My Blog Sucks Latley

I've been thinking that my blog is kinda boring lately and the lack of comments further reinforces that point to me. (I LOVE comments so reward me with them when I post something of interest :)

Anyways. So I know my blog sorta sucks right now, and I swear I'm working to improve it. Becky has now taken on a new role as my agent and will be helping me to improve things around here.

One thing that I do want to change is the name of my blog. I started it as Life With the Longmires because it was supposed to be a family thing detailing things that Ben and I do, but then I realized that it isn't really all that interesting to discuss what we eat for dinner every night and what we watch on TV. So I write more about myself. Therefore, I need a name change.

Any suggestions?

UPDATE: Evidently my spelling sucks as well. Thanks all for your feedback and suggestions! I'm going to change the name and I love both Nilsa's and Meg's ideas.

Longmired in Life
or
Katie BLOGMIRE

I think I'll post a poll.

The Limoncello Experiment Continues ...

Remember about a month ago, when I told yall that I was making a batch of homemade limoncello? In case you don't remember or don't feel like clicking back to that post, I just described the initial process of making the limoncello. This basically consisted of peeling a bunch of lemons and letting them infuse with Vodka for one month.

So now we're on phase 2!!! I began by removing all the lemon peels from the mixture, and then filtered the lemon-infused vodka using funnels and coffee filters. I didn't think this part would be so tedious, but it was. It took about an hour to filter the mixture and I only did it twice! Here is an action shot that Ben took while I was busy filtering.

After researching this some, I disovered that I probably should have filtered this mixture a few more times. Also, I realized that you are supposed to filter the liquor prior to using but I'm not really sure why. After I removed the peels and filtered the mixture, I made a simple syrup (1:1 sugar to water), let it cool and then mixed it with the vodka. I've read conflicting reports on this phase -- some say to let it rest for a month and some say that its fine to go ahead and enjoy. I did try a small sample and it has quite a kick, so I'm thinking I should let it rest for a month and let it mellow out a bit.

SO ... if you're over at my house visiting in late January make sure to ask to try my limoncello! I know this batch won't be perfect, so I do plan to change a few things next time in an effort to improve.

Just Say NO!!

It sounds so easy, doesn't it? Why is that one little word so hard to say when it comes to food? I've always heard people complain about how much they eat during the holidays and I really never understood it until this year. I've always loved food and probably eat more than I should, but it really hasn't ever mattered too much. Let me let yall in on a little secret though ....

Once you are in your late 20's, your metabolism SLOWS DOWN. Tremendously.

As I was busy eating my 1000-calorie steak biscuit this morning (someone brought them in to the office -- I couldn't be rude and decline), I decided to adopt a phrase from D.A.R.E. Just Say No! I'm going to try my damdest to eat normal-sized portions as opposed to gouging myself on all this yummy Christmas food.

Think I can do it?

Dancin' Shoes

Are these boots not fabulous? I just love them! I don't think this picture quite does them justice, but they really are a good purchase. Not that I can take credit for finding them, because I saw Carrie wearing a pair and HAD to have them. I sent her back to the store where she bought them to find a pair for me. And not that I'm counting, but that is the second time this year I have copied a pair of shoes she was wearing.

What do you think I paid for those boots? I'll give you a hint and say that they were on major sale.

I show you the shoes, so that I can tell you about the inspiration they gave me when I was driving home from work yesterday. I normally talk to my mom or sister while I'm driving, but since
has arrived, neither of them are very available to me anymore. (No offense to sweet Ellie, of course. I have already asked my parents to temporarily adopt a sister for me while Kimmie is busy).

But I digress. Back to the point. Since I couldn't find anyone who was willing to talk to me on the phone, I had to resort to listening to music and thinking. This is a dangerous combination. One of my current favorite songs is "Forever" by Chris Brown (I think). When that came on, I immediately started dancing. And then it hit me ... I'm going to make up a dance routine to this song.

I'll let yall know how it turns out. Maybe if it is any good I'll even post it on the blog. But don't count on that happening because I'm the world's worst dancer.

I'm thinking that
a) it was a terrible idea
b) i probably shouldn't post this because now you all know what a dork I am

Tagged

One of my favorite bloggers, Kindredly, tagged me the other day so I am supposed to let you all in on some information about myself. I'm also supposed to tag 5 other people, but I'm totally not a popular blogger so who knows if the people I choose will do it or not! We'll see.

10 years ago... I was a freshman at Georgia Tech. I had just turned 19 and was living in a dorm that I cannot remember the name of. I actually went to most of my classes and studied (gasp)! Not at the expense of fun, though. I was involved in my sorority and had made a group of girlfriends that I am still close to today. I also met my husband during my freshman year in college. He asked for my phone number but never did follow up and ask me out!!

8 years ago... I was a junior in college. Right? Yeah, I was. I had just returned home from a summer in Europe and had the time of my life. I lived in an apartment off Northside drive with 5 other girls. There was never a dull moment in that house! I think we spent most of our free time hosting keg parties and going to fraternity band parties.

6 years ago... Fresh out of college. I was working as a District Sales Manager for Club Med. I spent my days calling on travel agents and developing marketing/business plans with them to promote Club Med to their clients. The best part of the whole thing was that I got to travel down to the resorts every couple of months. I had a great tan for the whole 1.5 years I worked for them!

2 years ago... I was newly engaged to Ben so I was busy planning our wedding. At the same time, I also happened to be working full time (at my current job -- the BOC) and in school full time trying to finish my MBA. Talk about never having much free time!

5 yummy things:
Mellow Mushroom Pizza
Philly Tacos
Sweet Pockets Cupcakes
Chick-fil-a
Italian food

5 places I'd like to escape to:
Tahiti
Maldives
Australia
Greece
Thailand

5 things I would never wear:
sweatbands
a hat
scoops with ups
crocs
any UGA apparel

5 favorite tv shows:
Grey's Anatomy
CSI
The Office
House Hunters International
Top Chef

5 things I enjoy doing:
going to the lake
traveling
shopping
watching TV (i'm a loser, i know that)
time with family and friends

favorite toys:
My new niece, Ellie (although her parents may not agree that she is a toy)
Nintendo Wii
Sea Doo's
my computer
iPod

Tagging:
Ben over at the Super Sweet Blaaahg
Harry at Team Thompson
anyone else who will actually play (i don't really think there are any other bloggers that read my blog)

Ben v. Spaghetti

As you may or may not know, I absolutely love to cook. I watch food network often (well, not so much anymore) and am constantly on the lookout for new and different things to try. I wouldn't say that I'm an adventurous eater but I do like to try new things. Ben puts up with this to a point. I think there have only been two times that he has deemed something inedible. Once was because it was inedible and the other time because it contained 2 ingredients that he hates.

With all that said, I do try to cook some of our favorite dishes at least a couple times a week. I've found that Ben handles a new recipe much better when he knows that one of his favorites are in the queue. Lately though, one of our mutual favorites has come under some serious criticism. Spaghetti.

That's right. Spaghetti. I make my own sauce sometimes, but often I just use the jarred sauce and I'll usually throw in some peppers, onions, and herbs to punch up the flavor a bit. So a few months ago I bought a different brand of jarred sauce and it was awful. Neither one of us liked it, and I promised him that I would go back to the old kind. And I did. However, the very next time I made spaghetti he decided to tell me that his mother's was better.

OUCH!! I mean no offense at all to Ben's mother, but just OUCH. I mean, it is completely fine and natural to think that. You just don't say it to your wife!!!

Every time since then, he has requested that I make his mother's sauce. I haven't only because I don't have her recipe. He has to think to ask her in advance of when I go grocery shopping and I'll be happy to give it a whirl.

I think I have an alternate solution though, Ben. Just BUY ME THIS COOKBOOK for Christmas. I want it, need it, have to have it. I know your mother makes great spaghetti, but a a Rao's cookbook contains real Italian recipes. That would at least give her a run for her money!!

It Was All in My Mind ....

Yeah. Apparently I am as terrible at fake bowling as I am at real bowling. Not only did I lose to Josh, I had the very lowest score of the night. I suck. I was so bad that one of my fellow competitors felt the need to coach me and give advice.

Its almost like I was back in middle school playing recreational basketball. I did that for 2 years and scored 6 points my whole career. I guess I'm just not athletic at all.

Wii Bowling

Ben got a Wii for his birthday in July and I have pretty much taken it over as if it were mine. One of my favorite Wii games is bowling. I. AM. AWESOME! Really, I totally kick ass at fake bowling. Not so much at real bowling though, I am terrible at that.

The first night that Ben had the Wii, he and my brother-in-law (is that hyphenated? i never know for sure) and I played. I beat them both with ease. Since then Ben and I have played a few times and I always win. He'll probably chime in here and say that he lets me win but that is a lie. Since I'm so good and all, Josh challenged me to a fake bowling tournament at Jocks and Jills. I'm going tonight and I intend to win. Even if I don't win the whole thing, I will definitely beat Josh. Don't yall think?


Disclaimer: I have been working really hard this week on my Wii Fit. I've done so many lunges and toe raises, etc that I can barely walk. If for some reason I don't do well, that is obviously the reason.

Stay tuned for results tomorrow!

Dear Chick-fil-A,

You are awesome! You are one of the few fast food restaurants that I will visit. (Ask my husband, I am horrible on long road trips because I pretty much refuse to eat fast food). There are many things on your menu which I enjoy, but my all-time favorite is your Chicken Salad Sandwich. With cheese.

I used to live off your sandwiches. Anytime that I didn't feel like cooking or needed to grab something quick to eat, I would always order myself a chicken salad sandwich with cheese. Occasionally, I would change up my order but only if I had Chick-fil-A for my previous meal. The best thing about your chicken salad sandwiches was the fact that they were flat. The bread was toasted and pressed and it just made the sandwich so much tastier. But now, now you have changed your menu up and the sandwich is all new and different.

As a frequent customer, I beg of you to change it back. I can't say that I dislike the new one but it just isn't the same as the old one. I get that you needed to raise prices. I'm not dumb enough to believe that you actually just wanted to re-invent some of your menu items. You just wanted an excuse to raise the price of a sandwich by a couple cents. That's fine. Go ahead and raise your price. I promise, I'll still eat there. JUST DO NOT CHANGE THE RECIPE. I want my sandwich flat and pressed ... just like it used to be. And quit chopping the chicken so coarsely. And keep your lettuce and fancy box while you're at it.

Please. Bring back the old chicken salad sandwich.

Sincerely,
Your Loyal Customer who Despises Change

Baby Ellie

Baby Ellie has finally arrived! I got a call at about 6:00 on Tuesday morning from Dave telling me that Kimmie was in labor and was headed to the hospital. (I will refrain from using any medical terms here, because I don't like hearing them).

I will admit that I was a bit shocked when Kimmie first told me that she was pregnant. I think my first comment was actually "oh .... well I'll be happy once I digest this, I know". I know that sounds horrible, but its what i said. Fast forward 9 months. When I heard my phone ring Tuesday morning, I was dripping wet from my shower yet I leapt across the room to get to my phone. I couldn't have been more excited!

I somehow managed to pull myself together and go to work for a few hours. Mom came by the office and rode over to the hospital with me. The whole time when I was waiting on mom to get there, I was barely able to work. Finally, we made it to the hospital where I thought things would move rather quickly. They didn't.

Dave was as calm as can be when he came down to the lobby to lead Mom and I up to their L&D room. We went in there to find Kimmie not quite her usual chipper self. I have to say that although she wasn't as upbeat as she usually is, she was never ever rude or mean despite the great pain that she was dealing with. She finally got an epidural a little while after lunch and once that kicked in she was a happy camper. Making jokes and all.

I won't go into all the specifics, but eventually the doctor came in and decided that it was baby time. During "baby time", Kimmie went through an hour of pure hell. There is not a thing in the world you can do to comfort someone as they go through labor but to feed them ice and give them cold washcloths. I was an awesome waschloth runner though. And I scooped up some seriously mean spoonfulls of ice! I think I even threw in a few words of encouragement as well.

After 15 hours of labor, Ellie Grace Heglin was born at 9:31 PM on 12/2/2008. She weighed 7lbs 3 oz. and was 20 inches long. She is beautiful and and perfect and I cannot wait to get to know her over the years. I know I'm going to be the awesomest aunt ever!! Both Kimmie and Ellie are recovering well and were released from the hospital this afternoon.

Ellie was about 10 minutes old when this photo was taken.

Ellie meets Mom and Dad

Ellie meets Awesome Aunt Katie and Awesome Uncle Ben. (Awesome Aunt Katie doesn't look so Awesome in this photo ... don't judge)

If you want to see more photos of Ellie G, click HERE!

In An Effort to Become Less of a Grinch

Several people told me that my Grinch post was bratty (who am I kidding? Really, I think they used the word "bitchy"). Because of those comments, I have made an effort to get into the Christmas spirit. Really, I'm trying!

I did a lot of shopping over the weekend. We were with Ben's family this year and their tradition is to get up super early and go to the outlets on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I went in all prepared with my list of things I needed to purchase. I only have a few Christmas gifts yet to buy so that was pretty low stress. Most of the shops we visited were all decorated and playing Christmas music so I really did start to get inspired. I even got a couple of decorating ideas. (We went so early that the outlet wasn't crowded, so I was in a good mood)

We got home yesterday and despite the cold and the rain, I decided to go out and do a few errands. I went to Perimeter mall and immediately got pissed off for a couple of reasons:

1) This lady flat-out STOLE my parking spot. How can you enjoy Christmas when people are jerks? I may or may not have waited for mean lady to get out of her car and bless her out for taking my spot. Then I was redeemed when I drove over to another aisle and found a much better spot. Karma

2) The Crate and Barrel there is closed down! This totally ruined my Christmas mood. I still can't get over it.

Despite these two problems, I pushed on through. I wanted to buy some ornaments to hang from my chandelier at C&B, but since it was gone I had to look elsewhere. We looked all over the mall, but I finally ended up buying some at Target.

SO, the point of this post is to say that I am attempting to be less grinchy. I really don't hate Christmas, but I do hate some of the things that go along with it: crowded shopping malls, mean people who steal parking spots, cheesy music on the radio, and the pressure of finding the perfect gift.

I did come home last night from my shopping trip and find it in me to decorate my chandelier. What do yall think? Is this tacky? Too symmetrical? Too many ornaments?

Updates

This past weekend was a busy one for the Longmire household. I know this is a little late for an update, but since you are all dying to know what has been going on with us I'll share!!

Thursday night we went to the Miami game. It was a little too cold for the whiteout, but we made our best effort. Normally I struggle to actually watch the football games even though I go to all of them, but I actually watched some of this one! It made Ben so proud, let me tell ya. Anyway, it was a good game and a big win for the jackets. Next up: Georgia. Be sure to check out Ben's blog entry this week about Hate Week.

I really like this picture!! Next time you are at my house, you will probably see it framed somewhere.

We celebrated birthday #2 on Friday which started out with dinner at La Paz (Yummy!) and ended up at Vintage Tavern. In my group of friends, birthdays have always been a big deal! In college each birthday was a huge production and typically lasted about a week. We aren't quite as dramatic these days about bdays but there is usually some type of get-together. (These days we look for any excuse to get together though) Anyway, fun was had by all that night and here are a few pictures to prove it!

Thanks, Carrie for sending the pictures from your camera! Mine did not turn out very good.

Since Carrie and Susan stayed at our house on Friday night, that meant that we just HAD to go to OK Cafe for lunch the next day. Carrie and I both love to eat, so when she is around you can always count on the fact that you'll eat good! Saturday afternoon was spent laying around. Not really sure what I did other than hook up my new Wii Fit. That night we had an engagement party to attend but I was a slacker and didn't take a single picture.

Sunday was more of the same. We literally did nothing all day. Except eat pizza, watch football, and go grocery shopping.

Then on Monday, we went to see MADONNA at Phillips arena! It was incredible. Ben can probably give you a better analysis of the concert than I can, but I'll take a stab at it. Madge opened up to some of her new stuff that I didn't really know. This didn't matter too much because I was just enamored with the dancing/costumes/show. She did a really great job at sprinkling in her older stuff including Vogue, Into the Groove, Borderline, You Must Love Me, and Like a Prayer. She even did an audience version of Express Yourself. I wasn't that impressed with that portion -- I guess she wanted involvement from the audience but I would have preferred to just hear her sing it herself. She is an amazing dancer and incredibly in shape. All in all it was a great concert. We were exhausted from it on Tuesday but it was well worth it! Here are a few pictures.

Just Call Me Grinch

I'll have a real post later, but right now I just need to say something that needs to be said.

I. AM. ANNOYED.

At the risk of sounding like a complete scrooge, I am annoyed because of Christmas. I know that sounds awful but seriously, it is supposed to be a holiday about family and friends and peace and happiness. And frankly, right now it isn't. Christmas is a stressor for several reasons:

1) it is sneaking up on me and i don't know when we will find time to get our tree up and our house decorated

2) i have an ever-growing list of gifts to buy for people and have no clue what to buy them. this means i'll end up buying them something that they don't need (otherwise they would buy it for themselves) and thus wasting my money

3) i don't know when i will find time to go buy the gifts that these people don't really need/want

4) i feel over-committed during the holidays. of course you have the family christmas(es) and the friend get-togethers, and maybe a work party. that is to be expected. but suddenly i'm looking at my december calendar and realize that i don't have a single free weekend!!!! that really gives me great anxiety.

5) right after christmas, we have possibly the worst holiday of all time. New Year's Eve.

If I have offended you, please understand. It isn't any one of these things that frustrate me, it is the combination of all these things.

Was This Really Necessary?

A LARGE steak biscuit? LARGE.

Don't you judge me!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

Thanks to everyone for all your phone calls, emails, and blog shoutouts!! (Quick background story here: Josh knows that she is one of my favorite bloggers and had her wish me happy bday on her blog today. Thanks, Josh!)

We went to dinner with my family at South City Kitchen, which was fantastic! I always eat the buttermilk fried chicken there, which is nothing short of delicious. It is maybe some of the best I've ever had! Yall really do need to try it sometime.

I know it might be frivilous to talk about my birthday, but whatever. I think it is fun, and I would want to read all about your birthday if I were reading your blog. So, therefore I'm going to share ....

I got these from my dad first thing this morning. From my all time favorite cupcakery (Sweet Pockets)! I ate one of the chocolate ones earlier this morning and am about to have a vanilla one once I finish blogging.

Then, I got all these awesome gifts from my family! I can't wait to put it all to use. Especially all the new jewelry!! And do you notice that dress in the front of the picture? It appears that the 'hint hint' section of my blog worked -- Ben gave that to me. As you can see, I did change out of my mis-matched outfit from earlier today!!

A couple things that I wanted to point out which do not really show up well in the picture. Remember this necklace that i just HAD to have? This isn't the exact same one, but once I realized that Ben or nobody in my family had bought it for me, I emailed the seller and asked her to make me something similar. She did and here is a picture of it!

And one of the coolest gifts that I suspect was more from my brother-in-law than from my sister was this bumper sticker:

AWESOME!!

So thanks again for a wonderful birthday. And stay tuned for a guest post from Ben later this week!

I think I don't match today ????

I bought these really fun orangey/red tights last winter at H&M and have been waiting for a few weeks now for the right day to pull them out and wear them. Initially I was going to wear them with a black sweater dress, but once I had the outfit on, I thought I looked like a clown. (Ben thought so too) So, I had a sudden inspiration and pulled this dress that I am wearing now out of the closet and put it on over the tights.

When I was driving to work, I looked down at my legs and decided that I probably didn't match.


And here is a closeup. Admittedly, at a very bad angle but you get the jist.


What do yall think?

Limoncello Experiment

After drinking lots of homemade limoncello this past weekend, I decided to try to make my very own. If you don't know what this is, it is an Italian liquor made of lemon zest, grain alcohol or vodka, sugar, and water. Italians will tell you that it is a digestive aid and is consumed usually at the end of an evening meal. It isn't something that you sit around and drink a ton of -- it is usually served in a cordial glass and is something you sip. Anyway, it is delicious. And I decided to make some this afternoon.

I researched various recipes on the internet, and they are all slightly different. But the jist of it is this: peel or zest about 15 lemons, pour 2 bottles vodka or grain alcohol over the top of the peels and let sit for several weeks. Then make a simple syrup and mix in with the alcohol and lemon mixture. You then let this sit for a few weeks then filter and bottle. The biggest variation in the many different recipes I read was the amount of time to let the mixture combine. Apparently the longer the better, so I'm going to let phase 1 meld for about a month. (I'll probably let phase 2 sit for another month, so we're looking at January).

Here is what it looks like right now! I'll keep yall posted on its progress.

I did cut the recipe in half simply because I do not know how this is going to turn out. I may find that I need to tweak the recipe/technique slightly so I only made a half batch. The thing that frustrates me a little bit is that its at least a 2 month process. So it isn't like I can go ahead and start a new batch without knowing what I'll need to correct.

Also, I know it looks like I left lots of yellow on these lemons. I did go back in and try to scrape them some more with my knife, but it is very important not to get too much pith (white part) attached to the zest so I was overly cautious.

After I peeled all those lemons, I hated to just let them go to waste so I also made some fresh squeezed lemondade. Took me an hour to squeeze 10 lemons! Really, I think I've got arthritis now!

Random Topics

I'm having a little bit of writer's block tonight, so I'm just going to post a few random thoughts that I'm having at the moment!

Bienvenido a Miami
We spent the weekend with Ben's family in Miami. It was so nice to get down there and visit with family, eat too much food, and drink too much wine (and port, and limoncello, etc etc etc).
We actually stayed in Coral Gables and man that place is awesome! The people watching is just so amazing -- I think I could sit for several hours and just watch/laugh at some of the people down there.

Lipstick Jungle
News is that, the show has been sundropped. Sad. I really did love that show. Even Ben got into it! He used to act like he wasn't into the show, but yet he would watch it with me and ask questions about what was going on. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find another show to love in its place.

Cake Snob
It is official. I am now a cake snob. If it doesn't come from a gourmet bakery, I'm not going to like it. I hope that doesn't offend any of you if I've been to a shower or party you have hosted lately. I'm sure the cake you served was great, I'm just spoiled from eating the gourmet stuff.

Writer's Block
I am suffering from a serious case of writer's block. However, I hate it when my favorite bloggers don't update regularly (you know who you are) so I'm throwing together some random thoughts for you guys in an effort not to piss yall off!

I'll be back later this week.

Not sure what to do ....

A hypothetical situation here. I'd love to hear your honest feedback here about how you would handle this if it happened to you.

Suppose a not so sane co-worker gave you an early Christmas gift. Today. (As in 43 days before Christmas!) This person is someone that you are friendly with but you wouldn't necessarily call them a friend. You would most likely give this person the same type Christmas gift that you would give to everyone else in your office.

When you open the gift, you discover that this co-worker spent a fairly substantial amount of money on you. Waaaaay more than the typical "I hope you have a nice Christmas, here is a $5 gift".

So this makes you feel awkward for several reasons:
a) it is a month and a half before Christmas
b) this person is crazy and might go nuts on you if you handle it incorrectly
c) you now feel obligated to return the favor and get them a nice gift
d) you don't want to do that
e) if you do that it will: 1) be weird for everyone else in the office and 2) become a recurring problem

What do you do? Is there a non-awkward way to respond/deal with the situation?

90210

Ben is still supposed to guest blog for me about the new 90210. (He was also supposed to get his emissions tested 3 weeks ago and that hasn't happened yet, so don't hold your breath) If he does, I can assure you that he will go more into detail and will entertain you much more than I do. I just wanted to make a few quick observations from last night's episode as well as from the show in general.

Are yall watching the show at all?

1) Is the whole show comical to anyone else other than me? I mean, there are a few decent actors on the show but as a whole they're not that great. Was the old 90210 like that too? I haven't watched any old episodes lately, but I don't remember thinking the acting was terrible. At least not with the main characters.

2) I LOVED the fight between Annie and Naomi. Loved it. I think that whole scene (and the reasons for the argument) was completely tailored for their target audience. Not only that, but for those (like me) who aren't in their target demographic, it provided comedic relief to what was otherwise an unrealistic episode.

3) I am so glad that Kelly is back! And the scenes for next week look awesome -- there is going to be more Kelly/Brenda boyfriend drama!! Looks like Brenda will reveal that she has betrayed Kelly with that teacher (Mr. Matthews?). And that is just great .... Kelly did it to Brenda way back when and now Brenda finally gets her revenge.

That's all I have for today. Hopefully Ben will have a better analysis for yall tomorrow! And hopefully he will also get his emissions checked today.

Current Favorite Products

This might be a boring post to some of you. If it is, let me know and I’ll try to step it up next time! I really can’t afford to lose any of my 10 readers.

One of my favorite places in the world is the drugstore. I’m not kidding. One of my dreams in life is to win a 10 minute shopping spree in a drugstore. All I need is a shopping cart and 10 minutes. I would be a very happy woman ….

In honor of this dream of mine (which I know is totally unrealistic), I am going to post a few of my latest favorite products. These can all be found at your local CVS. Or Eckerd, or wherever you shop ….

1) L’Oreal Skin Genesis Gel Cleanser – I just bought this over the weekend and have found it to be absolutely FANTASTIC!! It is a very lightweight, foamy facial cleanser and it really does help to minimize your pores. After using it, your face feels nice and tight and smells great too! This needs to be on your must try list.

2) Arm & Hammer with Oxiclean – I’ve been using this stuff for the past few months and I highly recommend it. Of course I still use Tide for my regular laundry, but I use this to wash my sheets and towels. It really leaves them extra soft and extra clean.

3) Softlips – I remember using this back in middle school, so I know it has been out for quite a long time. However, I saw it the other day at the store and picked up a pack. The scents (Cherry, Strawberry, Raspberry, and French Vanilla) are just so much better than your normal chapstick and I think it does a better job ad conditioning dry lips than chaptstick.
4) Oil of Olay Regenerist – This moisturizer is FABULOUS. I tend to be pretty picky about my moisturizers, because anything too heavy will make my skin oily. This is actually called a ‘serum’ so it is lighter than most moisturizers. However, it will you the protection you need and will leave your face glowing. You must try this product.

That’s all I’ve got for today. Hope you like this installment of Favorite products. I know I enjoy seeing product recommendations on other blogs that I read, so maybe you will too!

How Long Will the Coronation Last?

I knew it was going to happen. Ben and I didn't even waste our time watching the election coverage last night. We really saw no point. And frankly, I'm over it. Let's face it, the Republicans have been in power for a long time and things are royally screwed up right now. Both parties are at fault, but at the end of the day the blame gets assigned to the Republican President. Sorry Dubya.

Anyway, I'll refrain from getting on my soapbox and from getting too political. Most of you probably won't read my rant anyway. All I want to know is how long this media hype will last? A few more days? Weeks? Months? Will his face be on every single newspaper and magazine next time i go into the grocery store? Will he force us all to tattoo an 'O' on our foreheads? Will he require every radio station to play excerpts from his acceptance speech? Will people at work quit giving me a blow by blow of the news coverage? Am I going to have to avoid TV, radio, print, and the Interwebs for the next 4 years? Or will this all be over in a week or so?

Best of luck, Obama. You've got a hell of a job ahead of you. Hope you're up to it!

Thats all.

Halloween 2008

Friday night was a very spooky one for the Longmires. Crick hosted a party for all our friends and lots of people came in from out of town for the occasion! Even Crick made sure to get himself voted off Survivor so he could be back for his own party!


He went to great effort to decorate his house for his guests.

We may all be pushing 30, but that doesn't mean that we're too old to dress up. I think Halloween is even better as an adult that it was as a kid. Each year, there is a big party for Halloween and we all work very hard to make sure we have great costumes. (Or in my case, my mom works hard to make sure my costume is good!)

He Kexin joined us at the party. (Although, since she is only 8 years old she was unable to partake in adult beverages)

Slash showed up to have a drink. He also found time to show off his guitar skills ...

Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil were there. (Apparently he is now out of jail)


Sarah Palin (and baby Trig) took a pause from the campaign trail to visit us.

Hannah Montana was there with her dad, Billy Ray. (I was too worried that his mullet would break the lens on my camera, so he is not pictured)

Not sure who this clown is, or why he was at our party. I think he got seperated from his tour group ....
Father Edwards and one of his school girls came to the party.


There was even a ninja there!

And also a scout

Even little Ellie dressed up. (But she wasn't at our party)

And her momma copied my costume


But someone ....


was way too cool to get into costume. Sucks to be him!

Hope everyone had a spooktacular Halloween!



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Disclaimer: My blog is not private. It is also not very popular. (I only get about 30 visitors a day and most of them are friends, family and acquaintances.) However, if you are uncomfortable with your name or image being on my site just let me know and I'll be happy to remove it!

EMERGENCY

what should i wear to the game tomorrow?

long sleeves or 3/4 sleeves? sweater or no sweater? jacket or no jacket?

really, i need some help. please advise

A Few Things

I've got a lot of random thoughts that I would like to blog about tonight. Mostly, I've realized that this blog has become "life with Katie" and not so much "life with the Longmires". I'll really try to do a better job about blogging about Longmire life and not just life in my bubble. So, now lets get down to business.

1) Ben has his Halloween costume all schemed out. He has really put a lot of thought into it (as he always does) and done lots of research on how to best convey the person he is dressing as. Now you need to understand something -- when Ben gets mind set on a costume he goes to all lengths to get the essential pieces. (Usually about 3 days prior to Halloween, but that is neither here nor there). So anyways. He finds a wig and a few other accesories that he needs from some girl on Craigslist. All week, he has been planning to meet up with this girl to pay her and get his accessories. So he talks to her this afternoon and they decide to meet tonight.

The girl sets up the meeting spot at a bar (Ben is a man, so he doesn't see through this scheme). Ben arrives at the bar at the planned time and this girl shows up with her friend! So Ben is a nice guy (and loves meeting and talking to people) so he is polite and stays to talk to them for a few minutes. He then left and met me at Mellow Mushroom for dinner. About 10 minutes after he sits down, he gets the following text message from this girl:
" Hey Ben, my friend was wondering if you're single?"

Of course he tells me about this text. I laughed. He of course responded to the girl and told her that he was married. I think she felt like a jerk because she responds with the following:
"Oh I'm so sorry!! I apologize for the text, have fun with the costume"

And I laughed of course. I'm not the jealous type. And I also happen to trust my husband (if I didn't, I couldn't have married him). But this is funny. And I think its good -- I think it is nice for him to be flattered from time to time by someone other than his wife.

2) I need some help in settling an argument. Twice recently I have bought a cupcake for Ben. (From Sweet Pockets, when I was there to buy some for myself). So then I came home and told Ben that one of the cupcakes was for him. I then ate my cupcakes. Both times, my cupcakes are gone after a day and his is still in the box. What is a cupcake lover with no self-discipline to do?
Of course I ate his.

And here is the hell of it, HE GETS ONTO ME ABOUT EATING HIS FOOD!!!!

So this begs the question : If I buy him a cupcake and he doesn't eat it within a 24 hour period, isn't it rightfully mine?

3) To the jerk who got out of his car 2 whole seconds before Ben and I tonight, rushed to the elevator, and didn't hold it for us: YOU ARE A HUGE GARY. And you're rude. Have some common courtsey dude -- if someone is walking right behind you and you know they are headed for the elevator, HOLD the damn elevator for 2 seconds and be polite to your neighbor. To put it in Ben's words "thanks for sucking"!

Crentist the Dentist

Had a routine appointment with Dr. Crentist this morning. Even though I was just going in for my bi-annual cleaning I dreaded the visit just as much as I would a root canal. I HATE the dentist. In my mind, it is an hour of pure torture.

I think that my bad attitude towards going to the dentist stems from my childhood. When I was young I went to the dentist regularly. And I regularly came out with 1, 2, sometimes even 3 cavities per visit. I kid you not. My mother even got to the point where she would pay me if I came out with a "zero cavities" report. I think that of the numerous times she took me to the dentist as a child she maybe had to pay me twice.

As I've grown up and learned to take care of my teeth better, the zero cavity reports have become more frequent. I still have them, but just not every single time that I go. However, this has come at a cost. Over the past three years, I cannot come out of the dentist without some sort of referral to some sort of specialist. I ignored the periodontist referral for about a year and then finally went to see him last year. I ended up having to have surgery. After that was taken care of, I went back to the dentist and came out with a referral for some jaw specialist. Still haven't followed up on that little problem. Today? Today, I was told that I need to go to an orthodontist. Apparently, I need a freaking bite guard because I grind my teeth at night. And also they think a few of my teeth are a little "too mobile" for their liking. When you tell me that my teeth are mobile, I will take you seriously. So, bite guard here I come. Yipee.

In summary, I hated the dentist when I was young because I always got into trouble for having cavities. (I really couldn't help it -- I did brush and floss). Now, I hate the dentist because I cannot go without being referred to someone else for some random problem that I have. Can't I just go back to the days of having cavities?

On a positive note, Dr. Crentist has stopped handing out the cheap dental floss and is now giving Oral B satin floss to his patients after each visit. At least I've got that.

Pirates

I just can't resist posting this picture because I think they are just too cute! We went to Liam and Gavin's birthday party this past weekend. Liam will be 6 on Wednesday and Gavin just turned 4 on the 13th! They had a Pirate birthday party on Saturday and everyone dressed up!

Liam washed the beard and mustache off his face shortly after this picture because I accidentally called it 'makeup'. Despite the face makeup, they both loved their costumes and especially loved to say "yaaaargh".

Caris decided that she was already dressed and refused to put on her pirate outfit. But she's still cute so I'll post her picture anyway! This was the best picture I could get of her -- and you can forget about getting one with her smiling. The girl is STUBBORN.

Devestated

I just can't get over it. Someone bought this necklace and it wasn't me. I'm so mad at myself for not buying it .... I knew it would be a one of a kind item and I just let it go. Slipped right through my fingers.

Isn't it pretty?

I think the charms are all vintage, so that means there is no way this seller can make another one just like it. But maybe just maybe my sweeeeeeet husband (or sister or mother??) could contact the artist to see if she can make something similar. Here is a link to her Etsy shop for your convenience.

Run Forrest Run

After talking to a friend this afternoon and having my endurance called into question, I was inspired. I was bound and determined to actually RUN on my afternoon run. (As opposed to the walking that I normally do). I visualized my run all afternoon. I really had myself psyched up to run about a mile. Believe me, this would be quite the accomplishment.

So what was the outcome you ask?

Seriously. Be honest with yourself. OF COURSE I couldn't run a whole mile. I think I ran about 0.3 miles. Don't laugh. This is a huge accomplishment (for me). After that 3/10 of a mile I continued on my path and ran in spurts. As a follow-up to one of my previous posts (thank you everyone for your musical suggestions) here are a few songs that helped me out today:

Desperatley Wanting -- Better than Ezra

Like a Prayer -- Madonna

Scarlett Begonias -- Grateful Dead

Laugh at me if you want. Clearly the person who said that I have no endurance has a point. Whatever. Its a work in progress.

Oh. One more thing. I'm in the middle of cooking dinner. Hawaiian chicken, green beans, couscous (for me) and a baked potato (for Ben). What are the odds Ben eats what I'm cooking without complaint?

Accidentally in Love

I just found these on the Urban Outfitters website and I think I am in love!!

These shoes are so Kelly Ripa, so that is probably the reason that I love them so much. However, I'm not really sure how to wear them. I'm assuming they are meant to be a fall shoe to be worn while the daytime weather is still warm. So that pretty much means that I can only wear them in September and October. After that, I guess I would have to wait until next fall? I know it is acceptable to wear peep toes year round, but somehow I don't think these shoes would work for winter.

What do yall think? I need your honest opinions. Really-- I swear it won't hurt my feelings because I haven't bought them yet.

Flikr Mosaic

I got this idea from one of the (many) blogs that I read. I highly recommend reading this blog occasionally if you are at all interested in fashion. She frequently does outfit posts and tells you where she found each piece -- and it is mostly budget-friendly. Anyways, check it out if you have time. I don't know her at all, just randomly found her blog and I love it!! Hiking In Stilettos

Anyway, so here is what you do:

- Do a Flickr search for YOUR answer to each of the questions below

- Pick an image from the search results using only the first page

- Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into the Mosaic Maker

1.What is your first name?
2.What is your favorite food?

3.What high school did you go to?

4.What is your favorite color?

5.Who is your celebrity crush?

6.Favorite drink?

7.Dream vacation?

8.Favorite dessert?

9.What you want to be when you grow up?

10.What do you love most in life?

11.One Word to describe you.

12.Your flickr name.