10 things you might not know about me

Mandy from Miss Indie started a '10 things you don't know about me' tag and tagged yours truly! After 3+ years of blogging I honestly don't really remember what I've shared here and what I haven't but here are 10 things that I *think* you don't know about me...

1. I've never had alcohol or coffee. Not for any religious reasons, I just don't care to try it. I'm perfectly happy with grapefruit juice, fruit smoothies, and iced tea, thank you ;)

2. My natural hair color is dark brown. This September will be 10 years since the first time I dyed it and I haven't stopped since. Even the few times I've gone back to dark hair I've still dyed it some other shade than the one I was born with.

3. The first time I dyed my hair I was feeling very emotional about a boy-related-issue and asked one of my best friends to go in the drug store and buy any hair color and dye my hair. I didn't know until I got out of the shower that I was blonde. (And so begins my lifelong habit of dying my hair when I'm feeling emotional.)

4. I go through spurts where I don't draw or paint for a while, and when I get the urge to start again, I'm literally terrified that my abilities* will have completely vanished. I mean I seriously panic. I end up finding it's like riding a bicycle, it always comes back. But nevertheless, I still get petrified every single time. *There has to be a better word than abilities. That makes it sound like I'm an art superhero, which I'm definitely not.

5. I'm allergic to cats! I have a chronically stuffy nose and if I skip my allergy medication for one day I turn into an itchy disaster, but it's totally worth it. I can't even imagine a life without cats in it.

6. My biggest fear is being autopsied. Even after I'm dead and wouldn't know it was happening, the whole idea of it just freaks me out so much I can't even think about it. I've even looked into medical bracelets that say "Do not autopsy." Somehow I can sit and watch Scully cut people open on The X-Files with no problem though?

7. Speaking of The X-Files, I was such a big fan in middle school that I regularly published my own alien newsletter. I think I had three subscribers and two of them were my parents.

8. I get ridiculously excited about mail. I basically spend 11am-3pm every weekday anxiously looking out my front window to see if the mail truck came yet.

9. My three biggest pet peeves are: impatience, women wearing their coats over their shoulders (coats have sleeves for a reason!) and when your nailpolish has chipped off a bit and you run your hand through your hair and it gets caught on your nail. ugh!!

10. I just discovered that I like ice cream! My whole life I thought I hated it because I had only tried chocolate and vanilla (which I didn't like) but last year I tried coconut and that changed everything. So far some of my favorites I've tried have been winter squash, orange pineapple, black sesame and apple!



I'm going to tag Millie, Kailey, Jenny, Chiaki and Kati! And if you haven't been tagged formally but would like to do one of these posts, then tag, you're it! :)

paint by number

Saturday night at 2am I got a random urge to paint a mural in my bathroom... so I did! I found a vintage paint by number online for reference, printed it out and then hung out in the loo all night with pencils, paint and a brush! I stopped around 5am, got some sleep, then finished it off Sunday morning. I'm super-duper incredibly happy with how it turned out & so glad I just went ahead and did it!

My bathroom wasn't especially pretty ... the paint was peeling and I had a lot of obvious holes where I'd stuck push pins over the years. So this mural covers up all the uglies! I only did one wall so far, but I'm planning on continuing the scene onto the door & other wall when I have a chance! :) I can't wait until it's all finished.. I'll definitely share photos of the whole room when it's complete!

ps. While working on the mural I finished Felicity on netflix ... [Spoiler alert!!] I never watched it when it was on so this was my first time, and I totally did not expect a time travel storyline! That just came out of left field.. and how was Elena alive at the end? Totally mind-boggling to me. I loved it, but it was just so completely unexpected! Although I was sort of rooting for Noel the whole time, so I wasn't incredibly pleased with how things ended up in that department ;p

blog awards and a-z

I haven't done any memes or blog awards in a long time, but I thought every once in a while it would be fun ;) So first up, I received two blog awards from two very lovely bloggers -- the Tell Me About Yourself Award from Desert Americana and the Versatile Blogger award from The Young Bridget Jones! Thank you so much! Both awards call for seven little known facts, so here we go!

1. I was on my High School Debate team & in Mock Trial. Geek alert! ;)

2. I am a total klutz. I don't think I ever have less than 5 bruises at a time.

3. My very bestest friends are all online. I've never met them IRL! (yet!)

4. I cry really, really easily. It's embarrassing.

5. I stopped driving in 2005 after recurring nightmares of a crash.

6. My ideal job would be to run a cat sanctuary.

7. I hate when tv show characters have babies.

They also call for giving the award to 15 other bloggers, but I always feel weird picking so I'm going to skip that part. And I thought it would be fun to do the A-Z meme floating around too! Although the version I keep seeing is missing the letter T. I'm assuming that's an accident(?) so I added one!

Age: 24
Bed size: Queen
Chore that you hate: Laundry (despise it!)
Dogs: None (but 2 cats!)
Essential start to your day: Hypatia meowing at me
Favorite color: Grapefruit pinkish
Gold or Silver: Neither
Height: 5’ on the nose
Instruments you play: Tiny bit of piano
Job title: Illustrator
Kids: Zip, nada, zero, zilch.
Live: United States
Mother’s name: Judy
Nicknames: Katie-Kate (Mom), Tootsie Pop (Grandmom), Moron (Brother)

Overnight hospital stays: None (knock on wood!)
Pet peeves: Women wearing sweaters/coats over their shoulders without using the arm holes.
Quote from a movie: "What do you really want?" "Everything. Nothing." (Look Back in Anger)
Right or left handed: Right
Siblings: Kyle, 8 years younger and 12 inches taller
Television: X-Files and Eureka
Underwear: Yes?
Vegetable you hate: Carrots and onions
What makes you run late: My genes.
X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth/Heart/Lungs/Back
Yummy food that you make: Chickpeas & tomatoes. DELISH.
Zoo animal: Lions

flashback friday

A couple months ago my mom found two giant boxes of photos from when me & my brother were little, and I've been trying to think of something to do with them (besides, obviously, scanning them and saving them) ... I was originally going to do some kind of series where I recreated the photos now, but I'm having a hard time figuring out the logistics of that one. In the meantime I thought I'd just start posting some of them here every so often :)

If anyone has a clever name for this series I'd be so indebted to you... I don't want to go overboard on alliteration, and naming things after days of the week. And it also sounds kind of silly to do a "friday" something post anyway when I also do Posh Frock Friday in the morning lol ;-D

outfit photo, circa 1991

My mom found a bunch of old photos today, and I couldn't help but post this one! The dress I'm wearing was my favorite when I was little... my mom saved it for special occasions like pre-school graduation, Easter and birthdays. She called it my "posh frock" which is where I got the name for posh frock fridays :) My parents took so many photos of me modeling my clothes, I'm tempted to do a bunch of old outfit posts. Some of my dresses were so cute I wish they still fit me! ;-D

what goes around comes around

dress - forever 21

sweater - forever 21

tights - we love colors

shoes - aldo

The last time I wore this dress was back in August for my third outfit post. I went back to look at it today after I took these photos, and I was shocked at how much I've changed in the last several months! My style & the way I shoot my photos has evolved, but it's mostly my hair, which has gone from being waist-length, and dark brown to shoulder length bright red, that's the most obvious difference. And honestly, as far as superficial changes go, it's the best decision I ever made. My hair has always annoyed me. I tried dark brown, light brown, blonde, black, you name it. But I never tried red until last year, and it just fits. I really never want to dye it any other color, ever again. I think I should have been born with this color, it just feels so right. :)

kate and her six confessions

(via)

Playing along with this meme I saw on Diana's blog!

1. My two biggest pet peeves are women wearing coats or sweaters on their shoulders instead of using the sleeves, and the addition of the letter "s" to words where it doesn't belong. Examples: Anyway(s), All(s) you have to do, I talked to some people(s), etc. I'm not a grammar nazi or anything, but this one thing just annoys the heck out of me!

2. I once had a post up about this, but I deleted it out of embarrassment... I was a huge fan of Shane West in high school (he was in that sappy Mandy Moore movie A Song to Remember) and went to see his band perform for my 17th birthday. I told him it was my birthday, when he asked how old I was I said "legal" and then I had him sign my chest. *facepalm*

3. I am terrified of mirrors at night. We have a full-length mirror in our hallway, and I always run past it really quick if I have to go by after dark. I always think I'll see someone else in the reflection with me. Super irrational, I know..

4. I wish so badly I had a more scientific mind, because I desperately want to be an astronomer or quantum physicist. I read science books more than fiction, and I love trying to wrap my brain around scientific theories that in reality I'll probably never comprehend. I understand the words, but when it comes down to the t-x2=(c)8-n∞ stuff I'm totally lost :(

5. I really love the smell of garlic, and I don't understand why most people ridicule it. I'd burn garlic candles if they made them! And wear garlic perfume, and bathe in garlic bubble bath. I just love it!

6. I don't really want kids. I'm not a very maternal person, and I have zero desire to ever be pregnant. If I end up with someone who does want children, I'm okay with adoption, but kids aren't even remotely close to being on my checklist of things I want to do in life. I like cats better, lol ;-D

somewhere there's a someone for everyone

dress - modcloth

sweater - f21

hair bow - f21

sunglasses - fred flare

shoes - my grandmom

So, today is Valentine's Day. I thought it would be a good day to confess a deep, dark embarrassing secret that I've kept hidden from all but a handful of online friends. I am perpetually single. I'm 24 years old and I've never been on a single date in my entire life. It's not that I'm super picky or anything. It just never happened.

In high school none of the guys I was interested in asked me out, so I went through high school dateless. Then right out of high school I started taking online college classes, so there was no real interaction with other humans. Choosing a career as an artist led me to work from home, so no interaction there either. Honestly I don't really even want to meet anyone while I live in my hometown because I'm afraid that I'll get tied down here, and I don't want to live here for another month let alone an entire lifetime. I'm finally moving in the fall, hopefully taking on-campus classes and getting a real live job. I feel like my life is finally going to begin, but at the same time I feel incredibly naive. I'm in my mid-twenties and I am a complete romantic novice. I'm terrified that I'll meet someone wonderful, and they'll be turned off by my inexperience. I don't even know if that's something you spill on a first date... How do you tell someone in their 20's or 30's that your first date with them is actually your first date EVER! It has such a negative connotation, like people will either think my parents kept me incredibly sheltered (which they didn't) or that I have some kind of mental problem (which I don't). It's hard to explain that it's just a series of strange circumstances, a deep-seated fear of being stuck in New Jersey (okay, my hatred for my home state might be a little less than normal) and a poor teenage dating batting average that got me here.

I'll be the first to admit, though, that deep down I do believe I'll find someone someday who is understanding and patient, and who thinks my inexperience is endearing, not off-putting. It might take a while to find them, but I think they're out there. I'm not really a romantic but I do believe that somewhere there's a someone for everyone, and somewhere there's a someone for me :)

Garbo Talks!! (Well, not Garbo.. just me..)

(I apparently do a corny "thumbs up" whenever I'm feeling awkward)

I've been putting off posting anything with my voice on the internet for a looong time, but when I saw this Regional Dialect meme on Kaelah's blog, I thought it might be the perfect opportunity to finally speak up. I felt like a total buffoon doing this, but at least now you can put a voice to the face. Not sure that's a good thing though, lol ;-D

Anyway, here's the meme... if you decide to post one too, leave a link in the comments, and share in my embarrassment!

Say these words:
Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

Now answer these questions:
What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

and the snow snow snow came down down down

coat - diane von furstenberg

leggings - old navy

boots - f21

Yesterday I begged my brother to go with me to the park and take photos in the snow, so I could recreate the Catherine Deneuve photo I had as my blog header for the last month or so. I've had the idea in my head for a week or two, and I've just been waiting for it to snow again. Thank goodness my parents talked him into going (he hates doing anything for me unless I bribe him in some way) so I got my photos :D I swear, if he wasn't so difficult about spending 10 minutes with me, I'd ask him to take all my photos, but my mac photo booth is much more patient and I don't have to give it Wendys Spicy Chicken Combos to take my picture ;-)

When we had the snowstorm a couple weeks ago I was shocked how many bloggers took photos outside (it's so COLD!!) but now I totally understand why. These are, by far, my favorite photos I've ever posted on my blog. There's something magical about snow. It's so quiet and peaceful. Despite its cool temperatures, just looking at it in these photos makes me sigh and feel all warm inside :)

my super lazy sort-of-beehive hair tutorial

I thought I'd share how I do my hair-bump thing today! When I do my hair in the morning, my main requirements are no hairspray and no teasing. When I take my hairdo out before bed, I don't want it to be all knotty and stiff, so I stick to bobby pins (LOTS of bobby pins) and other tools to achieve volume.

My favorite tool is the Puffy Pony. It's intended to make your ponytails more, well, puffy, but I use it to make my super lazy sort-of-beehive that you see in most of my outfit posts. It's *incredibly* easy to do, and I think it ends up looking much more fun than a simple bun or ponytail. Naturally mine didn't come out perfect in the tutorial (I think my hair is camera shy) but you've seen it before in photos so you know what I'm aiming for lol :)

I may have overcome my self-consiousness when it comes to photos of myself, but I'm still weary of sharing my voice so I'm silent in the tutorial, and just have it set to music. (Not quite ready to expose my awful New Jersey accent just yet) Soo here are the instructions (including the step I left out. whoops!)

1. Pull your hair up into a really high ponytail

2. When you're pulling your hair through for the last time, don't finish pulling it through all the way.

3. Pull the ends to puff out the hair

4. Pin back any really large chunks that didn't stay in the ponytail holder

5. Insert the pony puff over the ponytail holder from the backside, and secure it into the hair on the front of your head. (Yes mine is missing a prong.. it still works, but obviously gets a lot of use! lol)

6. Use bobby pins to shape the sort-of-beehive. You can make it really tight and small, or huge and floppy -- it totally depends on the amount of pins you use.

7. I forgot to address the bit of hair that ends up sticking out of the back of your ponytail holder. I usually either wrap it around the front and tuck it under the bun with pins, or I twist it and pin it into the back and cover it with a bow or fancy little hair knick knack :)

Basically I do my hair this way every single day, except for one other sort-of-beehive style that's pretty similar except I don't use the Puffy Pony (I feel so stupid even saying that name..) so maybe if you want I'll do a tutorial for that one too later?

me and my date

Call me crazy, but I think having a date night with yourself can be pretty darn fun. That's what I'm up to tonight! I went to the grocery store earlier and stocked up on my favorite goodies -- natural popcorn (trust me, soo much better than buttered!), mandarin oranges, chips and hummus and, of course, grapefruit juice -- and I'm all ready to get cozy with my cat and a stack of dvds. Does anyone else do this? I even put my makeup on so that when I walk by mirrors I don't think my date is hideously ugly ;-D

ps. I know I don't flip my photo booth pictures.. I look better this way :)

Happy Halloween!

Ok, I didn't actually have anywhere to go today except Staples, but that didn't prevent me from getting a little dolled up. I wore my favorite hat & brand new coat with a big fat wad of eye makeup. But despite wearing my normal clothes & just a little extra eyeliner, I still felt very Halloweenish.. quite Edward Gorey, if I do say so myself. :) I hope everyone else has something more fun than errands planned for tonight, and can really take me up on this when I say -- have a happy halloween!

how much do I love thee

Remember this coat? Well, it's MINE ALL MINE! *muahahahahaha* It went on sale 20% off last week so I was able to snatch it up without feeling too guilty about the price. And, miracle of miracles, it fits like a glove! The sleeves feel like they were made for my arms and I can button it up completely without pulling on my hips, something very very rare for me. My only teeny tiny complaint is that it's a bit long, but only by a few inches so I'll either live with it or eventually get it tailored if it bugs me too much. Also the shoulders are a little too big for me, but I'm used to that since I have a hard time finding cute coats in petite sizes ;p

Of course the main attraction is the collar. (THE COLLAR!!) It's beyond gorgeous. You can style it about five different ways, thanks to some hidden buttons. I like it best the way I have it in the photos, but it also looks fantastic worn really wide & open.

It really is amazing to finally have a good coat. You can tell simply from feeling the fabric that it's quality. It's so soft and warm and beautiful, I'm just totally in love!! Now if the temperature would finally drop to something that slightly resembles fall or winter I could start wearing it! ;-D

ps. Outfit photos using my mac photo booth? Who'da thunk it?! Every picture came out nice, and I actually had to narrow them down. Nice change from picking 1 half-bad shot out of 100 miserable ones using my powershot self timer. I think photo booth will be the way to go from now on!

my favorite halloween costume

After reading this article today about Target's attack on homemade Halloween costumes, I was reminded of my all-time favorite costume -- a Hershey's chocolate milk box made for me by my mom when I was 11 years old. It won 1st place in the best costume competition at my Halloween school dance, and I came home with a $25 Pizza Hut gift card.

I think this is 100 times better -- and 100 times more special -- than any disposable polyester costume I could get at Target, don't you?

when I was blonde..

.. I was sixteen. School was starting in a couple weeks, and I had just been absolutely devastated by the rejection of a stupid-in-retrospect, but oh-so-important-back-then high school crush. Me and my best friend at the time went to the drugstore, and I told her to buy any hair color she wanted and to dye it without showing me. And that's how I ended up blonde! I only kept the color for about six months before I went back to being a brunette, but it was fun while it lasted!

This picture is from a few months later when my heart had significantly healed and I was about to see the Frank Sinatra tribute show at Radio City Music Hall for my 17th birthday :)

Hey, Red!

I'm officially a redhead as of last night! woo hoo! Everyone is always telling me how pale I am (This happens almost weekly: "Hi Grandmom, how are you!?" ... "You look so pale, Katie." .... "Thanks Grandmom.") so I thought it was about time I had a hair color that matched my skin better. The dark brown always seemed to amplify the fact that I rarely saw the light of day.

I tried dying it Sunday, but didn't realize that you can't just dye light red over dark brown and hope everything turns out hotsy totsy. I ended up with hot red roots and dark red bottoms! It was pretty awful. So I got a hair color removal kit, and tried again yesterday. There's still a teeny bit of brown peeking through on my sides, but I'm just going to let that grow out now. I pull my hair back most of the time anyway, so it shouldn't bother me too much :)

This is the first time I've ever dyed my hair red and I'm pretty happy with it! I've been blonde, dark purple and all shades of brown but red is new! I think I'll stick with it for a while :) And maybe I'll upload a blonde picture just to embarrass myself ;-D

I've gone mad

Somehow I ended up watching the first episode of Mad Men the other day, and I'm now totally and completely hooked. Currently I'm on the last episode of the second season & I have season 3 downloading so I can watch it next. I don't know why I wasn't watching this ages ago!

A few thoughts (SPOILERS if you haven't watched seasons 1 and 2!): My favorites so far are definitely Betty and Peggy, and I really liked Fred so I was sad when he had to leave (but I'm hoping maybe he'll come back??) Also, as cruel as she is I also like Joan but it might just be the fact that I'm so tickled pink to see that all the men at the office think a curvy girl is pretty. It gives me hope :) I've also always had a little crush on John Slattery so I'm thrilled that he's a regular, and panicked quite a bit when his health declined in the first season. I think Duck is *perfect* for a show about the 60's since he reminds me so much of Gig Young in movies like That Touch of Mink. His voice especially. But I totally stopped liking his character when he let his dog loose outside the building. It saddens me that the people on the show don't seem to have much of a sense of humor, but considering the fact that I just watched about 30 episodes of Friends last week I'm not lacking in the comedy department right now. Pete Campbell was the most annoying person ever in the first few episodes, but he doesn't bother me as much now. Except that he always looks like he's wearing lipstick and I can't seem to take my mind off that when he's in a scene.

And two of my favorite things about the show are minor cast members -- Robert Morse (aka the star of one of my favorite movies, The Loved One) is the "Cooper" in Sterling Cooper. If I had known this I would have been watching a long time ago. Also, Marshall Darling (aka Clarissa's dad from Clarissa Explains it All!!) plays Pete Campbell's father in law. Any CEIA cast member sightings always make me very happy :)

And of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't bring up the clothes. THE CLOTHES. *squeals* Can I raid Betty Draper's closet please??

I want to try to get caught up to the current episodes so I can start watching them on AMC when they air, but I'm not sure how to watch the season 4 episodes that have already aired... if anyone knows where you can see them online (for free) please let me know :D

*

Oh, and here's a better picture of my new haircut after I actually styled it :)

ta da!

a quick not-so-great photo, but I just wanted to show how SHORT it is! I actually wanted it to be a little longer (about an inch or so) but my mom cut it uneven and had to keep chopping off more to make it straight, lol :) I ended up laughing so hard while she was cutting it that she had to stop or else it would have been even more crooked! But I like it now, and it's just going to be SO much easier to brush and shampoo. Plus, I won't keep thinking that something is crawling on my shoulder when my ponytail touches my skin (I'm really jumpy)...

on the lam in the laundry room

[image via thephotozoo]

I had just plopped myself down on the couch with my fresh bowl of chickpeas and tomatoes. I had only woken about 20 minutes beforehand, and my hair was tied back in frizzy day-old braids, topped off with an Aunt Jemima style kerchief securing the whole mess in place. In plaid pajama bottoms and an over sized sweatshirt, with a box of tissues positioned never more than one foot away from my grasp, I felt almost as bad as I looked.

Before I had a chance to get but one spoonful of food into my mouth, the doorbell rang.

It should be noted here that our doorbell rarely rings, especially on a Sunday. On a weekday, it's automatically assumed that UPS rang the bell, and the door-answering duties are left up to my dad. But this was a Sunday. And my grandmother had already been over for coffee in the morning and left. When you take her and UPS off the list of possible visitors, you're left with an empty page.

My brother went to the door while my mom and I exchanged anxious glances. Our house looked like a tornado had just blown through, and I looked like I had been sucked in and spit out during the storm. Neither of us wanted anyone to see the wreckage.. she meant the house, I meant me.

So my brother opened the door, and who would it be but an old family friend that hadn't visited in about 10 years. The last time she saw me, I was a little pre-teen with straight A's who was properly dressed and showered. So in a fit of panic, not wanting to ruin this image of me as a clean little girl by letting her see me in all my sick, pajamed, hair-kerchiefed glory, I grabbed my tomatoes and chickpeas and made a beeline for the laundry room.

The laundry room is right next to the kitchen, where our guest was invited to sit down. I knew I'd be in there for a while when I heard my mom offer coffee, so I had to find a way to quietly sit down. In the tiny room, my only option for getting comfortable without making noise was to slowly descend into the empty laundry basket sitting on the floor.

So there I sat, in a laundry basket in the dark laundry room for 3o minutes without making a peep. Me, my pajamas, my day old braids, my chickpeas and my tomatoes.