Katie Currently

A little look at what i'm CURRENTLY into…

writing. Thank you notes. I got some cute little numbers and I am trying to get better and more thoughtful about sending them.

reading. I’m slacking in this department. My goal for summer is to read the Divergent series before I see the movies, so hopefully I step it up. I've also been all over the Pottery Barn and Frontgate catalogs looking for awesome things I can’t afford for outdoors. 

watching. Scandal. Ugh, I can’t believe I have to wait until fall to see what is happening! What a CRAZY finale. 

craving.  Healthy food. Whenever it gets warm outside I start to crave salads, and even fruit (I’m still no great about eating my veggies).

obsessing. Over Bennett’s first birthday party. Planning, themes, babies. So perfect. 

thinking. That summer is right about the corner and I need to get my booty in SHAPE. Weekends at the lake will be infinitely more fun if I feel great. 

needing. To figure out my plan for Derby week. It is upon us and Laura and I want to do something fancy. I mean what’s a girl gotta do to get invited to the Barn stable Brown Party around here ;)

wanting. To get my hurr did. This mane is getting out of control. 

clicking. Through PINTEREST and Bloglovin and catching up on all things Spring and Summer. Whew lovin me some sunshine!

loving. TUNICS (the Anthropologie link is a current fave I've been eyeing, and it just went on sale ... hubs are you reading this ;)..). Wearing them to lounge. Wearing them with jeans. Wearing them with leggings. Wearing them to sleep. All day errday, please.

Smoochies. 

Pipe Cleaners and Visine

Okay, so while I was trying to persuade Le Baby Bennessio (pretty sure I just combined French and Italian) that white cheddar rice cakes were just as good as the Cheeto's puffs his PaPaw had been feeding him, Rachael Ray was on in the background. Disclaimer: I am NOT a Rachael fan, but she comes on immediately following Kelly and Michael, so her show often stays on in the background while I go about my day.

So, while I was feeding Le Baby Bennessio said rice cake, a segment on Rachael caught my attention: Pipe Cleaners and Visine. I know, weird. Bear with me. 

First, Pipe Cleaners. She had two of her little friends on the show that were all "spring cleaning" and over organizing everything under the sun. Seriously, one of the girls was discussing how she felt it was necessary to put bins inside her refrigerator so everything had a spot. Uhm, okay because that's realistic. Clearly she lives alone, because my husband would have a heart if I told him he was now responsible for placing the turkey not only back in the fridge but also in a labeled bin named "deli meats" and if he dares to put it in the bin labeled "cheese" he is disrupting the entire system. HA! Ladies be CRAZZZY.

Her next brilliant and masterful trick involved hangers and pipe cleaners. This time she was organizing her pals closest and just COULDN'T BELIEVE she was using wire hangers. Right, because no one ever uses wire hanger, are you serious right now lady!? Although I do agree, I would much prefer the fancy plastic kind, or the fuzzy ones that add some extra grip to your silky shirts, those things are few and far between. So, if my clothes make it to the hanger and/or are placed on there from my dry cleaner, they REMAIN in the wire hanger, sue me. But, her point she was making was a valid one...
She agreed, people use wire hangers. She agreed, the ideal hangers are expensive. She agreed, there was nothing we could do about either of those facts. So, she had a solution. Simply wrap a pipe cleaner around the edges of your wire hangers and create your own fancy hangers. Sort of genius. Also sort of ridiculous and a lot sort of time consuming. But, pretty ingenious at the same time. Moral of the story: it's a neat trick if you're re-purposing your hangers for anything other than marshmallow sticks around a campfire.

Additional side note on donating clothes. She made an excellent point: When you switch you spring/summer wardrobe out with fall/winter put all of your hangers facing the wall (the hard awkward way to hang something) and then once you wear it, hang it back up the opposite way (the normal way to hang a hanger). At the end of the season, any clothing items that are still facing the awkward way should be donated, because hellooooo you're not wearing them! Genius!

Okay, now that we have all agreed this is genius but, we are never going to do it let me share with you something you actually may try. Item numero dos: Visine.

Her next guess was a celebrity makeup artist that was answering questions from RR's audience members with tricks of the industry. One of the guests hops down on the stage and discusses how she always has problems covering up red zits and they always look swollen. The makeup artist lady went on to share the way she handles this is to dip a Qtip and saturate it in Visine, put the Qtip in the freezer for 30 minutes or so (She said she leaves 5-6 in her freezer at all times, but again I don't think I'll be doing that) and then place the Qtip on the area ... APPARENTLY the frozen part takes down the swelling and the Visine takes the red out. Sayyy whhhaaaaa. It sounds so crazy that it really just may work. Watch it here. Do you think it's too good to be true? Watch it here.

Welp, there you go. Pipe Cleaners and Visine. Happy Tuesday!

Happy Easter!

I saw something this week that read, "How big is Easter you ask? … Oh, it's only the answer to pretty much everything."

Amen, Amen! Jesus is the reason. Love it.

Also, perhaps we should tell Bennett everything is going to be okay … not to worry because Easter is about so much more than this silly old bunny and just for good measure, the Easter Bunny isn't THAT bad.

Poor guy, he was terrified! But seriously, Happy Easter Y'all. Eat some deviled eggs for me!

Over the Easter Limit

Okay, okay, I realize I'm over the Easter limit and this is my second post about Easter and our baby. I also know I will be posting a fabulous picture on Easter Sunday to wish all of you a Happy Easter, so I am certainly going to be over the posting about Easter limit.  But, I'm back in blogging mode and feel compelled to share. Sue me.

So, while I was at the grocery store last week I spotted the Easter aisle. Of course my baskets for Bennett and the nieces and nephews have been complete for weeks, but I felt a yearning to walk down the aisle just ONE more time to make sure I wasn't missing anything fabulous. It was at that very moment I completely forgot I have a 9 month old who has absolutely ZERO clue what the heck is going on; and instead thought I had a 4 year old who was all excited about Easter. Clearly it was me who was excited, but that's neither here nor there.

That brings us to the check out lane: two different packages of egg dye (just in case one worked better than the other), two cartons of eggs, a Happy Easter banner, a new egg carrier to store died eggs, a fancy plate to display them, and two bottles of while distilled vinegar later and here we are.

For future reference, or if there happen to be any parents out there who may be reading this in the future and considering taking on the task … let me give you a word of advice: DON'T. Simply DO NOT. I was all "this will make for some adorable Easter photos" and "Bennett will be so happy to look back at these pictures one day and remember how much fun his parents were when he was a kid" and "it will be fun for me and Shane too". Ha, right. Wishful thinking Katie, wishful thinking. More like DISASTER. Flipping DISASTER.

The staged pictures make you think we were having a good time and everything was great:

Grandma, don't be alarmed … Hubs is hiding behind him, safety first folks.  

 Of course he needed to try and eat the eggs, it wouldn't be any task without it.

It was right about this moment right here when we said "maybe we should take his clothes off in case things start to get messy …?" So, now we have a not only a baby dyeing Easter eggs, but a naked baby. This has to end up fabulous, right?

Here's right about where the fun, free loving Easter egg dye went south … starting with Bennett realizing hard boiled eggs are indeed NOT indestructible.

Yep, that's right you can break them open buddy. But, OH SHANE STOP HIM! … you cannot eat that shell mister.

Okay, Bennett - reroute and distract. Let's color some of the eggs buddy. First pick your favorite color and drop it in here like this….

Then, let's have great manners and be real neat and tidy and wipe off our fingertips on a paper towel. 

 Now, smile at the camera for Daddy and get a really cute picture. Oh this is funnn!!

Okay, you want to try one more? Alright! Let's make a pink one for …. OHHHHH SH*****T. No no no no don't grab it. You'll knock all of them over .. ohhhhhhh boyyyyyy

Bahahhahaaha. Shane, you're going to need more paper towels.

Uhm, and maybe grab those Clorox wipes while you're at it … it kind of looks like it's staining the white cabinets.

Fail. Epic fail. We got three eggs and one with splattered speckles. I now have 21 hardboiled eggs chilling in my fridge just waiting for some color love. I guess we'll just have to eat them instead.

Well, there's always next year. Maybe it'll be better next year right?