catiecake.

8th Grade.

Kittens!

I have not forgotten my goal to update every day this month, I just wasn't quite prepared for what a toll this week would take on me.

On Tuesday we went to Breeana's 8th grade graduation. The drive from my area to my sister's area is SUCH a nightmare during the week. It took us the better part of 3 hours to drive 80 miles. And there are people who do that commute every day. Still, I am so glad to be invited to stuff like this and would never miss out on any of it.

The graduation was, you know, sort of horrible. One of the most disturbing things was how speakers at the graduation kept going on and on about the kids' accomplishment. Um. You passed 8th grade. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO THAT.

Breeana (aka Miss Banana Face) is on her way to high school. She is a very smart, funny and pretty girl. She's one of those freaky kids that LOVE school. She hates to be out sick and after just a few weeks of break, she's ready to be back at it. It seems impossible to believe that the pint size chatterbox that used to ride around in my car with me looking for adventure is a real live teenager. She's matured in such a lovely way. She's a kind and thoughtful girl who carries herself with grace. I know that even in the best of times high school is a rough terrain to cover and Breeana is bound to find to share bumps and bruises. I wish for her that high school is mostly full of really good friends who make her laugh so much her stomach muscles hurt the next day, that she's got teachers who inspire and encourage and one really good (and chaste) boyfriend.

Jared (our nephew) decided to ride with us back to my sister's house. It was a nice chance to get to chat with him. We talked about school and summer plans and once in the car he had some questions about our GPS. Then there was a natural break in the conversation and Jared says, "Um. Okay, Aunt Catie? I'm going to talk to Uncle Andy now." They proceeded to talk about Mario Galaxy Quest for the rest of the ride. That kid kills me.

Love,
Catie   

Planning

Dear Kittens,

Tomorrow my friend Jodie and her daughter, Emily, are coming over for a tea party. Jodie and I try to get together once a month. We usually average seeing each other about 10 times a year. We met in 9th grade. I was starting a new school and Jodie was the first person that made an effort to be my friend. She is the sort of person who has a lot of friends and does a very good job of keeping in touch with everyone. I love attending parties at her house because her friends are all really wonderfully diverse women who are fun to be around. Anyway, Jodie and I have known each other since 9th grade and through that 26 year relationship we've been close and then not so close and then close again. But we've never lost touch. And even though we do not have a tremendous amount in common- I deeply appreciate the history that we share and I know that if I ever needed her, Jodie would be there for me to the absolute best of her ability.

Tomorrow we're going to eat sandwiches of the following varieties: cucumber, smoked turkey with provolone and spicy mustard and egg salad. I might also add a peanut butter and jelly sandwich just for good measure because I am positive the kidlet will eat that. I'm also making a berry salad with yogurt dressing. My plan is for us to sit in my living room with some nice music playing and to maybe draw some pictures and eat our tea party foods and talk about important things. And then we will go to the Japanese market and look around and then maybe we will find a nice spot to take photos and do some more Important talking. Maybe if I am inspired tomorrow, I will come up with a craft idea for us, but I am not holding out much hope for that on account of the fact that I am tired.

This week is going to be a very busy week for me and I am excited about every single part of it. I've got my tea party, Breeana's graduation, dutch door installed and maybe some other stuff that I do not even totally remember!

Right now it is time for sleeping, which will not be that easy for me because I insisted on drinking the better part of a gallon of iced tea. At the time it seemed like such a good idea because it tasted so good and made me feel so good. Maybe I have learned my lesson about drinking so much iced tea, but I doubt it. I totally expect that I will do it again.

Love,
Catie 

5 Books I love And Why

Dear Kittens,

I have always loved to read. I was in elementary school and my parents needed a strict punishment, they would take away my nighttime reading. It was a good punishment because I always felt it much worse than when they grounded me or took away some toy. I still read at night almost every night.

Here are 5 books I love.

1. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Do not tell me if you did not love this book because I will judge you harshly. Barbara Kingsolver took 5 years writing this story about sisters with missionary parents who go to Africa. She wrote the entire book from each sister's perspective and then put it all together. Never before have I read characters that were so beautifully developed and recognizable. I read this book one hot summer and I would often take little naps while I read and my dreams were always filled with scenes from the book. Sometimes I would wake up in that groggy state where you aren't really sure where you are or what day it is and be surprised that I wasn't actually in Africa. I am the sort who will reread books several times, but I've only read Poisonwood Bible once. It almost felt like an event to me, it happened at a certain time and place in my life and I enjoyed the experience so thoroughly that I do not want to ruin it by reading it again when I might not have the time or brain space to fully immerse myself.

2. Net of Jewels by Ellen Gilchrist. My love for Ellen Gilchrist is well known. My favorite thing about her writing is that she will often revisit characters through short stories or novels and I love that because I grow attached to these people and really want to know what's going on in their lives. I love all her books, but Net of Jewels is my comfort book. If I am stressed out or extremely busy I will reread this book. My guess is that I've read it at least 10 times. It's about Rhoda Manning who is wild and troubled and wonderful and dramatic and maybe a little bit crazy. Rhoda's life is told through many of Ellen Gilchrist's stories, but in this book I think this Rhoda at her best. Sometimes when I read this book I will just open up to a random page and start reading. Other times I start from the beginning and read normally. No matter how I do it, I instantly sink right into the story and feel comforted by the familiar characters and start to pretend that I am in the south, living a completely different life than my own.

3. Children Playing Before A Statue of Hercules edited by David Sedaris. This is a book of short stories that David Sedaris put together for some charity. Firstly, I love short stories. A perfectly crafted short story is way more satisfying to me than a novel. And really, I think more difficult to write than a novel because you have no time for nonsense. These stories don't really have a common thread- I guess maybe you could say love, but it's a very loose connection, if at all. Each story is wonderful in it's own way and after I read each story I would close the book, hold it against my chest and sigh. I was so certain that I would eventually run into a dud, but I did not. I already have huge affection for David Sedaris because of his own work, but this collection of stories makes me love him even more. It feels like such a gift to have beautifully written stories all right there in one book.

4. Feast Of Love by Charles Baxter. Oh, this book. I don't even want to tell you what it's about because I just want you to read it and love it without my clunky words getting in the way. A brief overview is- it's an intertwining love story of several different people. I read this book in record time because I could not put it down. From the second I started it until I finished it, it's all I thought about. I've enjoyed other Charles Baxter books, but this one- this is like the most beautifully composed meal when everything is perfectly delicious.

I am sneaking in one more book here. It's Kissing In Manhattan by David Schickler. This is a collection of short stories that uses a building in New York City has the thing that ties them all together. I sort of expected to do a lot of eyerolling at this book, but I was wrong about that. The stories are beautifully and imaginative and from the very first story I was hooked. I love it because I love NYC and sometimes I miss the city and during those times I love reading books and watching movies set in the city. Manhattan does not play a huge role in this book and honestly, it's sort of a surreal version of Manhattan, but the characters are so interesting and maybe even a little bit disturbing and I love that.

5. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I know this book is almost cliche because of how many people love it. I just read it for the first time last year and I think I was 2 sentences in when I realized that I had lived a shallow and meaningless reading life before this book. Not really, but man alive- I love this book. There is not a single sentence or word that is superfluous. The characters are rich and wonderful and the setting reads so beautifully that you sort of feel like you've been there, maybe in another life. When I think of all the shit I read in high school (Grapes of the stupidest Wrath) I wonder how this book was skipped over. How is that I read Romeo and Juliet FIVE times, but never To Kill a Mockingbird? I feel like my English teachers owe me. At the same time, I don't know that I would appreciate the book as much when I was younger as I do now. My Grandpa George one time told me that it was his favorite book and when I read it last fall, I felt closer to him than I have in years.

Lookit- you got 6 books for the price of one. You are SO LUCKY!

Love,
Catie 

How to Fold a Fitted Sheet

Dear Kittens,

A few years ago I made a photo tutorial on how to fold a fitted sheet. I did it as sort of a joke, but it turned out to be fairly popular and I don't think I've ever shared it with you. Maybe I did. But even if I did, I'm sure you need a refresher course. The photos are not the best ever in the world, but they get the job done. Also, Seamus is in every single photo in a slightly different pose. He was pretty new to our family when I made this and I like to think him as the spokesmodel for the tutorial.

Step 1

Start with a freshly laundered fitted sheet.

Step 2

Fold the sheet in half by fitting the corners into each other.

Step 3

Fold the sheet in half again. Fit all four corners together. Fold over the edges so you have created somewhat of a square.

Step 4

Fold one third of the sheet towards the center.

Step 5

Fold over the the other edge so that all the corners are tucked insde and you've created a rectangle.

Step 6

Fold your rectangle into thirds.

Step 6

Hooray! You have a perfectly folded fitted sheet.

Steps 7 and 8

If you want to get very fancy, you can fold your top sheet so that it's the same size as your fitted sheet and then fold your pillow cases the same size, pile everything up neatly and then put it all into a pillow case for tidy storage.

Just so's you know, you can click on any of those photos and it will take you to the whole set on Flickr.

Love,
Catie

3 for 1

Dear Kittens,

The last two days have been rough. Not serious rough, just the sort of deal where you make certain plans and then your life gets in the way of those plans. There's this tendency to think that if you had just managed your time more carefully, it all would've worked out, but I think the truth is that it's okay to let go of things sometimes. There are times when a nap is way more important than updating my blog.

Let's see- you need to be caught up.

June 3rd was Andy's 42nd birthday. Sadly, I had a migraine that totally kicked my ass. Thankfully a snack, an iced tea and more medication finally did the trick and the migraine went away before dinner. We ditched out plans to go to a new sushi place and instead decided to eat at a restaurant in Santana Row. Last year, Andy's sister gave Andy a gift card for Santana Row (our fancy pants shopping area) so, we used to that to pay for our dinner. We ate at Tanglewood which is a pretty nice restaurant with good food. I tried one of their bartender's invented drinks called a cherrywood. It was essentially a manhattan with cherry infused bourbon. They went a little too heavy on the cherry infusion and killed the flavor of the bourbon, which was sad, but still pretty tasty. Andy got some pineapple cocktail that I do not remember the name of. Even though it wasn't the evening we originally planned, it was still very nice.

Yesterday was the 5th grade tea party that my mom and I do every year to send the 5th graders to middle school in style. We use real china and have the 4th graders in my mom's class serve the 5th graders. Everyone loves this. The 5th graders totally abuse the 4th graders with their endless requests and the 4th graders LOVE acting like hoity toity waiters. We do it up with tablecloths, real china, etc. Of course the food is aimed to please the kids and quite frankly, it differs from year to year what the kids' favorites are. Some years my moms class is full of really big eaters and other years (like this year) the kids are not such big eaters. It's a really fun tradition and this year was no exception. One thing that has continually been asked when people learn about our tea parties is how the boys behave. Usually the boys are much more into acting (their idea of) very proper. It's not unusual for them to taken on British-y accents and make every request very drawn out with ridiculous language. The thing that people don't realize is that boys appreciate pretty things, too. And they get that it's a special treat and I've yet to meet a person that did not love a special treat.

Today I managed to do absolutely nothing. I had some vague plans of laundry, but I quickly abandoned that idea in favor of IMing with friends and watching a movie on HBO and reading the new David Sedaris book. All that to say, I had a lovely day. Once Andy came home we started working on the details of our trip to Europe. There are so many options available to us, it's sort of dizzying. Now it's time for sleeping.

You are totally caught up and tomorrow we'll go back to the regularly scheduled programming of this bloggity blog.

Love,
Catie

p.s. For those interested- my walking has suffered the last few days as well. I've not managed to do 4 miles in one day yet, but I am walking every day which feels like a triumph.

Migraine ate my brain

Dear Kittens,

I had the best of intentions of posting today, but a migraine waylaid me. It was so bad that at one point I was in tears. That hasn't happened in a very long time. Thankfully, I got better just in time to celebrate my wonderful husband, Andy Anchev's birthday. It's not the celebration we originally planned, but it was still quite nice. I am so in love with that darling Bulgarian.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I will post twice to make up for today (Tuesday), but for right now it's time for bed. I'm off to the 5th grade tea party for my mom's students. We're serving bologna and cheese, smoked turkey and provolone, cucumber sandwiches, fruit, brownies and one other thing, but I can't remember what. And! When you go to a fancy high tea they will often start you out with a champagne cocktail. So we're doing the kid version of that. Ginger ale with a raspberry in it. I hope the kids love it.

Love,

Catie

Burgandy Cherry and Dark Chocolate

Dear Kittens,

My walk today was wonderful. I sometimes think that I stop walking just so I can fall in love with it again. To think that I ever bothered going to a gym. I really cannot believe that I used to torture myself like that. Walking in my neighborhood, with my ears free of headphones, just looking around at everything there is to see is so much better than being on a treadmill. Today I walked 3.6 miles. Remember how yesterday I said i was going to do my best to walk 4 miles every day? Well, I got to a point where I thought, I'm done walking. Then I asked myself, is this your best? Can you really not walk another step? And then I walked some more until I was truly done.

Which leads me to tell you about why I hate the word try. One tries food, tries on clothes, tries a new hobby, but we do not try with our actions. We either do it or don't do it. When someone tells me that they are going to try to do something, my left eyebrow immediately reaches for my hairline because what does that mean? You will TRY. What try means to me is that you'll make an effort, but if it gets too difficult/boring/not fun then you will stop trying. Um. No thank you. I would much rather you told me no than you tell me you'll try. I know that most people are not as pedantic as I am and so they use words that are easily accessible, but may not actually be the best representation of what they wanted to express.

I am having trouble keeping my eyeballs open.

Tonight I took my friend Tracy out for dinner because it's her birthday. First we ate delicious sushi. Then we went to photograph a broke down movie theater, except someone made us stop. What is the problem with taking photos of things? The man telling us to stop taking the photos could not articulate why he wanted us to stop, except to say that we could not tell him who we were. Um. We are two women who like to take photos of things we find interesting? After that fiasco we had gelato. And while at Gelato I found this bracelet that was plastic tubing with a glittery liquid in it. I offered it to Tracy (because it was her birthday), but she scoffed and then tried to cover the scoffing by saying that she felt badly for the little girl who lost her glitter bracelet. THEN, the best thing happened. As we were getting ready to leave a little girl came and sat in a chair adjacent to where we were sitting and she asked if some teeny tiny baseball glove was our (it was not) and then I showed her the bracelet and her whole face lit up because of the incredibleness of the whole thing. It was so charming. Then two seconds later the girl noticed 2 pennies sitting on a table and you could tell she felt rich with treasure.

And now I go to my bed and I sleep and sleep and sleep until I wake up. It's how I do.

Love,
Catie

June Manifesto

Dear Kittens,

Today is the first day of June. Just for the fun of it, I decided to give myself 6 goals for the 6th month and one challenge.

First we will talk about the goals.

1. Update my blog every day with real posts. No wiennie posts like I often do for NaPoBloMo. Photo essays are allowed.

2. Get the bedroom furnitured photographed and listed on Craig's List. It's time for us to get new bedroom furniture. I know exactly what I want.

3. Walk 4 miles every days This one might be a little difficult since I haven't been walking very much lately, but I am going to do my absolute best.

4. Work stuff! I have three projects that are brewing. I want to get those ideas out of my head and onto my website.

5. Hire House Cleaners. This means certain things need to be taken care of so that the house can be ready for house cleaners.

6. Institute Creativity, Eat Something New For Dinner and Date night. Creativity Night is all about Andy and I working on our creative endeavors separately or maybe a joint project. Eat Something New For Dinner is pretty obvious, but I think it will be a lot of fun. Maybe we will go out for this new food, but what I really want is for us to cook these new foods. And that brings us to Date Night. This is where we leave the house and do an activity that is fun. These nights are not meant to be romantic. They are just meant to get us out.

The Challenge for the month is to finish up some decorating projects. I've got 2 chairs to recover and possibly paint. And three tables that need some attention.

So that's June! All tied up in a pretty pink satin bow.

Love,

Catie 

How I Spent My May Vacation by Catie Anchev

Dear Kittens,

Let's not fool ourselves and pretend that anything other than a list is possible, okay? Okay.

1. We took a trip to Seattle. It was meant to be a romantic sort of a deal. We should totally learn our lesson about that because forced romance never works out for us. It might be the stupidest thing ever about us, but when we set out to do something romantic it always ends up vaguely shitty and awful. But if we set out to just hang out- it's a good deal.

2. Here's is everything that went wrong in Seattle: On the very first day my glasses broke in half. IN HALF. In my THIRTY THREE years of wearing glasses never once have any of them broke, let alone in half. Of course I didn't bring a back up pair of glasses (why should I? I've never, ever had glasses break) so that meant heading to Lens Crafters. I hate shopping for glasses and this put such a damper on the day. I was so upset by the whole thing and I had a very hard time shaking the upsetness. We made the mistake of not really planning out our time, because it was going to be ROMANTIC and we were just going with the flow. FOOLS! So we were all undecided about what to do and nothing sounded particularly great and gah! It was just sort of sucky.

Then. On the third day, I got into a car accident. I was stopped at what I thought was a 4 way stop. I saw a car approaching on my right, figuring they would stop. I pulled into the intersection and guess what? IT WAS A TWO WAY STOP. I plowed right into the car. No one was hurt and no one's car was even that badly damaged, but talk about sealing the deal with being soured on Seattle.

3. Here's what went right with Seattle: We ate amazingly well. Seafood every single night, except for the first night when I needed Mexican food- which was sort of a mistake, but that's okay. Good seafood is really hard to get around San Jose, which is ridiculous, so when we go somewhere near the ocean I am all about the fish and what not. At a place called Nichino we had the best sushi of our lives. OF OUR LIVES. Also, we had a really good burger and fries at Red Mill Burgers. And Seattle is very pretty. We loved driving around quite a lot. Pike's Market is loads of wonderful- during the week. On the weekends it's loads of awful because of the crowds. I am willing to give Seattle another go. But the next time we will have a plan.

4. After Seattle we drove 2 hours east to the adorable town of Ellensburg to visit with friends. After Seattle, I desperately needed this part of the trip to be good. The drive was so very pretty. Washington state has so much water! Living in California my whole life I am amazed by the endless green of the trees and how there seems to always be a body of water somewhere. Washington is a really gorgeous state. Our reason for going to Ellensburg was so I could visit my friend, Eva. We met through Diaryland a long time ago and through the years our friendship has grown. I count myself so very lucky to have a friend like Eva because she is one of those extremely special people that you want in your life forever and ever.

Andy and I met Eva's husband, Francisco at a wedding years ago, but we didn't really know him except through Eva's diary. I already knew that they were an excellent match for each other, but what I didn't know is what a funny, sensitive, thoughtful and fun person Francisco is to be around. I mean, I sort of knew and I certainly was not surprised that he is all those things, I'd just never experienced the wonderfulness that is Francisco for myself. I was happy that the four of us got on very well with each other and there was lots of laughter and joking. Francisco even took Andy shooting one afternoon and Andy loved it and now he's all, let's go shooting, let's go shooting and I'm all GAH! Okay, because you will not leave me alone until I do it.

Then we got to meet Francisco's sister and her family. First let me say this- I already knew that Twyla and Senor Negativo (I don't know what his parents were thinking) were going to be amazing because we all participate in the same discussion group. They totally lived up my expectations for being super pretty and funny. But then there are their two girls who- I don't even know if there are words to describe these kids. Firstly they are both like super geniuses. Secondly, they have personalities that are huge. Thirdly, they charmed me so much that now I want to buy them each a pony, a enough candy to fill a room.

It was such a joy spending time with these people, so much so that I am a little bit weepy today for missing them and because there are too many miles between us.

5. I have not finished editing all my photos yet, but I'm working on it. But for right now I need to go back to sitting.

Love,
Catie   

Dear Kittens,

A list of things. Some good, some not good, some just annoying.

1. I hate it when I am getting something out of the freezer and the freezer door touches me. I also hate it when I rub up against a box with my leg. I cannot stand the texture of terracotta pots, either.

2. The windows are finished and they are gorgeous! I cannot wait to get the front of the house all prettified. It will be so nice to drive up to a place that I love how it looks.

3. We got a lot of laundry done this weekend and once we started putting everything away, it became very clear that we have entirely too many clothes. Part of the problem is that if I buy something and I like it, I will get two or three in different colors. While that's a fine idea for certain things (tank tops, underpants, t shirts) it should not apply across the board. And so, from now on when I like something I will just like it. It's like with the books and CDs, we only have so much storage for clothing and what doesn't fit must acquit. Or whatever.

4. We're leaving for a vacation today. The first part of our trip is all about just hanging out together. We've decided not to contact any friends, which was a hard choices, but ultimately we really want some time to just hang out the two of us without any other distractions or commitments. The second part of our trip is so I can spend time with my very dear friend, Eva.

The bummer about going on a trip is that I never sleep well the night before and I spend however much time before we're on the plane in a mild state of panic. It's a frustrating situation and I am trying to find ways to manage it, except it's occuring to me that might not be possible. The truth of situation might be that travel is stressful and there are things you can do to make it less stressful (lists, packing early, flying at convenient times), but there's no getting away from the stress totally.

5. One thing I did to alleviate some stress is I bought myself a larger suitcase. I check my bag because I cannot manage the liquid/gel restriction with all the various potions I need to pretty myself up everyday. Since I'm already checking, why am I trying to stuff everything I need in a carry on size bag? Right- so I got myself a new suitcase and it's very big and man, it makes all the difference. I did not overpack, I mean, unless you count bringing 4 pairs of shoes overpacking, which I do not.

I am bucking the trend of packing half a pair of underwear and 3 shirts for 5 weeks in Europe. Bring back the travel trunks, is what I say!

6. It's officially time for me to start getting ready to complete my list.

Love,
Catie