Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

I hope everyone has had a great weekend! Mine was super stressful, and I'm glad it's over. Between my disaster of a (future) bedroom, and my terror of a seven year old BabyBro (he is still adjusting to Sister being home, and it's not been the most pleasant of experiences... think lots of slamming doors and kicking walls...), I managed to wake up today in a fairly great mood!

I am way behind on the bedroom, but I took today off anyways. Mom and I went to see the new Pirates of the Carribbean movie while Dad and BabyBro went to see Kung Fu Panda 2. I wore a cute new outfit I bought the other day. I needed a day not covered in dry-wall dust or paint. Desperately.

I thought the Pirates movie was not that great. Jack Sparrow wasn't as fun as he usually is, and I have never been a huge Penelope Cruz fan. However, I thought the mermaid parts were sweet. I love mermaids, though.. Haha. I am thinking of being a mermaid with my godbaby for Halloween. I think a scary mermaid would be fun. :) I'd have to figure out how to do the costume. Any suggestions?!

I didn't go see my Timmy Tebow today, which makes me kind of sad. I found out at like 11:00 last night that you needed a ticket to get a book signed, and they were all out. Boo. But I figure the man is from Jacksonville, so I'm sure he'll be back. I'll meet him someday. I. Will. Meet. Him. Haha. Not to sound like a stalker or anything...

Came home and played canasta with my mama. My grandmother usually plays with us, too, but she was reading. I love canasta. I swear I'm 24 going on 83. I love Bingo, slippers (see below...), canasta, yelling at kids to get out of my garden, crocheting... It's pretty awesome. My friend Anthony and I chat about growing old all the time. We can't wait. Haha. Now I just need to knit him that sweater....

Sophia informed me there are issues commenting on my blog. This makes me sad, so I'll probably be contacting Blogger about this. I've had so many issues since this new update. I hate it! Kind of makes me wish I had started with Wordpress, but it's too late now. Oh well.

I take my SATs on Saturday, and right after I head up to NC to get my furniture and stuff. Ah. A bed. It will be so nice to have my own bed again. Well, I'm off to stalk (er... read) your blogs now! I hope you can comment!!!

Also, this was my first Memorial Day as a veteran, and I have to say, it was wonderful!

-Katy

Let's Bowl!

Hey y'all!

How is everyone?! I have been super busy lately. And pretty much loving every second of it. :-)

My room is coming along so nicely! This weekend will be spent painting and putting the flooring down. After that it's just the baseboards, and I'm ready to move in! (Once I get my furniture that is...) I spent this evening spackling so hopefully we can paint tomorrow. Whew. I'm ready to be done!

Yesterday was my friend (and Godfather of my godbaby, Akemi!) Lance's birthday, and a-bowling we went. He's a really big bowler, so that's what he wanted to do, and I love bowling, so I was pretty excited! I'm a terrible bowler, but I have a whole bunch of fun doing it. I do this weird skip thing, that everyone makes fun of me for, but when I try not to do it it messes me up, and I end up almost falling on my face. Hey. Bowling shoes are slippery. Don't judge me! Haha.

Funny story. While we were getting shoes I asked Lance what kind of bowler he was, the normal kind, or the all strike kind. He said (very self-assured, I might add...) that he was definitely the all strike kind. I just laughed and knew I was about to get dominated. (Personally I prefer golf scoring when it comes to bowling...)

Well were on frame 6, and Lance had yet to bowl a strike. Now I've gotten quite a few 'one pin' scores, and nothing even resembling a strike or spare. So I look at Lance and ask him where his strikes are. I then tell him, with all sorts of sass, to watch how it's done.

Remember. I'm in last. And a terrible bowler. So I promptly go up and bowl a strike. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THAT HAPPENED. But it was epic. Everyone with us started cheering, and I felt like a celebrity. I mean, at least a D-List celebrity. But it was my claim to fame in life. :)

Second game I even bowled a better score than Lance. However, he was stumbling drunk by that point, and I was stone cold sober, so perhaps it was an "unfair" advantage. But I think that's shenanigans, and I'm counting it. BOO-YAH. :-)

Sooooo, huge news. Um. Tim Tebow is having a book signing here in Jacksonville on Monday. Oh yeah. That's happening. I'M SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!!!! Cue a whole bunch of exclamation points. Though I'll probably faint or turn ridiculously shy, and (for the first time in my life) not be able to talk. Either way, I'm like 98% positive I'm going to make a huge fool of myself. I'll be sure to fill you all in on the details. :-)

Well. I'm off to shower. I'm covered in Spackle, and while I think the spotted look is mega-hot on me... I'm also crazy, so I'm sure I'm all alone in those thoughts. I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Memorial Day weekend. Please think of me while eating delicious BBQ. :-)

And now, just to be completely unabashedly narcissistic, here are a few photos of ... well... just me. :)

How Does Your Garden Grow Tuesday!

Hey y'all!

This week I'm going to be joining the lovely Cara over Chic Meets Healthy in her weekly link party of How Does Your Garden Grow Tuesdays!

I'm really excited about this, because I just moved back home and was able to start my first garden! :)

I picked up some potted vegetables (because I REALLY want to grow something I can eat!) and some lavender. I love lavender a whole bunch! We decided to plant them along a fence because a lot of kids run through my yard, and we were afraid they might trample them!

I had to start from scratch in the grass, and our shovel is super dull... So, it was kind of difficult! Haha. That or I'm just a weakling. Probably option B.

Then I set out planting the plants into the ground! I did leave the Basil in a ceramic pot, though. Which is good, because it's started wilting a little. It is a plant that does well in full sun, but Florida is in the high 90s right now, and is super dry, so we were getting worried, and had to move it.

I had so much fun, but I did learn that I need some bug spray. Not for my plants, but for ME! Haha. I was eaten up by mosquitoes!

I can't wait to see some results!!

Are y'all gardening this year? Have you joined up with Cara!?

Just Like Riding a Bike!

Hey y'all!

How is everyone doing? I'm having so much fun with civilian life! I've registered for an SAT class (June 4th! It's so soon, and I am SO nervous!), found a part-time summer job, bought a brand new bike (more on this later!), found the paint for my bedroom, ran a 5k, started a garden (I'm so excited for tomorrow's post with Cara!), etc. I've been a busy little bee!

I think I already need a vacation from my "vacation". :)

Let me start at the beginning. I've moved back in with my parents (gasp. I know. But it made the most financial sense while I'm in school. Plus my mama sure has missed me.) but we didn't have a room for me! So I gave my parents some money to renovate the garage into a bedroom for me. It's not finished yet, so for now I'm on the couch. Haha. But it should be finished soon, and let me say. I am in love with my HUGE closet. I'm a lot like Carrie from Sex and the City when it comes to closets... :)

Baby Bro and I went out for a bike ride today. Let me just say. I love my beautiful new bike. It's so much fun to ride. I wanted to go out all day today, but I promised Baby Bro we'd go on a long ride, so I patiently (mostly...) waited until he got out of school. Then we were off!

Baby Bro doesn't have a helmet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know all the rules. But I never used one, and so long as we stay on the back roads, he'll be fine. I mean, the kid is a little boy. They're like 95% invincible. However, I am refusing to take him on the larger roads without one, so we have to get him one. I refuse to wear one though. Haha. (Don't worry. I always wear one on a motorcycle.)

It was a beautiful day, and super warm. (By super warm I mean blazing hot.) and I had a really good time. Baby Bro fell a few times on the dirt road, but he was pretty much a champ! :) Next time I think we'll go to the park. :)

Now i just need to study for the SATs so I can get accepted to my dream school. Go Gators!

-Katy

BeachFest 2011

Hey y'all! This weekend was pretty boss.

I ran the 2011 NeverQuit Beach Fest 5K with Ellie and her parents yesterday. It was so much fun, but the race itself was pretty difficult.

The race started at 5pm, so I got to sleep in late, which was a super-duper awesome thing, since I stayed up until after 5am hanging out with Ellie, and then catching up on Glee... Haha. I'm a totaly Gleek.

We spent time getting ready and taking fun photos, and then we headed over to her parents house and met up with them and my mom and Baby Bro. Mom and Baby Bro were just going to be spectators, and I have to say, they were awesome. Especially since we were at the beach and Baby Bro didn't bring his swim trunks, and had to just stare at the water the whole time. Spectating is boring for adults, but for seven year olds I imagine it's pure torture.

We got there about an hour and a half early and wandered around collecting swag, and staring at a whole bunch of super attractive boys without shirts. (It was sponsored by the Navy - I know. I'll never get away - and they had SEAL challenges and stuff.) Right before our race started (there were different events all day long.) a visiting NAVY Seal team (I wanted to know if it was SEAL Team 6, since that would be super rad... but I never found out.) did a fun parachuting demonstration. Then the race was on!

Free swag. And my civilian fingernails. :)

We were going to try to get in the 11 min corral, but we ended up stuck in the 14 min one and hit a massive human body road block. (There were 7,000 racers, and it was slightly disorganized...) El and I started off at a pretty good pace, but she started struggling pretty early, and I wasn't leaving her. It was 96* (or warmer..) and we were running on the sand. Neither one of us was ready for that. The conditions were actually kind of brutal, and it was so overcrowded.

I ended up running backwards a lot, trying to chat with Ellie, but she was being ridiculously anti-social. I'm thinking that iPod was a bad idea... Haha, just kidding. I didn't listen to mine most of the time, which is actually pretty sad, because I sure do love Adele a whole bunch. It's the first time I've ever ran without music, and it actually wasn't bad. I was so caught up in the moment, and pushing El, that I didn't need the music.

Biggest pet peeve of the day were the people just laying out in the sand or building sand castles right in the middle of where we were running. (The race was on a public beach, and I guess they didn't reserve the whole mile and a half of beach.) The race was a down-and-back, and the view was pretty much the same. The ocean. Certainly not a bad view by any means! There was one water stop, so you hit it twice. Not too bad for a 3.1 mi race, but they ran out of cold water, and were serving HOT water by the time we hit it up. It was awful. Haha.

We finished and instead of medals, we received Turtle necklaces, and they are really pretty. The color of your necklace was based on which event you participated in, and the 5k was turquoise. :)

After the race was over, we set out for our free beer, and then headed home to EAT.It was a really fun day, and I really want to do another race, and I think I will definitely be doing this one again next year.

Baby bro even got free beer. :) They were checking id's, and El and I forgot ours, so my mom had to use hers to sneak it for us. This was crazy in two ways. First, if you knew my mom, she doesn't drink. She hates drinking, and she never condones me drinking. So that alone was out of this world. And two. Um. I'm 24? I thought the sneaking alcohol days were far behind me. So I was kind of tickled to feel like a rebel again. :) Even if I am a legit rebel. Haha. :)

Funny story of the day. El and I went to watch some shirtless boys in some sort of challenge. We were watching them and I looked at El and said, "They sure are pretty." She looked at me and said, "Thank you." I replied with, "Not you. Them." Haha. She's still convinced I said her (well, she is pretty!) but I definitely talking about the boys. She went back and told my mom. You know. Cuz she worries about my sexual orientation sometimes. I giggled a whole bunch over this.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

This Ship Has Sailed.

Whew. That was quite the adventure. At this time I should (yes this is pre-written due to not having great wi-fi driving down I-95) be heading back to Jacksonville, FL, DD214 (official discharge paperwork) in hand. With crazy fingernails. :)

Basically I am officially a veteran (VFW to be exact!) and no longer in the World's Finest Navy. (Gawd. Did I just say that?! WHO AM I?!) I'll start at the beginning.

I was a senior in high school, without much college prospects because I enjoyed skipping school to hang out at the beach far more than I did actually attending class, so my GPA wasn't exactly stellar. They kept talking about some military test going on, and it just so happened to take place at the same time my least favorite class was also taking place, so I figured. Sure. I'll skip in a legit way.

Little did I know this was a flippin' four hour test. It had the weirdest stuff on it, too. Like I know how to do engine work on a car. Pssssh. Hello Christmas Tree. I finished and skipped out. The sun was calling my name.

Fast forward a few months and I've traded skipping school for the beach for skipping school to sleep in late after a night of partying with my favorite Navy boys. :-) They were super fun, and I loved them all so much. Then I get this call from a recruiter. I guess I'm the world's best Christmas Tree Test Taker, because I pretty much rocked that test. (Except I was deemed not very proficient in auto mechanics. Go figure.) So, since my telling people "NO." skills were awful at the time, I got suckered into meeting them. Next thing I know, I've signed up to join the U.S. Navy.

(Yes. There's the real reason I joined the Navy. Not college. Not serve my country. Not see the world. I wanted to skip school, and didn't want to say no. Haha. ;-) Though all of those did influence my decision. <3)

WHAT?!! How did I end here? All my Navy boys were like, "RUN!" But then I would look at them. Sure, they complained, like, um, NONSTOP, but they had sooooo many fun stories. And they were like a little family. So I did it. Next thing I know (March 2005), I'm saying tearful goodbyes to my Baby Bro (almost a year old at the time.) and my best friend. I'm on my way to Chicago (in shorts and a t-shirt. In March. This Florida girl learned a lesson about Chicago weather FAST.) and scared out of my mind.

Fast forward about 2.5 months (May 2005), and lo and behold, I'm a Sailor. HOLY COW. I'm a Sailor. I'm a Sailor. I'm a Sailor. Weird. So I'm shipped off to Monterey, California to learn Arabic. Jeesh! Arabic! Really?! I spent the next 2.5 years of my life with some of the greatest friends I'll ever make. Monterey was full of drama, life, joy, stress, studies, freezing my booty off, dancing, singing, and being happy.

Arabic and I didn't get along so well, so in January 2007 I was off to Pensacola, Florida to another school to learn how to be an 'IT'. That was a blur of 2.5 months! I was driving home every weekend, and before I knew it, it was graduation! I barely blinked!

Then in April 2007, with a brief leave period in New Orleans, I found myself in Hawaii! I was lucky enough to enjoy more memories than I'll probably recall, and meet some of my closest friends. I changed so much while I was there. But at the end, I needed to get away. So I figured I'd run away to Africa.

I was in Hawaii until June 2010, then it was off to South Carolina for training to deploy to Africa.

Come August 2010, I found myself dropped in the hottest place on Earth, trying not to get eaten alive by bird-like mosquitoes. Seven months in Djibouti, then it was time to come and spend the last two months of my Navy career in Norfolk, Virginia.

Now. May 20, 2011 has finally come along. 6+ years, and a hell of a ride. I'm ready to leave, but glad I came to the party.

Thank You USN for giving me a chance to explore outside of my comfort zone, understand the importance of responsibility, and the independence I have craved since the age of 11. Thank you for the people I've met, and the experiences I've had.

Now please. Leave me the heck alone. ;-)

Sincerely,

Katy

Random Things I Heart....

Didn't do a WIAW this week, because I'm so sick of looking at my own food, I know y'all would be too. Barracks life BLOWS. In case you were wondering. But please, please, please head on over to Jenn's blog and join in. It's a super fun club, I promise! :)

Since I don't really have much to say today, I figured I'd just ramble on about some things I'm loving right now.

1. and 2. The songs "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry and "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele. I mean, loving these songs. And by love I mean play on repeat so many times I'll probably be hating them tomorrow. Seriously. I'm that girl. I love the girl dancing in powder in the Adele video. It's so artistic and I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. Does this mean I'm totally uncultured? Maybe. But it is what it is.

3. The movie '17 Again'. I love that I bought it for $4.50 at Target even more! That movie is boss. Seriously, it's so darn funny. I could, and probably will watch it over and over and over again. Plus, Zac Efron is so easy on the eyeballs. Ah. Sigh.

4. Strawberry Kombucha. It was like heaven in my mouth. I'm going to buy more of those over-priced bottles of joy today. I need to get a well-paying job to support my new addiction. :)

5. The fact that my mother called me today to find out if I was a lesbian. (I'm not.) Haha. My bestie and I are listed as "in a civil union" on Facebook, and I guess she has received some 'concerned phone calls' and wanted to make sure that I was straight, and that I understood that civil unions were for homosexuals. It made my day. I told her I don't care what people think, and I like my relationship status. I then told her El and I are "life partners who don't have sex together." She laughed and said she didn't know what to say to that. My moms is cray cray.

6. Last but not least. Um. I'm going to be civilian on Friday?! I already bought the nail polish. (FYI. All military gals use fingernail painting as a way to distinguish separation from the military. Whether on leave -our vacations- or a long weekend, or in my case, my first statement of freedom. It's very popular.) Woo-hoo. :)

So those are my lovins right now. <3 <3 <3

Three Tangent Tuesday!

Oh wow. Been a little while since I've done one of these! :) Before I get to the TTT, though, I'll throw some of the Williamsburg photos. I didn't get too many, but I did get a few. :)

Somebody had drawn on these flower buds! :)

See through dress of doom! ;-)

With two of the people dressed up. :)

Now. Three Tangent Tuesday. For those of you who don't know, Three Tangent Tuesday is something I stole from the AMAZING Janae, and it's where I just tell you three little (usually embarrassing) tidbits about my life. :)

Three Tangent Tuesday

+ I take pictures while driving. It's an AWFUL habit I know, but it's the truth. My friends and I are horrible about it, especially if we're going downtown, and have to deal with traffic. It just makes the drive more fun. :)

Me, Ally, and Aimee on our way downtown.

Me and Timmy (yes. For Tim Tebow.) on our way to Bayfest 2009.

Funny story here. I was driving. Foot on gas and everything. And yes. That is stop and go traffic you see behind me. Or in front rather. I don't know how I didn't crash. We were going to see Harry Potter 6. :)

Rocking out to Marilyn Manson on our way to Relay For Life.

Stuck in traffic on I-95 driving from Jacksonville to Norfolk.

+ I'm probably the loudest person you'll ever meet. I don't think anyone (except maybe my wonderful Ally-pants) could even dream of taking this title away from me. I'm the girl everyone thinks is yelling, but is just talking in my inside voice. Let's just say I don't need a microphone when I speak in front of people. :)

+ I didn't believe in Santa Clause. My parents didn't want to detract from the real meaning of Christmas, so they told me from the beginning that he wasn't real, and we didn't have any Santa decorations with Santa on them, no presents came from Santa, etc. I still haven't forgiven my mom completely. Do you know what it's like to tell a class full of six year old that Santa is made-up? You're lucky to make it out alive.....

Well, guys and gals, that's my TTT for this week! :) Hope you enjoy it!

-Katy