catiecake.

Twelfth of November

Telephones sitting on a shelf in my house. Even though the pink one is not plugged in, I use it regularly to talk to people.

Dear Kittens,

It's the 12th of November and while I do not think I have to tell you what that means, I will. It's only THREE months until my first Large Number birthday. I am not dreading it quite as much as I thought I would. This is in large part to working with Life Coach. If I were in the same place mentally as I was when I first hired Life Coach, I would be very sad about turning 40, but I'm not! I'm in a much better place and really, it just keeps getting better. So, I'm not hugely excited about turning 40, but today I do not hate it.

Also, this morning I went for a walk. I've been walking most days, but not always in the morning. Lately my goal has been to just get in one walk a day and not to be invested in when it happened. One of my issues is setting up ridiculous rules for myself like if you don't walk first thing in the morning, there cannot be any other walks! Just so you know, rules are said loudly and usually with a British accent in my head. As another aside, there are real reasons I prefer to walk first thing in the morning (less going on, less sun, nice way to start my day, etc.). So, this morning I went for a walk and my orange cat, Seamus, came with me. He was in a very happy mood to be going on a walk. He leaped over puddles, he said hello to various animals, he chatted happily, it was great. The best thing we saw on our walk was an orange fluffy cat that looked like a tiny fox. The foxy orange cat was looking for trouble, but we were on our fitness walk and so we ignored him.

This week begins the holiday madness. On Wednesday, I do into my mom's classroom to make a Thanksgiving craft with the kids. On the weekend there is a friend date and a housewarming party, then next week is Thanksgiving and then the freaking holiday parties begin. This is all very good and fun stuff, but it also means things are BUSY. I realized the other day, this is why I like to stay at home and keep it quiet for New Year's Eve. Firstly, the whole forced party thing seems ridiculous, but also it's usually a pretty busy holiday season for us and it's really nice to spend the last/first holiday quietly drunk at home.

I started reading a book last night, called The Snapper by Roddy Dowell. So far it's all dialog and it's quite funny, but also very familiar. I looked it up today and I learned it was a movie. And I saw it a long time ago. I remember liking the movie quite a lot. The story is set in Ireland and the thing I like about it is that the author writes out a good portion of the dialog phonetically and so you're reading that Irish accent and it makes the experience that much better. 

Here are my promises to you, My Very Most Favorite Delightful Kittens-

1. I'll post a new photo every single day (Mon-Fri).

2. I am going to buy candy for that big jar on the shelf so when you come over you can have a piece of candy. (Only 1 piece, though.)

3. I will get rid of a BUNCH of magazines this week. A BUNCH! And I MEAN it.

But right now, I'm going to bed.

Love,
Catie

Seventh of November

Dear Kittens,

I'm listing it out for you because that's where I am today. Listville.

1. Today was the first day I've been chilly. It was nice, but also sort of alarming because where are my winter clothes?

2. I went to Happy Hallow for the first time today and I sort of loved it. It's run down, borderline creepy and also great for kids! We didn't see any animals today because the kid I went with wasn't into the animals. I will go back another time for the animals.

3. I had sushi for dinner and oh my, it was so delicious. Even more delicious than normal because I was extra special hungry. I love the sushi.

4. I've been experiencing some anxiety lately. Like a low level, but constant sense of nervousness for about a week. There have been breaks in this anxiety. When I'm walking, when I'm working or when I'm doing something fun. I've been thinking about this anxiety and my theory about is that it's procrastination causing it. When I'm being proactive, I do not feel it. When I'm putting off, ignoring or denying something- I feel the anxiety pretty much constantly.

5. Also, I am ready for bed. It's late for me.

6. Tomorrow is a day of laundry and various other fun things like card making and what not.

Love,

Catie 

Fourth of November

Dear Kittens,

The flea market today was disappointing. I managed to buy a gorgeous glass footed compote bowl and an empty picture frame. I've got quite the collection of serveware going. I should have a party or something.

Today was good because I was outside, with my mom and I was walking. It felt really good to get away from the house and do something completely unrelated to my work. I truly love what I do, but the last week has been extremely stressful for me (my own fault) and getting away was good. Speaking of which- all of my holiday stuff is up. Cards, artwork (makes a great gift), ornaments and stockings. www.catiecake.com

We started on our yearly review of Firefly. Sometimes we watch the whole series more than once a year. Man alive, even though I know every episode by heart, I still love the series so very much.

Last week I was supposed to start a new program of awesomeness or whatever I was calling it, but it's for sure starting this week. I've been advised by my trusted advisor, Craige, that maybe my initial plans were a bit much and I should start slower. So slower is what I'm going to do. I do everything Craige tells me to do, which is remarkably easy since she pretty much never tells me what to do.

I have a full week of productivity, awesomeness and fun ahead of me and because of that I am going to bed early! Two nights in a row of a decent bedtime. Thank you, Fall Backwards time change.

Love,

Catie

Third of November

Sneak peek of things to come at www.catiecake.com

Dear Kittens,

I am so irritated that there should be a name for this level of irritation. Like Super Major Really and Truly Irritation. Or something. I am certain it's because of lack of enough sleep over what seems to be a very long period of time. It's getting better, the sleeping a proper number of house, but it's not ideal yet. Wah. Wah. Wah.

Here's what you really need to know- my website has been updated. Go visit www.catiecake.com To see part of of what I've been working on. Right now you can see cards and artwork, but very soon Christmas tree ornaments and stockings will be up. Kittens, if you would please do me the favor of passing on the URL of my website on to people you believe would be interested, I will be very grateful.

My webgirl is the most amazing webgirl ever in the world. Her name is Kate McMillan and her website is www.outboxonline.com . If you want an amazingly designed website, Kate is your gal. She has been an invaluable partner to me. Truly, I do not know anyone that I would trust more with my website. Her asthetic is spot on. Her work ethic is awe-inspiring. I'm lucky enough to be friends with Kate. Seriously, pass her name on to people who need a kick ass website.

In non website news- tomorrow is the flea market. I'm meeting my mom there and we are going to walk and walk and walk and walk until we feel like dying. Then we'll go out to lunch. We might even buy some stuff. We're both always on the lookout for religious things like crucifixes, icons and rosary beads, various small pieces of furniture (I have a thing for small tables and chairs) and I'm going to be looking for beads for to make necklaces with. I really need a day like what tomorrow is going to be.

You are loved!

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

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!

Today, I am not your friend, Seamus.

Dear Kittens,

It's late and I don't stay up this late anymore, but there are some things I wanted to tell you.

Firstly, we had an Internet friend, Mary and her husband, Fred over for dinner. It was a lovely meeting and while I know there are plenty of people who do not meet Internet people, you totally should because they are always awesome.

Secondly, earlier today Seamus attacked Roo. All the cats decided to go outside at the same time and while I was doing some straightening up, I heard Roo scream, I ran outside and Seamus had him down and was biting the back of his neck. Roo was hissing and screaming and ugh! It was so awful. I slapped my hands and Seamus let him go and Roo ran inside. After a brief examination, I couldn't find any damage done to Roo. I don't know if Seamus thinks he's playing, or if he's trying to kill Roo because he's the weakest cat. Alls I know is, It was very upsetting and even though Seamus is extremely cute and sleeping on a pillow next to me as I type, I hate his guts today.

Going to Yosemite was a lot of fun, but I'm worn out from all the driving and my ears are worn out from the rapid increase and decrease in elevation. I've never asked a doctor if this is true, but it's my belief that the chronic ear infections I experienced from the age of baby until I was 20 has impacted the way my ears regulate air pressure. As in, my ears do not regulate air pressure well at all. Swimming under 3 feet of water is extremely painful for me.

This weekend is our anniversary trip. Andy has planned a trip for us. The destination is a surprise to me. I have a couple of guesses where we're going, but I don't know for sure and I haven't asked. I haven't asked because it's entirely too easy for me to guess. I know for 100% fact that we will have a good time, but I am not, right this second, excited. Mostly it's because we just got home and I'm tired and it feels like there's a million things to do, even though that's not exactly the truth.

Anyway, tomorrow (Wednesday) I am going to relax and do laundry. And maybe I'll watch a movie or read a book or IM people. Who knows? Anything could happen, it's Wednesday after all.

It's raining right now and listening to the rain fall is making me feel cozy and sleepy.

You are loved, Kittens!

Catie

There! I said it.

Dear Kittens,

I did not mean to let so much time pass inbetween posts. I don't know what happens sometimes. The stories are there, I just don't write them out. I'ma list it out so we get to everything. You guys know that you can click on any of my photos and see larger versions, right? Well now you do.

1. I went to my mom's class for the first time this school year. She's got another lovely set of kids. A little while ago she had a horrible bunch and it made her life so miserable. The nice thing about this group and last year's group is that they're fairly creative and so doing crafts with them is a lot of fun.

2. For the last several months Roo has gotten into the habit of meowing very loudly for me to get up and turn on the water in the tub to the perfect amount of trickle. And then sit on the toilet and keep him company. It's been going on for so long that my body had been trained to need to go pee at 5 am. A full hour before I want to be up. Andy finally decided to get a kitty water fountain that simulates a faucet. HAHA. Roo wants nothing to do with this "kitty water fountain" and had turned up his assholery to a whole new level. Instead of making him go cold turkey, I'm weaning him from the tub water. Today I put a fresh bowl of water into the tub. The best thing is that he kept looking at the bowl of water, then at the faucet, then at me. Like. "what the fuck do you think you're up to?" He did finally drink and I admit to feeling a small triumph over the smallest member of the family.

3. My sister came down over the weekend and we did Catie's Girly Package of Fun. Which means manicures and pedicures, lunch and shopping. We were celebrating her birthday a little early. It was a lovely day and I'm so glda that we got to do it. I meant to take photos of our Girly fun, but I didn't. 

4. I've been doing a number of paper crafts lately. It's all in an effort to spark my creativity to finish my line of Christmas stuff for my business. This year has been particularly frustrating for me because, Kittens, the ideas just are Not working out. My dead line is Oct 20th (set by me), so I really need to get the show on the road and what not.

5. I should write about my family history. I worry about you Kittens getting confused.

6. This weekend we're going to Yosemite. We're staying in a hotel just outside the park, at the south end. We're celebrating my mom's 60 (!) birthday. When I was a kid we went to Yosemite every year in the fall. The last time we went was when my parents were camping there for 2 weeks and we visited them one weekend. During their camping vacation they had a bear peel down their truck door and steal some food AND there was an earthquake. That was something like 10 years ago, so we're long overdue for a visit to Yosemite.

7. So, my mom is turning 60, which means I am turning 40 and neither of us are particularly thrilled about the whole thing. I remember HER 40th birthday like it was just a few years ago. My grandpa died 5 months before her birthday and in total Grandpa Geoge style, his dying wish was that we throw a surprise birthday for my mom's 40th. So my grandma, her sister and Danny and I planned a surprise party for her. She was surprised and deeply touched by everyone who showed up to celebrate with her and she also let me know, in no uncertain terms, that there would never be another surprise party. And so, you know, there has not. Instead we go on trips or have tea parties and go shopping for antiques.

8. When people talk about cats being aloof and self sufficient- I know immediately that this talking person has never had cats. We have three cats, none of them are aloof or self sufficient. They all need huge amount of affection RIGHT! THIS! SECOND! and while I believe Petey and Seamus could keep their bellies full by hunting, Roo cannot. Speaking of hunting, there was a dead, headless baby squirrel on our walkway yesterday. When I asked Seamus what happened to the head, he said he had no idea what I was talking about. I'm pretty sure he's lying. Petey is absolutely my kitty boyfriend. He loves me so much, neither of us can barely stand it. In fact, as I sit in this chair and type, he is on top of me mushing my boobs and then my stomach and looking up at me wondering how I can continue to type with a fluffy black love machine on top of me. Seamus is more like a massage client. A few times a day he comes around looking for a particular amount of love, but he does not give love. Seamus believes his orange stripy presence is enough. Roo is a tiny furry human. Bacon and shrimps are love to Roo. And Andy. Roo loves Andy so very, very much. (Not in a gay way, though)

9. I'm participating in a group on Flickr where you take a self portrait every day for 7 days. I've been having a very good time playing around with my photo editor and even though I fully admit to such when I post my photos, there are members of this group who do not bother to read descriptions of the photos and so they're all- Your eyes! Dudes- my eyes and dare I say, nobody's eyes, are that color! C'est Impossible!

10. Do you feel updated? You LOOK updated. I do my best to be better this week with the updates.

Love, Love, Love,

Catie 

Pink bike!

Dear Kittens,

I know how obsessed you Kittens are with my hair and so I will tell you that the cut is different and while the highlights are way more obvious than I wanted, they do look pretty. I will take a photo tomorrow for you to look at. The best thing about my hair is that I'vee got a bunch of layers and I can pretty much replicate my hair from my 9th grade school photo as seen here: (my hair now is much shorter)

I haven't been feeling that great this week, which is irritating. I am pretty certain it's all about what I've been eating. My choices haven't been the worst in the world, but they aren't the best, either. I really need to get back into the swing of cooking regularly and what not, I just haven't been feeling it. Maybe I should get back into cooking by inventing another theme week of dinners. Remember when I did the week of salads? That was so tasty and fun! Maybe a week of soups?

I am so tired. I really want to go to bed very early tonight. For a long time I thought that 7.5 hours was enough for me, but now I'm thinking that I need at least 8 and maybe even 8.5. Believe me, I am shocked by this, but when I get 7.5 I'm good for 2 days, but by day 3 I am really tired and headachey and complainy.

Also, this is really reaching to include one more photo, but can you believe that I have not been on my bike at all this year? NOT EVEN ONCE! That is clearly not acceptable. Look at it. It's pink and has a basket and had Hello Kitty Face tread. I mean what sort of ingrate am I. Well, let me tell you what, Kittens- I am riding my bike all fall! Except in the rain and or wind. I do not like wind and obviously you do not ride a pink bike in the rain.

Kittens, as I previously mentioned, I am so tired and so now I'm going to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and then I'm going to brush my teeth, wash my face, apply various European youth vita spheres to my face and then go bed. T

he End,

Catie

(I love you)