catiecake.

The best thing I've ever had

Dear Kittens,

1. Today I got my hair cut and colored and I realized it's been a year since my hairstylist killed herself. After trying a couple three different people, I returned to the salon where she worked and while it's absolutely not the same without her- I miss her so much- it's not quite as weird as I feared it might be. I definitely miss seeing Marcie, but I what I miss even more is how much she loved cutting my hair. She did such a good job and was always willing to tweak my bob in the smallest ways that made the biggest difference to me. My haircut now is fine. I look good. But I do not LOVE my hair like I used to.

1a. Once again I am seriously considering adding some pink to my hair. There's this gel that will supposedly tint your hair and then wash right out. I think that's what I should do because I worry that I will get some pink hair and then want it to be gone 4 days later and that's not really how it works.

2. We had a snacky sort of dinner, which we love, but one of the snacks was tzatziki and naan and it was entirely too much raw garlic for my delicate system. I sort of wish I could puke because I think I would feel loads better.

3. I am STILL working on cleaning out closets. It's sort of horrifying how much work it is. And of course, it's not really physical work, it's psychological work. What goes, what stays, what gets donated, why the fuck did I ever buy that to begin with... that sort of deal. By the end of next week I hope to have all the closets cleaned out, the hall bathroom painted and the moulding around the guest room closet painted. Also, why do two people who live in a remarkably mild climate have so many jackets? I have a freaking PARKA for some reason. I have never worn it once. I also have SNOW BOOTS. I mean, they are pink, so, haha, no way am I getting rid of them, but it does make me wonder if I'm taking the threat of global climate change a little too seriously.

I've got a date with a bed.

Love,

Catie

I am so glad I know you.

Dear Kittens,

1. I took a bike ride with Murray tonight. OMG! It's so much fun. I kept him galloping as much as possible. He did such a great job, he got distracted a few times, but mostly he just ran and ran and it was awesome. Right now my plan is to keep up with our long walk in the morning and then do the bike riding in the evening. Let's home this means a more tired puppy. YAY FOR TIRED PUPPIES.

2. So, for the third week in a row we're going to try to go to the lake this weekend. Please say a prayer to the sweet baby Jesus that this time we actually get to go in the water. You can do it, Baby Jesus! Seriously, it would be so great to be able to go swimming and go zooming around the lake. If I remember correctly, going out on the boat is like a mini vacation and that is always a welcome thing.

3. Did you know that I have a yogurt maker? Because I do. Did you know that I have never once used it? Because I have not. That is clearly ridiculous. I think making yogurt should be #1 on my list of things to do before...uh...this month is over? Yes! That is my commitment. Then once I make the yogurt you can come over and eat it with me. Thank you.

Time for sleeping!

Love,

Catie

With this boozy pop, I declare my never ending love.

Dear Kittens,

1. I do not think I am drinking enough lately. I feel like this peridically and then I do the super smart thing of drinking a whole bunch of water right before bed, which means I get up and pee at least once, but usually more in the night and guess what that means? I AM NOT GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP. At 41 years of again, one would think that simple fluid intake would not be a big deal.

2. Tonight was the last class of the Level II dog training class. We went to Los Gatos to walk around and generally draw attention to ourselves. I don't mind drawing attention to myself, but I am not the biggest fan of Los Gatos when it's crazy busy. I am also not the biggest fan of strangers passing by going GOOD BOY! and HI PUPPY! in high pitched voices. Murray cannot take it. He goes absolutely nuts because he believes this is an invitation to PARTY. The best part is then those people are miffed when my dog jumps up on them and makes them spill their wine. I will admit to you kittens in this very private forum that I did not give a very heartfelt apology.

3. Tomorrow the dog trainer is going to teach me how to ride my bike while Murray runs along side me. I admit that I feel like half a moron needing so much help with this dog, but I do! I need the help. I had cats for 18 years. When I get another cat I will not need a cat trainer. HAHA. There is no such a thing because cats are impervious to training. Of course, my inexperience aside, I want a very well behaved dog. I do not want a dog that jumps up on people or steals stuff off counters or that plays like a jerk with other dogs. I want a dog that obeys when I give a command. That's really why I spend so much time practicing this obedience stuff and working with the dog trainer. Murray is only 8 months old, but I believe he's well on his way to becoming a stellar dog. Or at least a dog I don't want to kill.

4. I always want to wear a scarf tied around my a la Rhoda, but I cannot make it work. Maybe my hair is too fine or I just don't have the right technique, but every time I do it I look like such an asshole, I immediately take the scarf off. It's a shame because I have three scarves that are perfect for such a thing. Oh, woe.

5. I have a Kindle and I absolutely love it. I was so resistant to it in the beginning, but now I think it's the best thing ever. I cannot wait to go on a trip with it. However, I still love real live hold in your hand books. I do not take my kindle everywhere I go mostly because I am carrying a relatively small purse right now. So I plan on keeping one of these books in my car and just reading it when I find myself with some time to kill. I love this plan a lot.

Love,

Catie

My love is forever and ever

Dear Kittens,

1. I have one of those baby, heart only watermelons in the refrigerator. I am going to eat half of it as soon as I finish here. You can bet this is going to be a short post.

2. Today my mom came down and I did her hair. Then we went to lunch. Then we went to the beauty supply store and then to the pet store. At the pet store we saw these really cute dwarf hamsters. I had a lot of hamsters as a kid. They're so cute, but there's no way Seamus or Murray could stand to have such a delicious pet in the house.

3. Tomorrow I'm having lunch with my baby cousin- she's nearly 25 and not my youngest cousin at all, but that's not the point. She was the first baby that I fell in love with and so I will always think of her as my baby cousin. We're going to a place in Palo Alto called Applewoods. Apparently they've got good pizza. I will report back on my findings.

4. After lunch I need to run to Lowes to get paint for the hall bath and master bedroom. I've decided to paint both rooms. The hall bath is first on my list. I was going to paint it a creamy color, but now I'm leaning more towards a very pale taupe. I'll report back. After the paint buying I'm getting my manicure/pedicure and then there's dog training class. This dog training class is going to be held in downtown Los Gatos. If you want to see a bunch of people parading around Santa Cruz Blvd with their dogs, you should come down around 7 pm. I'll be the one wit the flower in her hair.

5. So, our master bedroom has not been fantastic since we moved out of the apartment a long time ago. I have this idea of filling it with graphic art pieces that talk about love. I want that room to be all about the love and pretty much nothing else. Well, really I want the whole house to be just be about love. Oh. You know, that's the first time I realize that's the theme i want for our house. Not to be the most fashionable or the best decorated, but for every room in our house to reflect love. The love of the things we've collected, the love Andy and I share with each other and the love we have for the people we invite into our home. KITTENS! This makes things so much easier! YIPEE!.

Now I eat my baby watermelon. I hope it doesn't cry when I plunge my spoon into it's hearty goodness.

Love,

Catie

5.

You are so lovely.

Dear Kittens,

1. As many of you know, I live an extremely nice life for which I am very grateful. I get to decide how my days are spent, more or less, and I rarely have a set schedule. However, I do try to keep a good schedule because it seems like a noble pursuit. All that to say, I AM EXTREMELY TIRED TODAY. I wish I had another 2 hours of sleep this morning. I took a half assed nap earlier this afternoon, but Murray was sleeping on top of me and it was something less than restorative.

2. How many pairs of red patent leather shoes is one woman allowed? I've just ordered my fourth pair. That seems like a lot, but I'm not entirely sure. I mean, they're all very different looking and they are all awesome in their own way.

3. One of my deals for this summer is wearing flowers. Flower earrings, flower rings, flowers in my hair, flower necklace, etc. I'm enjoying all this flower business quite a lot.

4. I had a private training session with the dog trainer today. I needed help on my form when it comes to correcting Murray and so our whole session was about that. Essentially we were training me and not so much Murray. I'm so glad for this session because I really needed the help. I learned today that I am not correcting Muray fast enough and I have not been correcting him hard enough. Now I just need to practice and hopefully we'll start to see a difference in our little Wheaten.

5. My bed is very lonely without me. I should go keep it company.

Love,
Catie

I will never let go first.

Dear Kittens,

1. It was a great day for the Alameda flea market. Overcast, but not cold. My mom bought a clock from our favorite French antique people. It's a brother and sister that sell the antiques and they're our favorite. We don't always buy something from them, but we love them so much.

2. I bought a great hand mirror, a curio cabinet and some vintage table cloths. I'll take photos. I love the curio cabinet, but I'm not sure I've found the right place for it yet. While my mom and I were at the flea market, Danny and Andy went shooting. I'm a little jealous that I didn't get to go shooting, but that's okay. I will shoot again.

3. Andy got my bike tires all pumped up and I went for a short ride tonight. My legs are wobbly from all the walking at the flea market and then the bike ride. It feels soooo good. I even did a little riding while Murray ran along side me. He absolutely loved it and he was able to keep up even though I went super fast. Listen, one thing you Kittens need to know about me is that I am super fast on my Hello Kitty bike. It's like pink lightening when I ride.

4. A couple days ago I made a carrot cake. I decided to put piece of candied ginger in the cream cheese frosting and GUESS WHAT? It is delicious. I also put crushed pineapple in my carrot cake and that makes extra delicious and extra moist, except I forgot that you're not supposed to drain the pineapple so this cake is not extra moist. Just regular moist. I'ma buy some more carrots and make another one with the pineapple juice included and see how that goes.

5. I have something going on every single day for the next 9 days! Not a single droplet of it is stressful, it's all stuff that I enjoy doing and mostly it's laid back things, so I'm really looking forward.

6. My house is sort of a mess, but it's a good kind of mess. It's mostly folded clothes and dirty dishes from delicious meals. Still, it needs to be cleaned up, so I'm going to do that now.

Love,

Catie

Shake it, don't break it.

Dear Kittens,

1. What is this? Like the 100th day in a row that I've posted something to my blog? AM I AWESOME OR WHAT? Maybe I just needed a break from blogging? I don't know. I know for sure that I don't want to give up blogging. I've been doing it for so long that whenever something happens, no matter how mundane, I think about how I will tell you kittens the story. I think in blog posts. That's how commited I am to this medium.

2. Lately Andy and I have been very serious about keeping us stocked in snacks. Our latest favorite is naan and tzatziki. Also olives. And cheese of course. And sugar snap peas. Andy's become a master iced tea and lemonade maker, too. And let's not forget my ginger syrup for ginger ale. The homemade ginger ale is just about my most favorite thing ever. I've also taken to making giant batches of vinaigrette and storing them in the fridge. Because I use olive oil, it goes get solid in the refrigerator, but leaving it out in the morning means it's liquid again by dinner. Sometimes we use the vinaigrette for salad or sometimes we dip vegetables in it. It's all so delicious!

3. So everyone knows how much I love the dog trainer, right? I mean- he is absolutely my favorite person that I am not married to, related to, is not half Vietnamese, does not live in Ellensburg, Washington or is not already my friend. Anyway, he's promised to teach me how to ride my bike with Murray running along side. I CANNOT WAIT. You remember my bike, right? My awesome Hello Kitty bike that is pink and has Hello Kitty's face on the tire tread. I haven't ridden the bike in some time, so my ass has not built up any resistance, but Kittens, I can promise you this- that bike is going to get a work out with this dog and I cannot wait.

4. Speaking of my dog, Murray. I gave him a bath yesterday. Old school style, in the front yard with the hose. It was absolutely the best bath experience I've had so far with this dog. As I may or may not have mentioned, Murray is- how you say in your language- a wee bit stubborn. He approaches each new situation with great trepidation. Like, "what's in this for Murray?" Of course he's the sort of dog who refers to himself in the third person. Anyway, I gave him a bath and now he is the softest, sweetest smelling dog in the whole house.

5. My friend Jen is all the time, every second talking about The Tudors, a Showtime TV series. I finally decided to rent it via Netflx. Andy and I are watching it right this very second. Already I love it and we're just on the first episode. A few days ago I watched the mocumentary called American Teen. I'm not sure what was umentary and what was moc, but I enjoyed it.

6. At first I thought that we would go see fireworks tonight and maybe we still will, but right now I am so happy to be at home without plans, just puttering around. I've been doing some cleaning and organizing and TV watching and Interneting. Its just the perfect day. Plus! Tomorrow is flea market day and I am especially excited. I'm not sure why I'm so excited, but I am. And hopefully that's a good omen for finding extra great stuff.

Love,
Catie

I love you and this time I really mean it.

Dear Kittens,

1. GAH! Boating did not work out AGAIN. We were late leaving and then there was a tremendous amount of traffic and so we were late for our launch appointment and then the parking lot had reached capacity and so we werturned away and we all cried a little bit.

2. Another complaint is that I bought a new bathing suit and it smooshes my boobies. It smooshes my boobies so much that when I took it off my nipples were sort of inverted for a little while. That's some serious bosom control. I will admit only to you kittens that I ordered the swimsuit online and I ordered a size smaller than what I've previously worn and maybe this swimsuit is slightly too small. It doesn't look bad, but it just feels like the swimsuit really loves me and wants to hug me super tight all the time.

3. The good part about heaving everything ready for the boat is that we have tons of drinks that have been sitting in ice. I love ice cold drinks. They're so icey cold and then you drink them and it is wonderful.

4. We've got three mini thugs in our neighborhood. As far as I can they spend the majority of their time looking for some manner of trouble. They'll walk around testing car doors to see if one is unlocked, they will throw their litter on the ground and mostly they just wander around the neighborhood trying to look touch. On more than one occasion I've shooed them away from one thing or another and when they try to give me a hard scary look, I look them right in their mini thug eyes. One thing that strikes me as hilarious is that they are afraid of Murray. One day last week I was outside with Murray. I had him on his long leash and I was throwing a frisbee for him. The frisbee went out on the sidewalk and Murray ran for it and on those mini thugs SQUEALED in fear because of Murray. MURRAY. HAHAHA. He might lick them to death, but that would be about it.

5. Here are the plans for tomorrow- general and specific straightening and organizing, eating delicious foods that are delicious, walking the dog and reading. It should be a great day. Oh, also, maybe we see some fireworks. Or maybe we go to a movie or maybe we watch a movie at home. ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN.

Love,

Catie

Bang!

Dear Kittens,

1. I know, but let's not get too excited. There is no telling how long this updating will last.

2. One of the awesome things about this so-called economic downturn is that places are super eager for your business. Sales, coupons, offers of percentages off your next purchase and so on. I heard some economist type say that a recession is good for those who have jobs.

3. I am in the process of returning a buttload of shoes to Zappos. I will not divulge the number of shoes or the dollar amount that will be refunded back to me. I will just say it's a lot and oi, I need to get better about returning things as soon I know they aren't going to work. Andy is helping me go through all this stuff and organize it and I am so extra thankful because maybe I mentioned that it's a lot of stuff?

4. I mostly read before I go to sleep and this is an awesome plan except for when I read a compelling book. A little while ago I decided that I wanted to read all Jane's Austen's books. I started with Emma and actually never finished it. It was a great before bed book because I would read 5-10 pages and then fall immediately asleep. Now I am reading two books I am enjoying and I AM NOT GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP as a result.

5. Tomorrow we go out on the boat with my sister and her family. We didn't do any boating last year and so I am extra super excited to go tomorrow. I am hoping that we keep boating through October. Actually, I wouldn't mind visiting the lake in the winter, too, if it's not raining.

6. Andy's been wanting me to go shooting with him for a ridiculously long time. Since he was off this week, it seemed like a good time to go. So he made the arrangements for us to have a private safety class/shooting lesson with a guy who works out Reed's Indoor Range. The whole experience was a really good one and I am super glad that we did it. Andy is like some sort of natural when it comes to shooting. He did really well, never once missing his intended target. I think I did pretty well for a first time shooter and for someone who has not spent an inordinate amount of time playing shooty video games. My favorite part was the safety lesson because now I know how how a gun works, how to disarm it, how to load it and how to shoot it.

And now it's time to make some choices about dinner. How's about pizza?

Love,

Catie

july!

Dear Kittens,

1. Look, it's a new month. Let's see what happens.

2. Murray is 8 months old today. He's lived with us for nearly 5 months and it's been quite an experience. I love this dog and we have a lot of fun with him. He is 100% a party dog. He's never met a dog or other person that he did not want to play with. Seeing a person means automatic wiggles. Plus, he is super cute. I mean unbearably cute. He knows how to sit, how to stand, how to lie down. He knows how to stay in all those positions. He will give me kisses on command. He can high 5. He knows the hand signals for most of those commands and he knows how to stick his nose down my shirt and go into my bra and inhale deeply. (uh, I didn't teach him to do the last one, it's just a favorite thing of his to do)

If I had to do it all over again, I would still get Murray, I just would've waited before we got him. I was still pretty deep in my grief over losing my beloved Petey and it was really very poor timing for a new puppy. And let's not even talk about a puppy like Murray. But I didn't wait and overall having this dog has been a life changing experience.

3. I've been working more and more on my creative endeavors and that's feeling extra super awesome. I'm making a variety of stuff, all of which I am very proud. So yay for that.

That's all for now. Maybe I write more tomorrow!

Love,

Catie