is it too much to ask?

i want a coffee table that doesn't wobble. i want a bed that makes itself. i want an apartment that allows you to do month-to-month without raising the rent $200 per month. i want a fridge that can get cold without freezing my soda. i want candles that burn evenly instead of one side bulging and the other drooping. i want an oven that doesn't heat the entire apartment. i want clothes that wash themselves. i want an endless gas tank. i want a kitchen table that doesn't have hookah burns in it. i want my wedding pictures to order and pay for themselves. then i want them to hang mat and hang themselves! i want a storage shed that is wide enough to shove my bbq into for the winter. i want soy tealights that last longer than the 4 hours my regular tealights do. i want the bowl i broke from world market to replace itself. i want my vacuum to work all on it's own. i want a bathroom that doesn't steam so bad it causes mold/mildew. i want never ending laundry detergent. i want kevin's family to not live so far away! i want a yard for my dog. i want all food at the grocery store to be free and never to spoil. i want a bedroom that has a light on the ceiling, not in the corner of the room! i want a constant temperature in my house, not stupid wall heaters that turn on and off. i want to stop living paycheck to paycheck. i want my husband to find a permanent job. i want to not be afraid of trying to live off just my income in a few months. i want there to be more than one cotton ball in my cotton ball jar. i want ornament organizers and every other kind of organizer. basically, i just want organization. i want to be able to buy a loaf of bread and eat it before it spoils. i want routine. i want a digital camera to take a photo of my beautiful christmas tree! and then i want my blog to write it's own post about it.

i know i'm unrealistic with my 'wants'. but i can be, because it's my blog.

turkey fit for a king

yesterday, kevin and i hopped a plane to have thanksgiving #2 with his family in las vegas. as soon as we walked in the door, we could smell the turkey cooking in the oven! all day we just visited and prepared for the feast. kevin's step-grandmother gail was there with her dog dinky. it was nice to catch up with her too. we hadn't seen each other since the wedding almost 4 months ago.

kevin's parents got a wii with a bunch of games. kevin and i played the bowling--we got pretty competitive. we also tried the tennis but i couldn't figure out how to actually hit or serve the ball, so tennis didn't keep my interest too long. then we got into mario brothers. that was SO FUN! it took me right back to elementary age--sitting on the floor with my brothers fighting over whose turn it was or who was irritating me enough to make me mess up! :) we played that and got really into it. it's surprising how much i remembered about the original game. i'm going to have to get back into that game today!

anyway, back to the turkey...so as we were setting up the feast karen taught me a couple traditions that my husband takes very seriously. tradition #1: always, always, always have to garnish the turkey plate. in my family, we're lucky if the meat even makes it off the turkey before people start picking at it! tradition #2: the garnish must always have oranges. karen gave me the task of garnishing this plate. i think i looked at her like she was crazy at first--mind you, i am no martha stewart. so i learned...the lettuce must be placed in a ring around the edge of the plate, covered with grapes in areas. the oranges must be cut zig-zagged, peeled open, and topped with a marachino cherry. i must admit, it added a nice touch! once it was all said and done, the turkey platter looked fabulous! it did make it nice to have the decorations on the plate so that when the meat was nearly gone, the focus of the meal still looked beautiful.

the entire meal was delicious! especially the whole-berry cranberry sauce and the sweet potatoes complete with pecans and grated coconut! i also found out that like clos du bois pinot noir (usually not a red wine person), so that was exciting. we topped off the night with an almond-champagne cheers to dudley garvey, kevin's late grandfather and gail's late husband, and 4 kinds of desserts. it was definitely a meal fit for a king. and we had so much to be thankful for (including that our clothes still fit this morning!)...

Thanksgiving #1

since my siblings, including myself, are pretty much ditching my parents for thanksgiving, my mom had all of us over this last sunday for a boss family thanksgiving. it was nice to just see the family and spend time with everyone. mom went all out cooking and each of us contributed. kevin and i made the sweet potatoes--they were a definite hit! we ate, drank some wine, talked about christmas plans and caught up--it was so much fun!

my favorite little niece also showed up in the most adorable outfit to date: her oregon state cheerleader outfit that grandpa got her.



she was so cute, cheering and throwing her hands up in the air. auntie katie is going to make her the cutest little OSU Beaver Believer anyone has ever seen! she continues to surprise me. she recently started to put 'bubble' and 'bath' together as well as 'aunt' and 'katie.' i am very excited about these fun new developments. can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

recently kevin has been one of her favorite people. she always wants him to color with her and to sit on his lap. i think it's because he shows her new things and never asks her to do anything she doesn't want to. he's very good with her. one day, he'll make a really good dad! :)

now only 2 days and counting until thanksgiving #2 - VEGAS style!

we're on decapitation watch.

no joke. our ceiling fan above our kitchen table just flew out of the ceiling tonight. i was trying to dust the fan (partly because i'm OCD and partly because it was really dusty). then all of the sudden, it start making these weird noises like the wires were being stretched. then it just fell, only to be caught by 2 thin wires. it hung for about 20 minutes while we waited for the emergency apartment guy to come rescue us. i thought for sure it was going to come crashing down and smash my irreplaceable, wobbly, hookah-burned kmart kitchen table. haha! anyway, like clockwork, he showed up 20 minutes later. he tinkered around for about 10 minutes then he was done. he said whoever put the fan up before we moved in (he swore it wasn't him) used screws that were too small. he replaced the screws and all is right with the world again. er, at least our apartment. but do tell...how does that happen when i was barely touching the dang thing!?! and more importantly, why does everything i touch always fall apart?

all i know is that we are both lucky to still have our heads attached. ahhh, just another day in the garvey household.

BONUS #26

When I was little I never kept my clothes on. I'd run outside naked, up and down the streets. My neighbors nick-named me Sesame Streaker. That name has never been forgotten.

25 things you could probably care less to know...

Rules:

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. When I was in junior high, I would sleep in the bottom of the shower to get in just ten more minutes. Yes, while the water was going!
2. I hit a pole trying to back out of a parking space in a parking garage. Then I laughed.
3. I will never buy another Volkswagen again. Horrible cars.
4. I can't stand the thought (or the sound) of people sipping their milk after eating their cereal.
5. Every time Kevin and I talk about buying a house, I beg him to get me an overflow bathtub.
6. If I could have a baby today, I would.
7. I love vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, but hate chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.
8. I think it's more important to care about who someone is, than who they sleep with.
9. It devastated me when they ended The OC.
10. I truly believe my Diet Coke tastes better with ice in a coffee mug.
11. I wish I was a bad girl so I could have a bunch of tattoos. Yeah, I could never pull it off!
12. When I put on deodorant, I put 13 swishes in each pit.
13. I count my stairs in sets of 8.
14. I gag when I have to clean out the lint trap in the dryer.
15. It secretly irritates me when people complain about money. They are the only ones that spend their own money so it's their fault. But I think it's fine when I do it.
16. Because groceries cost so dang much, I try not to eat them for as long as I can.
17. When my eye makeup gets smeared, my loving husband calls me raccoon face.
18. I hate to be touched by people I don't know (ie. the movie theater arm rest).
19. I have an addition to Dawson's Creek re-runs. And, I own the series.
20. I could live off fajitas and baked potatoes.
21. One day I hope to own my own invitation design shop.
22. I can sing. I sing all the time.
23. My husband and I have our kids names picked out. And...they are already sewn into the stockings we bought for them. Oh geez.
24. Sometimes I think my college degree is a complete joke and waste of time.
25. I judge people by the fonts they choose to use.

TAG! YOU'RE IT [reader]!!

counting down the days

only 4 days until the Boss Family Thanksgiving!
only 8 days until Thanksgiving!
only 8 days until VEGAS!
only 13/18* days until we get our Christmas Tree!
*depends on if we buy it on the day i want or the day kevin wants!
only 19 days until Lindsi's Baby Shower!
only 36 days until Christmas Eve!
only 37 days until Christmas!
only 43 days until New Years Eve!

I love this time of year. Not only are there so fun things to look forward to like holiday parties, ornament exchanges and decorating the tree, but there are so many days to take off! :) Ahh, life is looking up!

update on the garv's

first of all, i apologize for my previous post. kevin said it was pretty rude to put on a blog that his family reads-- ha! ha! honestly, i was just venting. everyone does it. that was the result of my frustration. i didn't actually run anybody over so i think i did pretty well. so there. i apologize. next!

it's been pretty cold here lately. we've been trying to spare using our heater as much as possible for fears of a huge bill at the end of the month. however, i'm also trying to thaw out my toes on occasion. i say "i'm" because if it was up to kevin we would never turn on our heater. or our lights, for that matter. it's always the bare minimum with him. where's the middle between freezing and comfortable?

since we don't have any thanksgiving decorations, we decided to start hanging some of our christmas decorations. our apartment looks really cute. it was fun to pull decorations out of boxes that i've had for over a year, just sitting in a closet. we also looked through our ornament collection. we have a pretty good start. now all i have to do is get those ornament organizers. maybe those will be a christmas gift, considering they are expensive and we're pretty close to broke. ahhh, the joys of newlyweds.

i can already tell that our christmas traditions need to merge. we both need to practice a little bit of give and take. he likes tinsel. me....not so much. he likes all blue lights. me....i like red and white alternating. he likes colored lights on the tree. me...i like white lights. atleast we did finally agree on the star tree topper. our wonderful target find. i stood there in front of the store's endcap staring at him staring at all the stars he could choose from. i told him to pick. and, luckily, he picked the one i was eyeing all along. great minds think alike--most of the time! :) all i know is it will be so much fun making up our own traditions, instead of what we were used to growing up. now we're the grownups in this scenario. YIKES!

I stomped all the way home...

last night, i went apesh*t. please excuse my french, but there is no other word to properly describe my temporary moment of pure insanity. it all started when kevin and i decided to spend a nice night out at the movies. we saw 2012. $32 dollars into our adventure ($16 for movie tickets and $16 for popcorn/drinks), we snuggled into our seats. we felt so thankful to still have found 2 seats together. apparently, 150 other people decided to have the same night as us. right after we sat down, floods of people came into the theater, asking people to skooch over or begging people not to save seats. i was so happy. i had my man next to me, our soda in between us (the perfect mix of diet coke and barq's), we didn't have to sit in the neck-bending seats up front, and i had a nice armrest on my right that fit my arm perfectly. then, out of nowhere, i found myself armrest-less, being jabbed every three seconds by bony elbow man whose $5 cologne was slowly closing my airways. needless to say, i was less than thrilled by my new "friend." as if that wasn't enough, they began to chit-chat during the previews. minus the fact that previews are one of my favorite parts, i endured the chit chat because i thought they were on a first date or something. my assumptions stemmed from the fact they were talking like they'd never met. i practically know their life stories (not that i care). little did i know, they were dating. at least i hope it was more than a first or blind date, the way the girl was dressed and talking about her boobs. now, c'mon, is that really appropriate!?! now back from my tangent: mr and mrs bony elbows talked the ENTIRE MOVIE! if you know me, you know it really irritates me to sit by chatty kathy's at the movies. we pay good money to go to the theater! after asking them to be quiet three times (first time was polite, second time was a little less polite, third time would probably be deemed offensive to most considerate people), they took it as a joke and proceeded to talk/laugh/canoodle even more! needless to say, my 2.5 hour movie was practically ruined. i wanted to pull my hair out! after watching mr bony elbows adjust himself multiple times, he finally decided he needed to go to the bathroom. i seriously considered not letting him out. i was horrible with my scheming. trying to figure out how to "accidently" spill my soda (or better yet his soda since it was in MY cupholder) all over his lap. trying to figure out how to irritate them with my cell phone screen. and i even planned to spill his drink all over his seat while he was in the bathroom. but, like a lot of other schmucks, i can talk (or in this case think) but rarely act on those plans. i just really didn't want my husband to get into a fight with some stupid guy over a wet theater chair. though my plan was revenge, it was revenge and sparing of the husband! ahh, poor kevin saw the fire burning in my eyes on multiple occasions. once mr bony elbows returned from the bathroom, i bet my eyes were glowing with pure hatred. i actually said out loud, "oh greeeaaattt, mr chatty kathy is back." oops! then i just had another hour of listening to their comments on the movie or opinions on how cool the special effects were, what they ate for dinner, etc. once that movie was over, i was outta there. stomping, screaming, huffing and puffing with every step to the car. i must admit, i even contemplated driving at them at full speed as a scare tactic. i just couldn't find them! just my luck. honestly, i am not a hateful person. i know i acted like a child. i wasn't a very christian woman in these moments. i need to learn from the experience, blah blah blah. i warned you that i went crazy...with just cause. note to readers: if you're a chatty kathy, do not come to the theater with me. it won't be pleasant for either of us. trust me.

on a happier note, yesterday i drove through the parking lot at the mall. thank goodness i wasn't actually stopping there because it was a mad house! people were circling for parking spots like vultures circle their prey. all because santa made his big arrival, which officially marks the beginning of the christmas shopping extravaganza. ahhh, my heart melts! most people would avoid christmas crowds like the plague. i LOVE them. people watching is my thing. if i could get paid for it, i would. again, christmas is my holiday. wrapping gifts for hours on end, shopping until my feet hurt, battling crowds and parking lot chaos. i love it all. maybe that makes me crazy, but so be it. one day maybe i'll become a personal shopper. a girl can dream!

martha, where are you when i need you?

i have mold. yep, MOLD! or at least i think it's mold. however, it could be mildew. either way, it's GROSS! there are multiple little patches on the ceiling in the bathroom of our apartment. it's directly over the shower, nowhere else. we got it once about a month ago. kevin sprayed it down with bleach water and it went away. now it's back full-force. i don't think it's in the walls, just looks like a surface thing. our bathroom just has really poor circulation (crappy fan!) and the steam has nowhere to go but up. plus, we live in the apartments on the opposite side of direct sunlight where it tends to be a little cooler and/or more damp. so...the big question--how do i get rid of it for good? or is that my landlord's responsibility?

i can't live like this any longer. we haven't gotten sick or anything. it doesn't affect us in any way really, other than it's ugly! mold really seems to take away from the aesthetics of my beautifully designed blue, brown and gold bathroom :)

help!?!

i come bearing gifts...

just in time for christmas...

so my work sent out a link to this interesting website link today. apparently, the state of oregon is holding upwards of $250 million in unclaimed money and assets. all you have to do is visit the following site, search for you or your loved ones names to see if you are entitled to any money. i have found one claim for a family friend worth over $50 for insurance proceeds and one claim for my cousin worth over $50 for a court deposit.

i know this totally sounds like a scam but it's a not. a lady at my work received $181.00 for insurance proceeds! you know it's legit because it's from the state of oregon, not some rinky-dink site on the internet.

i encourage you to check for any money owed to you that's just been sitting there. you can search your name or the names of your loved ones here:

http://www.oregonstatelands.us/
scroll down and click on "UNCLAIMED PROPERTY NAME SEARCH" (in the middle of page under the blue bar that says "Agency Services"

if you find any claims, just fill out the corresponding Inquiry Form and mail it in for your moola. GOOD LUCK!

i'd pass this along to whoever you know. tell them "merry christmas from katie" :)

it's official. i'm in love....

with a...wait for it...ORNAMENT ORGANIZER!!!



this set is a dream come true. i'm definitely going to have to order like 3 or 4 of these this year. i'm thinking 2 of each size, 36 and 48 ornaments. perfect for storing the many ornaments we already have!!! :) whoever said skymall is a waste is completely deranged.

i heart skymall.
and organization.

ps. i warned you that i have christmas fever. now you all get to read about it :) LUCKY YOU.

these are a few of my favorite things

my heart swoons every year when the holiday lane departments open up at target, macy's, pottery barn, etc. i love all the beautiful things that bring christmas into your home during the holidays. i must get this love from my mother, who always made sure to make our home festive and fun during the holiday season. now that i have my own place, it's my turn to throw the tinsel and i couldn't be more excited.





in case you fall in love too, all these items are either at target, macy's or pottery barn. i hope everyone joins in on the christmas extravaganza with me :) in turn, if you find things that make your heart flutter, let me know! ARE THERE ANY OTHER CHRISTMAS NUTS OUT THERE BESIDES ME!?!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

well, not really but i can dream right? since the second halloween passed, i have been living, eating and breathing christmas time. i love everything about it. i can't wait for thanksgiving--we are lucky enough to go to vegas to vegas kevin's parents for the holiday weekend. then, once thanksgiving has come and gone, it's christmas all the way! it's an unwritten rule in our house that christmas music is non-existant until the day after thanksgiving. i'll really try, but there are no promises this year. christmas is just itching to get out. :)

i'll post about halloween later tonight or tomorrow. there are some great pics, soon to come.