5 hours Saturday night/early Sunday morning.

I got an appointment at 2 pm on Monday with the Ear Nose and Throat specialist, who is also a hand surgeon. So the first thing the guy tells me is that he likes to leave the packing (also known as a Rhino Rocket) in for 4-6 days. The tears start to well up because I cannot take several more days of this level of discomfort. Blah, blah, blah he takes it out. I don't immediately start bleeding, but apparently where the blood is coming from is a part of the nose that is already very rich with blood vessels and while I am not exactly "bleeding", he's feeling certain it's probably going to start bleeding again. So then he decides to use silver nitrate to cauterize the area. This dude feels like cautery should be used as a last resort because if he kills the blood supply to that area of my nose, then the tissue will die and no one really wants part of a dead nose. He numbed me up so good that I didn't feel a single thing. And as soon as we walked out of there I felt so much better.

I probably don't need to tell you that it was really stressful having that packing up my nose and the discomfort that went with it was quickly becoming unbearable for me. The ER doc gave me Perocet and I took it Sunday night and I'm so sorry that I did. I do not like how Percocet makes me feel. It took away none of the discomfort and just knocked me out and then I feel woozy and out of it for about 18 hours afterward. The relief of having the packing out my nose was amazing. I was so tense from having that thing in. I spent a good portion of Monday afternoon just deep breathing and stretching, reminding my muscles it was okay to relax.

I have a big party this weekend and of course I am behind, but I'm hopeful I can catch up. I'm focusing on the important stuff and letting the less important stuff (hanging art) go. Hopefully I can catch up and get EVERYTHING done on time.

Thank you so much for all the well wishes! It really means a lot when you're feeling horrible to know that your very sweet Kittens are holding good thoughts for you.

Love,
Catie