Katie’s Blog
Katie is the appreciative frequent user of emuzines. She grew up in the South Bay, which she continues to visit frequently since her move to Northern California in 2008. Academics are a big part of her life, and she is currently working toward her second graduate degree. She is passionate about autism, and is currently working at the MIND Institute in Sacramento, conducting autism research. Katie loves the little things in life, such as the smells of parking garages, water on concrete, and the fog on Pirates of the Carribean. Her friends and family are very important to her, and she loves hosting parties and entertaining visitors. She loves dogs, travelling, exploring, eating out, scrapbooking, chocolate, and rain.
Checking In
I can’t believe it has been over a month since I’ve posted! Nik has been working really hard on revamping the site, and I love how it has come out. He’s especially worked over the Tying the Knot portion of the website, so be sure to check that out! We are continuing to add new information and edit the pages within that site (e.g., announcing our super adorable flower girl and providing more details on the big day), so keep on checking back!
Speaking of the wedding, there has been a flurry of planning activity lately. The most important news is…I’ve said yes to a dress! I headed down to LA to shop with my mom, and we had a blast. I was really nervous about it, as pushy salespeople make me anxious and I am generally very picky, but it turned out to be a really fun experience. I probably tried on 7 or 8 dresses before I found the one, and there was not a moment’s hesitation on my or my mom’s part about the choice. It’s gorgeous!
We’ve also been working hard on additional details, such as finalizing the design of the wedding favors, choosing a rehearsal dinner spot, and booking the honeymoon! The wedding is now about 8 months away…which seems both so far and extraordinarily close all at the same time. There are so many details involved in the planning, and I am thankful both that we hired a fantastic wedding planner and that we’ve had such a long engagement. I’ve been enjoying every single moment of planning, and none of it has been stressful!
The remainder of that LA trip was amazing, as usual. My friend Kimberly bought Zena and I facials for Christmas, so we took the opportunity to head to the Malibu spa on a gorgeous, sunny weekend day. We were absolutely pampered, and then we had a yummy lunch in Malibu. Just driving along Pacific Coast Highway and chatting with those two–a perfect day. Later that evening, Mandi and I headed to Pop, a champagne and dessert bar in Pasadena (can that get any more perfect for me?). We indulged in incredible food, such as brie toast with chardonnay-soaked raisins, proscuitto-wrapped shrimp, and maple bacon crepes…as well as, of course, copious amounts of champagne.
All has been well since my return. Nik’s new job keeps him busy, and although he’s gotten more used to the schedule, he’s still not awake and at home for very long in a given day. It has still been a challenge to figure out the logistics of dinner, the evening routine, and trying to spend some time together. We had a special evening out at the Melting Pot last weekend, which was nice, and he accompanied me to the scrapbook store today, which was also very nice (and sweet of him). I have been making dinners and keeping a plate for him in the fridge. He gets home too late for me to wait to eat with him, and I’m sure microwave-reheated food isn’t the tastiest for him, but it works. He told me he appreciates all the extra work I’ve been having to put into the new routine, which was nice to hear. And the other evening, he spent his awake half hour baking me cookies and changing the dog-hairy sheets for me!
Next week I head to Amesbury to celebrate Pepere’s 80th birthday! I cannot wait to spend some quality time with my family!
Holiday Recap, and a New Routine
I am back from the holidays! The holiday break was utterly fantastic–again and always, just the perfect break. It was full of family time, seeing friends, and wedding planning (I ate a LOT of cake over the course of two days!). Nik and I are starting to get into the groove of holiday plans–who goes where, and when–a challenging thing to do with so many families to spend time with! Over the past several years, we have begun the following holiday routines: Christmas Eve with his very dear family friends, the Berkes family. Christmas morning at my dad’s, and then Christmas dinner and evening at his family’s house. Christmas is celebrated on another day altogether with my mom. I am excited to maintain our holiday routines and excited to see what else comes as we get married (THIS YEAR) and have kids.
Here are some highlights from the fabulous near-two-week bliss of a holiday break:
Christmas with my mom. We ate dinner at the Chart House, and then dove into a neverending pile of gifts while drinking plenty of champagne with dancing craisins. I swear that this year Logan demonstrated his ability to either count or sequence, as he KNEW when it was his turn to open a gift and was really bummed when Mandi skipped over him–
Christmas at my dad’s. Nana and Nonno drove in from Arizona to join us. We snacked on cookies and breads, opened gifts, ate a delicious lunch, chatted outside, and then put the Lakers game on and chatted some more–
Breakfast with Mark and Lydia. It’s always nice to see them and catch up. I can’t wait to spend some more time with them in 2012 and for Mark to officiate the wedding!–
Dinner with Kimberly, Grady, Zena, and Siena. Siena is just the most precious baby. She tolerated her mommy and daddy having a long, long dinner with their friends. She was such a good girl and she just played and played and grabbed our hair, wooing us with her smile.–
Lakers game with Mandi! We started out the evening at a happy hour, and talked and laughed over mojitos, jicama, and leprechauns. I love when Mandi takes me to her games. We had a ton of fun.–
Unphotographed highlights include a late night post-Thanksgiving (in December) dinner run on the dark track with Mandi, delicious homecooked meals with my mom, meeting up with Nik’s friends at a bar in Manhattan Beach (I missed you guys), some very special shopping with Kimberly and Zena, breakfast with Melissa and Jason and finally getting to see their gorgeous home, and cake tasting with my sisters/maids of honor! (“From the back side!”)
Nik has started his new job up here, and it’s pretty far from home (an hour to an hour and a half drive each way…which isn’t horrible for LA and traffic, but there’s little traffic here and he drives about 160 miles a day). We’re settling into a new routine. With him having been off of work for several months, I had gotten used to him running the errands, taking care of the house, and making me dinner almost every night. He is now just trying to stay awake after coming home in the evenings. He’s really exhausted, and I’m hoping that he gets used to it soon. I have been either making or starting dinner, and he’s a trooper in helping me finish it up as soon as he gets home. We had also been used to having the evenings together, and now there’s little time. We have started to call each other on his drive home, which is nice, and catch up on the day. It’s the second week and it’s already getting easier, so I think we’ll fall into a routine soon. I’m so happy for him in his new job!
Brolly Hut is Cool
Nik’s restaurant, Brolly Hut, has hit pop culture. Apparently rapper Ice Cube thinks it is one of the best things in LA! He equates it to, you know, the Forum… I agree.
Martha’s 50ish Birthday Party
Forgive me the fact that I am a couple weeks behind here…but I wanted to share some pictures of Martha’s 50ish birthday party.
Martha helped throw my dad a huge birthday party a few years ago, and has been wanting to celebrate her birthday in a similar manner for quite some time. She finally decided to go for it, and organized a fabulous 50ish birthday party. Turns out she is a great party planner–it was gorgeous and a ton of fun. She had a fun theme and did a spectacular job on the decorations.
Here are Mandi and I at the beginning of the party. You can see some of the fun decorations and desserts in the background.
Unfortunately, Justine had to work that evening and didn’t arrive until late, so she’s missing from the family photos. But here is as close to a family photo as we got!
The evening was full of catching up with family (I always appreciate an opportunity to see Martha’s side of the family!!), dancing, eating, playing blackjack, drinking vodka and cran-raspberry juice, and, of course, sisterly shenanigans after Justine arrived…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARTHA! I hope you enjoyed your party! You did a great job with it–everyone had a great time!
Thanksgiving 2011
A couple of weeks ago, I headed to Amesbury to celebrate Thanksgiving. For the first time in awhile, Nik didn’t join me, but I met Mandi and my mom there to celebrate the holiday with Memere, Pepere, and Sasha. It was a much smaller group than usual, but it was a fabulous, perfect vacation, as always! I got to spend so much time with some of my favorite people, doing my favorite things, in my favorite places, and eating my favorite foods!
Mandi, Sasha, and I ran a 5k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. I was really nervous about it, as I had never run in such cold weather and I hadn’t quite made it yet to 3 miles, so it was a longer run than I’d ever done. But it was fantastic!! Although my recurring muscle pain struck around mile 1.5 and we had to walk for a bit, I did better than I thought I would do, and it was SO MUCH FUN. The course was beautiful, amongst all the New England houses, along the coast, in all the fall leaves!! A special thanks to Mandi, who modified her pace to stay with me so that we could do the whole thing together. Here we are before the race. There was ice on the ground–it was cold!! (What a great excuse it was to spend exorbitant money on a Lululemon jacket.)
And crossing the fnish line! We had no idea where Memere and my mom were, and we knew they’d be snapping pictures, so we smiled constantly for the last half mile!
The rest of Thanksgiving day was wonderful. Memere performed wonders in the kitchen, and we each helped with a dish (I made corn pudding). The rest of the trip was busy with our usual activities and some new ones, including a trip to Ogunquit, outlet shopping, going out to eat, exploring Amesbury, and a holiday stroll in New Hampshire…
A perfect way to kick off the holiday season. I can’t wait until next year!
Ahh, Life…
As I mentioned previously, I recently passed my qualifying exam for my Ph.D. I found myself in catch-up mode for several days after the exam. While I had hoped to relax for a day, or even an hour, I discovered this wouldn’t be possible. I had to play catch-up with both work and school. While I had done a pretty good job at balancing it all before the exam, I think, there were still several things I had to push back until after the exam was over. So with the exception of the post-exam celebratory dinner, I had no time to enjoy the relief–instead, I was busier than usual.
Thankfully, I now feel caught up, and have been relaxing and doing lots of fun things. This past weekend, Nik and I headed down to LA, where I was able to do some of my favorite things and see some of my favorite people. What I really, really wanted to do after my exam was eat at Disneyland. I told my mom, and she arranged for us to go! Mandi met us there, and we spent the day exploring (it was already mostly decorated for Christmas), riding all the rides (some twice), and eating, eating, eating, and drinking. On the menu for me was the following: vanilla coffee, Bengal BBQ beef skewers and bacon-wrapped asparagus, a cream cheese pretzel, clam chower, cheesecake, and a mint julep. It was a great day. There has always been something spectacular about Disneyland for me, and I have so many memories there. It was the perfect thing to do.
In addition to my Disneyland day, I got celebrate my dad’s birthday with breakfast at Eat at Joe’s with Nik, Mandi, Justine, Martha, and my dad. This is a favorite neighborhood spot in Redondo Beach that we’ve been going to for decades. I also got a bit of shopping in (began my Lululemon obsession and had Ikea adventures with Mandi) and spent several hours with my favorite little family, Kimberly, Grady, and baby Siena. Grady very carefully decorated the house and worked hard on creating a cozy atmosphere for us. I walked into a house full of flowers, candlelight, and a congratulations cake for me! They are so thoughtful. I love every minute I spend with this family. Siena is incredibly precious, and she has developed so much since the last time I saw her. She is rolling over now, and she is starting to do some back-and-forth cooing with people, although she looks adorably confused when the sounds come out of her mouth. Kimberly and Grady are amazing parents and so natural with and dedicated to her. Grady picked dinner up for us (Zena joined us!) and we chatted for hours. Such a lovely household.
I spent this week doing more work catch-up and schoolwork, and am now caught up. Last night, Nik and I headed to Berkeley to visit our friends April and Seth. Gracious hosts that they are, they welcomed us with champagne, and we managed to consume two bottles before dinner. We walked through their neighborhood to a new restaurant, Origen, which was incredible. I had buttermilk fried calamari, handrolled gnocci with pork ragu and mascarpone, chocolate-studded bread pudding, and a mulberry mojito. Delicious. We had such a great time chatting with April and Seth and got home well after midnight.
I am continuing my relaxation today with a weekend edition of a do-whatever-I-want day (which used to be typical of weekend days, but has been nonexistant for weeks [with the exception of last weekend, of course]). I’m still in my pajamas, and I have been reading a fantastic new book, online Christmas shopping, cleaning the house, and playing with Jo. We’ll soon head off for an evening run through the fall leaves…
Ph.D.(ABD)
I feel like the past several months (the past year or more, to be honest), have led up to this day. Today I had my qualifying examination for school. This is an oral examination that leads to advancement to candidacy. In other words, passing this leads to a Ph.D.(ABD)–a Ph.D. All But Dissertation.
I have been so stressed out about this exam. I knew it was coming, so I even pushed our wedding back a year due to it. I have literally been thinking about this every day, every night, in every shower, during every walk and run, for months. It’s a really big deal, and I was terrified.
But…I passed with flying colors, a unanimous decision paired with many flattering comments. I am so thrilled, so relieved, and I feel like I can live life again! I can’t count how many times in the recent weeks I have said to my mom, “November 8th will NEVER BE OVER!” and to Nik, “I’m not even living life!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Well, now I can live. Amy, Carolyn, Nik, and Alessandra took me out right after the exam to celebrate. I indulged in my favorite, raspberry mojitos, and I ordered myself a big salted caramel cheesecake, thankyouverymuch.
A note of thanks to everyone who has supported me lately. Nik was endless support in terms of technical difficulties, stress relief, equipment setup, shopping, organizing, etc. Carolyn, again, thank you for talking stats with me. Mom, thank you for assuring me that tonight would come. Amy, oh Amy…let me show you what she did. Amy volunteered to help bring snacks for my committee members to enjoy during the exam. I was endlessly thankful for this, because this meant that I wouldn’t have to bake pumpkin bread the night before the exam, all whilst lamenting the fact that the next day would never end… But take a look at what Amy did.
Seriously, Amy? Really? Look at what she did. She went so above and beyond anything I could have imagined. Knowing my fall obsession, she decorated the entire room (and let me keep the decorations!). The room even smelled like pumpkin! And she slyly placed a pumpkin spice latte next to my laptop. What a friend. And Carolyn should be thanked for those beautiful flowers. You two really are something special.
(And there is Nik, helping me set up. Thanks, Niko!).
Halloween Fun!
Nik and I had a blast last night!! Nik worked so hard on the porch, and it really paid off. The house was extremely popular with the kids and adults in the neighborhood. Apparently it was “the BEST HOUSE EEEEVVVVEEEERRRR!” and adults even took pictures of it. We had the fog machine going, fun and spooky music, a strobe light, thunder sound machine, tons of spider webs, and flickering and foggy carved pumpkins. Nik built this elaborate stepped stand for the pumpkins and rigged it so that the kids would have to reach through a flickering foggy pumpkin to ring the doorbell. Although we ended up keeping the door open and sitting by the front with JoJo the Rabid Crying Squirrel (so nobody had to use the doorbell), the pumpkins were quite popular. And our spookiness only lost us one 3-year-old fireman. He couldn’t bear the fog.
Here is Jo in her costume. She was a good squirrel but she cried a lot. She only barked and growled at kids with masks on:
Here are Jo and I early in the evening:
The flickering foggy pumpkins:
And a video that puts it all together (sorry it’s sideways…can’t figure that out right now):
Enjoying Life
I have been extremely busy lately, getting ready for a big exam for school while also juggling class and work, which are both really busy right now, too. For that reason, I made no Halloween-related plans, and haven’t really let myself get into the spirit of the holiday at all. Typically, I am in LA this weekend, and I was pretty bummed that I couldn’t make it again this year. I missed Zena’s party, Danny’s party, and the cancer walk-a-thon. Nevertheless, I made huge progress this weekend on my exam preparation, and am glad I made the sacrifice to stay. And turns out Halloween in Davis is kind of great…
…thanks to Nik! He not only helped me out with technical aspects of my exam prep, he has been incredibly supportive and helpful during this stressful time for me (he deserves general thanks for cooking all our dinners, cleaning the house, taking care of Jo, reassuring me with kind words, making me laugh, etc…but this post is Halloween-specific…so back to that). He assessed my progress/mood yesterday, saw that I was happy with what I had accomplished for the day, and decided he wanted to go all out with decorating the porch. So we headed to Michael’s and Target and bought a bunch of supplies, including a fog machine and strobe light/sound machine.
He spent the evening constructing a gigantic stand to house the pumpkins, fog machine, etc. He also spent all day today working out on the porch, while I worked on my PowerPoint slides some more. For a bit, Jo and I kept him company and I worked outside. The little boy from across the street came over for awhile and watched Nik work. He’s such a doll and really curious about everything. He also told us his elaborate plan involving ping pong balls and Nerf guns, designed to scare kids away from their candy tomorrow. So cute.
After I had finished my slides (YAY), we ran a quick errand and then came home for our evening walk. It was one of my favorite walks in awhile. Davis is really community-oriented, and we always see lots of people out on our walks and runs. Kids up here actually still play outside, and we see them every day on our walks or runs. The adults all seemed to be out today, too. Lots of families were carving pumpkins outside (is that a Northern California thing?) and lots of people were just hanging out and chatting. It felt nice to be a part of this really friendly community.
After our walk, Nik made dinner while I showered, and then we carved pumpkins together. We ran some tests on our porch display, and it’s going to be awesome. I’ll post a video after tomorrow…
A Free Day
I have instituted a do-whatever-I-want day. It’s the first day in nearly a month that I haven’t been working or working on schoolwork, and it’s niiiiiice! It’s slightly forced, and I’ve had several times to resist the temptation to read for class, work on my chapter, code some videos, work on a presentation, etc. But I need this free day and I am highly enjoying it.
The day started off with NOT SETTING AN ALARM. I work up early a few times, but let myself drift back to sleep. I finally awoke after Nik got up and let JoJo out. When she came back in the house, she came bounding back into the bedroom to steal Nik’s spot–his pillow, more specifically–and cuddle with me. She wrapped her front legs around my neck and rubbed her face on mine. Extreme cuddles.
Nik and I got ready and headed to downtown Davis. I had been suffering from extreme pumpkin spice latte cravings, so we stopped in at Peet’s to satisfy this. Delicious drink in hand, we walked over to Fleet Feet to get Nik some new running shoes. We were there for awhile, as they do a really nice, thorough, personalized job measuring you and checking different shoes. He even did a few test runs up and down the street, which unfortunately I missed because I stayed in the store. But we left with some new shoes and running socks for us both.
After stopping in at home for lunch, we headed out to the mall, where I bought black boots! I have been shopping for black boots for awhile, and I am super excited about them!! We walked around the mall for awhile, then headed to the grocery store. Just some mundane tasks, but such a relaxing day. Nik is napping now, and I am relaxing on the couch. We’ll head out for a run soon and then come home and cook dinner together. Hopefully, I will scrapbook this evening.
Tomorrow, I will give in to working on my chapter for a bit, and then we are heading to San Mateo to go to the Melting Pot with Caitlin and Evan! We can’t wait!!!