catiecake.

See ya later, Two Thousand Nine.

Dear Kittens,

1. Christmas was very nice as Christmas often is. I got a lovely ceramic watch from my parents, a elephant teapot from my sister and a necklace with the letter "C" in diamonds from Andy. DIAMONDS! I love the sparkly so much. I also got an ebleskiver pan. I'm pretty sure that ebleskivers will feature prominently in all future brunches.

2. I am so ready for 2010.

3. I've shied away from resolutions for some time mostly because the word seems synonymous with failure. I think because so often people make the resolutions they think they SHOULD make instead of the ones they really want to make. I'm not making any resolutions for 2010, but I do have some intentions. The differencece might be semantics, but just play along with me. Setting an intention does not mean everything needs to be perfect. In fact, I can completely abandon all of this and set different intentions if it turns out that these are not working for me. 

4. I've thought about these intentions for a long time. I decided to make intentions for every day, every week and ever month. The overall theme for my year is movement. Physical movement, forward movement, moving past my comfort zone. Like that.

Daily- I wanted my daily intention to be something simple and easy enough to accomplish, but I also wanted it to be flexible so it could be challenging, too. I chose walking. The walk can be as long or as short as I want it to be, but the deal is I walk every day.

Weekly- This intention takes the form of projects. Sewing a skirt, making bread, something along those lines. I've got 52 ideas listed out, but I'll be adding to the list so that I can have plenty to choose from. My promise to myself is that I'll be prepared for whatever the project is so I can jump right in as soon as the week begins. This probably means that I'll alternate between challenging things and less challenging so that it doesn't get overwhelming or feel like I"m torturing myself.

Monthly-I wanted something that would benefit my marriage. After thinking about it for a long time I finally came up with monthly getaways for Andy and me. We've attempted this before, but this time I've got a good plan. I've listed out 18 places- some near, some far, some that include family and friends, some that are just for us. Also, instead of taking turns planning these getaways, I'm doing them all. I think it makes it easier for me to be in charge of this because I don't have the stress of a regular job to get in the way of making time to plan this stuff out.

5. As a bonus intention, I am recommitting myself to my creative endeavors. I've floundered creatively for the last couple of years, but I'm ready to jump back into this creative scene and try new things, revisit old things and just generally have fun with being creative.

And now I'm going to bed.

I love you all so much and I hope that 2010 is a great year for everyone and since that's completely impossible, I hope that everyone thrives and keeps moving forward no matter what setbacks happen.

Love,

Catie

Dear Kittens,

1. I'm eating cranberry orange yogurt for breakfast and it's really good! I like to eat plain yogurt with jams mixed in, but we had this leftover cranberry sauce just sitting in the fridge and so I put it in my yogurt and Oh My Bod! I'm a genius. At yogurt. And maybe toast, but let's just stick with the yogurt right now.

2. My parents are coming down to help us decorate our tree. We're going to have pastrami sandwiches to celebrate Hanukkah. Look, we're not Jewish, this is the best we can do. Did I already tell you that I decided this year to decorate the tree with only paper and felt because of a certain dog that'snever seen the wonders of a Christmas tree before? I've made up a bunch of ornaments and we're all set. This way none of my gorgeous glass ornaments will be shattered all over the floor, which would make me cry.

3. A while back we got this giant shadow box. It's six feet tall! The idea was that I was going to fill it with interesting stuff and it would be art. Except, I am completely stymied by this thing. It's so massive, how does one even start? Should there be a theme? And if so, WHAT? Mostly I just stare and it and wonder what the hell to do with it, but I think I will need to get serious after Christmas.I mean, it's already hanging on the wall. There's no way to ignore it. Plus, our living room is so freaking boring when it comes to art right now.

4. I started this group on Flickr called Regulation Type Broad. It's where regular women take photos of what they're wearing. This coming week I've decided to take a photo of what I'm wearing every single day. Even if what I'm wearing is pajamas. Because sometimes, I will not lie, that is what I wear all day long. Anyway, if you're on Flickr and you'd like to join, let me know and I will send you and invitation.

It is time for me to party in the shower. With the soap and the water.

Love,

Catie

p.s. if you're interested in that shampoo I recommended go to www.chazdean.com That site has the full line of products and describes each shampoo and the hair type it is best suited for. I'm still loving this shampoo a lot! Right now I'm using the lavender one, but I think I prefer cucumber aloe.

Here is some stuff for you to know about:

1. Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturizing Lotion. If you tend to be dry and uncomfortable in the winter- this stuff is AMAZING. It's unscented and it feels so good on your skin.

2. Huggable hangers at The Container Store. These hangers do not leave any weird indentiations on your clothes and because of their very thin profile, they make your clothes take up less space than other hangers. Also, your clothes do not slip off these hangers.

3. Smart Wool socks. www.smartwool.com They are expensive. They are also worth it. They help prevent blisters, they're very good looking and a lot of them come in sizes so you can have a really good fit!

4. Dark chocolate caramels from Trader Joes. These are amazing treats. They are rich and delicious and the most perfect after dinner sweet. I eat two of them after dinner and they totally satisfy my sweet tooth without being a ton of calories or carbs!

5. WEN shampoo. www.wenhaircare.com This is a weird shampoo. It's sulfate free and it seems more like a conditioner than a shampoo. I got the cucumber mint formula and I was very wary. But! I love it! It's very invigorating to my scalp, my hair feels truly clean and is really shiny. It also does not weigh down my hair, which is important since my hair is so fine and so straight. There is another forumla for damaged hair, but I tell you this, I would not recommend that forumla unless your hair is REALLY damaged. I also recommend not using QUITE as much as is recomemnded. The directions say to use 16-24 pumps, but I get by with 10 pumps nicely. I expect longer and thicker hair needs more, but you get the idea.

cove

dear kittens,

1. dog class tonight was awesome. we had a subsitute teacher. her name is fran and while her energy is completely different from mike's, she leads a great class and she really put us through our paces. i'm so super ppleased with how well murray is progressing and every time he does well in class it makes me forget all the stuff (coming when called) that he totally sucks at.

2. i worked on a small craft project and got it finished in two days. which is great, because i plan on making a ton of stuff for our christmas tree this year, so now i am free to do that. well, not TOTALLY free because i am doing a few handmade things for christmas, but those are mostly evening projects that wil not take me long.

3. tomorrow is thursday! this week has flown by for me. i'm having lunch with a friend and then i hope she might be interested in helping me shop for window treatments for the living room. the living room window has been a pain in my ass for some time. why window, why? hopefully i can find a good solution tomorrow that will not be super expensive.

and now i go do the sleeping thing.

love,

catie

Perfect Taste.

Dear Kittens,

1. There have been lots of changes in the house, but I'm waiting to take photos because I haven't totally decided on the art for the rooms where the changes took place. I always procrastinate about wall art. I have so many great pieces, I just can't decide where to put them!

2. Thanksgiving went off without a single hitch. We didn't forget anything and everything was delicious. My parents are totally in love with the dog. I think that's great, but man, Murray was super annoying over the Thanksgiving weekend because he was so poorly behaved. I'm glad to have things back to normal.

3. I have a bunch of crafts I need to finish up. It's hard all this crafting and what not, do you know? You probably have no idea. You are just a little furry kitten who only thinks about pouncing on things and napping. Oh, you.

4. I ordered two new pairs of jeans today and one pair fits perfectly and the other pair is too small. They are exactly the same size. I mean, clearly they are not exactly the same size, but they both SAY they are the same size. When will I stop being amazed by this? My guess is never. The one pair that fits is nice because they are perfect for rolling up and that's exactly what i've been wanting. Would it be wrong to use fusible webbing to keep my jeans permanently rolled? Will I regret it? Pls advise.

5. I have been eating a lot of peanuts lately. Roasted. Salted. In the shell peanuts. I had no idea there there was such a difference between various bags of peanuts, but there are. I got some from Target that were really horrible! The ones we have now are super good. Every peanut is perfect. You know what's really good? Eating peanuts and some sort of carbonated beverage like DIET COKE. Oh my dog. That is so wonderful. Highly recommend. A++

Love,

Catie